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The queen of blades was a badass villain the dream was a dream of the past her, but also forshadowed an invasion she starts later in game after retaking the zerg swarm, also the story of the games are about 3 races on a war for survival many, wars and under diferent circuntances each
I don't care that the sponsor info is really early in the vid. Based on how many people do it, it must be required. But the intro portion and the sponsored portion should be separate in the video timeline IMO
I've binged all of your videos just now and I am not normally a person who enjoys reaction content. I will say that I love that you let the video play. Even though I have seen these cinematics before; Watching & reacting with you as it plays out is enjoyable. I personally would like to see more Overwatch cinematic reaction content. I haven't played the game since the first year of release, but I still love the cinematics. Have you considered recording your gameplay and reacting/ discussing the story as you play it through?
@@J3553xAnotherFanthank you so much, I'm glad you're enjoying my videos. It really means a lot. More Overwatch videos to come so don't worry, I've already decided which one it will be✌🏻. I've not ever thought about streaming or capturing my gameplay before. I'll have to think about it some more, thank you for the suggestion. KZ
Fun fact , in the legacy of the void one the time it takes for the pylon to warp in is exactly the same amount of time it takes in the game to warp in.
There were a lot of awesome gameplay-inspired moments in that one. The templar waited until they were weakened to merge into an archon. Very often the pro players do that to get the most out of their templar units before merging. And the banelings trying to take down the pylon because they know it comes with reinforcements. Such a good cinematic for many reasons.
I play at normal speed. I absolutely hate playing faster because units move very fast kinda like real insects and lose their weight and inertia feel which kills the game for me.
Tychus Findlay's line at the end of the first cinematic echoes the sentiments of the entire StarCraft fanbase at the time. The first game released in 1998 and the sequel didn't come until 2010. "It's about time" indeed.
With Starcraft 2 starting development somewhere in 2002ish (the earliest gameplay footage they released is from 2005 and that's build #365) I'm sure it echoed the sentiments of the dev team just as much as it did of fans ^^'
My Mom called my at Work. The preorderd Starcaft 2 CD!!! ( NOT online) was delivered. I walk to my Boss : Boss I need a few Vakation Days, He agreed. I went Home an just playd the Story strait in 1 GO. ( ok i feld asleep on the Pc )
I remember the date my grandmother died because she died 27. July 2010 ... and I'm horrible with dates without my agenda... 12 years since brood war and 8 years since rumours started spreading about SC2 developement ... and they truly delivered ^^ although i don't play anymore .. too old and too much other stuff going on to train up the skills
@@DoctorM42 Well, no. The art and cinematics team continues to be great... but the games that come out with said cinematics have gone down the shitter.
The ending of the 'Heart of the Swarm' trailer where Kerrigan wakes up is especially powerful because you dont know if what you saw is a memory, a dream, or a premonition of things to come.
Oh, actually, her waking up is after that battle that unfolds on the screen. She ravages the city and it looks like Terrans lost, but in the end, Kerrigan is captured.
@@rusozawr4969ehm, you do realize that city is Augustgrad, y'know, korhal? She was captured on Char, brought to umojan facility, then HOTS happens, and it ends with invasion of Korhal.
I know it was mostly fanservice, but the line "power overwhelming" is something that gets me every freaking time. Like someone else mentioned, goosebumps. And after the sole probe finished building the proxy pylon, so mass reinforcements can finally warp in, man, that right there is exactly how you speak to your consumer base. To see actual game mechanics serve as a base for the brief story you want to tell, just pure beauty. Starcraft will remain one of my greatest memories when it comes to gaming, the productional and creative value was beyond measure, not to mention true spirit and passion. Blizzard still had those back then, amazing cinematics indeed, messengers of a cool era of gaming.
I think HotS had the best intro cinematic from an outside point of view, but if you play the game then LotV is the coolest for sure. I was so invested in the fight that I wasn't really thinking about the building warping in; I wasn't even sure it wasn't just a cinematic-only kind of thing, but when it was revealed that it was a Pylon warping in it got me so hyped.
I was so incredibly bad at the game, never got over 70 apm but I loved it. Bronze league was complete madness, both people have a strategy, but they just don't have the apm to execute and it devolves into utter chaos - wonderful.
Talking about Blizzard fanbase, I agree with you completely. I first saw Zeratul when I was a 13 year old boy in 2000. And I saw the end of his story 15 years later. What an epic journey that was. Hats off to Blizzard for making SC
Knowing a bit about the Protoss really adds to the last trailer. They warp in structures and units, so when the probe (the little robot dude) starts the warp, it starts the stakes of "this needs to finish, these guys need to protect this thing, or else every thing was for nothing" Its sort of a securing the beaches of normandy moment.
Totally agree. That pylon is the last hope to warp the Protoss reinforcements. That's why the whole remained army risked their lives protecting it until completion. I am also annoyed that the video owner does not know anything about Starcraft, but make reacting videos on the great Starcraft trailers
My favorite bit about the transforming robot dude is that to properly convey how heavy and haphazard they are as a unit they made it start shooting at the ground before it finishes landing and slowly and with difficulty start correcting its aim.
accurate as in lore very few pilots survive training as the transformation process from flyer to walker kills most by twisting their body in ways it shouldn't
@@ProtosR Someone who read the unit descriptions in the armory :D. I fucking loved reading those and watching the little idle animations for the units, wish I could experience it for the first time again haha
Favorite race will always be protoss, but the line when a Battle cruiser comes online is forever a top of mine for some weird reason xD "Battle cruiser, operational"
@@jackthompson7546 It is just such a simple promise of the power available. No need to hype it up, no screaming, no threats or promises. Just "your flagship is here".
There's footage of the last cinematic, for Legacy Of The Void being shown in cinemas and the auditoria going mental, especially at the Archon Merge - where the two High Templar, one of whom is injured - cease to be individuals and convert themselves into a being of pure psychic rage. The warping in of the Pylon, which allows the mass assembly of Protoss warriors on the battlefield is also timed using the game's internal clock - it takes exactly the right amount of in-game time to warp. Details like this simply didn't appear in other company's cinematics
@@RuneKatashima Yeah protoss main here too my guy, have been since the first game came out. Still gives me chills watching that.... also it is really amusing that my internal clock would tell you when that pylon was finishing without visual or audio cues at this point in my life lol.
Man..... legacy of the void opening cinematic is the most adrenaline filled intro ever... you can feel the desperation in their fight. It still gives me chills all these years later.
Thank you for covering these trailers! A bit of context to the lore: it's about 3 alien races: Terrans (humans), Zerg (insect-like aliens with hive mind/ swarm intelligence) and the Protoss (high-tech aliens from the third trailer). These fight for dominance in a remote sector of the galaxy called the Korprulu Sector. The leader of the Zerg (Kerrigan, aka the Queen of Blades) was once human but was transformed into a Zerg. In Wings of Liberty you try to save the humans from the Zerg by making Kerrigan human again. That's why it's always a bit funny for me when people who haven't played Starcraft say at the beginning of the second trailer: "makes sense" and as soon as it is shown that it was just a dream they get a little confused, sometimes asking: "So she wasn't an alien?". Because for those who played it, it was kind of the other way around: "But we healed her, why is she Zerg again?"
I love the way that even though she is portrayed as "the bad guy", if you have played all the Starcraft games you end up rooting for her to win due to the injustice she suffers by the hands of Mengsk.
Kerrigan is villain, no doubt about it. But her story is a tragedy. Even her ascension does not redeem her. She is a monster, with a human heart, like what she did for Warfield, sparing his men.
LEGACY OF THE VOID>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
A bit of real world exposition on the Wings of Liberty teaser trailer, it was the first trailer of StarCraft 2. Between Brood War (the only expansion of StarCraft 1) and Wings of Liberty, there was about a decade of empty time. When the prisoner Tychus Findlay said "Hell, it's about time," it wasn't just him expressing himself - it was an approximation of the years of hype and anticipation that everyone had been feeling since Brood War ended.
Not quite the only expansion. There were 2 others one blizzard authorized and the other not. They were launched without much fanfair and very little advertising. Starcraft:Insurrection was released 3 months before Brood War and was an official expansion by Aztec Media. It offered no new units but has 30 story missions and 100 new maps. It was am interesting play but didn't alter the Blizzard storyline. The unofficial one was Starcraft:Retribution by Wizard Works in 1998. it alsp has 3 new campaigns and 120 maps. But didn't mess with the main story lines. It had different heroes and villains. It was a very difficult expansion vs the other 2. As they came out before Brood War neither expansion new what to do with BWs new units making both of them rather easy to beat once they were intriduced. Unlike the main SC game these expansions allowed the new units but wouldn't build them as they were not programmed to.
I remember when my friend gave me a link to the trailer of WoL, I watched it till the end, heard Tychus' line and thought "...yeah, exactly", almost angry that he ripped out of my mouth something I just was about to say. And then there were agonizing two-ish years until the game was finally released :)
20:00 when you're talking about the flying transformer (Viking) I think the amount of intensity they put into the characters is phenomenal. He's squeezed the miniguns into action even before they're lifted up against the giant beast thing (Ultralisk). Aside from the frame and focus, the lighting and the smoke, the CHARACTERS are what struck me as amazing in these trailer videos and also the games, both in-era and still today.
And I just thought: How stupid was this pilot? Why would a Viking transform to Assault Mode to land just in front of a friggin Ultralisk and rightfully get torn to shreds in a second? What a moron! But yeah, the whole trailer still gives me the chills, even after all this time! @kaizammit: Thanks for the whole analysis. This actually helps to understand some of the details that made those so great, like the whole "putting the foot down". I didn't consciously notice that one but I'm my my subconcious was influenced by stuff like that. :)
@@epicbird1568 Yeah, probably. Still stupid, given how the Ultralisk didn't even slow down. :D I think this was exactly what they wanted to show: How unstoppable The Swarm is.
Just wanted to highlight a neat little detail in the 3rd cinematic - Legacy of the Void. Early you see the probe unit initiate a warp-in action; this later becomes the pylon later in the cinematic that enables all the reinforcements to arrive. The cinematic expends 60 seconds for this to complete. This is also how long it takes to happen in the game. It's a very interesting way to illustrate what can happen in just one minute. :)
@@PurpleHeartE54 It literally doesn't. Build time for a SC2 Pylon is 25 Blizzard seconds. Which was then rescaled to 18seconds when they made blizzard time match real time in Legacy Of The Void. In both cases a Pylon would take 18sec on a stopwatch.
actually carbot animation's parody video has literal gametime limit :D, on archon merge, pylon, and warp in without nexus nearby, which was changed in that expansion. If the player warps in in the base it is 5 sec then erlier but if it is a pylon on the filed the build time is higher.
23:33 . Yes she do becomes the queen of blades. It was a foreshadowing of her becoming the queen but also explains what happened to her at the end of wings of liberty.
Glad you liked the trailers! I love Starcraft lore and blizzard cinematics are still some of the best in the business! For some context: The first trailer was the announcement teaser for Starcraft 2 which had been years in the making so the "Hell, its about time" was just as much the fans saying FINALLY AN SC2! as it was the marine himself. Those marines btw are a basic unit. So for me, as a lore nerd, it was super sick to see all the tech that goes into the most basic fodder of the Terrans(human) faction in the game. The second trailer follows a woman named Kerrigan, who was originally a human, but was left on a planet to die to the Zerg(Swarm, bug guys). Instead of dying though She was taken, became infested, and eventually became the leader of the swarm for various story reasons. At the end of Wings of Liberty(from the first trailer), she's mostly purged of her zerg traits(minus the hair) which is why she has that fever dream of her invading Humanity's SC2 equivalent of Earth. (She's still mad about being betrayed). For the third trailer: The Protoss(blue guys) had their homeworld destroyed by the zerg in the first Starcraft game. This cinematic is them creating a breachhead to finally start taking back their desrtoyed homeworld. There's another video thats a prequal done in all 2d stills called "StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void - Reclamation" that showcases the leader and the protoss with 1 eye from the cinematic that is super cool that enhances the cinematic a lot I'd recommend you check out!
@@kaizammit Starcraft 1 is from 1998, so some things might feel dated (unit pathing sucks), but I hope it doesn't take you away from the awesome story. Reminder that Starcraft 1 has an expansion, Brood War, that extends the story. Have fun!
@@kaizammitI recommend playing on some easyish setting. The story and cinematics of the first two installments are so good that it's worth playing through. No need to have too high a difficulty hindering a good story experience 😊
If you want some other REALLY COOL Blizzard stuff, check out some of the in-game cinematics on these games. Standouts include "Artanis Alone" and "The Betrayal of Kerrigan." Also awesome is the trailer for Heroes of the Storm, a MOBA-style Blizzard game that pulls characters from all their different properties.
It has really good production value, but I feel like the story isn't very good as a sequel story. If it was on its own, I would give it a pass, but it's following after the phenomenal StarCraft 1, and also just kills or otherwise warps a lot of character personalities.
Kerrigan and the queen of blades is something of a fan favourite storyline. For various reasons, Kerrigan manages to retain elements of her personality while being assimilated into a hive mind super swarm that covers most of the galaxy, and takes it over as the dominant personality. Consider the treatment of the first soldier in that trailer, and remember Kerrigan was from the same army and society. " I go to face him, having renounced everything. My humanity. My identity. The man I love. But I will not face this enemy alone. I am the Swarm." ---- "You can never suffer enough for all the lives you've ruined, Arcturus." "I made you into a monster, Kerrigan." "You made us all into monsters." The swarm becomes less mindless and far more strategic and planned out and gains elements of psychological warfare under Kerrigan, and so on. As to your question as to whether she's a real villain by the end? She's... controversial. Anti-Hero or Anti-Villain maybe. Heart of the Swarm is all about her personal journey to redefine herself in terms of being a hero or a villain, and wrestling with which she is now and which she wants to be. She mentions a few times she will answer for what she's done, *after* she's finished with her villanous bullshit. Tv tropes: "Heart of the Swarm shows her still swaying between Anti-Hero and Anti-Villain, finally settling on an Anti-Hero Noble Demon but until then edging on Villain Protagonist in her darker moments.". It's better to understand her as a person who is going insane through their situation being taxing in terms of extreme pain and clinging on to general humanity due to their hive mind status, has a very legitimate grievance with various people, and struggles to remember about collateral damage along the way, who also has to deal with the fact that everybody wants them dead for likewise legitimate reasons and whose survival depends on being an assimilating swarm hostile to all life in the universe. She swings back and forth between "Fuck em, if I have to be this to survive, I will" and "I'm slipping. I'll kill the assholes and then let everyone kill the swarm" and various positions in between. She eventually finds an enemy who wants her *and* everyone else dead she's comfortable doing a suicide charge against "Because the alternative is to lay down and die", and (Maybe?) does so, satisfying all her motivations.
I just wish that she was better characterized with this internal struggle outside of the big cinematic moments. Pretty much the entire campaign was just her going "we need to get stronger and crush the competition so I can kill Mengsk. Screw the costs and the collateral." I mean, you can see hints of it, with how she abhors Abathar, but uses him because he's useful and she can limit the damage he does. But her interactions with Zagara should've been prime moments of her wavering between just being the swarm and maintaining her humanity, as Zagara was the perfect opportunity to be the devil on her shoulder while Karrigan's teachings would slowly make her learn morality, not just tactics and strategy, changing the swarm forever even after Karrigan is gone.
What the fuck are you talking about? The skinwalker they have in SC2 has nothing in common at all with SC1 Kerrigan. They took the most evil character in the universe and made her space jesus, and this was after Brood War went to such lengths to show that she's completely in control of her actions. SC2 retcons are so extreme that you can't even consider most of the characters as the same people. You claim Kerrigan was going insane, she was completely sane and rational the for all of SC1 and BW. She *was* one of tthe best villains in gaming until SC2 ruined everything about her that made her interesting. The funny thing is she can't even get through HotS without some of her original character accidentally slipping in. But everyone seems to just conveniently forget about the Protoss tribe she completely massacred on that ice world. Raynor forgiving her, and even claiming he's in love with her was the first obvious sign that something had gone horribly wrong with the writing. He goes from swearing that he'll hunt her down and kill her for what she's done, to becoming a total simp willing to sacrifice his entire rebellion to save her.
_For various reasons, Kerrigan manages to retain elements of her personality while being assimilated into a hive mind super swarm that covers most of the galaxy, and takes it over as the dominant personality._ Kerrigan was designed by Overmind. He could not defy Amon, so he created someone who could. Someone who would be able to both lead the swarm and to challenge fallen Xel'Naga. _As to your question as to whether she's a real villain by the end? She's... controversial. Anti-Hero or Anti-Villain maybe._ She is a villain, no doubt about it. But a sympathetic one. You can understand and relate to her and her actions. _Heart of the Swarm is all about her personal journey to redefine herself in terms of being a hero or a villain, and wrestling with which she is now and which she wants to be._ While Kerrigan was engineered, her design was not flawless. And just all of the zerg, she needed to evolve. That was the point. _She swings back and forth between "Fuck em, if I have to be this to survive, I will" and "I'm slipping. I'll kill the assholes and then let everyone kill the swarm" and various positions in between._ Not really, she is quite determined and knows where she is going. Her bouts of "humanity", like what she did to Warfield men, letting them go, is because they pose no threat and he asked for it. Its pragmatism. _She eventually finds an enemy who wants her and everyone else dead..._ True, but she was meant to find him. Whole Mengsk affair was merely a distraction.
@@sjent What I was trying to say was that while yes, I could see bits and pieces of Kerrigan's struggle, most of it was in a handful of cinematics, and barely appeared at all during briefings, conversations between missions, and in mission dialogue. She was 95% mission focused outside of a few key cinematics. And as for her initial conversion, of course she retained her personality. What the Overmind did was upgrade her to be it's perfect agent, not turn her into another mindless drone like the rest of the swarm. Like a Cerebrate that can move around and fight. She'd have to learn her psychic powers from zero if it erased her memories, and considering how absolute the Overmind's control over the Zerg was, it's no surprise that it had no worries about Kerrigan betraying it. She never did either, and she only managed to free herself after it was dead. I also don't buy the "weapon against the Xel'Naga" bit, unless if it was something from outside the games. Kerrigan was supposed to be a clue to advancing the Zerg race with psychic powers most likely. It was the one spot where the Zerg was weakest, as no Zerg unit had any real psychic powers beyond telepathy.
@@komo6103 _And as for her initial conversion, of course she retained her personality._ Not really "of course". Infested terrans do not retain any. Kerrigan was allowed to retain most of her personality and memories. _Like a Cerebrate that can move around and fight._ I am pretty sure that Cerebrates are semi-stationary. They can warp, but it is a very limited ability. Also they cant really fight fight, using their psionic powers instead. _She'd have to learn her psychic powers from zero if it erased her memories_ Not really. Knowledge of how to use psionic powers could have been retained, while her personality would be erased. _and considering how absolute the Overmind's control over the Zerg was, it's no surprise that it had no worries about Kerrigan betraying it_ Overmind foresaw it death and Kerrigan was meant to replace it. I would hazard a guess that Kerrigan going against Overmind was a possibility, after all she was meant to be free from foreign influences, acting completely independently, but there was simply not enough time for it to happen. _I also don't buy the "weapon against the Xel'Naga" bit, unless if it was something from outside the games._ There is quite a lot of lore about it. Overmind clearly meant for her to take over the Swarm and eventually face Amon. It absolutely hated control that Among had over it, so Kerrigan was meant to remedy all of it. She was suppsoed to be a leader that would be completely free from Amon control and eventually confront him when time would come. _Kerrigan was supposed to be a clue to advancing the Zerg race with psychic powers most likely._ Zerg already had psychic powers, altho in limited amount and completely different from those of either terrans and protoss. This is why psi emitters affected them. Overmind had a plan to assimilate terrans and merge psi powers or both species to greatly enhance them. This is how Kerrigan, already potent psychic, went all the way up not to 11, but to like 99, after her transition. Both of them enhanced what she already had. Resulting her being able to unleash so much power, that it could engulf whole planets in psionic storms. _It was the one spot where the Zerg was weakest, as no Zerg unit had any real psychic powers beyond telepathy._ Not in games, but according to lore certain types of zergs had psychic powers. They were carefully maintained, as those traits were very hard to cultivate. Something that for species centered on constant rapid evolution, was a big problem. You either evolve or you keep psychic powers, not both.
Loved the breakdown of some cinematics that got me hyped back when they first dropped. To answer a question on the ending of the Swarm trailer, the dream sequence is a foreshadowing of the final climax of the campaign where the Queen leads the swarm to the human Capital world, and has to break through their strongest defenses. All in all, it's really cool to see a discussion of these from someone with a solid filmmakers vocabulary, and some of the little added details like the camera getting pulled in before resettling during that sacrifice scene really go a nice way to showing how many little details go into productions like this.
@@janejvmmsvictoria5857 Honestly, it is genius as it opens a lot of questions for different viewpoints. In the video he states "Wait, that was all a dream?" while people who played the games up until then were like "Wait, she is Zerg again?" - So many nuances it is amazing. What a shame the company fell off so badly.
Honestly, I *never* saw an in-game cinematics that were THAT good. Nowadays games drift toward cinematics done on the game engine, which looks good, but never that great...
When the WoL trailer was shown the first time, it was shown to Korean audiences, and they weren't told beforehand that this was a Starcraft sequel. If you look up the reaction videos, it's fun to see them start to put the pieces together and get excited about it, especially Tychus Findlay's line there at the end.
As for the Queen that's what she was. They captured her after they restored most of her human genome and mind. And at the same time its a sorta fore shadowing of what she will need to be. I highly suggest you play all three parts. They came to use as i believe if i remember correctly three separate games or One game and two expansions i don't exactly remember.
WARNING SPOILERS!!! -- @shriike2001 don't forget that the entire original purpose behind the Overmind originally capturing and adapting Kerrigan was to escape the absolute control from the SC2 BBEG. Kerrigan was originally a loophole to preserve the zerg as a species.
Growing up playing starcraft these cinematics still give me goose bumps and what a story they wrote. From power hungry men, loosing everything, fighting for survival to a love story in all this carnage was a an emotional ride for me, surely for many of us that played the games.
Also, just wanted to say that I love your detailed analysis of cinematics! I've followed a handful of similar channels but your takes are very detailed and you get many new aspects that others have missed! Also, always good with repetition! Knowing all these tricks and techniques makes it more impressive when I watch new cinematics, realizing how much thought has gone into creating it and not just "This looks cool". EDIT: words and typos
The way you approach those videos and how much love and understanding you show for the art is just so comforting to watch. If you want another series of epic trailers maybe you could go for the Witcher 3 because the were just amazing
Hey dude, been watching TH-cam for 15 years now and from a TH-cam content POV, you have a good niche here. With the audience from the gaming/pop culture sphere and transitioning them into cinematography. Your channel deserves more than 5K subs.
Thank you so much, I'm sure time will tell. I've been doing this for 3 months so fingers crossed. As long as you and everyone else enjoys the content, then I'm happy. Thanks for watching and commenting fella, means a lot. KZ
I'm sure you have a lot of recommendations on what to react to next, so I will add another if that's alright! The Warhammer 40k Armoring a Space Marine Ritual is great!
Not sure if you're familiar with Halo at all or if it fits the scale of your reactions, but the remastered cutscenes for Halo 2 by Blur Studio are some incredible work. There's a number of collections uploaded on here (For example 'Halo 2 Anniversary All Cutscenes - Halo 2 Movie - Remastered by Blur Studios [1080p @ 60fps]'). I'd generally suggest skipping to the 1:50 mark as the first scene is always a scene from Halo 5, but the first 11 minutes or so with the difference between Chief/Arbiter as well as the 'space battle' is some great remastering done (:
I love Halo hence my little Chief on my desk in the videos. However saying that, I never played Halo 2 remastered, I did with the first. Something for the channel maybe? KZ
Rrally good analysis of film making techniques, love how you break it down shot by shot and provide comparison from other movies. Very knowledgable and enjoyable, would watch you all day.
All 3 of these SC2 cinematics legit had me teary eyed. The first one after waiting so long from SC1. The second and third ones after being so invested in such a good story in the games.
A bit of a small detail - the speaker in the Legacy of the Void trailer is actually Artanis, the Heirarch of the Protoss (at that time). The 'hero' that is displayed is called Kaldalis / Khaldalis. He can be seen in the StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void - Reclamation video, where he and Artanis have a talk before the cinematic canonically takes place.
This was an awesome breakdown. Really on the mark with how you felt the videos were trying to tell you something vs how the games/narrative for them went. I think it would be really cool if you go and watch the Mass Effect trilogy trailers and break it just as these 3! This is amazing and refreshing content. Learning a lot je, Cheers!
I would suggest watching Amerigo Space Station cutscene from the Original Starcraft as it blows my mind how atmospheric it is even with limited resources the team had at that time.
Oh yeeeah, that's my absolute favourite cinematic from SC1 - even with the still-to be developed 3D animation techniques. The atmosphere and storytelling is absolutely amazing even though the video is ~3 minutes long. "Thank god for cold fusion." th-cam.com/video/9AL-kScqdr0/w-d-xo.html
_Very_ quick run-down of the Starcraft lore: In the first game the Zerg Hive Mind (the creepy monster-aliens) started mass-conquering planets, with the Terrans and Protoss (the aliens from the LotV trailer, basically techno space-elves) struggling to work together until they finally killed the main hive brain of the Zerg, which had settled on the Protoss' homeworld. However, the remaining minds of the Hive turned the captured human Kerrigan (seen in her mutated form in the HotS trailer) into their new connection point, which they aimed to control as a puppet. She disagreed and went on a war against all 3 factions - which thanks to a bunch of infighting among Terrans and Protoss actually worked, leaving her as the ruler of the Zerg Swarm. Starcraft 2's first campaign, Wings of Liberty, plays from the Terran's perspective, with the goal of catching and un-infesting Kerrigan, which they eventually manage to do. Heart of the Swarm then opens up with Kerrigan coming to terms with her past as a monster (the "dream" was a memory of an actual invasion she led), until she realizes she has to reclaim that position to prevent an eldritch god from taking control over the Swarm and destroying everything instead. Legacy of the Void in turn plays from the perspective of the Protoss, with their first order of business being to free their home world, which had remained infested by Zerg despite the destruction of the original Hive Mind.
My friend, knowing the story behind those videos will make you feel the art x1000. I still watch the intro of Legacy of the Void feeling goosebumps, listening Artanis trying to recover back his planet, watching the Ultralisk intro and the fight against the high templar becoming the Archon.
The three vids are for the three expansions. Each expansion focuses on a different race (three in total). Starcraft is Dune, it's Warhammer, it's Starship Troopers, and many other things. I thought that the third one would end with an "My life for Auir." It makes me tear up every time (because F Terrans).
Personally love the Wilhelm scream, its a bit of a tradition at this point to have at least one in a movie/series. I like to be immersed and suddenly Wilhelm scream. Always gets a chuckle
Yea it is more of a homage than anything else. It was in the first SC also, i think it was the Firebats that had it if you clicked on it several times.
The most awesome part is that everything we saw on the trailers happens in a similar enough way in the game. -Protoss pylons being able to warp units anywhere within a pylon -Terran Viking unit being able to fly and land -Zerg units surrounding enemy units and overwhelming them by sheer numbers (Between other things, and even after some artistic liberties were taken) Those were good times for being a Starcraft fan.
Hey Kai, by all means, please do play the game! I thoroughly enjoyed you reacting to the trailers and I would love to see you reacting to all the cutscenes etc. , which are also amazing by the way! The story is captivating and you get really immersed in the experience - a fantastic game where you can feel how important the game was to everyone involved making it.
My life for aiur!! 😢😢😢😢😢 To have the same effect you have to have played since starcraft 1... Otherwise, it's a good cinematic but it won't make you cry
Super glad you took to the time to watch this videos and react to them! Some people down here also did a great job summerize what's going on in the games to better understand the cinematics.
That "was that a dream" bit... that was foreshadowing. She turns into that Queen as the game series goes on. I believe that Blizzard North were originally slated to make a Warhammer 40k game back in the day but GW pulled out so Blizzard changed up some of the game, names etc. Thus was born Star Craft. The marine at the beginning and the "bugs" were supposed to represent the Imperium's Space Marines and the Tyranids, but after the split from GW we got this instead. and it was a good thing for Blizzard too. they are great story tellers, or they were at any rate. The last race was a race they created, dunno what the inspiration was. Chaos+Tau maybe i dunno. but they are the Protoss so the RTS had 3 factions. You should look at the other Cinematics that they have for Starcraft. Or hell even do some videos on the Wow cinematics.
Protoss was supposed to be Eldar/Drukari/Aeldari(Space Elves). Thus the whole righteousness/architecture style/ haughtiness of elves and the split between Dark Templars and normal Protoss. Also Warcraft was supposed to be Warhammer fantasy, thus the Orcs being green (The big change from Tolkiens Orcs) and Horde like and Goblins looking like they do and "working" for Orcs. Naga of Warcraft were *probably* first concepted to be like lizardmen, but changed with everything else when GW pulled out. Most of Warhammer fantasy is based off LOTR loosely (carrying over much of the fantasy style base but making it depressingly more grimdark), but set in like fantasy earthlike planet.
Warcraft was supposed to be a Warhammer 40k game like you said (not starcraft). It is a common, often repeated misconception. Starcraft was blizzards own creation, bizzarely it was originally meant to be about space vampires *shrug*.
@@openfly4u ahhh that i didn't know about Warcraft the things you can still learn. I knew the Protoss had to be based on something in 40k. just didn't know exactly what. thanks for clarifying that one up
@@khronkos Really? I had heard both warcraft and starcraft were from (inspired/conceptualized however ya wanna call it) the GW IP's until GW pulled out. Made sense since both blizzgames were in development talks around the same time (warcarft first, then starcraft after GW wanted back in but pulled out (i heard) [they have a checkered history with copyright and IP ownership/loss])
Interesting! Was she a true villain or did she see the light by the end of the games? When they (storytellers) focus on villains they normally realise what they've done is wrong by the end. Most commonly on their death bed. KZ
I always love the bit in the LotV trailer, when the final zealot is staggering to his feet, and the music's tone shifts to sound almost defeated and beaten....until he reignites his sabers. And in time with the 2 blades ignitions, the beat returns in a triumphant double drum tap, along with the other instruments. That moment the music begins to rise again, as the pylon finally finishes porting in, and the reinforcements start to show up. Such a fantastic synergy of sound design and visual narrative. Love it.
ANOTHER brilliant breakdown Kia. I can tell your more experienced than me. The military just gives us the bare basics so but I can tell you've been in this business much longer than myself. Your attention to detail is spot on. I can catch maybe 80% of the techniques they use in a lot of these videos but you catch the other 20 and I cant thank you enough for pointing them out. Stuff like this is definitely going into the next video I have to make. And the final product will be just a little better because of you! Thanks again!
This is exactly why I make these and want to continue making them. Everything I discuss can be used in everyday filming and writing. I look forward to seeing your next video fella! Thank you again for watching! KZ
Wings of Liberty and Heart of the Swarm had two of the very best campaigns I have ever experienced! I was completely blown away and utterly sucked-into the story! I never did buy Legacy of the Void, though... perhaps I should.
Yes you should legacy of the void is the conclusion of kerrigan's ark it may seem like a protest story and in some ways it is but it's actually the ending of the StarCraft universe
Legacy of the Void was a bit of a let down... a lot of missions are just timed defense scenarios with different window dressing. If you ever want to experience Starcraft in a new way, check out the Real Scale Mod for the game. You want marines fighting a real scale ultralisk? Prepare for the beast's kaiser blades to chop through six of your soldiers in a swing.
Thanks for the input, folks. Appreciate it. I think I will. I played through SC1 and Brood War, so it seems a shame to miss the end. Sintanan, the Real Scale Mod sounds great fun! I'll check that out. Thanks.
Just as an idea, maybe just skipping through a bit of lore before watching game trailers would be helpful to get a better grasp at what you see, I think it'll help your breakdowns and reactions instead of being a bit lost by what's happening since you'd understand the general gist at least.
I've thought about doing that but I love the idea of stories educating me and pulling me in as a cold caller. Like seeing a movie without watching a trailer. I'll definitely consider it though going forward. Thank you so much for watching and commenting. KZ
@@kaizammit yes and no. Cinematic trailers are too short to explain much, and especially trailers dealing with a sequel are very based on interesting the people who played the first games. For example, "killing monsters" of witcher 3 is an excelent cinematic trailer, cool and all, but without the context of geralt being a mutant and professional monster killer it looses quite a bit of it's weight imo.
@@kaizammit plus on a more simple business and growth level, people checking out reactions are generally fans of the game that want somebody else to see what they love and displaying some recognition generally goes appreciated. You show genuine care and enthusiasme along with your filmmaker knowledge and that is already good enough tho, do what you enjoy, just some ideas from my pov
Very valid points my friend. I think I'll try your approach when I tackle World of Warcraft but the problem I face is where do I find the Information without it giving away to much information? KZ
Idk if anyone will see this two months after but, the Heart of the swarm trailer is such a good moment with it being a dream, because before the ending of Wings Of Liberty she was the Queen of Blades conquerer of worlds, and then she wakes up just as she had been saved, but it also shows how connected she still is to the swarm in that that's how she sees herself it's her voice calling herself the Queen of Blades and the entire campaign is her earning that title again only this time with some humanity still in her, making it both a dream about the past and with the planet we see in particular a premonition of the future
@@kaizammit basically Wings is a glorious return of a long dormant franchise. Swam is the long overdue of justice. in the very first game she was the loyal right hand of Mengsk during his time as a rebel against the previous government. He betrayed her causing her to be turned into the Queen of blades so every death she did after is because of that act. at the end of Wigns she is mostly human again and trying to rebuild her life with the only guy she cares about when the base they are at is attacked. and her boyfriend is reportedly executed. after a scream of despair amember of the swarm approaches her and though mostly human she can still control the swarm if she wished. so she willing takes path to become the Queen of blades again to get revenge though she is different then before as some say more human in mindset. .For Void the last majpr race lost their homeworld in Starcraft 1 so it starts with them trying to reclaim it only to find out a far bigger threat is emerging.
17:45 In this scene I like the contrast between the static and extreme speed and the suggestion of extreme forces under the surface of things, how static the frame of the cockpit is, while drops of water are ejected violently, sublimed by this little detail of a pendulum giving a strong sense of gravity and acceleration. It creates a tension, and strong expectation of liberation of energy.
I love the fact people are still playing even though it's quite old...right? I've actually installed the first one now after watching these. Thank you for watching, I hope you enjoyed the video. KZ
You're most welcome and I'm glad you enjoyed the video. Hopefully you stick around with the channel. Plenty more franchises for me to discover and breakdown. KZ
What I love from the Wings of Liberty teaser is, as a former Starcraft 1 player, you get a close up on a unit that you usually only see from a far distance in the actual game. Also the one liner reflects the 10 year waiting time between the release of the first game and its successor.
The way you explain this all sounds just like how you build a song and I never realized how similar the two were until you were explaining the ebb and flow of the sequences to make sure the consumer is never too bored or overloaded.
Really cool insights, I'd forgotten how much I loved especially the second cinematic, and it's very interesting to hear a professional's comments on some of the moments that made it so effective.
There are 3 playable races in SC2: terran (humans), zerg (the swarm), and protoss (blue alien guys). As far as story goes, the first game was about how Mengsk (ruler of the terrans) betrayed Kerrigan (the woman in the videos) which resulted in her being captured by the zerg and transformed into the queen of blades. The 2nd game is about her going after Mengsk for revenge (Mengsk is a tyrannical warlord who cares for none who stand in his way). The 3rd game is about the protoss trying to reconnect to their gods, the zel' naga, in order to create a new home world and destroy the zerg once and for all
Another piece of context about the BRILLIANT "foreshadowing" of the Queen of Blades, in that second cinematic: In that cinematic, she was PREVIOUSLY the Queen of Blades, that conquering warlord "stomping" on the human bugs, exactly as shown. But at that point in the story, she was supposed to have been cured, she was supposed to have regained her humanity. So the fear you see on her face as she wakes isn't just because it's a bad nightmare, it's a tell-tale sign that the Queen of Blades still lives within her. (And, then, yeah: the story plays out later almost exactly like that--it does end up being foreshadowing.)
Fun bit of history for you... (yes, this is leading somewhere, even if it might not sound like it at the start) In 1991, a small videogame studio without a single published title got approached by one of the biggest tabletop gaming companies to create videogames based on their wargame franchises. The big company in this relationship was Games Workshop, and they had approached a team of developers who called themselves Silicone & Synapse. After making a deal, and S&S having worked on the 2 big projects they'd been given for several years, GW scrapped the project, pulled their IP rights out of the small dev team's hands, and left them with far less money than had originally been planned to fund the development of these projects. Undeterred, this small videogame studio changed their name to Blizzard, adapted the game based on the fantasy setting of Warhammer into a new IP of their own, and published Warcraft: Orcs and Humans. This game's success led to Warcraft 2, which was a significant step up, and added a lot of new features into their game engine. But they also still had a partly-finished sci-fi game based on the Warhammer 40,000 setting. After a few years of additional work to refine the still-growing game engine they'd used in their first 2 Warcraft games, Blizzard released Starcraft. This was their most ambitious game yet, and the most successful at the time. It was hugely popular and not only got a massive audience, but became the first RTS to get a truly serious competitive community, as one of the first "esports" games in that newly-forming secondary industry within gaming. In a fun twist, if you look back through the history of Games Workshop, not only did their unfinished deal with the company which became Blizzard inspire Starcraft directly, with the Zerg being basically Tyranids, but the Tyranids were based on a mashup of ideas taken from the Aliens franchise and... the Starship Troopers novels. Starship Troopers directly inspired the creation of the bug-like alien race from the tabletop game which directly lead to the Zerg in Starcraft. Seeing Starcraft's Zerg and immediately saying it reminds you of Starship Troopers is absolutely on point for where the brand came from. Also, the first Starship Troopers movie came out literally a month before the first Starcraft game. It was *perfectly* timed to capitalise on the hype...
The Legacy Of The Void cinematic will always be the most epic game trailer ever made. I am overwhelmed every single time by everything that happens also because of these weird, detailed sounds: the voice over and the orbiting shot, the probe warping in the pylon, the zealot crashing into the banelings, the templars merging and annihilating the ultralisk and then the glorious ending with the warp in. It's absolute insanity, how can you even surpass this?
Minor correction, the voice over in legacy of the void is of Artanis, leader of the protoss. Hes still in orbit overseeing the invasion at this point. (He dosent appear at all in this trailer) The "main character" (the one with the scar over his left eye) is Kaldalis, Alhundalar, who was one of those leading the invasion. Not quite the main character, but significant nonetheless
one thing that wasnt mentioned was in the third one, when the Probe starts warping in the Pylon. the quick silence that happens, it just hints at the gravity (pun intended) of what is happening. you know that what the Probe is doing is important. and ofc, its foreshadowing for the end.
One slight note is that the Wings of Liberty intro was a teaser... but when they used it as a teaser, only the female adjutant's voice and Findlays "Hell, it's about time" were in it. The male voice was only added for the campaign intro when the game released, and it puts the whole scene into a different light. That's the voice of Arcturus Mengsk, who was a major character in Starcraft 1.
a cool note about the probe placing the pylon at 9:45 ish. the time in the cinematic it takes to warp in is the same amount of time it takes to warp in in the game
Note on the second video, when she (The Queen of Blades) stomps down on the remains of the statue, that's the statue of Arcturus Mengsk, whom is a nemesis to her. The entire plot of the expansion is the climax of their conflict. (For reference, Kerrigan executed Mengsk' family to which Mengsk used her and left her to the zerg (the bug creatures) whom assimilated her.)
8:00 There is a huge amount of lore behind that character, Sarah Kerrigan. In very, VEEEEEEEEERYYYY short form summation: Sarah Kerrigan was a Terran Dominion Ghost, a stealth/shadow operative that specializes in assassination, sniping, infiltration, and in her case, psionics/psi-ops as she is a very strong telepath. She eventually became the second in command of an elite unit called the Sons of Korhal. It is also during this time that she falls in love with the leader of Raynor's Raiders, James (Jim) Raynor, a former Marshal from the planet Mar Sara, and a highly trained spec-ops Marine (the big suit of armor that the guy in Wings of Liberty was being fitted into). During one of the first operations fighting back the Zerg (the bug/animal aliens, in this case intentionally drawn to Tarsonis to try to wipe out the Protoss (the race in the third trailer)), as the Dominion retreated, she was left behind on Tarsonis intentionally by the Emperor of the Dominion, Arcturus Mengsk. Instead of killing her, the Zerg Overmind (think: hive mind) realized that she was an immensely strong telepath, perhaps the strongest human telepath ever, and they instead cocooned her. This also causes Raynor, believing her to be dead, to split from the Dominion and form a resistance movement that quickly gains steam, becoming large enough to be a major threat to Emperor Mengsk. She was "re-egineered" (if that is the best term) into a half-human/half-zerg being, and her psionic powers were amplified something near 1000x, giving her control over trillions of Zerg spread across the entire sector of the galaxy, as well as making her THE strongest telekinetic being in the galaxy. She became the Zerg Queen (The Queen of Blades) and laid waste to hundreds of planets and billions of people, both through the amplification of her hatred for the Dominion, as well as some biological programming while being transformed into the Queen. Eventually, she breaks through the programming and regains full control of herself as Sarah Kerrigan, but she wilfully stays as the Queen of Blades out of sheer hatred and fury of what was done to her. Her ONLY soft spot is for Raynor's rebels, and even then she sometimes doesn't pull back the Zerg. That is where StarCraft ended. StarCraft II picks up several years later, and (SPOILER WARNING) at the end of Wings of Liberty, is intentionally targeted by, and hit with, a mutagenic agent that reverses most of the Zerg parts of her biology, except for her hair and some bone structures on her neck and head. Her eyes also will shift to their yellow pigment when she uses telekinesis or the full power of her telepathy.
First part has quite a bit of errors. Confederation ghost, not dominion ghost. The dominion was how the new terrans were called after arcturus mensk took over, who was the leader of the sons of korhal (as son of the senator of the planet korhal who(arcturus father the senator) was assassinated by kerrigan and her ghost team among the rest of his family outside of arcturus who was off planet at that time. The Sons of Korhal weren't an elite troop but a rag tag team of rebels (who also did terrorristic acts) lead by arcturus mensk who rescued Sarah Kerrigan from a Confed lab where they experimented with her telepathy as a way to control Zerg (only to use her and later leave her behind) Raynor also did not formed the Raynors Raiders for quite a while after the dominion was formed (he spend a lot of time in Starcraft 1 buddying up with the protoss) They did not lure the Zerg to Tarsonis for the Protoss nor was it one of their first mission, (it was the around the end of the terran campaign of starcraft 1). Tarsonis was the capital planet of the terran confederation that mensk attacked as revenge for turning most of his homeplanet into a desert by throwing around 1000 nukes at it (and assassinating his family) In order to lure the Zerg there, he used a psy emitter (of which the plans he stole from the confederation) to amplify the psionic imprint of a ghost (kerrigan) and sending it into space as they found out that the psionic signature of ghosts attracts zerg. Still holding a grudge against kerrigan (as she killed his father) and also fearing her power he left her down there to die. Mensk then struck back against the invading zerg and called himself out as the Emperor, Leader of the new formed Terran Dominion.
A bit of context for the "Stomp the bug" move - she is standing on top of broken statue of Mengsk - current leader of Terrans empire, who used Kerrigan on his rebelion then left her behind on planet attacked by zerg, which led into her becoming a Zerg queen eventually
Starcraft was such an amazing expiriance, these cinematics were a huge part of that. Blizzard as a company was one of the best in short form videos to build hype and tell stories. The starcraft lore was very underrated imo with love, loyalty, betrayal and revenge.
These trailers are absolutely awesome, but the campaign cinematics are just as amazing as well. There are a few that are my personal favourites to this day, like Fire and Fury from Wings of Liberty, or Alone and Warriors from Legacy of the Void. I'm hoping you go further down this rabbithole of StarCraft, because it is well worth the time!
Bro, I'm loving to see all the love that Starcraft seems to be getting these past few days. I played the first game a little bit a few years ago, but never played the second. A gem of a game and very effective storytelling all around! Nice video as always, Kai!
@@kaizammit I highly recommend a short film called Patient Zero by TheParryGod it's from the half life universe if you're familiar with it. Awesome videos can't wait to watch you react to it!
Starcraft 2 is probably my favourite game of all time. These cinematics have a lot to do for that. They're simply amazing and have made me a fan of both the artwork, the storyline and the game. Simply stunning, I started playing the beta in 2009 iirc, I still get chills from these.
I have seen these cinematics a billion times, but only your analysis shown me a beautiful aspect of the Legacy of the Void video. The narrator also mentions it but every member of this race (protoss) is connected telepatically. When you mentioned how nicely they react to each other narratively it’s also a perfect demonstration that they constantly knows each other thoughts. Brilliant.
Hey there, the queen of blades was a villain during previous games and during wings of liberty campaign, but got rescued and made human again (she was betrayed by human emperor, and infected by the swarm). What we see in a trailer is her dream, as she never forgave emperor for his betrayal.
![FILMMAKER REACTS: WARFRAME | [ALL PRIME TRAILERS!!]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/4dRMf0axoLY/mqdefault.jpg)
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The queen of blades was a badass villain the dream was a dream of the past her, but also forshadowed an invasion she starts later in game after retaking the zerg swarm, also the story of the games are about 3 races on a war for survival many, wars and under diferent circuntances each
I don't care that the sponsor info is really early in the vid. Based on how many people do it, it must be required. But the intro portion and the sponsored portion should be separate in the video timeline IMO
I've binged all of your videos just now and I am not normally a person who enjoys reaction content.
I will say that I love that you let the video play. Even though I have seen these cinematics before; Watching & reacting with you as it plays out is enjoyable.
I personally would like to see more Overwatch cinematic reaction content. I haven't played the game since the first year of release, but I still love the cinematics.
Have you considered recording your gameplay and reacting/ discussing the story as you play it through?
Thanks for commenting my friend, I actually did do that but the sponsor asked me to remove it. Hopefully it wasn't too much of a disturbance. KZ
@@J3553xAnotherFanthank you so much, I'm glad you're enjoying my videos. It really means a lot.
More Overwatch videos to come so don't worry, I've already decided which one it will be✌🏻. I've not ever thought about streaming or capturing my gameplay before. I'll have to think about it some more, thank you for the suggestion. KZ
Fun fact , in the legacy of the void one the time it takes for the pylon to warp in is exactly the same amount of time it takes in the game to warp in.
It isn't. It's about three times as long. The archon merge is the in-game length.
There were a lot of awesome gameplay-inspired moments in that one. The templar waited until they were weakened to merge into an archon. Very often the pro players do that to get the most out of their templar units before merging. And the banelings trying to take down the pylon because they know it comes with reinforcements. Such a good cinematic for many reasons.
The unit warp in time is fk all tho
@@AshenVictor Bros been in too deep playing fastest the last decade. it is the actual speed.
I play at normal speed. I absolutely hate playing faster because units move very fast kinda like real insects and lose their weight and inertia feel which kills the game for me.
Tychus Findlay's line at the end of the first cinematic echoes the sentiments of the entire StarCraft fanbase at the time. The first game released in 1998 and the sequel didn't come until 2010. "It's about time" indeed.
With Starcraft 2 starting development somewhere in 2002ish (the earliest gameplay footage they released is from 2005 and that's build #365) I'm sure it echoed the sentiments of the dev team just as much as it did of fans ^^'
My Mom called my at Work. The preorderd Starcaft 2 CD!!! ( NOT online) was delivered. I walk to my Boss : Boss I need a few Vakation Days, He agreed. I went Home an just playd the Story strait in 1 GO. ( ok i feld asleep on the Pc )
Spoiler:
It's also the last voiceline in the epilogue when kerrigan gets back to reynor
I remember the date my grandmother died because she died 27. July 2010 ... and I'm horrible with dates without my agenda... 12 years since brood war and 8 years since rumours started spreading about SC2 developement ... and they truly delivered ^^ although i don't play anymore .. too old and too much other stuff going on to train up the skills
came here for this
I always thought of Blizzard as a cinematics company that makes games. Their art team and cinematics team are unbelievable.
I still think Wrath of the Lich King is the greatest cinematic ever made. 15 years later and it still holds up.
Were. Past tense.
I think it's Blur Studios that's done their cinematics
@@DoctorM42 Well, no.
The art and cinematics team continues to be great... but the games that come out with said cinematics have gone down the shitter.
@@Jagernotty that cinematic is great, when you know about Arthas` story. If you do not know, it is a well made, but not very impressive trailer.
The ending of the 'Heart of the Swarm' trailer where Kerrigan wakes up is especially powerful because you dont know if what you saw is a memory, a dream, or a premonition of things to come.
Oh, actually, her waking up is after that battle that unfolds on the screen. She ravages the city and it looks like Terrans lost, but in the end, Kerrigan is captured.
@@rusozawr4969ehm, you do realize that city is Augustgrad, y'know, korhal? She was captured on Char, brought to umojan facility, then HOTS happens, and it ends with invasion of Korhal.
@@marks7484 maybe baby
@@rusozawr4969 just admit you misinterpreted the scene.
@@SynneDennis never 😡 angy!
I know it was mostly fanservice, but the line "power overwhelming" is something that gets me every freaking time. Like someone else mentioned, goosebumps. And after the sole probe finished building the proxy pylon, so mass reinforcements can finally warp in, man, that right there is exactly how you speak to your consumer base. To see actual game mechanics serve as a base for the brief story you want to tell, just pure beauty. Starcraft will remain one of my greatest memories when it comes to gaming, the productional and creative value was beyond measure, not to mention true spirit and passion. Blizzard still had those back then, amazing cinematics indeed, messengers of a cool era of gaming.
I think HotS had the best intro cinematic from an outside point of view, but if you play the game then LotV is the coolest for sure. I was so invested in the fight that I wasn't really thinking about the building warping in; I wasn't even sure it wasn't just a cinematic-only kind of thing, but when it was revealed that it was a Pylon warping in it got me so hyped.
I was so incredibly bad at the game, never got over 70 apm but I loved it. Bronze league was complete madness, both people have a strategy, but they just don't have the apm to execute and it devolves into utter chaos - wonderful.
@@Hari-du6pt lmao you're not alone, still my favorite game tho
Talking about Blizzard fanbase, I agree with you completely. I first saw Zeratul when I was a 13 year old boy in 2000. And I saw the end of his story 15 years later. What an epic journey that was. Hats off to Blizzard for making SC
Knowing a bit about the Protoss really adds to the last trailer. They warp in structures and units, so when the probe (the little robot dude) starts the warp, it starts the stakes of "this needs to finish, these guys need to protect this thing, or else every thing was for nothing" Its sort of a securing the beaches of normandy moment.
literally when he's going to make his last stand and the pylon finally warps in, it's literally like the end of endgame lmao
Totally agree. That pylon is the last hope to warp the Protoss reinforcements. That's why the whole remained army risked their lives protecting it until completion.
I am also annoyed that the video owner does not know anything about Starcraft, but make reacting videos on the great Starcraft trailers
@@sangun123 i love how the probe even get named and turner into a hero in Heart of the Storms XD
@@sangun123not the first time a big movies/studios copied a Blizzard cinematic.
I still want to know - WHAT HAPPENED TO THE PROBE??
My favorite bit about the transforming robot dude is that to properly convey how heavy and haphazard they are as a unit they made it start shooting at the ground before it finishes landing and slowly and with difficulty start correcting its aim.
I did notice that it was shooting the ground. Such an epic moment visually. Love it! KZ
I would hazard a guess that he was using recoil of his miniguns to get into shooting position faster.
Its also accurate as vikings are one of the most clunky units in the game, especially on the ground
accurate as in lore very few pilots survive training as the transformation process from flyer to walker kills most by twisting their body in ways it shouldn't
@@ProtosR Someone who read the unit descriptions in the armory :D. I fucking loved reading those and watching the little idle animations for the units, wish I could experience it for the first time again haha
10:18 *POWER OVERWHELMING* Goosebumps every time.
That archon is probably one of the best moments in any Blizzard cinematic. The only thing that might rival it is Wrath or the Lich King.
My Life for Aiur
It's a glimpse of the direness of the Protoss faction, like dayum..
Favorite race will always be protoss, but the line when a Battle cruiser comes online is forever a top of mine for some weird reason xD "Battle cruiser, operational"
@@jackthompson7546 It is just such a simple promise of the power available. No need to hype it up, no screaming, no threats or promises. Just "your flagship is here".
There's footage of the last cinematic, for Legacy Of The Void being shown in cinemas and the auditoria going mental, especially at the Archon Merge - where the two High Templar, one of whom is injured - cease to be individuals and convert themselves into a being of pure psychic rage.
The warping in of the Pylon, which allows the mass assembly of Protoss warriors on the battlefield is also timed using the game's internal clock - it takes exactly the right amount of in-game time to warp. Details like this simply didn't appear in other company's cinematics
I fucking love Legacy of the Void cinematic. Always gives me tears as someone who is Protoss for life.
@@RuneKatashima Yeah protoss main here too my guy, have been since the first game came out. Still gives me chills watching that.... also it is really amusing that my internal clock would tell you when that pylon was finishing without visual or audio cues at this point in my life lol.
@@RuneKatashima As a fellow protoss, same. MY LIFE FOR AIUR!
I did not know that! Such a nice wink to the fans and attention to detail.
@@RuneKatashima en taro Artanis friend.
Man..... legacy of the void opening cinematic is the most adrenaline filled intro ever... you can feel the desperation in their fight. It still gives me chills all these years later.
"we will retake our home world and with it... our legacy"
En taro Tassadar!
And MCU copied it on their End Game last battle.
I've watched each of these trailers a dozen times over the years and they never fail to get the heartrate up. Always so masterfully hype!
Thank you for covering these trailers! A bit of context to the lore: it's about 3 alien races: Terrans (humans), Zerg (insect-like aliens with hive mind/ swarm intelligence) and the Protoss (high-tech aliens from the third trailer). These fight for dominance in a remote sector of the galaxy called the Korprulu Sector.
The leader of the Zerg (Kerrigan, aka the Queen of Blades) was once human but was transformed into a Zerg. In Wings of Liberty you try to save the humans from the Zerg by making Kerrigan human again. That's why it's always a bit funny for me when people who haven't played Starcraft say at the beginning of the second trailer: "makes sense" and as soon as it is shown that it was just a dream they get a little confused, sometimes asking: "So she wasn't an alien?". Because for those who played it, it was kind of the other way around: "But we healed her, why is she Zerg again?"
I love the way that even though she is portrayed as "the bad guy", if you have played all the Starcraft games you end up rooting for her to win due to the injustice she suffers by the hands of Mengsk.
@@GENERALTIM21she did commit a few genocides but her story is so well written (especially in StarCraft 1) that you forget it.
He should react to the ending cinematics...
Kerrigan is villain, no doubt about it. But her story is a tragedy. Even her ascension does not redeem her. She is a monster, with a human heart, like what she did for Warfield, sparing his men.
@@MotRi1986I will never forgive. En Taro Fenix. “Kuhn de’Lar!” The Tip of the Spear!
The Heart of the Swarm intro is one of my all time favorite cinematics. the soundtrack, the vibes, everything.
For my tier list it only takes second place. First is the inofficial Wings of Liberty trailer "Ghosts of the past"
I... am the swarm... armies will be shattered... worlds will burn.
second place for me, first one is the short one after finishing conviction. nothing hits me like "do you still believe in me?"
Yes how i love this intro, i still watch it from time to time
LEGACY OF THE VOID>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
A bit of real world exposition on the Wings of Liberty teaser trailer, it was the first trailer of StarCraft 2. Between Brood War (the only expansion of StarCraft 1) and Wings of Liberty, there was about a decade of empty time. When the prisoner Tychus Findlay said "Hell, it's about time," it wasn't just him expressing himself - it was an approximation of the years of hype and anticipation that everyone had been feeling since Brood War ended.
Not quite the only expansion. There were 2 others one blizzard authorized and the other not. They were launched without much fanfair and very little advertising. Starcraft:Insurrection was released 3 months before Brood War and was an official expansion by Aztec Media. It offered no new units but has 30 story missions and 100 new maps. It was am interesting play but didn't alter the Blizzard storyline.
The unofficial one was Starcraft:Retribution by Wizard Works in 1998. it alsp has 3 new campaigns and 120 maps. But didn't mess with the main story lines. It had different heroes and villains. It was a very difficult expansion vs the other 2.
As they came out before Brood War neither expansion new what to do with BWs new units making both of them rather easy to beat once they were intriduced. Unlike the main SC game these expansions allowed the new units but wouldn't build them as they were not programmed to.
I remember when my friend gave me a link to the trailer of WoL, I watched it till the end, heard Tychus' line and thought "...yeah, exactly", almost angry that he ripped out of my mouth something I just was about to say.
And then there were agonizing two-ish years until the game was finally released :)
I get teary eyed every time I watch these trailers.. they’re all so good 🥲
20:00 when you're talking about the flying transformer (Viking) I think the amount of intensity they put into the characters is phenomenal. He's squeezed the miniguns into action even before they're lifted up against the giant beast thing (Ultralisk). Aside from the frame and focus, the lighting and the smoke, the CHARACTERS are what struck me as amazing in these trailer videos and also the games, both in-era and still today.
Viking* Valkyries are the ones that just flew through before Viking
@@epicbird1568 thank you. im not always smart
And I just thought: How stupid was this pilot? Why would a Viking transform to Assault Mode to land just in front of a friggin Ultralisk and rightfully get torn to shreds in a second?
What a moron!
But yeah, the whole trailer still gives me the chills, even after all this time!
@kaizammit: Thanks for the whole analysis. This actually helps to understand some of the details that made those so great, like the whole "putting the foot down". I didn't consciously notice that one but I'm my my subconcious was influenced by stuff like that. :)
@@erijian1263 I think he was trying to win some time for tanks
@@epicbird1568 Yeah, probably. Still stupid, given how the Ultralisk didn't even slow down. :D
I think this was exactly what they wanted to show: How unstoppable The Swarm is.
Just wanted to highlight a neat little detail in the 3rd cinematic - Legacy of the Void. Early you see the probe unit initiate a warp-in action; this later becomes the pylon later in the cinematic that enables all the reinforcements to arrive. The cinematic expends 60 seconds for this to complete. This is also how long it takes to happen in the game. It's a very interesting way to illustrate what can happen in just one minute. :)
Build time for a pylon is 30 seconds
@@hangover89 It varies.
@@PurpleHeartE54 It literally doesn't. Build time for a SC2 Pylon is 25 Blizzard seconds. Which was then rescaled to 18seconds when they made blizzard time match real time in Legacy Of The Void. In both cases a Pylon would take 18sec on a stopwatch.
@@Kassidar You kinda proved my point there to an extent.
actually carbot animation's parody video has literal gametime limit :D, on archon merge, pylon, and warp in without nexus nearby, which was changed in that expansion. If the player warps in in the base it is 5 sec then erlier but if it is a pylon on the filed the build time is higher.
23:33 . Yes she do becomes the queen of blades. It was a foreshadowing of her becoming the queen but also explains what happened to her at the end of wings of liberty.
Glad you liked the trailers! I love Starcraft lore and blizzard cinematics are still some of the best in the business!
For some context:
The first trailer was the announcement teaser for Starcraft 2 which had been years in the making so the "Hell, its about time" was just as much the fans saying FINALLY AN SC2! as it was the marine himself. Those marines btw are a basic unit. So for me, as a lore nerd, it was super sick to see all the tech that goes into the most basic fodder of the Terrans(human) faction in the game.
The second trailer follows a woman named Kerrigan, who was originally a human, but was left on a planet to die to the Zerg(Swarm, bug guys). Instead of dying though She was taken, became infested, and eventually became the leader of the swarm for various story reasons. At the end of Wings of Liberty(from the first trailer), she's mostly purged of her zerg traits(minus the hair) which is why she has that fever dream of her invading Humanity's SC2 equivalent of Earth. (She's still mad about being betrayed).
For the third trailer: The Protoss(blue guys) had their homeworld destroyed by the zerg in the first Starcraft game. This cinematic is them creating a breachhead to finally start taking back their desrtoyed homeworld. There's another video thats a prequal done in all 2d stills called "StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void - Reclamation" that showcases the leader and the protoss with 1 eye from the cinematic that is super cool that enhances the cinematic a lot I'd recommend you check out!
Best summary !!!!❤
Thx !!! I don't get this better 😊
Thank you so much for all that information! Means a lot. I was so impressed by the trailers that I've installed the first game! Wish me luck. KZ
@@kaizammit i hope you enjoyed it!!!
The story is so big an so beautiful!
This can be a big big deep dive for you😁✌️
@@kaizammit Starcraft 1 is from 1998, so some things might feel dated (unit pathing sucks), but I hope it doesn't take you away from the awesome story. Reminder that Starcraft 1 has an expansion, Brood War, that extends the story. Have fun!
@@kaizammitI recommend playing on some easyish setting. The story and cinematics of the first two installments are so good that it's worth playing through. No need to have too high a difficulty hindering a good story experience 😊
I always liked how the pylon being able to warp in troops was a game mechanic they used in the trailer.
200-Gate Proxy pylon All-In
yeah but the Protoss player only had minerals lol bad macro.
If you want some other REALLY COOL Blizzard stuff, check out some of the in-game cinematics on these games. Standouts include "Artanis Alone" and "The Betrayal of Kerrigan." Also awesome is the trailer for Heroes of the Storm, a MOBA-style Blizzard game that pulls characters from all their different properties.
SC2 is well worth a playthrough. The story, cutscenes, music, and cinematics are all very good.
You forgot "best love story of all times".
@@ZY1982 This better be sarcasm.
It has really good production value, but I feel like the story isn't very good as a sequel story. If it was on its own, I would give it a pass, but it's following after the phenomenal StarCraft 1, and also just kills or otherwise warps a lot of character personalities.
Kerrigan and the queen of blades is something of a fan favourite storyline. For various reasons, Kerrigan manages to retain elements of her personality while being assimilated into a hive mind super swarm that covers most of the galaxy, and takes it over as the dominant personality. Consider the treatment of the first soldier in that trailer, and remember Kerrigan was from the same army and society.
" I go to face him, having renounced everything. My humanity. My identity. The man I love. But I will not face this enemy alone. I am the Swarm."
----
"You can never suffer enough for all the lives you've ruined, Arcturus."
"I made you into a monster, Kerrigan."
"You made us all into monsters."
The swarm becomes less mindless and far more strategic and planned out and gains elements of psychological warfare under Kerrigan, and so on.
As to your question as to whether she's a real villain by the end? She's... controversial. Anti-Hero or Anti-Villain maybe.
Heart of the Swarm is all about her personal journey to redefine herself in terms of being a hero or a villain, and wrestling with which she is now and which she wants to be. She mentions a few times she will answer for what she's done, *after* she's finished with her villanous bullshit.
Tv tropes:
"Heart of the Swarm shows her still swaying between Anti-Hero and Anti-Villain, finally settling on an Anti-Hero Noble Demon but until then edging on Villain Protagonist in her darker moments.".
It's better to understand her as a person who is going insane through their situation being taxing in terms of extreme pain and clinging on to general humanity due to their hive mind status, has a very legitimate grievance with various people, and struggles to remember about collateral damage along the way, who also has to deal with the fact that everybody wants them dead for likewise legitimate reasons and whose survival depends on being an assimilating swarm hostile to all life in the universe.
She swings back and forth between "Fuck em, if I have to be this to survive, I will" and "I'm slipping. I'll kill the assholes and then let everyone kill the swarm" and various positions in between. She eventually finds an enemy who wants her *and* everyone else dead she's comfortable doing a suicide charge against "Because the alternative is to lay down and die", and (Maybe?) does so, satisfying all her motivations.
I just wish that she was better characterized with this internal struggle outside of the big cinematic moments. Pretty much the entire campaign was just her going "we need to get stronger and crush the competition so I can kill Mengsk. Screw the costs and the collateral."
I mean, you can see hints of it, with how she abhors Abathar, but uses him because he's useful and she can limit the damage he does. But her interactions with Zagara should've been prime moments of her wavering between just being the swarm and maintaining her humanity, as Zagara was the perfect opportunity to be the devil on her shoulder while Karrigan's teachings would slowly make her learn morality, not just tactics and strategy, changing the swarm forever even after Karrigan is gone.
What the fuck are you talking about? The skinwalker they have in SC2 has nothing in common at all with SC1 Kerrigan. They took the most evil character in the universe and made her space jesus, and this was after Brood War went to such lengths to show that she's completely in control of her actions.
SC2 retcons are so extreme that you can't even consider most of the characters as the same people. You claim Kerrigan was going insane, she was completely sane and rational the for all of SC1 and BW. She *was* one of tthe best villains in gaming until SC2 ruined everything about her that made her interesting.
The funny thing is she can't even get through HotS without some of her original character accidentally slipping in. But everyone seems to just conveniently forget about the Protoss tribe she completely massacred on that ice world. Raynor forgiving her, and even claiming he's in love with her was the first obvious sign that something had gone horribly wrong with the writing. He goes from swearing that he'll hunt her down and kill her for what she's done, to becoming a total simp willing to sacrifice his entire rebellion to save her.
_For various reasons, Kerrigan manages to retain elements of her personality while being assimilated into a hive mind super swarm that covers most of the galaxy, and takes it over as the dominant personality._
Kerrigan was designed by Overmind. He could not defy Amon, so he created someone who could. Someone who would be able to both lead the swarm and to challenge fallen Xel'Naga.
_As to your question as to whether she's a real villain by the end? She's... controversial. Anti-Hero or Anti-Villain maybe._
She is a villain, no doubt about it. But a sympathetic one. You can understand and relate to her and her actions.
_Heart of the Swarm is all about her personal journey to redefine herself in terms of being a hero or a villain, and wrestling with which she is now and which she wants to be._
While Kerrigan was engineered, her design was not flawless. And just all of the zerg, she needed to evolve. That was the point.
_She swings back and forth between "Fuck em, if I have to be this to survive, I will" and "I'm slipping. I'll kill the assholes and then let everyone kill the swarm" and various positions in between._
Not really, she is quite determined and knows where she is going. Her bouts of "humanity", like what she did to Warfield men, letting them go, is because they pose no threat and he asked for it. Its pragmatism.
_She eventually finds an enemy who wants her and everyone else dead..._
True, but she was meant to find him. Whole Mengsk affair was merely a distraction.
@@sjent What I was trying to say was that while yes, I could see bits and pieces of Kerrigan's struggle, most of it was in a handful of cinematics, and barely appeared at all during briefings, conversations between missions, and in mission dialogue. She was 95% mission focused outside of a few key cinematics.
And as for her initial conversion, of course she retained her personality. What the Overmind did was upgrade her to be it's perfect agent, not turn her into another mindless drone like the rest of the swarm. Like a Cerebrate that can move around and fight. She'd have to learn her psychic powers from zero if it erased her memories, and considering how absolute the Overmind's control over the Zerg was, it's no surprise that it had no worries about Kerrigan betraying it. She never did either, and she only managed to free herself after it was dead.
I also don't buy the "weapon against the Xel'Naga" bit, unless if it was something from outside the games. Kerrigan was supposed to be a clue to advancing the Zerg race with psychic powers most likely. It was the one spot where the Zerg was weakest, as no Zerg unit had any real psychic powers beyond telepathy.
@@komo6103 _And as for her initial conversion, of course she retained her personality._
Not really "of course". Infested terrans do not retain any. Kerrigan was allowed to retain most of her personality and memories.
_Like a Cerebrate that can move around and fight._
I am pretty sure that Cerebrates are semi-stationary. They can warp, but it is a very limited ability. Also they cant really fight fight, using their psionic powers instead.
_She'd have to learn her psychic powers from zero if it erased her memories_
Not really. Knowledge of how to use psionic powers could have been retained, while her personality would be erased.
_and considering how absolute the Overmind's control over the Zerg was, it's no surprise that it had no worries about Kerrigan betraying it_
Overmind foresaw it death and Kerrigan was meant to replace it. I would hazard a guess that Kerrigan going against Overmind was a possibility, after all she was meant to be free from foreign influences, acting completely independently, but there was simply not enough time for it to happen.
_I also don't buy the "weapon against the Xel'Naga" bit, unless if it was something from outside the games._
There is quite a lot of lore about it. Overmind clearly meant for her to take over the Swarm and eventually face Amon. It absolutely hated control that Among had over it, so Kerrigan was meant to remedy all of it. She was suppsoed to be a leader that would be completely free from Amon control and eventually confront him when time would come.
_Kerrigan was supposed to be a clue to advancing the Zerg race with psychic powers most likely._
Zerg already had psychic powers, altho in limited amount and completely different from those of either terrans and protoss. This is why psi emitters affected them.
Overmind had a plan to assimilate terrans and merge psi powers or both species to greatly enhance them. This is how Kerrigan, already potent psychic, went all the way up not to 11, but to like 99, after her transition. Both of them enhanced what she already had. Resulting her being able to unleash so much power, that it could engulf whole planets in psionic storms.
_It was the one spot where the Zerg was weakest, as no Zerg unit had any real psychic powers beyond telepathy._
Not in games, but according to lore certain types of zergs had psychic powers. They were carefully maintained, as those traits were very hard to cultivate. Something that for species centered on constant rapid evolution, was a big problem. You either evolve or you keep psychic powers, not both.
Loved the breakdown of some cinematics that got me hyped back when they first dropped.
To answer a question on the ending of the Swarm trailer, the dream sequence is a foreshadowing of the final climax of the campaign where the Queen leads the swarm to the human Capital world, and has to break through their strongest defenses.
All in all, it's really cool to see a discussion of these from someone with a solid filmmakers vocabulary, and some of the little added details like the camera getting pulled in before resettling during that sacrifice scene really go a nice way to showing how many little details go into productions like this.
Thank you for watching and taking time to comment. Means a lot 🙏🏻. Plenty more to come on this channel, KZ.
I really like how the HOTS cinematic begins with how the story ends, and ends how the story begins... Its kinda like... weird bookmarks
@@janejvmmsvictoria5857 Honestly, it is genius as it opens a lot of questions for different viewpoints. In the video he states "Wait, that was all a dream?" while people who played the games up until then were like "Wait, she is Zerg again?" - So many nuances it is amazing. What a shame the company fell off so badly.
Man, every time I watch these cinematics I always get chills--they're so good.
Honestly, I *never* saw an in-game cinematics that were THAT good. Nowadays games drift toward cinematics done on the game engine, which looks good, but never that great...
When the WoL trailer was shown the first time, it was shown to Korean audiences, and they weren't told beforehand that this was a Starcraft sequel. If you look up the reaction videos, it's fun to see them start to put the pieces together and get excited about it, especially Tychus Findlay's line there at the end.
As for the Queen that's what she was. They captured her after they restored most of her human genome and mind. And at the same time its a sorta fore shadowing of what she will need to be. I highly suggest you play all three parts. They came to use as i believe if i remember correctly three separate games or One game and two expansions i don't exactly remember.
WARNING SPOILERS!!! -- @shriike2001 don't forget that the entire original purpose behind the Overmind originally capturing and adapting Kerrigan was to escape the absolute control from the SC2 BBEG. Kerrigan was originally a loophole to preserve the zerg as a species.
Growing up playing starcraft these cinematics still give me goose bumps and what a story they wrote. From power hungry men, loosing everything, fighting for survival to a love story in all this carnage was a an emotional ride for me, surely for many of us that played the games.
Also, just wanted to say that I love your detailed analysis of cinematics!
I've followed a handful of similar channels but your takes are very detailed and you get many new aspects that others have missed! Also, always good with repetition!
Knowing all these tricks and techniques makes it more impressive when I watch new cinematics, realizing how much thought has gone into creating it and not just "This looks cool".
EDIT: words and typos
The way you approach those videos and how much love and understanding you show for the art is just so comforting to watch. If you want another series of epic trailers maybe you could go for the Witcher 3 because the were just amazing
I'm glad you enjoyed the video and the Witcher is on my list. Thank you so much for commenting, it means a lot. KZ ✌️
Sounds like an awesome idea! Bump.
Ohh yes, "Killing Monsters" trailer is creme de la creme of game trailers.
The context of how long it was between the first and second game makes the first trailer way more impactful.
Hey dude, been watching TH-cam for 15 years now and from a TH-cam content POV, you have a good niche here.
With the audience from the gaming/pop culture sphere and transitioning them into cinematography.
Your channel deserves more than 5K subs.
Thank you so much, I'm sure time will tell. I've been doing this for 3 months so fingers crossed. As long as you and everyone else enjoys the content, then I'm happy. Thanks for watching and commenting fella, means a lot. KZ
Just found your channel and gutted you don't have more. You are on to a winner. Love the react format you have and please keep then coming.
Legacy of the Void trailer still gets me emotional.... power overwhelming
I'm sure you have a lot of recommendations on what to react to next, so I will add another if that's alright! The Warhammer 40k Armoring a Space Marine Ritual is great!
Well he already did Astartes and he absolutely loved it, so I'm thinking he'll love most of the 40k cinematics.
I hope so but you never know 🙏🏻 KZ
"power overwhelming" literal goosebumps.
Not sure if you're familiar with Halo at all or if it fits the scale of your reactions, but the remastered cutscenes for Halo 2 by Blur Studio are some incredible work. There's a number of collections uploaded on here (For example 'Halo 2 Anniversary All Cutscenes - Halo 2 Movie - Remastered by Blur Studios [1080p @ 60fps]'). I'd generally suggest skipping to the 1:50 mark as the first scene is always a scene from Halo 5, but the first 11 minutes or so with the difference between Chief/Arbiter as well as the 'space battle' is some great remastering done (:
I love Halo hence my little Chief on my desk in the videos. However saying that, I never played Halo 2 remastered, I did with the first. Something for the channel maybe? KZ
@@kaizammitDO IT
Rrally good analysis of film making techniques, love how you break it down shot by shot and provide comparison from other movies. Very knowledgable and enjoyable, would watch you all day.
All 3 of these SC2 cinematics legit had me teary eyed. The first one after waiting so long from SC1. The second and third ones after being so invested in such a good story in the games.
A bit of a small detail - the speaker in the Legacy of the Void trailer is actually Artanis, the Heirarch of the Protoss (at that time). The 'hero' that is displayed is called Kaldalis / Khaldalis. He can be seen in the StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void - Reclamation video, where he and Artanis have a talk before the cinematic canonically takes place.
This was an awesome breakdown. Really on the mark with how you felt the videos were trying to tell you something vs how the games/narrative for them went. I think it would be really cool if you go and watch the Mass Effect trilogy trailers and break it just as these 3!
This is amazing and refreshing content. Learning a lot je, Cheers!
What I love about these cutscenes is how they manage to tie in game mechanics to the actual visuals, in a way that feels natural and nice.
I would suggest watching Amerigo Space Station cutscene from the Original Starcraft as it blows my mind how atmospheric it is even with limited resources the team had at that time.
Oh yeeeah, that's my absolute favourite cinematic from SC1 - even with the still-to be developed 3D animation techniques. The atmosphere and storytelling is absolutely amazing even though the video is ~3 minutes long.
"Thank god for cold fusion."
th-cam.com/video/9AL-kScqdr0/w-d-xo.html
_Very_ quick run-down of the Starcraft lore:
In the first game the Zerg Hive Mind (the creepy monster-aliens) started mass-conquering planets, with the Terrans and Protoss (the aliens from the LotV trailer, basically techno space-elves) struggling to work together until they finally killed the main hive brain of the Zerg, which had settled on the Protoss' homeworld.
However, the remaining minds of the Hive turned the captured human Kerrigan (seen in her mutated form in the HotS trailer) into their new connection point, which they aimed to control as a puppet. She disagreed and went on a war against all 3 factions - which thanks to a bunch of infighting among Terrans and Protoss actually worked, leaving her as the ruler of the Zerg Swarm.
Starcraft 2's first campaign, Wings of Liberty, plays from the Terran's perspective, with the goal of catching and un-infesting Kerrigan, which they eventually manage to do.
Heart of the Swarm then opens up with Kerrigan coming to terms with her past as a monster (the "dream" was a memory of an actual invasion she led), until she realizes she has to reclaim that position to prevent an eldritch god from taking control over the Swarm and destroying everything instead.
Legacy of the Void in turn plays from the perspective of the Protoss, with their first order of business being to free their home world, which had remained infested by Zerg despite the destruction of the original Hive Mind.
For me it was always kerrigan saying thankyou to Jim and him saying "my pleasure darlin, always was"
Gets me every time.
My friend, knowing the story behind those videos will make you feel the art x1000. I still watch the intro of Legacy of the Void feeling goosebumps, listening Artanis trying to recover back his planet, watching the Ultralisk intro and the fight against the high templar becoming the Archon.
The three vids are for the three expansions. Each expansion focuses on a different race (three in total). Starcraft is Dune, it's Warhammer, it's Starship Troopers, and many other things. I thought that the third one would end with an "My life for Auir." It makes me tear up every time (because F Terrans).
Thank you for clearing that up ✌🏻. KZ
Thanks for the video! I was afraid to see just a typical reaction video, so I was glad to hear your professional commentary👍
Personally love the Wilhelm scream, its a bit of a tradition at this point to have at least one in a movie/series. I like to be immersed and suddenly Wilhelm scream. Always gets a chuckle
Yea it is more of a homage than anything else.
It was in the first SC also, i think it was the Firebats that had it if you clicked on it several times.
The most awesome part is that everything we saw on the trailers happens in a similar enough way in the game.
-Protoss pylons being able to warp units anywhere within a pylon
-Terran Viking unit being able to fly and land
-Zerg units surrounding enemy units and overwhelming them by sheer numbers
(Between other things, and even after some artistic liberties were taken)
Those were good times for being a Starcraft fan.
Hey Kai, by all means, please do play the game!
I thoroughly enjoyed you reacting to the trailers and I would love to see you reacting to all the cutscenes etc. , which are also amazing by the way! The story is captivating and you get really immersed in the experience - a fantastic game where you can feel how important the game was to everyone involved making it.
Thank you for watching, hope you enjoyed the breakdown too? KZ
My life for aiur!! 😢😢😢😢😢
To have the same effect you have to have played since starcraft 1... Otherwise, it's a good cinematic but it won't make you cry
Super glad you took to the time to watch this videos and react to them! Some people down here also did a great job summerize what's going on in the games to better understand the cinematics.
That "was that a dream" bit... that was foreshadowing. She turns into that Queen as the game series goes on. I believe that Blizzard North were originally slated to make a Warhammer 40k game back in the day but GW pulled out so Blizzard changed up some of the game, names etc. Thus was born Star Craft. The marine at the beginning and the "bugs" were supposed to represent the Imperium's Space Marines and the Tyranids, but after the split from GW we got this instead. and it was a good thing for Blizzard too. they are great story tellers, or they were at any rate. The last race was a race they created, dunno what the inspiration was. Chaos+Tau maybe i dunno. but they are the Protoss so the RTS had 3 factions.
You should look at the other Cinematics that they have for Starcraft. Or hell even do some videos on the Wow cinematics.
Protoss was supposed to be Eldar/Drukari/Aeldari(Space Elves). Thus the whole righteousness/architecture style/ haughtiness of elves and the split between Dark Templars and normal Protoss.
Also Warcraft was supposed to be Warhammer fantasy, thus the Orcs being green (The big change from Tolkiens Orcs) and Horde like and Goblins looking like they do and "working" for Orcs. Naga of Warcraft were *probably* first concepted to be like lizardmen, but changed with everything else when GW pulled out. Most of Warhammer fantasy is based off LOTR loosely (carrying over much of the fantasy style base but making it depressingly more grimdark), but set in like fantasy earthlike planet.
Warcraft was supposed to be a Warhammer 40k game like you said (not starcraft). It is a common, often repeated misconception. Starcraft was blizzards own creation, bizzarely it was originally meant to be about space vampires *shrug*.
@@openfly4u ahhh that i didn't know about Warcraft the things you can still learn. I knew the Protoss had to be based on something in 40k. just didn't know exactly what. thanks for clarifying that one up
@@khronkos Really? I had heard both warcraft and starcraft were from (inspired/conceptualized however ya wanna call it) the GW IP's until GW pulled out.
Made sense since both blizzgames were in development talks around the same time (warcarft first, then starcraft after GW wanted back in but pulled out (i heard) [they have a checkered history with copyright and IP ownership/loss])
Interesting! Was she a true villain or did she see the light by the end of the games? When they (storytellers) focus on villains they normally realise what they've done is wrong by the end. Most commonly on their death bed. KZ
I always love the bit in the LotV trailer, when the final zealot is staggering to his feet, and the music's tone shifts to sound almost defeated and beaten....until he reignites his sabers. And in time with the 2 blades ignitions, the beat returns in a triumphant double drum tap, along with the other instruments. That moment the music begins to rise again, as the pylon finally finishes porting in, and the reinforcements start to show up. Such a fantastic synergy of sound design and visual narrative. Love it.
ANOTHER brilliant breakdown Kia. I can tell your more experienced than me. The military just gives us the bare basics so but I can tell you've been in this business much longer than myself. Your attention to detail is spot on. I can catch maybe 80% of the techniques they use in a lot of these videos but you catch the other 20 and I cant thank you enough for pointing them out. Stuff like this is definitely going into the next video I have to make. And the final product will be just a little better because of you! Thanks again!
This is exactly why I make these and want to continue making them. Everything I discuss can be used in everyday filming and writing. I look forward to seeing your next video fella! Thank you again for watching! KZ
Wings of Liberty and Heart of the Swarm had two of the very best campaigns I have ever experienced! I was completely blown away and utterly sucked-into the story!
I never did buy Legacy of the Void, though... perhaps I should.
Yes you should legacy of the void is the conclusion of kerrigan's ark it may seem like a protest story and in some ways it is but it's actually the ending of the StarCraft universe
Legacy of the Void was a bit of a let down... a lot of missions are just timed defense scenarios with different window dressing.
If you ever want to experience Starcraft in a new way, check out the Real Scale Mod for the game. You want marines fighting a real scale ultralisk? Prepare for the beast's kaiser blades to chop through six of your soldiers in a swing.
Do it!
Thanks for the input, folks. Appreciate it. I think I will. I played through SC1 and Brood War, so it seems a shame to miss the end.
Sintanan, the Real Scale Mod sounds great fun! I'll check that out. Thanks.
more then a decade yet the first cinematic still gave me goosebumps
That means they did it right the first time!
Just as an idea, maybe just skipping through a bit of lore before watching game trailers would be helpful to get a better grasp at what you see, I think it'll help your breakdowns and reactions instead of being a bit lost by what's happening since you'd understand the general gist at least.
I've thought about doing that but I love the idea of stories educating me and pulling me in as a cold caller. Like seeing a movie without watching a trailer. I'll definitely consider it though going forward. Thank you so much for watching and commenting. KZ
@@kaizammit yes and no. Cinematic trailers are too short to explain much, and especially trailers dealing with a sequel are very based on interesting the people who played the first games. For example, "killing monsters" of witcher 3 is an excelent cinematic trailer, cool and all, but without the context of geralt being a mutant and professional monster killer it looses quite a bit of it's weight imo.
@@kaizammit plus on a more simple business and growth level, people checking out reactions are generally fans of the game that want somebody else to see what they love and displaying some recognition generally goes appreciated. You show genuine care and enthusiasme along with your filmmaker knowledge and that is already good enough tho, do what you enjoy, just some ideas from my pov
Very valid points my friend. I think I'll try your approach when I tackle World of Warcraft but the problem I face is where do I find the Information without it giving away to much information? KZ
Idk if anyone will see this two months after but, the Heart of the swarm trailer is such a good moment with it being a dream, because before the ending of Wings Of Liberty she was the Queen of Blades conquerer of worlds, and then she wakes up just as she had been saved, but it also shows how connected she still is to the swarm in that that's how she sees herself it's her voice calling herself the Queen of Blades and the entire campaign is her earning that title again only this time with some humanity still in her, making it both a dream about the past and with the planet we see in particular a premonition of the future
I see everything!
@@kaizammit basically Wings is a glorious return of a long dormant franchise. Swam is the long overdue of justice. in the very first game she was the loyal right hand of Mengsk during his time as a rebel against the previous government. He betrayed her causing her to be turned into the Queen of blades so every death she did after is because of that act. at the end of Wigns she is mostly human again and trying to rebuild her life with the only guy she cares about when the base they are at is attacked. and her boyfriend is reportedly executed. after a scream of despair amember of the swarm approaches her and though mostly human she can still control the swarm if she wished. so she willing takes path to become the Queen of blades again to get revenge though she is different then before as some say more human in mindset. .For Void the last majpr race lost their homeworld in Starcraft 1 so it starts with them trying to reclaim it only to find out a far bigger threat is emerging.
As the person who requested this on the Diablo 4 react video, I really appreciate you doing this. Great video once again!
This channel is shaped by you guys, I just hope you enjoy the content. Thank you for watching another one. KZ
17:45 In this scene I like the contrast between the static and extreme speed and the suggestion of extreme forces under the surface of things, how static the frame of the cockpit is, while drops of water are ejected violently, sublimed by this little detail of a pendulum giving a strong sense of gravity and acceleration. It creates a tension, and strong expectation of liberation of energy.
Was just taking a break from playing SC2 when I saw this vid pop up in my notifications. Nice!
I love the fact people are still playing even though it's quite old...right? I've actually installed the first one now after watching these. Thank you for watching, I hope you enjoyed the video. KZ
Thanks for this content. Was very enjoyable to watch someone appreciate this from outside the community
You're most welcome and I'm glad you enjoyed the video. Hopefully you stick around with the channel. Plenty more franchises for me to discover and breakdown. KZ
21:30 did not expect these to be that funny 🤣🤣
What I love from the Wings of Liberty teaser is, as a former Starcraft 1 player, you get a close up on a unit that you usually only see from a far distance in the actual game. Also the one liner reflects the 10 year waiting time between the release of the first game and its successor.
As someone who started Starcraft as a kid on the N64 lol, that "Power Overwhelming" gives me nerd chills EVERY time I watch this,
The Protoss cinematic always gave me chills, so damn cool. Blizz always nails their trailers
That Legacy trailer still makes me cry a bit every time I watch it. So beautiful. I miss that kind of high quality stuff...
The Capt's "Avenger assemble" in the Avenger Endgame scene reminds me of this One-Eyed Zealot scene at the end.
The way you explain this all sounds just like how you build a song and I never realized how similar the two were until you were explaining the ebb and flow of the sequences to make sure the consumer is never too bored or overloaded.
Really cool insights, I'd forgotten how much I loved especially the second cinematic, and it's very interesting to hear a professional's comments on some of the moments that made it so effective.
I completely agreewith the famous "aah" sound at 22 min. Always felt the same about this passage
Second clip wasnt just a dream. It was a memory. She whipped out entire worlds before she got to where she is at the end of that cinematic
There are 3 playable races in SC2: terran (humans), zerg (the swarm), and protoss (blue alien guys). As far as story goes, the first game was about how Mengsk (ruler of the terrans) betrayed Kerrigan (the woman in the videos) which resulted in her being captured by the zerg and transformed into the queen of blades. The 2nd game is about her going after Mengsk for revenge (Mengsk is a tyrannical warlord who cares for none who stand in his way). The 3rd game is about the protoss trying to reconnect to their gods, the zel' naga, in order to create a new home world and destroy the zerg once and for all
Another piece of context about the BRILLIANT "foreshadowing" of the Queen of Blades, in that second cinematic:
In that cinematic, she was PREVIOUSLY the Queen of Blades, that conquering warlord "stomping" on the human bugs, exactly as shown. But at that point in the story, she was supposed to have been cured, she was supposed to have regained her humanity. So the fear you see on her face as she wakes isn't just because it's a bad nightmare, it's a tell-tale sign that the Queen of Blades still lives within her.
(And, then, yeah: the story plays out later almost exactly like that--it does end up being foreshadowing.)
Fun bit of history for you... (yes, this is leading somewhere, even if it might not sound like it at the start)
In 1991, a small videogame studio without a single published title got approached by one of the biggest tabletop gaming companies to create videogames based on their wargame franchises. The big company in this relationship was Games Workshop, and they had approached a team of developers who called themselves Silicone & Synapse. After making a deal, and S&S having worked on the 2 big projects they'd been given for several years, GW scrapped the project, pulled their IP rights out of the small dev team's hands, and left them with far less money than had originally been planned to fund the development of these projects.
Undeterred, this small videogame studio changed their name to Blizzard, adapted the game based on the fantasy setting of Warhammer into a new IP of their own, and published Warcraft: Orcs and Humans. This game's success led to Warcraft 2, which was a significant step up, and added a lot of new features into their game engine. But they also still had a partly-finished sci-fi game based on the Warhammer 40,000 setting. After a few years of additional work to refine the still-growing game engine they'd used in their first 2 Warcraft games, Blizzard released Starcraft. This was their most ambitious game yet, and the most successful at the time. It was hugely popular and not only got a massive audience, but became the first RTS to get a truly serious competitive community, as one of the first "esports" games in that newly-forming secondary industry within gaming.
In a fun twist, if you look back through the history of Games Workshop, not only did their unfinished deal with the company which became Blizzard inspire Starcraft directly, with the Zerg being basically Tyranids, but the Tyranids were based on a mashup of ideas taken from the Aliens franchise and... the Starship Troopers novels. Starship Troopers directly inspired the creation of the bug-like alien race from the tabletop game which directly lead to the Zerg in Starcraft. Seeing Starcraft's Zerg and immediately saying it reminds you of Starship Troopers is absolutely on point for where the brand came from. Also, the first Starship Troopers movie came out literally a month before the first Starcraft game. It was *perfectly* timed to capitalise on the hype...
The Legacy Of The Void cinematic will always be the most epic game trailer ever made. I am overwhelmed every single time by everything that happens also because of these weird, detailed sounds: the voice over and the orbiting shot, the probe warping in the pylon, the zealot crashing into the banelings, the templars merging and annihilating the ultralisk and then the glorious ending with the warp in. It's absolute insanity, how can you even surpass this?
Awww!! I always get shivers and goosebumps when I watch this. The cenimatic Trailers are fucking insanely awsome!
Minor correction, the voice over in legacy of the void is of Artanis, leader of the protoss. Hes still in orbit overseeing the invasion at this point. (He dosent appear at all in this trailer)
The "main character" (the one with the scar over his left eye) is Kaldalis, Alhundalar, who was one of those leading the invasion.
Not quite the main character, but significant nonetheless
Makes me emotional every time watching these cinematics, a call back to a great story, great memories of a better time :')
one thing that wasnt mentioned was in the third one, when the Probe starts warping in the Pylon. the quick silence that happens, it just hints at the gravity (pun intended) of what is happening. you know that what the Probe is doing is important. and ofc, its foreshadowing for the end.
One slight note is that the Wings of Liberty intro was a teaser... but when they used it as a teaser, only the female adjutant's voice and Findlays "Hell, it's about time" were in it.
The male voice was only added for the campaign intro when the game released, and it puts the whole scene into a different light. That's the voice of Arcturus Mengsk, who was a major character in Starcraft 1.
Raynor: Tychus. WHAT DID YOU DO.
Tychus: I made a deal with the Devil Jimmy.
a cool note about the probe placing the pylon at 9:45 ish. the time in the cinematic it takes to warp in is the same amount of time it takes to warp in in the game
Note on the second video, when she (The Queen of Blades) stomps down on the remains of the statue, that's the statue of Arcturus Mengsk, whom is a nemesis to her. The entire plot of the expansion is the climax of their conflict. (For reference, Kerrigan executed Mengsk' family to which Mengsk used her and left her to the zerg (the bug creatures) whom assimilated her.)
9:01, haha, you had me with that "we lost", because it comes from a person that is new to the saga, so cute. :)
Very good video, I enjoyed it. :)
8:00 There is a huge amount of lore behind that character, Sarah Kerrigan. In very, VEEEEEEEEERYYYY short form summation:
Sarah Kerrigan was a Terran Dominion Ghost, a stealth/shadow operative that specializes in assassination, sniping, infiltration, and in her case, psionics/psi-ops as she is a very strong telepath. She eventually became the second in command of an elite unit called the Sons of Korhal. It is also during this time that she falls in love with the leader of Raynor's Raiders, James (Jim) Raynor, a former Marshal from the planet Mar Sara, and a highly trained spec-ops Marine (the big suit of armor that the guy in Wings of Liberty was being fitted into). During one of the first operations fighting back the Zerg (the bug/animal aliens, in this case intentionally drawn to Tarsonis to try to wipe out the Protoss (the race in the third trailer)), as the Dominion retreated, she was left behind on Tarsonis intentionally by the Emperor of the Dominion, Arcturus Mengsk. Instead of killing her, the Zerg Overmind (think: hive mind) realized that she was an immensely strong telepath, perhaps the strongest human telepath ever, and they instead cocooned her. This also causes Raynor, believing her to be dead, to split from the Dominion and form a resistance movement that quickly gains steam, becoming large enough to be a major threat to Emperor Mengsk.
She was "re-egineered" (if that is the best term) into a half-human/half-zerg being, and her psionic powers were amplified something near 1000x, giving her control over trillions of Zerg spread across the entire sector of the galaxy, as well as making her THE strongest telekinetic being in the galaxy. She became the Zerg Queen (The Queen of Blades) and laid waste to hundreds of planets and billions of people, both through the amplification of her hatred for the Dominion, as well as some biological programming while being transformed into the Queen. Eventually, she breaks through the programming and regains full control of herself as Sarah Kerrigan, but she wilfully stays as the Queen of Blades out of sheer hatred and fury of what was done to her. Her ONLY soft spot is for Raynor's rebels, and even then she sometimes doesn't pull back the Zerg. That is where StarCraft ended. StarCraft II picks up several years later, and (SPOILER WARNING) at the end of Wings of Liberty, is intentionally targeted by, and hit with, a mutagenic agent that reverses most of the Zerg parts of her biology, except for her hair and some bone structures on her neck and head. Her eyes also will shift to their yellow pigment when she uses telekinesis or the full power of her telepathy.
First part has quite a bit of errors.
Confederation ghost, not dominion ghost. The dominion was how the new terrans were called after arcturus mensk took over, who was the leader of the sons of korhal (as son of the senator of the planet korhal who(arcturus father the senator) was assassinated by kerrigan and her ghost team among the rest of his family outside of arcturus who was off planet at that time.
The Sons of Korhal weren't an elite troop but a rag tag team of rebels (who also did terrorristic acts) lead by arcturus mensk who rescued Sarah Kerrigan from a Confed lab where they experimented with her telepathy as a way to control Zerg (only to use her and later leave her behind)
Raynor also did not formed the Raynors Raiders for quite a while after the dominion was formed (he spend a lot of time in Starcraft 1 buddying up with the protoss)
They did not lure the Zerg to Tarsonis for the Protoss nor was it one of their first mission, (it was the around the end of the terran campaign of starcraft 1). Tarsonis was the capital planet of the terran confederation that mensk attacked as revenge for turning most of his homeplanet into a desert by throwing around 1000 nukes at it (and assassinating his family) In order to lure the Zerg there, he used a psy emitter (of which the plans he stole from the confederation) to amplify the psionic imprint of a ghost (kerrigan) and sending it into space as they found out that the psionic signature of ghosts attracts zerg.
Still holding a grudge against kerrigan (as she killed his father) and also fearing her power he left her down there to die.
Mensk then struck back against the invading zerg and called himself out as the Emperor, Leader of the new formed Terran Dominion.
I really enjoyed and loved watching this, thank you
You are so welcome! Thank you for watching and commenting, it means a lot! KZ
Imagine being someone who used to play this alot in the 90s and then seeing this level of cinematics of your old digital toys.
A bit of context for the "Stomp the bug" move - she is standing on top of broken statue of Mengsk - current leader of Terrans empire, who used Kerrigan on his rebelion then left her behind on planet attacked by zerg, which led into her becoming a Zerg queen eventually
Starcraft was such an amazing expiriance, these cinematics were a huge part of that. Blizzard as a company was one of the best in short form videos to build hype and tell stories. The starcraft lore was very underrated imo with love, loyalty, betrayal and revenge.
I still get chills everytime I watch Heart of the Swarm cinematic
These trailers are absolutely awesome, but the campaign cinematics are just as amazing as well. There are a few that are my personal favourites to this day, like Fire and Fury from Wings of Liberty, or Alone and Warriors from Legacy of the Void. I'm hoping you go further down this rabbithole of StarCraft, because it is well worth the time!
Bro, I'm loving to see all the love that Starcraft seems to be getting these past few days. I played the first game a little bit a few years ago, but never played the second. A gem of a game and very effective storytelling all around!
Nice video as always, Kai!
Maybe this is fate telling you to play it now? Thank you for watching and commenting, I appreciate it very much. KZ
@@kaizammit I highly recommend a short film called Patient Zero by TheParryGod it's from the half life universe if you're familiar with it. Awesome videos can't wait to watch you react to it!
Starcraft 2 is probably my favourite game of all time. These cinematics have a lot to do for that. They're simply amazing and have made me a fan of both the artwork, the storyline and the game. Simply stunning, I started playing the beta in 2009 iirc, I still get chills from these.
When Duku got on his knees it was already over... You know, missing his hands and all haha.
I have seen these cinematics a billion times, but only your analysis shown me a beautiful aspect of the Legacy of the Void video. The narrator also mentions it but every member of this race (protoss) is connected telepatically. When you mentioned how nicely they react to each other narratively it’s also a perfect demonstration that they constantly knows each other thoughts. Brilliant.
No matter how many times I watch legacy of the void, it always brings me tears and goosebumps towards the end.
Hey there, the queen of blades was a villain during previous games and during wings of liberty campaign, but got rescued and made human again (she was betrayed by human emperor, and infected by the swarm). What we see in a trailer is her dream, as she never forgave emperor for his betrayal.