FILMMAKER REACTS: STARCRAFT 2 | ALL "Legacy of the Void" CUTSCENES!!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 มิ.ย. 2024
- UK Filmmaker Kai Zammit reacts to all cutscenes from Starcraft 2 Legacy of the Void. It's time to finish this!
Watch my in depth breakdown of the Starcraft 2 cinematics - Wings of Liberty, Heart of The Swarm and Legacy of The Void.
• FILMMAKER REACTS TO ST...
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⚡️ Chapters:
0:00 Intro
1:11 Filmmaker Reaction
44:59 Filmmaker Mini-Review
🟧 View the original video here: • StarCraft 2 The Trilog...
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I know that this has already been suggested but I’d LOVE to see titanfall 2 looking at cutscenes and some gameplay. Plus you don’t need the first game to understand it, besides for the fact that Blisk is an amazing warrior for the enemy side.
If you wanted to do a separate video on the trailer here is a link to the trailer that doesn’t have copyrighted music, I know the issues with that so you can’t look at all of the trailers! Plus gamers playground has done a cinematic video with gameplay!
th-cam.com/video/VqeMjHmL9eg/w-d-xo.htmlsi=TXZqUQtljcerUDyP
I would suggest both the Homeworld series and the Command & Conquer franchise
I would suggest the Nova covert ops campaign cutscenes. It's not as large as the main 3 campaigns but imo it's done very well and the story is quite good.
Alternatively, the original StarCraft 1 and StarCraft brood war cutscenes are AMAZING, albeit much fewer and far between, and of course quite old and dated. They are still fantastic though.
Alternatively alternatively, there's a StarCraft content creator who makes his own fanmade cutscenes. They are *extremely good*, possibly better than even the best blizzard sc1 and sc2 cutscenes. The channel is called 낙마 Nakma, and I would recommend his most popular 3 cutscenes.
Starcraft: Judgement Cinematic (2023)
Starcraft: Tassadar (2023) episode I: Eye of the storm
Starcraft: Tassadar (2024) The death of the overmind.
Telltales The Walking Dead and also the first and second Homeworld games, the storytelling is amazing for those
@@vapouriz3rr hey don’t forget about Deserts of Kharak bud
"There must be something in the works, they cant be sitting on this IP" man i wish that was true
Well now that Microsoft owns them… maybe
Yeah maybe for the best, with the new blizzard sc3 might have been abysmal.
I’m not holding out hope, but then again if EA can pull their heads out of their pockets and make an actual C&C game that is just like the older ones and not like Tiberian twilight, then maybe there might be hope for SC3
With how Blizzard is right now; man I wish it isn't.
@@Caldera01 i know, the way i said it was implying that the blizzard we knew is dead, and that Blizz themselves killed the IP even before they went south
Zeratul saying "my life for Aiur" right before dying to essentially save the protoss will forever be imprinted in my brain. One of my favourite cinematics from any game.
Agreed, That scene really hits Hard, when you know the backstory - and probably doesn’t resonate as much if you dont.
A dark templar (which Zeratul is) who Long time ago left/was driven from their homeworld Aiur due to conflict with the Templar, sacrifices his life on that very planet, to save a templar, because he knows it is the only Way to save the protoss as a united species (and the rest of the Universe) - and he does it with that Line “my Life for Aiur “ which is a classic iconic protoss soundbite (maybe the most iconic in the game), that is almost imprinted into the minds of StarCraft gamers.
Goosebumps every freakin time!
@@Jonaskp its even more that too, being a Dark Templar, they have existed off Aiur for so long that they have their own homeworld (Shakuras), and while Aiur is still his ancestral homeland, it probably wouldn't feel that way to many dark templar as it had been quite a bit of time. He wasn't saying I die for our home, he was saying I die for your home, all in the name of unity despite their differences and infighting.
@@Jonaskpthe most important thing you forgot to mention is that despite being driven from their home, the elders and leaders of the Nerazim have always loved their home of Aiur and still see it as their true home. For that they will lay their lives for their ancestral home like the Khalai who chased them away the moment they are needed
It was also that love that Vorazun chose to destroy Shakuras without a second thought if it means it could help them reclaim Aiur
@@Jonaskp Zeratul is a dark templar, the faction that was driven off aiur by the templar, and were forced to find a new homeworld. But in this line we see zeratul still does see and does everything for their homeworld, and more importantly, the PEOPLE of aiur.
Not only this, but zeratul also blames himself, as does everyone for the fall of aiur to the zerg. And in this we see that through everything, he always did everything for aiur.
there are so many cutscenes missing here, there are some good dialogs and moments that he didnt see because of that
Alarak, my favourite character!
Yeahhhh its a shame just how many aren't in here.
@@ImAmirus Still, they're key understanding. Some get added so why not all ?? That's stupid in my opinion
yeah hope he goes back and rewatches the ones he missed.
@@ImAmirus A bold move to imply anyone who disagrees with you on a random youtube comment to be irrational lol.
A fun fact i really like about the epilogue bit: Zergs and Protoss are essentially the "chosen races" while humans are just there so when they go in the void dimension the zerg's regeneration protects them, the protos's psi-shield protects them, and the terrans have to pray they can patch up their hull breaches fast enough to not all die.
Also the bad guy corrupted the destined fusion between the bug aliens and the psychic aliens to become god aliens.
And then humans stumbled into their sector of the galaxy. 22:40 Fate ain't written.
Kerrigan, strongest human psychic ever, got substituted in, became queen of the bug aliens...
And eventually, a god.
What no Gellar Field does to you when you travel to hell
it's a pity he never got to see Alarak(the best boi) conversation with the others in StarCraft 2.
Ah, "Not" Q-From-Star-Trek
Alarak the High Edgelord is awesome, lol. Made some good or normal conversations into amazing conversations.
The best dialogue of the LotV:
“You think us fools?”
“Yes, but that is irrelevant”
True haha, noone beats his sassiness
Alarak is so dope.
Some dark eldar vibes.
Ending the campaign with the same words and places that it all started is absolutly amazing. 5 years to have that last little shot. It was really good. I remember playing it all night and I just couldn't get enough of that last part . It was like 3 am when I ended the campaing and it felt just so good.
Love those moments. You go to bed with a smile on your face.
@@kaizammit Exactly!
@kaizammit He cut the ending cinematic to exclude all the characters we weren't introduced to because he cut all the cinematics with thier introductions. This is like 1/3-1/4 of the cinematics in Legacy of the void. Find a different video
The "Hell it is about time" in the wings of liberty was a nod for starcraft fans who have waited for nearly two decades for a sequel of the first game. The line given by Jim at the legacy of the void was a nod for the romantic story that fans have following for nearly 2 decades.
I’ve told others this so I might as well say it here:
If the story and cutscenes interest you, pick up the game, play on casual/normal, whatever, and enjoy the ride. A lot of the storytelling involves you setting up the next cutscene or dialogue after a victory. You are very much a part of what happens before, during, and after battles.
I’ve played since the original Starcraft and its Brood War expansion. You don’t need to be an rts master to enjoy it. SC II and its difficulty settings make that more flexible. People new to real time strategy games can play a more approachable difficulty, and rts veterans can face a harsher challenge aiming to check their skills constantly. Either works. Enjoy it in the way that is best for you.
It’s not all tryhard competitive over 9000 apm nonsense. Starcraft is cool, and I love it. Happy to see others check it out.
Fun fact, the reason that most protoss ships and buildings don’t have roofs is due to the fact that they are photosynthetic, they don’t exactly have mouths. The protoss are my favorite race in StarCraft auir is their homeworld and the zerg overtook it in the first StarCraft. They called zeratool (the razeal guy) a trator because he killed the dark templar monarch because she was being mind controlled by the zerg. The nerve cords are how they mainly communicate and the dark templar (like zeratool) cut theirs from a young age but because they are sacred the high templar (the base or normal guys you see) see them as fallen or dark, again in the first StarCraft there was a bit of a rivalry and war around it
Yup, that would do it. 😆
Slight correction. That's why the dark templar consider Zeratul a traitor, however the rest of the Protoss consider him a traitor because his actions lead to the zerg discovering the location of and taking over their homeworld Aiur.
@@ImAmirus true but lets be honest the force field is more of a blanket over the structure/vehicle and the same tech is on the every unit so probably on everything
Zeratul*
Him not losing himself in booze at the end was my favorite bit, he went from feeling guilty when thinking about her to being proud of what she had done at the end.
And Jim getting his good ending was a long time coming, tough not to root for them.
Naaah, my Headcannon is that Jim is out there, dead, rotting in the middle of nowhere in the wastelands of Mar Sara.
30:10 The really important thing here is that Rohana is a Preserver. Preservers are (were) an extremely sacred and important position - they are living libraries, using the Khala to store the knowledge, memories, and personalities of every Protoss that ever lived (assuming said Protoss had the Khala, since not all of them do - Zeratul was part of a group that ritually severed it, hence why he was able to free Artanis). Convincing Rohala is literally the equivalent of convincing their entire civilization.
Trying to convince their entire history.
Fun Fact: Rohana, with the giant RIng behind her head, that was possessed, is voiced by Claudia Christian, aka Susan Ivanova from Babylon 5.
at 44:18 : your question "how did she do that ?"
Kerrigan has become Xel'Naga, as such, she can create a vessel of her will like tassadar was of Ouros's will, so she just created herself as the woman she was to leave with JIM Raynor at last, JIM probably know that, so he was just waiting for her to do that and come to him (he waited her 2 years i think)
Nice! Thank you for telling me.
Small correction, they retcon the timeline so now the three years was from the end of LotV to Into the Void, (no longer three years after Into the Void to Jimmy disappearing) and after that like a month later Kerrigan left the Swarm for Jim.
There is also theory's that Jim dies and that is him going into the light.
@@menderus8801 honestly, I don't think death is even a concept that applies to Jim after this event. He leaves with Kerrigan and in doing so leaves his mortal life behind, since there was nothing there for him anymore. But saying that he died is selling his story short, because we know some aspect of him went on to traverse the Universe with Kerrigan.
@@menderus8801 That theory doesn’t hold up when you consider it says “Two Years Later” just before the Epilogue cinematic.
If it was really death and afterlife, that time mark wouldn’t have been shown, especially in its digital form.
I mean, it is a theory, just a not well-thought out one because of several subtle aspects they put in, including the news outlet.
23:30 you dont need to wait for it to be remade. The game stands the test of time admirably.
Plus the first campaign is free to play
The Khala basically connected the minds of every protoss, like a gigantic library, severing yourself from it meat basically to sever yourself from history, from knowledge and from the memories of your dead friends and such, its a really big thing for the protoss all on all
Technically only the preservers have access to the giant library portion. The rest just share their thoughts and emotions through the khala and can only access a tiny portion of the stored knowledge.
no, it's more like deleting their fb, ig, and twitter accounts
Что более важно - через Кхалу они эмпатически чувствуют друг друга.
И она положила конец гражданской войне, в ходе которой они отправили себя чуть ли не в каменный век, вырезав друг друга
"Hell it's about time" holds so much weight for this series. Tychus says it at the end of the Wings of Liberty trailer and that specific shot was also used as the announcement trailer for the game back in 2007. At that time it's been almost 10 years since the release of the original Starcraft. The hype was insane. The line was a bookend not just for the campaign but for Starcraft 2 as a whole.
Unfortunately Blizzard has stopped supporting SC2 (i.e. producing major updates and new content) since 2020. Most SC2 veterans are pinning their hopes on an upcoming RTS from a new studio comprised of staff who originally worked on SC2.
Absolutely worth a playthrough. So many interactions between characters that adds loads of depth that makes you love all of them even more. Alarak, Phoenix, and the Phase Smith specifically.
It's Fenix.
This isn't "All" the cinematics. You don't have Alarak's introduction, Purifier missions, or Karax's ascension to Templar.
The part that starts at 36:50 is a chapter of Legacy of the Void called Epilogue. It becomes available after the main game but it was always part of the game. It was not a DLC released later.
Again, just like with HotS, there are many contextual scenes in-between the cinematics that need watching to grasp what is going on.
You are essentially watching the resolution without the conflict for each of the cinematics.
The "DLC part" is actually the Epilogue of StarCraft released at the same time with LotV. It is a 3 missions story that meant to capped off the saga, with each mission letting you play as one of the three races, thus giving each of them equal screen time.
The last scene with Kerrigan returning is meant to be ambiguous. It could be the usual magic MacGuffin where she survived somehow, it could be that it was all in Raynor's head, that he died and Kerrigan took him to the afterlife, etc... up to you. The credits have a slideshow of "where are they now" for all the characters, with the only clue for Raynor being "James Raynor was last seen in Joey Ray's bar where his badge was recovered. He was never heard from again."
What's the point of being a god if you can't do a miracle every now and again?
dude when you said they needed to do a slow zoom in at 42:15 to make it "more powerful" i just laughed. as a long time fan of starcraft, having played from the original to legacy of the void I can tell you. this was already one of the most powerful scenes in the game
god i waited for this. Legacy has the most Quality IMO and im enjoying it as much as you do hopefully!
There is a 4th set of Starcraft missions and cutscenes with the Nova Covert Ops missions
For a bit of context for this expansion, It was broken into 3 parts and released a couple months apart, the part with Zeratul until the 3:55 mark, than the main game until 35:27 cutscene with the last bit being the end which most of the community felt was rushed.
The ending cutscene with Kerrigan most people believe that since she's Xel'naga and has control over the "Purity of Form and Purity of Essence" which allow the Xel'Naga to change form and Dna in beings she transformed and took Jim away for their endless honeymoon, or as a joke it was all a dream when Jim passed out at the bar in the first game and Kerrigan came to pick him up after the day
Most of the contexts for the cutscenes in this game are mostly in gameplay and the hub through conversations and a couple of cutscenes I didn't see in this video about the other legions and them uniting with the Daelaam
There's an animated cinematic that was revealed outside the game, in preparation to the release of them, as a trailer. In it, there's a summary of Protoss history and lore, especially the importance of Aiur, the Kala, and the unity of Protoss in the darkness of losing Aiur to the Zerg. I would recommend it because it prepares you well for the very for the initial in-game scenes. Also, very emotional.
Xel'Naga can shapeshift. I have no idea why they choose the squid form. But yeah kerrigan can return to her original human form whenever she wants.
Idk, I think they look kinda cool as squids, I like the many eyes. Really sells the idea of mostly indifferent gods that do not really care about much but their cycle
If you change your appearance over and over again to the one that emerged from the created races and live forever, you stop caring about what you look like.
it's their natural form, which I'd assume would be the most comfortable form for them to be in.
Something I noticed: the first and the last words spoken by a character on screen were the same (hell, it's about time), so for me it adds additional feeling of ending where it started.
And yes, the last part is left ambiguous - some believe it was in his head, some don't.
But the ending slides (not shown in this video) tell us that previously uninhabitable worlds became green, and jim disappeared, with only his Marshal's badge found in the bar.
Also, you watched not only the LOTV cutscenes, but also epilogue cutscenes, that's why you felt as if it was "tacked on".
23:04 When I was taught how to shake hands I was told that extending your hand palm up was a 'Submissive/Inviting' handshake, hand extended palm sideways was an 'Equal/Join' handshake & a hand extended with the palm down was a 'Dominant/Comply' handshake. All were a way of showing authority or position to the other so that handske was Artanis inviting Raynor to join him as an equal. 31:30 'Today we must come together', this is a message that humanity must hear & embrace because our divisions are destroying both our planet & our species. Just as the Protos with their different Glans are one race so are we & we must work as one race if we are to evolve beyond what we are now.
Nope, it was Raynor who turned Artanis' arm, cos he noticed Zeratul's psi blade. He wasn't aware Zeratul was dead atm. It's not about a handshake philosophy, it's much simpler: it shown him, that Artanis embraced Zeratul's legacy.
@@DTSREOK still pretty cool knowledge to learn!
Who tf needs to be taught how to shake hands? Also I call BS on that whole thing. Those meanings only exist if everyone involved is aware of them and agree to them, else it means nothing.
@@-Devy- there are a bunch of things that can be thaught that are only caught at a subconscious level before you even learn of it. Learning things allow you to expand the way you think, and to be prepared for whatever comes your way. :>
@@-Devy- Back in the day (& some still do) Elite schools did give classes on how to be a Proper Gentleman/Woman where students were taught proper edicate like handshakes, cutlery usage, how to dress & for girls how to sit or stand up while wearing short dresses, even how to stand in line while waiting to be introduced to someone & how to talk respectfully to your superiors, (a class I see you could use). There is a lot edicate that is lost due to it not being taught anymore so people don't know or don't care about it anymore. But I guess you do know enough to know why we shake hands
My favorite cinematic has to be the one on Korhal where Artanis is talking to Raynor. Artanis speaks with the authority he has but with such tenderness, which just feels like a nice hug when mixed with that telepathic reverb effect they put on. And of course the detail of Raynor turning Artanis's hand to show Zeratul's blade, in that moment realizing a close mutual friend was yet another casualty in this war. Now that I think about it... the cinematic starts with the local losses with the bodies and graves everywhere, then they start talking about the more general destruction and death on other worlds, they decide on their next course of action and move to make it happen, and then that fucking handshake, without a word Raynor gets on the same page as Artanis, and now it's personal. "Did you know this warrior?" "No, but I knew THAT one."
Ah man you haven't gotten the _highlord_ cinematics... I love Alarak!
In the Starcraft 1 campaign you play as Artanis in the the protoss campaigns as he was a exeutor(you as the player) controlling the units
Well, technically you were a nameless executor and in the broodwar campaign Artanis was introduced as a praetor. It was later retconned into Artanis being the executor.
Thank you so much for following my recommendation and watch all the scenes of SC2! Means the world! Can't wait know to see you play StarCraft 1, BroodWar (SC1 expension) then SC2 so you can understand the whole story! Unfortunatly, no plans for any StarCraft game heard so far... Glad I took you into this!
24:40 that was such a gif-able reaction
You are so right! 💪🏻
I think that a sort of important part is missing. At the end, after she shows up at the door there is a title saying that no one has ever seen Jim again. It’s a small thing, but I love it and what it implies.
Yes, Amon is the "force of nature" villain.
Yeah, the best part about Raynor is that he's just some hick, backwater sheriff who ended up in the right place at the right time to be important.
I like your comment on the redemption. As Tolkien said "Every story is, in some way, a reflection of the Great Story."
The fun part is that there's actually another epilogue that kind of sums up the larger story, but it's all in text an no voice over. So that it begins and ends with the spoken line "Hell, it's about time."
The thing I'd have to disagree with is that you think it should have given the vision for Jim and Kerrigan more time. That would on one hand be nice, but on the other it would undercut the "we only have this moment" message.
Also, if you played Brood War, Artanis was there as a regular ol Templar during the scourging of Shakuris and ultimately it's end which was a huge plot point in the older games. Of course at the time you were following a different set of characters, but he was there and named. So when he came up later it was like, THATS THE GUY
18:18 is my favorite cinematic in all the games. The Zeratul speech gives me chills EVERY single time. Its so god damn epic how it's paired with the visuals and the lore.
The detail at the end of the story was essentially god Kerrigan taking Jim with her to heaven/void/wherever. No one ever sees Jim again and I think that's super poetic that Jim and Kerrigan leave their lives behind to live in eternity with each other. Also there's another story called Nova Ops which is some more story taking place after.
I know I'm a month late but had to throw this in about why we follow Raynor, Kerrigan, Zeratul and Artanis specifically and it's all due to SC1's method of storytelling. These were characters we met and literally worked along side with throughout SC1 and Brood War. Your role in the game and universe is to command forces with these characters either fighting along with you on missions or advising you via pre-mission dialogue. They talk to you the player directly and make you a part of their world.
In SC1 Episode 1: you led the forces side by side with Raynor and Kerrigan. You brought Arcturus Mengsk to power. When Mengsk ordered the retreat from Tarsonis not only did he betray Kerrigan and Raynor but you as well. The "commander" that Kerrigan calls for in the New Gettysburg cutscene back in WoL is you.
In Episode 2: you lead the Zerg forces that protected Kerrigan as she mutated into a Terran Zerg hybrid. You led the invasion of Aiur and brought the Overmind to carry out Amon's will.
Episode 3: you led the Protoss force that was tasked with finding Tassadar. You were the one that sided with him to search for Zeratul. You led the battle to destroy the Overmind and halting Amon's plans commanding both the Protoss and Raynor's forces (Granted this was retconned to be Artanis so you pretty much were Artanis before he was actually introduced in the Brood War expansion)
To watch Zeratul, a Nerazim, cry: "My life for Aiur" after so much strife between the Daelaam and the Nerazim is so powerful, so moving... damn... I tear up just watching the amazing Zeratul voice actor deliver this line perfectly.
22:20 you said you hope for a remake, not needed tbh. starcraft 2 may be "old" but it holds up as the best strategy game, visually still looks stunning and mechanically probably the best on the market. also very accessible. you can easily hop on sc2 and have a great time! would love some videos , impressions, reviews of it aswell from you
Oh really? Right then, I better download it!
Only the multiplayer is a bit hard to get into, since its a very demanding game. Campaign on the other hand is very beginner friendly.
Indeed. Since the published, launched and released of Star Craft 2 (SC2), up until today, no other PC strategy game could beat it, or not even on par to it. Arguably the best PC strategy game of all time. Both visuals and gameplay mechanics are stunning and even better than most of the games in present day😊
Please download and play the whole campaign from SC2, so that you could really enjoy and appreciate all the gameplay contents, characters, dialogues/conversations, events/incidents and contexts/stories of all relevant parties involved. Then you would realized why by watching all the cinematics and cutscenes alone doesn’t make sense at all. Because all of that doesn’t inter-related from one to another. Something or a lot is missing😅
@@kaizammit The first game is completely free as well. I don't know about the other two.
Will you record your playthrough? For a different channel maybe?
@@natsirtification I'd watch every single minute of that gameplay.
44:00 "One nice thing about being -a god- promoted; I get to do cool things like this:"
-General Jack O'Neill, about to promote his 2iC to Colonel.
There is a bit of text in the original final cutscene, explaining the aftermath and what happened to Raynor. Also some bits you might have missed due to missing context: Before Zeratul (a Dark Templar) finally charges at corrupted Artanis to sever his nerve cords, he says: "For Aiur", homeworld of the protoss. But the Dark Templar where exiled to another world (Shakuras) ages ago, which they call their home. At this point you know, Zeratul will sacrifice himself for all the good of all Protoss. The final Protoss scene implies that both groups have reunited again.
Rohana, the Protoss advisor girl, was the oldest living Protoss when awakened by Tassadar. She was kind of a librarian/living archive. Her connection to the Khala was therefore much stronger. Hence her being able to tap into Amons thoughts but also struggling the most to let go of millenia of thopughts and memories.
About Sarah, the Xel'naga (massive creatures in the end and that were all read in that big room that Sarah and Artanis visited).
Story-spoiler so, skip if you actually plan on playing and want to learn things InGame instead!
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So it is revealed that the Xel'naga are these massive creatures that "seed" worlds and universes with life. Some worlds prosper while other worlds end up destroying themselves. Like the "why haven't we encountered alien life yet?" theory that not all civilisations live past a certain point because they end up going nuclear or for some other reason end up destroying their own planet and species. Maybe a comet hit them and wiped them out.
But at some point the Xel'naga find some prominent species and imbue them with "Essence of Purity" and Essence of Form". After that the species are no longer able to fully develop as they want but they are instead on a path set by the Xel'naga. If things go as planned, those two species will eventually merge together and become new Xel'naga, and this is how those creatures reproduce. The Great Cycle must continue, as the guy says at the end. New worlds must be seeded with life, new species "blessed" with "Essence of Life" and "Essence of Form" and new Xel'naga will form.
Amon saw this as bad. For the Xel'naga to basically adops and forge species according to their will instead of letting life develop on its own. So Amon decided to try to find a way to break this cycle the Xel'naga were doing, and along the way he became more and more drastic and wanted to reshape the world as he saw fit and as he saw as the best world. Basically becoming what he accused the other Xel'naga of. The others banished him into the Void where he learned to harness the power. He used the power to take over the Zerg (he created an Overmind that controlled all Zerg and the Overmind was aware of how it was used for evil so grabbing and converting Kerrigan into Queen of Blades in StarCraft1 was its way to try to maybe break free of its programming by Amon.
So in a way maybe Amon's goals and views were altruistic at the beginning, but it went downhill from there..
I can't believe whoever put this together cut out the intro to Alarak!! That scene has the most hilarious line in the whole franchise!
5:49 i think they really nailed the weight of those 2 giant creatures fighting especially with the tusk coming and and the arm coming down to sever it you really feel like its a giant moving.
While playing, I didn't even realize the closing of the circle is also on the words: "Hell it's about time".
It's the first thing we see someone say in the opening cinematic (the "liberation" of Tychus).
The "no longer!" from Artanis made me realize his VA also voices Laxus from Fairy Tail. That bit of defiant force made it click
33:42 these braids are sort of magical nerves that connect their entire minds together, but they have also been the cause of conflict within the protoss species.
Some Protoss rejected these nerfs and became Dark Templars (like Zeratul, the self-sacrificing one with the green blade) and left their home planet to live elsewhere.
But now that their magical bond has been corrupted, they must all separate themselves from it, which indirectly forces them to unite again as one nation.
Bit of a nutshell lore dump because I love the Protoss lol:
The Khala was very much a religion to the Protoss. They always had a telepathic connection, originally given to them by the Xel'Naga (specifically Amon), so they've always worshipped them as gods. However the Protoss also spent a great deal of time in civil war which essentially broke that connection, then came a guy named Khas who created the Khala, bringing that connection back. The Protoss built a new society around the Khala, some rejected it by cutting their nerve cords and were branded heretics and eventually banished after some more civil war (these became the Dark Templar, of which Zeratul was one).
The Khalai Protoss (them gold boys) held the Khala as sacred as it was the thing that brought unity after generations of conflict, an Aeon of Strife if you will, so they saw anything different from that as heresy, impure, or inferior. They saw Terrans as disgusting inferiors that speak through orifices and the Zerg as pests to be cleansed, that is until the Zerg drove the Protoss off their homeworld and Raynor helped them escape to Shakuras, home of the Dark Templar. Their story is very much thinking themselves high and mighty, repeatedly getting humbled, forcing them to either reflect on what worked before that's hindering them now, or face extinction.
Whenever I see Jim and Kerrigan on screen together, I just get hit with nostalgia. Love the content as always, maybe you can check out the Total War: Warhammer 3 cinematics as well such as the Immortal Empires one or all the cutscenes.
Great job mate - one of my favourite game storys of all time
when the structure is summoned in the first action scene and all the protoss is arriving is a strategy in the game. called Pylon-rush. really cool to see it in a video
"My life for Aiur" was one of the greatest lines in video game history.
For almost their entire existence, the dark templar were banished from their homeworld. For Zeratul to use that line in particular, kept Artanis on the right path for the rest of the game.
As one might guess, the Terrans/Protoss/Zerg are basically the Imperium/Eldar/Tyranids (though diverged more after the first game)
Amon (and I imagine the other Xelnaga as they created the Zerg/Protoss) can basically control Protoss via their connection with the Khala. The dark templar already severed that connection (which is one reason they're got exiled in the first place) so when it happened they were basically the only ones that could still function.
All of the campaigns let you choose between different paths (though you could go back and do all of them in the same playthrough) with a certain number required for the main story (at least in WoL, never tried speedrunning the others).
The room where Artanis was holding off the zerg by the crystal. Basically to dent the numbers of zerg (and because Shakuras, the planet of the dark templar was lost anyway), they detonated it after holding as long as possible to lure as many zerg as possible there.
The (zerg/protoss) hybrid are overpowered to put it mildly.
Game's worth booting up and isn't even especially long relatively speaking.
The Purifiers (the mech guy's faction) and the Taldarim (from WoL and that the edgy looking guy's from)'s storylines didn't even show up.
En Taro Adun -> En Taro Tassadar -> En Taro Artanis, from the past to the future.
They killed the body Amon was going to use, not him. There is an epilogue campaign in LotV (the part after the talk of rebuilding) that deals with him a bit more permanently. It does feel a bit rushed in both story and mission design.
Raynor finishes on the line that Tychus began WoL with.
While I want more with this IP (even though the story wrapped up), I'm not sure I trust current Blizzard with it.
The ending that you are referring to was an epilogue as series of 3 final missions. Legacy of the Void was the Protoss arc, and then you go into the epilogue (which came attached to the end of Legacy of the Void) which has you play one mission as Protoss (Fighting your way into the void) one as Terran (Protecting Kerrigan as she powers up after receiving the power of the Xel'Naga), and then finally one as Zerg (Where you finally defeat Amon, and get to use Kerrigan in her new super powered form). I've always felt the ending cinematic of Amon's defeat was really lackluster, but I think it's in part due to the fact that the mission you play has you struggling against Amon and weakening him to a point that he can finally be defeated. The ending hits so hard when Jim finally leaves with Sarah, and in case you missed it, his final words, "Hell, it's about time," is the same phrase that Tychus uses in the very first cinematic back at the beginning of Wings of Liberty to kick off the trilogy.
You just HAVE to check out the "Reclamation" short, a little story from right before the Aiur invasion. It would be a crime to miss on that one, especially now that you have got to know the world better.
I knew Zaratul was in the first Starcraft in 90s. He was like my Yoda. It gave me tears to see him die to save his leader. It was very sad to see him gone.
Started with Tychus "Hell it's about time", ended with Raynor's one. God I loved that game
There is another cinematic that is before the main Legacy of the Void story called Reclamation which gives a little more on the history of the Protoss, and leads into the main Unity cinematic/trailer, but it's more of a storyboard/comic style cinematic
So that final set of missions, where all the factions enter the Void together was meant to be the full culmination of the games' stories converging for the player. In each of the games, Wings of Liberty, Heart of the Swarm, and Legacy of the Void, the player gets to make unchangeable decisions, both with the various story paths and technology/unit upgrade paths. In the final set of missions, all of those choices (assuming you have the save data for all the games on the same computer) show through as you take control of each faction's army one final time in each of the 3 missions that precede each of those cutscenes after you enter the Void.
So in Legacy of the Void, if you chose to upgrade your Zealot units to Centurions, then those are the units that will be available to you in the first mission. For Wings of Liberty, if you decided to upgrade your Bunker buildings with Auto-Turret tech, that's the tech that will be attached to your army's Bunkers when you build them in the second mission. And in Heart of the Swarm, if you decided to give all your Zerglings the wing mutation, then it'll be those type of Zerglings that you'll be spawning en masse in the third and final mission.
Watching just the cutscenes, you don't get that portion of the storytelling, just like you mentioned in your Mini-Review section. So that's likely why that final set of cutscenes felt so "rushed" or "crammed in." For the player, they lead into the final chapter of our decades-long space opera, then give us nice little lore breathers in between some of the most difficult missions that any of the games have *ever* thrown our way. Fighting a literal uphill battle in order to reach the unknown Voice as Artanis and the united Protoss? Defending an essentially helpless Kerrigan against waves of enemies as Jim and the Terran military as she absorbs the xel'naga's essence? Then protecting her again as Zagara and the Swarm and taking the fight to Amon's corrupted armies while she goes toe-to-toe with the being trying to destroy your entire dimension?
Words just aren't enough to aptly describe the emotions you feel as the player that has fought their way through Starcraft, Brood Wars, Wings of Liberty, Heart of the Swarm, and Legacy of the Void... It truly is something that has to be experienced for yourself.
Man, the amount of emotion this brings back is actually insane. I am still in love with this game and have been playing the series since it came out. Such an amazing campaign to replay. Back when RTS was king shit on the throne of power... My love how far ya'll have fallen. I know it's starting to make a smidge of a resurgence now but it will be nothing like it was 10 years ago.
Okay, now that you've seen some of this, check out the Reclamation video posted on the main Starcraft channel for a taste of what you missed by watching this very shortened version of the events of the game. It's a full-on 5 minute animated cinematic that goes between the guy flying through on a spaceship and the invasion of Aiur where they did the final stand.
Id love to see a playthrough as well as your choices and thoughts on the storytelling in the future! :D
Great Video-Series and great Video!
Check out the short animation "reclamation" for a quick run down on who the protoss are
Waited so long for this
I'm sorry... But all good things come to those who wait. 😉 I hope you enjoy it.
Dunno if anyone else has pointed it out but actually the ending scene takes place where the first AND second games both started aside from all the other references there.
the epilogue of Legacy of the void is three missions, where you play as the protoss, terran, and finally zerg in that order, the zerg one is a bit of a let down, as all you do is destroy some floating rocks, but other than that, i like how it concludes the stories from what i remember from last i played through it
Thank you!
Thank you so much for the support, you're so so kind. KZ 🙏🏻
Heya Kai! I really really do hope, either on your own time, or on the channel, you review all starcraft lore with the actual videos recapping the first game and expanding on the 2nd game's cinematics. The context is crucial, not necessary, but, it does add a lot. A fair warning, each "episode" of the 2nd game is significantly longer with each cutscene, but I promise if you loved starcraft so far, you won't regret it. :3 Even if you don't do it, that's fine, i'm just a huge fan of starcraft.
I grew up with Zeratul and Raynor. Zeratul's death and Raynor's happy ending are two things i'll hold close to my heart forever. they feel like old friends..
Starcraft is a 4x real-time strategy so the player controls the base and army, not play as Artanis in-game directly (though he is a special unit in two of the missions).
There's a written part that comes after the ending cinematic. In it, it says that Jim Raynor disappeared and was never seen from again. Personally, I think the ending cinematic was him getting raptured because he was following Kerrigan who basically ascended to a higher mode of existence.
The whole "Khala" thing is this persistent psychic connection that the Protoss have thanks to their "nerve cords". It's like a psychic version of being online where everyone has full access to each other all the time. There is a scene that describes this, after they first acquire the ship, where Artanis laments to Karax that after being severed from the Khala, he can no longer feel Karax's or any of his other fellow Protoss's emotions and how he feels so alone. Zeratul is from those who were outcast a long time ago because they rejected the Khala by severing their nerve cords in order to preserve their individuality. That is why Zeratul was not affected by the "corruption" because his nerve cords were already severed.
@36:48, rather than extra content, it's the capstone of 9 campaigns' worth of story - all the threads that go back to SC1 are coalescing.
Damn it, I've been waiting for this video for months and just now TH-cam recommended it to me 😂. As a comment, there are some factors that may seem unfinished such as the ending when Kerrigan appears at the bar, and the part about her being the only one who can absorb the Xel NAga essence. This is because things happen in the gameplay, even intermediate cinematics in game that do not appear in the ones you saw here, which are the main ones. Obviously I'm not going to explain everything because it's a VERY long expanded Lore, but everything, or at least almost everything, has a good connection. The Xel Naga have the power to create an avatar on the physical plane as we saw Narud do in Hearth of the Swarm, Kerrigan adopted her human form at the end to return to Raynor and continue doing the work of the Xel Naga in the cosmos. . There are also a couple of frames before the credits that explain what happened next and what happened to the Protoss, Zerg and Terran, although these were cut off by that... "Caricature" that interrupted it at the end. It was a nice video, I'm glad I finally watched it.
Yeah, TH-cam is kinda bad like that. If you're watching on your phone, you've got to go into settings and change your notifications to allow your subscribed channels to pop up. TH-cam's new update changed it to be off by default. Go figure! I hope you enjoyed the video fella and thank you for watching! Better late than never I say.
The interesting thing with the Protoss is that they don't build their structures on the battlefield, they teleport them in. Mind you, the teleportation takes time, and the node for them needs to be protected, but they do just pop in fully formed like you saw with that crystal pylon in the one that they are saying that they will take back their world.
Also, the Zerg and Protoss are creations of the same species, the Xel'naga. The Zerg represented purity of form, and the Protoss purity of essence. The creature that Kerrigan and Artanis fought together were hybrids of the two, bringing those qualities into one body that could serve the dark one, Amon. So, there is a bit of religion to it, but more than that... it is quite literally how they are built. The things they found that were dead were the Xel'naga that they were searching for to aid them in defeating Amon.
Yes, there is a lot of fascinating lore to StarCraft, which was... honestly born as a simplified, more accessible version of Warhammer 40k. I would genuinely recommend playing the games (recorded?) because there is so much of the story that happens as you are moving around the maps and playing through the levels. The story isn't even remotely just what you see in the cutscenes between the levels. They may be older games, but... the story isn't born from the graphics. Even the original game has a lot to offer, and it is a story that I remember fondly even to this day, decades later.
Sadly, though, at the end of the day... their real-time strategy division is basically dead.
the starcraft flashpoint book is pretty good, its set between Starcraft 2 and Heart of the Swarm, has some flashbacks to starcraft 1 and you get the building blocks of Kerrigans and Jims relationship
20:07 he is talking about Zeratul here. Dark Templar like Zeratul are shunned outsiders from normal Protos. But he Honors him and wears his blade.
28:14 idk why but the way you said "nice" was nice and crisp XD
Haha crisp!
A few notes:
1) Like lots of other people have been saying, there's a lot of kinda.... sub-cutscenes, mission briefs/debriefs, etc. that make it VERY worth playing the game to get the lore. They're typically less cinematic, but it may still be worth playing for fun and interest if you want more lore and characterization and such. I would say that it's worth reacting to/doing a let's play of from a story telling and cinematography standpoint, but I'm a fan of the games and wildly biased. XD
2) Part of the reason why, beyond the cinematic storytelling reasons, the protoss tend to have a lot of upward angle is to constantly remind us that they're 2-2.5m tall proud warrior badass types as a culture. They are, in fact, kinda big and have a LOT of presence as just a species trait.
3) Agreed that having Kerrigan rip that hybrid apart was important to maintain her characterization (for now ignoring how scattered her characterization can get, ugh), and also, once you're in the mission briefing segment itself, she mentions that she's been fighting big nasty creatures like that for DAYS. She got tossed around the way she did because she's exhausted and was kinda distracted snarking with Artanis.
4) The spear of Adun, that big ship the protoss are on in the campaign, is extremely cool. Also, 74 km long. It's AWESOME!
5) How can she do that? Weird cosmic thingamajig powers go brrrrr. It's ambiguous if she actually manifested, showed up, and them she and Jim zoomed off to wherever or if it's implying that she raptured him or various other theories, but there's a post-cinematic slideshow that says that Jim was "never seen again," so yeah
6) I... can tell you that that last bit sure wasn't in the game! No idea what it was. Looks like a TF2 animation? Very weird bit to toss into the compilation...
There is one more campaign in SC2. The Nova Covert Ops campaign is pretty cool. It would be cool to see you react to that one as well.
Didnt noticed when was playing there also Tychus near Raynor on old photo.
Thank you for another great video! Can strongly recommend playing the games just for the campaigns to fully piece together the story, especially since quite a lot was unfortunately lost in the Heart of the Swarm video. I'll look forward to more reactions, another World of Warcraft cinematic soon? :D
At 23 minutes Jim sees that's Zeratul's Bracer.
Hell. About time.
Thank you! Happy Easter to you, too! :)
I'm so glad they ended the series like this (without any twists etc)... after all they basically started the whole story with Starcraft (1) around 1995. Couldve been a dissapointment storywise after all this time, but wasn't. Really glad.
Can’t believe that ending was so funny , to have the touching moment to that, 🎉
Fun Fact: That female protoss with the giant RIng behind her head, that was, possessed, is voiced by Claudia Christian, aka Susan Ivanova from Babylon 5.
Amon was like those other Xel Naga in the pods but he was destroyed in the war between his loyalists and the rest of the Xel Naga, one of his followers survived and put most of the bigger plotline in the works to get ready for Amons reincarnation
45:30 to be fair artanis was in sc1, i do think they do a really good standalone introduction for all 3 games main protagonist. Also The Kala is not just a "Religion" they did a really good job showing it in the first legacy of the void trailer when you see that blue light travel along their braids, allowing all protos to share thoughts and emotions instantly with each other, which is why they are so distrustful of other races, and of other protos who had severed that connection, like zeratul and the dark templar.
Edit: 50:03 i always took it as Jim "dying" and being taken with kerrigan to where ever she resides as Xel'Naga
wow, whoever did the "All" cutscene did a bad job, there are so many missing, some are very epic.
It looked more like a compilation of the Artanis cutscenes, they are missinge the ones during the campaign where he is not part of, for example when Alarak shows up the first time.
@@Dzharek The other one was exactly the same. I found these same videos a few years ago and it really does neuter the whole story.
'I wonder if they're gonna remake it or something"
**shudders in reforged**
Legacy of the video is such a gem. I love how you see Protoss evolve from being that race so solemn and proud of their traditions. The severing from their neural chord was such an unlikely thing to do, but they finally understand they have to get rid of it in order to survive. I'm sure there is a metaphor to how we as the human race cling to ways of living or thinking that are no longer sustainable in the modern world, and the way the Protoss seem to suffer and even fall to their knees after the severing let's you see just how painful is to leave all those things behind. Seeing proud Rohanna severing her own cord is such an impressive moment... and tears rushed to my eyes when Selendys asked Artanis what will become of they after, and he replies: "free".
so much is missing from this .. its sad that so much was left out
this game (trilogy) is in my top 5 games! how they manage to put a story and storytelling like this in a RTS game is beyond amazing. The final bit btw dont feel rushed if you play the game, i recommend you boot it up if you have the time ;), great video, keep it up!
Please consider doing Nova Covert Ops! its much shorter than this one, but you do get to see more of Nova from Wings, and you get to see more of that big evil looking red guy you noticed during Artanis' speech (his name is Alarak)
There is alot of "inbetween missions" cinematics that weren't included! If you have the patience you'd get the hole story by finding them all
The last part where they go to the void to defeat Amon is an Epilogue to the whole Starcraft II trilogy. It was released with the Legacy of the Void campaign, but it’s not meant to be part of the Protoss arc per-se, but as a grand ending to the 3 Starcraft campaigns.
I kinda hope you look at the Legacy of Kain now! The storytelling of that whole series is still top notch!
Context for 'post credit' cutscenes. The game was released as a triology - one for each race. I think they ended the main protoss campaign at Amon's banishment because they want the 'final' battle against amon to be 'experienced' as all three races. Otherwise story would've ended with the protoss as the world saviour.
The 'Epiologue' had three missions and you play as one race each mission Protoss (to kill duran in void), Terran (to protect kerrigan while she transforms, then Zerg with Xel'naga kerrigan to kill Amon.
Could they have extended the epilogue? Maybe - but might've felt redundant as we've just gone through the main story missions fighting Amon - only for extra content ...to fight amon.
They did come out with DLC called nova covert ops with a continuation of the story and which was still interesting and fun to play.
TLDR; Epilogue was added so other races are playable against Amon (and get involved in the plot more)
Never got to play the games but these cinematics still allow me to keep up with whats happening. 10/10 for sure
So I love the video, but good heavens whoever edited the video you were watching did a hatchet job of the cinematics, cutting out scenes that give you more context about the characters and setting. Like, y'know, Alarak (big red and black Protoss dude) voiced by John De Lancie, or more on Kharax, or on Vorazun...or Rohana...or freaking Fenix...
I agree, the person who did the edited video has no respect at all for the characters of the story.
My friend I am afraid you missed but ONE cinematic. It is called "Reclamation" is a bit of background story before the LOTV main introductory cinematic.
The xel’naga are able to take on a physical form when they re enter the world after being sent to the void… though it takes a long time idk how Kerrigan did it that fast but she probably took that aspect and both shortened the time required and somehow fit her astral self into a normal appearing Terran body for long enough to at least pick jimmy up