Source: http://www.campaigncreations.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=76&t=3449

Quote from "russianspy27"

Dear CC,

One intelligent poster on Battle.Net named Andrew had written a well-thought-out critique of the weaknesses of SC2 plot. The thread has grown to be 70 pages long as of today and is one of the longest, if not the longest threads in the SC2 official forums. http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/374721415?page=1

Please post on the thread, if you'd like. I believe we need to keep it up to show Blizzard that the concerns are widespread.

The weakness of SC2's plot was agreed upon by at least ten acclaimed critics, as I had posted here: http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/933153955#20 , but I am sure you do not need to be persuaded of it.

With great nostalgia, I look over phenomenal CC "stacraft 2" campaigns, such as the Fenix campaign, or the "War of the Tribes" and it saddens me that after a decade, we're presented with the lazy writing.

I only wish someone got through to Blizzard to get ther act together for the expansions.

>I'll be reading the OP very soon. By the looks of the 70th page, though, some asshats are claiming there's no such thing as an objective basis to multi-media, when clearly, there is, otherwise, we wouldn't be able to tell shit from Mozart.

I try to take multi-media things objectively. That's why I am so disappointed in that pure shit that Blizzard pumped out with SC2. In SC2:WoL alone, disregarding the franchise entirely, the quality of storytelling was low. I've nearly ranted myself out; Valerian's lines make him the most cheesy-hipster space-fag ever, Kerrigan is a dumb whore now, Tychus can suck a cock, Arcturus decided to devolve, UED is forgotten, etc., QED. As much as I would like to give evidence from SC2:WoL directly, I'd much rather just leave it to someone who clearly knows what he's talking about (Andrew).

Amen.

Or something.

SC2 story was pedestrian and unambitious. It didn't treat Arcturus or Kerrigan well, and Valerian seemed really cheesy the way he appeared out of nowhere. Zeratul's storyline felt like it was completely tacked on (in the secret mission, Raynor doesn't even allude to knowing about the hybrid, when he should've) and generally they just didn't tie things together well at all (Dr Hanson and the spectre sub-plots don't impact on anything at all). Could've actually done *something* with Duran / Dr Narud, too.

The presentation however, was very good. Overall maybe 5 / 10, but nowhere near up to my expectations.

The appearance of Valerian only makes sense if you've read this book trilogy.

http://starcraft.wikia.com/wiki/The_Dark_Templar_Saga

Quote from OlimarandLouie

The appearance of Valerian only makes sense if you've read this book trilogy.

Yes, hence writing failure.

They could've easily included Valerian in earlier levels in the campaign, or more overtly in earlier news reports. Fore-shadowing and all that, although in this case it isn't so much about 'fore-shadowing' as just writing proper characters that don't suddenly spring out of nowhere and then disappear as soon as they arrive.