The third and final blog post on the Nova Covert Ops missions. This is kind of a formality at this point, but hey, may as well finish what I started.
I'm going to differ a bit in that in the previous posts, I discussed the gameplay and story separately, but in this case, I'm going to discuss both on a mission by mission basis. I'm also going to come out off the bat and say, if you're actually judging a game's story, play the game. Before playing the campaign, I watched a compilation of cutscenes, so I'd have a frame of reference for editing. Having played those missions, my estimation of the final arc went up substantially. Not that every gripe dissapeared, but it certainly ended on a net positive.
So, with that said, as usual, more a string of thoughts rather than a bona fide review:
- So, Davis was close with Arcturus, and managed to get a recording of Valerian's communique in Heart of the Swarm. It kind of makes me wonder why the recording isn't released publically - maybe most people wouldn't care, that even if Valerian allowed the zerg to invade Augustgrad, that's a price most people are now happy with since it got rid of Mengsk? Does allow a parallel with Rebel Yell, that Mengsk overthrew the Confederacy for personal gain (and revenge), and now the cycle has repeated itself, with Davis seeking to overthrow Valerian for personal reasons. Well, supposedly. The game kind of inverts this idea later on, but I'll discuss that later.
- So, here comes the last infiltration mission, proving that you can set off as many alarms as you like, and Davis will do nothing. Actually, that's not really a gripe, more a concession to gameplay. You can be the worst stealth agent in Metal Gear for instance, narratively speaking, you're still making your way through enemy installations mostly undetected until the plot says otherwise. Gameplay-wise, it's quite good, and a massive improvement over Tarsonis. In that case, as I pointed out, you're kind of railroaded into a style of play once you pick up the sword. Here, you can equip items on the fly, go for stealth or guns blazing, and have multiple routes. It's a much harder mission, and I died far more times than I feel comfortable admitting, but that's to be expected, at least in regards to being harder. Maybe not me tearing into the Ghost Program's manpower, but hey, mission done. It's well designed, and makes me wonder what these abilities might look like in a third person stealth game...
- Speaking of Metal Gear, we do get our requisite boss fight with Stone. Who unfortunately doesn't have much philosophy to impart, but hey, not everyone is Hideo Kojima. I personally found the fight pitifully easy, but granted, that was on normal, so maybe that's a moot point. Now, originally, I did have an eyeroll at his "we are who we choose to be line," per the cutscenes, thinking "well, that was subtle...or not." Playing this within the level however, I think it's actually well done. After spending a fair amount of time getting here, the line is going to stick out far less, and only stick out if you're paying attention, and recalling who else said that. So, big question - is Stone John Raynor?
...well, probably. I'm hardly the first one to pick up on the hints. Question is, does it mean anything? The Confederacy's gone, Jim Raynor's gone, Arcturus Mengsk is gone - the number of people in-universe who'd care that John Raynor is still alive are few and far between. Might mean something to Stone though, but, well, that hasn't happened. Not yet at least.
- So now we reach the point where Nova Covert Ops doesn't just take inspiration from the storyline of Rebel Yell, it takes inspiration from its mission design as well. Because in the penultimate mission of both campaigns, we control terran forces in a city, defending against the protoss, protecting forces we'd be happy to see die under normal circumstances (zerg/Defenders of Man). At the end of said mission, we 'win', but the universe throws us a curve ball. Huh.
But hey, maybe it's just this one mission, right? It's not as if the next mission takes place on a space platform where it's terran vs. terran, where we need to destroy a key structure/unit at the other end of the map, before leaving the faction we fought for, right? Right?
- Anyway, winding back a bit, this mission is well done, for the most part. I mean, there's Alarak, and more Alarak is always a good thing, but it's telling that he just doesn't give a damn about how many innocents he has to kill in order to achieve his aims. I guess if I have to nitpick, it's why the protoss don't just zap Vardona from up above, and have to come down to the surface. I guess maybe purification requires the lack of aerospace forces contesting them? It does raise a possibly unintended parallel I guess, that the Tal'darim are doing exactly what the Conclave had Tassadar do - go to any lengths to eliminate the zerg/Defenders, regardless of how many innocents have to die in the process.
- What may or may not be intentional is that things are a bit different than in the Great War, that humanity is no longer a "victim race," and can actually hold Vardona, unlike Tarsonis. Now, I've already discussed elsewhere how the idea of humanity coming into its own is arguably a theme of WoL, and if so, it's a theme executed far better there, but credit where credit is due, NCO gets some of the...well, credit. I dunno, maybe it's the sight of seeing Defenders troopers go up against Tal'darim with itty bitty carbines. They're determined, if nothing else.
- What doesn't work as well is Ji'nara. Is she dead? If not, why? No, I'm serious, why is Ji'nara even still alive at this point? She's been thwated by Nova at every turn, she's obstensibly on the motherships you destroy in the mission, and if by some reason she isn't dead, how much longer can she be First Ascendant? I'm not saying it's a bad idea to beat Ji'nara, but I feel keeping her alive at this point is stretching it. Unless Blizzard is doing something with her character, but still, aren't there other Tal'darim who'd want the top spot?
- So, Davis escapes, Valerian wants her alive, yadda yadda yadda. Nova is put off by this, which, fine, I can understand. And we get to the Cerros Shipyards, a top secret location that's...orbiting an inhabited world, judging by the mission artwork. Huh, okay. Still, credit where credit is due, we at least get to see SCVs doing actual space construction.
- So now comes the final mission of NCO, which is based heavily on the final mission of Rebel Yell. Yeah...That said, it's a fun mission. The Xanthos is a beast to fight, and I really like the map layout. Not only do you need to defend multiple locations, but you need to fight your way to them at the start. It's less challenging than The Hammer Falls (at least on normal difficulty), but it gets props for the variety it presents.
- I mentioned earlier on that Davis is arguably the inverse of Arcturus, and it's this mission that kind of hints at it. I don't recall the exact lines she utters, but her dislike for Valerian seems to be a mix of wanting to avenge Arcturus, while also genuinely believing that he isn't fit to rule the Dominion. The reason I say "inverse" is that Rebel Yell is first and foremost a story of revenge. On the surface, Mengsk wants to overthrow the Confederacy for a better tomorrow, when in reality, his actions boil down to personal motivation. In contrast, on the surface, Davis wants Valerian gone for purely personal reasons, but the possible, deeper reasons are that she genuinely fears for the future of the Dominion. Davis isn't as dynamic a character as Arcturus, and I don't think NCO is executed as adroitly as Rebel Yell, but if it's an interesting parallel, I think it's an interesting one.
- What's also interesting is the point when Nova enters the Xanthos itself, how Davis's accent changes to that of a drawl. Now, the psychological reason can be ascribed to stress/fear, that she's in less control of herself. The in-universe explanation is that the Old Families were marked by a drawl, and she does mention moving in the same circles. The question is, though, is why she's hidden it until now? I don't think many people in the Dominion would have much love for the Old Families right now, but that never stopped Arcturus from keeping his accent. I can speculate, but it would be redundant to do so.
- Unfortunately, this is the point where NCO really drops the ball in its ending. Which I'm going to summarize, as, Nova disobeys orders and kills Davis. The story then awkwardly flashes forward to her on the Griffin (awkward as in it lacks any kind of establishing shot), Rigel tells her the crew are loyal to her alone, they head off, and Valerian lets her go, despite Nova disobeying his orders and stealing a valuable piece of technology. Huh. Okay. There's a number of problems with this ending in my mind, and I can't help but wonder if it's trying to emualte Rebel Yell, and failing because of it:
1) Why disobey Valerian? Now, it's not far-fetched to assume that Nova wants Davis dead, but why now, of all times, does she go against orders? Raynor rebelling against Mengsk works because tension exists between them as early as Norad II, and that's in the midst of Mengsk showing his true colours, and leaving Kerrigan to die in the process. Nova and Valerian have disagreed up to now, sure, but Nova isn't Raynor. She's a trained soldier, and Valerian hasn't done anything near as reprehensible.
2) Why does the crew side with Nova? Reigel, I can buy, they've worked together, I can buy him wanting to help her, especially since it is hinted that he isn't onboard with Davis being alive. But the entire crew? It might have helped if we got to know some of them, such as with a story mode space, but, well, yeah.
3) Why does Valerian let her go? Now, I can buy Valerian seeing Nova as an asset if he needs jobs done with plausible deniability. I can also see him being a bit mellow considering that most of the populace feel that he was justified in using lethal force. But he doesn't know that Nova's still on his side...I think...
- Other minor nitpicks, such as why the Griffin is flying through an asteroid field rather than around it (fun fact - asteroid fields don't look like that in reality, the bolides are far more spread out), and I feel like pointing out that Kate's kind of been reduced to "news girl" (whereas in WoL she had her own character arc), and that the Griffin has a Viking in its hanger bay when you never get to use Vikings in the campaign, but like I said, nitpicks.
- So, how does NCO stack up overall? All in all, pretty well. I still think it's the weakest SC2 campaign in terms of story, even below HotS. It does miss some of HotS's missteps, but it rarely ever rises that high either. The jump for Nova from Ghost to vigilante feels like it's missing something, the cinematography is far more basic, and the reality of the matter is that this is effectively a budget campaign. A well done budget campaign overall, but still on a budget. I will say that if NCO has a theme, it's "loyalty." Personal loyalty (Davis to Arcturus, Nova to Valerian, Riegel to Nova), political loyalty (Davis and Valerian both wanting what's best to the Dominion), and arguably hierarchial loyalty (Ji'nara serving Alarak). But NCO is still the odd one out, and more than anything else, it's down to Nova herself. She spends the majority of the campaign being reactive rather than pro-active, and when she does become pro-active, it feels like it's missing some steps.
- I mentioned in my Evolution post that I felt it was the better sequel, and, yeah, I still stand by that. Both NCO and Evolution both fall into the realm of unnecessary sequels in my eyes, but they're both well done nonetheless. Evolution does feel like the stronger story though, if only because of its concepts (e.g. the adostra), and that NCO, intentionally or not, is emulating Rebel Yell, and not doing as good a job, whereas if Evolution has a main source of inspiration, I actually think it might be Ender's Game. But in a post-LotV setting, with more story guaranteed for at least 2017 via Shadow Wars, I wouldn't mind more mission packs. But at the end of the day, NCO is a good campaign. Not great, but good. Can't regret the time I spent on it.
And at the least, I guess this means I don't have an excuse to put off editing. Shout out for Sub to picking up the slack in recent times. :)