Ranking The StarCraft Campaigns! 

"Every character in this game is either beloved or a doctor..." Wow, way to single someone out XD

SC2 Zeratool is such a tool that I doubt he is the true Zeratul. He's still out there, somewhere.

Was actually struggling to fall asleep, perfect timing. Love your content and what you do, GGG

The thing about Rebel Yell that makes it really stand out among the others is that it sets a lowish bar and then wildly clears it. You start off thinking that it's the standard RTS story where you get a couple of objectives and kill stuff trying to harm your people. Then you realize the confederacy is callous and evil, the zerg are seemingly unthinking, locust-like forces of nature consuming everything in their path, and that the Protoss are as enigmatic as they are genocidal. The betrayal does come out of left-field, but is brilliant in hindsight. Then in the very next chapter, you learn that the zerg are not only terrifyingly sentient, but also have a cosmic and long-reaching goal of their own. It's as surprising as it is horrifying, and the landing wouldn't have been nearly as good without the take-off that was episode 1. Episode 1 was really a masterpiece of storytelling with a limited perspective.

I actually don't mind that the first zerg campaign had an easy final mission. By that point, the zerg have broken through the Protoss' defenses and all that is left is a desperate last stand to protect the temple. It makes you feel like an powerful and unrelenting force that can no longer be stopped. It is kind of like the Predator campaign in Aliens vs. Predators Extinction, The earlier missions are really hard as the Predators intentionally sandbag themselves by using weaker weapons and less armor for the sake of a thrilling and challenging hunt. Once the pred-alien queen is discovered though, the predators call off the hunt and bring in the big guns. All their normal hang-ups about having a fair and honorable fight are thrown out the window and they move in to eliminate the aliens and humans with extreme prejudice. At that point, the missions become pretty easy as you curbstomp every threat and it is actually pretty awesome from a lore perspective. It also feels very rewarding after making it through such a tough early game. That game was such a great rts. All three factions were very different and unique, but worked to create a very interesting story and fun gameplay.

I'd also like to add that the reason Reyrey went with the "purify the girlfriend" option on WoL is due to the Zeratul prophecies informing him of what will happen if Kerrigan were to be killed

Wow nice idea and I have to agree with you on most of those parts. I think you nailed the descriptions of the gameplay and difficulty aspects, which are less subjective than the other two factors. Regarding the character development I do have some issues that you have not discussed in depth. And especially Kerrigan, who is probably the most important character in the series could use a lot more polishing: When she is introduced in Rebel Yell we basically only get to know her as an idealistic Ghost that abandoned the confederacy. We don't really get to know her own motivation but rather only see her as someone who put her trust in the wrong guy. It also feels like she doesn't share that deep of a connection with Raynor, although some romance aspect is introduced, but it feels exaggerated in the later campaigns for me. In the Overmind campaign Kerrigan is not herself anymore and we can see that immediately. She behaves immature, impatient and is cocky while only experiencing little control from the Overmind. I think the Amerigo could have flashed out Kerrigans time as a ghost more as a way to unlock her psionic abilities and for us to get to know more about her past. And besides here fighting with Tassadar on Char, she does not seem to be of interest to the Protoss, but is still known as a major threat by everyone in Brood War. In the Brood War campaigns it was especially memorable for me to see the cunning and strategic side of Kerrigan. She manages to make unlikely allies and persuade everyone into achieving her goals. Her motivation is just lust for power which she satisfied until she is basically the only major power left in the Korprulu sector. Surprisingly she is then revealed to have done basically nothing until the events of SC2. We then see her only as the basically immortal unstoppable force no one knows how to deal with and she attacks places in search for the artifacts which is (as we later know) probably due to the corruption through Amon. But the problem for me is that she lost everything that made her the charismatic and cunning strategist she was in the Brood war and turned her into a one-dimensional powerhouse in WoL which is the biggest threat right now, but as we know from the prophecies from Zeratul is the key to beating an even bigger threat that is about to appear. Her story in HotS is basically only revenge, with a little side-story which causes her to be re-zergified (which was a huge disappointment for me, seeing the primals made me think we would see a change in the zerg from being the Hive-mind controlled faction towards a more elaborate faction which specialises in rapid evolution, which would have been great for a difference in gameplay between Multiplayer and Singleplayer), which is fun but also lacks the depths the political struggles flashed out in every other campaign. We basically have a campaign in WoL which focuses on cleaning up the mess Mengsk leaves behind and trying to dethrone him but is sidetracked due to the artifacts and the prophecy from Zeratul. In HotS we have several Storyies which don't feel connected at all: Char and Kaldir basically serve no bigger purpose (beating Warfield is nice but it didn't show why the Terrans even stayed on Char after Kerrigan was rescued and Kaldir gives only the cliffhanger with Niadra (which was in my opinion a build up for a new Overmind-like faction (her only purpose is killing Protoss)), Zerus and Skygeirr Station remind us that there is more to come in LotV while the rest focuses on taking revenge on Mengsk. But overall it lacks in most of the storytelling aspects. The thing I liked though was seeing Kerrigan been shown more human letting the wounded escape Char and helping evacuate civilians on Korhal, but still she feels emotionally unstable and not like the type you would trust the fate of the entire universe. In LotV she is seen hunting down Hybrids and trying to fulfill fer role as the savior of the universe, she is a key element to the story here, but we don't see much character progression here. I also didn't understand why everyone teams up in the epilogue to defeat Amon in the Void but not on Aiur. Here I also would have liked a more open ended conclusion to SC2s Story. Again we lack the disputes between the factions which was a key element from SC1. I don't like the fairytale ending the epilogue shows us (but then again the epilogue isn't canon, right?) Some ideas for this have been mentioned in the story but some could have been improved upon: What is the future of the swarm, why would Kerrigan stay as their leader? She saved the people dear to her so the future of the swarm could be fought out between Dehaka and Zagara, with unknown roles for Kerrigan and Stukov. (Btw. Why can't Kerrigan and Stukov be un-zerigied after the Story). How do the different protoss factions get along after Aiur is retaken. Is there still racism towards Dark Templar, how are the Taldarim dealt with? Is Valerian really the ruler people want or is there more fights (which is explored upon in NCO?, how could a human Stukov or Kerrigan play a role in these events? I really love the Starcraft franchise and would like to see a SC3 in the future as there is so much more potential in the story for me. And I'm also looking forward to the final Tier List once it's finished. In the end I just want to thank you GGG for all the content you produce, I really enjoy watching your videos. It's great to see how much fun you have with SC2 and RTS in general and how you incorporate your knowledge into your content. As someone who is more of a casual Singleplayer RTS Player rather than the Pro-player/Multiplayer Try-Hard it's really great to see someone like you!!!!

Other commenters have already mentioned the manual for SC and SC:BW, and many things from the manual, as far as I recall, didn't quite fit with SC2 lore. Which was frustrating. There is also one other really huge complaint that I have about SC2 missions, specifically for WoL (since it was the one that I played the most). While SC1 missions were -sometimes- designed with specific unit or unit combination in mind, in SC2 WoL each mission is a theme park ride with "Here's your new toy for this mission designed specifically for this mission. You probably will need some other tools, but this tool was designed specifically for this mission". Like a Wraith for following Odin, Vulture for fast gathering of minerals, Reapers for mobility/jumping on a volcanic planet, moving&shooting platforms for the Train heist, Helions for the Haven defense mission, and etc etc. I get it, it's important to show in which environment which new tools and toys shine the most; however, when EVERY mission gives you a new unit and says "this is a mission for that unit", it's like somebody holds your hand and tells you what to do. Then each mission turns from a puzzle to solve to a theme park ride where you just need to follow the guidelines. It's probably not always the case on Brutal, but let's be honest, not everyone plays the game on Brutal.

the SC1 demo campaign although short (it was a demo) as an alternate history, and a potential introduction to RTS might be an interesting add. (you might be able to use it as a "hey did you know there was a demo campaign for Star Craft 1. for Nova missions I really feel like they wanted to tell the story about how Valerian though optimistic about bringing peace stability to mankind throughout the galaxy, and righting the wrongs of his father. then there was the intrigue that much like Valerian's father once he obtained his position and was forced to make the "hard" choices he became corrupted, and now Nova has to face the choice between doing what is right for humanity, bringing Valerian to justice potentially making humanity into a power vacuum turmoil once again, or be a good soldier follow orders so that humanity can thrive ....it was a cult like sub-faction that was framing Valerian, Nova go take care of that will you thanks bye.

I actually have Hots and Lotv swapped. I liked Hots - mainly due to the avesome side characters as you mentioned. But Legacy of the Void had rushed feeling for me. I loved the addition of prolog and epilog (tho I agree that epilog felt flat, but I Like the idea anyway), but it shortened the main campaing and that felt extremely fast. Maybe becouse it is rushed - the danger everywhere, every time I find it really exhausting. I would like few missions, where you just kinda "chill out". Like in wings of liberty - idea, that Raynor fails some mission is not a big deal - buuhuu doctor died, we lost some man and need to evacuate - that feels reel and could actually happen, but legacy of the void does not have failure in the narrative (I hope I am making sense :DD I just like, when games (and even movies) do things just for the sake of it, to slow down the tempo for the contrast) For me hots is B, Lotv C. Also I really looked forward to the Nova covered ops. I LOVED the rexxar campain in the w3 and hoped for the same feel. The first mission pack I liked but since they released the next one ofter some time I find it hard to get back into the game and into the story. (I have same fear about Stormgate campaign system). One mission I enjoyed very much is the first part of Enemy Intelligence (mission 3), where in order to get the achievement, you cannot go past certain supply (don't remember) which is exactly what I would love from the nova covered ops - small strike teams, limited supply and not giant macro missions... Anyway - looking forward to grant ranks warcraft 3 campaigns ^^

To be fair i think its perfectly in character for the overmind to let the protoss bicker and weaken each other before going for the kill, i just feel like it should be stated that he is doing that. One of my biggest issues with WOL is that it has way too many soft timed/timed missions. I personally hate supernova, don't enjoy cutthroat and almost never play safe haven. The dig is also really anoying to sit through each and every time you play the game but is also REALLY hard if you aren't good at the game or are not paying all of your attention to it. You HAVE to use siege tanks if you want to stand a chance, you cant decide that your composition is going to be predator hellbat for shits and gigs.

Yeah, the story in The Fall is frustrating. I hated winning the Protoss civil war, only for Tassadar to surrender to end the violence, only to force me to win the civil war again. Many, many more Protoss died because he gave himself up, which makes his noble sacrifice seem deranged. A simple fix: Tassadar surrenders but then his prison ship crashes behind Zerg lines. Make it a PvZ mission. Or a PvZvP mission (you have to rescue Tassadar before the Conclave recover the ship). Make his decision to surrender drive the plot forward, rather than telling the same story twice.

1:11 Grant is so good he can play Starcraft handless, using just his psionic power

One big thing you missed about the Nova campaign was the lack of a home between missions. All other campaigns you could move around to various locations on your ship and talk to your growing crew to see their perspectives or get to know more about them. Knowing that Abathur hated it when the Overmind died because he turned feral and wasn't "true zerg" for a short while is interesting, the general animosity between Artanis and Alarak that grows into a begrudging respect is great. All of the flavor text of upgrades and Stetmanns' research logs in the Toss and Zerg tanks are really neat. This is entirely missing from Nova's storyline. Sure Rigel might be really flat but learning anything at all about him would've been better, or calling Valarian to give reports or something. Anything might've veen better than the nothing we had.

In the Fall, the Overmind is too polite to interrupt the Protoss while they are having their civil war.

The one issue I have with the Queen of Blades campaign is that every character has to be a bit stupider than usual for the story to work. Considering the tone of Starcraft 1 in general, the fact that they all implicitly trust Kerrigan is just odd, even without the Aldaris stuff. If it had been the case that the Mengsk and others thought they could use Kerrigan to beat the UED and then handle her later, that would be one thing, but for some reason they are genuinely surprised when she betrays them. Mengsk literally says that he actaully believed Kerrigan had forgiven him, and I just don't buy that.

The Manual. I think Grant forgot these games came with a manual, a mainstay of the era. The manual explained Mengsk family was killed by ghosts, and because this is a 90s game, you can easily piece together that Kerrigan was one of three. Which of course, was eventually confirmed.

I think one of the main issues Nova covert ops was, is it didn't have an onboard lounger area like the other Campaigns, like you could go to different rooms on the Hyperion/Leviathan/Spear and talk to people and get some character development through convos, Nova's campaign didn't have that option in it

Story-wise, I always felt like SC1 and Brood War were more so about the races (and their various subfactions) as a whole, and the events and conflicts surrounding them, with the main characters being the vessels you experience that story WITH. Yes, there was a lot of interpersonal drama, but it always felt like a story about the Terrans, Zerg, and Protoss as a whole. The fact that many of the cinematics do not revolve around the main characters is a testament to this. The main characters are often experiencing the story just the way you are in the pre-mission briefings. And, you ARE a character yourself, along for the ride just like everybody else. SC2 flips things, with the characters being front and center and the struggles of the larger races/subfactions becoming more of the backdrop. Every cinematic involves major characters, and you are much more directly playing "as" them since you are no longer addressed as an in-universe figure. It is much more about the interpersonal drama than SC and BW were. Not saying this is necessarily a bad thing, but it was a change that allowed some of the weaker writing to manifest in my opinion.

I never liked how the UED lost because the writter just made Dugalle become stupid out of nowhere. The point of the UED was that even when they were outnumbered by literally every other race they were still cunning enough to turn their own weapons against them and win at the end, but then, out of nowhere Dugalle starts to trust a stranger over his right hand man and supposedly best friend, and then at the end he didn't even have any contingency plan in case he failed, all because plot didn't want them around anymore. A better plot would be: When Stukov goes missing (this also doesn't make sense, he could contact Dugalle during the mission, so why did he never explained things) DUgalle sends a elite squad to investigate things (a squad that doesn't include Duran), we still play as Duran but now we need to infiltrate where Stukov is before the squad arrives, the rest of that mission would play the same, but now with Dugalle being wary of Duran from the start. And in Omega, Dugalle should copy all the data of what they learned in the sector, put it into one of their ships and then make that ship go radio silent and start going towards earth from the beginning, maybe from the moment Mengsk made the deal with him to ally and fight kerrigan in Omega, that would guarantee that even if they fail the UED would know what happened and be allowed to prepare, after all, it sounds dumb he not only never considered they might lose but also didn't consider the other factions, especially mengsk could just turn on them if they won vs kerrigan. Those 2 changes would make them way more smart, fill the biggest plotholes and even give some leeway for them to maybe return.

I think out of the Starcraft 2 campaigns, the thing that drags the game down for me (besides Kerrigan being too much) is what feels like wasted potential. Evolution missions let you take your guys in interesting directions, but the fact that they're optional mean you never really get to see them shine since they can't be considered in mission design. On top of that, I generally find their introductory missions a little lackluster. When you compare to Wings of Liberty giving us the vulture on a mobile and cheap mission, or the banshee on a hit and run mission. I can call Cutthroat "The Vulture Mission" and it's valid, as it is for most of the unit introductions. Meanwhile, even with the most extreme example I can think of, swarm hosts on The Crucible, it doesn't feel like much of a swarm host mission. I'm sure Kerrigan herself makes this issue worse, since she can handle anything and thus new units aren't as impactful as in WoL.

28:08 Xanthos is the gold standard for what an RTS boss fight should be imo. The Heart of the Swarm boss fights are RPG boss fights. You have a hero fighting a boss with some limited forces that might as well function as summons rather than an army. Xanthos is a super unit that requires actively macroing to defeat. I wish we got an Amon boss fight like the Xanthos.

We follow in the footsteps of one Rames Jaynor and his telepath friend, Kara Serrigan

I think Tassadar probably sums up your thoughts on that campaign best with his quote, "Aiur burns at the touch of the Zerg, and you come all this way to arrest me?" I think that line and that mission really showcases how the protoss government I still believe themselves invincible and how the only one playing 4D chess was Tassadar

The only thing we learn about Nova, is that she likes to bet during missions. Which we learn in her introduction in Wings, and is reinforced in Covert Ops. That's it. That's all her traits, besides "the mission first".

On the topic of Tassadar I'd say I never really thought of him as cunning necessarily, and more that he was just supposed to be quite wise. He didn't trick Kerrigan with any elaborate ploys, he just realised that she was overflowing with newfound arrogance and took advantage. That in mind, I'm not particularly disappointed he never resorted to trickery again, though I will always be disappointed in his surrender. Even if it is supposed to be the empathetic, 'human' thing to do, it was also just straight up stupid, counterproductive, and resolved in the next mission using even greater quantities of violence. (otherwise I agree completely so far) On Wings of Liberty, just wanted to say, really good campaign. I don't really like Terran but it's still by far my favourite campaign just because it has so much charm and flavor. My friend that doesn't play RTS at all accidentally did the entire campaign in 2 sittings because he was so sucked in. Heart of the Swarm that came after it was a massive disappointment. It didn't need to have WoL levels of polish, I just really like Zerg - and it couldn't even do that right. The enhanced swarm mod where they just removed Kerrigan entirely and put more upgrades into the actual swarm (kind of WoL-style...) was everything I wanted out of a Zerg campaign. Kind of continuing that tradition, the Spear of Adun wasn't as in your face as Kerrigan but it's stil a large chunk of your power that's not actually invested into your troops that honestly I'd like to see, not minimised for balance reasons, but straight up removed and redistributed into the units like enhanced swarm or WoL. In summation, I guess enhanced swarm was the best starcraft campaign mechanically(?).

My biggest issue whith SC 2 is that you never really play as the bad guys. Even as zerg you only feel like an Anti-hero.

I can agree to most of the verdicts, but I see a bit of a downside on the SC2 protoss campaign and the nova missions. Starcraft thrives on it's open mission design most of the time, and while a few timegated missions are ok in a campaign (see the zerg missions), it feels like too much in the protoss mission, as if they had problems making the missions difficult only by putting time pressure on you. It is also sad to see defense missions as the big finales of a campaign. The mission just throws massive stuff at you, which I count as a balancing problem. It worked for Wings of Liberty, as you were a small fraction force on the enemy home planet, but in the protos mission, they should have flipped the two last missions, put the defense mission before the host, so you can free your people and then learn of the attempt to reincarnate, gathering all forces in a desperate attempt to stop this, thus leading into theepilogue to get rid of the big bad for good, which again is defense expect the first one. I was kinda disappointed by the nova covert ops missions. The escape: a hero unit micro mission with a surplus dexterity test. it should have been shortened and the nobuild initial section of the second mission. Sudden strike is okay on its own as an easier introduction of the special mechanics of the mission. still, ould have been merged with the first one just as well Enemy Intelliogence is again a defense mission. The split nature could have been done similarly to the last human mission in WC3 where you have to get through a nobuild segment while defending the own base. Over all, a very weak pack. The missions in the second pack feel fine even though it is weired in flashpoint how the mission gets easier the more you explore by taking out difficult unit types. For the last mission pack, it is ok. Still, C tier I guess as it is unfair to judge something by what it could have been.. Though only recommendable on a big discount

One thing that always bothered me about the Brood War campaign is how much stuff is happening in the background that is glossed over. During Dunes of Shakuras Raynor and Fenix decide to stay on Aiur and close the warp gate to Shakuras. Then they were apparently contacted by Kerrigan somehow, who was last seen on Char killing dark templar in Eye for an Eye, and she tells Raynor to go save Mengsk from the UED, either before or after showing up on Shakuras to participate in the whole Uraj-Khalis-kill-Aldaris storyline. In the meantime, Raynor for some reason lost Hyperion right after Overmind's defeat and somehow regained it by the time he shows up on Korhal. Presumably while Raynor was away saving Mengsk, Fenix stayed on Aiur defending the outpost we attack in Emperor's Flight. And at the end of Emperor's Flight, we see a dropship (again, not Hyperion, but it's likely an oversight) fleeing through a warp gate which then self-destructs. Where did that warp gate lead to? No idea, but next time we see Raynor, Fenix and Mengsk is on Tarsonis during Vile Disruption. Then Kerrigan asks Mengsk to lend her a psi-emitter, which he does. Where did he get one? Did he have one on him all this time? Theoretically one could've been kept on board on Norad III, but if so, why ask Mengsk for it in the first place? And after all of this, there presumably was a second front led by Raynor, Fenix and Mengsk during Liberation of Korhal, of which we know nothing. So yeah, a lot of stuff just "happens" implicitly that we don't know much about, and it's a bit of a shame. Nowadays we have fanmade campaigns to fill in the gaps, but imo it would've been more satisfying to connect all the dots during the main storyline.

3:46 *Mission 4 of Rebel Yell is the Jacobs Installation. I know it's totally forgettable and pretty unimportant but it is there.

I have 1 thing to add about LoV campaign. The way how some of the hardest missions are shoved in the begging of the campaign gave me, as someone very mediocre at RTS and also not very invested into protoss in particular, very hard time getting into LoV. While I beat both WoL and HotS multiple times on brutal and did achievements runs, I never did it with LoV. Although it is a niche perspective perhaps.

I will say, the free-form story-telling in terms of "do the missions in any order you want" of SC2 is interesting from a gameplay perspective, and in HotS/LotV allows you to have different characters present for different story beats that might be absent if you do things in a different order... But overall, it really, REALLY hurts the story's coherency. Any sense of urgency to any of the missions is lost, because you can unlock them, realize how urgent they are... and then fuck off and do five other missions while the urgent one is just sitting there waiting for you to choose it. I remember a lot of people thinking that if you didn't go to Agria right away, the mission would expire and you'd lose out on that entire chain. Nope. The option to unlock Primal Kerrigan before going to one of the first two planets, Char or Kaldir? Holy SHIT does that change things, but is there a canon order to any of these? Hell if we know! There are implications made by some comics later about HotS's planet order, but people are still debating it to this day. Jim's alcoholism comes and goes and situations fluctuate and none of the important story beats introduced in any of the side missions or story chains can be addressed in any sort of coherent, story-affecting fashion, because _you might not even do those missions._ Hell, Horner and Jim discover that Tychus effectively has a gun to his head, Tosh warns Raynor that someone on the ship is working for Mengsk, _and_ tells Raynor that Tychus is hiding stuff from him, but NONE of these pieces can be put together or acted on in any meaningful way, because the missions that unlock these reveals are optional, the conversations with Tosh are optional, hell, _Tosh himself_ is optional, and might be _dead_ when you do the missions these conversations are unlocked by, because you sided with Nova to get Ghosts. Wings of Liberty is FILLED TO THE BRIM with tons of interesting story beats that the story CANNOT DO ANYTHING WITH, because of the completely freeform nature of the campaign structure.

I think the fall was actually pretty good at mimicking the reality of mid war internal crisis. If you look, for example, at the Judean civil war during the rebellion against the Romans you will see how crazy these things can get, even in the face of an unstoppable invading force. And also how that invading force can take a step back for a while to let their enemies consume themselves from within. I do think there was a certain element of atmosphere missing, but mostly in the non-civil war missions. The 3rd mission is pratically the 1st again with a few extra units, the 9th does not feel sneaky at all, despite being portrayed as a sort of infiltration, and of course, tassadar's sacrifice always annoyed me, and even my 6 year old son found it unrealistic given the destruction he brought upon the zerg.

wings of liberty is nr 1 hands down. any modded wings of liberty campaign is way better than anything else and i dont know why

Wow! Grant is so skilled that he can play and absolutely crush StarCraft and StarCraft II campaigns while simultaneously discussing about their enjoyability and gameplay and making hand gestures as well! Amazing skills Grant!!

I really love how Starcraft story beginns with "train 10 marines 🥰" To suddenly finish with "eliminate God from existence 👿"

*First campaign (Terran)* : Agreed on the betrayal of Kerrigan. To me, it comes out of the left field - the only thing close to dissident she shows is that she doesn't like using the psi emitters, but even that Mengsk manages to justify to her: "We will do whatever it takes to safeguard humanity." - and she is on board with it from that point onward. So Mengsk throwing her to the Zerg after that is.. premature, and the fact they made a book afterwards explaining how she was the one who killed his parents means they were aware of it too - because it comes across as a later justification for the betrayal. But, as a campaign, it's a good setting-setter. Confederacy = Bad. Mengsk = Super Bad. Raynor = Good. Zerg = Nom. Protoss = Bug exterminators, sorry about the collateral. I'd give it a A. It's got flaws, but It's competent. *Second campaign (Zerg)* : By nature of the Zerg being a hive mind as centralized as it is, every character other than Kerrigan and the Overmind is.. there. The Cerebrates being blobs of flesh and blood is good for the alien-ness of it all, but they don't *do* anything, acting through their minions. Which is fine, but their designs really means it is difficult to remember who is who and why they are different from each other, and the campaign suffers as a result. I seem to recall asking myself as a child "Can't the overmind just poop out a new cerebrate? Why is the permanent loss of one so important?" This is not something that I feel can be rectified by another few missions. This is something that you need a design overhaul to get the uniqueness of the cerebrates across - because otherwise, the gameplay and story says "If you lose an overlord, morph another. They are identical." So why aren't cerebrates? Still, it is a solid campaign. Builds upon the first one by showing us the different angle. From the perspective of the Zerg, the Terrans are... there. They're building blocks. The real goal is the Protoss who they *obviously* have a feud with. And the Protoss show themselves worthy of the title by tricking Kerrigan and striking real blows against the Zerg. This is another B for me. It's got that one big flaw, but otherwise it makes it clear that the Terrans' squabbles are peanuts compared to what the Zerg and Protoss have going on. *Third campaign (protoss)* : Aaaand this is where we get to see that the Conclave are a bunch of head-in-the-sanders superiority-fueled traditionalists. The humble pie they get served throughout the campaign is *long* overdue. But it doesn't downplay the Protoss' ability. Nor their alien nature. They've been around for a *long* time, and the Zerg take full advantage of their percieved superiority. They've obviously got history with the Dark Templar, but given that the Dark Templar are still amicable to the Protoss.. Yeah, the Conclave needed to go, yesterday. And to be fair, they do realize just how badly they screwed the pooch. As an introduction to the Protoss and why they've been acting like they have, I can't fault this campaign. It's a solid A-tier for me. *Fourth Campaign (Protoss)* : Turns out that after a civil war, beggars can't be choosers. And this campaign is the protoss coming to terms with that, while at the same time realizing that accepting the devil's offer often means you aid his goals regardless of your intention. It really finalizes the Protoss's transition into a species of "If we don't stand together, none of us stands at all" which we see in LotV, but as a campaign in itself.. it's really casts the protoss as dealing with the consequences of milennia af hubris. Even the ending is them just getting one solid win - Shakuras is disinfected, meaning they have a single planet that is safe, but they have fallen FAR. Long overdue, but necessary. It's a competent campaign, but the Protoss really feel as a stepping stone towards greater stuff at this point. Which is fine; this is them at their lowest. Kerrigan wouldn't get away with half the shit she pulled if they weren't desperate. It also sets up the UED, but at this point their deal is really vague, and I have the feeling that single mission with the million missile turrets was added just so they wouldn't come out of the left field entirely - which I think is a mistake; the UED *is* an outside-context problem. It would be a much stronger start to the Terran campaign that follows if we hadn't seen them pop their heads in for a cup of missile turret puzzle mission. As it is, they feel inconsequential to this campaign So for that, this is another A-tier. Likely would have been S if the UED hadn't reared their heads. *Fifth Campaign (UED Terrans)* Aaaand here we go. It's time for the protoss to get out-contexted and have an armada fly in to wreck the status quo. And they succeed at this. The UED comes in like a wrecking ball with their own agenda and they care not one bit for anyone in the Korprulu sector. If not for Duran being who he is, the UED would have the entire thing on lock. They solidly place themselves as a disruptive force in the korprulu sector, and avoid going into hero territory because they want to *control* the Zerg, not wipe them out. Sorry, but after the confederacy and Mengsk's attempts at this, you know these are the bad guys, and the final campaign showing a boatload of propaganda just makes it clear: these are the guys to beat, but who can stand up to them at present? Mengsk is dethroned, the Protoss are hanging on.. and.. Well hello there Kerrigan. Wait, Kerrigan? Oh noooooooooo... S-tier campaign. The UED is here, and they are making that everyone else's problem. *Sixth campaign: Zerg* Time for the Queen of Blades to show off her planning chops. She is on the back foot throughout the entire campaign up until the betrayal, but she manages to outwit everyone to get everything she wants - she ends it as the Queen Bitch of the Korprulu sector, with only the fact that Duran is who he is downplaying her victory. Which is good, but one thing the campaign lacks is Kerrigan's motivation.. She hates Mengsk, that much is evident. The Protoss are trying to stop her, so that's got to go, and the UED wont abide by her for a single second. She's got reason to fight them all, but.. what then afterwards? She ends the campaign saying "No one will stand in her way", and then she just... doesn't do anything. She allows everyone to rebuild despite being in a position to wipe them out completely. What is making Kerrigan tick right now? That's something that's left for SC2 to answer, but this campaign in itself just.. "Bad guy wins then doesn't do anything." B-tier. Kerrigan gets bonus points for all her scheming, but she really lacks motivation.

Gotta say I love your upload schedule; I recently got moved to a shift that means I don't get home until like, 12:30am, so there's almost always a GGG video to watch to get me through the rest of the night before bed. I'm only a few minutes into the video but I love analytical breakdowns of the campaigns and your four checks (especially the vibe check of a campaign) are just so on point, casual, and get constructive. I can't wait to hear more. Keep being awesome Grant

Would disagree on NCO being forgettable. First set of missions already introduces several Nova-only sections, and even has the side-scrolling vulture biking. Building units to put in the destroyed building garrisons might not be super unique but is a really cool visual having the units interacting with the terrain more. Second set of missions introduces the infested Banshees and Siege Tanks, which shows that the Zerg is still actively adapting and continuing to be a violent force in the galaxy in spite of Kerrigan/Zagara, and is more than just "hurr durr psi emitters" that we got in the first set of missions. Being able to select which Zerg garrisons you fight at which time is also pretty neat. The constant flashbacks between the original city and the infested one are really cool, because you have a reference of how things were and how all-consuming the Zerg can be. Third set of missions does fall a little short in this regard, but the big city defense mission with all the Battlecruisers is an awesome spectacle. I remember it more than the final mission because of the visuals and atmosphere on its own. Final mission by comparison - while much more challenging and fun - is just "big robut". I don't even remember if it takes place on Korhal, another planet, or a space platform. NCO was short, but it did its best to try and introduce something new to the game in every mission, and doing this after ALL the other SC2 missions is pretty impressive for a quick DLC bonus campaign.

My main problem with the Brood War Protoss campaign is a plot hole. You have a mission where you can either clear your way to the rock or smack the new overmind around a bit until it gets a headache.... but you have access to Dark Templar on that mission and Zeratul is also overseeing the mission... So why can't we just outright kill the second overmind right there and then? Zeratul does it in the zerg BW campaign... I mean how many cerebrates did Daggoth throw together to create the baby Overmind? Does he have enough to make a third? While it is nice that the mission does offer a choice on how you approach it, the fact that it gives you a choice that seems stupid so the plot can move on feels bad to me. And the other campaigns (UED and QoB) suffer as a result. Also why is there a random warp gate connecting Auir and Shakuras? My personal ranking would be the following. I am counting the prologue and epilogue of Legacy of the Void as separate campaigns because they kinda are. I mean neither of them are required for the LotV Brutal achievement. Is it cheating? Yes, yes it is. 1. UED campaign. (Terran Brood War) 2. QoB campaign. (Zerg Brood War) 3. Legacy of the Void (just the main campaign) 4. Rebel Yell 5. Wings of Liberty 6. Overmind 7. Nova Covert Ops 8. SC1 base Protoss 9. Prologue 10. Brood War Protoss 11. Epilogue (sadly the first mission does not salvage it). 12. Heart of the Swarm I haven't played the N64 Stukov mini campaign so I am leaving it unranked. Heart of the Swarm honestly was a disappointment. Being able to go to Char straight after the tutorial missions should not have been a thing. Char should've been one of the final planets before Korhal alongside Duran / Naruds main Hybrid lab / Amons Temple. Or do what they did with Aiur in LotV and go to Char first for Ziggy Zags but you have to flee soon after. It is why I always go to Kaldir first. It feels appropriate given the hit and run, using the environment to your advantage and how justified Kerrigan is in fearing the Golden Amanda. Unfortunately going to Char first is canonical... yay. Also the fact that Primal Kerrigan can just solo nearly the rest of the campaign on brutal brings the campaign to the bottom on my list. A hero should be impactful yes, but they shouldn't be invincible. Nova in NCO feels balanced for the campaign. Is she powerful? Yes, but not overpowered. I know who I would bet on if it was the Xanthos vs Nova in a 1v1. The epilogue needed to be longer. You are heading into the Void, the reality that Amon has made his own. And it feels like a quick smash and grab. Stukov getting the true killing blow on Duran is always a delight to see. Stukov nearly ruined everything for Duran back in the Brood War without even knowing it. The rivalry the two had in Heart of the Swarm was also a highlight, even if it was short lived. I feel a 9 mission mini campaign like NCO is would be an ideal length as an epilogue. Maybe explore Amon a bit more though this. Show us what he was before ascending. What was it that made him and his followers (i.e. Duran) feel that the infinite cycle was an outright lie.

Extremely hot take: The Wings of Liberty ending ought to have been reversed. Resolve the Tychus angle somehow (maybe there's something more to his bargain with mengsk- some other thing mengsk has over Tychus that we can resolve in a commando mission; the armor-lock and implied kill device is laughably weak in a sci-fi setting. No way that theres not some way to remove that suit safely, internal bomb or no.) and have Matt and Raynor approach human kerrigan at the end there. Have Matt be cued in on the Zeratul angle. Matt begs Raynor to show some compassion- that we need Kerrigan to be a plot device or whatever. Raynor's having none of it. He goes for his revolver, probably invoking Fenix's name, before Matt kills him dead. Credits. This helps HoS a lot- Kerrigan has no personal connection to Valerian or Matt. She's inherently untrustworthy- and rightly so. We cut the Raynor abduction angle from that campaign, and bring Matt back in a little later just like before. Kerrigan's given some time to mourn Jim, maybe even to lash out at Matt. I dunno. Having Raynor decide to try to redeem Kerrigan then watch her lay waste to Korhal in HotS just feels bizarre. HotS in general is woefully... middling, in terms of character studies. I dont even want to talk about the LotV epilogue. Stukov had the only good moment there.

I think only one bad thing about WoL - the small scale of action. I know that it is because weak PCs in 2010 and in later campaigns scale grows up, but still it feels not as great as it could be. Playing as a small squad on low resource map is a nice gimmick for a couple of missions but not for the whole campaign. This also applies to map design. Most maps are either too focused on one main direction with some sideways to protect from almost unclearable bases or place you at some unpopulated static open space which just feels dead and frozen (like Haven's Fall or Media Blitz). I think HotS and LotV got this at least somewhat better on some maps: you build more, you lose more, you constantly fight for map control and have to clear different parts of map not only for objectives but also to reduce enemy pressure and gain more resources. Well, i have some ideas how to improve WoL map design and scale, but for now i just need to get much more editor experience.

I love that you gave brief reminders of what the SC1 campaigns were about.

I guess the Protoss civil war was so that the campaign wouldn't just be PvZ the entire time Also, i really liked Enemy Intelligence from Nova Covert Ops. It encourages and rewards aggression without putting you on a timer

21:20 LMAO "Every character is either beloved or a doctor"

I think that WOL was so good because of all tuebworld building - pretty much every mission was on a new planet making it feel like a huge universe to explore. The in HOTS there are 5 or 6 planets in the main story, with 2-3 missions back to back on each, making the universe feel so much smaller. It also kind of feels like the zerg just planet hop from place to place and aren't expanding their territory at all. Agreed on the evolution missions - they dont feel like proper missions as they're basically all no build missions. The primal zerg have just been chilling on Zerus for a few thousand years and despite the Zerg being able to planet hop, the primals dont appar to be able to. And they seem to have developed equivalents to all the major Zerg strains as well, so they feel like reskinned Zerg rather than a unique faction that underwent millenia of hyper evolution. Which kind of begs the question on what Amon did to the overmind - presumably he took it off the planet and dropped it off somewhere it would be able to learn space travel on its own. It just seems really stupid.

I really enjoy this kind of conversation pieces from you, even on the gameplay channel just hearing you banter makes me keep watching This is definitely a great format, would love a warcraft version of this video or a custom campaign tier list

19:16 "it might not be the most crazy thing by today's standards but when they were made these were novel things and ended up being replicated a lot because of how good they were." SC1 campaigns look mid today because they were so good at the time and they irreversibly raised our standards sky high as a result. 22:47 So true. Kerrigan in Broodwar was more memorable as a shrewd manipulator than a single unit juggernaut. Her biggest strength was subterfuge, not raw power. In HotS Kerrigan doesn't show enough of her past manipulating side. She keeps scolding Zagara for wanting to solve all problems by hitting them hard, when she is always the heaviest and the most frequent slugger in the Swarm.

Guess me disliking the QoB campaign is a very unpopular opinion, huh? I guess gameplay - wise it's good, but the story is so all over the place, that I can't really like it. For me it's the worst one asside from HotS, which is ironic, cus both of them are Kerrigan campaigns. And I don't dislike Zerg as a faction by any means - the Overmind campaign is my second favorite SC1 campaign after Iron Fist. I feel like the Zerg suffers from an identity crisis between its leaders and the Overmind had a very distinct vibe to him that could never be replicated.

Something I never liked about SC 2 campaign's is the like of in-game upgrades. Sure, it is cool to upgrade units inbetween missioms, but having no upgrades to research aside from attack/defense in-game always felt a wrong for me. It also makes it so that units plateau in power rrally quickly, seeing as a unit is as powerful as the'll ever be the moment you unlock them.

9:22 - That`s a really good point! Imagine if zerg were suddenly attacking all the protoss on "Civil War" missions! That will be much more interesting and complicated!

I absolutely love the new format you've put down for this ranking systme. I think it's a great way to get a broad base of ideas spread out and ensure that you have full engagement. I will slightly disagree on The Fall being C tier. While I don't disagree with you that the civil war thing in the face of annihilation was pretty dumb, Auir is a big fucking planet and the homeworld of the Protoss. The Overmind was likely coordinating against the Golden Armada and fighting other executors elsewhere. It also highlights the arrogance of the Protoss very well, that even Tassadar to an extent had (at least prior to meeting Raynor.). I feel like the Overmind would have known of this, especially upon learning the memories of the Dark Templar that slew Zasz who would undoubtably have a conscious or sub-conscious begrudgement against the Daleem. Also, on top of this from the Overminds' point of view: Why interrupt your enemy when they are making a mistake by in-fighting? I definitely agree on the difficulty being just right on that mission. I feel like if anything the final mission should have been slightly harder, bringing together everything you learned on the prior campaigns but Blizzard still did a good job with it. Finally, Xanthos and N:CO is Garbage Tier and I will fight anyone on this point. How on Earth would the Xanthos project not be one of the first thing locked down upon discovering one of your generals had mutinied against the Emperor? Also PSI Emitters are apparently a dollar a dime now, because what on Earth could go wrong with mass producing a means of summoning The Swarm to your location? Absolute F tier campaign. I would honestly have much rather it focused on the Kel-Morian side faction if anything, they needed development instead of just being "waagh rescue us pls Dominion.".

If WOL had the archive function, it would be perfect. I wish I could try a specific mission with a specific set of units/upgrades without having to start the campaign over

Regarding the original protoss campaign (The Fall), you said that it doesn't make sense that the Overmind would sit back while the protoss were fighting amongst themselves. But recall that the plan of the Overmind was to escape the Xel'naga's control by infesting Kerrigan and letting her take over the swarm. If the zerg win vs protoss, then the Overmind's plan will fail. The Overmind is doing what they can to suicide by protoss, and this includes sitting back while the protoss are doing political stuff. The Overmind could not exert their will against the Xel'naga's general directives, but they could make small decisions like allowing the protoss to fight one another, since that would technically align with the Xel'naga's general instructions.

I will speak out as someone who thinks the Fall probably deserves a B tier instead of C tier - as much as the Great Offscreen War against the Zerg is annoying (and all the middle missions definitely drag a little), it's precisely Tassadar's point. (I will also say I absolutely agree with almost all of your assessment, the video is fantastic, and even when I disagree with the assessment, the analysis is always interesting, on point, and very much worth listening to, which is honestly in my opinion more important - discussion is a wonderful thing.) A planet is a massive thing - and it feels like Aiur is one of the few planets that gets to be more than a map. Every day they're fighting Tassadar, they are ignoring all the brave warriors on the front line still fighting the Zerg. The Protoss are this ancient, enigmatic people - but the Conclave is very complacent. They're too arrogant and stuck in their high-minded ways, and we're learning that ultimately, the Protoss aren't all that different from the Terrans is very interesting (in spite of the many ways they are). That being said, if one really wants to see the enigmatic aliens as being truly enigmatic aliens, I can absolutely see the disappointment. I think, if the campaign were to properly emphasise the cost of all the Protoss bickering and in-fighting - perhaps by having us play through Fenix's first death, rather than just have it be in a cutscene when his psi blade just randomly FAILS (and yes I know there's a lore reason but I do not care about the lore reason, that cutscene plays it for comedy, and it makes it all look stupid!); and having the Zerg intrude on other major Aiur events (imagine if the Zerg showed up at the Trial of Tassadar as a third faction both parties had to fight off, completely irrelevant to the main action but showing how they just couldn't get along in the face of far bigger problems) would have helped make the campaign more solidly enjoyable. It would also help to actually prove Tassadar's point, which would connect the moral of the campaign together far more. I do wish, however, we got to see Artanis in that campaign, and see him going from a Conclave devotee to a Tassadar supporter, rather than just having that happen with you as silent Artanis - that's one thing I personally dislike about SC1 campaigns. The Fall is in no worlds an A-tier campaign. But for me, it feels like if it just reached out a tiny bit more, it could've been a wonderful B-tier one.

Original Terran: They cut too much, leading to plot-hole dialogue. Original Protoss: Tassadar sends his old friends on a pointless mission to fail killing a Cerebrate. Why did they trust him before/AFTER this? The civil war isn't too bad since the Protoss weakness was supposed to be their stubborness. BW Protoss: Kerrigan is known as a chronic backstabber despite not having backstabbed anyone yet (unless you count hurting Mengsk's feelings). Final mission is hyper-memorable. BW Terran: Memorable but short. This is the ONLY Terran campaign in the series where your in-game strength is reflected by the story: you have overwhelming might and guile, unlike the other 3 Terran campaigns where you are a small guerilla group. BW Zerg: Mission 2: Never using your last drone to make a building is obviously a programming limitation, and it should have been fixed rather than spawn this meme instant loss mission. This campaign has some of the most unique missions in the game. WoL: The time skip was what, 4 years? Way too short. Raynor missing Kerrigan should have been done without. Great overall, I just wish the 2 choice missions didn't always portray Raynor as being right no matter his choice. HotS: Forever cursed between the campaign that introduced SC2 and the one that ended it. But also cursed by its own flaws: Raynor impossibly surviving, Kerrigan beaten by a magic rock. Also the dialogue... this campaign has some of my favorite lines in any game, but many were cut (Ishza) and others are glossed over (Zeratul and Kerrigan). LotV: PLEASE turn down the music. Story is a crescendo from hopelessness to victory, decades in the making, and moments such as the Khala's fall, Zeratul, and Shakuras were amazing. All characters are awesome. It stuttered at the end with missions objectives being "Super Unique", and ending with All-In-V2, but it was still fun. Into the Void: Mission 1 is S-tier, Mission 2 is All-In-V3 so soon after All-In-V2, and Mission 3 is simply not worthy of ending the story. I love that they changed their mind on Tassadar's "revival", but then... Kerrigan ascending actually makes some sense, but man everything else is mind-boggling. The plot flip-flops between "Cycles ended!" and "Cycles continue!", the Raynor-Kerrigan romance is given even more needless importance, Artanis randomly kneels to the space whale that manipulated his people, and WHY does Amon have only ONE line hinting at his motivations?! Covert Ops: It's alright. Davis is crazy. Gameplay is great. Seeing Alarak's arrogance get him trashed was satisfying.

I think in Rebel Yell, the suddenness of Mengsk's betrayal is what gives it so much impact, and I think extra buildup would only take away from that. Using the psi emitter on mission 7 was clever, using them on mission 8 definitely felt off, fighting the Protoss on 9 felt even more off but by then it was too late to stop Mengsk. And as the player, walking right into that trap along with Jim and Kerrigan is a cool feeling. I hard agree on the blitzy nature of the UED campaign being a huge point in its favour, but I think the feeling of shortness of that campaign is only because of how fun it is. Protoss is also 8 missions but feels like it drags on and on, for me. That campaign is personally my S-tier pick, in no small part because of that feeling of military precision. I think B is a bit too harsh - I won't talk you up to S but I think it deserves A as a minimum. Hard agree on how well Blizzard pulled off playing as the bad guy, especially in Brood War Zerg. I think the non-linearity of Wings was a mistake, but a completely forgivable one. I think Blizzard just bit off more than they can chew with that and it just doesn't suit the RTS genre. All the extra mini stories are just empty fluff because none of them are allowed to have any bearing on the main story. Tosh / Doc aren't allowed to have any important contributions to the final missions because they're not guaranteed to still be alive by then - you could even have skipped meeting them in the first place. Have you considered giving each campaign an unofficial ranking in each of the four categories? Like HotS gets D for story, C for Vibe, A for gameplay and F for difficulty? Might add a bit more nuance than just one letter.

Looking forward to the main channel version!! SC1 rankings seem really fair, I agree with the story analysis (though I'd probs give UED an A). I also agree that Wings of Liberty was a total delight mechanically and gameplay-wise, but I was super disappointed with the story and characters. Not just Raynor reversing his stance on Kerrigan (and being rewarded for it), but also the utter lack of complexity in the characters (do people really enjoy Stetmann and Horner and the other supporting cast as much as any non-Cerebrate character in SC1?), and ESPECIALLY the lack of good antagonists (Mengsk, Tal-Darim, and WoL Kerrigan are just so, so, so bland and morally uninteresting to defeat). Agreed that All In is amazing though. Really better than the sum of its parts somehow (same for the Char landing mission, for me)

Honestly, WoL is my favorite campaign mostly because of how it was my first Starcraft game and how it was a great introduction to the Starcraft series as a whole. The characters were amazing, the doctor really was poorly utilized and showed have been done better, the "choose your next mission" thing was super fun, so many fun units to play around with, so many fun missions to play like Breakout, Media Blitz, and especially All In. It's just such a fantastic game and I agree that it's an S tier Starcraft campaign and the best Starcraft campaign of them all.

I think it would be quite interesting to split a tier list like this into a story/vibe/characters category and a difficulty/gameplay category. It would be intersting which campaigns differ in that regard an how much (Nova Covert Ops... cough, cough).

You forgot to mention the fact that you get predators in wings of liberty, which is why it’s meant to be in S+ tier. Not S tier

giving the iron fist a b is a crime against humanity, same for queen of blades not being S tier

I enjoyed this episode of GrantDoesBrainstorms

Hi, Grant! I think you are spot on, especially for the Starcraft 1 campaigns. I was surprised you placed the UED campaign into B tier, but listening to your explanations made sense. Still I believe, because of how memorable some of the missions are, like stealing a whole fleet of battlecruisers it deserves A tier. I still remember being 3 year old (I am born 5 years after BW was released) and playing those missions, although when I think about it it is probably mostly nostalgia playing a role here. Another thing to mention is the HotS campaign. While I do completely agree with your takes especially with the one about the advertisement of 27 missions initially, I do think that the Evolution Missions were a good and fresh addition to HotS. They gave us an oppotunity to look into Abathur as a character more and also see how the Swarm was able to evolve biologically. Because of them, and because of the level of unit customization I think that it should be placed in B tier. One final note, maybe it will be more interesting for main channel video to do a proper ranking of all of the campaigns. Tier List is also a great option, but maybe seeing your top 3 favorite campaigns with their exact order could also be interesting.

Rebel Yell: I think the development of Kerrigan and Mengsk's relationship is implied well to not require the additional missions but primarily I think the lack of additional time leads into Mengsk's mistake backfiring as being something he hadn't completely planned for Kerrigan and hadn't forseen any complications. After that mistake it leads him to being far more paranoid and builds his character better. Overmind: The Cerebrates are underdeveloped, but Kerrigan and Tassadar relationship is good and interesting and feels like it leads into Kerrigan's almost personal attack against the Dark Templar in Brood War The Fall: Wish it was more interesting; wish they had continued that development in the background betwen Kerr & Tass as opposed to the endless civil war chase. You make a lot of great points already about it. If I could change it I would want that campaign to be from the perspective from Tassadar escaping from the Conclave whilst continuing to harrass and slow down the zerg and Kerrigan on Aiur which would explain what was happening on with the zerg whilst still managing the civil war 2nd Protoss Campaign: Liked the campaign but Aldaris didn't show why he would be objective enough to be right about Kerrigan and not understand where Tassadar was coming from. He never felt redeemed and the Protoss suffered so much from Tassadar dying as being the only competent general it felt. Considering their galactic nature, was the Civil War on Aiur really mean no-one of importance appeared other than Tassadar and Aldaris? Iron Fist: This feels like the competence you'd expect from the Galactic Protoss influence from a single strike force from Earth. Wish the idea and references would have continued into SC2 considering they never of them again. Agree that more time was required to explore DeGaulle & Stukov and why distrust was so readily jumped to, would have been interesting to see something where Stukov chose to do something differently but worked out against DeGaulle's orders to setup the reason for doubt Queen Of Blades: Loved this campaign, maybe i'm weird but the pacing for the Kel-Morine mission was nice as a newbee, it entertained the idea of how to macro more instead of 12 drones are all i need mentallity - it spoke to an rts development more than a story but gave you lore and story over destroy all which I thought was unique for the period. Otherwise top tier campaign WOL: Just straight up agree. I think having the Terran do a tough defence mission as the final mission worked so well and had exciting pacing. My only gripe is the Taldarim being apparently useless. Never felt like they were a legitimate threat even though they were build to be, otherwise amazing campaign HOTS: I do believe they did the scale very well for the zerg and the ability to swarm and get the feeling of controlling a massive army, shame they invalidated it with Uber Kerrigan. Almost wished they had Kerrigan remain looking human but acting Zerg to show that dichotomy instead of crazy zerg monster. Those extra missions could have included UED scouts and potential eyes on the Koprulu sector as a potential foreshadowed threat currently outside of Kerrigan's control but they wanted to do the Hybrid as the only threat LOTV: I liked the campaign but I wish they had gone more along a Battlestar Galactica vibe of escape and required to scrap and scrape up the resources for specific systems to bring operational instead of the generic super gem that does everything trope. Considering how the story had built to this point they don't have infinite resources and have not had a break from the back foot since SC1 realistically. It felt a bit of a let down after the story hype and then the Epilogue just left open questions in my head around story which is not what you want. I don't think I could give this campaign an 'A'. Ultimately, I liked the concept but not the execution. NCO: Haha, it doesn't feel canon, I enjoyed the mission designs, story was not bad honestly. Again execution of being 3 missions every so often meant you couldn't get excited and only ever played it 3 or 4 years after it had fully released. Nothing to do with UED so thumbs down :P Just some thoughts, totally Protoss biased as you can tell, and missed some interesting branches that would have been better to explore. Nice video Grant regardless, I liked this video design that can add to a collective feeling. Great vid

I like this format, it's neat to see the thought process before the main video and maybe get some different opinions. Putting Legacy of the Void above the UED campaign is criminal tho. Rebel Yell: Outside of Mengsk's betrayal feeling a bit sudden and out of nowhere, I agree with everything you said. I didn't think about it as a teaching campaign but it actually makes it better now. The zerg defense mission is still a meme tho. Overmind: I found it very whatever personally. The cerbrates being differently coloured sprites was lame. The Overmind could just launch itself to Aiur and just take it? Was Kerrigan the missing key? Why wasn't this done before? The fall: Pretty much agree with everything. To add, Tassadar surrenders in one mission, the next one you (for some reason) decide to break him out, then he's grateful and you all decide to just kill the Overmind? Wtf? The base SC campaigns I've always found ok but nothing amazing, gameplay and story-wise. Brood war is where stuff gets good. The stand: Pretty nice. Starts off good, the story is more interesting than anything in the base game honestly. UED: The best SC campaign, easily. Kinda agree that Stukov and DuGalle could have used some fleshing out but outside of that, it's got everything going for it. Story, mission variety, vibe, difficulty (Mengsk really likes mines...). Idk how it can be below LotV 😠 Queen of blades: More or less agree. But the last mission making Kerrigan/zergs somehow beat an alliance of 3 at once seems stupid. Wings of Liberty: 10/10. Since 2010 up until 2021 I've played it 16 times, 2-3 times a year. I don't mind Raynor's change of heart. When given a solution to actually turn Kerrigan back it makes sense to take it. And he had to argue with Zeratul, look into his memories, drink and argue with his crew. It wasn't as easy as some make it out to be. The only issue I have with this campaign is that the choices don't go anywhere, with Tosh/Nova and Hansen. And Hansen made Stetmann irrelevant the whole campaign outside of 3-4 dialogues and 1 mission. There are also maybe 2 units that are memes (predator/hercules) and a few are not particularly useful outside of their respective missions, like reapers, hellions, medivacs (dropships in SC2 campaign generally which are missing from the other 2 campaigns), wraiths and diamondbacks but everything else is amazing. Also, the last Zeratul mission is stupid hard, fuck that mission. Heart of the swarm: Yea, Kerrigan takes the difficulty, puts in a truck and throws it off a cliff. The hardest mission is funnily enough The Crucible, the one without her. I like that the last mission is not another defense mission but all you need is like 8-10 impalers always burrowed in Jim's base then clear the map whenever you want. Also Alpha squadron at the end like they're supposed to be strong or something? One odd thing that I never understood was that between missions, you'd get 2-3 messages that some queens want to join your brood, and you tell them to conquer some planet. All in a cutscene. That screams of cut content. Choose some planets to make Korhal's attack easier in some aspects and harder in other ones, take away some units like in All In, some side missions like the Niadra one, if you decide to go there directly Mengsk gets stronger somehow, anything idk. Random cutscenes that serve no purpose. I agree with everything else. Legacy of the void: Always gave the feeling that Blizzard just wanted to end the story, like they did it more out like a chore. Here's the ending to the story we started 17 years ago, do what you will with it. The missions and the characters are nice, the whole Xel'Naga explanation is very...why? It's too out there with universe destroying threats. And the hybrids can suddenly be killed, in Wings of Liberty it running was the only option. The ending is an ultra happy ending where everyone gets what they wanted and they lived happily ever after which is fine, barring ultra god Kerrigan and whatever happened to her and Jim. How is this better than the UED campaign?? Nove: ...who? Rather dull, truth be told. There's not really anywhere else to go after the epilogue. Everyone is at peace with each other. Terrans are in a golden age, protoss are fine living as templar or tal'darim, zerg are doing whatever. Trying to write a story where there is conflict between any of these factions doesn't make sense. Something internal, maybe. A short, character focused, low stake story could have been neat. If only we got that.

In the first Protoss campaign, l always imagine Zerg conquering the Aiur and destroying main Protoss forces, while these idiots are fighting civil war. And Tasadar in these missions is like: “IDK, in one hand we should fight the Zerg, but un the other hand Aldaris is a jerk” and I really like his uncertainty about it. And overall vibe, when you want to scream to the screen like “GUYS, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, STOP PLEASE!!!” Is really cool. So I will move it to B

I think one thing about the zerg pre-WOL that really frustrated me was that the zerg were in this bubble disconnected from everything. It doesn't matter who Zasz was, because the rest of the universe doesn't acknowledge a single cerebrate by name. They seem to acknowledge the role the cerebrates Have but they never engage with them as characters. Which makes the whole thing feel odd. I guess that's why they went to such great lengths to develop the queens in SC2, because Zerg characters felt unbelievably weak for everyone not named Kerrigan up until WOL. And this kind of extends to the Confederates. You really have no notion of who they were. EU kind of gives us tidbits about how they were bad dudes overall, but they exist to fail. We don't get any real acknowledgement of how they operates or why they do things. They are the authority, you topple authority... profit? It's Worse with the cerebrates because, even Kerrigan doesn't acknowledge they exist as distinct beings to other characters; even while going to lengths to create one because they are of such utility. Also big feedback: Extend this to non-main line campaigns! They get a lot less exposure and Should get more.

Not sure if I'm alone in this, but I thought you glossed over the mission quality in Nova CO a bit. I agree with all the other criticism for the campaign, but just from a gameplay perspective I feel like all the missions are really good, some of the most creative in the games. I think they even managed to make the mandatory early game defense mission fun^^

I always interpreted The Fall to be the Conclave had its forces fighting the Zerg. They weren't making progress, but they were so certain they would win they sent their most promising commander and forces to hunt Tassadar down. The issue I had was Tassadar surrendering just to have us break him out. If we lost the mission he surrendered in sure, but it seemed pointless. Lwt me break the base, have hundreds of carriers arrive so Tassadar surrenders so we can escape.

I think one of the elements that are often overlooked in ranking is art. I find cinematics, music, cutscenes, conversations and voice acting are extremely important to loving the story of the game and integrating you into its atmosphere. This was a huge factor in Starcraft 1 supremacy and they nailed it again in Legacy of the void, music was phenomenal in Legacy, very emotional makes you feel like a member of a protoss tribe fighting for your survival.

So, my thoughts on the ratings/rankings: Rebel Yell: Pretty much agree with you on about 90% of it, especially the points of the Kerrigan betrayal and the cut missions. Only thing I would dock a few points for is that while it is indeed a tutorial campaign to get you to learn how to play Starcraft I can't help but feel like the amount of handholding it does lingers far too long. It could maybe stand to have one of the teaching missions exchanged for a macro mission, but its hardly to the point I'd drop it a tier over. The Overmind: Pretty much hit the nail on the head wholly, only thing that seems a bit off by tone is that they sort of set it up so that the Terrans really just kinda get rolled with little issue even on the small scale battles which contrasts the notion that the Terrans could put up a good fight against the Zerg when united. Protoss get to have their bamboozle win but the Terrans just kinda get dismissed and bullied. (Unless its mission 3), I want to almost say its a C in my eyes, but I can fully admit my bias on this one. The Fall: Aldaris Being Dense: The Campaign. Though while the story is more or less whatever, I did enjoy the actual missions a lot more compared to the previous two campaigns, and actually did a wonderful job of setting up the notion of the interracial collaboration going forward. Personally I think it would deserve a low B myself carried by the gameplay above all. The Stand: Aldaris Being Dense: The Expansion. Design and the like you were accurate on, but holy mother of god the betrayal bit and the Protoss Civil War round two being all because Aldaris cannot use his words and Artanis actually being gullible as heck is just painful in retrospect. Though I think that's a greater critque on early Blizzard story writing as a whole as well: With how many plot points occur because of characters being idiot balled. Still, the rating you gave I agree with. The Iron Fist: God, you are so right with the fact that its so close to being fantastic if it just had a bit more time to cook and flesh out the interpersonal plots. The lack thereof makes the whole Stukov being killed bit really feel more like an idiot ball than anything on DuGalle's end. "Yes I'll gladly take the word of someone I just met recently over my long standing friend since before this invasion." Please. Gameplay is fantastic though, and I love the divergent mission choice in the Korhal invasion. The Queen of Blades: Let me preface by saying I am one of the ones who actually hate this campaign. So many of the missions are either far too gimmicky, or easy, generally making a lot of the campaign forgettable from a mission stance, with the only one that stands out at all being Omega. And the story plot itself really just comes off as 'Kerrigan gets to do whatever because everyone else refuses to talk to each other and Kerrigan just gets to win, win win win.' I was over it before I even got half way through since it just makes everyone else come off as incompetent and incapable and kills off many beloved characters to just prop up this someone who last we played as got completely bullied by the Templar.

Wings of Liberty even with it's flaws is simply the best RTS campaign in existence, all the reasoning you provided for every campaign was logical, I have no feedback.

I think for The Fall, it was trying to show the Protoss'es complete arrogance and their fanstical behavoirs on what is an outdated system. And the Zerg are still fighting the Protoss. They just haven't reached Tassadar's location, and that is why you so easily rescue Tassadar, Aldaris and the Conclave are busy fighting a war. Hence the name, The Fall, not the Fall of Auir, but The Downfall of the Protoss. Ironically, the saying "Twice the pride, double the fall." Fits perfectly with what I'm saying and serves as a good TLDR to what I'm saying.

You're completely missing the point of The Fall. The Protoss are too proud to acknowledge that the Zerg are a even on their planet as it's not even a thought that the Zerg could ever get near their home, it is inconceivable. So Zerg being on the planet wasn't thought of as possibly being a threat and they never knew the Overmind would come. It showcases the Protoss's folly perfectly and how Tassadar was different, remember the Aldaris's speech to Tassadar in the final mission? I don't understand how any entire campaign is forgettable.

25:55 "Fenix/Taldarin Storyline-" Isn't it... Talandar?

What I really liked about Brood War is how the UED are only vaguely introduced in The Stand making it unclear if they are good or bad. But in Iron Fist, they are portrayed as if they are going to be the main good guy faction of Starcraft. Halfway through the campaign, you begin to doubt them more and more, especially during their ending where they air a propaganda broadcast claiming to have "saved Earth". In the final campaign, they are revealed yo being the main villains of BW. You strip them of their power peice by peice, and after their last desperate attack on Kerrigan to save face, they are beaten badly. Dugalle, now demoralized and humilated by the defeat admits his mistakes in a dramatic scene before killing himself, and then Kerrigan destroys what is left of the UED. The ending definitely has a King Midas theme to it

To be honest, Wings of Liberty could've been trash and still broken sales records. This was Blizzard at their peak when we all thought they could do no wrong.

I agree that The Rebel Yell needed one more Protoss mission. Nothing to add to The Overmind. Regarding to The Fall I don't exactly share your plot concerns. I just think that it might needed more exposure to stuff going around on planet. More reports and updates from frontlines and so on during briefings and missions itself. And the way it's focusing on civil war is a way to show how stubborn and blinded by his conservatism and traditionalism Aldaris is. Personally I'd put it in low B tier. Overall I think that campaigns from base game lose a bit, because there was bunch of lore and story building included in manual. Back in the day you got it with the game in paper form and it was amazing read for a kid or teenager. But later editions were basically CD case followed by digital. And only really enthusiastic people would try looking into that. Part of story telling lost to technology. Same with demo version that had its own mini campaign with 5 missions which introduced stuff about Terran, Zerg and ruthlessness of Confederacy. Following with Brood War I mainly have issue with story of Protoss campaign and recreation of the Overmind and the way it was handled. Blizz made it so that you either get Crystal or kill Overmind. So basically if you killed Overmind, then like 50% of other 2 campaigns makes no sense. Canon is that they just snatched Crystal. It was good idea for alternative victory conditions but poorly implemented. Branching mission in UED campaign was handled much better. WoL campaign was really innovative stuff with what you can do - mission objectives, structure, story telling, intermission stuff. Absolutely amazing. And I agree a little they softened Jim's attitude towards Kerrigan. But then you could tell it's 5 years of being fugitive alcoholic drowning in guilt that he didn't save her. Starting from HotS my main issue are retcons. A whole lot of them. And in LotV epilogue just 2 words: Tinker Bell :/ As for Kerrigan and Nova issue, I think it's just part of Ghost training program. They had memory wipes after each mission under Confederacy. And I don't remember if it was Arcturus or Junior who abolished this pratice, I think only Junior. So it's kinda understandable you can't really learn much about those characters and their Ghost days. Well, you can. In typical Blizzard fashion that rose with World of Warcraft - putting a lot of major lore and plot in books. Which I think should be also mentioned in final video as just bad pratice. Though at least in case of Starcraft it isn't as bad as it is with Warcraft universe.

after watching the whole video yeah i fully 100% agree

For me the 2 worst - BY FAR - campaigns were Heart of the Swarm and Legacy of the Void. All of the dialogue was so incredible boring and pathetic (IMO you can sum most of it up to: "I am so powerful, I will crush you. NO, I am way more powerful, I will crush YOU!), the characters felt like written by a 7 year old who has no talent, and the story was all about some "dark god" "prophecy" "incredible power" "blablabla" and "is there anybody who cares about this generic shit" All of it felt like they found a drunken drug addict at their doorstep, laying in his own pile of vomit - then took pity on him and made him write these campaigns while he was still heavily intoxicated. And on top of that everything felt just incredible cheap. While Wings of Liberty had the Hyperion where you could do some stuff, interesting things were happening, you had a jukebox, a TV, this lost viking game... - the other campaigns felt like they were are done by a modder who made the mod in his free time and obviously didn't have the ressources to match WoL. It has most of the same stuff on first glance (Leviathan instead of Hyperion, Abathur instead of Swan...) - but on second glance you realize that all is much worse, way more basic and just incredible boring. I never bothered to replay HotS a single time. I even prefered the Nova Covered Ops. I am not saying that it is a great campaign - but compared to the abysmal HotS and LotV it was way better. No more boring prophecies, hybrids and dark gods and at least some dialogue that actually felt like two people talking with each other. Generally spoken, the cinematics in SC2 are high quality tech-wise, but quite subpar storytelling wise. They focus WAY too much on action instead of giving us anything meaningful. They feel like fast-food. Easily consumed, easily forgotten. The only realy great cinematic that stands out to me is - ironically - telling us an even of Starcraft 1. How Kerrigan was abandoned. It starts with some action, then Kerrigan requesting evac. And then she realizes that she will not get rescued. The cinematic slows down. No more action. You just see Sarah, slowly realizing that she is abandoned, that her life is over, that she is sacrificed. She drops her guns, orchestral music starts, the cinematic is fading away and the last thing you see is the Zerg closing in on her. THAT is how you tell a story. Action itself is boring. Characters shouting how powerful they are and how they will destroy the enemy is lame. This cinematic is perfect, it captures the realization of Sarah that she is about to die and thre is nothing she can do to change it perfectly.

Unpopular opinion time: I utterly hate the direction that Legacy of the Void took the story. It's entirely too high fantasy for me, and it takes it really far from the core sci-fi. Yeah, they foreshadowed the hybrid all the way from SC1, but the void-god Amon thing, and leaning too heavily on psionic magic was probably one of the worst directions they could have taken it. It's all very World of Warcraft. I wanted space opera and instead I got Protoss elves and dark elves and hybrid demons, and I've felt this way since it came out. Also, it's too kumbaya, yay, everyone's friends now even though they should still be very, very much in conflict. Where's the backstabbing, the intrigue, the politics!? Yeah, Alarak, kind of, but barely, and still with much more fantasy hero theming instead of any kind of realistic worldbuilding.

It's been too long since I played Starcraft 1 campaign for me to rank it correctly. Though if we are talking story - all starcraft 1 campaigns are awesome. For the gameplay I again, don't have it freshly in my memory enough to say. For starcraft 2 - WOL plays nice, the armory system is the best out of all the campaigns, story is not as good as starcraft 1 but still pretty good. The only real complaint I have towards it would be that it's a bit too short, the protoss missions are kinda unnecessary, would rather have more proper missions instead. Still, I'd say it's a solid 7/10 - very good. HotS - Hots really lacks a proper final mission. As much as I hate the All In - it really serves it's purpose as the final challenge, really makes you feel you earned beating the game. The final mission of HotS is so... not that. That Archipelago HotS can actually make you play the final mission at the start of the randomizer, and it's actually very doable. But Hots has the mastery achievements which are very welcome addition. Kerrigan is a little bit too strong while also being too shallow to be a proper hero gameplay experience. The missions are okay otherwise. I highly recommend Violet's overhaul. But for the base campaign I'd put it at 5 - 6, it does it's job. LotV is garbage. 0/10. 1 if I am feeling generous. The plot is god awful, missions are so on rails that even if you kill the enemy base the attack waves will keep spawning. Armory is garbage. Alaraak is fun to watch I guess. But yeah it's absolutely the worst campaign. All of it revolves around Amon, and Aon is the most boring villain in the history of fantasy. Who cares.

Love the format and the video Grant! Though im gonna chime in and say I respectfully disagree with your placement of the BW Terran campaign (The Iron Fist). The characters are compelling (Stukov being such a fav that Blizzard brought him back in SC2), the missions are all tight and enjoyable, the structure is interesting (note the choose your own challenges that we see leading into WoL's Char missions were demo'd here in Korhal), and the campaign VASTLY expands the scope and intrigue of the world as a whole (suddenly we're much more aware of humanity's place in the universe & the kaprulu sector - this is just a tiny piece of a larger world with much going on outside the scope of the campaigns). In terms of mission design, these are also some of the strongest & most enjoyable missions in BW, with even the weakest missions giving most missions from vanilla SC campaigns a run for their money. Re: your character criticisms, while i definitely agree that id also have wanted a couple extra missions to see the character's more organically shift & change over time in reaction to the events of the campaign, I think that criticism could also be leveled at most SC campaigns so shouldnt be enough to demote it to a full tier below it's much less refined younger brother (who *also* rushed major chracter moments, arguably to a greater extent). Ultimately, I think its very telling that the biggest knock against it is essentially "Can we have even more time in this campaign?" I think a B-ranking does a great disservice to such a strong campaign and I'd honestly place it in A-tier at least above Rebel Yell. Thank you Grant, love your content and cant wait for the main channel video!

Grant, about your opinion on the brood war terran campaign and the relationship between DuGalle and Stukov needing fleshing out and such... I don't disagree but I want to juggle your memory here a bit. You are forgetting the cinematics for that very episode. Remember that somehow SC1 had better writing and is realistic. DuGalle and Stukov may be friends on their off-time and while climbing the ranks, but they are in a military jerarchy at the time. DuGalle acts all the admiral like he is supposed to, and Stukov his close aide... their private time is shown as them drinking together in one cinematic, while abandoning unneeded humans after experimenting in a planet what the Zerg are like before them taking on their mission proper (which let's be clear, for all intends and purposes they were sent on a suicide mission probably due to politics, with no superior tech or a fleet, they just outwit the Koprolu sector... The UED might be all the amazing thing back on earth, but DuGalle and Stukov are just incredible tacticians or the Koprulu sector and the zerg without the overmind incompetent. So DuGalle was established to be married to his job, with no regard for his subordinates lives beyond the reasonable support and camaraderie WHEN possible, he probably had no friend but Stukov on that fleet and I guess he was stupid and heartbroken about his friends betrayal to think straight about it. The remorse was set in stone and vivid when he throws his drink in the BC when he learns HE WAS THE ONE to betray his friend. That said, that was the best campaign. The best character was the overmind, but in Starcraft 1 that UED campaign was by far the best in the mood and missions, but yes, it was short because it was so good it left us wanting more instead of the rest of the idiotic protoss stuff in comparison - they are a master enigmatic advance race and they are playing racism, caste system and doing nothing really in their two campaigns. Idk if I would change your score but cinematics do count, and the UED ones were the best ones for SC1 - they set the tone and add to the storytelling, while the ganthritor crashing, the xelnaga temple activation and so on were just random eye candy at best. I wish they had made the "kerrigan abandoned" cinematic of SC2 for SC1 (then remastered it) so Arcturus one playing music while leaving would hit harder as the soc*opath he is. Finally, thanks for starting content creation. I no longer really care about SC2 - only cared about it a bit due to you start with - but your content is wholesome and fun somehow, and you keep growing to be more appreciative of yourself all this while. I don't know, can't help but think that you are someone that is a fun friend to have... thanks for the videos that I have no reason to watch but for you, rather than the media showcased. Edit: Also, please separate LotV prologue and epilogue from LotV proper... It feels kinda wrong to rate them as a whole... the prologue may be attached but in the epilogue you play as the 3 races with random upgrades and no authority about what you are doing really, which is not how any of the campaigns were. Maybe you want to do an honorable mention to the co-ops writing and feel for some characters that feel DLCish after hearing about how you felt about Nova lackluster story in the DLC... Egon to me got really fun there and fleshed out compared to his WoL self - and I feel like Mengsk becomes more memorable there too with his custom faction.... Those factions are honestly storytelling elements on themselves, and their voicelines can sum to be equivalent to Nova covert ops in content.

As stated in other comments already, I think it's unfair to blame on Jim's character that he has a 180 turn on Kerrigan. It makes sense: he swore to kill her because of what she became and what she did. The real problem is the idea of whitewashing her in the first place. It makes sense that Jim, seeing a real possibility to save her goes for it, being a nostalgic, wounded man. It's making Kerrigan into a heroine that sucks. This brings to the big macro plot of Starcraft II: it's bad. There's the evil god threatening existance, the pre-destined heroine that is chosen to defeat him, the coming together of all the factions to a common enemy, the paladin of light (Artanis) that preaches strenght through friendship and so on. It's ugly af and spoils the morally bankrupt, fascinating universe of SCI. Legacy of the void suffers from this shit story most and that's why to IMHO Legacy of the void should not be A tier. Even Ala'rak: he's a generic evil-but-cool sith lord. He might be a fan favourite, of course beside Artanis even a broomstick would become such, but it doesn't mean it's good.

Generally agree with the ratings and commentary. The only thing I'd add is that I think the writing/plot for HotS and LotV is just bad. Kerrigan had just spent 4 years infested on char then had the infested part removed by an ancient alien mcguffin and she's fine? No trama, no ptsd, no weird habits, nothing but a new hairstyle. Then there's whole Amon/prophecy stuff and wanting to destroy the whole universe. What if instead of Amon being some ancient god, he was Mengsk's second son that Mengsk forced to undergo a modified Spector protocol in order to have a powerful psychic to take control of the feral zerg after the events of WoL. HotS could have been kerrigan reclaiming the zerg from him and going after Mengsk with Amon escaping. In LotV it could be him dominating Protoss through the Kala and using them to regain the throne and take revenege on kerrigan

Unfortunately, I don't think I should watch this video. As a casual player of Starcraft 2, I enjoyed all 4 campaigns quite a lot, and I'm scared that this ranking will frustrate me. I mean, I'm so casual that I find Zero Hour fun.

I actually think kerrigan is best character in fiction ever. Yeah, while in Starcraft 2 i think she has poor writing she actually is good even there. She is...she is kerrigan. I am also the type of guy who actually likes the epilogue's story. I also like hearth of the swarm even though anything. But yeah, overall good ranking grant. Good job!

no one is gonna see this but I really like the Nova covert ops campaign. The story sucks. The game-play is cool. I don't play a lot of RTS but I never see flushed out stealth segments in them. The mission where you infiltrate Davis' Mansion is cool. There are a variety of different ways to win. The fake out where it makes you think your gonna fight zerg but then the protoss show up is also cool and I was surprised when I played it.

i was just wondering after the nova campaign. We have a lot of coop commanders with their respective units. Is there already a WOL campaign like Wings of Abathur or Wings of Stukov?

I feel that the zerg campaign, Overmind, is the weakest out of the 3 campaigns in the original Starcraft. It spends 4 whole missions on protecting the chrysalis when one or two would have sufficed since the plot did not really move forward that much until Kerrigan enters the story. And it also feels somewhat disjointed, because even though the Overmind made a big deal about finding a powerful psychic to infest and Kerrigan was supposed to be his decisive weapon against the protoss, she isn't going to be present at all for the invasion of Aiur. So after spending over half the campaign setting up Kerrigan, she is just absent from the climax of the story, which makes one wonder what the point of all of that was. The fix for this would have been rather simple too. If Kerrigan was present in the last two missions of the campaign and she played some critical role in the invasion of Aiur, perhaps something related to the crystal that only a psionic could retrieve, that would have tied the story together much better and left the story much stronger overall.

9:00 that's exactly the point. overmind was overruning the planet while protoss were clinging to their traditions and rules. they thought tassadar heresy is more dangerous threat than zerg. and that's exactly why first mission of brood war is escape from aiur. even though overmind got nuked there were so many feral zerg that protoss couldn't survive there

The thing about the Evolution missions is that I do actually love them a ton and I love how at the end of them you have to take an interesting and permanent upgrade to one of your core units. But they should absolutely not have been the thing Blizzard said counted as part of the 27 missions.

What about the Enslavers campaign for the N64? We NEED your opinion on the campaign that is even more forgettable the Nova: Covert Ops.

Could you do a similar Tier List for the Co-Op Commands also? There isnt a well edited and well explained and comprehensive Tier List for the Coop Commanders in video form and especially not within the last 5 years.

Grand, this good ranking, you think almost the same as me. You must make warcraft campaign ranking. For me actually nova is D

Still wish we would have gotten a Tosh dlc campaign instead of Nova, like it's cannon Jim helps Tosh over Nova, so Nova is a person that shows up in the main game twice randomly and doesn't really do anything and we get a dlc campaign about her and she was added to heroes of the storm because? She is pretty I guess???? But I guess it isn't that surprsing with the stuff we learned about blizzard in recent years

*When talking about the Wings of Liberty campaign, i was surprised you didn't even mention the Secret Mission lol*

you should do a campaign on the missions! that would be a great vid for this channel