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With my exhausting (and only somewhat exciting) adventure in Fallout 4 completed I decided it was time to check out Legacy of the Void.  The final chapter in Blizzard's episodic Starcraft II journey came out at the exact same time as Fallout 4 so I had to make the call on which one to check out first.  I was a little hesitant about delving into the Starcraft adventure as the Protoss.  After playing a very fast, frenetic, Heart of the Swarm I wasn't sure that I could handle the seemingly slower dynamics.  To build excitement for Legacy of the Void, Blizzard released a mini-campaign featuring some additional backstory.  In a few short missions players were able to follow Zeratul as he investigated the dark god Amon and attempted to warn others about the dangers of this entity.  It appeared that it would take all the major races working together to take down this seemingly invincible form of evil.

Before I get into the details behind the main storyline I need to explain my play of Starcraft II.  I've always enjoyed the story-based aspects of  Starcraft.  I don't play it for the more competitive aspects so I can only comment on the campaign.  I'm sure that I'm missing out on a unique part of Starcraft by only playing the campaign, but I've never been into the whole e-sports thing.  One new feature that was added in Legacy of the Void is co-op missions that allow you to partner up with a friend and take on A.I. opponents.  Each person gets to pick a unique leader that represents one of the three Starcraft races.  There are a number of leaders and each has their own set of special abilities.  It sounds fun and I'm hoping to check it out soon.

Legacy of the Void features Protoss characters.

Possible campaign spoilers for Legacy of the Void ahead!  Read with caution!

The campaign in Legacy of the Void follows the Protoss as they struggle against the powers of the dark god Amon.  Wings of Liberty and Heart of the Swarm each contained small pieces of the story leading up to Legacy of the Void.  In Wings of Liberty, Zeratul appeals to James Raynor and directs him to the memories he has stored in an artifact.  This prophecy hints at the end of life in the entire galaxy.  There isn't as much focus on the prophecy in Heart of the Swarm but it always seems to be lurking in the background.  The story in Legacy starts off with Zeratul and his attempts to warn the Protoss about the dangers of Amon.  Amon's powers include the ability to possess anyone and in particular the members of the Protoss who are joined psionically through their telepathic connection known as the "Kala."  In an early conflict and key part of the story it is revealed that the only way the Protoss can free themselves from the dangers of possession by Amon is to sever their psionic connection.  By doing this they will lose the link that allows them to share emotions, feelings, and the unique connection that is the hallmark of the Protoss.  A new leader emerges in the form of Artanis, a Protoss templar hailing from the conquered world of Aiur.  Artanis realizes that the only way the Protoss can emerge victorious against Amon is if they re-unite their shattered culture and fight together.  I felt like there was a great deal more Starcraft lore in this episode than in the others.  I learned a lot about the Protoss and the fact that their race is divided into distinct factions.  Each faction has it's own history and unique background that is thoroughly explored throughout the campaign.

When it comes to the unique abilities and units of the Protoss there are many to choose from.  The ability to turn your main ground troop training structures into warp gates is one of my favorite.  Once you've converted these structures you can warp troops into any pylon powered area.  Each warp gate allows you to warp in a specific number of troops before entering a cooldown period.  By building multiple warp gates you can have a sizable backlog of ground troopers that can quickly be warped in to supplement a defensive force or to bulk up your offense.  I undoubtedly relied too much on the ability to quickly warp in troops as I found the build time for most of the Protoss flying and siege-type units to be very long.  This is unfortunate because I think the Protoss offer some of the most powerful siege and flying units in the form of carrier ships and the colossi.

Like in the other episodes you also gain access to your own ship, the Spear of Adun, which grants you the abilities to assign special abilities to your troops or, through completing bonus objectives, other powerful abilities.  Assigning "solarite" allows you to choose (and swap) from special abilities ranging from the ability to instantly call down a pylon, to unleash a devastating attack, to call down a powerful robotic ally to fight on your side for 30 seconds, to harvest Vespene gas automatically, or freeze time.  These abilities are controlled by the amount of energy stored by your ship and must be used strategically.  If you didn't feel like taking any of these special abilities you could also assign solarite towards giving you special boosts like an early supply bonus giving you the ability to avoid having to build pylons early on or towards bonus shield regeneration rate.  I appreciated the ability to swap out talents/abilities in both Heart of the Swarm and Legacy as well as the ability to use any excess bonus objective items (unlike in Wings of Liberty where you were stuck with whatever bonuses you picked and were rewarded with cash for any excess items).

The special abilities that you can assign to your troops felt particularly unique and powerful in Legacy of the Void.  As the story saw Artanis uniting the disparate factions of the Protoss it also saw those factions granting special abilities to particular units.  Your basic ground unit, the templar, could choose from the ability to wield a two-handed axe and perform an AoE whirlwind attack or a special charging attack that allows them to phase through allies and to briefly stun enemies.  The dark templars had the special abilities that I enjoyed the most.  The ability to remain permanently cloaked makes them valuable in conflicts where there aren't many detectors.  One factional talent allows your dark templars to disable structures (very useful in disabling detecting structures) automatically.  I enjoyed the fact that the talents tied in so closely with the concept of unity and that each faction had it's own unique contribution.  My favorite of the bunch was the ability to transform sentries (traditionally used to shield your troops) into mobile pylons allowing you to easily warp in troops to any position.

The campaign itself contained the usual variety of differing missions--attack/defend, troop movement, massive defense, and a few notable unique missions.  One thing I noticed about the Protoss missions was that there were many that required you to attack multiple targets--multiple power nodes, crystals, or other objects.  One mission took place on a platform (meaning lots of air units) with very limited resources spread across the map.  The platform that contained your base could be moved along a sliding pathway and closer to other locations that also contained a meager collection of minerals and vespene gas.  This particular mission required you to scout ahead and clear areas in order to move your base platform to the locations with resources.  Ground troops were a moot point and amassing a huge group of carrier ships was the best (and slowest) strategy.  The missions that I struggled the most with were the defense missions against an overwhelming force.  The Protoss have a range of very useful defensive structures in the form of photon cannons, shield batteries, and the Khaydarian Monoliths (a slow, but very powerful defensive structure).

I expected much more unity between the three major races to be part of the story in Legacy of the Void.  The story does see Artanis working with the Terrans and the Zerg to accomplish specific goals but didn't end in the epic final battle with all the races uniting as one.  Instead the story focused on unity in Protoss society and saw Artanis bringing together many fragmented factions.  The final mission takes on the traditional massive defense against a timer aspect.  You, and your newly united Protoss friends, must hold off until the Xel'Naga artifact charges (sound familiar?).  This requires you to build up both a mobile defensive group as well as focusing on building up a massive defense around your base to protect the keystone.  I was moderately successful the first time and made it to a little over 93% before the keystone was destroyed and I failed the mission.  The second time I made it to 98%.  The third time I made it to 99.9%......that last .1% is brutal!  It took me four tries before I finished the final mission (actually that's pretty good for me--that last mission is always brutal).

Legacy of the Void is a great finale for the Starcraft II series.  It felt shorter than both Wings of Liberty and Heart of the Swarm but the story was interesting even if the Protoss characters aren't as memorable as James Raynor or Kerrigan.  I enjoyed the fact that the series followed the tradition of telling the story from the perspectives of each major race.  Getting to play as each race keeps the game fresh even though you are generally doing the same thing.  The cutscenes felt slightly less epic in Legacy--that's my one complaint.

After the credits rolled it was revealed that there was an epilogue.  The epilogue is a short series of missions that really draws together the three major Starcraft factions in an all out battle to eliminate Amon once and for all.  I don't want to spoil it but once you finish it you really are left with the feeling that the future of the series is questionable.

I really enjoyed Starcraft II.  That's high praise coming from someone who really doesn't play RTS.  I found the campaign to be compelling and the gameplay to be challenging enough to be entertaining.  That Blizzard....they know how to make a game!