StarCraft II: Difference between revisions

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* [[Acronym and Abbreviation Overload]]:

* [[Adam Smith Hates Your Guts]]: Justified since Raynor is smeared as a terrorist and mostly gets help, new blueprints and other stuff because he pays people for it or does them favors. Becomes a little less justified in the final missions where theoretically, you should have the entire technology of the {{spoiler|Dominion}} at your disposal--but then again, {{spoiler|you're in the middle of an inescapable warzone and it's pretty friendly of the game that you can call in mercenaries and arsenal upgrades at all. Plus, through the final missions, you can see wrecked battlecruisers and wraiths fall down around you constantly, It seems like things aren't going well for your allies.}}

* [[Advancing Boss of Doom]]: The secret mission in ''Wings of Liberty'' has {{spoiler|an invincible Hybrid}} chasing you as you escape the facility.

* [[Advancing Wall of Doom]]: One of the terran missions has a planet near a sun going supernova (which is, indeed, the name of the mission itself). You have to complete your objective before a wall of fire sweeps across the map, and in the meantime have to keep relocating your base to stay ahead of the flames.

* [[Alliterative Name]]:

** According to [[Word of God]], when Raynor's unit, the former Colonial Militia, was working with Mengsk, they were known as Raynor's Rangers.

* [[And I Must Scream]]: {{spoiler|The Zerg Overmind}}, {{spoiler|Kerrigan}} and the Infested Terrans:

''"[[Survivor Guilt|You were too late!]]"'' }}

* [[And Your Reward Is Clothes]]:

** Your only semi-tangible rewards for getting Achievements is new player portraits and occasionally new icons for your troops in multiplayer.

* [[Artificial Brilliance]]: The computer has become [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]] due to a new hidden value assigned to units that determines their kill priority when attacked by AI opponents. Some caster support units take priority over standard attackers so the computer will target them first if they can. That's right, Blizzard has programmed the AI to [[Shoot the Medic First]]. However, it can also fall into [[Artificial Stupidity]] when you realize that you can position your units in such a way to either make them keep running around a unit or even move wildly trying to GET to the target.

* [[Ascended Meme]]: ''Terrible, Terrible Damage'', the reference to the project lead Dustin Browder, is now the God mode cheat, as well as {{spoiler|1=what General Horace Warfield near the end of the game [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8bieEfkoOs&fmt=22 says when his ship goes down]}}. It also appears when getting lots of simultaneous kills in challenge levels.

** In Battle.net, you can get an error message: "The page you were looking for either doesn't exist or some terrible, terrible error has occurred."

* [[Asskicking Equals Authority]]: In-game units advance in rank by racking up kills as recognition of their strength, though there's no actual RPG element that upgrades them because of it. The Galaxy Editor, however, supposedly has provisions for a level system. Of course, as with the original the heroes are higher-ranked by default and kick a lot more ass. Subverted by then main character units that retain their set rank no matter how many they kill. (Tosh will always be Rank: Spectre Leader, Tychus will always be Rank: Scoundrel, and so on)

* [[Bag of Spilling]]:

** Due to [[Technology Marches On]], many of the old units are either upgraded with new abilities or replaced outright with new units. Doesn't explain why some perfectly good old abilities like Lockdown, Stasis Field, Dark Swarm and Plague are no longer in use. Plague and Stasis Field have equivalent new abilities, but otherwise...

* [[Bar Brawl]]: The cutscene [[Meaningful Name|"Bar Fight"]]: {{spoiler|After you finish the mission "Maw of the Void" and collect the last piece of Xel'Naga technology, the non-primary members of the Hyperion are considering a mutiny because Jim "sold" them to the Dominion when Jim agreed to work with Valerian to defeat and de-infest Kerrigan, something they see as a betrayal, since they've signed up to fight against the Dominion, not to work along them. Then, Tychus (who was drunk) says that nobody can trust in "that drunk Jim Raynor". Jim heard all of this and had a fight with Tychus, which ended in Tychus being neutralized after damaging Raynor's jukebox}}.

* [[Baseless Mission]]: There's several of these in the game, many of which require you to be careful with your forces so you don't squander them.

* [[Batman Gambit]]: {{spoiler|Valerian's}} plan to recruit {{spoiler|Raynor}} relied pretty much entirely on predicting {{spoiler|Raynor would want to confront Arcturus face to face}} rather than, say, blasting his ship out of the sky with the Hyperion's Yamato Cannon. It also relies heavily on {{spoiler|Raynor's guilt of leaving Kerrigan behind and his wanting to cure her instead of just killing her like he swore he would in Brood War}}.

* [[Beehive Barrier]]: Immortals' hardened shields.

* [[Big Damn Heroes]]: Half of the single-player campaign consists of Raynor running around the galaxy rescuing abandoned colonists from zerg and occasionally protoss. However, at the end of the campaign {{spoiler|Jimmy's invasion of Char kicks it into overdrive, with him bailing out half the Dominion fleet including their General, mopping the floor with the zerg on their home turf (which an [[Enemy Mine]] alliance failed to do), and deinfesting Kerrigan.}}

* [[Bigger Bad]]: The "Dark Voice".

** The Zerg. Their tissues mutate and their immune response hunts mutated cells down; if the mutant tissue survives long enough, the ''entire body'' develops that mutation. Their amino acids also have "unique R-groups" that let them absorb protein to fuel their [[Healing Factor]]. That tissue culture Steinmann's got growing? It used to be ''rotting''.

* [[Blatant Lies]]: UNN's news reports (at least, Donny Vermillion's parts. He knows which side of the bread the butter's on, Kate on the other hand...).

* [[Bold Inflation]]: MAAR's SPEECH.

* [[Boring but Practical]]:

** Mass Mutalisks. Once they reach critical mass, it is pretty damn hard to stop even with the right counter units all lined up.

** Alongside the Marine, you get the SP-only Goliath once it gets the upgrades for range and attacking multiple targets. Studier, more powerful and one of the most versatile units in the game.

* [[Broad Strokes]]: Continuity regarding the [[Non-Entity General]] player characters of the Magistrate, the Cerebrate, and the Executor from the first game. Current Canon/[[Word of God]] holds that the first game's Executor was Artanis, and the Cerebrate was among those killed by Zeratul during the defense of Aiur, while Kerrigan's ''Brood War'' Cerebrate eventually died without the Overmind to sustain it. The ''Brood War'' Executor may have been Selendis. The UED captain is probably dead. The Colonial Magistrate was mentioned by Raynor directly: apparently they parted ways after the events of ''Brood War'' and Raynor has not heard of him since.

* [[Broken Faceplate]]: A scene near the end of the game shows the aftermath of a battle, with many broken and immobile suits of Terran power armor strewn across the ground. One prominent shot shows a large hole shot through the characteristic domed visor.

** Played straight as can be with Raynor's revolver. He's only got one bullet, too.

** The artifact pieces, somewhat. You collect the first piece as early as the second mission (as an opportunity to make some money), and other bits here and there... until after the fourth piece, when its purpose is revealed.

* [[Cliff Hanger]]: ''Heart of the Swarm'' and ''Legacy Of The Void'' have a '''lot''' of things to explain.

* [[Combining Mecha]]: [http://www.gametrailers.com/player/47494.html Terratron], from the 2009 [[April Fools' Day]] gag. [[Ascended Meme|It makes an appearance in the]] [[Mini Game]].

* [[Cipher Scything]]: This happens to the player characters from the original and Brood War campaigns; the unnamed Commander/Executer/Cerebrate being retconned away.

* [[The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard]]: On Hard and Brutal difficulties, the AI will use units you don't have and cannot have access to yet, such as Siege Tanks in the second mission and Ravens and Banshees in the train mission. Later missions also give the Dominion bases Tech Lab add-ons to their buildings so they can double-train any unit they like long before you can access them, and on Brutal they get more of the other upgrades you won't have access to yet, such as their buildings auto-repairing themselves. Also, statwise, their units will be better than yours in every way.

* [[Continuity Snarl]]: Since the player is free to play through the missions in any order they like, you can end up fighting enemy units, seeing various sideplots, and snagging new units you aren't supposed to know exist yet. For example:

** Within the Protoss army itself, the colossus is an old unit the Protoss have dug up since abandoning them, and the Mothership is an old unit in the lore that just wasn't used for combat in the first game. Void Rays and Stalkers were designed by the Dark Templar. So in a way, the Khalai/Aiur Protoss are still experiencing this since this means the only new units they themselves have created are the Phoenix and Immortal, which was only created to replace the Dragoon,--the jury's out on the sentry since it has no unit lore.

* [[Creator Cameo]] / [[The Cast Showoff]]: One of the in-game TV ads is about [[Level 80 Elite Tauren Chieftain]], in-game called "L800ETC", the band comprised of several members of Blizzard's development team, promoting their new album.

* [[Crippling Overspecialization]]:

** Present as in most (all?) other RTS games, but some examples are particularly egregious--like the firearm-equipped units that can't shoot airborne targets (immortal, reaper, marauder, Viking in walker mode), and the various flyers with air-to-air weaponry that can't be used to attack the ground.

** Justified. Hitting a flying target with a weapon not designed for anti-air use is probably a little harder than the necessary for gameplay depiction of the action.

* [[Crossover]]:

** There is also a Murloc Marine.

** ''[[Diablo]]'' makes a cameo in the rising lava level, reminding much of Hell as it was in Diablo 2.

* [[Converging Stream Weapon]]: The Void Ray. The number of beams that converge actually increases over time letting it be a much better weapon against targets that take a while to kill.

* [[Cutting Off the Branches]]: Although the storyline has multiple branching paths, Blizzard is on the record stating which paths are canon. If you want to know, the canon ending of the Tosh missions is {{spoiler|Breakout}} and the canon ending of the Ariel Hanson missions is {{spoiler|Safe Haven}}.

* [[Curse Cut Short]]:

** Killing a Marine may result in hearing "Motherf-!"

** The normally proper and calm Matt Horner, when he sees {{spoiler|the Leviathan in the final mission}}, just catches himself in time.

** The Spectre's hilarious [[Stop Poking Me]] quote:

'''Spectre:''' "You just said that you stupid b-!" }}

* [[Danger Deadpan]]: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H00V486-H4Q The Wraith pilot]. The unit has four different death lines, all of which would sound normal when delivered with [[Oh Crap|utter terror]].

* [[Dark Is Not Evil]]: The protoss now sport a number of Dark Templar-related units beyond just the Dark Templar themselves. They have their own creepier version of the Dragoon, the Stalker, and a flying laser beam called a Void Ray.

* [[Dark Secret]]: In the form of {{spoiler|the Dominion behind the Hybrids}} and {{spoiler|Tychus' deal with Mengsk}}.

* [[Death From Above]]: Pervasive throughout, but one example that stands out is in the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4_BfuFoYmU A Card to Play] cutscene (a squadron of Banshees destroys an attacking Zerg force). Nuclear strikes initiated by Ghosts or Specters would qualify as well.

* [[Deep South]] {{smallcaps|IN SPACE}}:

** ''Wings of Liberty'' is fairly easy on Normal difficulty, with the exception of the final mission. There's also a significant spike in difficulty just going from "Normal" to "Hard." On Hard, the A.I. changes its tactics completely and often [[The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard|has unfair advantages]]. For example, in the third "Zero Hour" mission, the zerg not only swarm you in vast numbers but reinforce their area by spawning Creep Tumors and building Spine Crawlers, ''and'' get orbital strike backups.

** There are also several missions where you have additional objectives on Hard to make it more challenging. For example, you can't lose too many civilians in The Evacuation in addition to having to escort 50 of them to the airport.

** Earlier: "Zero Hour" is pretty tough compared to the first two missions, but not right away... just manning those bunkers is enough at first, but it gets pretty intense by the end.

** Three missions stand out for this trope. "In Utter Darkness," "Supernova," and "All In" are, by far, the most difficult missions of the game and stand above the others assuming equivalent difficulty levels. "All In" isn't too terrible if you know a few secret knocks, namely using a ridiculous number of siege tanks and making sure to intercept Kerrigan with a ball of stimmed Marines short of her hitting your tank line. "Supernova" doesn't give you enough time to build a proper force to face the Tal'darim and, to make it worse, they frequently attack you and cause attritional losses. Moving your base under pressure is very problematic. "In Utter Darkness" is probably the worst of the three (althought "Supernova" comes close), as success in this mission depends on being able to pick out hybrids for Lift with your Phoenixes. This gets very problematic once the number of units on the map gets so high they're all stacked on top of each other.

* [[Don't Explain the Joke]]: One of the terran banshee pilot's quotes:

** Doubly funny in that the lore explicitly states Banshees ''don't'' work in space--for cost reasons, it doesn't have engines that work outside an atmosphere. On the other hand, you do use Banshees on orbital platforms and even on a Xel'naga World Ship, because [[Hand Wave|space platforms have artificial atmospheres around them]]. That seemingly extend far beyond their surface.

* [[Double Entendre]]: From the Ghosts:

* [[Dramatic Pause]]: The protoss love that. One of the examples is Zeratul's dialogue with {{spoiler|Tassadar's spirit}}.

* [[Drop Pod]]: The Terrans use them on occasion, and one mission involves rescuing [[Drop Pod|Drop Pods]] stranded a bit too far behind enemy lines.

* [[Enemy Mine]]: {{spoiler|The final missions have you team up with the Dominion - who you've been fighting the entire game - to put an end to the zerg threat by [[Rescue Romance|saving Kerrigan]].}}

* [[Escort Mission]]: Two of them.

** Also directly lampshaded in the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zx1JDEnrVK8 Blizzard DOTA trailer].

** This is also thought to be the reason the game has Facebook integration and lacks LAN multiplayer.

* [[Exploding Barrels]]: Even the RTS genre isn't safe. In this case, they make an appearance in the secret terran mission.

* [[Fan of the Past]]: The jukebox in the Hyperion's cantina plays nothing but Southern rock and country, including covers of [[Lynyrd Skynyrd|"Sweet Home Alabama" and "Free Bird"]].

* [[Fanfare]]: The game's main menu music starts off with a remix of the original menu music and then usually fades into a quieter background theme, but every now and then it will instead progress right into the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyfqxU7mzyM full main title]. It is awesome every time it happens.

* [[Flash Step]]: Stalkers are able to short-range teleport with Blink, just enough to hop over a cliff or zoom out of range of an enemy. Zeratul's got his own version of Blink; it's functionally the same, but he turns into a puff of black smoke when he does it.

* [[Flavor Text]]: contrary to the first game, where non plot relevant exposition was in the manual, most of the lore can be accessed in game.

* [[Forgotten Fallen Friend]]: Possibly justified. The last time we saw Raynor in Brood War he was swearing revenge for Kerrigan's treacherous murder of Fenix. Fenix isn't even mentioned in this game, but because {{spoiler|Zeratul, the one who wants Kerrigan dead more than Raynor, tells him that Kerrigan is vital for the survival of the sector, thus rendering the whole vengeance thing as something... suicidal, to say the least}}.

* [[Foreshadowing]]:

** Tosh tells Raynor {{spoiler|he suspects someone on the ship is working for the Dominion}} and Horner constantly tells Raynor that {{spoiler|Tychus is up to something and that someone has 'a gun to his head.'}} Both foreshadow {{spoiler|Tychus's betrayal at the end of the campaign}}.

* [[Frickin' Laser Beams]]:

** As of the end of Wings of Liberty, {{spoiler|Dark Voice}} ''is'' this.

** When {{spoiler|the decrypted Adjutant}} is playing back its recording, its eyes turn red whenever Mengsk is talking.

* [[Good Guy Bar]]: The cantina on the ''Hyperion,'' complete with an arcade machine and a jukebox hanging from the ceiling. Raynor's in another bar in the beginning on Mar Sara and it looks like said bar is actually ''his headquarters.'' Of course, since he has only a handful of troops on-world and his staff is literally a holographic head in a box, he doesn't need much.

* [[Gotta Catch Them All]]: In order to unlock the final three missions of the campaign, Raynor must complete all the missions whose objectives are to acquire pieces of a Xel-Naga artifact that is the key to defeating Kerrigan. It is not necessary to complete all of the non-artifact missions to beat the campaign, although a certain number must be completed to unlock various artifact missions.

** An otherwise unheroic Dominion reporter gets one in Starcraft II when {{spoiler|he finds out Mengsk turned the zerg on Tarsonis, and he's seen on-air mumbling "I had a brother on Tarsonis...I had a brother"}}. Later the field reporter takes his position, stating he committed himself to a mental institution, [[Noodle Implements|"dressed only in his socks and in possession of the Emperor's manifesto and a pound of peanut butter"]].

** Kerrigan has one of these in the New Gettysburg flashback: after she ran out of ammo, energy (her cloak failed), and had no other possible weapon of fighting the zerg, she tossed her IR goggles away, dropped her rifle (which we see clatter to the ground in slow motion), and stared up at the sky as the camera pulls away.

* [[Hold the Line]]:

** The third mission, a direct throwback to the third mission of the first game. They even take place on the same world, and probably close to the same location. {{spoiler|The last mission of the main campaign}} also qualifies.

* [[Hyperspace Arsenal]]: Literally in the case of the Protoss. Their new dropship is a flying robot called a "Warp Prism" which stores units in a teleportation matrix. It can also double as a warp-in point for new troops from a Warp Gate.

* [[Hypocritical Humor]]:

** Medics sometimes cry "Medic!" when they die. Guess they can't [[Heal Thyself]].

** In the [[Bar Brawl]] cutscene, Tychus tells the others that they can't trust "that drunk" (Raynor). While being drunk himself and the least trustworthy guy in the faction next to Tosh.

** Orlan, in the Cutthroat mission, says to Mira Han, after {{spoiler|he had been hired by Raynor to hack into an Adjutant, but decided instead to sell the information to the Dominion.}}:

* [[Impossibly Cool Clothes]]: Arcturus and Valerian Mengsk combine this with the [[Bling of War]], but then Raynor's everyday clothes look very cool too, however prize number one goes to the protoss fleet commanders, with Artanis having what seems to be the coolest uniform in the universe, [[Bling of War|golden armour]] and psyonic neon lights included.

* [[Incredibly Lame Pun]]: Two marines once insisted on calling a Medivac a "heal bus", much to the chagrin of it's pilot. Eventually, the pilot murdered them because it was just that bad.

** Valerian also gives Raynor the resources and blueprints needed to construct warships (his funding helps explain the fleet part). Speaking of which, the moebius foundation gives him a lot of money each mission. They also had a zerg chrysilis, that contained a treasure trove of zerg dna and research material.

* [[In Working Order]]: The xel'naga artifact. Interestingly, Ariel Hanson notes that the artifact is thousands of years old, which is really ''young'' compared to most xel'naga artifacts, which are ''millions'' of years old. Probably built around when they were uplifting the Protoss.

* [[It's Raining Men]]: Mercenaries, MULEs, and a couple of protoss tech upgrades deliver units in orbital drop pods. The Zerg get their own equivalent of this in some of the ''Wings of Liberty'' campaign missions; some kind of purple, fleshy torpedo falling from the sky that unleashes zerglings and creates a Creep Tumor on the spot. The Protoss are exempt from this trope, presumably, because they just warp in units via teleportation.

* [[The Jimmy Hart Version]]: An almost note-for-note rendition of a common [[Firefly]] theme appears as {{spoiler|Raynor stands victorious over Tychus after their bar-fight.}}

* [[Karma Houdini]]: {{spoiler|The Queen Bitch of the universe herself, Sarah Kerrigan. It's even pointed out that she deserves death for the crimes she's committed, but they need her so she get's off without as much as a slap on the wrist.}}

* [[Knight Templar|Knight]] [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Templar]]: The Tal'darim, a fanatical protoss faction that stayed behind in Aiur colonies has become quite xenophobic. In the mission "Maw of the Void", {{spoiler|they've captured some Dark Templar, which will join you after you free them}}.

* [[Large Ham]]: Units come in two flavors: hammy and [[Deadpan Snarker|snarky]]. Maar IS PRETTY bad about ''THISSSS'', as well as the heroes in the last Protoss mission (sans Mohandar, who isn't even that snarky to make up for it) There, in the face of total annihilation, [[Chewing the Scenery|they consume massive amounts of scenery]], [[Heroic Sacrifice|especially when they die]]:

* [[Last Stand]]: "In Utter Darkness", where {{spoiler|the Protoss--the last free race capable of standing up to the [[Big Bad|Fallen One]]--are wiped out in a single, glorious defensive action. May also count as a Crowning Moment Of Awesome for the protoss species as a whole}}.

* [[Late Arrival Spoiler]]: The official website's preview of ''Heart of the Swarm'' gives away the ending of ''Wings of Liberty'', {{spoiler|specifically, Kerrigan being de-infested}}.

* [[Lego Genetics]]: The various attempts at {{spoiler|splicing zerg and protoss DNA to create hybrids}}. This is foreshadowed in lore, as {{spoiler|the zerg and protoss were both created by the Xel'Naga in the attempt to create another race like themselves.}}

* [[Lightning Bruiser]]: The Ultralisk. With a whopping 500 hit points, ridiculous attack damage and heavy armor, you'd have thought that it would be as heavy as you can get. Then you find out that the thing moves FASTER THAN A MARINE. These guys can destroy armies on open fields and can be produced in bulk so long as you have the resources. Their ability to ram buildings for extra damage was removed, but due to their default attack being area of effect this was actually a buff.

* [[Lost Forever]]: Once you {{spoiler|invade Char}}, you can't complete any missions from other arcs, nor can you play Lost Viking anymore. At least you're warned of this beforehand.

* [[Ludicrous Gibs]]: The Zerg, oh lord the Zerg. Marines/human infantry in general are not spared from this either.

* [[MacGuffin Delivery Service]]: Sort of. The characters spend most of the campaign collecting pieces of an artifact, including one left on a world whose sun goes supernova. The [[Big Bad]] also wants this artifact, and at the start of the final mission {{spoiler|she even says "You've brought me the Xel'Naga artifact"}}. However, {{spoiler|perhaps she was mistaken about it, or was going to use it a different way, because it seems very effective at the purpose for which Raynor uses it, and which Kerrigan was trying to stop him doing so.}}

* [[Macross Missile Massacre]]: The banshee. Missile turrets and battlecruisers can be upgraded with this.

* [[Made of Explodium]]: The Aberration, when killed, turns grey and explodes in several different areas, culminating with its [[Your Head Asplode|head exploding.]]

* [[Meaningful Name]]:

** Probably Dr. Emil Narud. Emil means "to rival, to emulate, to copy". Now spell his last name [[Sdrawkcab Name|backwards]] and consider the meaning of his first anew. On a more prosaic note, take a wild guess as to the profession of [[Four-Star Badass|Horace Warfield]].

** The campaign also has the Leviathan, which theoretically can produce mutalisks and brood lords quickly enough to reach the 200 supply limit in less than a minute. Fortunately, when controlled by the AI, it produces them at a much slower rate.

* [[Moral Guardians]]: A quite [[Egregious]] example of this trope is found in Starcraft II; Blizzard has, in order to promote a "safe" online community, announced their intentions to ban all maps they deems "offensive" or "inappropriate," claiming they have "no place" on Battlenet. Cue uproar from diehard UMS fans.

* [[Mordor]]:

** Redstone too. In fact, the periodic lava flooding might make it more of a Mordor than Char. Raynor notices it too:

* [[Neck Lift]]: {{spoiler|Kerrigan is seen performing a telekinetic version of this on Valerian Mengsk in a trailer for ''Heart of the Swarm''}}.

* [[Never Trust a Trailer]]: A sizable chunk of the trailer/commercial footage for Starcraft II happens out of order in the campaign. For example, {{spoiler|one trailer has Matt handing Raynor his badge and this apparently motivating Raynor to take back up the fight: in the game Raynor ''has'' been keeping up the fight, just laying low for a bit, and the scene of Matt handing him his badge is much later in the game. In the trailer Matt's line "vengeance doesn't factor into this, our revolution is about freedom" is directed at Raynor. In the game he's actually talking to Tosh...although he could also be gently reminding his commander, given the context of the scene. A commercial trailer shows a hologram of Mengsk telling Raynor he's way in over his head. Mengsk is actually talking to his son, though Raynor is also present and when he announces his presence, Mengsk directs a similiar line to him.}}

* [[Nobody Poops]]: Averted when Tychus is driving the [[Humongous Mecha|Odin]].

* [[No Ending]]: The game ends with {{spoiler|Jim carrying a now (mostly) cured Kerrigan off Char.}} Though this resolves that plot, there's still {{spoiler|Zeratul's vision and the Dark Voice, Valerian's dealings with Raynor, the Moebius Foundation and "Dr Narud"}}, and of course {{spoiler|Kerrigan's curing means the zerg are leaderless}}, although {{spoiler|a quick glance at her [[Fan Service|cured body]] reveals an odd skintone and the nastiest dreads in existence, so she isn't totally free.}} Besides the above point, the only real resolution to any of the overarching story is {{spoiler|Raynor exposing Mengsk's war crimes to the Dominion}}. Its obvious the game is more meant to set up the larger story coming in the second and third games rather than resolve everything. Oh, and rubbing salt in the wounds is the game itself, containing an advertisement for ''Heart of the Swarm'' on the main screen after finishing ''Wings of Liberty''.

* [[Nostalgia Level]]:

* [[One Bullet Left]]: Done thematically. {{spoiler|Raynor's revolver only has one bullet left, and it's meant for Arcturus. He almost wastes it on Valerian (who he mistakes for Arcturus), and ultimately sacrifices it to save Kerrigan from Tychus}}.

* [[One-Hit-Point Wonder]]: The Lost Viking game in the Cantina; the aformentioned lost viking dies from one hit (without any power-ups) in a [[Bullet Hell]]-type game. Good luck.

* [[One-Man Army]]: If you thought some of the heroes in the original game were strong, wait until you see {{spoiler|the Odin}}. In addition, an achievement for one mission where you're required to get 50 kills with Zeratul is called One Man Army.

* [[One-Scene Wonder]]: High Templar Karass; He has glowing orange eyes that no other protoss has, he has his own speech set even though he's never playable, his only role in the campaign is to lead a charge of Zealots through a Zerg barricade so that Zeratul can get the last piece of the Prophecy, and then pulls a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] by duelling with the Queen of Blades so that Zeratul can escape with the prophecy. He is seen in only one sixth of one mission in the campaign, but his actions may have saved the Universe.

* [[Psycho Prototype]] / [[Flawed Prototype]]: Spectres--next-generation ghosts--depending on who you ask and who you believe. Their psychic powers are more destructive, they're harder to control, and they tend to be more eccentric in general, but they're also under fewer mind-control implants than ghosts and, unlike ghosts, are all volunteers (at least to become spectres; those who were previously ghosts, like Tosh himself, were not so lucky with the initial stage of training).

* [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits]]: Ohhh, boy: a [[Nerd]], a [[Mr. Fixit]], a mercenary contractor, an idealist, renegades...we can continue all night long. [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] by both Raynor and Matt, after the mission "Media Blitz":

(Cue some laughs) }}

* [[Reinventing the Wheel]]: Averted and played straight in the campaign. Averted in that unit abilities (Marine shields and stimpacks, bunker capacity, etc., which need to be researched in multiplayer) are purchased and then stay with you for the rest of the campaign, while damage and armor upgrades are reset for every mission.

* [[Retcon]]:

** {{spoiler|Everything the zerg Overmind did in the first game, from infesting Kerrigan to the invasion of Aiur, was an attempt to circumvent the Dark Voice's plans. The Overmind couldn't resist its xel'naga programming, so it arranged its own destruction, transferring control of the Swarm to the hopefully-independent Kerrigan.}}

* [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]]: From what we've seen so far of the upcoming Zerg expansion, Kerrigan is downright ''pissed'' at Arcturus ([[Up to Eleven]] compared to Raynor), after what Mengsk did to her in Starcraft 1.

* [[Robo Speak]]: The damaged Confederate adjutant, the raven, and (to a lesser extent) the science vessel (which is not actually a robot) and standard adjutants, as well.

* [[Rousing Speech]]: Raynor gives one to the surviving Terrans on {{spoiler|Char}} in a cutscene prior to the final mission (may have been unintentional, but the marines chose to listen to him anyway). Also, in the side-mission "In Utter Darkness", {{spoiler|Artanis}} gives an epic one when he arrives on the battlefield {{spoiler|prior to [[Kill'Em All|everyone getting killed]] by the zerg and the Hybrids in an apocalyptic [[Bad Future]]}}.

* [[Sand Worm]]: One of the new zerg units/buildings is effectively this. Load a bunch of zerg into a Nydus Network, then grow a giant underground worm that pops up and starts disgorging tons of swarming zerglings. Seeing them, especially in the campaign, is always an "[[Oh Crap]]" moment.

* [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens]]: In case regular protoss weren't dogmatic enough for you, the terran campaign features the Tal'Darim, who don't really care for humans at all and swear bloody revenge on you every time you help yourself to something they're guarding.

* [[Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale]]:

** We're low on resources and space here on Earth; in the Koprulu sector they're always expanding to new worlds and refining new resources. Hypothetically speaking, if they ''did'' experience a population boom like that they'd probably have a much easier time sustaining it than we would. But it's still a ''huge'' boom that needs to take place.

** Also, advances in technology plus the fact that they were originally colonists could mean that they were given technology that could increase fertility or even clone/artificially grow new people. Another explanation can be found in one of the ''Frontline'' short stories, where a team of protoss try to recover a Xel'Naga artifact that's explicitly stated to increase fertility.

* [[Smart Bomb]]:

** During the final Terran mission.

* [[Soul Brotha]]: The Marauders got a whole lotta love for their own voicework, baby.

* [[Space Western]]: The new flavor of the terrans, altered from their previously distinctive [[Deep South]] flavor (right down to the Confederacy using the [[American Civil War|CSA battle flag]], only altered slightly).

* [[Spent Shells Shower]]:

** This trope is used to good effect to show how utterly screwed General Warfield and his men on {{spoiler|Char}} are. Even with the insane amount of [[More Dakka|dakka]] inherent with this trope they don't so much as slow the incoming wave of zerg down.

* [[Squishy Wizard]]:

** The trope is somewhat averted with the ghosts. Despite their role being essentially the same in the game as the previous game, the rounds on a ghost deal 20 damage to light units, making them very effective as anti-infantry/air even without using the snipe ability. With Snipe, they can essentially 1 shot Zerglings and Marines provided the Marine is not upgraded. They are still squishy, just not as squishy.

** Played straight with most other casters. Specially the infestor and the high templar.

* [[Stealth Pun]]:

Tychus: "Thanks for the advice, son. Now shut up." }}

* [[Stop Poking Me]]: In Blizzard fashion, much of the dialogue is taken up by units who [[What the Hell, Player?|really don't like to be selected by the player repeatedly]]. [http://www.youtube.com/user/starcraft2units This YouTube user documents all of the sayings] of [[Loads and Loads of Characters|each character and unit]].

* [[Summon Bigger Fish]]: A few of the "commando" missions feature this. You have the option of, for example, unleashing a bunch of caged test subjects upon Dominion soldiers. If you do a little exploration, one such mission even lets you unleash an ''Ultralisk'' upon the enemy.

* [[Super Prototype]]: The Odin, a prototype Thor. It is implied the Dominion intended for the Odin to be replicated exactly, but for whatever reason they settled on the weaker Thor. According to Rory, the Odin is a piece-of-junk showpiece made to show off to the Dominion public during its demonstration. Rory goes on to tell us the Thor isn't as strong as the Odin but is less expensive to produce and maintain. {{spoiler|Which is probably why the Raiders only use it in two missions, given their limited resources. Well, that and it's so big even the ''Hyperion'' can't haul it around.}}

* [[Sweet Home Alabama]]: The Terrans. Also, the bar plays the [[Trope Namer]] song in the sequel.

* [[Take That]]: Fish. Barrel. [[Fox News Channel]].

* [[Take Your Time]]: Generally averted in the missions themselves, often brutally. However, in campaign mode, the player has a fair amount of control about which order they perform the missions in. Therefore, a mission can become available and the player can choose to do half a dozen other missions before tackling it. That's all well and good when your job is just to raid a location and recover an artifact, but a bit odd when the mission involves evacuating a planet under attack or recovering an artifact from a planet where the sun is going supernova. Needless to say, you'll always arrive before (and [[Always Close|just before]]) the sun goes supernova or the people you're trying to help are slaughtered by the zerg.

** Valerian actually encourages this at the start of the ''Maw of the Void'' mission.

* [[Technology Marches On]]:

** Biology marches on too, apparently. Some of the zerg samples you bring Egon are from sub-species of Zerg that are no longer used as playable units, like the Defiler. Apparently Kerrigan just isn't using those types of zerg any more, which is why samples of them have become rare and valuable for examiners. On the same note, some of the zerg breeds have evolved into massive beasts of destruction like the Leviathan or the Omegalisk.

** On the other hand, some old-school Terran units are still just as effective as ever. Goliaths remain well-balanced units with a nice antiair niche, and the classic Medic can now be upgraded to heal faster and use less energy, which in tandem with lower build time and costs can make it superior to the Medivac in some situations. Unedited medics inserted into a certain custom game that adds Brood War units to the standard cache of Starcraft II units result in completely overpowered Terran infantry for melee games.

* [[Tempting Fate]]: Before the third mission, Tychus sees a decorated trophy Hydralisk skull on the wall and wonders how good a deal they would get on hunting some zerg. Then the mission starts:

'''Tychus:''' I swear man, I didn't know nothing about no Zerg. }}

* [[This Looks Like a Job For Aquaman]]: A lot of the campaign missions are designed specifically to put to use the new unit introduced in that mission:

** The Diamondbacks can attack on the move and do additional damage to armored units--they're introduced in a mission ("The Great Train Robbery") where you need to chase down fast armored units.

** The AI simply does not know when to run from a fight in the single-player campaign. In "Smash and Grab" you have to grab an alien artifact from a Tal'darim base before the Zerg overrun them on another front. Rather than pull their units back to regenerate their shields and wait for the next attack wave after fending off the Zerg, the Tal'darim will send their units down the lane into battle and get themselves utterly crushed. And then in "Media Blitz", despite commanding {{spoiler|the Odin with 2500 HP and enough firepower to kill any enemy unit in two shots}}, any Dominion defenders you come across, even if it's just a lone Marine, will charge in and start firing.

** Subverted by the Tal'darim Executor in "Maw of the Void", who will fight you, then teleport away after taking enough damage to regenerate his shields and energy. He does this two or three times.

* [[Trailers Always Spoil]]: The final commercial trailer for the game ruins the surprise twist that {{spoiler|Raynor allies with Valerian Mengsk (though not the reason Raynor agrees)}}, and that {{spoiler|at some point he returns to Char}}.

* [[Tripod Terror]]: Technically, Colossi have four legs, but they still fit the spirit of this trope, since they're gargantuan walkers on long legs whose primary attack is frying the enemy from a distance with a sweeping heat ray, just like the Martians in the ''War of the Worlds.'' As a bonus, those long legs aren't just for show--they can walk right over cliffs, giving them a good mobility advantage.

* [[Tron Lines]]: Ghosts and spectres (judging from Tosh and Nova) both have these as part of their suits.

** Several buildings can also produce units far too big to fit inside, like the Thor and Battlecruiser.

* [[Unwitting Pawn]]: {{spoiler|As a result of working for the Moebius Foundation, Raynor unwittingly ends up allying with the Dominion he had been fighting with all along. On top of that, it's possible that both have been double-suckered by a third party.}} Poor Jimmy seems to get suckered at every plot twist and turn since the first game.

* [[Viewer-Friendly Interface]]: The first cutscene showing Swann shows that his console is identical to the one the player uses when selecting upgrades for units. Apparently he personally arranges it so that every single piece of hardware has but two possible upgrades--no more, no less. Seems an odd way of doing things.

* [[We Can Rebuild Him]]: Immortals are refitted dragoons. The facilities required to create dragoons were all inconveniently located on Aiur, and were destroyed during the zerg invasion. They basically took every dragoon remaining and toughened them way the hell up, to preserve them a little longer since their supply of them is limited. So it's basically [[We Can Rebuild Him|We Can Rebuild Him Twice]]. There's also the "Immortality Protocol" upgrade for the Thor unit which lets you reactivate destroyed Thors at a fraction of the price of a new one.

* [[We Have Reserves]]: Kerrigan demonstrates that the species that is the [[Trope Namer]] for [[Zerg Rush]] still holds to that line of thinking after more than ten years. She practically lampshades it.

* [[Wham! Episode]]: The entirety of Zeratul's mini-campaign. {{spoiler|Starting on Zhakul, we have our first contact with an active hybrid. It's all but immortal and ''gets stronger every time you defeat it''. After that, there's the trip to Aiur in which we learn not only that Tassadar is still alive, for a given value of alive, but also what the Overmind's true motivation for creating Kerrigan was and realize it wasn't as evil as we'd thought. Lastly, and the most whammy of them all, the Overmind's vision of the future, in which we learn what happens if Kerrigan is killed. You control the last remnants of the protoss race against the immensely powerful Dark Voice and his army of hybrids and zerg. It ends with the Dark Voice extinguishing the star you're orbiting and presumably destroying all life in the universe.}}

* [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?]]: If you take the time to read the terms and conditions the first time you run the game, you'll be doing so to the main theme mentioned above.

* [[Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?]]: Raynor laments about the wall of fire in the Supernova opening cinematic with this trope.

* [[Word Salad Lyrics]]: A Zerg, A Shotgun & You

* [[The World Must Know the Truth]]: What drives the Revolution/Matt Horner missions. {{spoiler|They manage to show to the Dominion civilians all the truth about its foundation, [[Moment of Awesome|thus unmasking Mengsk]] and starting a revolution}}.

* [[Yin-Yang Bomb]]: The twilight archon was designed to be a fusion of a dark templar and a high templar, and symbolically would have combined the power of the original archon with the spellcasting powers of the dark archon. They then scrapped it and brought back the original archon exactly as it was, the only difference is now any two templar fuse into an archon regardless of their alignment. Maybe it'll reappear in Legacy of the Void's single player.

* [[You Have No Idea Who You're Dealing With]]: Happens when Tychus Findlay asks Jim Raynor about what it was like fighting the Zerg.

'''Raynor:''' All the scrapes were in back in the day, all the narrow escapes...none of it compares to how terrible they are, Tychus. You don't know what real fear is until you've got a thousand of these sons of bitches bearing down on you. }}

* [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness]]: Happens in {{spoiler|the Overmind's vision where the zerg, commanded by the hybrids, who are themselves puppets of a greater power, are used to destroy the last protoss army, and then the hybrids are used to kill them, themselves, and every other living thing in the universe.}} Most, uh...Triumphant, for lack of a better term, Example?

 

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[[Category:Video Game]]