this post was submitted on 27 Apr 2025
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Eh, I liked the writing and aesthetic of "deep south confederate peckerwoods fighting a regional xenocidal conflict in a space backwater". Throw in some surprisingly prescient war on terror themes for a game from 1998 and it's pretty damn distinct from 40k.
edit: also never been a fan of the "blizzard just ripped off 40k" complaints - I've been a fan of both for years and if Blizz ripped off 40k, they ripped off the same things GW stole from Aliens, Starship Troopers, etc.
And you can't be criticizing Blizzard for stock generic plots as a contrast to fuckin 40k, king of generic grimdark scifi plots.
Honestly, SC terrans don't vibe the same as WH40K humans at all. The closest is probably the UED vs the IoM, but a big part of the IoM is worship of the Emperor, which doesn't have a SC equivalent.
Never said Warhammer had good plots either. There's no Space Marines in giant suits and Protoss (Eldar) in Aliens or Starship Troopers. It maps on pretty 1:1, and is further corroborated with Warcraft ripping off Warhammer 1:1 as well
Honestly Blizzard has never been particularly creative and has always been extremely derivative. They were good at making polished AAA games, but they were't good at world building or writing
Space Marines in giant suits came from Starship Troopers lol. The novel was about mech suit marines fighting a war against space bugs and blue aliens with energy weapons, and the marines were led by religious officers.
Protoss aren't elitist space elves (which cmon, warhammer 100% "ripped off" from Tolkien) and they have like three religious schisms happening at the same time, along with a false homeland right of return & persecuted minority group thing goin on.
Zerg were Tyranids before Tyranids were Tyranids - if anything GW "stole" the Zerg aesthetic for later editions of tyranids! Plus, the idea of a bioweapon species attaining sentience and wanting more from life is waaaaay more interesting than "bug who wanna eat errything"
And ultimately, who cares who "steals" what between giant corporations. Unless it's individual artists or small entities getting fucked over, IP protection is a fuck. It's a matter of personal taste, but I think OG Starcraft had some pretty cool ideas!
I'm pretty sure they are a justified rip off. Iirc Blizzard was tasked with making proper WH and WH40K PC games when Games Workshop pulled the rug, and rather than waste assets they pivoted and molded the work into their own IPs. There's definitely Warhammer blood in both.
Kinda like how Nintendo screwing over Sony (Phillips CDi history) jump started one of their biggest rivals.
This is aside from the agreed point that generally IP protection is a fuck.
I wasn’t familiar with the books, sorry. I was just referring to the movie where I don’t remember any mechanized space suits but guess that’s just a budget issue