Homeworld Cataclysm Review (Emergence)
Homeworld gets a follow-up and it's kind of a horror game, and a really great one. In the last video I talked about how great Homeworld is. The story is wonderful, it's full of atmosphere, and just downright fun to play. However there was another game that I only made brief
mention of - that's because Cataclysm deserved its own video and it's hard to fit into the other one. For starters, at the time of this video it's actually not part of the Remastered Collection. There are some mods that *sort of* get the new ships in, but no, this is still a standalone game. So gently kiss the nice new visuals goodbye, we're back in 2000. It also wasn't made by Relic like 1 and 2 were, but instead by Barking Dog Studios. They later went on to develop Bully
before being absorbed into the greater Rockstar empire, so there's a strange path there - but for our purposes the canon of Cataclysm was always kind of questionable. At the time the executive producer for 2 said the events "had occurred but just weren't mentioned". Now knowing the events of Cataclysm does make some aspects of 2 very questionable, but that's for later. Gearbox is the
current holder of the franchise. A few years back its chief creative officer called Cataclysm "not exactly canon" because once again, it doesn't neatly line up with 2. I did go to the source on this and yes the studio considers Cataclysm to be fully canon. So 2 is now even messier than
I thought. I mean . . . Oh well. You could buy the game for a while. Then Blizzard higher ups did what they do best - putting their hands where they shouldn't - and they got the word Cataclysm trademarked.
No one could buy it for years until GOG re-released it as Homeworld Emergence. It's the exact same game and if you really want to, you can strip the coat of paint off the menu. It'll run fine on modern machines but, this is an adjustment coming from the remasters. There's no special fan patch you need, this is it. Now allegedly Gearbox did want to remaster
this game as well, but the source code has been lost. That would make the process difficult since Cataclysm does have some strange new mechanics in it. 2's engine had difficulties comprehending single ships and formations. Cataclysm has ships that fusion dance into bigger ones. This would be a lot of work, and for a game that's already a lesser known title, and in a very small pond. I can get that, but man, even as is this game is so worth talking about. So all of that said let's see where things picked up after the first game.
NARRATOR: "The war for Hiigara has left the galaxy in turmoil. The past 15 years have seen the birth of new possibilities and the festering of old grudges. The once dominant Taiidan Empire has fractured under the strain of civil war. The new Taiidani Republic tries to hold the old territories together, while forces loyal to the old emperor lurk in the new bandit kingdoms, waiting for their chance to strike back." The mythical search for Hiigara is over, but now reality is setting in. The burning of Kharak brought everybody together, but like any great tragedy this was only temporary.
The Kushan mothership, the most gameplay important and iconic thing of the first game, is now parked in orbit acting as a shipyard. The now Hiigaran people are desperately trying to establish themselves. Many of the old desert clans were destroyed outright or merged into bigger ones. If you read the first Homeworld manual, these are the Kiiths that were mentioned there. Only a select few powerful parties are calling the shots (as things usually go). There's a lot of border securing to be done with the Taiidani remnant, the raiders, and god knows what else. It's that third one that's going to be key in Cataclysm.
NARRATOR: "The war for homeworld is over now, but the galaxy remains a dangerous place." We open up to a Hiigaran fleet fighting off a Taiidan incursion and the Taiidan are winning, so the Hiigarans need a commander like you. But the mothership has been turned into a shipyard so you're not going to have that. What is your big cool ship now? CAPTAIN: "Attention Carrier Veer-Rak, this is Kiith Somtaaw mining vessel Kuun-Lan. We have arrived in Sector 112 and request targeting data."
This is your new mother ship - a mining barge. A *Kiith Somtaaw* mining barge. They're mentioned in the Homeworld 1 manual a single time by name only. They were once a religious Kiith turned into a mining one. Even before the burning they were greatly insignificant. By the time of Cataclysm they were almost absorbed into a larger clan. The Kuun-Lan command ship and mostly everything else
they have is boxy and awkward. If Hiigara makes a new technology these guys are basically last in line for it. Your first mission is saving a Kiith fleet from being wiped out by the Taiidan remnant. The Kuun-Lan does have a capability to make some warships for security reasons, but it's enough to swing the battle in their favor. This could be Kiith Somtaaw's first step in getting more respect. VEER-RAK: "Nabaal would like to thank our brothers and sisters from Kiith Manaan, S'jet, and Kaalel for their aid in battle."
Oh, you thought you were getting thanked? Your people are dirty miners. [ __ ] you. It's amazing. This keeps the spirit of Homeworld's unknown universe intact. You're not important enough to know the
greater things at play. The crew of a lower caste mining vessel understands galactic politics just slightly better than you do here. Their first few missions are just them acting as support ships for a larger battle going on. They even end up having to jettison their ore container to make room for combat modules. They are a last-second, expendable addition to the effort. During a fight with Turanic Raiders they pick up an emergency distress beacon. It's some kind of derelict object and the Turanic Raiders are trying to grab it too, and you just barely beat them out in getting it. It is a strange object, so when the battle is over the Kuun-Lan decides to call home.
CAPTAIN: "Honored greetings Somtaaw Kiith-Sa. Did you receive our data regarding the anomalous artifact?" KIITH-SA: "We have. Our researchers agree: the signal and design matches nothing currently used by known galactic races. Where is the pod now?"
Oh, I'm sure the Somtaaw leadership will also have your best interests at heart. They have nothing to prove. CAPTAIN: "We have brought it aboard now and are securing it in the main hangar bay. What should we do with it? We're . . . just a mining vessel. We're not equipped to study anything like this."
KIITH-SA: "We are transmitting design specs so that your manufacturing unit can construct a science module." CAPTAIN: "Excuse me Kiith-Sa but . . . would it not be easier to seek help from another Kiith? We are still within hailing range of the Nabaal command carrier, surely they would have the staff to-" KIITH-SA: "No. A find like this could lead to alien technology that surpasses anything used by the other Kiiths. Somtaaw *needs* this advantage." Even your own people are willing to guinea pig you. This is beyond being in the uncool table at school. This is like having the anime club actively giving you swirlies sometimes too. You do go through with their plan and learn that the
beacon is over a million years old. The Progenitors that Homeworld 2 makes a big deal about were only about 10,000 years old, so this device is unfathomably ancient to anyone. Deeper research of the device proves to be a problem. CAPTAIN: "Research module - this is the bridge. We've got power fluctuations in your area and the hangar bay. Are you running any tests? RESEARCH: "Not that I know of bridge, let . . . let me check."
(distant screaming) CAPTAIN: "What was that? What's going on down there? Fluctuations spreading to lower engine module." RESEARCH: "Uh, don't know. Give me a second. We were examining surface material from-" CAPTAIN: "What is going on? Now we've got biohazard warnings going off across the lower decks! What have you done?!" RESEARCH: "Something is loose. It's- It's killing us! You've got to save the rest of the ship, jettison the lower deck!"
CAPTAIN: "Kharak forgive us . . . bridge to all stations, emergency jettison protocols engaged!" RESEARCH:"CUT US LOOSE!" (screaming) Your mission is dealing with whatever the hell that is. Okay, let's talk visuals. The thing is we are living in a post remaster world. My eyes have already been spoiled, so compared to that yeah, it looks terrible. I mean these ships are moving at a PowerPoint framerate, so I'm gonna skip the obvious and just focus on the art style. When it comes to spacecraft the Somtaaw are vastly
different than the ones from Kharak. They're mainly beefy, boxy ships that have none of the sleekness you've seen before. These are industrial vessels like freighters or construction craft that have just been repurposed for war. What used to be a tug for massive orbital loads is now actively ramming the enemy. Your deep space cargo haulers are now acting as carriers. The ones that don't
fit this mould can be down right bizarre looking or resemble the Taiidan or the Bentusi. That's because it *is* their technology. Without real Hiigaran support the Somtaaw have had to purchase store brand replacements. Their game plan is a kitchen sink fleet doctrine. We can't afford a gun frigate, but we did find this weird design that lets our ship look like an asteroid! But you know, that hologram emitter takes a lot of power . . . we can't fit weapons on there too . . . so it's going to be a one-way trip. It's like having an army of nothing but Caterpillar construction vehicles and Soviet World War 2 era tanks. It's stupid and incredibly desperate, but there is a rule of cool to it. It's a thrift store fleet that will have to save the universe, and sometimes you do find some helpful surprises. Now besides all the ships, you have your space backdrops. Looking at this out
of context, it just looks like a spaceship fight, but Cataclysm goes an extra mile in trying to generate THE TERROR OF SPACE in a way I haven't seen other games do often. The fact it's an RTS game has a lot to do with that. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying it's Silent Hill or that you'll be lying in bed crying and [ __ ] because of it, but the sound and visuals come together to build this atmosphere of dread. (Golden Karan) CAPTAIN: "With the Clee-San and their science team lost, my engineers are . . . are now analyzing the subversion entity we have codenamed the Beast. The Beast seems to infect us with this particle beam that layers the target with techno-organic robots. Once these entities make contact with a compatible surface, they begin to absorb material
and infiltrate the target structure. When they make contact with organic matter . . . They use the mass to form a neural control network that . . . Then takes control of the ship. Each Beast cell functions like a . . . a biomechanical virus. It's capable of using and subverting living cells in much the same way that it . . . it subverts and uses non-organic technology." That professional demeanor is still there in the voice acting, but everyone is terrified of the Beast. It's reinforced
to you constantly, and combined with the music you really feel how tiny your ship is against the void. CONVOY: "This is Republican convoy DX307. We are under attack by unknown missiles. We have lost our escort and are unarmed, please assist. We are carrying thousands of colonists! Someone help us! Please help us!" Even the background being a smear can contribute to how unsettling things look.
The early campaign frequently has these flashes of distant lightning. It's a tiny hint of the absolute shitstorm you're in for. The sensors menu is virtually unchanged from the first game, but now there's a new kind of menace to it. What the hell could be out there?
There are games that take advantage of that aspect a lot stronger now, but man, it seems that some of the strongest horror in games can come from games that aren't labeled as that. When you have a spaceship strategy game it's hard to directly show the horror, so instead you have these threatening maps with tense music. You see the threat on a more personal level in cut scenes, but still shrouded in darkness. Then you have a game known for its "professionals under stress" voice acting absolutely losing their [ __ ]. CAPTAIN: "Stand-by Group 4."
(screaming) CONVOY: "We have hull breaches across all decks! Something's come aboard . . . Help us! HELP UUSSSSS!!!" Homeworld has always had strong, immersive radio chatter and now it's being used against you. Your thoughts on command are sometimes interrupted by people being melted by something you don't fully understand.
(chorus of screams) Yeah . . . back to building collectors. Wait a minute is that Enmity? Oh my god . . . The remaster for Homeworld 2 does have some incredible backdrops. The game tries to look like some kind of apocalypse too and I think it succeeds in that. The issue is as much as I did like those visuals, the threat was always vague. That contributes to why it felt so hollow. I love Makkan's character design, but up until the very end I had no clue what he was up to. It's the end times, for some reason.
When the bottom of the Kuun-Lan appears to start bleeding and then gets careened off into space while you hear everyone screaming - that establishes a threatening tone way better than even the most ancient of prophecies. The Beast is a nanomachine virus that breaks down its crew into nerve endings to control spaceships and that's the most basic way I can put it. Rather than finding a thing, to find a thing, to do *something*, the threat is established early on. Cataclysm's campaign is trying to find practical solutions to fight the Beast. This thing looks extremely dangerous but we're mainly just mechanical engineers, our next step should be to try and contact biologists or other experts to try and get a better grasp on it. You see this happening and go "yeah this does make sense". The Beast stays mysterious, but it's also threatening because you know what it does.
It'll mosey around the universe assimilating life and machinery for reasons unknown. It's a gruesome struggle but you're taking the fight. Who knows what could have happened if the raiders were the ones to unleash it. It's a great sci-fi horror story on its own but it's also an
excellent Homeworld sequel. It plays off of the first game, while keeping a lot of the same themes. I'll save all that for the spoilers section since I do want to talk about the gameplay changes a bit. Compared to the original I find it a lot smoother to play now. Things the remaster lets you take for granted like actually being able to attack ships through the sensors menu weren't available until Cataclysm.
There were better time speed up and slow down abilities and things like quick dock were actually added in Cataclysm and not Homeworld 2. Except it's way better here because it's a choice. It removes tedium in some missions but in others an enemy deathball might be heading your way. You can try to let everyone make it, but if the Beast is looking to pile drive you the emergency jump option might be the only way out. This is a rough decision because every ship counts now more than ever. 2 having collectors acting as resource harvesters, repair ships, and salvagers
was something that Cataclysm started, but it's like that here because it's a much more scaled down game. There's a lot to reinforce this. In another series first units now have veterancy - the more ass they kick the bigger their foot gets. The stat improvements make it worth keeping ships alive even over just the resource cost. Then you have all your new ship upgrades available. Some craft can
apply these on their own, but others might have to dock up if they weren't built with them. Fuel was gone at this point, but abilities were made more prominent. You can manually order fighters to shoot off a missile salvo, but they'll have to re-dock to resupply them. You have a much smaller fleet roster.
You have strange additions like microship drones that can attach to larger enemy craft and wreak havoc. You're using deception, combining fighters into corvettes and then separating them back out. The kitchen sink fleet angle extends into actually playing the game, you don't get big brawler ships until later and not very many. Just to emphasize the importance of each individual ship each class now has its own voice actor. Besides just adding more flavor and variety to the game, this
feeds you more information when you start hearing the Modern Warfare lobby screams over the radio. You can tell both what ship class it is and how they're doing. It makes 2 dropping this aspect especially weird considering how much they built off of Cataclysm. Having ship modules that could be destroyed or damaged was kind of added here, but 2 would refine this idea to a degree that it feels completely different. They might have wanted to build off more, but 2 had a rough development.
In Cataclysm's case it was just supposed to be an expansion pack - it ended up that everything looked so strong and promising that it was released as a standalone game. That seemed like the right call with just how differently it plays. The one thing I don't like is just how much more of a process capturing enemy ships is. Using your harvesters for it feels awkward and it's a longer ordeal. At the same time I get it, because on higher difficulties especially, captured enemy ships can do a lot better than your base stuff. These are ships made for fighting compared to whatever the hell is happening here. I don't have anything to add in the gameplay front that I haven't said before, so that
just leaves the story. Well once again Cataclysm came with a gigantic manual. It even expands in the lore behind the ships and that darker tone continues. For example, when the frozen colonists got to Hiigara a huge portion of them committed suicide since they had lost everything at Kharak.
Some of these sleepers crew the self-destructing mimic ships. They've already given up hope and feel like they have nothing to lose being made into a weapon. Pretty [ __ ]ing grim. You never need to read the manual to understand the story, but it does help you understand the depths of just how bad things are. There's a lot of details I want to get into here so if you don't want spoilers - go to here:
Okay, when we left off the Beast had awoken. BEAST: "Weeeeee liiiiiive." There's one group that's gotta know more. BENTUSI: " It has been forbidden to possess this information for some time, but after your intervention on our behalf we feel compelled to share it with you." The Bentusi have always been the wise mentor. As a refresher (or for those who will never play it which is
very sad) the Bentusi reveal the truth of your people. Thousands of years ago the Hiigarans were a massively powerful galactic empire. Their actions were so brutal that when they did lose a war their enemies called for their race to be completely exterminated. Not every race agreed on this so a compromise was made. The Hiigarans would be crammed aboard sublight transports and sent to the fringe
of the galaxy. If they found a wasteland planet to settle there then good for them and if not tough [ __ ]. The journey took centuries and those who survived were basically feral. When they did reach Kharak they had to restart as a brand new civilization. So when the mothership emerged and the Taiidani honey barbecued the planet there was a huge outcry. No one hated the Hiigarans more than the Taiidani but none of them were actually alive to witness the atrocities. The Bentusi, who are bound inside their spacecraft, *do* live that long. They personally suffered from the Hiigarans
actions. Even after everything they move to forgive. They recognize that a race of people isn't inherently evil and that maybe confining them to generations of prison, followed by generations of a desert hellscape, followed by obliterating them the second they try to step off it was a step too far. They made a case for the Kushan people and have a long-term perspective and wisdom that no one else has. They're the best and most trustworthy friend you have in the universe, so of course you go to them to ask about the Beast. They're already being attacked when you get there, but they've got it under control.
CAPTAIN: "Attention Bentusi trading station. You are not being attacked by normal pirate vessels. Do not let them get close!" BENTUSI: "It does not matter what they are, only the man would attack the Unbound. Hostile ships will be regrettably destroyed." He's right too. Like, they're wiping the floor with them. Then one of the larger ships gets close.
BENTUSI: "A presence. We sense its hunger. Not infant race. Not Unbound. Something other. Something older. Something from Outside!" KING WILLIE: "The other side!" MIKE: "What're you talking about?" BENTUSI: "It tears at us. Rewriting song. Devouring memory. Turning our body against us . . . Binding us! This cannot be! We . . . will . . . NOT . . . be . . . BOUND!" Oh [ __ ], uh . . . what now? All you can do is escort an allied carrier out of the situation.
You can't begin to think of a long-term plan now because holding off the Beast is such a task. Just the act of being too close to them leads to disaster Getting the carrier to safety is a journey in itself. Traveling through a hostile dust cloud filled with Taiidan Empire remnants. You do pull it off and the carrier does thank you, but there is some disrespect buried in there. You protected *them* on the way out but they tell *you* to find somewhere safe and we'll get the warrior Kiith to come handle it. It may look polite, but it's a buried insult.
The Kuun-Lan doesn't confront that, trying to dig out a buried diss just makes you look dirty. Luckily the science team who wasn't involved in the dust bowl shootout has learned a bit more. The original beacon came from an alien vessel known as the Ragnarok. I mean the Naggarok. They were exploring the universe a million years ago when they too ran across the Beast.
When they realized what it was, they tried to cut off their communications and kill everything else that might let the Beast out of the ship, but that triggered an automatic distress beacon to be launched - which is what the Kuun-Lan found. As for the Naggarok it may be dead in the water but it could be out there still. That's the next logical thing to look for. You do get sidetracked by the chaos this thing is unleashing. The Taiidani Republic (which are also Hiigaran allies) are also
dealing with the threat, but they've been calling it an imperialist bioweapon. Republican intel knew it was present at an Imperial weapons lab, but did not know it was not a Taiidani invention. All of your battles are about buying time. You could be a distraction for the sake of moving spies around or just trying to hold off the Beast a little bit longer. It's an oppressive campaign, it seems like you can never catch a break. You eventually find an ancient ship cannon inside of a debris field. Could be a Progenitor one or one from the old Hiigaran wars. You research
it and attach it to the command ship while mastering energy weapons. Things are looking up and then an enemy Taiidani fleet warps in. Kicked back down. But then the allied carrier returns as promised and it's like "thank god finally a break". CAAL-SHTO: "This is the . . . Caal-Shto. We have arrivEd with rein-forcementsss from Hiigara . . . come to us." Ohhhh . . . damn it.
Also remember when the Kuun-Lan ejected the bottom part of the ship? That's alive now and growing. BEAST: "Weeee want . . . beeeeacon brain." The newly installed siege cannon is done just in time. It has to be awkwardly aimed manually, but I do land a perfect hit. The mystical cannon of the ancient ones doesn't do [ __ ] to them. I have to launch an emergency jump and many are left behind. At this rate the Somtaaw might not
have enough members for a chorus. Maybe the cannon could be modified to work if we had an older Beast sample, but that's back to finding the Naggarok, but you're still getting sidetracked trying to save others from being devoured. The Beast is showing up with all kinds of different ships now showing how far its reach has already gotten. The fighting is kept relentless and the struggle feels
more and more futile. It's made more and more clear how dire the situation is, even when you get the information to find the Naggarok it seems like it's already too late. This all makes Blizzard trademarking "cataclysm" even more annoying. It's the perfect title for this. This is all very abridged down but the moment to moment fighting really drills this into you. Everyone is being eaten and there's no big unity against it. You find the Naggarok just
when things couldn't seem worse. RECON: "This is Recon 214 to command I have target in visual range. Kiith's blood, it's massive! The Imperials are all over it, what are they doing? I don't believe it they're repairing the drives!" Not only are the Imperials not helping, they're *fixing* the death ship. Everyone skips fear into just shock at how stupid this is.
RECON: "I don't believe it they're repairing the drives!" It's like, of course the scout is laughing. This is insane. What are you doing over there? CAPTAIN: "Come in Taiidan flagship. What are you doing? You can't release that ship on the galaxy! Do you know what you're about to do?!" THE BEAST: "Yessssss they know. For a million years we have been trapped in this ship, listening to electromagnetic chatter of your tiny self/worlds."
For their help the Beast will give the Taiidan Empire half the galaxy. When this first happened I didn't know how to feel about it. I was already iffy at the Beast actually talking, but this deal seems remarkably stupid and one-sided. They do address how obvious this is. CAPTAIN: "That's madness! What happens when you finish devouring your half of the galaxy?" irrelevant BEAST: "Irrelevant! How many thousands of your flickering lifespans will that take? Join us or be destroyed." Sure our descendants might be horribly devoured but at least we'll be comfortable.
Ally with the Beast and it's a pretty sweet ride up until that point. It's even more frustrating later when the Somtaaw directly confront them on this. CAPTAIN: "How can you be helping this thing?" IMPERIAL: "What choice do we have Hiigaran? Your mad quest shattered our Imperial Sphere . . . took the life of our immortal emperor . . . whatever we have been driven to now- is your fault. You . . . Helping the Beast is the empire's final [ __ ] you to the galaxy, but they won't own up to it. You do retrieve a sample, but the Naggarok escapes. The siege cannon might be Bentusi, so maybe there are
more out there. The good news is that there are, and the bad is that they're escaping the galaxy. Things are so bad that the Bentusi are entirely peacing out of the situation. They are completely terrified to the point the fleet decides to destroy their escape route in hopes of convincing them. BENTUSI: "Cease your attacks or be destroyed. Do you not understand what has happened? We will not be bound!" You don't need their warning and they meant it. The Bentusi attack you and they rip your fleet apart. All the resources, all the veteran ships, they melt right through them. They're doing this to
people who came to them for help. CAPTAIN: "You helped us to win our homeworld . . . you cannot run away now." BENTUSI: We aided the S'jet persona who was newly Unbound. You are not S'jet! Your bound bodies and flicker lives make you blind to reality and now we will all pay for your blindness!" It's an unwinnable battle. You don't activate an ancient super weapon to stop them, instead the captain convinces them.
BENTUSI: "You seek to trap us in a diseased galaxy. This cannot be. Desist and we will allow you to leave. We . . . regret the loss of your memory." CAPTAIN: "Regret!? We regret the loss of the whole sand cursed galaxy! Stop murdering us and help us kill the Beast!" BENTUSI: "The devourer cannot be stopped ,we must flee or even memory will die. We will not be bo-" CAPTAIN: "Yes, yes you will not be bound, whatever that means. Well guess what? *We* won't let you go! It doesn't matter how we die, one ancient monster is as good as another." BENTUSI: "We . . . are . . . not . . . monsters."
CAPTAIN: "Aren't you? Look around! Look what you've done to our fleet! All because we dared to get in your way. Look at yourselves the aloof, the *mighty* Bentusi! Slaughtering the people who asked for your help! You're WORSE than the Beast! At least the Beast doesn't PRETEND TO BE RIGHTEOUS!" BENTUSI: "We fear . . . For the first time in countless orbits . . . we fear."
CAPTAIN: "Join the Kiith. We're not blind, just scared. As scared as you. Now are you going to help us or are we gonna have to ram this mining ship down the throat of the first station that approaches?" BENTUSI: "That will not be necessary. We see our own madness reflected in yours. We will do what we can to help." This scene will never be as famous as "Kharak is burning", but it's my favorite in the series.
You got to see the Bentusi get physically overpowered, but it's a lot more seeing them be so afraid that they lose their way. Homeworld is all about going home and returning to where you belong. Cataclysm seems like it's the opposite. This is about the danger of not being able to confront change. The Taiidan Empire want the glory days back, even if that means being buddy buddy with sentient cancer, but you know from Homeworld that the empire was a terrible corrupt place. The glory days weren't so glorious unless you were on the top of a pile of misery. The Bentusi are wise and
powerful, but as a race they haven't felt actually threatened in thousands of years. Rather than face the challenge, their first instinct is to run away. They were smug when the Beast first showed up but that evaporated faster than their ship did. To their credit it would be a pretty horrible fate. Because they're so integrated with their ships the Beast wouldn't kill them on contact, instead they'd be trapped inside their own bodies - virtually being tortured for all of eternity while their ship drifts throughout the universe. It's gruesome enough that you can at least understand their fear.
They do figure out that they shouldn't run away, being comfortable with power made them shy away from new challenges. Even the Beast is just an endless stagnant thing, it's the same as it was a million years ago and will do nothing but consume until the stars burn out. The most impactful force in the war and in the story is the group on the very bottom of the bottom of the ladder. The Somtaaw
go through absolute hell and sacrifice a lot, but by rising to the occasion they have been improving. Even though no one asked or even wanted them to. Homeworld has these big grand moments, the one in Cataclysm is pretty easy to miss. Whenever you start a mission you hear something like this. CAPTAIN: "Understood tactical. Attention Carrier Veer-Rak, this is Kiith Somtaaw mining vessel Kuun-Lan." CAPTAIN: Attention Kiith Manaan fleet. This is the Somtaaw mining vessel Kuun-Lan. Please come in."
When the Bentusi fix up the cannon and you warp in to face the Naggarok, you hear this instead: CAPTAIN: "Try to hold on Republican fleet. This is the Kiith Somtaaw Warship Kuun-Lan." They're a proper warship now and they [ __ ] earned it. The final mission has you linking up with the Taiidan Republic to use their new super weapon against the Beast's mothership. However the campaign is keeping up its theme of burning lit cigarettes on your arm. Kojima's nanomachines have already captured the super weapon,
the Republic fleet is in shambles, the Naggarok is already there, and constant reinforcements are coming from the Beast and the Taiidan Empire. This can be a brutal final mission. Even catching the Naggarok's a trial since it has some kind of Jimmy Neutron bull[ __ ] frictionless drive. It can outrun your fastest craft and sometimes it'll straight up devour a unit off the map.
(screaming) It is an endurance of a final battle until finally, *finally*, you catch a break. If you make it through enough objectives the Bentusi show up and transmit you a schematic for one of their fighters. They are absurdly powerful and with them you can send the Naggarok to Hel. (screaming) With their momentum significantly slowed, the other Beast ships are hunted down and destroyed. A kind of vaccine for the infection is developed and while some pockets remain, the Beast never really threatens the universe again. The Kiith Somtaaw are no longer known as "the mining clan". They gain a huge amount of respect on Hiigara and now their clan is known as the beastslayers. After all you've
been through, it's an incredibly satisfying ending. It really is a great game, even with the graphics blown away by the remaster, the audio pretty compressed and crunchy, but the campaign stands up as an amazing Homeworld sequel. You can even try skirmish if you want to play *as* the Beast. This is about where I would end things but I've gotta talk about Homeworld 2. Cataclysm shows how different things can be while still being a Homeworld game. I mean you see the captain of the Kuun-Lan go through an arc. Again, he's more representing his people, but he's the strongest character in the
series so far. I talked about this before but Karan S'jet isn't much of a character by herself. You do get glimpses of what she's about - she allowed herself to be entombed inside the mothership. They make a point of saying she's the last to step on the homeworld. She's clearly selfless and heroic and you can assume she's a good person. The thing is her arc is basically done; she got everyone home.
She's a hero . . . until 2 drags her back out to put her inside of mothership 2. If you played Cataclysm before 2 it's way more disappointing. Cataclysm has shown that it's such a rich universe so you can play all kinds of stories in it. Hell I'd be okay playing as a Taiidani or a Vaygr or
something brand new. Instead 2 set up the Age of S'jet. This seems to have seeped into the franchise itself. I haven't talked about Deserts of Kharak yet, but it stars one of Karan's ancestors. What little has been shown about Homeworld 3 is centered around Karan once again. I guess after 2's ending you can't really ignore her. I guess I'm hoping they do something interesting with her. Her being the means to an end was how she worked in Homeworld, but it's hard to get away with that now that she's like this linchpin for the series. Do something with her or else I'll wish
I was playing a new nobody. Who knows, maybe she's the new galactic tyrant. Now playing an underdog against her could be interesting. Cataclysm has a great story, but all the advances the Somtaaw made, the Beast, everything - it's not around - not for Homeworld 2. There's only a single Bentusi ship left for some reason and the Somtaaw are mentioned being against poking around in ancient ruins. Any interesting follow-up has to make way for *the prophecy*. The gameplay is fun, but the story is so
disjointed that Cataclysm still feels like the real Homeworld 2. So if you like the original I would highly recommend Homeworld Emergence. I actually tried to get a sale for it, but I haven't heard back so it might be in the pinned comment, it might not. It's not nearly as shiny and desired as
the remasters, so if it does go on sale you still might want to pick it up. It might not ever get the remaster treatment, but boy is it deserving of it. That's it for now. Next time, Warhammer returns. "What do I think about the EVE Online x Doctor Who crossover?" Desperate. Your turn. "Thoughts on the Fromsoft Armored Core leak?" I haven't looked into it but I'd be happy to see more Armored Core.
I'll also be ready for a lot of annoying "It's Dark Souls but Robots" thumbnails. "Halo Wars 1 & 2 when? Bonus tears for Halogen." There will be a Halo thing this year on the channel. I was very sad about HaloGen and I don't know if that'll heal. It's a real shame there's no build floating around. "Is there a game I like that the general audience hates or vice versa?" I would think most recently would be Cyberpunk. The rip down of it has been absolutely fair, it's still a mess in a lot of ways, but there is a lot I like about it. There won't be a video on it for quite a while.
"Will I return to Eastern Europe for The Void?" I don't know when but it is inevitable at this point. "What's the worst purchase I've made that I can't let go of?" Oh man . . . this is a hard one. Um I've bought bad games like Aliens Colonial Marines but had fun with them. I can't remember a brand new game I bought full priced and hated. I'm careful
about it now and as a kid I didn't get anything over like 10 bucks. Oh! Empire Earth 3. That's the one. In general though I once bought a really shitty pressure cooker - that almost killed me That might count, but I didn't spend a ton on it. College days were deadly.
DALE GRIBBLE: "The Beast."
2022-01-22 08:47
