Queen of Blades

A tribute to Sarah Kerrigan, who will always be my favorite heroine/villain in video games.

I first stumbled upon an installation of Starcraft (original and Brood War) in 2000, when my mom and I decided to explore the newly upgraded PC my dad brought home that weekend. I was 9 and still unexposed to the existence of space horror. (Though looking back, Starcraft is a far cry from the actual space horror games, but to 9-year-old me, it was as space horror as it gets).

I remember my mom moving the mouse over a spaceship icon and double-clicking it to open a banner featuring a mean-looking officer, a blue-skinned alien, and a green-skinned lady freak. I was spooked out and tried telling my mom to close the game, but funnily, she shushed me and was bent on exploring a little further. (Now that I realize, she was the same age as I am now as I'm typing this...)

My mom seemed to have started one the first Terran mission as I remember seeing a few marines and a base in a space platform. I also remember seeing the words Vespene geyser when she clicked on a tiny volcano with puffs of green smoke emanating from the vents. After some random clicking about and moving units to different parts of the map, a sudden wave of purple aliens (Zerglings) started shredding my marines to pieces and the ensuing carnage terrorized the both of us that we exited the game then and there.

That was my first ever memory of Starcraft and I'm surprised I still have it vividly imprinted in my memories.

I didn't touch it until a few months later when Starcraft became a sudden hit among my schoolmates. Everyone just seemed to have stumbled upon a copy of it in their PCs at the same time.

(I am 99.9% sure we all went to the same PC guy who secretly slipped in installations of it whenever our parents went to him for repairs or upgrades, spreading his love for the game in our town of Polomolok.)

I remember cheat codes being passed around (Power overwhelming, anyone?) and everyone doing their best imitation of the cheesy unit dialogs (Goliath online. Adun Toridas!).

12 years after the original was released, I was on my way to finish university and there were news of a Starcraft 2. It was a symbol of the endless hours of joy sitting in front of my PC during my childhood days, so of course, I had to get my hands on a copy.

Fast-forward to now. It's been 10 years since I graduated from university and I've just finished my Nth attempt at the original Zerg campaign.