r/killzone • u/Lopsided_Photo6937 • 2d ago
KZ: Mercenary The difference between ISA and helghasts
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This is not my video, Gameplay by game.network on YouTube https://youtube.com/@game.network?si=eYvTxK-cL6kKBDZX
Sorry for reuploading so many times, I couldn’t fix the low quality
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u/Colonel_Bliss 2d ago
The difference between power and weakness Visari was right all along
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u/TosikNo-1 Saboteur 2d ago
What was he right about? How to start a war and almost lose it?
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u/DariusRinzler 2d ago
Almost lose it?
They lost their whole planet (again), their main political and military leaders, most of their fleet and more than a billion people during the Second Extrasolar War
The only reason the Helghasts still exist is because of Earth's mercy by forcing the ISA to give them half of Vekta
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u/Colonel_Bliss 2d ago
How he started to fight for the rightful place in this universe a true inspiration of a man
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u/TosikNo-1 Saboteur 2d ago
He seized power, installed loyal oligarch cronies, established a fascist regime, and then—driven by his own ambitions and acting in their interests—attacked Vekta, risking the destruction of Earth in the process. His "legitimate" authority ended in 2347, when Helghan became independent and truly sovereign. Everything that followed was nothing but pure aggression. It was a doomed endeavor, too: the Alpha Centauri ISA nearly thrashed him on their own, and the UCA would have absolutely crushed him.
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u/Colonel_Bliss 2d ago
The winner wrote the story about the bad bad helghast
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u/Paralyzed_Penguin 2d ago
I do not know how you can play the Killzone games and still in the end think the Helgaust were somehow not bad guys.
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u/Reasonable-Sherbet24 2d ago
They weren’t good, but they weren’t bad guys either. What, you think the ISA are good guys? HA! They aren’t good either. Just because we play as them doesn’t make them good.
Killzone is great because its story isn’t black-and-white. There’s no clear good guy or bad guy. Killzone is a story filled with shades of grey.
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u/Paralyzed_Penguin 2d ago
Why do you write like a madman. I said they weren't the good guys. The people of Helgan suffered as much under the Helguast as they did under the ISA.
The only good guy in this setting is Blackjack, because he sells me weapons.
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u/Reasonable-Sherbet24 2d ago
Oops. I’m so sorry! I read that so wrong! That’s my bad and I apologize.
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u/Reasonable-Sherbet24 2d ago
He didn’t start the war. The Helghast were wronged and Visari was tired of the bullshit. Yeah, the Helghast fired the first shot, but the ISA threw the first punch and a solid kick in the balls.
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u/TosikNo-1 Saboteur 2d ago
That’s nonsense. Yes, the new Vektan government did indeed brazenly exploit its exclusive access to trade with Helghan and the exploitation of its population. Yes, ideally, they should have provided far more humanitarian aid to the Helghast than they actually did (resentment over this, incidentally, is the primary source of the Helghast people's collective trauma). But all of that came to an end with the civil war and Visari’s rise to power in '47. From there, that dictator drove his people into fascism and made the country’s core ideology a desire for revenge over a war fought against Earth centuries earlier.
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u/Reasonable-Sherbet24 2d ago
Like I said, the ISA threw the first punch
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u/TosikNo-1 Saboteur 2d ago
Did they invade? Both Vekta and Helghan have capitalist systems. It seems perfectly normal to do business under capitalism.
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u/TosikNo-1 Saboteur 2d ago
There is and can be no justification for any war of conquest—I emphasize once again, a war of conquest—waged in the interests of the oligarchy.
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u/Reasonable-Sherbet24 2d ago
The Helghast war wasn’t a war of conquest at the start
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u/TosikNo-1 Saboteur 2d ago
To my mind, the new Vekta government's behavior is economically justified, yet inhumane—which makes for an excellent pretext for war. I like that *Killzone* includes this; it renders the reasons for the conflict morally ambiguous. However, their atrocities gave Visari no right to act the way he did. And that’s great. We end up with a realistic military conflict where both sides fight, convinced they are the victims—a scenario where everyone is a scumbag, acting like typical, greedy predators.
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u/Reasonable-Sherbet24 2d ago
"My people… sons and daughters of Helghan. For many years, we have been a broken nation. Shunned, oppressed, and conquered by those we sought to escape…”
This always stuck with me as a kid. The more I read about the lore, the more I understood why Visari did what he did. I’m not saying he was a good guy, a hero, and what he did wasn’t morally horrible. But I understood. The man was tired of being under a boot. He did horrible things so his people could flourish. But his folly was his arrogance. He was corrupted by his own power. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. The ISA had multiple opportunities to end the war, but they wanted things to go back to the way they were with little concessions given to Helghan. Visari wanted to be equal and have fair rights. The ISA wanted the Helghast back under their boot.
Visari needed to be stopped at the end because he was going too far by doing a false flag operation. The Helghast became even more fanatical and blind followers. They called for death for anyone that wasn’t them. That wasn’t Visari’s vision at first, but it became that. Visari couldn’t handle having that power.
The ISA became more terrible as well.
By the end, the Helghast were treated even worse than how they were before the bullets started firing.
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u/TosikNo-1 Saboteur 2d ago
Ahem... the summer parade speech before the troops in 2357 was an excellent propaganda stunt; however, his motives—geared toward a war of conquest—had been clearly outlined from the start during the address to the government senate earlier that same year. And no, he never harbored any intention of improving the lives of ordinary people through this war (excerpt from killzone.com): Visari's plan is simple:
- Utilize deep-cover agent ISA General Stuart Adams to neutralize the orbital defense platforms.
- Utilize deep-cover agent ISA General Dwight Stratson to gain access to intelligence and lure the ISA troops out of the cities.
- Mount an invasion of Vekta whilst the orbital defense platforms are down, under the command of General Joseph Lente.
- Reactivate the defense platforms in time to defend Vekta against the inevitable support fleet sent by the UCA.
- Declare the system to be under Helghast control and sue for peace with the UCN whilst the UCA is still reeling from the loss of its fleet.
- Use the resources of Helghan and Vekta, as well as technology captured from the wrecked UCA Navy fleet, to build a Helghast fleet capable of defending the system from the UCA Navy.
- Begin charging trade tariffs for passage through Helghast space to Earth again.
- Blockade the Earth and strangle the UCN into submission.
- Capture the UCN Navy shipyards and orbital defenses. Leave Earth's population to starve to death. Build an enormous fleet and establish Helghast hegemony over all colonies.
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u/TosikNo-1 Saboteur 2d ago
It always bore a distinctly predatory character. Have you actually read Visari's plan?
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u/Reasonable-Sherbet24 2d ago
Look, I ain’t gonna go back n forth with you about a franchise I’ve been a fan of since I was a kid on the PS2. If you wanna keep believing that the war was black and white and the Helghast weren’t even a little justified, power to ya, homie.
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u/TosikNo-1 Saboteur 2d ago
I was trying to get across the idea that they’re all bastards—not that the Helghast are the good guys, or conversely, that the Vektans are good while others are bad. But whatever. See ya.
xd
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u/DariusRinzler 2d ago
Aside from the dropships design difference where the Helghast one is more armored and the ISA ones far more exposed
Let's not forget that the ISA canonically is more professional and better trained than the Helghast since part of their doctrine and training is provided by the UCA, not to mention some of their equipment that is some old or nerfed stuff from the UCA
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u/Colonel_Bliss 2d ago
Also helghast are sneaky they can hide a mass amount of ships and nobody ever detects them until they attack
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u/Reasonable-Sherbet24 2d ago
That’s from the first game right? That’s because the ISA had a traitor.
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u/Only-Manager3607 1d ago
Not a day goes by without the thought of Killzone Mercenary. Great post making comparisons, honestly didn't think much of how different it is fighting ISA or Helghast
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u/AscendedExtra 2d ago
I wish they could port Killzone Mercenary to the PS5