I see the Mei cinematic as outlining her personality more, which isnāt at all a bad thing, in addition to showing her accepting the Recall (something we all already knew), which is an important event to show that will probably turn up with everyone who ends up with the new Overwatch team.
Personally I donāt see why the devs should have received the outrage they did over it, since the Dragons Short also kind of showed us stuff we already knew - the only thing that really moved the lore forward there was the reveal to Hanzo that Genji was alive (something we all already knew).
Edit: And the Honor and Glory short is something like 99% backstory that doesnāt move the lore forward but indicates a lot more about Reinhardtās personality, but no one tore the devs a new one over that one either from what I remember.
I ask because I remember watching it before I bought the game on the day of release, so I had 1) no idea who these men were beforehand and 2) no idea they were related. So it was New To Me, someone who didnāt participate in the beta.
The Mei short would be new to folks who havenāt owned the game for nearly two years now.
I think youāre right, which is probably why no one minded the fact the lore wasnāt moved much by it ahaha. But the thing about Honor and Glory still stands imo - thing was 99% backstory that we could have guessed from Reinhardtās bio, much like Rise and Shine was about 99% backstory that we could have guessed from Meiās. The only thing we really gained in both situations was specifics of how things went down and that they accepted the Re-Call.
Edit: Well, that and a bunch of dead NPCs, one of whom got the heroās death that left an emotional impact on the audience and the others of whom barely even got named.
I donātā¦mind backstory so much, as it expands both the world and the characters it focuses on, but weāre literally at a total standstill with the Recall storyline, and we have been for two years. Whatās going on behind the scenes thatās preventing any forward momentum in the story?
Same. Also seeing her reaction to what happened as well as seeing how she saved herself is important.It really made her more relatable and human, as well as explaining how she got out of that. As a matter of fact, early lore is not really compatible with that short anymore? Her story on the website says:
As their supplies dwindled, they entered cryostasis in a last-ditch effort to survive until a rescue attempt could be made. But that rescue never came. It was years later when the teamās cryogenics chamber was finally discovered.
?? But the chamber was never discovered by anyone. Mei woke up and was alone and had to devise a plan to leave safely. Itās weird.
Also yep, same thing with Honor and Glory. But nobody can say it didnāt tell us a lot about Reinhardt. I saw Dragons before I knew anything so it was new to me too, but at the end of the day, it offers very little amount of new information currently. (Dragons is still the best short and I will fight people about this.)
On an unrelated note, has anyone noticed this on McCreeās website description:
Armed with his Peacekeeper revolver, McCree takes out targets with deadeye precision and dives out of danger with eagle-like speed.
dives out of danger with eagle-like speed.
eagle-like speed.
Iāve been in tears for days over this. McCree, a notoriously slow character with the worst mobility ability, diving with eagle-like speed. I suppose combat roll was just THAT impressive two years ago.
Oh, I have nothing against backstory - Iām more pointing out that itās silly that people got upset about Meiās cinematic not revealing lore but not Reinhardtās when Reinhardtās revealed basically the same amount of lore as hers did.
People were upset with Meiās lore because it literally retold her bio, more or less word-for-word. You could literally read Meiās initial bio entry and itās pretty much the entirety of Rise & Shine.
The reason why people like Honor & Glory is because despite not revealing anything that moved the plot forward, we didnāt actually know why Reinhardt initially joined Overwatch, how he was blinded, and what causes him to be so stubborn about joining the fight.
We actually learned quite a bit about Reinhardt during that short that was never told to us in his initial bio.
Except that thereās discrepancies between the short and the original bio that donāt line up at all, so clearly one of those things is wrong.
In any case, I still say that learning more about a characterās personality and how they respond to situations is interesting, which is exactly what Rise and Shine does. It shows Meiās emotional reactions and perseverance following the discovery that all of her coworkers and friends were dead and had been for years. Do I wish theyād chosen a different character? Yes, kind of. I want a D.Va short. But I still donāt think that the devs should have gotten yelled at for the short.
She had to stamp that pain down in order to focus on her own survival. Once sheās safe she likely gave herself time to grieve. Sheās back at the watchpoint with Winston and Tracer now, so thatās probably whatās going on.
She was also shown sitting in one place for at least an entire day, not moving at all, once she discovered them dead. Which, to me at least, is hardly getting over something quickly. Emotional masks/distancing to distract and allow oneself to work better do exist and are a noted survival mechanism (and I agree with what cats said).
