I was referring to Overwatch 2 trailer and the tone in 2 in general.
I feel like the tone of the game (trailer wise) has shifted from family friendly, pixaresque to avengers wannabe
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I was talking to a friend the other day about how The Last Bastion managed to make both of us cry. It’s not the only OW short that has made me emotional, Honor and Glory prob comes second in that aspect, but it definitely stirred feelings in me in a way that more story relevant shorts like Zero Hour haven’t even come close to doing.
To continue Nevera’s Pixar comparison, imo what sets Pixar movies apart is that they’re character driven, have a lot of heart and aren’t afraid to engage with more mature themes. That’s why they appeal to audiences of all ages. The Last Bastion deserves to be compared to Pixar movies, even if it doesn’t do much to advance the plot of OW. I would much rather watch more shorts like The Last Bastion than to sit through an entire game (OW 2) with cut scenes as hollow and generic as Zero Hour.
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What made you feel Zero Hour is generic if I may ask? I am just curious to hear why (personally I found it kind of underwhelming)
It has zero to do with character and character development, and only to do with action and characters just appearing and showing off - with cheese one liners and a predictable win
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Basically what Nevera said about it being an Avengers wannabe - but without the build up or execution for it to really be satisfying. The MCU spent five movies (I know nobody remembers or cares about the Incredible Hulk but it’s there) building up to the first Avengers movie, and what made the Avengers exciting is that it brought together characters that had previously not interacted with each other (with the exception of Iron Man and Black Widow). Blizzard desperately wanted Zero Hour to feel like, an epic meeting/reunion moment, but it did not put in the work to get there.
So first off, the lack of proper build up. Overwatch barely developed its characters over the three and a half years between the game’s release and Blizzcon 2k19. Zero Hour didn’t even do a good job of explaining why all the people that showed up are there. They had to release a short story afterwards to explain what Mercy had been up to and why she suddenly wanted to be part of Overwatch again, and Brigitte goes wherever Reinhardt goes but we were meant to believe from in game voice interactions that she’s not OW’s biggest fan. Genji is there because…he’s needed, I guess? He had nothing better to do? The lack of a clear explanation as to what his exact relationship with Overwatch was at the end, how he views it now and if any recent event in particular spurred him to answer the recall makes him come off as even more of a deus ex machina in Zero Hour. Same with Mercy, her appearance was pure deus ex machina until Valkyrie was published. At least Hawkeye and Black Widow were already part of SHIELD when the Avengers were assembled.
The second main point that makes it underwhelming is that we’ve already seen most of these heroes work together. This was Storm Rising + Mei and Rein. No, pve is not exactly the same as a glossy full cinematic with scripted action sequences, but it’s still the same heroes and basic abilities. This wasn’t anything that new, we’ve seen this team working together multiple times before in different mediums (pve and other shorts), and at this point there’s many more hype and fresh combinations of heroes. Why would anybody be super hyped about seeing Genji, Tracer, Winston and Mercy together when we’ve already seen them be part of the same team(s) before?
IMO Mei stole the show. She had the best build up to joining the recall with her short, we hadn’t seen her interact with these characters before, and it was her first time in combat. Everybody else just felt like business as usual/they were there because they had to be. If Blizzard wants to make these heroes the focus of the story and have them be their “core” Avengers team, then outright say it and put in the work. If they’re going to keep using the same heroes to progress the story, then actually develop them and make them interesting, at least then there will be some excuse for ignoring everybody else.
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This should’ve been shown before Zero Hour, I agree. However, it doesn’t really matter that much. Mercy’s feelings towards Overwatch had only been expressed in one in-game line prior to Zero Hour. It wasn’t a sentiment ingrained into her character, so she didn’t seem out of place. Though I do think she should’ve been in a cinematic, as she’s the only recalled hero not feature in one prior to Zero Hour. I’m confused as to why Valkyrie was not one when it could’ve been.
Hopefully we get more on this too, but any time we get Genji content, it’s “too much Genji,” so I’m not sure what you’re expecting.
That’s the point? If we’re making Avengers comparisons, this is not the equivalent of the avengers forming. It’s closer to being their “on your left” on a much smaller scale. The portals scene wasn’t some random assortment of heroes that’d we’d never seen fight together; it was the ones that fought in the previous movie together. You might as well be complaining that the X-men weren’t in that scene.
I think they should do this too, but I’m not so sure they will. They’ve said not every hero will feature in the story, but I’m still worried they’ll bloat it by trying develop as many characters as they can all at once in hopes of pleasing everyone unnecessarily. In other words, I’m worried they’ll pull a DCEU Justice League.
Personally, I would’ve gone with an even smaller cast, at least to start with. After Storm Rising, I fully expected them to use Tracer, Genji, Mercy, and Winston as the foundation of the recalled Overwatch because it just made too much sense. They are here, but they’ve also added Mei, Reinhardt, Brigitte, and Lucio, which I think is too many.
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Again, it is an undeniable fact that Genji gets a lot of appearances in the lore while there are lots of heroes who have next to nothing. I’m not saying there aren’t other heroes who appear a lot, too, like Tracer. But it’s just a fact 
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I was comparing it to the first Avengers movie, not Endgame. The first Avengers movie was the first time we saw any combination of Hawkeye, Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America and Thor work together in any capacity. Again, the only two Avengers that had previously teamed up on screen (so not counting Hawkeye and Black Widow) prior to the first Avengers movie were Iron Man and Black Widow. The equivalent to that in Zero Hour would have been seeing a combination of brand new heroes that have never worked together before, with Winston and Tracer essentially being the equivalent to Nick Fury and Black Widow.
If we’re treating Zero Hour as the equivalent to Endgame though then that…makes both the short and the state of OW’s story overall even more underwhelming. Of course we can’t compare Overwatch to a full blown cinematic universe with multiple films, but imo they still have done a pretty bad job of developing their “protagonists” and making us care about them more than the rest of the cast. That’s the main problem then isn’t it: they haven’t given us a main cast worth caring about much.
The old guard (Jack, Reinhardt, Ana, Gabe, etc.) have much more compelling stories, partly by virtue of being given more lore. That reunion (even with Gabe as an enemy) would have much more exciting. Winston, Genji, Tracer and Mercy, if we’re going to treat those as our core cast, are just - boring. Individually, many of them are just flat out boring, and as a group their dynamics aren’t that interesting to watch.
Overwatch has a cast of more than 30 characters they can choose to focus on, but it seems like they want to make their lives easier by choosing some of the most bland and boring characters to be able to focus on plot and deal with all the interesting dynamics/tensions between other characters off screen. Part of me understands that, but Blizzard is better off being up front about the tone of the series and their goals than having people be fooled into thinking the game’s story is going to be a sweeping epic.
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Fair, but I’m beyond tired of Genji being targeted specifically when he gets featured anywhere whatsoever.
That’s an equivalence that doesn’t really work. It doesn’t make sense to use heroes that A. Haven’t been seen in lore covering the recall and B. Were not a part of Overwatch. All of the heroes used fall into this category except Brigitte, who is tagging alongside Reinhardt.
I mean, that’s your opinion and I can’t change it, but who’s this “us”? The general reaction to Zero Hour has been positive specifically because people still care so much about the characters even with the lore being scarce. Generally the only time I see people say otherwise is when they’re salty their favorite isn’t a part of it.
I disagree strongly. I’m sure you’re imagining a rose-tinted version of that, but with the direction all of those characters have been developed in aside from Reinhardt, they really had no business being in a recall of any kind. I’d like to see an Ana/Reinhardt reunion, but this was not the setting for it.
Additionally, I think all four of the Storm Rising characters are more fun together than the characters you mentioned. Jack and Ana have very dry, straightforward personalities. They work well in the darker, revenge quest they’re currently on and would not work as well in the hopeful, light-hearted main plot, at least not by themselves with Reinhardt. Tracer is an energetic, time-traveling agent, Genji is a cyborg ninja whose friends have rubbed off on, Mercy is an angelic doctor and a moral compass, and Winston a genetically engineered gorilla with a touch of awkward. You could not ask for a more marketable cast to work with. Each character brings something unique to the table in terms of concept and personality. Even if you’re not a fan of the characters, you simply can’t ignore this.
They are being upfront because all of that is your opinion, and I’m not sure why you talk like it’s a popular one when that is clearly not the case.
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Most people are by and large fine with Genji getting the amount of lore content he does tbh. It’s not like he’s some neglected hero that most people find boring and bland I’m just one of a very small, but adamant, minority lol
So what got YOU interested in the lore/story? became another Genji is in too much lore (relatively speaking) Stop it here. Go there and talk about it there.
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Lmao ok I see that rustled a few jimmies here. First off, how do you know for sure that the reaction to Zero Hour was overwhelmingly positive, and if so that it specifically was because people care about the characters? The positive reactions that I saw on social media were mainly because of special effects, music, oh and because the plot finally advanced after three and a half years. I didn’t see any tweets with 5k likes along the lines of “OMG, I’m so happy we saw Genji, Mercy, Tracer and Winston back together again!” In fact, out of the several people I know irl that still play OW, not a single person cared about the cinematic.
Second, Storm Rising was panned. If you want to be less harsh, it was not as well received as previous PvE events. That’s just a fact. It got a lot of backlash on the forums and on social media. A lot of it had to do with the repetitive game play, but there were also complaints about the cast it used and the dialogue.
Here are just a few heroes from the rest of the cast that I personally find more interesting than Genji the cyborg ninja, Mercy the angelic doctor whose morals depend on what the plot needs, Winston the gorilla whose entire story revolves around Overwatch and Tracer the one that tags along with Winston:
- Lucio the happy go lucky guy that also happens to be a DJ freedom fighter
- D.Va the 19 year old girl that is responsible for protecting her country from robot kaiju and is a lot more serious/somber than her international glamorous super star image would suggest
- Mei the chubby (I say this in a good way), bubbly eco scientist that was frozen for a whole a** decade but now finds herself part of a paramilitary organization
- Baptiste the funny, charming, sarcastic combat medic that used to be part of Talon but left because he couldn’t stand their methods anymore and is now being actively hunted down by them
- Zarya the blunt buff soldier that is canonically one of the world’s strongest women and currently hates omnics more than most other characters afawk
- Pharah the justice loving massive dork that speaks in puns and has a ton of baggage with her fake dead mother that didn’t let her join OW
- Symmetra the genius that can literally construct with light and who generally believes that peace can only be obtained through order but has begun to question that mentality and the corporation she works for
- Zenyatta the literal robot monk who is part of a group of robot monks
- Sombra the absolutely best character in the game
These are just a few characters I find more unique and interesting than the core we were discussing, and I purposefully left out most of Talon. You did have a valid point though. Out of the whole cast that they have, it’s easier to market the gorilla, two conventionally attractive white girls, and the cyborg ninja.
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Are you telling me, on my own thread, to move to my other thread? Damn, son.
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Well you changed main goal of this thread so much. And I saw this discussion before. But forget my words. Have fun discussion…
Every time someone criticizes Genji in some way this Tekunien dude writes an essay defending him. And I am totally the same when it comes to Pharah, so I’m not in any place to make fun of it 
I understand being passionate about a character you love. But yeah that’s why the convo has spiraled lol
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No, you didn’t.
Just go to the YT video? Or any of the replies to the twitter video not complaining about Hong Kong? The most common complaint I saw about the cinematic was about the cheesy dialogue, but even that was minuscule.
The cinematic wasn’t about those four specifically and I never said they were an iconic team. I just said they were more marketable and exciting in concept than what you suggested.
Well it’s a good thing those few people you know represent the entire fan base in any whatsoever lmao.
The complaints were about the reused enemies and the fact that people were expecting a Talon mission. Then three of the four characters used had already appeared in archives, so that had people annoyed. It wasn’t because they’re “boring.” Additionally, none of them got new Archives skins, which also disappointed people. I saw no complaints about the dialogue, barring the usual angry Pharmercy shippers that pop up whenever Genji and Mercy look in each other’s general direction, which doesn’t count.
Well he’s in the story, so you got him. And why is he better than Tracer? They’re very similar.
Personally, I hate that shooting star storyline and think that’s a huge waste of her character. They just made her feel like such a generic, shoe-in protagonist. It would’ve been better if she started out like the childish Dva we know in-game and matured over time.
Okay, that’s fair, but Mei is in the story anyway, so you’ll get to enjoy her.
Baptiste is one of most dull characters in the game right now. I’m not saying he can’t be interesting, but how on earth can you think he is a better choice?
I fail to see how this is better than a woman who controls time and a cybernetic man who wields the power of a dragon, but to each their own.
I think Pharah has potential by nature of her story, but she’s so boring. GreaterUniter gets on my case for saying that, but I don’t get the appeal at all beyond the fact that she’s hot. There’s a way I imagine her in my head where she’s this really cool character built on what we’ve seen, but I don’t think that’s how she really is. Currently, her armor is the most interesting thing about her, and I always find it funny that one of her legendaries is literally just her Armor lmao.
Two characters that would work well in their own plots, but have little to no place in the main one.
Lmao being fair, it wasn’t an essay this time, you just replied to a one-off comment about previous threads on the forum. I only mentioned Genji specifically that one time. Rest of it was about the direction of the story in-general.
And I usually only comment on unjust complaints against him. I know it doesn’t actually matter, but still.
^ you said “to each your own.” that’s the ticket… maybe some people just think the heroes chosen to be the “main ones” are… boring?? for reasons entirely based on opinions…
to me it feels like “okay, i’ll tolerate seeing all this tracer-winston stuff if it means I’m one metre closer to seeing stuff for heroes i care more about” with each lore dump lol
I mean that’s fine, naturally none one of us can deny each other our opinions of the characters.
I personally disagree that he’s one of the most dull characters, but agree that it’s better that he currently isn’t part of the new overwatch
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I mean I recognize that’s anecdotal, but it’s not exactly a ringing endorsement of how well Blizzard has done in keeping players engaged with the story.
They are, except that Lucio actually has a backstory and motivations outside of Overwatch. Tracer’s backstory is that she was part of the RAF before joining OW, but we know nothing about her time there outside of her being a prodigy and it doesn’t seem to influence her actions in anyway post joining Overwatch. Her story, like Winston, centers around Overwatch. She does what’s The Right Thing To Do TM in general.
Lucio’s backstory is more fleshed out and specific than just Doing The Right Thing TM. He grew up in a poor neighborhood in Brazil and calls himself a freedom fighter because he fights for his community. He’s in conflict with Vishkar and in that way with Symmetra. Also, the things he fights against in general (gentrification, exploitation of the poor, greedy corporations, etc.) are actually relevant to real world conflicts and add a layer to Overwatch’s story beyond “robots vs humans.”
Baptiste is literally the more interesting version of Mercy. They both were orphaned because of the war, became medics, and joined paramilitary organizations that they afterwards left because the organizations’ activities conflicted with their morals. The difference is that Baptiste actually has a personality outside of being a doctor and was given a well written short story.
Same as I said above about Tracer, she has no motivations outside of being part of Overwatch. The one time she showed any independent motivation was when she tried to stop Widow from killing Mondatta, and even then that was just because it was the Right Thing To Do TM at the moment. Zarya hates omnics because of what they did to her country, that automatically makes her a more dynamic character to have in an organization that strives for peace but also has omnics in it. She definitely wouldn’t be one of the first people to join OW but down the line it could be one of the most interesting additions. Also, she literally has a particle canon that can launch gravity bombs? How is that not something that can be cool af to see used in cinematics?
You realize this could easily be said about Genji right? He has his relationship with Hanzo and whatever is happening with the Shimada clan in general to deal with. Out of the four we’ve been talking about, Genji makes the least sense story wise to be back in Overwatch already, if we use the criteria of number of side plots. Under that logic, Hammond, Junkrat, and Roadhog should be the main characters driving the plot along with Winston and Tracer because they have nothing else going on aside from being chaotic.
Also, Sombra is arguably the character most connected to the main plot of the game given that she’s working to uncover whatever big conspiracy is actually behind all these events and is in contact with people from different factions. Double/triple agent Sombra would actually be a super cool story line to follow closely, but it’s prob too interesting for Blizzard to do.