I’m not angry, I am just done. Ive waited for 4 years and we get stuff about new heroes before the rest of the cast, it comes out so little and so random, the things that HAVE come out this year were, in my opinion, so poor I’d rather had them NOT release any lore than the timeline-mess-up of Storm Rising and the stuff about Baptiste which, im sorry to say, was very hard to read with its formatting/font/sentence structure (I love Alyssa Wong so i dont understand it what went wrong…) Bastet was great but everything else was awful, and although that much is subjective, let me just say that I can no longer stand the way the DRIP and TEASE content to us. They never follow through or pick up cliffhangers. Its all just to mess with our heads it feels at this point. I loved the story of overwatch but honestly? Im giving up on them. This feels like an abusive relationship honestly. Like, youre just waiting for things to get better but they never do. the worst part is, i suppose you could say they “drip” because they dot want to run out but this is CHARACTER DRIVEN NARRATIVE, which means it can be expanded upon nearly infinitely!! and they have SO many interesting characters!! When they release stuff its like a pile of last minute garbage. It reeks of lack-of-proofreading and collaboration. The community makes far better stories than the team, because they CARE MORE about the characters than the actual staff does.
To me, the story is over. It will never be expanded upon, it will never progress. I am giving up all hope for any story, especially a GOOD one. In my opinion, its now up to us, the community, to interpret the gaping holes for ourselves and what happens next. But i dont think we are going to be getting anything, especially anything we want. that is all.
I’m still holding out hopes for Blizzcon - supposedly they’re announcing something big and story based. So I’m still optimistic - but then again, I barely entered this fandom like a year and a half ago so I’m not burnt out from waiting yet lol
It might be my Xbox starting to malfunction and preventing me from playing Overwatch regularly, it might be the slow pace of lore, it might be the controversies about Blizzard as a company that are beginning to make me doubt them, but I’m not feeling as tied to the story as I once did.
Overwatch has tapped some emotional beats very well in the past. Lena’s speech to Commander Morrison before the Uprising was touching and foundational to her character. Winston’s reminiscence of his childhood with Harold on the moon, it’s still one of the most breathtaking, awe-inspiring and emotionally packed moments of modern cinema- not just gaming, but the cinematic experience of 2016 was MADE by Overwatch’s early animated shorts. Genji’s fight with Hanzo and the subsequent realization was communicated elegantly. The aurora scene above the tower for Mei. There were so many great, wonderful stories and images being told.
I think Bastet or Shooting Star was where things finally started to lose their charm. The former was almost purposeless in adding to the lore, and could have handled the reveal of an LGBTQ relationship far better. The latter was sparse in terms of emotion and utilized characters that were entirely unknown to us in a context where their familiarity is the key driver of the story. Not only that, D.va taking a day off because she got injured is not a good way of communicating that she’s actually grown from this experience, that she’s learned to rely on her friends. They could have resolved this so much better.
Baptiste had a good thread going, with his Origin Story and What You Left Behind being visually stunning and modest yet exceptional, respectively. But I think the Sigma reveal and all else progressing since has detracted from his thread even approaching resolution. Sigma doesn’t add all that much- he’s interesting, but his character design and his story are so esoteric and odd that you can’t tell if they were striving for intimidating and erratic, or simply existential and nihilistic (not to mention the implications of self-harm given with the barefoot quote).
I think Overwatch is approaching the point where it may be better viewed in hindsight- as a wonderful experiment of a game that brought us quality animation, character design, lore and gameplay, and a benchmark for future creators to work off of. Blizzard has a habit of proving me wrong, so I am vaguely hopeful that the lore will pick up soon- but even if that’s not the case, I think I’m still very with the current Overwatch; despite being debatably approaching its time, it’s undoubtedly a cultural touchstone for the gaming industry, and indeed, media as a whole.
Storm Rising didn’t cause any problems or complications for timelining. The latest thing that caused problems in that field was probably Ashe’s release suggesting that the Deadlock Gang gained its notoriety in such a short window of time before Reyes came in and shut them down.
i mean all these pessimistic ideas about the game are what are making this game feel like it’s trash.
they’re still releasing new heroes, maps, skins, they just recently restructured the whole game with role queue!!
just bc it is not the content YOU want, does not mean there isn’t content…this forum is filled with doom sayers when the game itself is still alive and fun even with its problems (which ALL games have stuff to complain about especially multiplayers)
It is at least worth noting that this is now the longest we have gone without a new map. We kinda skipped the Gamescom/September release. Hopefully they have one at Blizzcon.
well yeah but look at all the other stuff we’ve gotten! I mean in general, there’s been so much stuff added, people act like there’s nothing just bc they don’t enjoy the content, which i am enjoying the halloween skins very much myself…threads like these are the ones that make me sad
well, i guess not this thread itself but the reply earlier saying overwatch is basically at its end
Honestly… this Blizzard’s business, minimal effort max. profits.
What we’ve got: Lore given… only when needed
(e.g. hero releases, Q3-Q4 cinematics).
Skimping out any meaningful progression.
What we’re promised (back in 2016): Deep/rich lore–JK
It’s not bad releasing lore when needed, so not to overstress the artist/storyboard departement like a manga production,
but whoo boy Blizzard with their Billions makes very slow/dry content = which is causing people to view it as unacceptable.
I mean when you’re doing a worst job than E.A. (Apex Legends) and letting Riot Games come after your market (10th Anniversary projects: Card game, Anime, FPS OW competitor, mobile LoL)…
(EA stepping up animation)
(Riot announces Arcane: Leauge Anime(-ated) Series)
I don’t want to be pessimistic but ya’ll killing yourselves Blizzard. I know there’s a saying every year… Blizzconn will make it or break it,
but Blizzconn 2019 better step it up with whatever Overwatch 2 is…
Lore does not bring in a direct revenue. The upcoming Orisa novel should mitigate that. Likewise, I imagine that whatever they are announcing at Blizzcon this year is a way to monetize story development.
I can almost promise you that she’s used to a professional editor who goes over all those minor mistakes and let’s get know so she can correct the final draft. Someone who can catch formatting, any odd phrasing, etc. Even the best novel writers, while you leave the trade over time, mess up here and there which is what we saw.
She’s a good writer, but there’s mistakes like that because it wasn’t run down by a grammar editor. There’s just too many for there’s to have been one and just a missed mistake…
Well… as I posted/replied to you on another Story discussion thread…
IMHO keeping things fresh = less OW player-base dwindling = more sustainable income generated.
4 years we’ve been in Overwatch, and the only golden year was the first (2016). Every other year contents are recycled (4 yearly events/no new game mode, even 2019s archives (enemies) are recycled); and the good stuff are very2 few/concentrated on Q3-Q4 of the year (cinematics).
With Acti-Blizzard shooting itself on the foot for the past 2 years (e.g. focusing on Mobile/neglecting PC player base, the Hong Kong incident);
And the fact we’ve been clinging to HOPE (they release something) every OW Blizzconn since 2017, and mostly dissapointed
I’m not really optimistic for Blizzconn 2019 (they say something Big like OW2 is coming, but devs have overhyped things that are mediocore).
Well that’s why I posted Anime(-ated), from the trailer it looks like 3D western animation… but Riot Games could pull off an anthology like Netflix’s Love, Death, and Robots in 2020 for each of the character focused episodes.
Honestly they’re doing what Blizzard should’ve been, what we’ve thought Overwatch universe would be/grow like.
And it (casual Lore/animation) would payoff.
Riot makes around 1.4 Billion/year from LoL they could achieve an animated series no problem, that’s Avengers level budget & beyond every year.
Idk, of about Acti-Blizzard OW so far from SuperData in 2019 Overwatch total in-game sales is around 1 Billion (so an average off $250 mil./year); they could do it, but choose not to.
There is a chance we’re overestimating the interest people have for OW lore. I honestly cannot tell how strongly people feel about it. How many people would watch an animated series? Would it be profitable enough to warrant producing more? Where would it air? Online? Netflix?
Remember, Overwatch is a fairly new franchise. Making an animated series based on Warcraft or StarCraft would make more sense. They already made a Warcraft movie.
I actually thought What You Left Behind was well written - Bastet was the one with weird sentence structures and some moments where it sounded fan-fic-y lol
I suggested a movie not long ago. I said it should be made with the same voice cast using the tech used in the shorts. I think the Story of Reaper would be the best place to start.
Bastet read suspiciously like a script for a comic. With descriptions of objects, settings and clothes. I suspect that’s what it might have been at one point.
Michael has written for several comics before, but doesn’t have much experience writing prose. You can see the difference when you compare it to Alyssa’s story.
