Do you think Overwatch's story will actually matter?

[happyninja42]

So, I don't play Overwatch, probably won't. I love me some TF2, but lately I'm just not in the mood to play that style of game. But holy fuckballs do I lub me those cinematic trailers for it.

But, from what I've seen of the actual game, they basically don't matter...like at all. There isn't any Overwatch vs The Badguy Characters theme to the matches, and you can in fact have characters who would normally hate each other, playing on the same team. Which basically just makes the story stuff...window dressing.

Which I find kind of sad, because I would LOVE to play a game where I'm part of this crazy ecclectic team of heroes, who have reformed to try and save the world from utter chaos and destruction! I would buy that shit in truckloads! ....but that's not Overwatch.

So, do you think that the plot of the game is going to matter at all, other than just for marketing/advertising purposes? And if they do actually incorporate it into the game, how do you think they would do it? Some kind of vs AI thing like Mann Co vs Machine from TF2? An actual single player thing? Should they even bother? Or should we just watch the pretty videos and then just go shoot each other in the face?

 

[Foolery]

Nope. It's a multiplayer class-based fps. So about as much as Team Fortress 2's story. It is nice when a bit of story flavour is there, though.

Edit: Left 4 Dead also did light story pretty well, enough to have a decent tie-in comic. But those games were set up like you were fighting through a zombie flick, complete with movie posters in the loading screen.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

So, do you think that the plot of the game is going to matter at all, other than just for marketing/advertising purposes?

If they ever decided to spin it off or expand it into other properties it'll matter. Blizzard loves them some evergreen IPs, so I would say a genre cross over at some juncture is quite possible.

For the time being, it's entirely for marketing purposes. Given how much cosplay and fan art has already sprung up, and how much praise they've gotten in various circles for their colorful characterizations, I'd say they hit a marketing home run.

 

[Bilious Green_v1legacy]

Yes. Merchandising around Overwatch's story will make millions of dollars for Activision-Blizzard, so it matters very much. As for the actual game? Not at all.

 

[meiam]

For now, no, not at all. The game is completely devoid of it and its basic mechanic ensure that it makes no sense (character fighting clone of themselves, alongside more clone of themselves, possibly on the same team as there arch-nemesis fighting against there ally and such).

I'd expect that if the popularity stays strong they'll start thinking about some form of media tie in, the game has very strong art style so a TV series could work very well. But then again these things are hard to make happen, league of legend has been trying for a long time to make lore matters so they can do spin off and stuff like that but it never took off.

Merchandising is selling well, but its entirely based on visual aspect, nobody care about the character bio.

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

So about as much as Team Fortress 2's story.

Basically this.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

What Overwatch has isn't "story" so much as "footnotes". And they don't matter to the game in itself.

 

[Casual Shinji]

I like how they say "story doesn't matter" yet every single character clearly has a story behind, even if it was just told by their appearance and voicelines.

Story always matters, even when you don't see it.

Sure, but the story doesn't seem to matter for the actual gameplay at all. Not that it absolutely needs to, but considering the crazy amount of character and world building Blizzard has put into the marketing it's weird how almost none of it makes it into the game itself. You can get all the story from youtube and not feel like you've missed anything by skipping out on the game.

If it had a more story focused, singleplayer mode I'd be all over this thing. Now it's like getting teased with the prospect of a grand, fun, cartoony, action adventure filled with a host of unique, colourful characters... and then finding out it was all for the sake of releasing a series of yoyos.

 

[Fhqwhgod]

There is a ton of story but none of it is really in the game. It is indeed on the level that TF2 started on. Sure the characters had to get their "personality" from somewhere but it doesn't matter.

 

[Disco Biscuit]

Not really, and since it isn't in the game, it really only seems to exist for the people who like to head-canon their waifus.

 

[ObsidianJones_v1legacy]

Edit: Left 4 Dead also did light story pretty well, enough to have a decent tie-in comic. But those games were set up like you were fighting through a zombie flick, complete with movie posters in the loading screen.

I'm glad you brought this up, because I thought about that as well. L4D is easily one of my favorite games ever. Even if I'm so tired of the zombie trope. But the issue is that it isn't important how the world fell down as it is how Louis, Francis, Zoey, and Bill handle it. What we're seeing now is their story. how they are surviving, adapting, trying to keep their sanity as for as well as they know, the entire remnants of the Human Race alive just by their own survival. If they don't go down, it's not only their lives that are lost. Tangibly, the human race's chances are lessen with each human death. That has a palpable weight when you consider it, and how they still cling to their jokes and attempts at good humor.

I like how they say "story doesn't matter" yet every single character clearly has a story behind, even if it was just told by their appearance and voicelines.

Story always matters, even when you don't see it.

And that's why I side with Wyvern on this. What we're playing is the aftermath of our Heroes becoming heroes. Or, to keep with the L4D mindset, It's like seeing the survivors run at each other with sticks and beating each other about the head after they made it to the island. Why? What is the purpose of that? Why are you fighting? You are the survivors. You made it through. You conquered an unthinkable obstacle.

I love these characters. I honestly haven't loved characters this well in years. I would like to feel how they became heroes. We get the few snippets of the characters they want to tell. I want to know about Mercy. I want Lucio story so bad, I can taste it.

But to be fair, I'm a big Lore person. I never really cared about playing FnaF, but the Lore keeps me going and trying to figure it out. There are people who play Dark souls simply to learn more about the world. We have enough Warhammer fantasy and 40k fans here that we can probably make a podcast just recounting and arguing about it. Lore is important to a good number of people. Does it affect the gameplay... Yes. A lot for some. Because when you connect with a character, you want to spend more time with the character.

... sidenote, just thinking about it while I typed out that Warhammer thing. How many of you would actually sit down and watch a Game of Thrones type show about Warhammer 40k? Or Fantasy?

 

[Glongpre]

If they ever decided to spin it off or expand it into other properties it'll matter. Blizzard loves them some evergreen IPs, so I would say a genre cross over at some juncture is quite possible.

My bet is on a Genji hack n'slash. Or a Winston Tetris-type game for mobile, or in that vein, a Tracer infinite runner.

OT: Nah, it won't matter. They probably did a storyboard in development to get the personalities, but other than that I don't think they will create a campaign that tells a story.
They might make a side comic or just keep making shorts, if the demand is there.

 

[stringtheory]

How many of you would actually sit down and watch a Game of Thrones type show about Warhammer 40k? Or Fantasy?

Take all my money! You know what would be even better though? A Tarantino movie about the Inquisition. Though probably the only medium that could properly capture the shear scale of the setting or the horrors of the warp would be a high budget anime (Think Akira or some other older sci-fi ones).

 

[Luminous_Umbra]

Nope. It's a multiplayer class-based fps. So about as much as Team Fortress 2's story. It is nice when a bit of story flavour is there, though.

Actually, I think you're correct in this, but you seem to be slightly mistaken. TF2's story did matter in that it influenced content updates.

And that's how I think the story of Overwatch will affect it: Further content will be influenced by it.

 

[Sonicron]

How many of you would actually sit down and watch a Game of Thrones type show about Warhammer 40k? Or Fantasy?

Take all my money! You know what would be even better though? A Tarantino movie about the Inquisition. Though probably the only medium that could properly capture the shear scale of the setting or the horrors of the warp would be a high budget anime (Think Akira or some other older sci-fi ones).

Wonderful. Have my money as well while we're at it.
(It'll never happen, but a nerd can dream...)

On Topic:
There's a little bit of story flavour in the game. Sometimes you'll hear characters talking to each other, referencing some past events involving both of them and/or each other's character traits (e.g. Tracer expressing admiration for Zenyatta's philosophy and condolences for the loss of that omnic saint shot by Widowmaker in that one animated short). It's just a few seconds of fluff, and you do need the background info to get the most out of it, but it's a nice touch nonetheless.

 

[CritialGaming]

Overwatch is very clearly the shattered remains of what was supposed to be a huge MMO. So there is a lot of lore and backstory that they built into a game world that doesn't exist and they are trying very hard to salvage the writing work that they put into it.

But ultimately, no, the story doesn't matter. I would imagine they are using the lore that they had created for the MMO to build as much hype for Overwatch as they can, and eventually it will all fall off and mean nothing. Unless they create single player campaigns for the game years down the road or something.

Right now, the story is just window dressing and is utterly meaningless because it serves no purpose and provide no motivation within the game.

 

[Frankster]

*Shrugs* At this point, no not really, whatever narrative and story Overwatch has is as disconnected from the actual gameplay, or the game itself, as it's possible to get. Only the tutorial has a hint of story in it, but to this day I still have no idea why Overwatch being reassembled is a good thing when all I do in matches is kill other Overwatch characters. Am I a goodie? A baddie? Unless I look up a comic online I can only ever guess.

I've seen people here gush over how much lore there is in Overwatch through online comics and promos, but I consider that part of marketing, not the main game itself. Compare it to Battleborn which did have its story in game, and where the characters story is part of the gameplay, then it's hard to understand why anyone can praise Overwatch for its story, none of it is in game, it's all through marketing. When you're gushing about Overwatchs story, really what you're saying is "wow what an amazingly well funded marketing department blizzard has!".

For people comparing it to Tf2... I see it as exact same thing, to find out the story in Tf2 you had to go outside the game and look things up online. Fuck that, if you can't give me the story in the actual game, then it doesn't matter as far as I'm concerned.

Maybe one this this will change, but for now the most story you can get is exchanges between the characters themselves at the start of the game.

 

[Paradine]

Right now, the story is just window dressing and is utterly meaningless because it serves no purpose and provide no motivation within the game.

I disagree, I think it feels like Street Fighter II back when I was at school in the early 90's, all my friends would talk about our favorite characters to fight with but also their back storys. Ryu And Ken were hop topic on the school playground back in the day (stupid Steven Grimes and his Guile fanboyism)!
I feel Overwatch has the same kind of thing going on, the lore isnt really pushing the games forward (although there are nice moments when the toons interact with each other)but it compleats the package in a way.

 

[MeatMachine]

Story always matters, even when you don't see it.

Except for all of the games where story doesn't matter at all, and serves as a half-hearted excuse to do awesome things with the mechanics.

You know, like DOOM? The story is there, and is even enjoyable for some people to delve into, but most of the positive reviews admire the fact that the story is placed wholly in the optional backseat to the action for those who are interested; there are more than a few games where narrative is an obstacle to fun.