New Overwatch Theatrical Trailer

[Aeshi]

Given how WC3 (along with literally every other Blizzard game ever made) took both its character models and the entire story of their games and changed them just enough that they actually lowered the bar for how little needs to be changed to not be sued, and the fact DOTA 2's characters look about as similar to WC3's then WC3's look to generic DnD ones, the comparison seems to fall flat, especially when one remembers the fact that Blizzard's original ideas bin is about as deep as a dried up kiddie pool.

You know what? Challenge accepted!

Spoiler: Entry 1: Ogre Mage

D&D:

Warcraft:

DOTA2:

Spoiler: Entry 2: Dryad

D&D:

Warcraft:

DOTA2:

Spoiler: Entry 3: Water Elemental

D&D:

Warcraft:

DOTA2:

And this is just the species stuff. I didn't even bother doing more character specific stuff, like comparing DOTA2's Alchemist-who-is-a-little-goblin-fellow-riding-a-giant-brute to Warcraft's Alchemist-who-is-a-little-goblin-fellow-riding-a-giant-brute for instance. I'll keep going tomorrow if you want.

 

[Xeorm]

I still have no idea why people are fighting in Overwatch. Makes it kind of hard to enjoy the cinematics they release when I don't know the basics of the conflict.

 

[shintakie10]

I still have no idea why people are fighting in Overwatch. Makes it kind of hard to enjoy the cinematics they release when I don't know the basics of the conflict.

Most of them are mercenaries now, like Reaper and Widowmaker. Some of them are still trying to fight the good fight, like Tracer and Winston. Others are trying to get to the bottom of what/who killed Overwatch in the first place (Soldier 76).

If you watched any of the Overwatch videos you'd know a good bit of this. There's a ton of world building goin on in them.

 

[Xeorm]

Most of them are mercenaries now, like Reaper and Widowmaker. Some of them are still trying to fight the good fight, like Tracer and Winston. Others are trying to get to the bottom of what/who killed Overwatch in the first place (Soldier 76).

If you watched any of the Overwatch videos you'd know a good bit of this. There's a ton of world building goin on in them.

So far, I've watched a few. Most notably, nowhere is there anything saying "This is why we fight" in this video here. Especially not what has them fight in some big brawl as they do ingame.

 

[shintakie10]

Most of them are mercenaries now, like Reaper and Widowmaker. Some of them are still trying to fight the good fight, like Tracer and Winston. Others are trying to get to the bottom of what/who killed Overwatch in the first place (Soldier 76).

If you watched any of the Overwatch videos you'd know a good bit of this. There's a ton of world building goin on in them.

So far, I've watched a few. Most notably, nowhere is there anything saying "This is why we fight" in this video here. Especially not what has them fight in some big brawl as they do ingame.

They're mercenaries or fighting against mercenaries, or if they're Junkrat they're just causing mayhem. Its not going to be perfect due to the way that the mechanics of the game work, but if you're askin for somethin that specific you're not goin to get an answer.

The way you're phrasin the question you want to know why you're in a team with X characters fighting Y characters while also wanting to know why X character would also be fighting their doppelganger on the other team, or multiple doppelgangers on the other team.

It'd be like asking about the story of ToR based off the pvp matches. That very specific thing isn't meant to make sense, it just exists inside the overall story.

 

[Xeorm]

They're mercenaries or fighting against mercenaries, or if they're Junkrat they're just causing mayhem. Its not going to be perfect due to the way that the mechanics of the game work, but if you're askin for somethin that specific you're not goin to get an answer.

The way you're phrasin the question you want to know why you're in a team with X characters fighting Y characters while also wanting to know why X character would also be fighting their doppelganger on the other team, or multiple doppelgangers on the other team.

It'd be like asking about the story of ToR based off the pvp matches. That very specific thing isn't meant to make sense, it just exists inside the overall story.

Oh, ok. That makes sense. I'm used to games spinning stories about what the characters do while you're playing, not about what the characters do when you're not playing. My mistake.

 

[Red Panda]

All this lore wasted on an FPS, if only Blizzard hadn't sold out to activision we might have gotten a ground breaking new mmo instead of 2 minute cutscenes. I don't want to go read wiki's to find out why my characters are fighting, I want it in the game I am playing. But we can't have lore in game in fps's :/

 

[WhiteTigerShiro]

Don't forget about the announced graphic novel that'll act as the back story to the game's setting.

Is there anything they're doing that isn't being taken from Valve's playbook?

I guess I didn't know that Valve created graphic novels.

 

[RJ 17]

I still have no idea why people are fighting in Overwatch. Makes it kind of hard to enjoy the cinematics they release when I don't know the basics of the conflict.

Most of them are mercenaries now, like Reaper and Widowmaker. Some of them are still trying to fight the good fight, like Tracer and Winston. Others are trying to get to the bottom of what/who killed Overwatch in the first place (Soldier 76).

If you watched any of the Overwatch videos you'd know a good bit of this. There's a ton of world building goin on in them.

Annnnnnnd it all means fuck all in the game itself considering you'll have teams of enemies fighting alongside each other. Or, for that matter, faithful comrades pitted against each other. Or, for that other matter, a person pitted against their "evil clone."

.......or there could just be a team comprised of six of the same character.

Such is the way of MOBA's, though: when the game starts the story doesn't mean anything at all. A shooter MOBA will be no different.

OT:

I got a kick out of this comment from the youtube page for this video:

We are blizzard fans. We are patient. We are non-streamers. We are Onlywatch.

 

[Lightknight]

Strange to see all this storytelling in a game without a storymode. Shame.

I still have no idea why people are fighting in Overwatch. Makes it kind of hard to enjoy the cinematics they release when I don't know the basics of the conflict.

Probably just "training" between global conflicts and whatnot. Pretty simple excuse companies make in this kind of scenario.

Or, as was stated here, perhaps the video was from their glory days and now things have changed.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

Ah I miss the days when Blizzard used to be "darker"

Diablo 1 Intro cinematic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w44SmMFy5Dc

Starcraft 1 Amerigo Cinematic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqqEh-rWy_s

Diablo 2 intro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRXP5td0ZrA

Warcraft 3 Arthas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr7A19TPN_k

Now everything has to look either cartoony and pixar looking and colorful.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

Ah I miss the days when Blizzard used to be "darker"

Diablo 1 Intro cinematic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w44SmMFy5Dc

Starcraft 1 Amerigo Cinematic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqqEh-rWy_s

Diablo 2 intro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRXP5td0ZrA

Warcraft 3 Arthas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr7A19TPN_k

Now everything has to look either cartoony and pixar looking and colorful.

Really? Because you seem to mean that you miss the days when Blizzard made nothing but Diablo, Starcraft, and Warcraft. For the record, here's some cinematics from those series:

Spoiler: The last two Warcraft cinematics. Gritty, gritty cartoons.

Spoiler: Diablo, reminiscent that time Pixar went through their watch-a-man-age-until-death phase.

Spoiler: Starcraft? More like A Bug's Life.

An entirely new property unrelated to the above three came out and has a different, more cartoony style to it, but that doesn't somehow remove the existence of everything else they've made recently.

Does not help when Blizzard demeans the iconography of the old games. (Looks at Candy costume Muradin Bronzbeard in Heroes of the Storm) This Overwatch game just does not feel like a Blizzard game to me.

Now:

1. World of Warcraft is the one thing I like best about their current cinematics. I did not mind Mist of Pandaria because it was not all "Kung Fu Panda" silly.

2. Starcraft 2 is reletively consistant with the old games in terms of looks. The only thing I did not like is how they changed the look of the Zerg. I feel they made them a bit cartoony and way to spiky.

3. You know unlike alot of people I really did not mind Diablo 3 from a Story Perspective and gameplay. I had fun with the campaign and was engaged with the plot. I just thought Diablo himself looked silly.

 

[Qizx]

Don't forget about the announced graphic novel that'll act as the back story to the game's setting.

Is there anything they're doing that isn't being taken from Valve's playbook?

I really don't see how people can Claim Blizzard is ripping of VALVE... I mean come on, this is Valve who literally stole a WC3 mod and are making a shit ton of money off of it. Fair disclaimer: I LOVE(d) Blizzard and I LOVE Valve, so I do like both a lot. In this case though Valve is definitely the light fingered fellow, Blizzard hasn't lifted their stuff from other people.

OT: Really not excited for OverWatch at all, doesn't seem like it will be worth a full game price for just PvP. That and not getting into the Beta I sure as hell won't drop that kinda dough on something I might hate.

 

[Zontar]

I really don't see how people can Claim Blizzard is ripping of VALVE... I mean come on, this is Valve who literally stole a WC3 mod and are making a shit ton of money off of it.

Is it really stealing when they purchased it fairly? I mean that's like saying Disney stole Star Wars.

And I'm not saying Overwatch is a copy of TF2, I'm simply stating the fact the formula for advertising it is a copy of that used for TF2. Which, unless someone can point to an FPS from before 2007 that used YouTube videos to present the characters and free online Graphic Novels to give people lore of the setting, is a simple statement of fact.

Blizzard hasn't lifted their stuff from other people

Starcraft is literally Warhammer 40k with a new coat of paint. I think that counts as 'lifting'.

 

[Qizx]

I really don't see how people can Claim Blizzard is ripping of VALVE... I mean come on, this is Valve who literally stole a WC3 mod and are making a shit ton of money off of it.

Is it really stealing when they purchased it fairly? I mean that's like saying Disney stole Star Wars.

And I'm not saying Overwatch is a copy of TF2, I'm simply stating the fact the formula for advertising it is a copy of that used for TF2. Which, unless someone can point to an FPS from before 2007 that used YouTube videos to present the characters and free online Graphic Novels to give people lore of the setting, is a simple statement of fact.

Blizzard hasn't lifted their stuff from other people

Starcraft is literally Warhammer 40k with a new coat of paint. I think that counts as 'lifting'.

OK I might have been heavy handed with the stealing comment, but they literally used the EXACT products from WC3. And the whole ideas from them.

Also comparing StarCraft to WH40k is completely disingenuous. I've played both games quite a bit and the only thing they have in common for the most part are Space Marines fucking shit up. And the Space Marines in SC are a far cry from WH40K. The games also play totally differently, the lore is pretty damn different, there are similarities but I'm thinking back to the South Park episode of "Simpsons did it." Everything will bear some similarities to something else, but you can't call the SC to WH40K nearly as similar as the DotA to WC similarity.

As to the second portion.... This guy already answered that:

None of which is exclusive to either game. Strife, League of Legends, Smite, Dawngate, and Infinite Crisis all use(d) the same tactic, despite the lack of story within the game itself. Even when a story does exist within the main game, the same tactic can be used (e.g. WildStar - cartoony aesthetics, use of graphic novels and videos for world, characters, etc.) There's also the fact that not a single TF2 video has ever engaged in worldbuilding or utilized sequential narrative in relation to each other, whereas both Overwatch cinematics so far have (the original cinematic utilizes characterization, worldbuilding, and 3 act structure, whereas the one in this thread builds off narrative threads and gives closure to them (e.g. Gibraltar).

And bear in mind this is Valve, the masters of appropriating mods as their own, with TF2 being the prime example. Half-Life is the exception rather than the rule here.

Obviously there are similarities between the two, but Valve hardly has a monopoly on the above concepts. Same reason why Battleborn and Paladins shouldn't be called Overwatch copies even if Overwatch beat them to the limelight.

 

[Zontar]

Snip

Blizzard isn't the ones who came up with DOTA, they, like Valve for Counter Strike and TF1, bought a mod from people who had created a fun little game using their own game's engine with modified mechanics.

As for what Hawki said, I already replied to him that those other games also used the TF2 formula. While Valve doesn't have a monopoly on the concept, it would be a lie to state those other games didn't copy the TF2 model due to the fact it has worked fairly well for TF2. I think Infinite Crisis is the only real exception to that given its place in the DC multiverse.

 

[shintakie10]

Snip

Blizzard isn't the ones who came up with DOTA, they, like Valve for Counter Strike and TF1, bought a mod from people who had created a fun little game using their own game's engine with modified mechanics.

As for what Hawki said, I already replied to him that those other games also used the TF2 formula. While Valve doesn't have a monopoly on the concept, it would be a lie to state those other games didn't copy the TF2 model due to the fact it has worked fairly well for TF2. I think Infinite Crisis is the only real exception to that given its place in the DC multiverse.

Blizzard didn't buy a mod from anyone.

The original Dota was made in WC3 using WC3 assets. Blizzard had no involvement with it whatsoever outside of providing the tools for people to play the game (and not getting shitty with tournaments and the like). When it came time for them to make the original Heroes of the Storm (back when it was called Blizzard All-Stars, or Blizzard DotA) they had an in staff team make a map using the current Starcraft 2 editor. This evolved into them using a heavily modified WoW engine for the current version of Heroes.