Oh hey, new Overwatch short.

[Zhukov]

So... as someone who was a bit disappointed by the first Overwatch short, this one was downright delightful. Dialogue is utter cheese, but damn, that animation. The rooftop chase sequence is gorgeous.

As is often the case with pre-rendered trailers, this makes me wish Widowmaker was actually that mobile in gameplay, rather than being a mostly stationary head-clicker who can fire a grappling hook once every twelve seconds.

Oh, and I like that they actually made an episode in which their poster child character is bested. That might seem like an odd thing to fixate on, but it's actually rather rare. Usually in promotional material you'd just see the main characters beating on mooks with any encounters between them being inconclusive.

I'm a little behind on my Overwatch lore. Can you explain it to me from the bottom up? Why did Tracer butt in on the assassination attempt? Is she fighting some kind of rear guard action?

Uhh, I don't think there's a specific reason for her to be there. Maybe she just wanted to hear the robot monk guy's speech?

There was some mention of an ongoing rivalry between her and...

...

Son of a *****.

 

[Maphysto]

Okay, the animation was great, but christ that dialogue was clunky as all hell. I mean, they even pulled out the old "slo-mo closeup of someone screaming 'NOOOO'" chestnut.

It's honestly looking like of the two, Battleborn will have the better story. Overwatch is looking like it's gonna be stuck up its own ass trying to be dramatic.

 

[Zhukov]

Spoiler: How dare you say such terrible about my OverWatchfu. Just look at how sad you made her.

What the hell is that Life is Strange character doing there?!

A week earlier she saved her robot boyfriend from being shot which set in motion a chain of utterly unexplained events that somehow led to the assassination, a connection that she has only just realised by a vague leap of logic. Hence why she's so upset.

Actually, fun detail I just noticed. She's the same person who shows up in this trailer [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBIwGKDwnWY] at 00:12 aiding an omnic.

Eh, I personally am tired of the "Hot, scantily clad female killer, who gets a sexual pleasure from killing people." trope. So I didn't find it all that impressive.

Whoops. Here we go.

It's not actually suggested that she gets off on killing people. Merely that it makes her feel alive. Which she generally doesn't on account of being brainwashed and... de-emotioned or something.

As for her design, I actually don't mind it. Granted, it's not what I'd come up with if someone asked me to design a sexy female sharpshooter assassin but apparently I'm a puritan. (I'd go for something a bit more inconspicuous since, y'know, assassin. Think a female Agent 47.) However it's got that whole nifty spider theme going on, with the grappling line and the eight-eyed goggles.

 

[Scarim Coral]

That was like the coolest short film i've seen in awhile, and the fighting / chase was thrilling for sure
I can't get over Tracer's voice though ... sounds like a high school girl trying to disguise her British accent or something lmao.

Also those butt shots. I'm sorry but the makers behind Overwatch freaken designed those 'cheeks' to stand out whether you're trying to ignore it or embrace it. But seriously the animation was really awesome and I would love to see more short films like this.

I used to Trazer voice by now. Widowmaker on the other hand, I'm not digging the French (?) accent.

Also, were we watching the same short? Well ok I notice one scene they were somewhat trying hard to cover her cheeks from sight.

OT- It was a cool short but I prefer the first one in terms of world building and story.

I guessing this was a preclude cos of Trazer chest thingy being damaged (which lead to her not able to removed it without killing her) and the whole human/ robot conflict. Also while I don't want to sterotype but that pacifist leader is pretty much Zanyatta. I was going to mention on why he's in the game killing the enemy when he was supposely killed (I thought he was repair) until I look him up on Overwatch wiki.

 

[go-10]

Tracer sounds awesome and her movement is bad ass, I love how spunky she is about everything.
Widowmaker on the other hand... her design is okay and everything else is nice but that accent... it just sounds like the whitest person trying to do a forced French/Russian? accent ever :S

the short was pretty cool but it needs more Gorilla with glasses

 

[Redryhno]

Spoiler: How dare you say such terrible about my OverWatchfu. Just look at how sad you made her.

What the hell is that Life is Strange character doing there?!

Ah, thanks for telling me why I dislike her so much...

Actually, fun detail I just noticed. She's the same person who shows up in this trailer [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBIwGKDwnWY] at 00:12 aiding an omnic.

Not the same bot though. Eyes give it away. But exactly how do those relationships work anyways? We talking machine-sexual gear-head types only going for them or what? Or just weirdly close roomates?

They're from the same monastery. I don't know what the little lights on their face are for exactly but the one in the video as a 3x3 set just like Zenyatta.

Pretty sure they're just designed that way. Also Zenyatta's more like the wandering Buddha, the guy that was assassinated more like a Buddist Pope(I'd say Dalai Lama, but it doesn't seem to fit exactly beyond flavour and scenery).

 

[happyninja42]

Eh, I personally am tired of the "Hot, scantily clad female killer, who gets a sexual pleasure from killing people." trope. So I didn't find it all that impressive.

Whoops. Here we go.

It's not actually suggested that she gets off on killing people. Merely that it makes her feel alive. Which she generally doesn't on account of being brainwashed and... de-emotioned or something.

As for her design, I actually don't mind it. Granted, it's not what I'd come up with if someone asked me to design a sexy female sharpshooter assassin but apparently I'm a puritan. (I'd go for something a bit more inconspicuous since, y'know, assassin. Think a female Agent 47.) However it's got that whole nifty spider theme going on, with the grappling line and the eight-eyed goggles.

I don't mind her physical design. Scantily clad hotty in a tightsuit with a big gun, it's pretty typical for gaming to do so. I don't really care if a character is sexualized. What I do care is that her reason for killing, is so cliche. I mean, when she's directly asked about it. She just does that "ooh, I'm such an evil vixen" laugh, and then says "It makes me feel alive." It's a rush thing, and pretty much every time this character is presented, it's conveyed as a sexual thing. Or at the very least, that's how they react to it, expressing body language like they are getting off on it. It's pretty much the only trope they use when they have a professional killer female in movies/tv/games. I've lost count of the number of Female Lancer characters to a Big Bad Guy, who fit this bill. People like it, fine, knock yourself out enjoying it. I find it fairly dull, and would like to see some reason aside from "it gives me a rush/thrill/orgasm" for why a woman is a killer.

I didn't see it as sexual satisfcation, more like general accomplishment satisfaction, but fair enough, I can see that.

True, they might not stick in sexual innuendos and double entendres in her kill comments in game, I suppose that's possible. But I seriously doubt it. They've hit all the other tropes for that archetype. Tight bodysuit, stunning looks, sultry voice, speaks all the time as if she's trying to seduce you. Besides, they show us a Black Widow when she's talking about the spider story. And BW's are infamous for sex/killing, so I think it's more than fair to say they are blurring the line between her lust for the kill, and just general lust. Which again, is nothing new, this is hardly the first time this trope has been used, but then, that's my issue. I'm just...tired of seeing this one.

 

[Dragonbums]

Not the same bot though. Eyes give it away. But exactly how do those relationships work anyways? We talking machine-sexual gear-head types only going for them or what? Or just weirdly close roomates?

One of today's articles on the escapist seems to give the answer to that <.<

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/167100-Humans-Get-Weirdly-Aroused-When-They-Touch-Certain-Areas-on-Robots

The title link in the URL is all I needed to see. Not in the mood right now to read something and come to grips with the fact that humans are also robosexuals.

 

[Redryhno]

Well if you take a gander at Zenyatta's backstory the speaker in the video sounds like it fits the description of the ones from Zenyatta's monastery.

I didn't say they weren't from the same place...just that they serve different purposes. In fact I think it's been semi-confirmed that Mondatta was the bot that got shot.

 

[Erttheking]

Snip

I'm not crazy about Widowmaker, but according to her backstory she was kidnapped and brainwashed.

This makes her sexualization kind of freaking creepy to be frank.

 

[rcs619]

Okay, first off, can we keep the butt debate out of this? I'm sure there are a great many important things to be said on that subject, but there are least five other active threads in which to say them. We don't need to make this a sixth.

So... as someone who was a bit disappointed by the first Overwatch short, this one was downright delightful. Dialogue is utter cheese, but damn, that animation. The rooftop chase sequence is gorgeous.

As is often the case with pre-rendered trailers, this makes me wish Widowmaker was actually that mobile in gameplay, rather than being a mostly stationary head-clicker who can fire a grappling hook once every twelve seconds.

Oh, and I like that they actually made an episode in which their poster child character is bested. That might seem like an odd thing to fixate on, but it's actually rather rare. Usually in promotional material you'd just see the main characters beating on mooks with any encounters between them being inconclusive.

So am I the only one here who thinks that Talon might actually be the goodguys?

I mean, what do we really know about the Omnics? They're intelligent robots who led an uprising against humanity, and they lost. Now all of a sudden they want to be buddy-buddy? I don't know if I buy that. Is it really a coincidence that they just suddenly started spreading around this religion of theirs? Or designed the machines that would most interact with humanity to be as non-threatening as possible?

I think not! This is clearly some sort of long-game, machine-logic ruse to try to make the most out of their current position of weakness. Don't listen to those wannabe monks. Reject their Iris! Or else we'll all wind up plugged into machines, acting as living batteries as we calculate the 1934239749201927475920th digit of pi!

Seriously though, I thought it was quite a good little short, and I find myself enjoying Overwatch's media much more than I ever would the game itself. These sorts of characters and this sort of potential for lore is so horribly wasted on an arena FPS. Here's hoping they make some more open tie-in games, or at least a TV/web-series, or movie or something.

Also, I'm curious about Tracer's journey now. My understanding is that Overwatch was formed as a counter to the Omnic Crisis. So, she joined up and was trained to fight Omnics. Now the war's over, Overwatch is disbanded, and she's actually trying to save the life of an Omnic spiritual leader. I really want to know how she's changed and what has brought her to this point.

 

[Zhukov]

Oh, and I like that they actually made an episode in which their poster child character is bested. That might seem like an odd thing to fixate on, but it's actually rather rare. Usually in promotional material you'd just see the main characters beating on mooks with any encounters between them being inconclusive.

To be fair, Widow is just as much their poster child as tracer (and winston)

No, she really, really isn't [http://www.gamingcypher.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Overwatch-Box-Art-Gaming-Cypher.jpg].

Also, I'm curious about Tracer's journey now. My understanding is that Overwatch was formed as a counter to the Omnic Crisis. So, she joined up and was trained to fight Omnics. Now the war's over, Overwatch is disbanded, and she's actually trying to save an Omnic spiritual leader. I really want to know how she's changed and what has brought her to this point.

Well, in the first short it showed that old Overwatch actually had several Omnic operatives, so they clearly weren't all trying to do the Skynet thing.

Plus the spiritual leader in question was advocating peace which Tracer, being one of the good guys, is presumably a fan of.

 

[rcs619]

Also, I'm curious about Tracer's journey now. My understanding is that Overwatch was formed as a counter to the Omnic Crisis. So, she joined up and was trained to fight Omnics. Now the war's over, Overwatch is disbanded, and she's actually trying to save the life of an Omnic spiritual leader. I really want to know how she's changed and what has brought her to this point.

According to Zarya's bio the Omnic Crisis takes places three decades before the present. Tracer may not have even been alive during it.

When Tracer does her rewind ability, does it just place her back where she was, or does it literally rewind her? If the latter, she may be older than one might suppose, even if not physiologically.

That assumes she can even age at all, given her condition. Isn't she sort of disconnected from our timeline, and only able to hold a physical form because of that gizmo Winston made for her?

Did they ever say how long she was trapped out of sync with our time before Winston even found her and figured out how to help?

There's a lot of neat potential for Tracer as a character if they really go for it, I think.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

My understanding is that Widowmaker's lowered body temperature wasn't part of the effort to make her emotionless- the brainwashing did that- but is instead a side-effect from a lowered heartrate to make her a better sniper (less bloodflow means less involuntary movement of the hands?).

Then again, we're talking about a game with a hovering robot monk. Roll wit' it.

 

[Bilious Green_v1legacy]

It's a nicely done clip, but I don't feel like we really learned much about Widowmaker from it. I was hoping it might cover some of her backstory from her bio, as that makes her some thing of a tragic figure, which would be more interesting than "generic sulty femme fatale". Still it had a bit more world building in it (more info on the Omnic crisis), and hopefully it leads in to Tracer as the next one (and probably Reaper as the last?). Blizz still suck at writing dialogue though; it sounds awkward even with top voice actors doing it.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Wait, which "first one" animation are we talking about? The one we saw at E3, with the museum and two brothers, or something else?

You guys are talking about a baby Winston and I can't recall anything like that, or a short with Reaper's goons.

 

[Bilious Green_v1legacy]

Wait, which "first one" animation are we talking about? The one we saw at E3, with the museum and two brothers, or something else?

You guys are talking about a baby Winston and I can't recall anything like that, or a short with Reaper's goons.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=I3WhdXPaUd8

 

[bliebblob]

I'm curious where they'll take it from here, having exhausted their obvious villains. My money is on a junkrat/roadhog comedy skit, the tale of genji and hanzo, or soldier 76 having a monologue while doing his lone wolf thing. Place your bets folks!

 

[Zhukov]

I'm curious where they'll take it from here, having exhausted their obvious villains. My money is on a junkrat/roadhog comedy skit, the tale of genji and hanzo, or soldier 76 having a monologue while doing his lone wolf thing. Place your bets folks!

I would bet actual money that they make a Hanzo Vs Genji one.

Mostly because I've already seen some early storyboards for it.

 

[B-Cell_v1legacy]

So overwatch in general is animu girly FPS. great!!