Poll: Does Blizzard write good plots?

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

I enjoy the lore of some of their stuff. I don't think highly of Starcraft but I'm not going with a binary choice here either. I've read better stories, I've also read worse. Most of Blizz's material is average, some of its great, some of it is bland. But I've enjoyed most of the Warcraft stuff personally. I wouldn't put Blizz's writing chops up next to say Tolkein or Timothy Zahn, but likewise I'd say their stuff is much better than L. Ron Hubbard's works. So its not a binary choice at all.

 

[LordLundar]

Blizzard.

Good plots.

Yeah, sorry but no. They don't have a unique idea over the span of their three most narrative heavy game series, the central characters could be the identifiers for the Mary Sue archetype, they have a terrible track record of writing themselves into inescapable corners and when the writing in the (very rare) moments that doesn't suffer from the prior situations I've mentioned is just plain bland. And that doesn't even get into their absolute incapability to write in a parallel story structure which is something that their games require.

Really the only reason to be engrossed in their stories is to see if they'll finally end it in a coherent manner.

 

[Bocaj2000]

To me, old Blizzard was great! Diablo I and Diablo II had outstanding stories about corruption and inevitability with demonic overtones. Their RTSs weren't bad either and, I'd argue, were on par with the lore of the Games Workshop franchises at the time. I also thought that their three legacy games (Blackthorne, Lost Vikings, and Rock n' Roll Racing) had good story for what they were. But something happened once WoW came out.

New Blizzard has forgone its old ways of dark and brutal interactive fiction in exchange for the grand and epic. Diablo III was average at best and filled no more than a power fantasy. Demons was simply an object to kill instead of providing any kind of theme or atmosphere. WoW became easier and easier with less focus on being a soldier in the war and more focus on getting epics. Starcraft fell into a similar hole as Diablo with too much focus on cinematic events and less on interactive storytelling.

So... old Blizzard is okay in my book, but new Blizzard is disappointing crap. Now excuse me while I play some HotS

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

I think their plots actually tend to be serviceable to above average. However there is a big difference between plot and writing, and their writing lately has been pretty bad. Overall writing is much more important to the story. 9 times out of 10 I would take a well written work with a crappy and clenched plot, over the best plot in the world with poor writing.

Excellent point. I suppose they make decent universes/lore, but they never really do anything with it. Same problem the Elder Scroll series has, with hundreds of fully written books and apparently the expectation you're going to read multiple novels of lore and background before going off to kill a werewolf in a keep.

 

[Eddie the head]

I don't recall ever paying attention to it. I remember chuckling at a bit of there dialogue every now and then, but for the most part it's below my notice, and I'm not a fucking scholar. I only know the basics of the plot, and story in all there games. And I guess what exactly they're ripping off.

 

[Fdzzaigl]

They do alright. But what they do best is conveying an experience and even a storyline perfectly through the gameplay only. I really got into the story of Tassadar or Thrall, even though that story wasn't so ground-breaking by itself.

Gameplay is their forte; heck, they even briefly got me into a frekking card game. Something which has proven impossible for other companies.

 

[babinro]

Nope.

I've read how many people seem to LOVE the plot of Diablo 2 and actually defend it as a major plus when compared to Diablo 3. I've always been of the opinion that Diablo 2 was a campy horror experience that's overly serious and as a result funny. Kind of like Evil Dead 2 or Army of Darkness. I never finished those games feeling any real attachment to characters or the events beyond seeing some extremely cool cut scenes.

I did get HEAVILY invested in the Warcraft 3's Human and Undead campaigns though. The Orcs kept my interest at times and the Night Elves put me to sleep. Frozen Throne did nothing for me at all in terms of memorable story.

Starcraft has plenty of great moments particularly with the original non-expansion. The expansion and SC2 have failed to capture that level of interest in terms of story. In fact, SC2's Zerg campaign completely killed the feeling of mystery and awe in the Zerg and actively hurt their existence in the world as a whole. Effectively making it far worse than forgettable as far as I'm concerned.

I would call Blizzard 'average' storytellers when it comes to gaming (a medium with below average storytelling already). They provide an acceptable job for the medium but a poor job relative to tv, books or even movies.

 

[Cowabungaa]

I'd say they did some fun stuff with Warcraft/WoW's plotlines, though they alternate it with complete rubbish too. Looking at you Warlords of Draenor. They really averted some tropes, especially with how they positioned the orcs against the humans. I liked the whole political turmoil in WoW's Cataclysm and Mists of Pandaria (outside of Pandaria stuff itself, that was kinda forgettable) as well.

Other games I didn't really play of them. Diablo 2 never hooked and Starcraft didn't really either, though I can recall Starcraft having an above-average plot for an RTS.

Whether they're good though, well, I'd say they're average in general, which translates to "quite good" in videogame land.

 

[Wiggum Esquilax]

If we're limiting ourselves to in-game plot, then no. It's never been great.

OTOH Diablo I was made when reading the instruction manual was expected, so said manual containing more story than game mechanics was a pleasant surprise. Between the in-game NPCs, the tomes written and spoken by Lazarus, and the manual text, I'd say the story was pretty good. Not great, but pretty good.

 

[SidheKnight]

Warcraft and Warcraft 2 barely had a plot; mostly just mission objectives and little connecting tissue. I suppose Warcraft 3 had a plot, but it wasn't very good. Or, more accurately, it was very contrived and was obviously the set up for World of Warcraft. I mean Arthas going evil and what's her face becoming a banshee was obviously a set up for WoW villains/NPCs. We didn't know it back on '02, but its pretty obvious now. Everything had to go status-quo with distinct and geographically separate factions and it was all vanilla and bland.

*frothing from mouth* warcraft 3 plot is AMAZING, how can you not see heretic!?

Arthas's conviction to save his kingdom from the scourge/demons using any means necessary, causes him to be its downfall in the very way he sought out in the beginning to stop. (scourge)
Evil is also a matter of perspective, Ner'zhul's (lich kings) plot to break free from demons control using Arthas is better for Azeroth in the long run. (As Arthas attempts to slow Ner'zhul's ambitions when they combine together)

Warcraft 3 was made before WoW was even an idea, WoW's first concept design was done in Wc3's engine showing Blizzard did not plan for WoW in advance of Wc3.
Here's a screenshot (http://www.xp4t.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/WOW-WC3-mod.jpg)

Also Wc1 and Wc2 do have plots, just they are done in text format before each mission is entered and are usually skipped.

Last but not least the Forsaken, they were only added to WoW because some designers wanted to make an undead set of doodads (models) for Lordaeron.
https://twitter.com/gopherstick/status/607597598468243456/photo/1
The lore wasn't neat or status-quo esque as Thrall was a war monger-er in WC3(like most orcs), he was not green jesus as WoW has turned him into.

There's story, you just missed it.

Agreed.

Though, to be fair, the plots of Warcraft 1 and 2 were very generic fantasy standard.

But Warcraft 3 and it's expansion were quite revolutionary. The Orcs being actually good guys, that's not something you saw every day back then.

 

[Neverhoodian]

Given how I played WoW for over a year yet never figured out what the fuck was going on, I'd say no.

Everything about the lore came across as a jumbled mess. There were intriguing elements to be sure, but they were buried so thoroughly under a sea of backstory and exposition that I couldn't make heads or tails of how it was connected. The extreme tonal shifts between high fantasy, sci-fi and borderline parody certainly didn't help matters either.

 

[zumbledum]

*frothing from mouth* warcraft 3 plot is AMAZING, how can you not see heretic!?

Arthas's conviction to save his kingdom from the scourge/demons using any means necessary, causes him to be its downfall in the very way he sought out in the beginning to stop. (scourge)

yeah but blizzard didnt write it, Tolkien did.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

I think their plots actually tend to be serviceable to above average. However there is a big difference between plot and writing, and their writing lately has been pretty bad. Overall writing is much more important to the story. 9 times out of 10 I would take a well written work with a crappy and clenched plot, over the best plot in the world with poor writing.

this is the exact point I wanted to make. overall, the plots have the potential with depth and a decent narrative to them, but the crappy writing makes it so stinkin forgettable, they're lucky they have good gameplay/skinner box mechanics to keep players enticed.

 

[Eddie the head]

Agreed.

Though, to be fair, the plots of Warcraft 1 and 2 were very generic fantasy standard.

But Warcraft 3 and it's expansion were quite revolutionary. The Orcs being actually good guys, that's not something you saw every day back then.

Well there was a reason orcs where never the "good guys" in most story's. They where made to be the dark reflections of elves. That's why they existed, it served a thematic purpose. Now orcs are fantasy race number 368.

 

[Terminate421]

My favorite plot was Wrath of the Lich King.

All of it.

And the worgen timeline...

So yes, I think they can make good plots.

 

[Godzillarich(aka tf2godz)]

They do have their moments for example this is by far one of my favorite cutscene in recent years


they managed to make me feel sorry for a genocidal monster, that's really hard to do but most the time I feel like they just goes "Fuck it! phone it in"

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

blizzard makes games with adequate plots, and amazing gameplay with great lore.

That's probably the best way to put it. Starcraft has a lot going for it lore wise, but the games are always about the same 10 unlikable characters and their stupid redundant and/or backtracking choices.
Likewise Warcraft and Diablo. The potential outweighs the practical story elements every time.
What a waste, honestly.

 

[ffs-dontcare]

I said it before and I'll say it again: Blizzard has squandered a LOT of potential with the storyline in Warlords of Draenor. It's gotten to the point where I'm just REALLY aggravated with their lack of willingness to do anything other than the corniest of one-liners, and I really think that they're deliberately holding themselves back. There is simply no way anyone, no matter how much of an amateur they are as a writer, can be this incompetent.

For example, Thrall and AU Orgrim could've met or even gotten a glimpse of each other, and AU Orgrim could've at least been puzzled as to why Thrall was wearing pieces of his own armor and wielding his own weapon. But the writers can't take advantage of this now, because they've already killed him off.

Surprisingly, AU Grom did find out that Garrosh was his son so I'll give Blizzard that one. But I still think that AU Durotan and AU Draka won't even find out that Thrall is their son. And judging by the cutscene at the end of the Hellfire Citadel raid, it looks like Yrel's just going to be discarded or become completely irrelevant. AU Velen sacrificed his life to save her's, so it'd be pretty cool if Yrel met Velen from our timeline. But I doubt any sanctioned writer is going to pick up on that or any other interesting situations that have resulted from this expansion. So far, they've treated it like some incredibly bland invasion story.

They do so well with lore, and I enjoy reading the books. But in the actual games... oh boy. The writers need some help. I'm not expecting miracles, I just want them to stop holding back and deliver more in the way of story that is at least half-decent.

They do have their moments for example this is by far one of my favorite cutscene in recent years

Spoiler: video of Garrosh Hellscream's death

they managed to make me feel sorry for a genocidal monster, that's really hard to do but most the time I feel like they just goes "Fuck it! phone it in"

It's funny, because when I saw this same cutscene, I agreed with some of what Garrosh said here despite him being a horrible Warchief and yet Blizzard just had Thrall react in the same self-righteous manner I've come to expect. I didn't see any hint of Thrall realizing that Garrosh had a point, it just looked like Thrall was thinking, "nope Garrosh, this is 100% your fault and I bear zero responsibility for what happened."

 

[The Madman]

They're fun but cheesy stories with excellent presentation, that's all there is to it. Blizzard aren't trying to write the next Planescape: Torment or, if you wanna get fancy, Shakespeare. Instead they're quite obviously more heavily inspired by comic books and cartoons. Not the Neil Gaiman or Watchmen style comics either, but the corny ones involving time travel and evil twins.

And that's perfectly fine.

For what it's worth I've had a blast with the Starcraft series so far, from the original to the new ones. They're not particularly original or deep but I'll be damned if they don't make for a fun cheesy soap opera. Combine that with some of the best cinematic in the business along with some amazing soundtracks and it's just an all-round entertaining experience. The videogame equivalent of a popcorn flick.