Cataclysm cinematic now available
by Allison Robert 
Oct 17th 2010 at 4:58PM
The Cataclysm cinematic has just become available, and -- words fail me -- it's amazing. Some folks behind the scene here think it's Blizzard's best yet, but personally, I think it's a dead heat between this and the Wrath of the Lich King cinematic.
Interestingly, there are no NPCs or characters of any kind visible in the cinematic apart from Deathwing himself (apart from a quick glimpse of what are probably a few goblin or human-looking armorers). You do see some extraordinary landscapes rendered in high-definition glory for the first time -- The Barrens, Thousand Needles, Darkshore and Stormwind -- and perhaps it's meant as a reminder that the aspect of death was once the aspect of earth and that he hasn't relinquished his power over the latter.
Sorry, gnomes; looks like you're still waiting for a cinematic debut!
Interestingly, there are no NPCs or characters of any kind visible in the cinematic apart from Deathwing himself (apart from a quick glimpse of what are probably a few goblin or human-looking armorers). You do see some extraordinary landscapes rendered in high-definition glory for the first time -- The Barrens, Thousand Needles, Darkshore and Stormwind -- and perhaps it's meant as a reminder that the aspect of death was once the aspect of earth and that he hasn't relinquished his power over the latter.
Sorry, gnomes; looks like you're still waiting for a cinematic debut!
Filed under: News items, Cataclysm
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 18)
David Oct 17th 2010 5:00PM
It needed to show more, in my opinion. Excellent, but far too short.
Knob Oct 17th 2010 5:20PM
Yeah, I'd have preferred more of his antics after he broke through. Gotta love the ending in SW though. :D
Brandon Tilley Oct 17th 2010 5:29PM
Indeed! This explains why the towers are smoldering in the in-game model.
prenden2 Oct 17th 2010 5:30PM
I completely agree; I really want to know what happens after he torches Stormwind. Does he just fly off screaming "The big dragon am winning again. I am the greetest! Muhahaha! Now I am leaving Stormwind for no apparent raisin."
Points for spotting the reference!
Kemikalkadet Oct 17th 2010 5:35PM
@Prenden2
Futurama - The Day the Earth Stood Stupid.
Megumatron Oct 17th 2010 5:36PM
yay for futurama brainspawn!!
jdogg795 Oct 17th 2010 5:41PM
@prenden2
Only when your cognitive faculties return...
Superstone Oct 17th 2010 5:41PM
Futurama reference: +10 points?
Shadow Oct 17th 2010 5:43PM
Tbh I don't think this is a case of the cinematic being too short, but rather of it being so freaking awesome that we want more :P
Joker Oct 17th 2010 5:55PM
Now what's Blizz have for Blizzcon?
We now know everything about Cata unless they decide to come out with an extra cinematic about Worgen and Goblins.
Starcraft II is done till the next one.
Diablo III comes out in 2011 so I'm sure something nice will be there.
Unnamed MMO may get named.
Tri Oct 17th 2010 5:57PM
@ Brandon Tilley
.. And why that statue has been knocked over xD
Qot Oct 17th 2010 5:58PM
Too short? Maybe a little, but you want the cinematic to entice and set up, but not tell the whole story.
The original WoW cinematic was a good mix of exposition and eye candy, telling players who they were and what they were going to be doing. The TBC one had a bit less exposition, but it set up the expansion well. The Wrath cinematic was fantastic eyecandy, but, if you hadn't played Warcraft III, you may not have realized that Arthas was the bad guy until over two minutes in when "obviously evil dragon" made its appearance. The whole juxtaposition of noble lineage (his father's speech) and corrupted existence (raising Sindragosa) could easily be missed by casual or unfamiliar players, blunting its effectiveness for those audiences.
This one sets up the story in "even my mother could tell who the bad guy was" visuals, offers some great eyecandy (including a few scenes stole from the 2012 trailer) and ended with a stunning visual for those who play the game: Deathwing perched on the towers in SW, literally knocking over the statues of the heroes and metaphorically undoing all their efforts to keep Azeroth safe.
I'd say that it's the superior cinematic in terms of quality of animation and superior as a cinematic for general audiences relative to Wrath; however, Wrath was the better animation for the lore nerds and Warcraft aficionados.
ScorchHellfire Oct 17th 2010 7:47PM
@Qot
Well they could have shown a bit more of the Azeroth destruction...
I was personally hoping to see him effing up the Badlands, but oh well. I really love seeing some of the different locations of Azeroth in full cinematic glory and yeah I also feel it was a bit short. =[
This cinematic was definitely awesome, but I think I like the WotLK one better... Maybe it's because I'm a huge Arthas fan, but I also liked how it spoke a bit more to the story line instead of just showing destruction.
I think I would trade in this cinematic for one just of a long expositional sequence of Deathwing breaking out of Deepholm and coming out of the Maelstrom personally...
Also, sucks for gnomes. Sorry guys maybe next time we can get gnomes, worgen and goblins in action... but I'm not sure that Blizzard is planning on ever going back to that style of cinematic.
Seeing these things really makes you wish they would make more cinematics though... if nothing else but to show off our beloved Warcraft universe in a more realistic and detailed version...
Vodkamartini Oct 17th 2010 9:42PM
"CARTEL NEWS NET - News for sale!"
BREAKING NEWS
Valley of Heroes Allegedly Attacked by Very Large Flying Lizard
STORMWIND - Residents of Stormwind today were woken up this morning to fires, earthquakes and the sound of a voice screaming "Pain! Agony!" Tuesday.
When guards and citizens rallied to the scene of the activity, all they could find were smashed up statues and the front towers on fire.
"At first, I heard this voice shout, ' My hatred burns! The world heaves with my torment!' and I thought it was just another Alliance bloke having a fit for losing an arena battle as usual," said Elling Trias, who works at the Cheese Shop. "Then I come out and see the carnage, somebody broke one of the statues. I did the smart thing and ran back to the shop, but all the stuff we had on display turned to nacho cheese sauce."
The sound panicked auctioneers in the Auction House. "I heard a bang, boom and some tough-guy voice, I thought some bloody Horde bloke was riding through on their motorcycle again to gank us, and I threw myself to the stage curtains to hide. I don't need another PTSD episode," Auctioneer Chilton said.
Nellis Roswell, a Stormwind peasant who was making her way to pray at the Cathedral of Light this morning, said she saw a ball of fire in the sky and the flapping of wings.
"By the Light, it was a dragon, I tell you! A big, black, steely-covered thing with frayed wings and vicious teeth. I bloody thought it was going to crash down on the church -- the end times were here and that'd be the ends of me," Roswell said.
Stormwind's intelligence bureau, SI-7, said there is no reason to believe it was a dragon attack, and dismissed claims that it may be related to the "Onyxia incident." in which conspiracy buffs claim a black dragon caused carnage in Stormwind's throne room while King Varian Wrynn was away on adventure, or from local mercenaries recently bringing the heads of female black dragons to the city gates.
"We have no reason to believe today's incident was caused by a VLFL - a Very Large Flying Lizard. It was most likely a crashed weather balloon from Goblin sources, which collided with the towers, or exploding swamp gas, which can appear as a fireball in the sky and give those on the ground temporary hallucinations," a SI-7 spokesman said.
Wrynn's office declined to comment until further information is collected. "There is absolutely no reason to panic. Our government has everything under control," an official in the King's office said.
Roswell scoffed at the officials' claims. "Oh Tauren turds! I knows what I saw, a dragon, not some flaming swamp fart or Gobby zepplin or whatever gobbly-good they're trying to pass it as," she said.
Trias however, dismissed the claim of it being a dragon.
"Probably a weather balloon, yeah, that sounds right," Trias said as a courier gave him a package with a slip of paper and some money in it. "Besides, what kind of mighty beast would be that stupid to raise hell at the gates and then fly off for no reason? It seems a bloody waste of effort to perch up there, howl like a demon about being the greatest and break a statue if that's the case -- I've seen drunk Hordies do more damage in town."
TODAY'S TOP STORIES
GNOMES ASK FOR MORE ROLES IN FILM INDUSTRY
Mekkatorque: "We're being shortchanged!"
ORGRIMMAR GETTING NO RESPONSE FROM BARRENS GUARD TOWERS
Hellscream: "Lazy gluttons probably got the itis."
IRONFORGE HIT BY MAJOR POWER OUTAGE
M. Bronzebeard: "I'll tell the boys at the dam to increase the power."
AUBERDINE PIER SLASHED IN HALF
Staghelm: "Eh, the thing was too damn long anyway."
ADVERTISEMENT - TAKE A BREAK FROM IT ALL - VISIT SOUTHSHORE TODAY!
Jorges Oct 17th 2010 9:50PM
Too short, but it does the work of keeping us all hyped and wanting to see more... or in Blizzard's words: Working as Intended.
I wish that Deathwing's size in raid is as big as in the movie... he was just standing on top of BOTH towers in SW... he's HUGE. I just hope Blizz don't do like they did with Arthas: every time you turn around he has a different size O.o
brian Oct 17th 2010 10:12PM
Excellent is a definite fact. But too short? That's what the expansion's for, silly!
Angrycelt Oct 17th 2010 10:53PM
Just a recap of the cinematics from my perspective.
Original cinematic: Set the basic scene of characters, zones, and just a wee bit of tension. (understating quite a bit there) This made me want to play.
BC: More violence, bigger violence, a hint of the humor (sheeping) and our first big BIG bad guy to look forward to taking down. This made me want to roll a goat-legged paladin.
LK: Love letter to the WC RTS gamers. Don't get me wrong, it was awesome, but it spoke to folks who already played. This made me go back and play WC3 again in anticipation of the expansion.
Cata: Every dragon you've killed has been a purring kitten compared to this guy. Undead? Demons? Pansies. You are doomed. This made me afraid of what that final fight's gonna look like.
Blizz -- forget the live action movie - just have your people animate one. You guys consistently do in 2-3 minutes what some films can't do in 2-3 hours. Make me want more.
The Linker Oct 17th 2010 11:21PM
Speaking as someone who has a taste of how hard and difficult a process 3D animation is, holy crap this was a lot. That they animated not one, not two, not even three, but FOUR scenes which featured incredibly-difficult-to-animate WATER to show the destruction was amazing. That couldn't have been easy.
Nat Oct 18th 2010 6:16AM
I found it too fast-paced. I had hoped for something a litle more calmbeforethestorm-ish.
@vodkamartini: You, Sir, are full of Win!
Jez Oct 18th 2010 6:50AM
Now over 9000 times better:
http://tubedubber.com/#Wq4Y7ztznKc:MK6TXMsvgQg:0:100:49:0:true