Posts with tag narrative

I've long had a complicated relationship with the story of Warcraft. Once, I was enamored by the world they've created -- I was one of the earlier contributors to Know Your Lore, eager to share my love of the franchise's narrative. I'm no longer so enamored. I don't hate it, but neither do I love it. I'm not angry, I'm disappointed. Yes, I often disagree with the narrative choices Blizzard has made with their story, but moreso I come to realize World of Warcraft is burdened by itself in respect to its narrative. Story and game mechanics are in constant conflict, and when you're looking at a game like WoW and a company like Blizzard (with their focus on tight gameplay), story will lose that battle every time. Blizzard has mentioned more than once that orcs versus humans is the core element of Warcraft. Whenever the narrative tries to move back to the roots of the franchise, that's where it goes. And that's the problem.

The war between the Alliance and the Horde can never end. Worse, it can never progress -- and the characters involved in that war story cannot progress unless removed from it. Mists of Pandaria made this more obvious than it has ever been before.

Boneheaded heroes

For the sake of parity, let's look at both Jaina Proudmoore and Thrall. These two characters have had a history together since Warcraft III. Not a romantic history as some like to claim, but a history. They were allies. Both of them held out hope for peace between the Horde and the Alliance for years. Both of them made sacrifices in the hopes of accomplishing it, Jaina moreso than any other, allowing the Horde to kill her orc-slaying father. They were both powerful, influential people in their respective factions. The events of Warcraft III made us believe they might achieve that peace. World of Warcraft showed us otherwise.

Redshift: Pursuit, by Slashdance, is a direct sequal to the piece "Redshift: Ty'zamar and Aislynn," and pretty much cements Redshift as an episodic series. A "diviner" has a foreseen the death of a Night Elf, and the conflict ensues from there. We brought you the trailer for this piece back in October, and are happy to be able to see the final product.

I was impressed with "Redshift: Pursuit", mostly for story and narrative purposes. I felt like the causal action from scene to scene was fairly meaningful, though the opening sequence was a little slow for my tastes. (It's probably just my personal preferences, but I like openings to get banging to action right away.)

Of course, the shout out to the Amani trolls really brings the story "home" to Azeroth, for me. Inclusiveness with the game's lore helps us identify characters and motivations, and provides a more solid base for the action to take place. I will definitely be interested to see what Redshift brings us next.

If you have any suggestions for WoW Moviewatch, you can mail them to us at machinima AT wowinsider DOT com.

Previously on Moviewatch ...