5 ms·

Blizzard's initial offerings were surprisingly dark and mature - both diablo, warcraft I&II and starcraft. Only starcraft's tone has not been degraded much so f

Blizzard's initial offerings were surprisingly dark and mature - both diablo, warcraft I&II and starcraft. Only starcraft's tone has not been degraded much so far (although the writing is weaker). I guess legacy of the void concludes a chapter of the company history. They are a e-sports company now. Their three latest games are gameplay driven with barely any story at all. Overwatch, HoTS and HS. Diablo III got a pass on its writing only because of the RMAH that was taking all the ire. I am not sure why the writing declined so much beginning with warcraft III - probably the gameplay requirements prevented the (extremely talented) team of giving their best. There is still great writing in Blizzard's games - but their last character I cared about was Thorim in Storm Peaks (pre model change - while he was a huge varkul). The writing in the ICC and Cataclysm main storyline was quite meh. It just felt like the writers have written some amazing storyline then got their leashes pulled and told to simplify and make absolutely understandable for a lot younger audience.

cryoshon 11y ago
Yeah, Blizzard had a gothic tone in a lot of their early games. Unfortunately, they've replaced it with cartoony stuff for the most part. Writing wise they've fallen a long way, but it doesn't matter. Blizzard's primary success since their early games (pre-WoW) is understanding and abusing the psychology of addiction and creating videogames around that concept. They make ultra-streamlined (sometimes to the point of being nearly featureless) and ultra-polished games which are usually super easy to approach but tough to master. The writing is generally cartoony/poor, but the moneymaking potential of each game is very large. They still produce some winners, if you can get over the above.
- tgb 11y ago
  Warcraft 2 was arguably their most cartoony pc game. Maybe excepting heartstone. Writing probably peaked around Warcraft 3 but was pretty simple pre-Starcraft. So I don't see nearly as much doom and gloom about the state of blizzard as you do. Except the music. The twangs of diablo 1, the perky tunes of Warcraft 2, the terran theme of sc1...!
  - venomsnake 11y ago
    It was simple, but now is bad. As a dutiful orc in the army I only needed for the warchief to tell me where to hit hard. Same with Diablo - the rudimentary story was simple and got the job just fine. Also warcraft 2 had ships. Their lack from III was a crime. With WCIII they tried to make an epic story - and it was just meh at best. Pitching so hard Orc Jes .. I mean Thrall created such damage that the whole Horde feeling is suffering to this day. I enlisted Horde to play Kharn and instead got Roboute Guilliman
- conceit 11y ago
  > Yeah, Blizzard had a gothic tone in a lot of their early games Not just Blizzard, compare the Doom and Quake series, that lost this appeal
thesteamboat 11y ago
To some extent I think that the writing became weaker as the story became more explicit. In Starcraft, you were a character as well --- people advised you and argued with you. Ultimately, although you take orders you were free to interpret the characters and events on your own. In contrast, Starcraft 2 has you play as established characters. From the promotional material[0]: > You are Jim Raynor, a marshal-turned-rebel on a vigilante crusade to bring down the Dominion and its nefarious leader, Arcturus Mengsk. Haunted by betrayal and remorse, some believe you may have given up the fight. This writing task is much harder --- they need you to have a matching experience with the character they are portraying and yet still force you into what their predetermined plot points are. Consider the case of Raynor rescuing Kerrigan at the end of Starcraft 2, after swearing eternal vengeance against her in Brood War. If the player were another participant in the world it might be reasonable to watch Raynor evolve to that position. However, because I as the player explicitly am Raynor and his choices are mine, Blizzard needed to convince me that saving Kerrigan made sense --- which they did not even come close to doing. A similar thing happened in the shift from Warcraft II to Warcraft III --- you went from being a character/commander on your own to explicitly controlling another hero. [0]: http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/games/sc2/ http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/games/sc2/
robwilliams 11y ago
They're planning to release a graphic novel, web comic series, and animated shorts to support Overwatch. Metzen announced it at BlizzCon just a couple days ago, so I think a lot of the writing talent has moved to Overwatch.

cryoshon 11y ago

Yeah, Blizzard had a gothic tone in a lot of their early games. Unfortunately, they've replaced it with cartoony stuff for the most part. Writing wise they've fallen a long way, but it doesn't matter. Blizzard's primary success since their early games (pre-WoW) is understanding and abusing the psychology of addiction and creating videogames around that concept. They make ultra-streamlined (sometimes to the point of being nearly featureless) and ultra-polished games which are usually super easy to approach but tough to master. The writing is generally cartoony/poor, but the moneymaking potential of each game is very large. They still produce some winners, if you can get over the above.

tgb 11y ago
Warcraft 2 was arguably their most cartoony pc game. Maybe excepting heartstone. Writing probably peaked around Warcraft 3 but was pretty simple pre-Starcraft. So I don't see nearly as much doom and gloom about the state of blizzard as you do. Except the music. The twangs of diablo 1, the perky tunes of Warcraft 2, the terran theme of sc1...!
- venomsnake 11y ago
  It was simple, but now is bad. As a dutiful orc in the army I only needed for the warchief to tell me where to hit hard. Same with Diablo - the rudimentary story was simple and got the job just fine. Also warcraft 2 had ships. Their lack from III was a crime. With WCIII they tried to make an epic story - and it was just meh at best. Pitching so hard Orc Jes .. I mean Thrall created such damage that the whole Horde feeling is suffering to this day. I enlisted Horde to play Kharn and instead got Roboute Guilliman
conceit 11y ago
> Yeah, Blizzard had a gothic tone in a lot of their early games Not just Blizzard, compare the Doom and Quake series, that lost this appeal

thesteamboat 11y ago

To some extent I think that the writing became weaker as the story became more explicit. In Starcraft, you were a character as well --- people advised you and argued with you. Ultimately, although you take orders you were free to interpret the characters and events on your own. In contrast, Starcraft 2 has you play as established characters. From the promotional material[0]: > You are Jim Raynor, a marshal-turned-rebel on a vigilante crusade to bring down the Dominion and its nefarious leader, Arcturus Mengsk. Haunted by betrayal and remorse, some believe you may have given up the fight. This writing task is much harder --- they need you to have a matching experience with the character they are portraying and yet still force you into what their predetermined plot points are. Consider the case of Raynor rescuing Kerrigan at the end of Starcraft 2, after swearing eternal vengeance against her in Brood War. If the player were another participant in the world it might be reasonable to watch Raynor evolve to that position. However, because I as the player explicitly am Raynor and his choices are mine, Blizzard needed to convince me that saving Kerrigan made sense --- which they did not even come close to doing. A similar thing happened in the shift from Warcraft II to Warcraft III --- you went from being a character/commander on your own to explicitly controlling another hero. [0]: http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/games/sc2/ http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/games/sc2/

robwilliams 11y ago

They're planning to release a graphic novel, web comic series, and animated shorts to support Overwatch. Metzen announced it at BlizzCon just a couple days ago, so I think a lot of the writing talent has moved to Overwatch.