Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Wow Machinima: Legends Review

Ok, first off, if you haven't seen this video, here is the link to it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZVhyoxFIQg&feature=player_embedded

It comes in 5 parts and apparently has a second video coming out to it. So before I get started with what I have to say, lets talk about what this video is about. Gul'dan is revived by his minions and wages war on the Alliance. The entire first movie is pretty much two humans traveling around trying to find "Legends" or the "Old Heroes" from the Orc/Human wars (Alliance Vs Horde)

Now, I joined the game without ever playing any of the Warcraft games. I read up on the Lore and was schooled by my husband. I read a good bit of lore off the website and always ask questions when a boss appears I don't know the Lore behind.

So, lets us start with the review:

Video
The movie was made 90% in game and 10% with Wow Model Viewer. The scenes with Wow Model Viewer stick out and look really nice. The Ingame is decent if you put it on 750p. There are times lighting was off in a few parts, but others it was a nice feel to it.

Voice Acting
The voice acting wasn't to bad, I've seen worse (mine for example). However, alot of it felt off. The two main characters sounded fine (paladin seemed to be louder than the other). The Human warrior was spot on and I loved him. Dwarf was ok and Bolvar needed a bit of work. However every other voice acting seemed sluggish and bottish (Hey! like me! :/ )

Subtitles
A lot of misspelled words. That is all.

Story Line
The Story line I have a slight problem with. I'm all for Alliance viewed Videos, but this just feels to Fanboyish to me. The Story line was supposed to be about how Gul'dan is revived and now they must gather the old heroes and fight Gul'dan's army and bring peace to their faction. However, its just seems like mindless slaughter and anything that is in-game as a Horde is considered the enemy. So even though there are two factions and inside the movie Gul'dan's own minions state "The Horde are stronger than they once where and will not be easily manipulated" (more or less), The Horde is apparently the bad guy. So, even the movie starts out saying "Oh the Horde isn't apart of this" But then the Alliance leaders apparently question Thrall. Fuck! We all know Thrall is a peace-loving hippy with political power. He isn't a brute. He would only attack if he was attacked first. They know it, or should anyway. Especially since King Chinpin isn't there to call any orcs "Pigs" :/

Ok, fine. But its like..all the villians have no real umphf to them when they end up fighting. Take the Orc scene where they get captured. He says he wants to do some trading with the other faction. However, it doesn't say if its for the Horde and Alliance have some old Horde war people in their jails or what. Or if hes for Gul'dan and is looking to trade and what for what. I mean, its slightly confusing but it was only a scene to bring in some Hero hunter.

Another scene is when they just waltz right into Undercity to find a Night Elf Rogue who is just sitting there on the throne in stealth. Not doing anything, just chilling. Ok, fine..yeah..Rogues hang out in Undercity all the time. Easy place to just mess with people. But then hes all "The Undead have sensed you" Blah blah blah I'm gonna stealth and leave you guys to die.

Then the Forsaken come out. Just come out and stand there getting ready to attack. This is the part I'm like- What. The. Fuck.  Horde and Alliance are supposed to be at peace now, it even says it in the very start of the movie! But they come out here and just want to kill. No one says "Oh, what are you doing here?! There was a treaty for you not to be on our lands" Or something. No, just come out and start killing things. Yeah, made real sense right there. A Horde Capital and no one of High Authority comes out to see why Alliance are in a place they shouldn't be, especially when there is supposed to be peace? Kinda screwy to me.

So what are they doing this entire time if the story is trying to say its Gul'dan's army? Is the Horde just sitting there watching it all? Thrall not trying to help?

Overall:
Ok, so it may seem I'm more towards Horde here, but I'm all for Wow Machinima. Horde or Alliance viewed. But this movie just seems to Alliance Fanboyish to me. The Story didn't seem to follow anything except finding these Heroes. It starts out saying there is a peace, shows Gul'dan being revived and raising an Army of people wearing anything they can to try and seem cool, yet it constantly continues to call the group "The Horde", the "New Horde".

Lets Wow Wiki it, shall we?

The History of the Horde spans several decades of an organizationHPG 4 that has taken many forms. In the early years of the Horde, it existed as a ravenous war machine fueled by demonic energy. In the past the Horde was comprised mainly of orcs, but also including forest trolls, ogres, goblins, and undead death knights. It was created through the manipulations of the Burning Legion, in particular, Kil'jaeden the Deceiver, to act as the perfect puppet for their demonic masters and to serve them unquestioningly. In modern times it has become relatively peaceful, and includes orcs, Darkspear trolls, tauren, Forsaken, blood elves, goblins and Stonemaul ogres.
The Horde's major military victory was the destruction of the former kingdom of Azeroth in the First War. Though at first they had the upper hand on the conflict, they were in the end defeated in the Second War, with the surviving orcs placed in internment camps, and their allies going their separate ways. The liberation of the orcs from those camps, and eventually from demonic control, marked the beginning of the modern Horde


So, when you say "The Horde" you are out of the story line(Even the term "New Horde" is wrong due to the timeline in this video). The movie is about the war being over and then starting again on something, I dunno. Either way, Illidan has been killed and yada yada yada. So,  Grom isn't there. So..not his Horde.

But the movie never says it! It just groups them all into one and apparently everyone is a bad guy! WOOOSH! And for those going "Its his movie, let him do what he wants!" Sure..he can do what he wants. I don't mind that he does, but if he is going to bring lore in to the movie from the start and then fuck it up the ass and laugh in its face, then I don't wanna watch it. Wish I had my 1 hour back. :/

TL;DR
"2/5"
Voice Acting was ok
Sound quality was bad
Music was meh at most parts
Story-line didn't even follow itself

If the second movie can do something about the Story Line, (where the horde are in this, I don't care if its 10 seconds of a scene, just fix a major problem here!) get the Alliance to see they are not fighting "The Horde" and are fighting another army as well as the take on If the Horde will help or not. Then, I'd take a peep at it. Until then, the storyline is one of the major things wrong in the first movie.

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