[Gaming] Overwatch (#boycottblizz)

[GasBandit]

One thing that bugs me about these videos is how blatantly G-rated they are. Riot did the same thing with their League of Legends videos (the Jinx video is a particularly egregious example - she shoots up a city which is conveniently and inexplicably completely abandoned and the only "living" thing to shoot are robots which don't even have any kind of presence or representation in the game itself). They have guns and bombs and blades and they fight but somehow nobody ever gets shot or cut or wounded in any visible way other than nebulously depicted blunt force which never seems to do more than punch-level damage - but when they need to depict more graphic violence, it's against a robot, because robots aren't enough like people to raise the rating. It's a tremendous cop-out that just seems marketing driven to get the "Mom's seal of approval" for your game-which-involves-shooting-other-people-but-there's-no-blood-so-it's-ok.

Fer chrissakes, if Valve can get away with cartoonish bloody chunks in their TF2 videos, I think you can too, blizzard.

 

[Ravenpoe]

but when they need to depict more graphic violence, it's against a robot, because robots aren't enough like people to raise the rating.

Or, maybe it's incredibly clever meta-commentary, as the backstory to overwatch is steeped in the omnic uprising, the artificial life created and enslaved as second class citizens. #omniclivesmatter

 

[ScytheRexx]

Also, Widowmaker shot up a shit ton of guards in the "Alive" video.



She knocks down two guards, steps on a third, guns down two more, kicks one hard in the face, then turns back and snipes the ones she knocked down earlier, likely killing them all, before Tracer shows up on the scene again. This makes sense since she is a "bad guy".

The thing is, they are not trying to be overt with the killings, because in some cases these people are not killers. Hanzo is considered a wild card, not really a good person, but not bad either. Even the Omnic he seemed to kill in the video could have just been stunned with an electrical arrow. Soldier76 is similar in that he is supposed to be a good guy, so he is trying to scare off the gang members, not outright kill them, sort of the Overwatch version of Batman.

I think it works for the context of the story. It's fun action without having to be overly gory, which I would consider rather gimmicky (I never really felt the TF2 super violence was all that fun).

 

[GasBandit]

Also, Widowmaker shot up a shit ton of guards in the "Alive" video.



She knocks down two guards, steps on a third, guns down two more, kicks one hard in the face, then turns back and snipes the ones she knocked down earlier, likely killing them all, before Tracer shows up on the scene again. This makes sense since she is a "bad guy".

"Knockdowns," kicks and things don't count, that's the "punch force" stuff I was talking about. The shooting is a little bit better, except it's all done with snappy jump-cuts in the hopes that we won't notice there's no visible hits rendered - for all we can tell, the guards are knocked down by the concussive force of muzzle flashes or fainted from the near-miss sprays. But yeah, it's a step above the nonsense of "Hero" and "Dragons" where not a single human is shown to take any more damage than would need an icepack and ibuprofen, but robots are handy because Hanzo needs to be shown actually hitting SOMETHING with an arrow and the street thugs need a (robo)dog to kick so we're know they're bad.

The thing is, they are not trying to be overt with the killings, because in some cases these people are not killers. Hanzo is considered a wild card, not really a good person, but not bad either. Even the Omnic he seemed to kill in the video could have just been stunned with an electrical arrow. Soldier76 is similar in that he is supposed to be a good guy, so he is trying to scare off the gang members, not outright kill them, sort of the Overwatch version of Batman.

Except for in the game, of course, where he very definitely shoots people in fatal ways (admittedly with no blood render) but he's definitely not shy about shooting people. Also he remarks he's not one of those heroes "any more." He's supposed to be an antihero, but not TOO much, because otherwise Overwatch might get kicked off of Saturday Morning Cartoons.

I think it works for the context of the story. It's fun action without having to be overly gory, which I would consider rather gimmicky (I never really felt the TF2 super violence was all that fun).

Different strokes for different folks, I suppose. Everybody's got an opinion. But to me, it just felt like the "action" was deliberately wrapped in foam padding so as to pander to the would-be Parent Watchdogs. Like they're trying to be as edgy as possible with hollow, plastic swords and guns that shoot blanks.

 

[ScytheRexx]

Except for in the game, of course, where he very definitely shoots people in fatal ways (admittedly with no blood render)

But that isn't entirely true either. All heroes respawn, and even make a little quip about how they lost (Lucio goes "Woo... I hope nobody saw that..." when he comes back.) For all we know, they get knocked unconscious and then dragged back to heal by some future magic voodoo. There is a reason it's calls out "Eliminated" or "Eliminated by" rather then "Killed" or "Killed by".

Yes, that is not 100% the intention as you watch your body ragdoll through the air, but there is no substantial "death" in the game itself, and that is by design. The videos fit in line with that aesthetic of action without heavy death or gore.

P.S. You might like the webcomics, which are extremely more adult oriented with lots of people getting killed or blown up.

 

[GasBandit]

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[GasBandit]

\

 

[CynicismKills]

Oh gosh guys like 4 hours to go.

 

[Gryfter]

I broke down and got it.... open beta was fun.

 

[PatrThom]

Still tempted.
Still not likely. (no time)
Dangit.

--Patrick

 

[PatrThom]

Also noticed that this is the first video that looks more like PvE than PvP (highlighting only a single character rather than a pair)...unless this one is supposed to be Soldier76 v. Soldier76: The Internal Struggle?

Also that "get along shirt" one is hilarious.

--Patrick

 

[Snuffleupagus]

I bought it as well. Snuffles#1391 for anyone who doesn't have it.

 

[Hailey Knight]

Rental arrived today. Wife is still messing around with different characters in practice, but she'll probably go online soon.

When she goes to bed, I'll give it a go. Looks pretty smooth from watching what she's doing though.

 

[Dei]

If you get bored before you get to the end, at least watch the last minute or so.

 

[Hailey Knight]

Wife likes the game, but doesn't like that she gets killed so much in multiplayer. The usual, even with Splatoon. As she keeps playing she'll get the hang of it.

But I can definitely see the necessity of getting good at a handful of heroes instead of maining one. I used Pharah a bit and enjoyed leaping up, zinging rockets down. Still, got to a point when my side really needed a tank, so I pulled out that big guy with the armor and shield. You can learn a lot just buy experiencing what other players do to you, and remembering what you do to those heroes when fighting them.

A Tracer melee'd me to death as Pharah, so I made her shoes eat rockets three kills in a row. You wanna kill me, fine, but no need to shame me like I'm a L4D2 infected.

 

[CynicismKills]

Arcade Mode is pretty silly and makes for some hilarious games.

My brother, a friend and I were against a 4 Hanzo/Torb/Soldier 76 team in Gibraltar with them on move the Payload. Fucking Dragons everywhere, it was insane. Upside is they didn't want to swap characters so we could counter them all day. We won, but it was close thanks to them just having so many high-damage Ults flying through walls.

 

[ScytheRexx]

Arcade Mode is pretty silly and makes for some hilarious games.

My friends and I convinced the other three in the team to go full Zarya in Arcade Mode. It was... beautiful. TOGETHER, WE ARE STRONG!

 

[CynicismKills]

My friends and I convinced the other three in the team to go full Zarya in Arcade Mode. It was... beautiful. TOGETHER, WE ARE STRONG!

Yeah my brother was running Zarya in an Arcade game. Gravity bombs all over the place. I was on Mercy and I think ended up with like 10 resurrects by the end of the game.

 

[ScytheRexx]

Yeah my brother was running Zarya in an Arcade game. Gravity bombs all over the place. I was on Mercy and I think ended up with like 10 resurrects by the end of the game.

The hilarious thing about a full Zarya composition in Arcade is that all of you can spam shields. You are nearly unkillable when alternating both your own shield and spamming on the other allies. We came out the gate and it didn't matter what the other team picked, they all died, because they couldn't dent us.

 

[CynicismKills]

The hilarious thing about a full Zarya composition in Arcade is that all of you can spam shields. You are nearly unkillable when alternating both your own shield and spamming on the other allies. We came out the gate and it didn't matter what the other team picked, they all died, because they couldn't dent us.

Oh, that happened to him too, haha. He survived a Genji ult because of shield spam, and then dropped a few rclick shots to kill him.

 

[CrimsonSoul]

If anyone wants to add me I'm CrimsonSoul#1879

 

[Hailey Knight]

 

[CynicismKills]

I'll still likely never use her unless it's Hero Roulette for Weekly Brawl.

 

[Ravenpoe]

I'll still likely never use her unless it's Hero Roulette for Weekly Brawl.

I love Symmetra. Not only does she give great utility and area denial, but her charged alternate fire is really strong, and pierces shields.

 

[CynicismKills]

Yeah that's the worst part. I know she's a great character, but I just can't get into playing her.

I did find, however, that I love playing Mercy and Zenyatta, which I did not expect. I really thought I'd be focusing on Tanks and Defenders.

 

[Hailey Knight]

I love Symmetra. Not only does she give great utility and area denial, but her charged alternate fire is really strong, and pierces shields.

My wife loves playing as her. Sadly (and the inspiration for above images) it's a thankless task. You can assist in killing 20 enemies, and get no votes at the end of the match. The only time she got votes despite all her assistance was when she by luck got play of the game.

Still, it's cool just how much you can do with her. It's not a support class where you're bored, that's for sure.

 

[ScytheRexx]

Mercy is a great one to play if you have issues with twitch gaming, since you just have to look for allies with low health and heal them, or boost the best shot in your party. It's exciting, but more hands off, unless you play one of those infuriating gun switchers! (seriously, I hate to admit it but once or twice I went in for what I expected to be an easy Mercy kill only for that pistol to whip out and head shot me dead).

 

[Dei]

My wife loves playing as her. Sadly (and the inspiration for above images) it's a thankless task. You can assist in killing 20 enemies, and get no votes at the end of the match. The only time she got votes despite all her assistance was when she by luck got play of the game.

Still, it's cool just how much you can do with her. It's not a support class where you're bored, that's for sure.

Lol, when Gas and I were playing the beta, he'd get irritated that no one would give me upvotes on Mercy. I have long accepted support as a thankless job and expect that.

 

[ScytheRexx]

Lol, when Gas and I were playing the beta, he'd get irritated that no one would give me upvotes on Mercy. I have long accepted support as a thankless job and expect that.

Honestly I always vote on the support characters first if they get a card. After that it's tank. Then DPS.

 

[GasBandit]

Lol, when Gas and I were playing the beta, he'd get irritated that no one would give me upvotes on Mercy. I have long accepted support as a thankless job and expect that.

You healed like 80% of the team's HP and they were giving all their upvotes to stupid facecheckers! Bleh!

Honestly I always vote on the support characters first if they get a card. After that it's tank. Then DPS.

I usually did something similar, though I usually prioritized healing > objectives > damage > kills, with play of the game possibly trumping if it was actually that impressive.

 

[Dei]

https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2016/05/25/optimal1

 

[ScytheRexx]

https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2016/05/25/optimal1

It's Overwatch comic day.

 

[CynicismKills]

Kind of interesting to see how my character focus has changed from game previews/videos->beta->release.

Initially I thought I'd spend all my time on Reinhardt, Soldier 76 and Zenyatta.

Now I find myself mostly on Pharah, Zarya, Hanzo and Zenyatta/Mercy. There's other characters I'm starting to enjoy, too, including Reinhardt, but most of my playtime has skewed in a very different direction.

 

[Hailey Knight]

So many concussion blasts from Phara that don't hit anyone over a ledge, and then I finally knock someone off by accidentally falling on top of them.

 

[GasBandit]