[FilipSRB]

You have all probably heard for Warcraft series of video games, if not for 3 genre defining strategy games, then at least for mega popular "World of Warcraft". They are iconic pieces of entertainment software with millions of fans around the world. The company that created it, Blizzard Entertainment created a big immersive universe and lore that was also expanded through novels, comic, tabletop games etc. I am sure that I'm not the only one on this forum that put hours into those games and has a certain emotional connection to the source material.

So, Blizzard revealed the plans for live action movie as far back as 2008. but it got postponed, until finally it was filmed during first half of 2014 and was slated for release this November actually, but it got postponed for June next year so as not to clash with new Star Wars movie.

On Friday, first full trailer premiered:

Immediately I will draw your attention to the :38 seconds and the ominous words "Our world is dying". If you would judge only by the information from the trailer, it seems that the gentle giants Orcs are fleeing their dying world in search for their future and venture through the portal into the world of Azeroth, the world of humans (there are other races on this world as well, trolls, elves, dwarfs, gnomes, etc. but the clash between the humans and orcs is a central theme for both the strategy games as well as the movie). No need to draw obvious parallels between this scenario and the current invasion that the Western world is experiencing.

This is the time to make it clear that the original storyline is NOTHING LIKE THIS. In the original universe, the homeworld of orcs was Draenor, and it was a lush, big world full of life, with jungles, mountains, swamps, and nowhere near dying. The orcs invaded Azeroth because their leaders accepted the demonic corruption for the promise of war and plunder and although their world did got destroyed in the end, it was their own undoing as they tried to open other portals to more worlds they can conquer.

Another great franchise subverted. Blizzard is one of the best if not THE best development studios in the video games industry (and probably the most successful), and the fact that they allowed this kind of perversion of their source material (it is a known fact that they did have veto power over the script) is very disappointing although not surprising if you have been following the studio and their games closely in the last 8-10 years (basically after their merging with Activision).

[GameNovice]

(11-09-2015 06:11 AM)FilipSRB Wrote:  

In the original universe, the homeworld of orcs was Draenor, and it was a lush, big world full of life, with jungles, mountains, swamps, and nowhere near dying. The orcs invaded Azeroth because their leaders accepted the demonic corruption for the promise of war and plunder and although their world did got destroyed in the end, it was their own undoing as they tried to open other portals to more worlds they can conquer.

Ironically this original script is just about the true story behind the wonderful refugees streaming into Europe on a daily basis.

The middle east, while not exactly a lush world full of life, could have easily used their all-but-limitless wealth to build nations unrivaled in human history. Instead the house of Saud prefers to focus on spreading their corruption ( wahhabism ) the result of which can been seen around the world.

Honestly at this rate I wouldn't be surprised if there was some kind of cismale/feminist/tranny subplot in there somewhere.

[CynicalContrarian]

Wouldn't be surprised if there's some leftist subplot or what have you.

Yet, are they trying to insinuate that the 'refugees' are all blood-thirsty, barbaric, brutes...?

[Dan Woolf]

----------------------------------------

[Hades]

The dying world invasion schtick is a well established trope in fiction.

Unless significant parallels exist I doubt the plot got changed to reflect the migrant situation.

[FilipSRB]

(11-09-2015 07:14 AM)Hades Wrote:  

The dying world invasion schtick is a well established trope in fiction.

Unless significant parallels exist I doubt the plot got changed to reflect the migrant situation.

That is true but this time it is a significant detour from the source material. The trailer also suggests some kind of alliance between humans and orcs, which in original material doesn't happen at all during that timeline.

A more naive look would suggest that they are trying to humanize the orcs(which they do in the games to an extent, but much much later in the franchise) but it seems they are butchering the story to do it. Knowing the way the Hollywood works, and considering the release dates and real world happenings, it is very hard for me to believe that it is pure coincidence.

Edit: I want to make it clear that I'm not calling for the boycott of the movie. This is still a trailer, and I will go to see the movie because I have been dreaming about it for 15 years, but all the warning signs are there, especially for someone who is deeply familiar with the franchise.

Edit 2: To bring the poing home further, this is a cinematic for the last World of Warcraft expansion, called Warlods of Draenor:

The expansion creates an alternate timeline where one of the Orc leaders goes back in time to Draenor before the demonic corruption, stops it from happening, and then makes the new Iron Horde that goes to conquer Azeroth anyway!

[Handsome Creepy Eel]

Anything can be made subversive - in this case I don't know without seeing more. The original story was just fine - yes, the orcs were refugees and the humane thing to do was to work with them, but humans also retaliated harshly when orcs started rampaging around, and everyone in all factions was clear on how to treat parasites and ungrateful lowlifes (look at the way the Horde casts out and destroys Grom Hellscream in Warcraft 3, for example - you ruined our cause, now GTFO!). Also, no one was extending a warm welcome to the Burning Legion or the Scourge.

[Mentavious]

Lol. It's a movie based on a game.

[Mage]

Has anyone played the original Warcraft game?

I loved it! Altrough the graphics and controls are very outdated the principle behind the game is very elegant. The humans and orcs were not merely two different races with different units. No it was much more deeper. In the original game all the units were similar but there were a few key differences which made races different in a very philosophical way.

The humans were weaker individually but they were stronger if acting together - they represented the civilized aspect of real civilization, the cultivated religous society like christianity, a somewhat more "beta" society with strict moral codes where each member has learned to restrict his individual thirst for glory and power for the sake of common goal and teamwork.

The orcs were stronger individually, their individual units were full of pride and untamed glory, they were "alfa" badboys, but they really couldn't use temwork all that well and bigger numbers only increased their strength arhitmetically, not exponentially. They reminded barbarians or pagans or real life civilization.

In the original game the two factions embodied the two different attitudes and driving forces of real life humans. The humans embodied the civilized and controlled reason and morals, while orcs embodied the incontrollable instinct and emotion.

To illustrate my point in the first game a single orc spearmen would always win against a single human archer, but four human archers and up would always win against a group of orc spearmen of the same size. The same with Deamons and Water elementals. The orc necrolyte was stronger then human cleric, but tohether with any friendly unit to heal the cleric was gamebreaking.

The second game kept these philosophies in the lore of both races, but somewhat removed them from gameplay. Instead the humans were a faction that had to use a lot of control while orcs relied on brute force. The game was less philosophical but had better graphics and controls which made it more popular, but I still prefer the first one.

Humans were stronger in the first game, but weaker in the second, due to this shift in the way their philosophies were imbued into gameplay.

In both these games there could be no piece between humands and orcs, antagonostic to the very core they would fight in eternal struggle like premordial forces of human psyche.

It was only in the third installment of the game when two new factions were introduced (to top Starcraft, a game with 3 different factions). Only then did Humans and Orcs started to unite when they faced a faction antagonistic to both - the Undead which represents the real life death.
When facing death only does reason and instinct, mind and emotion unite together to sustain life. When life is not threatened they are in constant conflict as we can see in our peaceful times when people are confused with their thoughts and emotions and degenarate into fat and lazy liberals who are actively fighting those who want to live a conscious life guided by reason.

I belive the game was a sucess because the factions spoke to the impressions of gamers trough embodying different archetypes, which created a trully epic world that anyone could raleate to in arcetypical level. That and near flawless gameplay of course.

In the movie if both factions share the same morality and unite just for the sake of some Liberal, abstract and fictatious pseido ethics of "peace" or "no racism" or "no borders" then this will be create just a "meh" attitude in viewers, because it will not trigger these primal archetypes. A certain way to spoil a good franchese for sure.

[Stay]

I think the movie looks great.

[FilipSRB]

(11-09-2015 07:09 AM)Dan Woolf Wrote:  

Thank God this movie will bomb.

I actually don't expect it to bomb, it stated budget is 100 million but it has a huge fanbase from where it can draw the required audience. At its peak, World of Warcraft had 13 million subscribers paying 15$ a month to be able to play it (plus one time costs of actually buying the games and expansions which were 30-40$ each, when they would launch), not to mention players that were playing the original strategy games which also sold in millions of copies (around 10 million copies sold I think).

[Paracelsus]

All I remember about Warcraft is annoying the fuck out of the icons by clicking on them too much...

'JOBTH DUN!'

'I'M A BUSY MAN.'
'DON'T ANGER ME.'
'I WARNED YOU -- CHTOOOOMM'

'YES MY LORD?'
'DON'T-YOU-HAVE-A-KINGDOM-TO-RUN?'

And exploding sheep, of course.

[d'Herblay]

Definitely gonna go see this when it comes out. One of my favorite games of all time. Had some great moments back in the day with it's imaginative World Editor. Especially liked the plot and the feel of Warcraft III. Then came WoW and they fucked it completely in regards to lore. Back when I was a kid this was the precise moment that you knew shit had hit the fan:

https://youtu.be/WyTj4Sbtulo

Perhaps Archimonde could destroy Stockholm or Toronto? Oh the nostalgia...

[kaotic]

I'm thankful to say I've never touched this game or anything like it.

FPS>Everything.

[UroboricForms]

I loved the real-time strategy Warcraft games. After WOW came out I completely lost interest. That game and the distinctly annoying strand of geek culture that formed around it can do one.

[Handsome Creepy Eel]

(11-09-2015 11:49 AM)dHerblay Wrote:  

Definitely gonna go see this when it comes out. One of my favorite games of all time. Had some great moments back in the day with it's imaginative World Editor. Especially liked the plot and the feel of Warcraft III. Then came WoW and they fucked it completely in regards to lore. Back when I was a kid this was the precise moment that you knew shit had hit the fan:

https://youtu.be/WyTj4Sbtulo

Perhaps Archimonde could destroy Stockholm or Toronto? Oh the nostalgia...

Indeed, this was my favorite moment as well - what a great culmination of events!

(turn on CC for subtitles)

However, I think even WoW didn't start fucking it up until the end of Wrath of the Lich King expansion. All the way until then it had a viable world with a good storyline, with no hentai or time-travel bullshit.

[Aer]

Trailer looks cool enough.


Just to note, I spend a godawful amount of time on WoW around 2007-2009 when I was much younger.

Contrary to popular belief, I actually think it helped me mature. I learned how to cooperate among adults when I was quite young myself (16/17 years old). Instead of being one of those players who joined those silly guilds and just messed around for days on end, I became a hardcore raider on every Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday night. I learned, by participating in these 25 man raids, that everyone would be held accountable for their actions and performance.

Soon enough, I was leading the guild at the tender age of 17, defeating the Lich King with a bunch of 20-30 year olds. I learned how to lead men (it was mostly still men at that point) to pursue a goal and how to motivate.

You may sneer at some of this, but I believe World of Warcraft taught me many of the skills I still use today in the workplace. I know how to incentivize goals, and how to hold people accountable for their actions without outright scolding them.

Much like in the real world, in the World of Warcraft, you could always be replaced by someone more willing and able than you, so you must hold yourself accountable to the highest standard.

Anyway, that's my two cents on WoW. Six years removed without any need to play the game anymore, I firmly believe that it aided in my development as a man.

[CostinR]

Actually as someone who's played every Warcraft game Draenor was in point of fact dying ( remember how Draenor looked in WC2? ): Thank Gul'Dan and the plot of the movie was already something Blizzard had added in the universe long before this movie.

[Tuthmosis]

(11-09-2015 06:11 AM)FilipSRB Wrote:  

not the only one on this forum that put put hours into those games and has a certain emotional connection to the source material.

I found your problem right here.

[d'Herblay]

(11-09-2015 01:00 PM)Handsome Creepy Eel Wrote:  

(11-09-2015 11:49 AM)dHerblay Wrote:  

Definitely gonna go see this when it comes out. One of my favorite games of all time. Had some great moments back in the day with it's imaginative World Editor. Especially liked the plot and the feel of Warcraft III. Then came WoW and they fucked it completely in regards to lore. Back when I was a kid this was the precise moment that you knew shit had hit the fan:

https://youtu.be/WyTj4Sbtulo

Perhaps Archimonde could destroy Stockholm or Toronto? Oh the nostalgia...

Indeed, this was my favorite moment as well - what a great culmination of events!

(turn on CC for subtitles)

However, I think even WoW didn't start fucking it up until the end of Wrath of the Lich King expansion. All the way until then it had a viable world with a good storyline, with no hentai or time-travel bullshit.

Granted, you are indeed right! It was the ass-whooping delivered to Lich King which broke the camel's back. Pretty soon they must be beating Sargeras . Also it is with great interest and fright that I follow the politicization of gaming industry. Hopefully Blizzard doesn't evolve into EA as the time passes.

I've been so busy climbing the ladder of life to my own benefit that I've abstained from these games for years but this christmas I might allow myself a week with Starcraft II.

[Handsome Creepy Eel]

^^ I'm getting the Reaper of Souls (it's finally on sale) and also treating myself a bit. Working overtime for months isn't healthy

[d'Herblay]

(11-09-2015 04:19 PM)Handsome Creepy Eel Wrote:  

^^ I'm getting the Reaper of Souls (it's finally on sale) and also treating myself a bit. Working overtime for months isn't healthy

Well done! Indeed. What has so far kept me going is doing something totally idiotic and/or childish at least couple of times a month. Still attending university so good work ethic and childish behavior are a win-win -combination. Luckily my studies are far away from countries where campus feminism and faux-rape culture reign .

This December though, it's time to turn the phone off, get a nice bottle of Scotch and play through Starcraft II and the follow-ups. Bet they made Queen Kerrigan a feminist in the Legacy of the Void fighting against evil cis-Protoss and oppressive white male Terrans.

[Gmac]

Looks like a fun movie to me, will watch & enjoy. To think it's subverted for a cause is crazy. Blizzard is all about the benjamins (followed by their fans).

[Latinopan]

[quote] (11-09-2015 06:35 AM)GameNovice Wrote:  

[quote='FilipSRB' pid='1145215' dateline='1447067483']


The middle east, while not exactly a lush world full of life, could have easily used their all-but-limitless wealth to build nations unrivaled in human history. Instead the house of Saud prefers to focus on spreading their corruption ( wahhabism ) the result of which can been seen around the world.
.[/quote]



[quote]Quote:

First off, this graph shows that the U.S. surpassed Saudi Arabia as the world’s largest oil producer in 2013, after decades of lagging behind the kingdom. But in just a few short years, the advent of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling allowed the U.S. to move from the world’s third largest oil producer to the top spot, beating out Saudi Arabia and Russia.[/quote]
http://dailycaller.com/2015/05/18/two-gr...-fracking/
Only North Dakota cut US dependence on foreign oil in half

[BortimusPrime]

(11-09-2015 01:00 PM)Handsome Creepy Eel Wrote:  

However, I think even WoW didn't start fucking it up until the end of Wrath of the Lich King expansion. All the way until then it had a viable world with a good storyline, with no hentai or time-travel bullshit.

Yeah, I got bored and quit after the end of Lich King. I think their new expansions are just pandering to their Chinese subscriber base with panda-men and gay asian-style dragons.