The Burdens of Shaohao

[GeekyGR]

See guys, MoP has no Lore! This doesn't involve Illidan or Arthas, so it isn't really lore.

/sarcasm

This is one of the reasons I love MoP. Blizzard is testing new ways to tell stories, and for the first time the story of the continent will be completely wrapped up ay the end of the expansion. Blizz is also getting their money's worth out of Jim Cummings.

[Puffman]

Cool video, I liked it. Wish it could have been "fully" animated though.

[Harmzuay]

Blizz is also getting their money's worth out of Jim Cummings.

Yeah, they've definitely gotten some mileage out of that partnership. He did an excellent job with Kosak's poem for the 5.2 Thunder King trailer and another incredible job in this. I like that they went out and got one of the best in the business.

[TrollShaman]

Loved it, simply can't wait for the next burdens of Shaohao storytelling!

[Surfd]

He's not simply saying he dislikes MoP. He saying that the Asian motif of MoP is "not Warcraft," which is a nonsense statement. As has already been pointed out, all sorts of existing world cultures have already been incorporated into the game and, even if that were not the case, what Warcraft "is" not some static, definable thing, so saying that something is or isn't Warcraft is an indefensible and useless statement.

That's what he's being attacked for, not merely disliking MoP.

Reminds me of an arguement I once had with an old roommate, who was absolutely adamant that "World" of Warcraft should not be considered a Warcraft game because it was not an RTS. He was utterly convinced that the only true warcraft games were the ones where you controlled armies of units, and that playing a single "character" in the warcraft universe did not make the game a "Warcraft" game. No matter how I tried to explain to him that "Warcraft" is defined more by its attached Intellectual Property then the gameplay mechanics behind whatever game has the name attached, he simply wouldnt buy it. I finally gave up, and went on enjoying my "not warcraft" Warcraft MMO.

[Maleagant]

Nice. I love this art style & music, can't wait to see more.

I agree.I love that it has a watercolor feel to it.Beautiful.I hope Blizzard makes more of these these dramatic shorts after this 6 part series ends.

Guild Wars 2 uses a similar style in some of it's in game story.

[Black Rider]

It's amazing...
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[Deleted]

I really liked it. Cho's voice seemed.. off? somehow, which was quite off putting.

[Deleted]

Oooooh, awesome!

The animation and video was awesome, but the narrator's voice... just didn't seem right. I'm not sure if he was meant to be Lorewalker Cho or Chen, but he didn't sound right to me. I dunno.

It is supposed to be Cho and it is in fact the same voice actor. I thought it sounded awesome though.

[Lastlivingsoul]

Damn, I'm speechless. Quality work. It almost seems worthy of its own TV show. Jim Cummings is the man.

The Art and direction was phenomenal too. I have to wonder if this was part of an advertisement or just something for the fans.

Makes me want to join Shao Hao in his quest but he's chillin in the Timeless Isle or One with Pandaria which ever it is.

[Nerraw]

I want part 2.

[Combatbutler]

Very nice,hopefully blizzard continues to flesh out lore in similar ways.

[Dhomeli]

Part One was just posted! I also added it to the original post.

[Netherspark]

Retcons?

The lore states that Shaohao (physically) fought the Sha of Doubt after it was manifested by the Monkey King's mask...

[Golden Yak]

Yeah, that sort've bugs me. He might have less to do with the manifestation of the Sha as giant monsters than earlier material indicated. Maybe time embellished the legend somewhat.

[Harmzuay]

This was on Twitter:

[drbraininajar]

It's quite nice and really beautiful in conception, design and execution.

[MOD VOICE]: Keep the discussion to the video and lore. This is NOT the thread to air out complaints about the game, the expansion or anything else extraneous to the video being talked about.

On reading this, I imagined a friendly looking person talking about the video, then suddenly looming over the crowd in giant spooky demon form, booming voice, thunderbolts, and all, then immediately shrinking back to normal and saying "have a nice day everyone" while the entire room is still recoiled in shock.

On Topic: Big ups to Jim Cummings. I sincerely hope Lorewalker Cho follows us to every expansion in some way or another. He's way too fun a character to never see again.

[Chonar]

I'm getting Okami vibes here.

This is a very good thing.

[Doombringer]

I like the art style, and the storytelling aspect is fun. The tale has your typical "trials and tribulations" feel to it, nothing new, but the presentation is what makes it special.

However, isn't this coming in a bit late...? Our involvement in Pandaria is ending. This story, the illustrations, the "cutscene" quality to it... it all seems more like something you'd produce to build hype for a content patch. Or maybe for the expansion altogether. The timing seems odd.

[Deldavala]

I like the art style, and the storytelling aspect is fun. The tale has your typical "trials and tribulations" feel to it, nothing new, but the presentation is what makes it special.

However, isn't this coming in a bit late...? Our involvement in Pandaria is ending. This story, the illustrations, the "cutscene" quality to it... it all seems more like something you'd produce to build hype for a content patch. Or maybe for the expansion altogether. The timing seems odd.

I kinda feel the same. They should have come much earlier so all the "MOP HAS NO LORE" people could actually embrace it all.

Still, the animations are extraordinary and really gives an Okamiesque feel. I love the voicing aswell. All in all I hope they do more of this in the future(probably more themed towards the expansions up ahead)