[Spoilers] Shadowlands: Afterlives Cinematic Discussion

[Combatbutler]

Combined with the length of it and the reused zombies you can tell they were phoning this one in. I don't blame them. I have no idea how you could sell Draka.

By making her a side character for the zone, not the center piece.

[Aucald]

There wasn't a lot of meat on this one, I agree - the Bastion one provided a good deal of background for Bastion and Uther's place in it, whereas this one was very light on detail and didn't really convey a cohesive story. It would've been good to see why Draka was sent to Maldraxxus, and what started the civil war between the Houses of Maldraxxus as opposed to just sort of seeing it happen from a limited PoV.

[Syegfryed]

No amount of production value can make Draka any better a pick for this zone or any less boring. Her calling the cut and paste zombies her brothers is especially uncanny for how thematically confused the whole business was. Turning her into an assassin and spy for a figurative shadowy council after she and her husband were killed by assassins and spies of the Shadow Council is a baffling choice.

but no, this not terrible writing by someone who barely had an idea of who draka was, this not ssomething forced by the rule of cool, not at all

i didn't even realized the mockery was that bad until you spelled out, of course they would not remember that

mankrirk's wife and Zaela would be so much better picks.

If they at least, at least, showed her strugle of being there, like uther had in the begning, just a little bit, would make this so much better, she went straight edgelord warrior/rogue, what is the point of being "THE warrior and just becoming a rogue

[Wyattbw09]

I get the cinematic was not great, but it was going to feel as empty no matter who the main character was. The problem was there was no real story there, not that Draka was the main character.

I don't really get the hate on Draka thing. It's a new expansion, some characters rise to become major characters some fall of the screen.

[tommyhil622]

Didn't like this one. Visually looks cool but if they would have least gave some sort of story other than her hacking at undead. Even if they don't fully flesh out a story at least give something with the arbiter placing her in Maldraxus. Or possibly some insight as to how Maldraxus was before the houses were fighting each other etc.

[Snuffe]

Woah this one was......meh

[Syegfryed]

I get the cinematic was not great, but it was going to feel as empty no matter who the main character was. The problem was there was no real story there, not that Draka was the main character.

I don't really get the hate on Draka thing. It's a new expansion, some characters rise to become major characters some fall of the screen.

because it make no sense for her to be in there and not in the orc afterlife and there is tons of better and more charismtic choices like Zaela. It make sense for old character to be in shadowlands right, but this is as much pointless as bringing some elf from WC3 in place of kael'thas or a random lich from aquerus instead of kel'thuzand

And it was empty because they went straight up to the rogue training, there was no strugle of her being send to this shit place instead of the normal afterlife, no deep conection with her conflicted emotions, of her situation and her family, or her husband and where he is, nothing for us to click some level of understending and sympathy.

Yeah she sudenlly call random undeads brothers, something she, as as someone who live in a shamanstic society would do tht easy? what? rule of cool, edgy.

her teacher die, right, why should i care? where is my simpathy? i don't care about a random undead with an ass face, who teach her to rogue, if he was there, helping her overcome her feeling for being sent in this shit palce like Primos(or whatever is the blue woman name)? well there is something i could dig.

This one must have being made from another team, no way its the same one, they are fundmentally different

[Hugnomo]

I hate being in any way negative on these cinematics, because I appreciate that they exist at all and am happy for all of them. BUT, I do have to say this one was very uneventful. And I don't think it's because Draka was the protagonist, Devos was a no one until the cinematic and I think she was really compelling and impactful. I think this one just didn't show much of interest. Didn't really explore the character's past, build on top of what we knew like with Uther's, nor did it show anything new that reframed our understanding of the plot of Shadowlands (again, like Uther's). While the previous one was filled with emotional moments that tied in with the larger story, offering plenty to speculate on, this one was just too barren of meaningful developments.

[Zendhal The Black]

They are truely trying to make Maldraxxus the least appealing zone in the history of the zones for me right?

[Super Dickmann]

You know, actually, nevermind Zaela, though I do agree with @Syegfryed that she'd be a better pick. Why not just center it on Vashj? She's already in Maldraxxus. She's a woman, so you fill the quota. Vashj has a backstory and she has a design distinct from when she was alive as a naga. We already know she chose to take that form instead of be the night elf she originally was because she figured that better represented who she was when she took her fate in her own hands. That is when she took up strength instead of vanity which gels with the values of Maldraxxus. That's already a story even before you have her house get destroyed too. Vashj is also a character that got shafted in WC3 and has more name recognition and naga are cool.

The whole ass spider dude thing is really not a good substitute for an actual story.

[NED funded]

I get the cinematic was not great, but it was going to feel as empty no matter who the main character was. The problem was there was no real story there, not that Draka was the main character.

I don't really get the hate on Draka thing. It's a new expansion, some characters rise to become major characters some fall of the screen.

I mean here character progression was way too fast for someone like her to suddenly be a major assassin

The story basically was Draka doesnt like being a rogue, she likes it and now she is a baroness of a house. Had they used literally any other character that transition could have made sense or solely focus on Draka's training

[username993720]

Draka isn't even a character. There's nothing there and Thrall already met his parents in WOD. The appeal of Maldraxxus is being Scourge Plus, they should have leaned into that. Though hell, they could have gone down a list of dead female characters, picked randomly and gotten a better result. Roll a die, even Tiffin Wrynn would have been a better choice, and that's like the dumbest one possible. (At least we'd get some new info -- explains why she got along with Varian, lays groundwork for a darker side of Anduin when he meets her and does the female empowerment thing better if we find out she was involved in the 1st + 2nd wars as a strategist or something.)

The character doesn't even matter. The storyline was complete and utter shit. replace her with someone else, but keep the same god awful story and you would get the same result.

The Laziness of this one is evident by the re-used shot of Felguards from the Illidan Harbingers.

[Vpuh]

They are truely trying to make Maldraxxus the least appealing zone in the history of the zones for me right?

Look at this "Written by: Christie Golden" and you will understand all

[bagina]

They are truely trying to make Maldraxxus the least appealing zone in the history of the zones for me right?

I know right? Maldraxxus looks legit worse than the Maw. I would rather be sent to the Maw than Maldraxxus. At least it doesn't have green vomit everywhere. Eww.

[Syegfryed]

The character doesn't even matter. The storyline was complete and utter shit. replace her with someone else, but keep the same god awful story and you would get the same result.

i dissagre, this is worse because Drakka is pointless and nonsensical to be there, everyone alredy have a clear picture of what she is, that already drag her down even more

they have to do an asspull to make sense of her being there and have to force her into something she was not, to fit their idea, with other characers would be way easier and organic, like Zaela and like @Super Dickmann said, Vashj

[Traveler Voltin]

There is no orc afterlife.

[Harbour]

This one was the weakest of all videos they made for expansions.
They didnt get Draka character, they failed to properly explain what where why is going on, they didnt give any portrayal to characters that suppose to interact with us in the game, there is no touch of character's personality or drama all other videos have.

[tommyhil622]

The character doesn't even matter. The storyline was complete and utter shit. replace her with someone else, but keep the same god awful story and you would get the same result.

The Laziness of this one is evident by the re-used shot of Felguards from the Illidan Harbingers.

I agree, the character doesn't even matter. The issue is that it had no story.

[username993720]

i dissagre, this is worse because Drakka is pointless and nonsensical to be there, everyone alredy have a clear picture of what she is, that already drag her down even more

they have to do an asspull to make sense of her being there and have to force her into something she was not, to fit their idea, with other characers would be way easier and organic, like Zaela and like @Super Dickmann said, Vashj

You're telling me that if it was the same, shot by shot, but only with Zaela featuring, you would be content? You would consider this a good animated short?

If the answer is yes, then i've got nothing more to say to you.

[Jastall]

It's a frame reused from the Illidan short. Only with the lens effect slapped on it.

Could have sworn that was it, yeah, and later on we see the outside of the place it and definitely isn't Maldraxxus, there's trees and a river. No idea if that's an inconsistency or she's supposed to not be in the Shadowlands at all- which only raises many more questions.

Definitely a much, much weaker short than the Bastion one. Probably the weakest of that kind of video from Blizzard since the WoD ones, the Sylvanas Warbringer had a shit story but at least the visuals were awesome. They didn't sell me on Draka or on the Covenant itself either, which is a shame as the Necrolords were my go-to one for my main so far.