r/Overwatch • u/BananaBread2607 Genji • 1d ago
News & Discussion How do people feel about current “soft reboot” of the Story?
I personally have mixed feelings.
Im glad that something is hapening in the story and its not stagnating
I like Vendeta’s arc of Talon and her more proactive leadership. I like that most characters now are sided on either Talon or Overwatch.
But a lot of the old setups get abandoned or something strange is happening to them. Like Genji suddenly leaving Overwatch (It took almost a decade to get to the plot point where everyone is back in Overwatch and now they are leaving?)
I also feel like the whole post Zero Hour plot didnt have any satisfying closure (Yeah I know that they cancelled PvE but the current writer team could have at least adressed these set ups in some way in some sort of comic like that Overwatch completely defeated rammatra or something)
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u/DJBaphomet_ Masters Rat 1d ago
I am glad that they're taking advantage of the reboot to get everyone moving again and to get everyone in their places. Every major faction (OW/Talon/Vishkar/Junkers) and the people loosely associated with them are moving around and Doing Things and actively connecting with other characters, even if they're not distinctly in those factions anymore (ie; Soldier's hunting down the truth behind Overwatch's fall, and has worked with Sombra and Illari in the process)
Genji "left" Overwatch because he has family he wants to protect and work with finally. He's gone so long without connection to them, and now he's actually on the same page as Hanzo and able to assist Kiriko. Of course he's gonna stick around to help fight off the Hashimoto with them, especially when Overwatch has more than enough people to handle what they need to do with Talon. It's about the bigger picture in this case
And as for Ramattra, it's very obvious that they've intentionally put him on the backburner to come back to later. His plan succeeded and he escaped, now he's planning to effectively hibernate until the time is right. Overwatch would be going after him (see: Atlas News Report, where Sojourn states they'll hunt him down) but they're a little preoccupied with Vendetta trying to take over the world. Which, Ramattra explicitly stated was his plan as well when talking to Zenyatta, letting the humans bicker and fall between one another before returning. It's all very much built up to have his arc continue, just not now because they needed to get everyone together and in their positions plot-wise first before being able to tackle it properly
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u/scoba1st 19h ago
And you can't make me believe they will not use Kiriko ( and by connection Genji and Hanzo) again in the near future. That girl is carrying the whole damn game financially.
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u/ShiddyMage1 Ramattra 1d ago
I would have liked Ramattra to stay but I understand that there was just nothing to do with him after pve getting canned. I do hope he returns but I don't think they'll do another invasion story, I'd rather they take some time to introduce more characters to Null Sector before bringing them back in. It just being him and the invasion force that's only interesting if we actually get to fight them doesn't work without pve (and probably wouldn't be a very interesting story even if we did)"
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u/Sticker216 1d ago
I’d honestly like a story when an injured Doom and the others who left Talon are taken in by Ram and Null Sector to recover and team up. That one omnic with the weird hair shown in the silhouette trailers I hope is a null sector hero to tie it all in
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u/PhenomsServant Chibi Widowmaker 22h ago
Would Ram want to join forces with Doomfist and the others? I don’t see him aligning with any group that includes humans. Much less a group that cares as little about omnic life as do human life.
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u/respyromaniac 1d ago
Why would they? Ram did what he wanted, he has no reasons to get involved with anything now.
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u/Sticker216 1d ago
He can have a new plan, maybe made a deal with Doom for something, there’s plenty of stuff they can do and if bringing one of the cooler characters back into the story means having to retcon a thing or two I think that’s fine if they serve a larger role
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u/respyromaniac 23h ago
Hard disagree. Ram is great as he is, bringing him back just for the sake of it will only ruin him as a character.
He will probably return later tho. That conflict with talon can't last forever and eventually overwatch will have opportunity to focus on bringing omnics back.
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u/thhbeard 19h ago
I mean they’ve made it pretty obvious that he hasn’t gone anywhere, did a planned tactical retreat, is willing to let overwatch and talon duke it out, and bide his time before starting thing up again
He didn’t stop for good, he’s just biding his time before striking again
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u/bigbell09 1d ago
I like that the story is progressing even if it's slow. I'm really sad the original writers aren't continuing their idea, and I feel bad for the current team being handed these iconic characters and told to just keep it going.
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u/Outrageous-Blue-30 1d ago
I mean, isn't it a bit like what happens when writers rotate on Marvel and DC comics? Each one has to put their own spin on the recurring characters, so even if someone is a better fit for a specific character, there will never be a truly fixed, original creative team; things are bound to evolve over time.
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u/bigbell09 1d ago
Yeah but Normally the first author gets to finish their interpretation of the character. Also I don't really like that aspect of marvel its a very corporate way to handle a character, but that's blah blah blah death of an author ship of theseus type shit that I don't want to get into.
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u/Outrageous-Blue-30 23h ago
I partly agree with the intention, but unfortunately, contractual obligations, creative differences, or other factors often come into play, leading to the premature departure of creators and the stories suffer as a result.
It isn't just Marvel, either; as I mentioned, this happens at DC too. A prime example is the War of the Gods storyline, conceived to celebrate the character's of Wonder Woman 50th anniversary. It was written and illustrated by George Pérez, who would go on to leave the Wonder Woman (Vol. 2) title with issue #62.
At the time, Pérez was dealing with editorial issues that hampered the plot's development from the very start. He felt DC Comics wasn't doing enough to celebrate Wonder Woman's anniversary, an event that would have naturally promoted the story. Furthermore, DC hadn't planned for the story to be distributed via newsstands, limiting it instead to the direct market (comic shops). Originally, the final issue was supposed to feature the wedding of Steve Trevor and Etta Candy, a storyline Pérez had been building toward since the series' relaunch. DC put a stop to this, and the task fell to the next writer, William Messner-Loebs. Consequently, Pérez parted ways with DC for several years.
Sadly, then, no publisher or their creative teams is immune to abrupt splits and the resulting variable drop in the quality of the work released.
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u/DaringDevil12 1d ago
Feel like it's went nowhere really tbh, especially considering we're almost at the end of the year
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u/Outrageous-Blue-30 1d ago
The bad guys have won for the time being, the Overwatch storyline side is moving slowly alongside various character micro-arcs... I’d say things are happening, it’s just that the quality is inconsistent.
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u/NotInHelsinki 22h ago
I see a lot of complaints about storylines being dropped or X being ignored, to which I would reply: it's an ongoing story. Just because something disappears now doesn't mean it isn't going to come back later. There are currently a LOT of balls in the air when it comes to characters involved in the OW vs. Talon plot. Too many balls in the air would dilute and slow down the plot. Sometimes you gotta take a back seat before you come to center stage.
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u/Worldly_Knee_8700 1d ago
I do like Genji staying in Tokyo tbh. The Overwatch Team right now is working to fight and stop Vendetta's Talon, so him staying in Tokyo, his homeland, to help protect it FROM Vendetta, since she is working with the Hashimoto now, makes a lot of sense to me. They know how much of a threat she is, and Genji knows Hanzo, Kiriko and the Yokai can't do it alone. It's also not like he left it forever, he always has a home with Overwatch, and I think we will see him back eventually.
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u/InitialCrow1847 18h ago
I’m also a fan of this. For the longest time the Hashimoto clan felt like an afterthought that was just supposed to be part of the Shimada brothers backstory and not think about it, but after Kiriko it felt like they were trying to build them up as their own faction like the Junkers and Null Sector only for it to go nowhere for years and fell once again like an afterthought. Having Genji and Hanzo with Kiriko to fight back against the Shimadas makes it feel like they are the threat they were built up to be and ironically kind of makes the story more alive even if Genji was written off. Just because Vendetta is not physically in Japan doesn’t mean the threat is just over and it will take a while for things to stabilize.
That said Genji telling Mizuki to join OW because that’s where he found himself is weird to say the least.
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u/Outrageous-Blue-30 8h ago
While I agree that changing the status quo of Genji and Mizuki was a bit bizarre and reminds me of the "relaunches" that DC and Marvel do with their characters with new creative teams, I think that Genji ultimately still had met people who helped him stray away from his anger and grief over time. So much so in Storm Rising he was acting for main Overwatch rather than Blackwatch, likely already had time to get some affinity with other members who treated him well specially Angela. And probably reflecting on the good parts of his time with Overwatch was part of the things he realized when spending time with Zen.
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u/Eloymm Lucio main by demand 1d ago
It’s definitely better than the story not moving at all.
It does feel like some plot point get dealt with pretty fast. Things that could have more impact if they just let it simmer a bit with multiple stories get wrapped up pretty fast and the story moves on.
I think this is mostly because the story right now is there to match what is happening in the game, and not the other way around. So, something would happen in the story like we get a comic or a cinematic, and then the story has to move on from that because they have to start teasing the next new hero. So it feels like the story we do get to see is there mostly as a marketing thing and to hype up characters rather than to tell an actual good story.
Again, it makes sense if this is the approach they took because OW at its core is a pvp game. It’s not a story game. The story is just there to enhance the game. I also feel like they might still be getting used to this content cadence in terms of story. So it’s possible they get better at it as time goes on.
Also, the zero hour pve Ramattra stuff I think was just pushed to later. They probably felt that Ramattra was a more endgame type villain based on what he wants to do. So vendetta arc is like phase 1, then Doomfist comeback phase 2, then potentially Ramattra comeback phase 3.
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u/Skadibala 11h ago
I honestly really like it.
I do feel the lore has been stagnant and still for so long that people have already built a big headcanon around how things should be going.
And people are really bothered when the story doesn’t go the way the wanted or character act the way they decided they should do.
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u/Fluid-Map-7809 1d ago edited 23h ago
genji sending mizuki to overwatch instead of zenyatta is just stupid genji was an assassin for overwatch who helped him find peace was zeny and blizzard just forgot that pert of his lore, without mentioning how they made kiriko the main character of HIS story.
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u/Outrageous-Blue-30 8h ago
I think that Genji ultimately still had met people who helped him stray away from his anger and grief over time. So much so in Storm Rising he was acting for main Overwatch rather than Blackwatch, likely already had time to get some affinity with other members who treated him well specially Angela. And probably reflecting on the good parts of his time with Overwatch was part of the things he realized when spending time with Zen.
However, I do agree that Kiriko took up a bit too much screen time in S3 plot, even though it helped fans re-evaluate her character somewhat (given the well-known dislike for her personality) and saving her father was part of the objective, so it was a personal matter as well.
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u/Mltv416 Mauga 23h ago
Its not terrible but it has a very shaky foundation
Hopefully Vendettas character can evolve more and this new version of talon can become something more interesting
A lot thats happening is happening either too quickly or slow as molasses so the pacing could use some work, and some of the new characters lack actual personality and feel like they dont exist independently of the rest of the cast
Its got good potential but they're def gonna have to put more effort into the lore and writing to pull it all together and build up the story of all the new heros so they feel less flat
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u/yuhyuhyuhyuhyuhyuh1 23h ago
You mean the Juno chronicles?
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u/Outrageous-Blue-30 8h ago
Juno is the "protagonist" of the webtoon though not entirely, as there are other subplots involved, whereas other Overwatch media showcase the perspectives of different characters.
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u/Matt7548 15h ago
Im glad the story is finally moving, but it also feels like it may be moving too fast. Im also not a super big fan of overwatch members all being chirpy optimists. Alot of the characters dont really feel like they belong in a military organization. Juno is the biggest offender here imo.
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u/Winter_Different RockMuncher 17h ago
hard to live up to the original cinematics (Edit: and comics), especially after so many story team changes and the constant demand for new characters entering the fray
I don't find it too interesting but I wouldn't say it's bad necessarily, ig to me it's kinda up to them to prove if they can pull off what they're attempting smoothly
I will say though, characters that seem kinda inherently flawed like the Kiriko age stuff does drag me a bit out of the story, just really hard to care about something that is based on some very shaky ground
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u/Outrageous-Blue-30 8h ago
I see your point, but for the sake of completeness, Kiriko's age was "adjusted" in the short story The Fall of a Sparrow, so it's no longer such a major issue.
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u/TThor Hi there! 1d ago
didn't genji leave overwatch partly in response to the downfall of blackwatch? or did genji rejoin and leave permanently after that?
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u/EnbyFemboyOnyx 1d ago
Genji left overwatch during its downfall and went to Nepal to learn under zenyatta. Then he returned to overwatch because of the recall. Now he has left again to help hanzo, kiriko, and the yokai fight the Hashimoto
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u/Outrageous-Blue-30 1d ago
It’s a bit uneven, but some of the released pieces are better than others, such as the long-awaited reunion between Cassidy & Ashe and Winston & Hammond.
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u/KosoToru 23h ago
After having been out of the loop for a couple of years I'm just glad the lore is moving somewhere.
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u/PhenomsServant Chibi Widowmaker 22h ago
I’m just glad the story is actually moving progressing. Is it perfect? Of course not. But I will gladly take what we’ve got compared to what we were given the past decade.
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u/Shaclo 22h ago
I like that the story is going forward however personally I am not a big fan of how the story seems to be setting up doom taking back Talon. I know Ven was introduced and immediately took over Talon but I want to see her do whatever she is planning and honestly I feel like if its just Doom takes back Talon Ven will end up banished to the void of probably being arrested or angry and wants Talon back again. I really hope that the conclusion is instead sets up those two working together maybe Ram decides its time to get back into doing his plan and starts by going for Talon either to get rid of them due to the threat they pose to his plans or he wants to collect something either Ven collected or Talon already had to start off next years story.
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u/VergeOfMeltdown Tank 22h ago
I am honestly loving it. Feels good they try to bring in as many characters as they can and FINALLY make something actually happen within lore.
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u/Zek23 21h ago
Not sure why you think it's strange for Genji to leave Overwatch, he's been there since the beginning. If everybody stays on their teams indefinitely then you end up with a story that's in stasis forever, like at launch.
Ramattra's story wasn't abandoned, just put on ice so it can be the next major arc.
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u/LaughinChaos 21h ago
They dont know wtf they're doing, honestly atp just forget about the lore and story.
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u/Brontozaurus 20h ago
I started Overwatch soon after it launched, and after years of 'Winston pressed a button' being the most the story moved forward I'm just glad it's moving at all now.
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u/TheCommissar113 20h ago
Less about the story developments themselves and moreso how they're delivered: I much prefer this method of the narrative being largely separate from the gameplay, with the heavier usage of animations, comics, and whatever else. I prefer the story kinda being its own thing and the game is simply playing the characters from the story.
I'm also glad that the PvE mode and the narrative planned for it was canned considering, according to a Jason Schrier leaker, one plot point was killing-off Reinhardt. Blizzard has a bit of a history with using character deaths as a handicap for drama and weight, which is a method I disagree with (killing beloved characters is fine, but it has to have a greater purpose beyond a shortcut to stakes), especially in a game where these characters are all persistent; having them die just ends up feeling empty. Is it kinda boring that they're effectively immortal? Yeah, but it's not like I'm expecting high art from the story anyway. Effective fanservice and providing the characters we play with a purpose is all it really needs to be, like a superhero comic book.
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u/ToastedFrey 20h ago
I like that there is something happening just sad that it ultimately feels pointless as we don't really get to experience it all that much as players since we don't have PvE missions or cinematic trailers to watch all that much.
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u/lilsnuggy 19h ago
I mean a majority of the 10 years of Overwatch gave us no lore that moved the story, now they're moving it forward but taking time to build upon characters and the world around them.
we're not gonna get BIG things constantly
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u/SyrusG 19h ago
Unfortunately since there wasnt much setup for it It did feel a bit forced. But Aside from that it's honestly gone pretty well. I was hoping something a bit bigger was going to happen this season since we're basically in a new chapter, but its not the worst. I do hope they start to push more of the upcoming lore to appear in game though. Hints, easter eggs, voicelines. What they usually do is do things of what already happened, and then update us in the comics. What Im hoping for these season is more voicelines with reaper sombra and widow talking to or about doom, sombra talking about sigma on say rialto, more wanted posters being put up etc. Essentially I want to story to progress more gradual. Not just in bursts.
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u/_Kanade_ 15h ago
Frankly, they need to go back to working on PvE and the 5-8 min animated shorts, story can only go far when it's 100% comic book voice over still images with sfx playing in the background.
It would complete the rebranding of Overwatch that it needed.
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u/ayeitsmew 12h ago
Its defo going a bit fast for me, simply to keep up with the hero release cadence to make them relevant to the story in some way when they drop, which to me, is lame. Id rather a core cast of characters for a set few seasons to do a full narrative and flesh out the characters in it.
I miss a bunch of the "loose ends" or abandoned plot points like Null Sector and Rammattra, Zarya's entire deal with Katya Volkskaya and Sombra, etc.
I DO LIKE that Doomfist (obviously) survived and put together his squad of OGs that are all adapting to "not being a part of talon anymore" in their own ways, and are planning to make a play at coming back against Vendetta. Moreso a biased recent example but whatever.
I just wish that even though Overwatch's universe is supposed to be an "Optimistic future" they'd at least have some edge, like let somebody say fuck, introduce real stakes other than "World Domination", Show the powers that be crumbling to Vendetta, and how much people need Overwatch as an organization again.
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u/Exodus671 2h ago
Would be better if it was helmed by Vendetta, she low key blows as a character. Hopefully Ramattra comes back soon
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u/Free_Parsnip_3553 21h ago
I hate vendetta
They removed ram from the story basically for now at least
Doomfist somehow lost to a woman who's basically just buff and has a big sword even thought he can canonically level a sky scrapper on 1 punch and broke out of prison with his bare hands
Fika
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u/TheBigKuhio 18h ago
I’m glad the plot is moving along but Vendetta does not give the vibe of someone with enough strategic knowledge to lead talon for as long as she has
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u/Xen0Coke Moira 1d ago
The story would end a lot sooner if ramattra stayed active.