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Tales of the Past III Review |
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Written by Zasz
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Sunday, 23 December 2007 |
1817 HITS
Tales of the Past III
After
two episodes of the epic that originally started as a guild recruitment
video, Falch has done the grulling task of releasing the final third
episode completing the trilogy. Fans of machinima and World of Warcraft
alike have waited for the completion of the epic trilogy. After 1.5
years in the making, Falch has finally brought a masterpiece that truly
shines in the machinima community.
Story
To
get the full story of TotP III, you have to watch the previous two
episodes. While it might be necessary to know some background
information about Warcraft and the Ashbringer, judging from the
comments, it seems unnecessary to know the majority of the lore to
enjoy it. But let us not forget that TotP presents an epic storyline
that is currently top notch in the machinima community. Back then, I
expected Return to be the first to achieve this with its sequel, but
after the authors were hired by Blizzard, I didn't think there was ever
going to be a machinima comparable to the LotR trilogy.
Most of
the storyline and background is not necessarily lore breaking, but
Falch had to break the rules sometimes to insure it was not boring. (I
couldn't possibly watch the protagonist shout "For the Light!" before
the final fight.) All the characters could use more development, but
that might be saved for another time. Still, I pondered about what
Blazer learns throughout the movie and how his personality changes from
humorous to dark and vengeful. Again, watch the previous episodes, and
you will know what I am talking about.
Filming
As
in his previous works, Falch manages to get groups of players to be in
the film and pose as armies. During production, his style changed
significantly using private servers and model viewer to capture the
footage. And he did a spectacular job with the action scenes. I will
admit it is like Naruto and several anime, but I have to praise Falch
for it because it breaks the barrier of dull action and the Warcraftish
feeling that has always been present in WoW machinima. The way Falch
filmed TotPIII and edited it together had me feeling like it was a real
movie.
Voice Acting and Music
In
the first episode, no voice acting was present. It was only in the
second episode that Falch implemented voice acting. While not the best
at the time, suffering from broken microphones and less of the
Warcraftish feeling, it was sufficient enough. I expected to see the
acting improve in TotPIII, and it impressed me. Blazer, most likely,
improved the most in fitting his character during dramatic moments as I
mentioned before in the story section. The voice actors for the orcs
made me feel like they were the original actors unlike the second
episode when it needed editing to accomplish the rough voice of an orc.
There are still some issues in broken microphones and inexperienced
actors, but the improvement outweighs the issues.
The music, as
it previously did, made TotPIII made me felt like I was watching a real
movie. Only a turn was taken from the Zimmerman feeling to implementing
some Naruto themes and others I cannot think of. It sounds weird, but
this machinima was the only one that I felt the Naruto themes were
appropriate unlike some PvP movies that tried. While I am not sure what
to make of the use of Nightwish's tracks, the music selection overall
was high quality and fit the scenes.
Overall
TotPIII
demonstrates the large potential machinima has. Great music, acting,
editing, and storyline, I do not think you can really say it is
overrated. Heck, if you want to argue against this, show me a
production that can afford a professional recording studio or original
soundtrack. Before you criticize, you cannot compare machinima to a
professional movie. Machinima is machinima and should stay machinima.
Falch is simply trying to please the WoW audience.
Hopefully
after reading this review, you get the idea that you cannot possibly
skip the opportunity to not watch the movie. If being on the spotlight
of Warcraftmovies.com for several days is not enough, I do not know
what could possibly compare to it. It is 2 GB and not the most
convenient download, but you will not be disappointed. Watch and you
will see.
~Zasz Evil Doer
Lvl 1 Critic
Watch Tales of the Past III
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Last Updated ( Monday, 28 January 2008 )
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