I wonder why it's okay when tf2 does it but when it's overwatch it just comes off as cringy.
I figure it might come across that way since OW takes itself and it's universe super duper seriously. So seeing them morphed and fucked with just comes across as... exceptionally strange? TF2's always been this loose, parody of a universe essentially. The characters make ridiculous facial expressions and are designed to be parody-esque and ridiculous. The German Mad Doctor, the Russian Heavy Tank, the French Ladies Man Secret Agent, etc etc. They're not played too straight, so it makes perfect sense to take them to their extremes.
With OW all of that feels... idunno... wrong? So out of place. It's just not right for that kind of humor imo.
You could just as well argue that the overblown comedy and slapstick work better because of the contrast.
However I also have to remind you that when people started making videos of this genre, TF2 took itself rather seriously back then.
The wacky Gmod and SFM counterparts of TF2 characters we have gotten used to seeing over the years so there's nothing jarring about them.
I'd argue TF2 was always a little silly, it just got more overt as time went on. If Valve never went on to make its "Meet The" cinematics, TF2 would probably always have this undercurrent of "weird" but never really shown. But they did, and now it's weird in the label.
Yeah, TF2 took itself so seriously that they literally put "COPYRIGHT LOLOLOL" into their Meet the videos.
https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/58144/15eb3a84-d8a7-43ac-b4d7-b82c8cf2cfcd/chrome_2018-03-30_21-32-41.png
personally, it wasn’t as good because it didn’t look like overwatch. Tf2 videos were funny because they looked like tf2 characters. Same engine and lighting. Overwatch characters just don’t translate well into source lighting and such
TF2 was never really very serious. Remember, this is a game that released with maps having cardboard cutouts of cows in the background instead of real cows and a plot of two colour-coded organisations that each control exactly half of the world fighting pointlessly over nothing.
They only added a story to TF2 as what was supposed to be a one off joke. If anything they're taking it more seriously now than they used to.
dunno it's still funny to me
That shadowstep is pretty accurate to the game
TF2's character personalities are great and fit the style of humor. Overwatch's personalities however are very bland and try too hard to be serious.
TF2 never felt silly,
It's original art style was very grounded with some extreme forms of exaggeration. It wasn't so much silly as it was ridiculous.
For example, if you look at all of the original maps, they look pretty normal, until you look closely and deep. Then you realize it's all an elaborate facade.
Also TF2 has mod support, Overwatch doesn't. That makes it inherently more likely for anyone who plays TF2 to see strange and silly things happening. I'm willing to be there's a lot of TF2 players who spent more time on maps like orange and mario kart than some of the official maps. We're used to seeing TF2 characters in these silly things even in the game itself.
OW's characters are about as deep as a puddle.
TF2's characters were about the same, but the media released afterwards was great at expanding it. OW's comics and other media are just as bland as the game/movies.
I thought this video was pretty funny though it is always a bit strange seeing OW characters act like the usual TF2 Gmod video.
I think the Overwatch "good guys vs. bad guys" story is a pretty strong premise for these videos considering the one-sided (practically self-caricatured) superhero personalities of the OW heroes.
I'd say even without mods Overwatch characters are still subject to a lot of fan-made characterization, though those are typically just based on preexisting traits and definitely are not on the same tier as TF2. Examples would be D.va eating Doritos and drinking Mtn. Dew + Soldier: 76 being a dad\grandpa kind of figure, both of which have ended up in the game (Blizzard embracing fan stuff like that is cool, but cancelling entire lore-expanding graphic novels for the sake of preserving headcanons is another thing).
Getting back on topic, I think at the very least this video was pretty well executed and gave me a giggle.
If I recall correctly, the artsyle TF2 eventually settled upon was decided because a dash of cartoony silliness was a good way to solve obvious logical problems like "Why would these archrival shadow corporations build fronts right next to each other, facing each other, and holding vital documents which the other could just walk in and take?"
Stuff like that didn't work at all in the ultra realistic (for the time) tactical military shooter TF2 was originally slated to be, but when you ease up on the seriousness a bit it actually starts to add to the charm instead of serve as a detriment.
I don't TF2 ever really had deep or well developed characters, it's just that their simplicity worked with the setting.
"Humorous tones" is a far cry from what we have today. Overwatch also has "humorous tones".
Compare pre-release cinematics to
https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/1335/509a5f58-8e3b-47ea-87c4-e167a91b24ba/doommates.PNG
Can we stop arguing and just all agree the ending "Hack the planet" bit was amazing.
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