Tales of the Past III

[SeaGull1723]

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

Revised my review. Enjoy.

 

[ragingspeedhorn]

Never ever heard of this before, might check it out.

 

[redmarine]

Here is the link to Tales of the Past III - http://www.warcraftmovies.com/movieview.php?id=53953
Btw: Downloads: 204,114 (79,393 per day)
If you'd like you could visit his forums and have an convirsation with him like I did.

 

[Dr00d]

I first hear about this on another forum, it's over an hour and 30 minutes. When I start WoW movies I'm aiming to make something like this.

 

[Sgt. Johnson]

The first 2 weren't as well made but Tales of the Past 3 was amazing, they put so much work into it. The only thing I thought was a little tacky is they kinda did what most people fall to and that was make the main 2 characters beyond godly in their fighting skill. It didn't seem as Warcraft-ish (new word) towards the end and made me feel like I was watching a DBZ hybrid of Warcraft heh.

Though still the movie is amazing and has an epic story to it.

Tales of the Past: Episode 1 - http://video.google.com/videoplay?d...994&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=7

Tales of the Past: Episode 2 - http://video.google.com/videoplay?d...997&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=1

Tales of the Past: Episode 3 - http://files.filefront.com/TalesofthePast3iPodmp4/;9249320;/fileinfo.html


Enjoy

 

[redmarine]

Paladins were one of the best classes in Warcraft and now they've been reduced to nothing more than healers in World of Warcraft. -.-

 

[Sgt. Johnson]

Paladins were one of the best classes in Warcraft and now they've been reduced to nothing more than healers in World of Warcraft. -.-

I'm sorry I don't see the relevance between this and the video =/

 

[Tauer]

The movie is very professional. I've seen it, very impressive editing and story. And he's danish!!!!1

 

[redmarine]

I'm sorry I don't see the relevance between this and the video =/

He is only 20 -.- Come join us on his forum.
http://www.madx.dk/machinima/forum/index.php