Cutscenes

I wanted to touch on Cut-scenes in World of Warcraft today.  There has been a lot said about them by a lot of different people, generally with positive attitudes, and I thought that my two-cents might be interesting to say the least.  This will also be my first post with pictures, so I'll get to see how that plays out.

We have seen Blizzard play with Cut-scenes before.  They used the game's engine along with strong voice actors during the Burning Crusade, especially in regards to the different Kael'thas fights.  And in Wrath of the Lich King, there were notable cut scenes with the conclusion of the Wrath Gate quest line and the death of the Lich King.

Blizzard promised that their Cinematic team would get worked during the Cataclysm and they did not fail to provide.  Upon completing the first quest as a level 80, you are shown the Maelstrom and Thrall in a cinematic.  After that, it's a cinematic train throughout every questing area.

I have screenshots from where I hit my issue with Cinematics, and that is questing in Uldum.  This is obviously an area the Cinematic team was excited about because there are too many Cinematics.  Pictured above is one of the the well placed Cinematics throughout the Tol'vir quest line in Uldum.

And pictured below is one of the far-too-many and poorly-placed Cinematics in the Harrison Jones questline in Uldum.

At one point, as you are completing the Harrison Jones quest line, you will be forced through a short Cinematic every time you complete a quest.

Eventually, the use of Cinematics in the area becomes belligerent and generally draws away from what I liked in the Cimenatics from Wrath of the Lich King; because they were rare they often had more power.

In the other areas of the world, you see this new imaginative tool less abused.  Perhaps the less Egyptian-esque themes proved problematic for the Cinematics team and they were unable to pump out the imagery?