In terms of gameplay, he had no way to give a truly objective evaluation. After all, he was not exactly a fan of RTS games. Although he had played quite a few games before, when it came to something as professional and complicated as the so-called balance of an RTS game, he really could not confidently give his own judgment.
On the one hand, he simply did not understand the deeper competitive aspects of the genre well enough. On the other hand, he had not even unlocked the cyber warfare mode yet, so there was even less basis for him to comment on the competitive balance between different factions and units. If he tried to force himself to evaluate it, it would probably be nothing more than pretending to understand something he did not.
However, when it came to the basic operation of the game, he could still make a relatively simple judgment. At first glance, it did not seem particularly different from most traditional RTS games. Players still needed to command their troops, develop their economy, occupy important areas, construct buildings, produce units, and gradually expand their military strength. The basic framework was still there, but the biggest difference was the setting of the hero units. That was the part that immediately stood out.
As for the competitive aspects of the game, he had not really experienced them yet, so he naturally had no way to give a definitive evaluation. But one thing was certain: the plot mode had genuinely attracted him. In fact, it had attracted him far more than he had originally expected, as the quality of the game itself was simply too high.
Whether it was the voice acting, the background music, the character models, the environmental details, or the various visual effects displayed during combat, everything possessed the quality of a top-tier 3A production. It was difficult to believe that this was actually an RTS game.
Even now, he still had not completely figured out what the entire story of "Warcraft" was trying to tell. However, just from the opening CG animation and the brief introduction to the world, he could already tell one thing. This story was definitely heading toward the direction of an epic.
Humans and orcs hated one another. The two races had been struggling against each other for generations, and neither side seemed willing to surrender.
At the same time, powerful foreign creatures were invading from beyond the known world, while an unknown plague was spreading throughout the human kingdom.
Every single element seemed to suggest that the conflict was far larger than a simple war between two races.
There were kingdoms.
There were races.
There were supernatural forces.
There were ancient enemies.
And there was a catastrophe that seemed to be gradually approaching the entire world.
There was no doubt that "Warcraft" possessed an enormous worldview and a complete storyline. This was something that he found particularly fascinating.
In RTS games of the same type, most of the backstory was usually similar to "Red Alert." The developers would provide players with a basic setting and perhaps a short introduction to the conflict between the various factions.
You would know who the enemy was.
You would know roughly why the war had started.
You would know that one side needed to defeat the other.
And that was usually about it.
It was more like an outline than an actual story. If players looked carefully, they would often discover that the so-called background story was actually extremely empty. But for players to truly become immersed in a game, a simple background was not enough.
Players needed a story.
They needed characters.
They needed motivations.
They needed to understand why the characters were fighting, what they wanted, what they feared, and what kind of future they were fighting for.
If you simply threw a background setting in front of the player without giving them an actual story, then how were they supposed to become immersed? How were they supposed to feel that they were actually part of that world?
This was especially important for RTS games. After all, RTS was already a relatively niche genre. Its core gameplay was never primarily focused on the story.
Most RTS games treated their PVE campaign as a combination of beginner tutorials and scenario missions. The so-called "plot" was often nothing more than an excuse to teach the player how to construct buildings, gather resources, produce soldiers, and destroy the enemy base. The story itself was usually little more than a thin layer wrapped around the gameplay.
And he could understand why. If a developer genuinely wanted to create a high-quality story mode, the cost would be enormous.
You needed writers.
You needed character designers.
You needed voice actors.
You needed music.
You needed cutscenes.
You needed animation.
You needed additional programming and cinematic production.
You needed to create countless assets that might only appear for a few seconds.
All of those things cost money.
And if you were already spending such an enormous amount of money creating a high-quality story, then a very realistic question would naturally arise. If you were going to invest that much money into the narrative experience, why not simply make an RPG? Therefore, when it came to RTS games, there was usually very little room for truly elaborate narrative design.
Even "Red Alert" had additional content such as two consecutive DLCs, animations, and other supplementary materials that helped flesh out its world. But even after all those additions, the overall story still felt relatively empty compared with a dedicated narrative-driven RPG.
"Warcraft," however, was completely different. Even if players only focused on the plot mode, the experience was already approaching that of a large-scale RPG. And that was not the only improvement John had made.
The battle campaign itself had also undergone substantial changes. For example, in the original "Warcraft" battle scenarios, much of the purpose was actually to teach players how to play the game's traditional RTS mode.
The basic formula was familiar.
Mine resources.
Cut down trees.
Construct buildings.
Produce soldiers.
Expand the base.
Then lead the army toward the enemy.
There were also some special stages where players did not need to construct a base or produce additional troops at all. Instead, they would be given a certain number of soldiers at the beginning of the stage and would have to complete a specific objective with those limited forces.
This design made sense when considering the original development environment. The reason "Warcraft" in the Memory had been designed this way was largely because the developers had defined the RTS mode itself as the core gameplay. On top of that, the development technology of the era had imposed many limitations.
Funding was also an important issue. The developers simply did not have the resources to create an enormous cinematic RPG experience inside an RTS game. Therefore, they had chosen the most practical solution available at the time. It was not that the developers did not want to make something more ambitious; the conditions simply did not allow them to.
But the situation was different for the "Warcraft" developed by John, as he placed much greater emphasis on the RPG elements within the campaign. He did not simply treat the RTS mechanics as the entire foundation of the experience. Instead, he deliberately strengthened the importance of the heroes.
In the game, heroes were not merely stronger soldiers placed on the battlefield; they were the true protagonists of the campaign. Their growth, abilities, equipment, experiences, and relationships with the world all had a direct impact on the player's experience. It was somewhat similar to how support characters worked in many other games.
Even a support character would usually have damage-dealing abilities. A support character might be designed to help the team, but that did not mean the player controlling that character wanted to spend the entire game doing nothing except standing behind everyone else.
If the equipment was good enough and the character was developed properly, there were even situations where the support character could deal more damage than the so-called C-position. This was a very common phenomenon in games.
In almost any game, especially cooperative team-based games, there would always be more players willing to choose damage dealers than players willing to play tanks or pure support roles.
And among those damage dealers, the assassins who looked cool, moved quickly, possessed flashy skills, and could suddenly appear behind an enemy before instantly eliminating them were usually the most popular. This was simply the heroic spirit of gamers.
Everyone wanted other players to see their performance.
Everyone wanted to be the person who turned the tide of battle.
Everyone wanted to become the player who suddenly appeared at the critical moment and carried the entire team.
Even if the final scoreboard showed something like 0-22, that player could still be happily charging across the battlefield. And then, a few seconds later, instantly melted by a complete chain of enemy skills.
"Ah..." Louis couldn't help laughing when he thought about it.
That was the joy of gaming; it did not always have to be about winning. Sometimes, players simply wanted to perform something spectacular, and this was precisely the kind of experience John had deliberately emphasized in the plot mode of "Warcraft."
The importance of the hero units had been significantly increased. If the original hero's importance in the campaign was roughly 40%, then in John's version, that figure had been raised to 60% or even higher. This produced a completely different experience.
For example, in the simple beginner mode, players did not need to constantly focus on controlling every single soldier. Instead, they could put more of their attention on the hero.
Use skills.
Move through the battlefield.
Complete objectives.
Defeat important enemies.
As long as they properly developed the main hero of the chapter, they could essentially progress through the entire campaign.
More importantly, the hero's level did not reset after every mission. The game adopted an RPG-style progression system. The hero's attributes, abilities, equipment, and development would be carried over into subsequent chapters.
This seemingly simple change greatly increased the player's sense of continuity. The hero was no longer just a disposable unit that appeared at the beginning of one mission and disappeared after the mission ended. Instead, the player was raising that character.
They were watching the hero become stronger.
They were watching the character experience victories and defeats.
They were following the hero's journey.
As a result, the player's sense of substitution and immersion naturally became much stronger.
Compared with the original "Warcraft," which, because of funding limitations and technological constraints, relied heavily on real-time game calculations interspersed with subtitle dialogue to advance the story, John's version had taken a completely different approach.
John could only describe his use of high-quality live-action CG-style animation as extravagant. It was one of the main reasons why the development cost of "Warcraft" had become so high.
The difference was immediately obvious. In the narrative scenes, the excellent CG animation did not merely show characters standing around and speaking.
It showed their expressions.
Their movements.
Their body language.
Even the subtle changes in their eyes.
When a character became angry, the player could see the anger in their expression.
When a character hesitated, the hesitation could be seen in their eyes.
When a character was grieving, the player's emotions could be drawn into that grief through the animation itself.
All of these details combined to create an experience that was far more immersive than the original version. The difference was not something that could be explained simply by saying that the graphics were better. It was the difference between watching a story happen and actually feeling as though you were witnessing the story unfold.
In the stream, Louis was having more and more fun. The plot continued to advance, one chapter after another. And before he realized it, he had finally arrived at the final chapter.
Looking at the chapter selection screen, he couldn't help sighing. "I feel like the human race's storyline is finally reaching the end."
He rubbed his chin and continued. "The mage girlfriend broke up with him, the paladin teacher left, and those two fools are seriously miserable."
The viewers immediately burst into laughter.
Louis shook his head. "Honestly, I feel like the fool is already becoming a little paranoid in his pursuit of the Dreadlord."
As soon as he finished speaking, the final chapter appeared on the screen. The title was: "Sorrow of Frost."
Yan's expression immediately became serious, and he leaned closer to the screen. The atmosphere suddenly became much heavier. After coming this far, even he was curious about what kind of conclusion the game would give the human race, but he could not help feeling that Arthas really was making one questionable decision after another.
When the final chapter began, he leaned back in his chair and watched carefully. The more he played, the more details he discovered. Although "Warcraft" was technically an RTS game, the experience was gradually becoming less and less like what he had originally expected from the genre. In many ways, it felt remarkably similar to a traditional linear RPG.
There were major characters.
There were dramatic developments.
There were emotional conflicts.
There were large-scale battles.
There were character arcs.
And most importantly, there was a continuous sense of progression.
The player was not simply moving from one battlefield to another.
They were following a story.
They were watching the world change.
They were watching the characters change.
And they were becoming increasingly curious about what would happen next.
With these thoughts in mind, he finally completed the campaign. Soon, the final chapter was completely cleared. The familiar CG animation then appeared on the screen. But this time, something was different.
He stared at the progress bar and his eyes widened. "Wait..."
The number displayed on the screen made him momentarily suspect that he had seen it incorrectly. He looked again. Ten minutes. A full ten-minute countdown appeared on the progress bar.
He was stunned. "My God!"
He almost jumped out of his chair. "Is this a game that comes with a whole movie?!"
The chats immediately exploded.
"Ten minutes of CG?!"
"This isn't a cutscene anymore!"
"It's basically an animated movie!"
"Are we still playing an RTS?"
Louis stared at the screen with an expression of disbelief. The game had already shocked him enough with its graphics, music, voice acting, and story. But now it was actually presenting a ten-minute CG sequence at the end of the campaign. How much money had John spent on this game?
However, no matter how shocked he was, there was one thing he absolutely had to do. Watch it. After all, he had already played through the entire campaign. There was no reason to skip the conclusion.
He moved the mouse toward the screen. He clicked the right mouse button, hiding the progress bar, and he clicked the play button. Then, the screen slowly faded, and the music began to rise.
The final CG animation of "Warcraft" officially began.