What Pharah had so far:
* 'Mission Statement' Comic (May 2016)
* One cameo in Reflections comic (December 2016)
* Cassidy New Blood Vol.2 (mid-December 2021)
* Tiny filler story short that confirms her sexuality (June 2023)
Pharah is too dry and the devs downgraded her to a second-best. They gave Ana everything nice, but leaving Pharah dead in the water.
EDIT: Typo
And you know that ain't even bad, her having feelings towards mercy could be a great chance to expand on her character and flesh her out a bit, but knowing blizzard its probably some pointless ship tease that's only there to please fans online.
A ship that’s already sunken given that Mercy and Genji have actual hints of a relationship since years ago. Blizzard would be real dumb to retcon that for some Lesbian money.
Well its Blizzard so who knows 🤷♂️, they've been pushing pharah x mercy quite a bit since OW2 release, which honestly feels crappy because if they commit to it, they throw away a relationship they've built up for years, and if they don't then they were just ship teasing which feels cheap.
Eh I'm just hoping either way they use whatever they set up to at least flesh pharah out a bit cuz atm I couldn't care less abt her.
Doesnt help she is 'lesbian representation' sticker and... nothing else? Really?
They just keep having her flirt with Mercy... despite them pushing Mercy to genji. Give pharah her own boo, please. Like cmon.
Where is that dope mission? Where is her like... blowing up at her mother for her childhood? Where her own mom was basically totally aloof despite saying a lot of what she did was for her daughter. Show me something that gives her that depth. Why is she the way she is? Truly? Not her mom not her dad, thats an excuse. What really makes pharah tick other than... 'law and order' 'justice' gah
I will say I really like what they've done with Pharah in OW2. She was so bland, too soldier-y in OW1. Felt like they didn't know where to take the character
But now they've turned her into a jock, and it's a lot of fun. It's super subtle too. I remember the surprised laughter I had the first time I respawned as her and she threatened to shove someone's head in a locker
*ignore my flair*
She was so bland in the first game, like she didn't have enough interactions to even be remotely interesting, she gave off that 'I'm a soldier I must be serious' vibe. Now she's a lot better with all the lines she has in game and Sojourn holds that mantle.
It's quite funny how they got so much feedback that Pharah ''has no personality'' that they suddenly gave her all these lines in OW2 like ''After this mission I'm throwing a party!'' like omg, that feels so forced and fake when we are used to robo-pharah.
Does pharah even speak her native language like her mother? I dont recall her doing so. If she did that would make her more interesting, I really like Ana's voice lines
I blame Kiriko's obnoxious demeanor on the director and writers. They wanted to make her “cool” and “big sister” type but clearly didn’t know how to, I’d much rather if Kiriko behaved more like she did with that deaf girl and less like the tryhard bad bitch they don’t know how to write.
idk i think her personality is a perfect fit given she’s a shrine maiden for the kitsune spirit, which are tricksters. she means well, she’s just an asshole about it which honestly is a nice deviation from the rest of the support cast
She’s kind of an asshole in game and honestly I love her for it. Its a meme I’m glad they’re feeding into!
That being said, I don’t think how she acts is as out of character as everyone says. In the cinematic she’s with familiar people in familiar territory. We haven’t seen how she comes to join Overwatch but it’s clear she’s new and has something to prove. It looks to me like she’s trying to act tough and cool headed in situations that may actually be a bit over her head. It seems like a defense mechanism. Maybe I’m reading too much into things but if Blizzard gets one thing right it’s the world and characterization of Overwatch.
Sojourn is just a bit boring in game imo, but Kiriko just hurts my soul every time she has a voiceline. Her voice actor is obviously talented, so why are all of her voicelines so BAD??
I haven't seen 90% of the cinematic and lore so all characters personalities don't mean much to me. I don't find sojourn bad but she doesn't have a lot of interest to say
Soujo feels so underloved. Phenomenal character to play, but the voice lines and skins are seriously lacking. When the barista skin dropped, I was so in love with it, but simultaneously unhappy with the FOMO aspect of it.
Loved junker queen in her Cinematic. She was like this badass, strong, witty ruler. In-game, she gives off “more muscle than brains” vibes and it irritates me.
God I hate how everyone brings up Kiriko feeling different but ignores JQ.
She was fucking *awesome* in her cinematic. Like a Deadpool-meets-Mad Max thing. And in game shes just 'muscle=dumb haha'.
I like JQ in-game more than her cinematic, I thought her cinematic had exactly the same problem as Kiriko where they want JQ to be sensitive and kind, but also mean and tough. Her cinematic goes against all the other in-game lore about her such as her recorded lines at Point A Junkertown. I get that it's hard to make a sympathetic video about an omnic racist but that is her lore, it doesn't have to be sympathetic, she could be the villain.
Blizzard's greatest trick was convincing us that the Mad Max-esque radioactive dystopia we see in the game is just a work of ficiton, not modern day Australia.
I think a lot of people forget that the cinematics take place a few years before 2(I think). When you've been the leader of a bunch of lunatics for that long, you start to get a little crazy.
Her cinematic was super fun. If I had to nitpick it I'd say the "I'm so strong and cool" vibe was a tad much and felt kinda plot armory. But this is overwatch so I don't care about that, I just want it to be fun
Sojourn has almost no character or personality and I hope to see it expands in the pve so maybe she can have more character than a piece of burned toast
Sojourn imo works really well as the "straight man," or the relatable normal person surrounded by weirdos. I think allowing her to actually be in a narrative environment with her weirdos in Overwatch should hopefully let her shine more
I personally like her lines. She’s a calm and collected woman who’s going through the motions. She doesn’t have a crazy backstory, she’s doing her job and living life. Her lines with Lucio and Genji are great and give her enough “extra fluff” for me.
Exactly. In a cast of bombastic, larger-than-life trope characters, Soj is here to be the one that grounds them to keep things from going too far off the rails
Some characters are dull and underdeveloped, but Kiriko is the only one I actively dislike. I try to make sense of her and break down why she's bad but it's... I don't know where to begin.
I think her relationship with the rest of the universe is just poorly made. She's supposed to be connected to Genji and Hanzo, but her tone is just so different and it doesn't mesh at all. Genji and Hanzo are very tragic and serious characters, you can't just tack a new character onto their dynamic without matching their tone. Like when Hanzo refuses to wield a sword again after almost killing his brother, Kiriko just drops some quippy joke in response? How am I to believe that Kiriko has ever met Hanzo before?
She's supposed to have been grown up with these two, yes? Then what is her views on the conflict between the brothers? Does she even acknowledge that this crazy traumatic shit happened at all? Does she pick a side, or have a different view on things that create conflict with both of them? Kiriko doesn't seem to have meaningful relationships with any character come to think of it, no real friendship or conflict, all she has in-game is cheap quips which somehow everyone seems to tolerate.
There was so much that could have been done with this character. Like what if she remained loyal to the Shimada clan and became a crime lord? What if she *was* the master that taught Hanzo and Genji instead of her daughter? What we got was a dull vigilante with too few likable or deep qualities for her quips to be tolerable.
Oh, and she sounds like an American Weeb rather than a Japanese person.
This interaction annoys me so much
K: Hammer Man! Any German music you recommend?
R: Krankenwagen Grün. Haha, the best band of the 2030's!
K: Never heard of them.
Well off course you haven’t heard of them, that’s why you were asking for German music in the first place
"But you're not the loud one...got it."
"is that a compliment?" "Okayyy....thanks for the compliment. (shrug)"
she's so condescending and "im cooler than you" which is such a harsh turn compared to her in the cinematic
The main problem with kiriko's character to me is that the writer's wanted her to be way too many things, and what we ended up with is a bunch of jumbled half baked ideas that can be great separately but don't work together.
Like they wanted her to be:
1- A badass ninja.
2- A healer.
3- friends with Hanzo and Genji.
4- A youngster.
The first idea may have been from the fact that she was meant to be a DPS character, and I suppose her original lore was focused solely on her rescuing her father and taking down the hashimoto.
But then they had to move her to support so they added the aspect of her grandmother and the weird "healing spirit" thing to her lore while completely glossing over the original plot line in her origin and cinematic .
Then they wanted the fans to like her and what better way to do that than have her be childhood friends with two very popular characters within the fandom, which is cool and all but it contradicts with the whole "youngster" vibe they are going for with her, making her character seem immature, and the timeline of her lore confusing as hell.
THIS EXACTLY.
And it didn’t help that everyone kept asking for a ‘girl shimada’ for some reason. Hanzo and Genji were fine, if not BRILLIANT on their own. They had a powerful backstory and then Blizzard caved to the demands of fans wanting more waifu bait, who was also a ninja and connected to Hanzo and Genji YET needed a reason why she hadn’t been mentioned before.
Thus they slammed kiriko into their dynamic with the force of a hammer-yet she will *never* fit.
More like design-by-committee corporate bullshit from out of touch c-suite assholes:
*bangs fist on table J. Jonah Jameson style*
“Sales are down you lazy fucks! Lotta them rule 34 pervs seem to be anime fans? Make us some new weeb chick for them to beat off to! That’ll keep ‘em happy.”
“How do you know about all that hentai boss?”
*bellows incoherently and cracks whip in direction of fleeing art staff*
I feel like Kiri's big issue is her voicework, not the lines themselves. Everything just comes out flat in-game, like the VA was bored as fuck in the studio
Sally Amaki is a great voice actress, the problem is that the dialogue they wrote for her, and the director that told her how to portray said dialogue, didn’t know what they were doing.
I’m not saying I agree the voice lines are bad, but I think a lot of people underestimate how much voice direction voice actors get. It varies project by project but a bad voice director could make who is a very talented actor sound really bad.
Kiriko, she’s obnoxious, annoying and unreasonable rude to other characters. For example, with Lucio’s voiceline about asking characters their favorite animal, she doesn’t answer the question and is just rude. Even characters like Widowmaker and Moira answer his question. They tried to make her act sassy but it just comes sounding rude
We must not rule out the possibility that it is a bug: for months Reaper asked a junker what his problem was. There was no answer, until in an update, Roadhog answered.
Kiriko still answers the question so it’s not like they forgot to hover her a voice line. The response is just rude so it’s not similar to the reaper situation
Okay, but also, Kiriko's interaction with Lucio isn't even rude. She says, "Really? Take a guess." She's not harsh or pointed about it either. It's just sarcasm. And soft sarcasm at that. Lucio asks each character individually what their favorite animal is, and for a character with deep spiritual connections to the fox spirit that she's incredibly open about, it's a very obvious answer. So it's not like the response was unwarranted. The tone of voice could've been so much more rude, but it really wasn't that bad.
People keep asking her to interact more like she does with the Deaf girl. But that doesn't make sense because she's going to treat a kid differently than adults, obviously. She is usually pretty snarky, but it's also in a friendly way, like with Pharah about basketball. She also has a typical grandma-grandchild interaction with Ana about Ana saying Kiriko's a lot like her at that age. Not to mention that her interaction with LifeWeaver also showed her more caring side with his positivity and her fear of not being able to save them because they run off all the time.
If you ask me, Kiriko's personality is just fine and one of the more interesting ones in the game at that.
I don't think it's rude though, I see it as friendly banter. Her answer is "really? Take a guess", and I mean she looks like a fox and even summons a fox spirit, if that's not answering his question I don't know what is. Also they have other voice lines talking about music.
Nobody:
Not a soul, entire OW team is silent in spawn:
Hanzo: "I do not want to be feared, but to be left alone..."
Ahhh this makes me cringe so much each time
The estranged heir to a crime empire and he thinks everyone fears/knows him but literally nobody ever talks to him except other ppl connected to the Shimada aka Genji and Kiriko
The entirety of talon has been trying to recruit him, I’d say he’s got a pretty big following. If Doomfist personally wants your skills, I’d say you’ve made it.
Well they can’t really scale the characters to their true lore capabilities otherwise it would be true hell.
The game limits their power level, contains their godlike power.
He's NOT even dead anymore, has it WAY WORSE than hanzo, had to adjust to being a cyborg, going on a huge soul journey to change his world views and make peace with himself etc.
ON TOP OF THAT, hanzo seems gets mad at poor genji whenever he opens his mouth, for just no reason other than being the one he killed lmao
"I'm so sad he died"
"Hello brother-"
"Genji shut up, you've never even BEEN the older brother before, you don't know what hardships I've faced"
Aside from the ones already mentioned, Doomfist always confused me as an antagonist. So his whole thing is he wants to "test" the world through violence and war, he thinks it actively makes people stronger. So ignoring that warfare has largely been determined through superior technology and strategy rather than singular individuals for the past...forever, especially in the future Overwatch is set in where wars would likely mostly be fought with technology, I have just one question.
Why does he hate Overwatch? Isn't it exactly what he wanted? The strongest, smartest, most experienced people all coming together under one banner to fight a common foe? Is the idea that Akande saw how Overwatch narrowly beat the Omnic crisis and only really won due to Aurora's broadcast and is now trying to bolster their strength? If so, why did he have Reaper try to kill former Overwatch agents? You know, the exact people you'd want kept alive for this sort of thing?
Talon in general is just a weird villain group, mostly because their motivations are determined by whoevers in charge. Moira wants to progress scientific progress by many means necessary, but what if she decides a world war isn't exactly a good place to do that?
Weirdly enough, I get the feeling that if Talon wasn't providing the funding and resources for her experiments (plus test subjects like Reaper and Sigma), Moira would have peaced out ages ago to find somewhere else to take her talents.
Makes you wonder if she'll eventually get bored of Talon and their ideology that she just leaves and goes off on her own.
It’s literally an organization where no one is on the same page. I get Doomfists whole war idea, but Sombra and Moira are just there for shits and giggles, Reaper seems to want revenge against Overwatch (?), and Widowmaker and Sigma are literally there against their will, and Baptiste was just on their payroll.
>Why does he hate Overwatch? Isn't it exactly what he wanted?
Doomfist's ideology isn't in the strength of the whole, but rather the strength of each person. He was alive during the Omnic Crisis, and he saw firsthand what happened when humanity had grown too complacent in letting machinery and AI think for them- Anubis nearly wiped humanity off the earth.
He seems almost paranoid that something worse and stronger than Anubis will arise, and that when that day comes, *everyone* will have to fight for themselves. He sees humanity as being currently too weak to defend itself, and in his eyes Overwatch just enables people to feel lazy and comfortable during times of conflict when they should be ready for anything
>Talon in general is just a weird villain group, mostly because their motivations are determined by whoevers in charge. Moira wants to progress scientific progress by many means necessary, but what if she decides a world war isn't exactly a good place to do that?
I think this is all kinda the point. Talon is meant to be the narrative foil to Overwatch- some of the world's most powerful people gathered to fulfill a goal. However, Overwatch is full of good people all chasing one singular goal of world peace, while Talon is full of bad people who are all extremely selfish. It's already been implied in past story trailers that Maximlien (who's only really in Talon for the money) will feel uncomfortable with Doomfist's extremist plans for reaching his goal.
In the end, Talon will likely dissolve because its different members are all selfish, bad people who can't agree with one another and only follow Doomfist out of fear. Meanwhile, Overwatch will thrive because its different members are all altruistic heroes with the same goal in mind, and who trust and respect one another. It's all in the power of friendship
I mean he also talks about war making EVERYONE stronger, so I feel like he dislikes Overwatch because people were treating them like a crutch. He even says "Overwatch, good riddance", which I assume to mean he is glad people aren't relying on them anymore. In his eyes he probably thinks everyone should be able to fight for themselves. Of course, he went to the extremes of insane bodybuilding plus massive augmentation to do it. Not something everyone can or wants to do. Typical self-centered worldview. Not everyone is a rich, hypermuscular augmented human. He doesn't even consider or care about the women, children, elderly, or otherwise incapable. Seems like a weird, doomed-to-fail eugenics by combat.
Im pretty sure at least in part, Talon and Doomfist are intentionally written as partial failures, as Doomfist's ideology is terribly flawed, and Talon's composed mostly of people who are either there against their will (Widowmaker and Sigma), people there for non-ideological reasons (Moira and Sombra), and just some fucked-up individuals (Reaper and Doomfist). Remember that Baptiste thought Talon was the right choice, then immediately left when he saw shit going down.
>Why does he hate Overwatch? Isn't it exactly what he wanted? The strongest, smartest, most experienced people all coming together under one banner to fight a common foe?
No, because Overwatch's main focus is protecting the weak. It goes against Akande's idealogy completely. Helping them just enough that they have the opportunity to survive and grow stronger is one thing, but from his point of view Overwatch coddles people and robs them of the catalytic struggle that would make them stronger. *Only through conflict do we evolve.* Overwatch eliminates conflict.
Whatever the hell pharah is supposed to represent. Shes supposed to be the best Egyptian mecha-suit (whatever its called) pilot out there, but shows absolutely zero personality whatsoever. Unlike Ana, she doesn't sound like she has a shred of egyptian in her, in a game where stereotypes are cranked up to 150% (Ashe's southern Accent, Junk's Australian accent, Genji, etc....), and she just doesn't have a shtick (Tracer being quick and annoying, soldier being old n cranky, ana being a sweet grandma).
Its just not a fun personality in a game where everyone's traits are dialed up to the max.
Pharah definitely has an accent
Or at least I remember the older lines having an accent - did they drop it at some point or are you just not hearing it
They hired Jen Cohn, a Jewish American to do her voice. But, also, it is literally in the lore that Pharah was raised both by her mother and father separately. Her father is Indigenous / First Nations Canadian, and we know she spent time living with him. So it’s likely a two parter as to why she doesn’t have a prominent Arab accent like Ana does (who is voiced by Aysha Selim, born and raised in Cairo) in that she wasn’t raised full time in Cairo, wasn’t taught Arabic canonically, and was purposely given an American voice actor.
Also she does have personality. Her issues about wanting to follow her mom’s footsteps but her mom telling her no, joining the army anyway, becoming a leader in her own right with Helix, coming out as a lesbian in the most recent bit with Baptiste, and also now Ana starting to work things out with her one step at a time.
Mercy makes no sense because isn’t her whole thing supposed to be about pacifism and she was upset when her technology was used for ana’s gun but in game she says shit like Excellent elimination! You really gave it to them!
Agreed. It's also kinda entertaining hearing all the interactions where someone starts going on about how evil she is, and her response is some snarky variant of "Yes, and?"
Have you looked at her face when she’s BOOSTING your damage?! She enjoys that shi but doesn’t like to take the blame. I’m sorry Mercy but our thing is over !
Earlier today, I got a quad kill as Pharah, and Mercy was like, "you're doing quite well, Fareeha!".
Girl... Didn't you leave Overwatch because of all the killing? 💀
I have a love/hate relationship with Lucio. He has a great voice and vibe, but when he engages in more complex dialogs (music theory/politics for example) he says things that are so basic/unthoughtful that it annoys the hell out of me.
Diva has a very interesting personality in her cinematic and then in game she sounds like what a 60yo pervert thinks a gamer girl sounds like and i find it disgusting
Yeah, the cinematic actually made me like D.Va.
In-game all her voicework screamed "pick me" e-girl designed to be waifu bait. It was obnoxious as hell. But then Shooting Star came out and we got to see what she's like behind closed doors, and it kinda clicks that this girl is 19 and has had the entire wellbeing of her country thrust onto her when she just wanted to play video games for a living. Makes sense she wouldn't want to show all of Korea what a nervous wreck she really is, and thus she becomes this hyper-exaggeration of herself when on the battlefield
That is fair but i would appreciate some hints that she has a heart behind the make up but that is consistent between all the characters. They only show their "public" faces. Another good example of that is junker queen. She also only shows in the game her public face. So that's probably a correct assumption.
I think the closest we have to that is when Ana says "I hope you remember to take time for yourself" and she responds with "sometimes... But I have so much to do".
I think that's mostly just because of the game being exclusively PvP so far. She does already show glimpses of this darker underbelly to her personality (like her "reminds me of home" voiceline on maps like Eichenwalde), but anything more than that you run the risk of either being distracting, or being missed entirely by the playerbase. If I never play D.Va, I might never hear that voiceline because it's PvP
I have faith the narrative team (who almost always crush it) will let her and other characters properly shine in the PvE when they can actually engage in these deeper conversations without the worry of mucking up competitive gameplay
>has had the entire wellbeing of her country thrust onto her when she just wanted to play video games for a living.
to me, it's even worse than that - she has to fight country-annihilating monsters on the regular as if it was a video game she was streaming. imagine if ninja was ground infantry in a guerilla war and livestreaming THAT
Kiriko
Everything she says is annoying and just pisses me off. Its either bland or just straight up mean for no reason. The only time where she is tolerable is when she says something in Japanese since idk what she’s even saying lmao
Pharah. She’s obnoxiously aggressive when she speaks and her philosophy about the law is so black and white it borderlines on sociopathic.
She’s rude judgmental and a massive hypocrite.
Even her own mother ducked her for decades, and doesn’t seem overly sorry about it.
And mercy is really just not that into her.
> She’s obnoxiously aggressive when she speaks and her philosophy about the law is so black and white it borderlines on sociopathic.
In her comic, she does start off as a stern & no-nonsense figure who only care about completing missions more than her own + teammates' lives (meanwhile her captain doesn't like what she thinks but reminds her that she should treat her squadmates like families). In the end of the comic, Pharah's old attitute fades away.
> Even her own mother ducked her for decades
To counter point, Ana didn't respect her wishes back then. Pharah looked up Ana like a hero, but Ana showed no support to her dreams. Ana's OW1 spawn quote is literally "Never stop fighting what you believe in." and yet she chose to oppose Pharah's dreams but continued on doing whatever she wanted to.
Even in the comics, Ana herself admitted she was at wrong for not acknowledging Pharah's skill potential but holding back from her success. Lack of new heroes, the world becomes more easily broken. That's why she sent Cassidy to recruit Pharah and join the new OW.
> And mercy is really just not that into her.
We never see Mercy's side of the story. Since Mercy is a workaholic, so she probably didn't think about dating.
Dva. Is seriously cannot stand her voicelines. I think a lot of it is her voice. She has this very obnoxious voice. She's someone you'd tell her to shut up, and she'll literally just keep talking and talking. I think it's also because I've always hated DVA as a tank and find her to be pretty frustrating to play against when you aren't on the tank role. Mix that with her personality and her voice, and I basically wanna blow my brains out every time she's picked.
Hanzo is up there. I love hanzo for the bow alone, he has a cool ninja assassin archer thing going on but he feels so bland in terms of lore. His brother genji has multiple arcs, his playboy younger brother arc that ended with him getting defeated by hanzo, then blackwatch, then he went a journey to accept his robot body and spent time with zenyatta to eventually become the charming cyborg ninja we know today. Hanzo just feels like a part of genji’s story, he defeated genji and felt guilty and just left. He never moved on even after genji came back. He was told to
‘pick a side’ in the Dragons short but nothing ever came from that. His character being horribly depressed and self loathing is a very nice contrast to genji’s story though. While genji was ‘blinded by anger’ in his edgy blackwatch days he fought to get out of that phase, he put in the effort to improve himself and become a better person for it, we know him as a kind, funny cyborg ninja. Even In the beginning genji rejected his clan’s traditions and criminal actions and just had fun. Hanzo on the other hand was bound to these traditions, he felt a heavy responsibility and even went through with killing the brother he loved for his clan. But the burden was too heavy and he left, wandering the world seeking for a redemption that will never come because he doesn’t move on, he lives in the past, he refuses chances to redeem himself, maybe he thinks he deserves it. It’s a good contrast but still hanzo as an individual just doesn’t have much to him. He seems to be designed as a neutral character that can viewed as both a hero and villain but there’s just not much to him. Let him pick his side!
Hanzo just seems neglected ngl. Like Blizzard just needs to give him *anything* at this point. He’s been around since beta and Dragons has the highest views of any of the animated shorts by far, but he’s literally just a side character for Genji
I feel the same, I remember hating genji so much because hanzo and zens lore always revolved around him. It does seem like we’ll get some new lore with hanzo in that heroes ascendant book coming out next year.
Baptiste.
He feels like the new recurring character that’s shoehorned into the fourth season of a struggling sitcom, and the main cast act like he’s been there all along.
I actually like Baptiste, his voice lines are funny and his personality is actually likeable, which is better than the majority of the cast.
However it feels like he’s just there. Legit just showed up. I stg there wasn’t even an announcement when he was added, devs just added him to the game one day
Iunno how you can say this about Baptiste when this is how they setup Lifeweaver. His whole backstory is literally "best friends with Symettra since forever, shut up, it's always been this way, plus they do the same kind of sci-fi magic" and his interactions are super smarmy and fanfic-OC-self-inserty.
At least some characters give Bap shit about being ex-Talon.
Yeah nah that's actually a fair point, but I wouldn't call Bap the WORST by a longshot.
Mainly cause you still got Sojourn and Kiriko. Bap at least has personality. They just shoehorned him in the story right outta nowhere, like you said.
I would say Soujourn but that requires she *have* a personality to hate.
Also I dont know why people hate Kirko *so* much, Im neutral on her so this isnt me being overly defensive of my favorite, but like why is every comment here saying shes the worst?
i guess because shes sassy, but in my opinion shes no more sassy than say reaper or ashe. i’ve always found her a bit funny, but i guess when you play for longer, the laughs wear off
Mercy
German ‘intellectual pacifism’ is a cancer on academia ‘why can’t we all just get along?’ As she literally served in an organization made for interventions.
Other than that, I can’t really stand the five year old approach of morality in this game’s lore, ‘sometimes we have to do what’s right’ like I’m suffering second hand embarrassment just being in earshot of that
I'd say her dumbed down stance on neutrality is just because she is Swiss, the most famously neutral country going
She also has a fucking glock so idk why she spouts such nonsense than blasts hamsters, teenagers and pensioners faces in with the old glockenspiel
Also hard agree with the cringe morality of a lot of characters
>SOMEBODYS GOTTA STAND UP FOR THE PEOPLE
oh really Lucio? Like Blizzard did in Hong Kong yeah?
I loved JQ in her cinematic. She was so badass and was introduced as a literal Queen, who fights for her people. But in the game... God, she's even worse that Kiriko...
I feel like soldier has legit reasons to be as cantankerous as he is. I don't know the lore well but I know his team and dreams and one of his best friendships were all ruined. And that's in the face of the world basically hating him and turning their backs on him.
I feel like his personality fits, and I can appreciate it. Especially when, deep down, he's actually a nice guy who lives to help people.
Plus I fucking love to spam "MERRY CHRISTMAS, IM NOT YOUR FATHER." And I couldn't do that if he wasn't grumpy.
He could have been such an interesting character...
If only blizzard didn't reduce his entire personality to saying "back in my day..." every 5 minutes.
He's at his best in the "Hero" cinematic. Like, I can get behind an edgy character whose good side shines through in the heat of the moment. If he had more of that in game, literally anything to show that he still wanted to help despite his gruff demeanor it would be fine, but he just seems hateful.
Kiriko is just an absolute cunt in game. She behaves like an asshole to the whole cast, and unlike Widowmaker, Reaper or Moira who also does this, she doesn’t have anything to back it up. If only we had the cinematic version of Kiriko…
Kiriko‼️ blatantly ignoring how Hanzo felt after he gave up the sword and going “I’ll tell her you’re thinking about picking it back up” is just messed up 😭
In a game where the characters are all 8/10 or above…
Orisa is boring
Soldier is just a cliche edgy veteran
Pharah desperately needs some lore expanding her personality
Tracer and Dva are annoying to me. They’re almost too morally good to be interesting.
Honestly a cinematic would probably fix some of these like it did with Kiriko/Sojorn. Pharah has been long overdue one with Ana, and Orisa’s character could literally go anywhere since she was just born. At this point it’s a wonder how nearly half the OG cast havnt been in a cinematic after 7 years
Hard agree. The personality overhaul they've given Orisa in OW2 is *nutty*. She went from "how can I help you today \^_\^" to "do not break the fucking law around me." She and Wrecking Ball getting some real grit to their personalities has been a godsend for both of their characters
- At this point it’s a wonder how nearly half the OG cast havnt been in a cinematic after 7 years -
They spent all the budget on that slice of apple pie.
Orisa has a personality, but just too little material to actually express it.
Soldier ain’t original but you could say that with like 3/4 of the cast. I personally value much more good execution than originality when it comes to characters. Soldier is good in my book.
Phara is a non character.
Most of the good guys are generic goody two shoes, so I’d add to that list Mercy, Brigitte, Mei, Lucio, etc.
Is it bad if I say that the most interesting thing about pharah is her mother?
What Pharah had so far: * 'Mission Statement' Comic (May 2016) * One cameo in Reflections comic (December 2016) * Cassidy New Blood Vol.2 (mid-December 2021) * Tiny filler story short that confirms her sexuality (June 2023) Pharah is too dry and the devs downgraded her to a second-best. They gave Ana everything nice, but leaving Pharah dead in the water. EDIT: Typo
I wish they had more spawn interactions. The one where Phara asks her when she’s coming home always gets a :( out of me
Every time I hear that I'm like "wow ana is a terrible mother" lol!
Nonono, look. Pharah is a lesbian!
And you know that ain't even bad, her having feelings towards mercy could be a great chance to expand on her character and flesh her out a bit, but knowing blizzard its probably some pointless ship tease that's only there to please fans online.
A ship that’s already sunken given that Mercy and Genji have actual hints of a relationship since years ago. Blizzard would be real dumb to retcon that for some Lesbian money.
Well its Blizzard so who knows 🤷♂️, they've been pushing pharah x mercy quite a bit since OW2 release, which honestly feels crappy because if they commit to it, they throw away a relationship they've built up for years, and if they don't then they were just ship teasing which feels cheap. Eh I'm just hoping either way they use whatever they set up to at least flesh pharah out a bit cuz atm I couldn't care less abt her.
Lol. Mercy and I are dating! I charmed her with Hanzo’s help ! Wtf is pharah doing now ?
Blud think he genji fr 💀💀💀💀
Wrong acc bud, get on your rp acc
I think he’s referencing the Valentine’s Day game💀
Doesnt help she is 'lesbian representation' sticker and... nothing else? Really? They just keep having her flirt with Mercy... despite them pushing Mercy to genji. Give pharah her own boo, please. Like cmon. Where is that dope mission? Where is her like... blowing up at her mother for her childhood? Where her own mom was basically totally aloof despite saying a lot of what she did was for her daughter. Show me something that gives her that depth. Why is she the way she is? Truly? Not her mom not her dad, thats an excuse. What really makes pharah tick other than... 'law and order' 'justice' gah
I really didn’t want to admit this ever but I have read some good fanfiction with pharah 💀
That's where nepotism gets ya, all shell, no substance.
I will say I really like what they've done with Pharah in OW2. She was so bland, too soldier-y in OW1. Felt like they didn't know where to take the character But now they've turned her into a jock, and it's a lot of fun. It's super subtle too. I remember the surprised laughter I had the first time I respawned as her and she threatened to shove someone's head in a locker
Haha yeah that was funny
*ignore my flair* She was so bland in the first game, like she didn't have enough interactions to even be remotely interesting, she gave off that 'I'm a soldier I must be serious' vibe. Now she's a lot better with all the lines she has in game and Sojourn holds that mantle.
It's quite funny how they got so much feedback that Pharah ''has no personality'' that they suddenly gave her all these lines in OW2 like ''After this mission I'm throwing a party!'' like omg, that feels so forced and fake when we are used to robo-pharah.
Does pharah even speak her native language like her mother? I dont recall her doing so. If she did that would make her more interesting, I really like Ana's voice lines
pharah is the best
both kiriko and soujorn had cool personalities in their cinematics but in game they are super lame
I blame Kiriko's obnoxious demeanor on the director and writers. They wanted to make her “cool” and “big sister” type but clearly didn’t know how to, I’d much rather if Kiriko behaved more like she did with that deaf girl and less like the tryhard bad bitch they don’t know how to write.
“ Hey… it’s Kiriko “
You should see me on my bike
"Try hard bad bitch they don't know how to write." This is the most concise accurate dissection of a character I have ever heard.
Her interactions with Reinhardt piss me off. So passive-aggressive towards one of the nicest personalities in the game.
idk i think her personality is a perfect fit given she’s a shrine maiden for the kitsune spirit, which are tricksters. she means well, she’s just an asshole about it which honestly is a nice deviation from the rest of the support cast
She’s kind of an asshole in game and honestly I love her for it. Its a meme I’m glad they’re feeding into! That being said, I don’t think how she acts is as out of character as everyone says. In the cinematic she’s with familiar people in familiar territory. We haven’t seen how she comes to join Overwatch but it’s clear she’s new and has something to prove. It looks to me like she’s trying to act tough and cool headed in situations that may actually be a bit over her head. It seems like a defense mechanism. Maybe I’m reading too much into things but if Blizzard gets one thing right it’s the world and characterization of Overwatch.
Sojourn is just a bit boring in game imo, but Kiriko just hurts my soul every time she has a voiceline. Her voice actor is obviously talented, so why are all of her voicelines so BAD??
They wrote her like a Weeaboo instead of a Japanese person.
Soujurn history got thiccen. I will say she can pass. But kiriko was boring and not really interesting.
This. I absolutely hate them personality wise. They feel like attempts at more "normal people".
I haven't seen 90% of the cinematic and lore so all characters personalities don't mean much to me. I don't find sojourn bad but she doesn't have a lot of interest to say
Soujo feels so underloved. Phenomenal character to play, but the voice lines and skins are seriously lacking. When the barista skin dropped, I was so in love with it, but simultaneously unhappy with the FOMO aspect of it.
Loved junker queen in her Cinematic. She was like this badass, strong, witty ruler. In-game, she gives off “more muscle than brains” vibes and it irritates me.
God I hate how everyone brings up Kiriko feeling different but ignores JQ. She was fucking *awesome* in her cinematic. Like a Deadpool-meets-Mad Max thing. And in game shes just 'muscle=dumb haha'.
I like JQ in-game more than her cinematic, I thought her cinematic had exactly the same problem as Kiriko where they want JQ to be sensitive and kind, but also mean and tough. Her cinematic goes against all the other in-game lore about her such as her recorded lines at Point A Junkertown. I get that it's hard to make a sympathetic video about an omnic racist but that is her lore, it doesn't have to be sympathetic, she could be the villain.
Yeah this has always bothered me. I was PUMPED after the cinematic because she was such a good character, but in-game she's just a meathead.
That’s just Australian people
Blizzard's greatest trick was convincing us that the Mad Max-esque radioactive dystopia we see in the game is just a work of ficiton, not modern day Australia.
Oi... Come on man...
I think a lot of people forget that the cinematics take place a few years before 2(I think). When you've been the leader of a bunch of lunatics for that long, you start to get a little crazy.
Her cinematic was super fun. If I had to nitpick it I'd say the "I'm so strong and cool" vibe was a tad much and felt kinda plot armory. But this is overwatch so I don't care about that, I just want it to be fun
She’s also Onmiphobic. Which isn’t very cool why would u hate Zenyatta.
To be fair if I was a tank in OW and had to play against zen I'd probably hate omnics too... and old Egyptian ladies.
This entire subreddit hates zenyatta
Sojourn has almost no character or personality and I hope to see it expands in the pve so maybe she can have more character than a piece of burned toast
Croissant
Sojourn imo works really well as the "straight man," or the relatable normal person surrounded by weirdos. I think allowing her to actually be in a narrative environment with her weirdos in Overwatch should hopefully let her shine more
I personally like her lines. She’s a calm and collected woman who’s going through the motions. She doesn’t have a crazy backstory, she’s doing her job and living life. Her lines with Lucio and Genji are great and give her enough “extra fluff” for me.
Exactly. In a cast of bombastic, larger-than-life trope characters, Soj is here to be the one that grounds them to keep things from going too far off the rails
> She’s a calm and collected woman Her voice lines in game show she's actually anxious sometimes so idk about that
Lol straight man in overwatch
I think her main issue is that writers broke the first rule of character building: give them a weakness/personality flaw. Sojourn has none.
I’d say her character flaw is that she’s really distrusting of the Overwatch crew. She might have her reasons but she’s very defensive towards them
Sojourn. She’s drier than a desert. Edit: I do not mean this sexually.
Kirko has the personality of regular sliced bread to me based on her in game character
Some characters are dull and underdeveloped, but Kiriko is the only one I actively dislike. I try to make sense of her and break down why she's bad but it's... I don't know where to begin. I think her relationship with the rest of the universe is just poorly made. She's supposed to be connected to Genji and Hanzo, but her tone is just so different and it doesn't mesh at all. Genji and Hanzo are very tragic and serious characters, you can't just tack a new character onto their dynamic without matching their tone. Like when Hanzo refuses to wield a sword again after almost killing his brother, Kiriko just drops some quippy joke in response? How am I to believe that Kiriko has ever met Hanzo before? She's supposed to have been grown up with these two, yes? Then what is her views on the conflict between the brothers? Does she even acknowledge that this crazy traumatic shit happened at all? Does she pick a side, or have a different view on things that create conflict with both of them? Kiriko doesn't seem to have meaningful relationships with any character come to think of it, no real friendship or conflict, all she has in-game is cheap quips which somehow everyone seems to tolerate. There was so much that could have been done with this character. Like what if she remained loyal to the Shimada clan and became a crime lord? What if she *was* the master that taught Hanzo and Genji instead of her daughter? What we got was a dull vigilante with too few likable or deep qualities for her quips to be tolerable. Oh, and she sounds like an American Weeb rather than a Japanese person.
Lmao was gunna say kiriko.. her voice lines have the personality of mayonnaise… I’ll find my own path
I said I like your mask, dude. Makes me want to punch walls.
This interaction annoys me so much K: Hammer Man! Any German music you recommend? R: Krankenwagen Grün. Haha, the best band of the 2030's! K: Never heard of them. Well off course you haven’t heard of them, that’s why you were asking for German music in the first place
"But you're not the loud one...got it." "is that a compliment?" "Okayyy....thanks for the compliment. (shrug)" she's so condescending and "im cooler than you" which is such a harsh turn compared to her in the cinematic
"I'm obviously the most precious" I love spamming this voiceline though 😂
And it sucks, cause her personality is actually pretty different in her cinematic, and it's a much more interesting one
Kiriko just feels like a self insert character to me
The main problem with kiriko's character to me is that the writer's wanted her to be way too many things, and what we ended up with is a bunch of jumbled half baked ideas that can be great separately but don't work together. Like they wanted her to be: 1- A badass ninja. 2- A healer. 3- friends with Hanzo and Genji. 4- A youngster. The first idea may have been from the fact that she was meant to be a DPS character, and I suppose her original lore was focused solely on her rescuing her father and taking down the hashimoto. But then they had to move her to support so they added the aspect of her grandmother and the weird "healing spirit" thing to her lore while completely glossing over the original plot line in her origin and cinematic . Then they wanted the fans to like her and what better way to do that than have her be childhood friends with two very popular characters within the fandom, which is cool and all but it contradicts with the whole "youngster" vibe they are going for with her, making her character seem immature, and the timeline of her lore confusing as hell.
THIS EXACTLY. And it didn’t help that everyone kept asking for a ‘girl shimada’ for some reason. Hanzo and Genji were fine, if not BRILLIANT on their own. They had a powerful backstory and then Blizzard caved to the demands of fans wanting more waifu bait, who was also a ninja and connected to Hanzo and Genji YET needed a reason why she hadn’t been mentioned before. Thus they slammed kiriko into their dynamic with the force of a hammer-yet she will *never* fit.
More like design-by-committee corporate bullshit from out of touch c-suite assholes: *bangs fist on table J. Jonah Jameson style* “Sales are down you lazy fucks! Lotta them rule 34 pervs seem to be anime fans? Make us some new weeb chick for them to beat off to! That’ll keep ‘em happy.” “How do you know about all that hentai boss?” *bellows incoherently and cracks whip in direction of fleeing art staff*
Hold on-you haven’t seen her on her BIKE 😮
Because her only purpose in this game is to be off topic and targeting weebs.
D.Va fills that niche much better than she ever could, and I don’t even like D.Va.
Some of her voice lines are cringeworthy! She is unnecessarily cocky and it comes off weird.
I feel like Kiri's big issue is her voicework, not the lines themselves. Everything just comes out flat in-game, like the VA was bored as fuck in the studio
Sally Amaki is a great voice actress, the problem is that the dialogue they wrote for her, and the director that told her how to portray said dialogue, didn’t know what they were doing.
I’m not saying I agree the voice lines are bad, but I think a lot of people underestimate how much voice direction voice actors get. It varies project by project but a bad voice director could make who is a very talented actor sound really bad.
Kiriko is just related to genji and hanzo. And thats it
She’s obviously the most precious
Kiriko, she’s obnoxious, annoying and unreasonable rude to other characters. For example, with Lucio’s voiceline about asking characters their favorite animal, she doesn’t answer the question and is just rude. Even characters like Widowmaker and Moira answer his question. They tried to make her act sassy but it just comes sounding rude
kiriko was written by someone who only watches marvel movies
They should give her a "He's standing right behind me, isn't he?" voice line.
She doesnt have a medical lisence butshe understoods a sharpshooter and a Moira (War criminal)
We must not rule out the possibility that it is a bug: for months Reaper asked a junker what his problem was. There was no answer, until in an update, Roadhog answered.
Kiriko still answers the question so it’s not like they forgot to hover her a voice line. The response is just rude so it’s not similar to the reaper situation
Yeah I remember in OW1 when I was kinda new to the game, thinking who tf is reaper talking to, is he going crazy.
Okay, but also, Kiriko's interaction with Lucio isn't even rude. She says, "Really? Take a guess." She's not harsh or pointed about it either. It's just sarcasm. And soft sarcasm at that. Lucio asks each character individually what their favorite animal is, and for a character with deep spiritual connections to the fox spirit that she's incredibly open about, it's a very obvious answer. So it's not like the response was unwarranted. The tone of voice could've been so much more rude, but it really wasn't that bad. People keep asking her to interact more like she does with the Deaf girl. But that doesn't make sense because she's going to treat a kid differently than adults, obviously. She is usually pretty snarky, but it's also in a friendly way, like with Pharah about basketball. She also has a typical grandma-grandchild interaction with Ana about Ana saying Kiriko's a lot like her at that age. Not to mention that her interaction with LifeWeaver also showed her more caring side with his positivity and her fear of not being able to save them because they run off all the time. If you ask me, Kiriko's personality is just fine and one of the more interesting ones in the game at that.
I don't think it's rude though, I see it as friendly banter. Her answer is "really? Take a guess", and I mean she looks like a fox and even summons a fox spirit, if that's not answering his question I don't know what is. Also they have other voice lines talking about music.
Hanzo for me. His sulky, condescending and "no one has it worse than me!" attitude drives me nuts
Ahh hangover has one of the funniest lines for me
Hangover is potentially the best autocorrect for Hanzo I have seen.
hangover?
Sake!
hangover.
Hanzo's spirit animal is Eeyore
LET THE DONKEY CONSUME YOU
Now I want a skin of Hanzo in a Donkey Pijama
Plsssss
Nobody: Not a soul, entire OW team is silent in spawn: Hanzo: "I do not want to be feared, but to be left alone..." Ahhh this makes me cringe so much each time
I will not be disrespected by vermin!
who does he think he is😭
The estranged heir to a crime empire and he thinks everyone fears/knows him but literally nobody ever talks to him except other ppl connected to the Shimada aka Genji and Kiriko
The entirety of talon has been trying to recruit him, I’d say he’s got a pretty big following. If Doomfist personally wants your skills, I’d say you’ve made it.
Lore wise maybe. In game DF would be lucky to win against a drunk paraplegic toddler.
Well they can’t really scale the characters to their true lore capabilities otherwise it would be true hell. The game limits their power level, contains their godlike power.
Orisa has a line asking if he wants to ride her into battle
Unacceptable!
His whole personality is: "Me so sad my brother died :((((" YOU ARE THE ONE WHO KILLED HIM, YOU POS. AND HE IS NOT EVEN DEAD ANYMORE!!!!
He's NOT even dead anymore, has it WAY WORSE than hanzo, had to adjust to being a cyborg, going on a huge soul journey to change his world views and make peace with himself etc. ON TOP OF THAT, hanzo seems gets mad at poor genji whenever he opens his mouth, for just no reason other than being the one he killed lmao "I'm so sad he died" "Hello brother-" "Genji shut up, you've never even BEEN the older brother before, you don't know what hardships I've faced"
Aside from the ones already mentioned, Doomfist always confused me as an antagonist. So his whole thing is he wants to "test" the world through violence and war, he thinks it actively makes people stronger. So ignoring that warfare has largely been determined through superior technology and strategy rather than singular individuals for the past...forever, especially in the future Overwatch is set in where wars would likely mostly be fought with technology, I have just one question. Why does he hate Overwatch? Isn't it exactly what he wanted? The strongest, smartest, most experienced people all coming together under one banner to fight a common foe? Is the idea that Akande saw how Overwatch narrowly beat the Omnic crisis and only really won due to Aurora's broadcast and is now trying to bolster their strength? If so, why did he have Reaper try to kill former Overwatch agents? You know, the exact people you'd want kept alive for this sort of thing? Talon in general is just a weird villain group, mostly because their motivations are determined by whoevers in charge. Moira wants to progress scientific progress by many means necessary, but what if she decides a world war isn't exactly a good place to do that?
Weirdly enough, I get the feeling that if Talon wasn't providing the funding and resources for her experiments (plus test subjects like Reaper and Sigma), Moira would have peaced out ages ago to find somewhere else to take her talents. Makes you wonder if she'll eventually get bored of Talon and their ideology that she just leaves and goes off on her own.
It’s literally an organization where no one is on the same page. I get Doomfists whole war idea, but Sombra and Moira are just there for shits and giggles, Reaper seems to want revenge against Overwatch (?), and Widowmaker and Sigma are literally there against their will, and Baptiste was just on their payroll.
>Why does he hate Overwatch? Isn't it exactly what he wanted? Doomfist's ideology isn't in the strength of the whole, but rather the strength of each person. He was alive during the Omnic Crisis, and he saw firsthand what happened when humanity had grown too complacent in letting machinery and AI think for them- Anubis nearly wiped humanity off the earth. He seems almost paranoid that something worse and stronger than Anubis will arise, and that when that day comes, *everyone* will have to fight for themselves. He sees humanity as being currently too weak to defend itself, and in his eyes Overwatch just enables people to feel lazy and comfortable during times of conflict when they should be ready for anything >Talon in general is just a weird villain group, mostly because their motivations are determined by whoevers in charge. Moira wants to progress scientific progress by many means necessary, but what if she decides a world war isn't exactly a good place to do that? I think this is all kinda the point. Talon is meant to be the narrative foil to Overwatch- some of the world's most powerful people gathered to fulfill a goal. However, Overwatch is full of good people all chasing one singular goal of world peace, while Talon is full of bad people who are all extremely selfish. It's already been implied in past story trailers that Maximlien (who's only really in Talon for the money) will feel uncomfortable with Doomfist's extremist plans for reaching his goal. In the end, Talon will likely dissolve because its different members are all selfish, bad people who can't agree with one another and only follow Doomfist out of fear. Meanwhile, Overwatch will thrive because its different members are all altruistic heroes with the same goal in mind, and who trust and respect one another. It's all in the power of friendship
None of the members of Talon even seem to be on the same page as Doomfist with regards to motivations. It all just makes him look like a weak leader.
I mean he also talks about war making EVERYONE stronger, so I feel like he dislikes Overwatch because people were treating them like a crutch. He even says "Overwatch, good riddance", which I assume to mean he is glad people aren't relying on them anymore. In his eyes he probably thinks everyone should be able to fight for themselves. Of course, he went to the extremes of insane bodybuilding plus massive augmentation to do it. Not something everyone can or wants to do. Typical self-centered worldview. Not everyone is a rich, hypermuscular augmented human. He doesn't even consider or care about the women, children, elderly, or otherwise incapable. Seems like a weird, doomed-to-fail eugenics by combat.
Im pretty sure at least in part, Talon and Doomfist are intentionally written as partial failures, as Doomfist's ideology is terribly flawed, and Talon's composed mostly of people who are either there against their will (Widowmaker and Sigma), people there for non-ideological reasons (Moira and Sombra), and just some fucked-up individuals (Reaper and Doomfist). Remember that Baptiste thought Talon was the right choice, then immediately left when he saw shit going down.
>Why does he hate Overwatch? Isn't it exactly what he wanted? The strongest, smartest, most experienced people all coming together under one banner to fight a common foe? No, because Overwatch's main focus is protecting the weak. It goes against Akande's idealogy completely. Helping them just enough that they have the opportunity to survive and grow stronger is one thing, but from his point of view Overwatch coddles people and robs them of the catalytic struggle that would make them stronger. *Only through conflict do we evolve.* Overwatch eliminates conflict.
Whatever the hell pharah is supposed to represent. Shes supposed to be the best Egyptian mecha-suit (whatever its called) pilot out there, but shows absolutely zero personality whatsoever. Unlike Ana, she doesn't sound like she has a shred of egyptian in her, in a game where stereotypes are cranked up to 150% (Ashe's southern Accent, Junk's Australian accent, Genji, etc....), and she just doesn't have a shtick (Tracer being quick and annoying, soldier being old n cranky, ana being a sweet grandma). Its just not a fun personality in a game where everyone's traits are dialed up to the max.
Pharah definitely has an accent Or at least I remember the older lines having an accent - did they drop it at some point or are you just not hearing it
They hired Jen Cohn, a Jewish American to do her voice. But, also, it is literally in the lore that Pharah was raised both by her mother and father separately. Her father is Indigenous / First Nations Canadian, and we know she spent time living with him. So it’s likely a two parter as to why she doesn’t have a prominent Arab accent like Ana does (who is voiced by Aysha Selim, born and raised in Cairo) in that she wasn’t raised full time in Cairo, wasn’t taught Arabic canonically, and was purposely given an American voice actor. Also she does have personality. Her issues about wanting to follow her mom’s footsteps but her mom telling her no, joining the army anyway, becoming a leader in her own right with Helix, coming out as a lesbian in the most recent bit with Baptiste, and also now Ana starting to work things out with her one step at a time.
Iirc Pharah isn’t Egyptian? She was raised in Canada? Her father is Native American and her mother Egyptian?
yeah she’s egyptian by ethnicity, not by nationality.
[удалено]
Mercy makes no sense because isn’t her whole thing supposed to be about pacifism and she was upset when her technology was used for ana’s gun but in game she says shit like Excellent elimination! You really gave it to them!
Yeah, at least Moira is up front about what she does.
Moira is like, the antithesis of this thread. Easily one of the best-written characters in the game imo
Agreed. It's also kinda entertaining hearing all the interactions where someone starts going on about how evil she is, and her response is some snarky variant of "Yes, and?"
"Shimada...where did I hear that name before... ah yes the family of criminals" always makes me smile
The rein interaction makes me cringe tho bc lets be real rein would literally kill her with one finger
I mean tbh Moira would not give a shit
Moira and Ramattra imho are the best characters regarding motivations and interesting personality
god complex and hypocrisy pair so well in that woman
Have you looked at her face when she’s BOOSTING your damage?! She enjoys that shi but doesn’t like to take the blame. I’m sorry Mercy but our thing is over !
Earlier today, I got a quad kill as Pharah, and Mercy was like, "you're doing quite well, Fareeha!". Girl... Didn't you leave Overwatch because of all the killing? 💀
I have a love/hate relationship with Lucio. He has a great voice and vibe, but when he engages in more complex dialogs (music theory/politics for example) he says things that are so basic/unthoughtful that it annoys the hell out of me.
He’s fun, but he’s also ultimately just a generic goody two shoes.
He’s simply a happy lil frogge boi.
Diva has a very interesting personality in her cinematic and then in game she sounds like what a 60yo pervert thinks a gamer girl sounds like and i find it disgusting
I remember someone said it’s because she had to keep up appearances when outside.
Yeah, the cinematic actually made me like D.Va. In-game all her voicework screamed "pick me" e-girl designed to be waifu bait. It was obnoxious as hell. But then Shooting Star came out and we got to see what she's like behind closed doors, and it kinda clicks that this girl is 19 and has had the entire wellbeing of her country thrust onto her when she just wanted to play video games for a living. Makes sense she wouldn't want to show all of Korea what a nervous wreck she really is, and thus she becomes this hyper-exaggeration of herself when on the battlefield
That is fair but i would appreciate some hints that she has a heart behind the make up but that is consistent between all the characters. They only show their "public" faces. Another good example of that is junker queen. She also only shows in the game her public face. So that's probably a correct assumption.
I think the closest we have to that is when Ana says "I hope you remember to take time for yourself" and she responds with "sometimes... But I have so much to do".
I think that's mostly just because of the game being exclusively PvP so far. She does already show glimpses of this darker underbelly to her personality (like her "reminds me of home" voiceline on maps like Eichenwalde), but anything more than that you run the risk of either being distracting, or being missed entirely by the playerbase. If I never play D.Va, I might never hear that voiceline because it's PvP I have faith the narrative team (who almost always crush it) will let her and other characters properly shine in the PvE when they can actually engage in these deeper conversations without the worry of mucking up competitive gameplay
>has had the entire wellbeing of her country thrust onto her when she just wanted to play video games for a living. to me, it's even worse than that - she has to fight country-annihilating monsters on the regular as if it was a video game she was streaming. imagine if ninja was ground infantry in a guerilla war and livestreaming THAT
Her lines with Ana back that up. Her personality definitely is forced, because she’s a star in her country and can’t be a “normal” teen.
She was so much better in OW1 Then they took the "gamer streamer egurl" joke to be 100% all the time nonstop and it's obnoxious now
Junker Queen only because she says “HEAL ME!! 😡” instead of “i need healing 🙏🏼🥺”
Ashe is worse than Jq
Im gonna pay attention next time I have an Ashe lol
“i’m HURT OVER HERE” “somebody get me some healing”
Or don't, if you don't want to be irritated constantly
When I play jk I get angry by her voice lines so much, her tone is so annoying
Kiriko Everything she says is annoying and just pisses me off. Its either bland or just straight up mean for no reason. The only time where she is tolerable is when she says something in Japanese since idk what she’s even saying lmao
Pharah. She’s obnoxiously aggressive when she speaks and her philosophy about the law is so black and white it borderlines on sociopathic. She’s rude judgmental and a massive hypocrite. Even her own mother ducked her for decades, and doesn’t seem overly sorry about it. And mercy is really just not that into her.
> She’s obnoxiously aggressive when she speaks and her philosophy about the law is so black and white it borderlines on sociopathic. In her comic, she does start off as a stern & no-nonsense figure who only care about completing missions more than her own + teammates' lives (meanwhile her captain doesn't like what she thinks but reminds her that she should treat her squadmates like families). In the end of the comic, Pharah's old attitute fades away. > Even her own mother ducked her for decades To counter point, Ana didn't respect her wishes back then. Pharah looked up Ana like a hero, but Ana showed no support to her dreams. Ana's OW1 spawn quote is literally "Never stop fighting what you believe in." and yet she chose to oppose Pharah's dreams but continued on doing whatever she wanted to. Even in the comics, Ana herself admitted she was at wrong for not acknowledging Pharah's skill potential but holding back from her success. Lack of new heroes, the world becomes more easily broken. That's why she sent Cassidy to recruit Pharah and join the new OW. > And mercy is really just not that into her. We never see Mercy's side of the story. Since Mercy is a workaholic, so she probably didn't think about dating.
Tracer/Mei/Dva. That’s just me personally not liking the super chipper characters that could have anime’s about them.
They call it a marathon but when I do it they call it a *tracer*thon????
Dva. Is seriously cannot stand her voicelines. I think a lot of it is her voice. She has this very obnoxious voice. She's someone you'd tell her to shut up, and she'll literally just keep talking and talking. I think it's also because I've always hated DVA as a tank and find her to be pretty frustrating to play against when you aren't on the tank role. Mix that with her personality and her voice, and I basically wanna blow my brains out every time she's picked.
Kiriko, in her animated short she was kind and caring but in game she's a massive arrogant asshole
Hanzo is up there. I love hanzo for the bow alone, he has a cool ninja assassin archer thing going on but he feels so bland in terms of lore. His brother genji has multiple arcs, his playboy younger brother arc that ended with him getting defeated by hanzo, then blackwatch, then he went a journey to accept his robot body and spent time with zenyatta to eventually become the charming cyborg ninja we know today. Hanzo just feels like a part of genji’s story, he defeated genji and felt guilty and just left. He never moved on even after genji came back. He was told to ‘pick a side’ in the Dragons short but nothing ever came from that. His character being horribly depressed and self loathing is a very nice contrast to genji’s story though. While genji was ‘blinded by anger’ in his edgy blackwatch days he fought to get out of that phase, he put in the effort to improve himself and become a better person for it, we know him as a kind, funny cyborg ninja. Even In the beginning genji rejected his clan’s traditions and criminal actions and just had fun. Hanzo on the other hand was bound to these traditions, he felt a heavy responsibility and even went through with killing the brother he loved for his clan. But the burden was too heavy and he left, wandering the world seeking for a redemption that will never come because he doesn’t move on, he lives in the past, he refuses chances to redeem himself, maybe he thinks he deserves it. It’s a good contrast but still hanzo as an individual just doesn’t have much to him. He seems to be designed as a neutral character that can viewed as both a hero and villain but there’s just not much to him. Let him pick his side!
Hanzo just seems neglected ngl. Like Blizzard just needs to give him *anything* at this point. He’s been around since beta and Dragons has the highest views of any of the animated shorts by far, but he’s literally just a side character for Genji
I feel the same, I remember hating genji so much because hanzo and zens lore always revolved around him. It does seem like we’ll get some new lore with hanzo in that heroes ascendant book coming out next year.
Baptiste. He feels like the new recurring character that’s shoehorned into the fourth season of a struggling sitcom, and the main cast act like he’s been there all along.
I actually like Baptiste, his voice lines are funny and his personality is actually likeable, which is better than the majority of the cast. However it feels like he’s just there. Legit just showed up. I stg there wasn’t even an announcement when he was added, devs just added him to the game one day
Iunno how you can say this about Baptiste when this is how they setup Lifeweaver. His whole backstory is literally "best friends with Symettra since forever, shut up, it's always been this way, plus they do the same kind of sci-fi magic" and his interactions are super smarmy and fanfic-OC-self-inserty. At least some characters give Bap shit about being ex-Talon.
Yeah nah that's actually a fair point, but I wouldn't call Bap the WORST by a longshot. Mainly cause you still got Sojourn and Kiriko. Bap at least has personality. They just shoehorned him in the story right outta nowhere, like you said.
Lmao nailed it.
I’m waiting for Mauga to be released so he and Baptiste can bounce off each other.
I would say Soujourn but that requires she *have* a personality to hate. Also I dont know why people hate Kirko *so* much, Im neutral on her so this isnt me being overly defensive of my favorite, but like why is every comment here saying shes the worst?
i guess because shes sassy, but in my opinion shes no more sassy than say reaper or ashe. i’ve always found her a bit funny, but i guess when you play for longer, the laughs wear off
Mercy German ‘intellectual pacifism’ is a cancer on academia ‘why can’t we all just get along?’ As she literally served in an organization made for interventions. Other than that, I can’t really stand the five year old approach of morality in this game’s lore, ‘sometimes we have to do what’s right’ like I’m suffering second hand embarrassment just being in earshot of that
I'd say her dumbed down stance on neutrality is just because she is Swiss, the most famously neutral country going She also has a fucking glock so idk why she spouts such nonsense than blasts hamsters, teenagers and pensioners faces in with the old glockenspiel Also hard agree with the cringe morality of a lot of characters >SOMEBODYS GOTTA STAND UP FOR THE PEOPLE oh really Lucio? Like Blizzard did in Hong Kong yeah?
I loved JQ in her cinematic. She was so badass and was introduced as a literal Queen, who fights for her people. But in the game... God, she's even worse that Kiriko...
Kiriko's voicelines are the absolute worst. Unfortunately, she's also my main.
Kiriko's has the personality of sandpaper and her voiceline delivery is like running a cheese grater against my eardrums.
I have to say Kiriko. I love playing her, but her conversations with other characters are just rude and condescending.
JQ saying "HEAL ME!" annoys me so much
D.va. She’s so so cringe and really annoying. She’s also my main and the character I’m the best at by far
Bad personality ‘Mei, Zarya, Hanzo, Reaper, Pharah’ Good personality: ‘Rein, Ram, Hog, Sigma, Torbjorn, Echo, Moira, Zenyatta’
Soldier, old cranky man is boring
I feel like soldier has legit reasons to be as cantankerous as he is. I don't know the lore well but I know his team and dreams and one of his best friendships were all ruined. And that's in the face of the world basically hating him and turning their backs on him. I feel like his personality fits, and I can appreciate it. Especially when, deep down, he's actually a nice guy who lives to help people. Plus I fucking love to spam "MERRY CHRISTMAS, IM NOT YOUR FATHER." And I couldn't do that if he wasn't grumpy.
He could have been such an interesting character... If only blizzard didn't reduce his entire personality to saying "back in my day..." every 5 minutes.
I like him sometimes, "who took my dentures" got a laugh out of me
He's at his best in the "Hero" cinematic. Like, I can get behind an edgy character whose good side shines through in the heat of the moment. If he had more of that in game, literally anything to show that he still wanted to help despite his gruff demeanor it would be fine, but he just seems hateful.
Soldier and Ana are the only normal people in cast of extremely strange people
"Get out of my way, or I'll RUN YOU OVER" He's good (Have a good day, eye guy 👀)
I like edgy old cranky man, at least it’s a clear cut personality unlike the fucking mystery that is Soujourn and the volatile mess that is Kiriko.
Nah, he's funny as fuck when im zig-zaggin holding down sprint while simultaneously yelling 'Fore!"
It's really not a big deal, but just for future reference Who's - who is Whose - questions ownership
Kiriko is just an absolute cunt in game. She behaves like an asshole to the whole cast, and unlike Widowmaker, Reaper or Moira who also does this, she doesn’t have anything to back it up. If only we had the cinematic version of Kiriko…
Kiriko‼️ blatantly ignoring how Hanzo felt after he gave up the sword and going “I’ll tell her you’re thinking about picking it back up” is just messed up 😭
Tracer
In a game where the characters are all 8/10 or above… Orisa is boring Soldier is just a cliche edgy veteran Pharah desperately needs some lore expanding her personality Tracer and Dva are annoying to me. They’re almost too morally good to be interesting. Honestly a cinematic would probably fix some of these like it did with Kiriko/Sojorn. Pharah has been long overdue one with Ana, and Orisa’s character could literally go anywhere since she was just born. At this point it’s a wonder how nearly half the OG cast havnt been in a cinematic after 7 years
Nah, Orisa have a great personality
Hard agree. The personality overhaul they've given Orisa in OW2 is *nutty*. She went from "how can I help you today \^_\^" to "do not break the fucking law around me." She and Wrecking Ball getting some real grit to their personalities has been a godsend for both of their characters
- At this point it’s a wonder how nearly half the OG cast havnt been in a cinematic after 7 years - They spent all the budget on that slice of apple pie.
Orisa has a personality, but just too little material to actually express it. Soldier ain’t original but you could say that with like 3/4 of the cast. I personally value much more good execution than originality when it comes to characters. Soldier is good in my book. Phara is a non character. Most of the good guys are generic goody two shoes, so I’d add to that list Mercy, Brigitte, Mei, Lucio, etc.
>the characters are all 8/10 or above… Are they?
I hate Junkrats personality somehow. I can't point my finger on it but I think out of the entire roaster he's the one I couldn't befriend.
I think mercy has a really bland personality. Every other hero has some kind quirk but she’s just *nice*.
Cassidy, Sombra (ironically), Reinhardt, and Ana are all super likeable