We had no idea what to do.
After some time fiddling with the controls we managed to figure out how to attack with our units - a few peasants that should have been used for mining gold. Our first action as commander? Attack our own Town Hall, get confused, and go to grab lunch, leaving the game playing in the background. Upon our eager return we found the building on fire - but this just wasn't any ordinary fire. This was a masterpiece of graphics, a phenomenal rendering of towering flames that was almost too much to handle for my seven year old brain. While this may be kind of pathetic, that is inexplicably one of the more distinct memories of my childhood.
Four years after the release date I've completed the campaigns, reached the final level in the expansion (which back then seemed impossible and is mind-numbingly easy now) and have clocked countless saturday morning hours before the older brothers woke up wanting the computer. Then, content as ever with the game, my brothers called me to the screen on what proved to be a fateful day. They call me in to watch a video. Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos was announced in 1999 with this absolutely phenomenal trailer. Heart pounding, not knowing what horrible monster had just come to attack my beloved orcs and humans, I eagerly awaited the release that came three years later.
Warcraft 3 is and always will be my favourite game. The gameplay is well ahead of its time, the multiplayer was tremendous and engaging, and the cinematics were (and still are) sights to behold. But it was the storyline that hooked me, primarily due to the character of Arthas. If you're unlike me and had better things to do in 2002, Arthas was a prince that was leading the armies of the king in a battle against a sudden, rather unpleasant assault of undead monstrosities. Having sworn to avenge the countless fallen citizens of his kingdom, he sought to find Mal'Ganis, a leader of the undead whom he thought was the head of it all. In his fury, stuck on the frozen shores of Northrend (an icy continent in the Warcraft universe) he found an ancient weapon that corrupted his mind and pulled the prince into undeath, but only after defeating his greatest foe. He returned to his homeland a monster, murdering his father, the king.
The following campaign focuses on the undead, also a playable race. This time, you're leading Arthas and his zombie minions in his mission to blight the world with the undead plague. In his wake he leaves crumbling cities, murdered characters of Warcraft lore (some of whom were near and dear as I did, after all, grow up with them) all the while finding the time to make a number of snide comments that make you love to hate the character all the more. It's a tremendous story, and one that continued in the tremendous expansion, Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne.
While I couldn't play the original Warcraft 3 fresh out of the gate (my computer was much too slow, and we had to wait to get a new one) Frozen Throne was practically an instant purchase, released one year after in 2003. The campaign was thrilling, as you once again lead Arthas to glory as you trample whatever races that get in your path. The final level in which you reach the Frozen Throne, a beacon that has been calling to undead Arthas ever since his corruption, was one of the most difficult video game experiences I've had. Upon finally beating it (with countless attempts and about fourty saved games of "good starts" in the files) Arthas ascends the throne, hearing in the background memories of the people he has betrayed or murdered along the way. If you're as into the games as I was, it's absolutely chilling. He finally reaches the top, dons the helmet of the Lich King (the entity that summoned him there) and sits atop the throne itself, completely victorious. But it doesn't end in the glories of typical video games, trumpets blaring and a battle scene raging. It's utterly serene. He sits, sword in hand on the throne, as you realize you were the one that led him there. I destroyed much of the world that was so ingrained in my childhood. It ends with the quiet, lapping waves of the waters of Northrend easing you out of the scene. You can watch it here.
That's the last you'll see of Arthas for quite some time. The following year (and looking back on it, I can't believe it was only a year) Blizzard released their indomitable World of Warcraft - but mostly with the absence of Arthas. A few zones have references to him and much of the world is changed due to the events he caused in Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne as well as the original, but he's... absent. I would have been bothered by this if I wasn't so utterly absorbed by the whole world. Sometime later they release an expansion, but once again without the most memorable character. It wasn't until 2008 he made his thrilling return, being the focal point of a whole expansion when WoW was at its peak of popularity.
That's the last you'll see of Arthas for quite some time. The following year (and looking back on it, I can't believe it was only a year) Blizzard released their indomitable World of Warcraft - but mostly with the absence of Arthas. A few zones have references to him and much of the world is changed due to the events he caused in Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne as well as the original, but he's... absent. I would have been bothered by this if I wasn't so utterly absorbed by the whole world. Sometime later they release an expansion, but once again without the most memorable character. It wasn't until 2008 he made his thrilling return, being the focal point of a whole expansion when WoW was at its peak of popularity.
He was slowing you down at every turn, mocking and threatening you, and gosh darn close to pretty well unstoppable. For the next several months you take down his commanders, minions, and otherwise, but never get a shot at the king himself. Eventually, they release a patch where you fight through the Frozen Throne until, weeks later, you get a chance to fight the chief. However, there's a very good chance you couldn't do this. That variety of content was (at the time) specifically for a very small, dedicated group of players that were ready to find others, commit to a time-frame and use their skill and commitment to finally defeat him. Having groups that only consisted of close friends and being unwilling to commit the degree of time required, I never even thought about having the chance. I watched the in-game cinematic of his death unceremoniously some time later. It wasn't a fitting end to such a tremendous character. In spite of all the hours I clocked in World of Warcraft it wasn't me who stopped him.
I had been playing Warcraft games off and on for over fifteen years now. Since the Arthas themed Wrath of the Lich King expansion, they've released a few more, and over time you "outlevel" the previous content. Arthas is designed for characters that are level 80, and with the expansions, I'm now a full ten levels above that [since the time of this blog - they have since released another, making it twenty levels]. With the addition of a recent patch making defeating old content even easier, beating Arthas is a paltry task - it's hardly more difficult than showing up. It took me a few hours to go through the entirety of his throne, defeating his commanders and other bosses along the way until I reached the king himself. I wanted some achievements for defeating him, and at one point it requires you to basically just let him swipe at you for a little bit.
So here we are. I'm one guy in WoW, letting one of my favourite characters of any book, show or game swipe away at me with the sword that first corrupted him over ten years ago - but over ten years ago not in the game's world, but in my life. And he has no chance of hurting me. It's been six years since he's been relevant, and this character that in a lot of ways I grew up with is pretty well pathetic. After a couple minutes I killed him, took my new title from the achievement as "Kingslayer", looted his corpse, and went off to bed.
It was a painfully unceremonious experience.
Unfortunately, there's no real workaround on this from Blizzard's perspective. They want people to see what they've done previously, and there is no reasonable way to make it relevant and useful if it's from six years ago. So they make it easier as a means of being able to check things out, learn the lore, see the sights and so on. But I guess when you find yourself attached to a series and a character (for those of you who aren't huge into video games, you can't tell me you've never felt that way from a book or film) you don't want to be able to mow through it just that easily. It was one heck of a weak goodbye.
When he was standing there, swinging Frostmourn at me, I was almost rooting for him.
Unfortunately, there's no real workaround on this from Blizzard's perspective. They want people to see what they've done previously, and there is no reasonable way to make it relevant and useful if it's from six years ago. So they make it easier as a means of being able to check things out, learn the lore, see the sights and so on. But I guess when you find yourself attached to a series and a character (for those of you who aren't huge into video games, you can't tell me you've never felt that way from a book or film) you don't want to be able to mow through it just that easily. It was one heck of a weak goodbye.
When he was standing there, swinging Frostmourn at me, I was almost rooting for him.
