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DJ Sona is mostly amazing, but ...

RageOtter·2/9/2015, 3:47:37 PM·1 votes·1,299 views

First off I love the skin, so thank you for that Riot.

The problem I have with it though is the remix selection for her Ethereal skin. On both the Kinetic and Concussive versions of the skin the music choice as well as the visual styles and animations match up well giving the proper ambiance to the selected mode. However both the visual design, color choice, and animations on the Ethereal version of the skin do not match in the slightest with the music being played.

Now just to clarify, I do like the Ethereal skin music, when sitting around relaxing or reading, something more sedate than a league game. As a friend put it when I was asking around about their opinions "It sounds like hipster coffee shop music.", which made me chuckle at how apt the description was. The music itself is great when in the right time, place, and occasion.

So the problem I feel is that the skin itself does not reflect the music, the design instead has the appearance of a musical choice closer to trance in my opinion. With the cooler purplish hues along with the sine waves on her mixing board and the gentle but continuous swaying motions she appears to be listening to something other than the music actually being played. Not only does the music lack the suggested flow, there is a distinct absence of energy in comparison to the other variants, something that does make playing while listening more difficult due to the general pacing of league games. Maybe this would be fine if the game was all about farming, but that relaxing feel makes it much too easy to zone out while listening, instead of feeling more involved in the game itself.

While of course I, and I would imagine many other people would most enjoy a system built into the client that allowed us to choose the music our client plays locally for the skin, I understand that is both unlikely and unreasonable to expect in time for release. So I would like to ask that Riot themselves change the music for only the Ethereal version of the skin itself. Everyone I have talked to thus far has agreed that while the music itself is fine, it does not gel with the skin or the theme of the skin. But this is hardly a large enough sample size so I ask everyone here who cares, do you agree that the music should be changed? And if so, why or why not?

3 Comments

A KissLike Smile2/9/2015, 4:41:04 PM1 votes

I agree that from a thematic perspective the song does not fit really. She looks like a sci-fi DJ with a very futuristic DJing system of the kind one might expect to find in a nightclub. As such Kinetic and Concussive fit quite well with this theme.

Ethereal on the other hand is not the kind of music one would expect a club/sci-fi DJ to really be playing as it's far too relaxed and slow (you can't exactly dance to it). So considering the visual/thematic design of DJ Sona it honestly does gel that much.

But the reasoning behind it I am pretty sure was to have a slow/relaxing song to contrast the others, one that was calm with a lot less beats per minute. While it may not quite fit the aesthetic of the skin, it does fit in with Sona and the game itself. Three fast paced songs would start to feel quite repetitive, plus the normal music for LOL is not that fast either a lot of the time.

Personally I don't think it seems quite so strange when you actually see it in game though. I've watched a few videos and not thought poorly of it. I voted No, because I think they made the right decision overall, even if it feels a little odd at first.

Fłame2/13/2015, 8:42:03 AM1 votes

I listen to relaxing music all the time while playing league as well as energetic. It is more of a mood thing to me rather than what fits with the game. I would prefer it stays. There are already two well action packed tracks with the skin, so why not have a relaxed one?

Then again, if Riot originally didn't have Ethereal transformation, and instead had another energetic one, people would complain about that too. Not everyone can be pleased.

Psybotsu2/14/2015, 4:00:24 AM1 votes

i love the track (the slow beat and whatnot makes it my favorite of the three) and the look. The only thing I have a slight issue with is her animation. She bobs her head the whole time. i think if she occasionally did something else, in addition, that would be fine. but her, it's league, so she'll be too busy supporting.