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The New Lore- Discussion

Lysdexic1·6/9/2016, 9:53:22 PM·5 votes·3,855 views

So, recently with the updated Shurima event I think a few practices of Riots new lore model have finally been cemented enough that I can give a cohesive pros/cons debate on the finished model of Riots lore overhaul.

Firstly, I will state my opinion in that i think the lore is currently much better than the retconned lore from a few years ago both in quality and quantity. However, it is not a perfect system and that is one of the main reasons for me writing this post today. To address some of the minor issues and maybe find a community solution to make the lore reach newer, better heights.

Now that we have that out of the way, let me start with all the things the new lore does right:

  • Great world building- we really get a good feel of not just the champions themselves but of Valoran as a whole. The dark, secretive alleyways of Zaun and the harsh pursuit of Demacian justice.

  • Character development- In the retconned lore these characters all seemed a bit two dimensional, even with the journal of justice to flesh them out a little. Now they have constantly shifting priorities and motivations just like any other human.

  • Creates interactions in between the characters that was desperately lacking before- Just like the point before this is a crucial part of what makes a story interesting. You can't have just one main character in a story and expect it to be interesting without anyone for them to talk to. Under the old summoner system that is exactly what was happening though; characters had no real reason to talk to other faction currently in the lore so any story just seemed.... bland to be honest. That's why we marshaled around the few pieces of interesting story there was, such as the love affair of Garen and Katarina.

  • A constantly evolving story- I could compare the new lore system to that of a comic book, in which even when a plot point comes to a close there can always be another to take its place involving the same characters because the possibilities of character interactions are all so diverse.

Now, a few things that I have noticed that the new lore system does not deliver on quite as well

  • Some characters have no reason to be in these stories- Characters like Shaco and Fiddlesticks have no real human (or demi-human) motivations guiding them, and so have no need to interact with other characters inside of the lore. This means they will either just get entire thematic and lore overhauls if the time ever comes for them to be reworked, or they will just be forgotten entirely in the world.

  • Lore inaccessibility- It is much harder to access all of the new lore content than it was to access the old lore. Once certain lore events end it can be incredibly difficult for the average but not fanatic fan of the game to find the information again. I just did a quick precursor look through the league of legends website and could not find any of the old Bilgewater or Shurima storylines on there. People who miss these events miss out on large parts of this worlds lore and may be demotivated to try and find it on their own.

  • Some lands may never be featured- From Wukong's home in the Plague Jungles to the Tempest Flats (assuming they even still exist) may never be featured in any of these events leaving large swathes of the world unexplored and blank to our knowledge. This may not be a bad thing as having a bit of mystery in the world is a good storybuilding tool, but eventually all mysteries need to be answered and I worry that these places may not be mentioned again.

  • Long waits in between lore events- This problem I know is inevitable as it takes a long time to write content everyone agrees is of a high enough quality to be released to the public but it is still frustrating to have to wait such a long time to learn anything new about the world.

So that about sums up the list of the positives and the negatives that I can think of, can you guys think of any solutions to any of these issues so we can make the lore even better than it already is? Or any other pros/cons for that matter.

21 Comments

RiotBioluminescence6/9/2016, 11:40:22 PM10 votes

I agree strongly with the issue of it being difficult to find stories and updates after they've happened. I mean, the players who work on the wiki are downright heroes for recording it (and I know Sharjo has it written down - props to you, Sharjo) but even Rioters aren't immune to getting lost in the wealth of the internet. A guy sat near me heard there was new Shurima lore and went looking for it - and found the first Shuriman event instead of the more recent bio updates, Taliyah release, and Bloodline story! He was very confused.

Just wanted to let you know that you're not alone, and that several Rioters also know that pain (some first hand).

(Standard Bioluminescence disclaimer applies - I'm not on the League team, nor part of the Narrative discipline. I do get to work on maps though - joy! :D)

Star Guardían6/10/2016, 4:36:24 AM3 votes

I agree with you for the most part, but I'd like to address three things about your post.

Firstly, just for clarity's sake, the current lore we are receiving is the "retconned lore from a few years ago" as you put. They are one in the same, the same continuity, it's just that's it has taken Riot a while (a long while) to gain momentum and the work that was being done back then is coming to fruition now and most likely in the near future.

Secondly, I find your concern of some characters not having a purpose in the world unfound. The point of a retcon is start over from scratch, salvage what's worth keeping and building on top of that. I take comfort in knowing that Riot is going to find away to naturally fit obscure character naturally into their world. Just look at how well Ramus was incorporated into Shurima's story. Before he seemingly had no place there, but know it just feels right. In addition, I don't think this is a valid argument until you've at least seen what Riot has in store for said champions.

Lastly, don't think you worry that Riot won't explore their previously established locations that are lesser known is well founded. We haven't gotten through all the champions yet, so until then I wouldn't worry. Even if they do end up scrapping a previously established location for whatever reason, I feel that they would replace it with something equally as interesting to fill the empty niche.

TzQGRUST396/9/2016, 11:54:12 PM2 votes

I'll go through the pros and cons and give my opinion.

Great World Building- I agree, the new lore has done a very good job of making this world feel massive, both in physical size and in history. The passing teases of past events like the rune wars makes me thirsty to learn more.

Character Development- They have done a great job with adding complexity to the old versions of our champions. All of the characters introduced to us are able to be dynamic and malleable (Aside from Skarner maybe) which gives real and scary consequence to the happenings of this world.

Creates Interaction- The character interactions have been some of the best parts of the new, but it depends which instance. Illaoi in specific is a great example, it gave us insight into the mindsets of both Gangplank and Illaoi while also managing to forward the story. Some other moments (mostly in the event stories) often seem a little stilted.

Evolving Story- I agree, but it is barred by how slowly lore is being produced. For example, we know many characters are about to converge in Zaun, but how long will it be until we find out what happens? A year, two? Then how long after that will we find out what happened to the characters following the event? Though we know this will probably not be the last rodeo for those heading to Zaun, it often feels like it because it'll be a safe bet that years will past until we get our hands on what the characters get into next.

Some Characters are Lost- Those characters with weak motivations will definitely not keep those motivations when time comes for their lore to be written. These characters with weak or non-existent motivations (Shaco, Fiddlesticks, Jax, Evelynn) were often the ones with the most shallow characters as well. The removal of what was there of the old characters is far out-weighed by the prospect of what the new lore team can turn them into, at least for me.

Lore Inaccessibility- I'm pretty sure that this problem will be fixed soon. I've said this before on some other posts, but I don't mind repeating myself. The unified format that they are using to distribute the lore for each region makes me believe that there is some sort of interactive map inbound. Specifically the couple paragraph explanation of each region before getting into the individual champion lore tingles my spider-senses. If we're lucky, this map will even be tied to the new client for maximum exposure.

Forgotten Lands- While I'm confident that the Plague Jungles or the Voodoo Lands will never exist in the new lore, I am sure that new locations will be created to fill their previous roles and more. The Voodoo Lands in specific I imagine being similar to that of the Shadow Lands in the A Song of Ice and Fire series.

Overall I feel that the lore is very good and a mighty improvement from the old.

GreenLore6/9/2016, 11:27:22 PM2 votes

{quoted}

  • Some characters have no reason to be in these stories- Characters like Shaco and Fiddlesticks have no real human (or demi-human) motivations guiding them, and so have no need to interact with other characters inside of the lore. This means they will either just get entire thematic and lore overhauls if the time ever comes for them to be reworked, or they will just be forgotten entirely in the world.

Well these characters obviously need new lores and they might not even need to wait for a rework as they have some rioters working specifically working on the lores of champs tied to the league.

  • Some lands may never be featured- From Wukong's home in the Plague Jungles to the Tempest Flats (assuming they even still exist) may never be featured in any of these events leaving large swathes of the world unexplored and blank to our knowledge. This may not be a bad thing as having a bit of mystery in the world is a good storybuilding tool, but eventually all mysteries need to be answered and I worry that these places may not be mentioned again.

Well that may happen,but it also might not happen. I mean Twisted fate seems to be from a nomadic tribe that lives at the serpentine river,something that never played any role in the lore before besides "the place where the real baron seems to live" In the end we simply don't know if riot has plans for these places or not.

So that about sums up the list of the positives and the negatives that I can think of, can you guys think of any solutions to any of these issues so we can make the lore even better than it already is? Or any other pros/cons for that matter.

Personally I feel like they tend to leave out some important details. One of the biggest complains that I've seen about the whole Targon-lore is that the space-targonians are such an important part of the targon lore,yet we have almost no information about them.

Jeddy0176/10/2016, 12:48:03 AM1 votes
  • Long waits in between lore events- This problem I know is inevitable as it takes a long time to write content everyone agrees is of a high enough quality to be released to the public but it is still frustrating to have to wait such a long time to learn anything new about the world.

So that about sums up the list of the positives and the negatives that I can think of, can you guys think of any solutions to any of these issues so we can make the lore even better than it already is? Or any other pros/cons for that matter.

Well, they could always just release small, one-off stories in between each lore update or event. It could be a short story, a comic or a 6 minute video about anything lore related. Think about the Ahri story that was released when her figure was added to the merch store. It was a simple story that showed us Ahri wanted to be with humans & kicking Noxian ass. It wasn't a part of an event like Bilgewater, it wasn't a teaser for a new champ or rework nor was it a part of a lore update like Targon or Shurima. It was just a story featuring Ahri. Hell, the champs don't even have to be the main characters. All these need to do is give us a taste of Runeterra while we wait for big updates or events.

Now, I'm not asking for a weekly thing. Hell no, that's not going to work. I would like at least 1 story in between group updates or events, For example, if Event A happened 3 months after Update B, then I would like something in those 3 months. Ideally, once month would be awesome for a Runeterra story. They can still have the big events & lore updates for the major developments, but this is just something to enjoy in the meantime.

Just my 2 cents on that problem. Is it a great solution? Nope. Is it an idea filled with it's own problem? Yup. Even if they did considered it, would it happen anytime soon? Hell no. And why did I use the Ahri story as an example instead of any of the color stories from the updated bios? It was the 1st thing that came to mind.

OurLestrade6/9/2016, 10:16:11 PM1 votes

The fundamental issue I personally have with the new lore is that by taking out the League you've pretty much removed the one thing that was particularly unique about the LOL world and gave it its own spin. Now all we really have is another generic fantasy world with nothing particularly different making it stand out :O

ByakuyaTwerkami6/12/2016, 5:57:28 PM1 votes

I think the stories are fantastic. I actually didn't pay attention to the Bilgewater event until Gangplank's "death" and after that I was hooked on these stories. The only thing I can't find out is what does the game we play have to do with all these really cool characters?

The old lore was pretty cool in the fact that YOU were a Summoner in this fantasy world controlling a champion. It made you part of the world. Which was actually pretty cool.

So, what's the purpose of the game lore-wise? Or is there any?