Boards›Story, Art, & Sound

Do you know what's extremly awkward?

SaltyToplaneGoat·7/27/2017, 12:11:03 PM·4 votes·465 views

That a freaking Trading Card Game has a more consistent lore-output than what League has. Obviously, I'm talking about Magic:The Gathering here, a card game that has managed to get me mark a day of the week just so I can read their newest story or chapter as fast as possible. Looking at the form, the output is nothing special: just text with some fitting card-artwork to back it up. However, that doesn't make it any less enjoyable to read.

As of right now they have finished the "Hour of Devastation" arc, which mostly was a gigantic dragon sassing the heroes to death before (and even while) actually beating the crap out of them. Here's an example of what I mean:

> Oh, they probably had a plan. A plan, charitably, could consist of kill the dragon. Or, you burn it, you zombie it, you elemental it, you illusion it, you block it. These were all, given enough leeway, plans. And plans of similar competence had served them well enough in their recent escapades. Nicol Bolas could appreciate efficiency. Why bother being smart when the Multiverse so conveniently conspired to keep your idiocy alive?

Or

> He wondered how much it would crush their spirits if he applauded. Metaphorically, of course. His talons did not clap together well.

(Especially with the last part I'm kinda getting AurelionSol vibes here...)

But what's more astounding than this wonderfully written villain is that with Hour of Devastation written and done, it's their eight arc in a series that is connected by narrative causality. Like, you drop in online and you can BINGE FOR HOURS at this one gigantic story that is far from done being told. And that's not accounting for the 20+ novels WotC has published before they kinda got the idea of just putting it all online on their website.

Like, here you have Riot, a company behind the biggest free-to-play esport title of the western world, and they get outclassed by a card game from the 90s. Really awkward if you ask me. COMEON RIOT, that's embarassing! MAN UP AND PUBLISH MORE LORE!

6 Comments

Ralanr7/27/2017, 1:51:15 PM2 votes

WoTC has been doing this for a much longer time than Riot, it's much easier for them to get stories out and design lore.

Other things to consider: Every character in league has to be important if they are a champion. They are the main character of their own story and they impact the world around them. Every champion. There are waaaaay more champions than there are plainswalkers, and plainswalkers can also die in lore to never come back (which is only enhanced by the cycle out mechanic).

MOBA's are still relatively new in gaming imo (despite being around for a while) and no one has really found a satisfying way to connect story to them. HoTS doesn't care, Smite I think is slowly forgetting the point of their lore, and DOTA 2 has some but I'm not sure how I feel about it.

This is basically uncharted territory and Riot (while having some talented writers) aren't the best in the fields of story.

KuroCaliber7/27/2017, 1:06:41 PM1 votes

Freaking card game doesn't care about balance, cards don't have bugs, cards don't need to be coded, so yeah, they have more time for lore.

Tryficic Reborn7/27/2017, 1:15:45 PM1 votes

Yeah, you see, it's not an e-sport because of the lore. It's an e-sport because of the gameplay. Because it's a MOBA. MOBAs do not focus on lore more than they focus on gameplay. The lore always changes because the majority of champions had 2 sentences of lore and after the update they became pretty good. Now almost (if not all) champions have AT LEAST 1 story (and some have 20+ minute reads) and with every new champion release their lore just becomes better and better. Take a look at Camille, Ivern, Taliyah and even some updated champions like Lux, Ryze, Yorick and Urgot and their updated bios and stories. Also, Riot releases new and new stuff to give us better understanding of what things in the universe of League of Legends are. Take a look at the journal for when Xayah and Rakan got released, the Shadow and Fortune event and others.