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So about this Lore Retcon...

LANWhale·1/6/2015, 12:29:18 AM·8 votes·2,439 views

Now I personally hate these kind of discussions so i'll try and keep this nice and short.

For any who aren't aware of this, recently Riot stated that League and the Institute of War have been removed, recently though they have said that summoners are still in the lore and the game. Now if you have read up on some of the champion's lore you would know that some of these champion's lore revolves around the League. Some champions are:

These champion's have the League be a big plot in their lore and with it being removed it has caused alot of disturbance. I feel that the reason poeple are, or were, outraged with the retcone wasn't because it got retcone but rather how it was handled. I would of not minded the retcone as much as i do now if it was written out with some sort of lore event happening that destroyed the League. But that's not what i'm here to talk about.

What I am here to talk about is why the sudden disconnect from game and lore?

I know some games are perfectly fine without having lore as to why all these fighters are fighting each other. The best example is Super Smash Bros, a game that has no real reason as to why and how all these iconic figures are fighting each other. An yes you can compare League and Smash Bros. why? Because that's what basically the game is right now. You have these powerful fighters, champions, fighting each other with no real reason. Now why does Smash Bros. work so well with no lore supporting why they are all fighting? Well this is where League and Smash Bros. are different, League had a reason why all these people were fighting for almost 5 years now. To remove something like that from a game is a big deal, and will probably get people mad.

So that's why i'm here, making a Discussion about something we can't overlook , i'm not asking that you tell me how Riot should of handled things and why. I want to know what your thoughts on the whole disconnect from game to lore. I mean its a pretty big deal right? People out there gotta have opinions.

36 Comments

Sneak Dog1/6/2015, 1:07:52 AM8 votes

I got attached to smash brothers' characters in other ways that smash bros. I don't care about those characters because smash bros. I just recognize them and am more inclined to play them. I was never made to believe that it mattered who these characters were anyway. The game didn't care whether I knew or not. The only thing that game does is give you some information about them with the trophies, so if you really wanted to know...

Will League now just have this entirely separate website with a giant world and story going on and the game just plucks some characters out of there and pits them in a match? Or will the lore just be a footnote. Something insignificant but if you really want to know, it's somewhere in that corner.

This might've been fine if it had been set up so from the get-go, but lore used to be important and to a significant extent, immersive. You were a summoner, with mastery over your summoning and runes to grant you more power. You had to influence champions to let them summon you. Secondly, I don't want to invest a lot of time and care into reading a story made by a company that I know retcons anything if they feel like it's appropriate.

For me, Riot will first have to proof they won't just retcon out playable characters. I cannot invest in their lore until then. They already made me feel terrible once, why should I allow them to do it again? Why don't more people care that their favorite champion could just be announced deleted tomorrow, replaced by a new one that takes over her/his kit?

Dotintheparadox1/6/2015, 7:39:38 AM8 votes

If you have a group of writers, that can't effectively connect game-play themselves, and story, despite them being already being connected by previous writers, and as a response they torch everything down to it's roots, then they should definitely not be the writers for that video-game.

As I have been saying, the current narrative team, was most likely hired under the direction of Tom Abernathy, while he was employed as their head. Despite Abernathy being let go recently, his hires most likely share his design philosophy, and as many have said, it's fine in it's own continuum, but DO NOT let him near already existing IPs. It is a design philosophy that completely disregards all existing product history, eschewing it in favor of personal preferences, only retaining appearances.

League is no longer league in primary canon, it's a boiled down doll-house now.

Twisted Sarcasm1/7/2015, 11:51:02 PM3 votes

Going to leave my thoughts here I guess.

I've been waiting awhile for anything to happen lore wise since the official retcon post, and well, basically nothing has changed. Their silence isn't helping much, though, I understand why we haven't heard anything.

Let's look at the core issue here using your Smash Bros example. Smash bros features the many characters of the Nintendo universe who all have defined identities. Another example could be the DC universe fighting games. I know who Link is, i know who Mario is, wouldn't it be cool to see them fight? I know who Superman is, i know who Batman is, wouldn't it be cool to see them fight? That's the basis behind these games and why they are so successful. The characters already have a strong IDENTITY. The backgrounds of these characters are clearly established and these games just put them all together to show them fight.

So how does this apply to league? Let's make a bunch of cool looking characters and make them fight (assuming we destroy the lore). Where is the identity? Jax Why's this guy use a lamp? He'd kick ass with a real weapon. JarvanIV Garen Lux WTF is demacia? KogMaw Chogath Khazix Velkoz Why are these guys always so hungry?

With lore, it creates a connection with the champion. It gives a deeper experience when playing the game instead of just having baseless fighting. The best reason for lore in league of legends is: Why not? You have this amazing character design and people want to know more about these characters. That's why Riot originally put in lore, which rendered a deeper player experience in the game.

Admittedly, this writing was inexperienced, which is what I assume was the cause for Riot's recent actions (their retcon article was vague about why and where they are going). Instead of changing or refining, they deleted. They removed the identity of league of legends and many of it's champions. The depth of lore was removed and effectively takes away from the game. That is why this is a big deal, it simply makes the game less fun.

People were rightfully pissed. Just look at the Riot replies on that article, downvoted to oblivion. Which now leads them to remain silent in fear of reaction. They don't want to make anymore major changes in fear of the community reaction. This only makes things worse because they aren't even fixing their mistake. I'm beginning to wonder if a lore department even exists at this point. We really need answers, it has been 4 months.

To Riot: Are your plans for lore still the same? If so, where is the lore? If not, what the fuck ARE your plans?

Probably all been said before but its what I've been thinking for what seems like an eternity now.

TL;DR: Lore creates identity for a deeper player experience. Riot deleted lore. People be pissed. Riot silent.

The Soulforged1/10/2015, 7:47:08 AM2 votes

I can see riot retconning Lux lore and actually making her an optimist... if they do that, I wish I would quit league, but I'm already addicted :*(

Bresn1/6/2015, 1:25:04 AM1 votes

So summoners lay on their bed using magical copies of champions to fight in a virtual world instead of the Institute while the actual champions does crazy crap in the world.

K either Rito is being retarded or I don't know what's going on.

Bresn1/6/2015, 1:32:50 AM1 votes

I think Rito gave theirselves more than they could handle.

How are you supposed to rewrite lores like without affecting other champions and places and causing another chain of rewriting? This is obviously mission impossible and Rito must had noticed because I don't see much going on.