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Universe a great fresh start for journal of justice disaster

Nylisa·2/23/2017, 7:06:48 PM·10 votes·1,414 views
Universe of League of Legends

Taking a look at universe in beta , i have to say the entire idea of a fresh start like this is a great idea , i feel like the LoL lore is getting back on the track it was suppose to be on.

i also believe closing up the journal of justice was one of the best decisions Riot had made sure it was a funny read but , back then when it was being released , story was getting cheap , baseless and messy . i couldn't help but to feel like i'm watching some sort of cheap Hollywood gossip show that sits around and analyze celebrities mistakes and life choices. things such as .

Sejuani said "no comment" sources close to Nidalee said "this" they were seen dating on a picnic in a park riven refused interview pictures of janna in lingerie was found and she is gone into hiding blitzcrank dating service X champion was wearing this clothes

when i was reading on league of legends , it felt like a place for champions that seek redemption , looking to solve a dispute , that each and everyone of them are there for a specific reason but JoJ made league sound like a fan-service based show that broadcast on TV every Sunday morning.and completely ignored the original reason behind league .

i dont think it ever happens but i hope that at some point they even remove the journal of justice and re-write the whole lore back to the point that it was still epic , like champions background and their league's judgement!

18 Comments

OurLestrade2/23/2017, 7:10:55 PM4 votes

The idea of the League existing and the Journal of Justice as a concept was the single unique thing that made LOL's lore stand out to me. The new lore is WRITTEN better yes, but in the grand scheme of things we have just another generic fantasy world with nothing in particular making it stand out. The JoJ was heavily flawed, but you can't say it wasn't unique.

Big Lincoln2/23/2017, 7:31:39 PM4 votes

old lore was way more interesting

in pretty much every fashion

LordHippoman2/25/2017, 5:06:23 AM2 votes

I would very heavily disagree with calling the JoJ a disaster. The JoJ had parts that were very "trashy tabloid", yes, but that was the point. It added character at times, and while it was hit and miss, when it hit, it hit well. The Dr. Mundo interview, in particular, was really funny. The Janna thing was not. But it made the characters feel more like characters and less like generic fantasy stereotypes, which was hard to do in the days when you got a three paragraph bio and a Judgement, if you were lucky, and that was about it.

It also provided a broad scope view of things that was really only feasible in a "newspaper". Little articles might just have been one-offs, or they could have been teasers for the next champions, you never really knew. Of course, this was a pre-S@20 era, where you didn't know everything about the new champs the moment a pixel of their armpit was datamined on PBE.

The mood was notably different, yes, but you can't take two steps without tripping over a pile of dark fantasy universes, especially now that stuff like GoT is making money hand over fist. The sillier atmosphere gave League a more unique niche, and helped make it feel like a place where the more serious plot points could coexist with "Here's a hamster in a gyrocopter." I still honestly feel like we lost a ton of characterization with the retconning of stuff like Pentakill, because "They're two undead, a mute bard, and a Viking, and they ROCK OUT" is hilarious and gives more character to, say, Sona, than "I'm mute and that's about it" (Though that's likely to change with the Demacia update). It connected unlikely champions in a way we haven't seen since.

The reason I think the JoJ probably feels weird and outdated now is because it...sorta is. The tone of the Lore overall has drastically shifted, and the new stuff is more fitting for it. So I don't think it's really right to say the JoJ is bad for not adhering to the mood of something that didn't exist yet. For a lot of us, that's the original Lore, and it's the new lore that feels like a departure from the "norm".

The new Lore is generally better written, tells a more complete story, and I honestly like it a lot. So while I do definitely see why the JoJ was cancelled, I can't say I regret its existence. It brought a lot of entertainment and discussion, some good character moments, and some great mysteries (If you haven't heard about the LeBlanc "gardening" letter or Talon's note, seriously, that stuff was so fun to "decode" and theorize about.) But we'll never get Blitzcrank punching Singed in the nuts again, which is the greatest tragedy of our time.