Boards›Story, Art, & Sound

I just saw the new Amumu video...

James Stone·1/27/2015, 9:47:20 AM·48 votes·6,005 views

...and I'm about to pop a vein in my forehead. I never thought such an inocuous thing could make me this mad, but well, here we go.

You know, I already had no problems with the new lore. It was about when they reworked Skarner to be a random bug guarding some random underground ruin that I realized they were going on a direction I wanted no part on, so I've simply distanced myself from it. I had a fanfiction saga going on, dropped it. Used to participate on lore discussions on the old forum daily, nopety nope. Honestly, I was never angry, just dissapointed.

But then, then with this fucking video, it hit me. Everything we lost. And the nothing we now have...

I'm sorry Riot, if you thought political intrigue and actual active interaction between countries/city-states, something completely unique in typical fantasy was too "restricting". But hey. We've got friendship curses.

Sorry if actual, well defined new forms of magic and technology, like hextexh, the integration of hex-runes into technological components, and techmaturgy, were too limiting. Good thing we now have friendship curses!

It's a shame we had to abandon actual deep, thought-provokong, dare I say INSPIRING, themes, like the pursuit of knowledge and progress over your own person, and whenever the limitations on such pursuit come from a fair acceptance of danger or from the fear of the unknown (Xerath), the effects of isolation and loneliness, and the overridance of a desire for blind vengeance for doing the right thing, while proving that rarely a book can be read by it's cover (Skarner), or the prevalence of diplomacy and attempts of peace over conflict and war (The Institute) and how even the best of ideals can be warped and twisted by the wrong men and the right place, blurring the distinction between good and evil and making us ponder if those concepts ever truly existed (The High Council and in a way Summoners in general) intervered with your delusional writers' goddamned sense of grandeur, but hey, at least we have FRIENDSHIP CURSES.

FRIENDSHIP CURSES.

MOTHERFUCKING FRIENDSHIP CURSES

THE LOWEST AND MOST JUVENILE BLOODY CLICHÉ APPLIED TO THE STUPIDIEST AND LESS EXPLAINED FORM OF MAGIC!

This, folks, is what we lost. So please, please let us all thank Riot for all they've given us, now that they aren't constricted by the story the narrative team's predecessors built.

Cringe-worthy piece of shit small video series about a douchebag with an empire made of sand.

Zombie Hanukkah

And freakin' friendship curses.

Halle-fucking-llujah.

I actually prefered when Riot didn't care and stopped expanding their lore. Because at least then they weren't destroying everything they wrote.

But hey.

Friendship-fucking-curses.

Amen.

65 Comments

NorthernDruid1/27/2015, 10:38:42 AM29 votes

I actually prefered when Riot didn't care and stopped expanding their lore. Because at least then they weren't destroying everything they wrote.

This. So much this. I'd rather have a story in limbo than in ruins.

But hey, at least the Sion stuff was kinda cool.

Sneak Dog1/27/2015, 1:27:20 PM24 votes

For Amumu, his greatest desire is to have a friend. The curse (or Amumu himself?) dooms anyone that comes too near. Amumu himself is sad and throws tantrums. He views his curse as a friendship curse because it denies him his greatest wish: friendship. I think the curse itself is more of an isolating curse in general or might even be *almost *harmless, only telling Amumu his greatest fears, after which Amumus own powers do the rest. Why are you throwing a tantrum over his curse when it's the same curse it was anyway? You wanted Riot to change Amumus curse to something different?

I'm not saying I like Riots directions. I lost my faith in narrative when Trundle got removed, got reaffirmed when Xerath go this main motivation and modus operandi changed. I dislike the removal of the IoW.

I have little interest in the new lore. For I know that if I did, tomorrow an announcement could be up telling me that my new favorite character is now removed and replaced. It'll even dare to tell me that this replacement will be a great, new and wonderful character and Riot can't wait to tell stories about the new guy.

But I do not think this video was a step in the wrong direction. It characterised Amumu really well and told us who Amumu is. As long as we also get deeper lore like the noxian diary and stories that don't just exist to show off a character or two but to tell an engaging story, characterisation is great.

Little sidenote, please keep discussion civil and constructive. I get infuriated whenever I think of the Trundle retcon, but just being infuriated doesn't help my argument.

Solideus1/27/2015, 5:56:15 PM19 votes

A bit hyperbolic and not very civil. This was the music team's project, not pure lore, so judge it by what it is. Every piece of content will not be fore you, that doesn't mean nothing will ever be for you. Broad and varied appeal is what you should expect. Good stuff also takes a long time to create, do have reasonable expectations for the rate of delivery.

A Superb Villain1/27/2015, 3:17:43 PM17 votes

while proving that rarely a book can be read by it's cover (Skarner)

The irony is palpable.

Skarner was moved out of Kalamada and into Shurima, that is all. His lore, like other Shurima champions, was cut to a mere summary, and most act as if this is the final state.

"Oh no, Skarner is just some random crystal bug being all scary and mean in Shurima! Boo hoo, Skarner was removed from Kalamada because the Institute of War no longer exists, thus removing justification for a political incident that created the Dominion map! Waah! Riot is changing everything!"

That is the extent of intelligent discourse in response to Narrative's decisions; bitching.

Am I pleased with every action Narrative has taken? Hell no. Do I whine like a petulant child because the situation appears not to satisfy my desires? Hell fucking no.

I wait, I watch, I play the game and formulate my opinion as circumstances shift to accommodate new information. I do not throw a tantrum because Riot released a music video celebrating the release of an album of assorted League music unrelated to lore. It is disappointing so many "fans" of lore are immediately up in arms over a music video simply because it wasn't what they wanted.

For goodness sake, you are upset that Amumu is essentially the same character he was at release, despite information being leaked that elaborates on the nature of his existence.

FRIENDSHIP CURSES.

MOTHERFUCKING FRIENDSHIP CURSES

THE LOWEST AND MOST JUVENILE BLOODY CLICHÉ APPLIED TO THE STUPIDIEST AND LESS EXPLAINED FORM OF MAGIC!

Very eloquent. Never mind this "Friendship Curse" is less about denying friendship and more about spreading death and decay. It is a psychological torture of delicious sadism; Amumu wants friends, to know who he is and simply be loved, his curse destroys everything he touches, causing people to avoid his presence, to shun his existence, and Amumu cannot understand why. Amumu's despair turns to frustration and rage aimed at those he perceives as deliberately causing him pain through isolation, triggering a very destructive tantrum that effectively obliterates everything in the immediate vicinity. Everyone too near the epicenter of his anguish is dead, Amumu is alone, and his poor reputation grows worse, prompting greater revulsion and deepening Amumu's loneliness. It is a terribly cruel feedback loop.

You are upset, your post made that quite clear, many people share your disappointment, but expressing it like this is pathetic.

Alljoy1/27/2015, 10:03:00 AM11 votes

I can't take Amumu seriously to begin with, he's like the poster boy for Prozac.

Sentinel9471/27/2015, 4:28:08 PM9 votes

I guess I'm the only person who liked the Shurima lore launch, and like Azir as a character.

ProjectRay121/28/2015, 5:12:28 AM4 votes

I agree completely. I loved the video, and the song, but not in the lore. The whole of Shurima, where most of my favourite champions come from or are affiliated with, has been ruined lore-wise.

Renekton got screwed, but at least the brothers aren't aliens now. Skarner (even thought he wasn't originally Shurmian) got absolutely demolished. Rammus has no lore at all now. Azir's lore was very poorly thought out and presented. Sivir died. Cassiopeia seems to be a little more shallow now, but otherwise unchanged. Ezreal lost his defining characteristic smugness. You covered Amumu. But the worst of all, to me, was Xerath's lore. Before he had a beautiful, understandable lore, especially with his League Judgement, and you could see he wasn't really evil or good, he just wanted power, and had good reason, giving up everything for it. Now, now he's a bitter slave who upon receiving his freedom promised to him by Azir, murdered everyone he ever knew. Sure it's kind of understandable, but not really. Besides the fact that they don't explain how he accomplished such a feat. I will always see Xerath as his former, greater self, no matter what kind of crap Riot is cooking up in the lore department and set our plates with. Yes, Riot put a lot of good, hard work into the lore. Yes, Riot thought long and hard about the new lore.

No, they did not make the right decision unless they can improve the shitstorm they've brought about.

Riot wanted deep, rich storytelling with the new lore. What did we get? Half-assed "open to interpretation" lore, that has no meaning, that is full of generic storytelling, and that is completely and utterly unfinished, yet they are ignoring it and moving on seemingly.

Remunial1/27/2015, 3:41:40 PM4 votes

You sound upset. Let me give you a hug.

lDontLiftIcarry1/27/2015, 7:28:30 PM4 votes

it wasn't that bad. But yeah its was pretty childish and lacked any real depth.

KoKoboto1/27/2015, 9:53:17 PM4 votes

Amumu cant make friends because things around him die or grow really old, thats his curse... Pretty sure it was obvious like just from looking at his base-line story "Guy wants friends but can't make any, dosen't know anything about himself" Also Riot made a little lore thingy about how Amumu once touched someonee and that guys arm died why you so mad bro lol and the music video was pretty good Than his unability to make friends cause they'd just all die around him lead him to being sad and throwing tantrums, which then leads to him using his mummy power he also dosen't understand and killing destroying more things around him People who thinks Amumu's curse is a "I can't make friends" curse literally are stupid lol

Ryu the first1/27/2015, 10:03:17 PM4 votes

.............isn't the point of Amumu that the reason he's sad is he can't make friends, even though he tries so hard? Since I'm right on that, isn't it only logical that he has a FRIENDSHIP CURSE?

THE GREAT SLOTH1/28/2015, 1:48:38 AM4 votes

I'm honestly not sure at all how to feel about the new lore. From the perspective of someone who thought the lore was an absolute joke in this game before, in my head I'm like, "at least they're…trying? And at least the video looked super cool, if nothing else."

But before, while I didn't care in the least bit about the "lore"(to me it just felt tacked on last minute) I know that a portion of the player base had been in the process of picking up the slack and had pooled their efforts in various attempts to make it something great. I know that some people were really passionate about it, including some of the people at Riot. So for that reason it's sad to me that they decided to dump the whole thing.

In my opinion, it would have been much better to start an open dialogue with the player base about what they actually wanted to see in the LoL universe, rather than just saying, "well, this story clearly blows. Fuck this shit! clicks delete button"

And again, this is coming from someone who knows next to nothing about the lore and has been playing for 3 years. That's not to say that at some point I didn't try to take an interest. When I first started playing the game, I read all the lore of champions I wanted to purchase, until I began to realize that the lore was extremely uninteresting and wasn't really going anywhere… How did they manage to make it worse somehow by trying to make it better?… :/

Decrit1/27/2015, 10:33:06 PM3 votes

... I am the only one that thinks that the new lore is actually a good base for something, and it actually does not equal his predecessor because the former was developed for more time, had people attached to it and that fantastized over it, and the new one needs to bloom yet?

Xerath is the case where the fanbase demostrated to be ignorant and bigot: he is basically the same as before in every aspect, but since the recent Shurima lore depicts the point of view of only one or few more characters ( in this case nasus and azir ) he is depicted as evil and egoist. They said that, they alerted everyone and yet there was the shitstorm. They are taking too much time? Yes, too much, but a moba does not live out of lore. Face the truth: it server only as promotional material for champions, events and other stuff. And it' s fine this way because they already do great stuff for free while the fanbase cries for more!

At least the people at factions does his own to satisfy the needs of lore, or like every single fanfic writer, instead of whining.

Chromatic Eagle1/27/2015, 6:33:31 PM3 votes

They haven't stopped with the political drama, they just suck at it or are holding on for something. Nothing about the old lore would've stopped this video.

slippykitten1/27/2015, 7:59:12 PM2 votes

This theme runs through their entire company - simplify everything possible for the least acceptable work and maximize profits from lcs. It has been a LOOOOOOOOOONG time since riot did anything to show that they are still concerned with the actual fans of the game itself.