The Bilgewater Event might have been a mistake storywise

malekdarshin·8/10/2015, 12:13:59 AM·2 votes·1,177 views

Don't get me wrong, the story was good, but the aftermath of it, and in leaving the story unfinished, will come back to haunt the characters and the game. Gangplank is semi-insane right now, you can tell. There is no reasoning with him and his need for revenge. He's willing to see Bilgewater burned to the ground if the city is not his again. This can only end with the death or enslavement of Miss Fortune, the death or arrest of Gangplank (either would remove a character from the game), the destruction of Bilgewater, or Bilgewater being taken over by another world power which is why GP joined the LOL in the first place to avoid.

Also, Miss Fortune can't hold Bilgewater. She took it through scheming, and not though a brute force of will like GP. The streets were left in open warfare at the end of the story, which will weaken Bilgewater and make it a tempting target. She also made 2 new enemies, Graves and Twisted Fate. She was willing to kill them to kill GP. So to keep Bilgewater she would have to reach out to outsiders, such as Swain the General of the Noxian army who wants GP dead for stealing his ship The Leviathan, but that would introduce Noxian influence if not rule in Bilgewater.

So if Riot willing to kill characters permanently? Or is it going to be the loss of Bilgewater? If the latter, what does that mean for the Harrowing? It took GP and MF to fight against the Harrowing, what now?

Questions, questions.

8 Comments

Sharjo8/10/2015, 1:30:14 AM2 votes

So if Riot willing to kill characters permanently? Or is it going to be the loss of Bilgewater? If the latter, what does that mean for the Harrowing? It took GP and MF to fight against the Harrowing, what now?

Basically the story's now set up to see how Bilgewater handles the spectre of death looming over them. I don't see how that's a mistake in terms of story development, in fact that makes me excited for the prospects; will Bilgewater just be totally destroyed and everyone die, or will it survive somehow? How will GP and MF factor in to that? Everything you've mentioned would make for interesting stories in my book. So no, Burning Tides wasn't a mistake, at least not in my book.

All in all remember this: This is Riot's story to make and they can do whatever they want with it. That means your favourite champions may die and nations might be blown off the map.

GreenLore8/10/2015, 10:44:16 AM1 votes

Its a sequel hook.

They left some things open in the end,so that they have already a new basis for the future Bilgewater stories.

(for example it is possible that the events in bilgewater will actually affect the harrowing this year)

ABlueQuaker8/10/2015, 10:48:48 AM1 votes

Or something greater than their feud will require their cooperation...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hcz0-GIVJA

333lom8/10/2015, 5:51:41 PM1 votes

You have a point.

There's a special type of character and story "preservation" that is typically used in comedy shows, but lore for video-games can benefit from it greatly as well. It's not necessarily "maintaining status quo", but it's pretty similar to this: The job the storyteller has, is to make things happen, but always at the end of arcs, maintain a balance. No important region is permanently lost, no main character dies.

Why is this so important? Well, if it's a book, then it's not important, probably not even a good idea. But for something that's designed to last, it's ideal - it is designed to keep the fans around. What if one of the main characters suddenly dies? A part of the fans whose favourite character that was, will most likely leave. I did so many times in many franchises. I think that is obvious.

In conclusion, that's where the real skill of the storyteller is shown: whether he/she can make incredible and interesting things happen, without sacrificing characters in that (either literally, or twisting and destroying their personality).

sp4418/11/2015, 12:45:53 PM1 votes

I doubt that they will permanently disable any champions, I think disabling Gangplank was a learning experience and they won't do quite the same thing again.

And they didn't exactly leave the story unfinished. At least not to the level that the Freljord or the Shurima event did. The story was about Miss Fortune's Revenge and Gangplank's Fall with the conflict between Twisted Fate and Graves being the connecting element between the two, and all three of these story threads got solved by the end.

Tesla Effect8/11/2015, 1:18:59 PM1 votes

I doubt they will kill any champion any time soon...unless they are undead champions, in which they kinda already died.

malekdarshin8/11/2015, 3:24:23 PM1 votes

I agree with you all, they won't perm kill one of their champs. The story as it is right now demands it though. I don't see anything outside of divine intervention changing the way MF and GP feel about each other.

Here's another question, between MF and GP, who is more evil?

GP did kill MF's family and left her for dead in the consolidation of his power over Bilgewater. But he held a peace through brutality. He joined LOL to keep Bilgewater from being taken by another global power. MF broke that peace and caused a lot of deaths seeking her revenge, and she doesn't seem to care. Bilgewater is in flames with gang warfare, and she ordered lots of murder. I'm thinking she will take up something as bad as live scrimshaw carving. Finger collecting, maybe? They are both consumed by revenge and neither have Bilgewater's best interest in mind.

The Harrowing should be a bloodbath, or end in Demacian or Noxian occupation of Bilgewater.