Boards›Story, Art, & Sound

Champion Writing Gotten A Lot Worse?

Lichformed·7/31/2018, 12:37:34 PM·6 votes·2,273 views

One thing I liked about League when I got into it the first time was how the champions in League were not being designed to be archetypes for the design and theme the team was going for, some examples could be:

  • Draven , an executioner who didn't use an axe, but some high tech fancy blades to make it into a show of his personal liking.
  • Gnar , a classic berserker type of character that builds up rage, but it ends up in GLORIOUS EVOLUTION!!!
  • Aatrox , (His rework kinda feeds into my main point) he was a god of war, where iirc the victorious side saw Aatrox as an angel of battle reflecting his Justicar Skin, and the defeated saw the monstrous Darkin Blade. now he's just laughably edgy. Are his interactions with Tryndamere's clan still canon? Like that was a great piece of anti-heroism.

Of course there are a lot of familiarities to other characters like Anivia is pretty much a Phoenix, but ice. At least all of the champions had personality and the only one I ever had problems with was Syndra who's just about gathering power, but now it feels like it has infected other champions. Kayn just bleeds edge, he's a misfit ninja and Rhaast as a character feels better than Kayn himself. Kaisa she feels a bit too clean, I loved the void and expected all the champions to be either full grown beasts or corrupted and deranged human beings like Kassadin and Malzahar. Kai'Sa just feels like she's totally designed to be eye candy and a skin dump. Her voice actor did a great performance with what she was given, but the lines themselves feel distant from the game, it's like she never was in the void and at the same time she wants to kill voidspawns while flexing about her powers. Her lore snap even says she needs to decide if she wanted to damn the void or embrace it, but in game she acts like it's not even a point and she's just a girl with a purple skin suit. Zoe , "bruh I swear she's 4k years old because stardust majik" laziest excuse ever for a legalized loli, she doesn't fit the game with her stretching body and Pixar like features, also hearing HIHIHI PRRRRRBLT makes me want to just smash her head against concrete. I should rename my account Zoe Permaban. I'm not actually toxic, but this champion, as just a concept makes my eyes roll. Pyke I drowned, I will drown you, underwater, fishes, sea, I will get you, I am angry for drowning, underwater friends. I've been playing Pyke as a main after coming back, he's so much fun and that's something all the new champs share, they are really fun to play, but as characters they are so boring and bland.

The lore has always been a great deal for me, I love games like LoL, Dark Souls, The Elder Scrolls and Warhammer for their deep (Sometimes flawed) lore that comes into play inside the games. And in LoL champion releases were one of my biggest moments alongside new information on the lands, like the new interactive map was such a treat and gave more insight. I haven't read the latest long lore packages after Jhin (Who feels like the last lore cohesive champion), but even if they were better or worse, the champion writing and starting point in design is starting to feel like taking the easy way out.

This was a bit of a negative post, but I just had to share my thoughts, love the game, love the lore. Any thoughts?

33 Comments

GreenLore7/31/2018, 1:25:13 PM6 votes

I agree that most of the newer champions don't feel that deep or unique.

The only new champ that was released in 2018 and 2017 where I felt like he was a complex character was Ornn.

However I do think that the VGUs were pretty good in fleshing out the champs.

Aatrox who you decry as being a less compelling character now actually feels like one of the bigger improvements to me,because old Aatrox was not a character,he was a trope.Old Aatroxs character was essentially that he loved bloody wars,so he joined them in order to escalate them.He wasn't a god of war,just a war-obsessed supernatural being. I wouldn't even call him an anti-hero,because he just helps whoever needs the help,regardless if they are good or evil,because he wants to make the war less onesided to increase the casualities.

New Aatrox on the other hand has clear motivations for his actions and has a wide range of emotions(like sadness,pride,amusement and of course anger),the only problem is that for some reason all his joke-lines are mixed in with his taunts.

Robertsmash7/31/2018, 3:19:52 PM3 votes

I agree about Kayn, Aatrox, and Kai'sa. The cool part of Kayn is Rhaast. Aatrox is basically another champion, not an updated one. Kai'sa should definitely look different. But I don't mind her soft-spoken nature. I don't think League has enough of those. In a game that has to have quotable VOs, the characters are mostly very biased to talkative, poignant lines. Kai'sa was a nice shift into a different kind of personality.

Pyke is just a delusional possessed zombie. I think he has to be pretty one dimensional.

mrmeddyman8/1/2018, 5:22:50 AM3 votes

Kayn is edgy by design. He was inspired by Sasuke ffs. If that's the read you got from him good. That was the intention. Behind his coll aloofness though he does show some contrast. Specifically a respect for Shen and Zed (Even love in Zeds case).

Kaisa all of her lines point to the fact that she has made peace with her time trapped in the Void. That's why she comes off as cool and dispassionate. She's the opposite of the "edgy" characters. She's made the choice to not give into anger or be despondent but to move on with her life. That next phase of her life just happens to be protecting people from the Void even though nobody will ever appreciate or accept her as human again. She kills voidspawns out of necessity she doesn't really "flex" on anything, it's not personal for her she just does what is right. She's actually one of my favorites of the new characters in League.

Aatrox is "edgy" but of course everyone looked over the nuance after the interactions video only highlighted his champion interactions and not the REAL Aatrox which is reflected in his long move quotes. It's a total front. He's actually a very melancholic and broken character. Probably Riots' only attempt at portraying depression, suicide and PTSD in their game (besides this guy Amumu ). Aatrox hates himself. He hates that he has been reduced to walking around in borrowed rotting flesh when he was once a god. Every time he talks about his body he refers to it in the 3rd person.

"March, flesh march toward them! " "I am in a cage within a prison... But this foul shape reminds me of my purpose". "This cursed form... This crude decaying flesh! I loathe it!" "See what beasts they have reduced us to... Creatures of flesh sustained only by this filth's blood and form!"

He rants about all the cartoonishly evil deeds he wants to do. But if you listen to his intonations these aren't statements, he is trying to CONVINCE himself he is the bad guy.

"I shall regard their cries as braying steeds, waiting to be whipped, broken, and bridled!" "They sing of love, hope and gods, all that makes them want to live! So, I will quiet that first!" "I shall take their limbs. I will reap their beloved! I will tear from their consciousness, the will to live. Yes, this is my purpose."

Because once upon a time he wasn't just an Ascended being but one of the most just and righteous of them. Now the only way to end his suffering is to find a way to destroy the world. He is one of Leagues' most tragic characters

"I have no goodness left, it was taken from me, stolen! I... am the nemesis of life." "Dark deeds I will do this day... Though I will carry myself as my former pride dictates!"

These character actually ARE characters. Most of the older "characters" have none besides Draven none of them have distinct personalities that make them who they are. Riot came up with some excuse as to why the character does what they do and makes that the "character" instead of letting the character be informed by what the character does. They do lean towards "on the nose" personalities (aka what everyone here likes to call "edgy") but that's because it's a game where characterization isn't the focus, how can they be subtle when they are literally telling you who the character is through one line quote that fire when you taunt people in your lane. The characters are better than ever you just have to look a little bit deeper than the surface.

Wrathof3007/31/2018, 2:23:16 PM2 votes

League has always been progressing toward using stereotypes and archetypes and putting a spin on them.

Draven is an executioner archetype, his twist the type of axe he uses to execute people and how executes them.

Likewise Gnar, "The Missing Link/ Minnesota Iceman" archetype. Except instead of a human its a yordle with prehistoric powers.

Akali is a ninja stereotype, funnily enough she is unique despite being the most stereotypical of all our ninjas, because she is the closest to an actual shinobi.

Kayn scythe user, Kaisa power suit archetype, Zoe Trickster god archetype. Some just leave a bigger impact than others I suppose.

SugeMinPikk7/31/2018, 2:33:50 PM2 votes

Azir EVERYONE IS FROM SHURIMA Azir

BoringLittleF7/31/2018, 2:21:45 PM1 votes

I feel sad about what happened to Irelia

In the old lore, she _ was_ a warrior taught by the best swordsman in Ionia. She was tasked with protecting her homeland and she fought even after being gravely wounded and having her life hanging on a thread. Her story was a story of determination and willpower. To me it's much more powerful than a teenage girl dancer getting help from a spirit just because she got angry and scared (I mean, Noxians cut down the entire villages in Ionia, children, women and men included, and spirit never gave a damn about them, but Irealia was different because...dancing?) and learning to wield the pieces of broken mantle by herself.

Camille Ferrøs7/31/2018, 12:51:12 PM1 votes

I didn't get what you wanted to say about Pyke. I probably not getting it...

RyzeTheSmurfMage7/31/2018, 1:06:12 PM1 votes

Some lore is good, some lore is amazing, and some is weak.

Camille Ferrøs7/31/2018, 12:50:32 PM1 votes

I dislike the Aatrox lore rework...The thing I loved about him was the mystery of his race and his goal..and now he is just a mad ascendant.

About Kayn..He is supposed to be that edgy character , because someone has to fit that role since no one before was edgy like him.

Zoe. I personally like the annoying lil 9 yr old personality funny and annoying in the same time. And that was the point of Zoe's character . What I wish Zoe had more in her character is the aspect of change. Since she is change she could have used some personality changes in her quotes at least. Since she can go from a ascendant killing monster to a girl that runs after squirrel.

I am so sad about how the new long awaited void champion ended up...Iron man from Runeterra...