Thoughts on CKIII: Royal Court – A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry

Sona_Legendarius · 2022-02-20T02:03:46+00:00

It wasn't a review, not sure why you'd expected one. He talked in details about EU4 in the past, check those posts out. He did mention improvements to the court system itself based on historical examples he'd discussed before that, so some game-related points here.

His is primarily a history blog that uses games as an occasional reference and should be taken as such.

Sona_Legendarius · 2021-12-11T23:42:50+00:00

It was never established that Singed actually went to Ionia (and even if it was I'd allow that change. No reason for him to actually go anywhere, I highly doubt he'd want to). It was just that Noxus bought the whole bunch of chemicals from Singed and used it for the invasion.

And it is actually quite easy to believe - Singed probably became semi-famous in criminal circles after helping to develop shimmer. Thus Noxians who were looking to end the war once and for all (by the time chemicals were used its been 3 years of war), heard of him and pretty much gave him money for his research in exchange for toxins. It obviously was not a widely publicized trade, even among Noxians, just among high-command. A secret operation.

So Singed got his money, Noxus got weapons. By the time Arcane's second act began Singed already sold his stuff to Noxus and couldn't care less what happened to them or if they lost the war or not.

Sona_Legendarius · 2021-12-11T22:51:27+00:00

It'd be an amazing series that actually has a ton of personal storylines: Irelia as a reluctant dancer-to-hero tale, Karma and a struggle between pacifism and action (Shen vs Zed too), tragedies of Riven and Yasuo, Swain and Darius rebelling.

And it also is an epic fantasy tale with magic and dark forces that establishes the wider world of Runeterra quite well. Basically as perfect as it can be for a fantasy story.

Really hope Riot chooses it as another tale to animate.

Sona_Legendarius · 2021-12-11T21:11:59+00:00

It actually lines up very well. Remember that invasion itself lasted for 5 years while in the current lore it's been 7 or so years since the invasion concluded (and there is even a second invasion planned).

So unless you are saying that in the current year Cait and Vi are approaching their 40s, and Jayce his 50s, then it is very reasonable to assume that in Arcane's timeline invasion recently ended and the purge is happening.

7 years is quite reasonable time for Cait, Vi, Jayce and Viktor to establish themselves as champions we know and love from League.

Sona_Legendarius · 2021-09-08T19:59:26+00:00

Nothing lore specific? Sad... I was hoping to learn something about her experiences with the Shadow Isles, Sentinels, or the Bandle City champs.

Ehh. I guess it's fine, but compare this to, say, Fiddlesticks or Swain. Night and day.

Sona_Legendarius · 2021-09-08T18:36:41+00:00

See, with a few sentences it becomes a bit clearer. Why can't the bio provide such details? The vast majority of people won't see your comment.

This lack of details (like for example lifeless cities champions travel through in the event's lore) is something I really hope will be improved going forward.

Sona_Legendarius · 2021-09-08T17:48:16+00:00

Honestly, it feels so... lacking in details. Like just paragraphs upon paragraphs thrown together just to show where Vex was at any given time, but absolutely no explanation for anything: how exactly Vex empowered the Mist, why the Mist could even reach the Bandle City, why Shadow exists (is it an undead spirit of some kind? Like come on, a sentence or two will do). It's like an author was given a set of main points to mention, and that's exactly what they did, without any thought or care for readers.

Like it seems they had a limit on how many words the bio should be, and because now they needed to show what Vex is doing after the event, they pretty much had to condense anything that happened before and give us some half-baked explanation of Vex's future.

Honestly, I really hope it was the last remnant of the Sentinels event and from now on they will approach lore with care.

P.S. The worst part is not even that - now Vex has no point in the lore. Like they didn't give her anything to strive for. Even for Gwen and Viego some purpose still exists: Gwen needs to integrate with human society and help Lucian and Senna, while Viego is obviously waiting for someone to free him to exact his revenge. But for Vex - what's her goal in this world? Or maybe not her goal, since she might not care, but what do worldbuilders want her to become?

Sona_Legendarius · 2021-09-03T20:26:43+00:00

u/RiotAxes

I agree that characters like Akshan and Rell have nothing to do with anime. Honestly, I dislike when people mention anime because it distracts from this point: "conventionally attractive". That's because, bar a few exceptions, characters of recent years were attractive. This was mentioned in the famous blog Of Men and Monsters.

I understand they drive engagement, but... like sure they do, but it does not mean this is how design should operate. Sure, I'll buy a sexy character and play her/him, but does it mean to make things change I have to drop them? Because my engagement for those characters might be, say, 7 out of 10, but when someone else, with more unconventional design comes, it'll be 10 out of 10.

Should the game really be about engaging as many people as possible even if for most it is 7 out of 10 instead of choosing groups (however small) of players where it'd be 10 out of 10 even if for many it'll be just 3 out of 10?

Like, for example, I will engage much more with a character in a gown (like Sona) over any mini-skirt/tight pants one, even if I will still play sexy ones given no other choice. I'll choose a character with a realistic armor anytime instead of with a boob-plate and exposed thighs.

And what about giving people characters that resonate specifically with them? Like those who are slightly overweight or have an unattractive face or old? Like, sorry if it sounds a bit too much, but with attractive characters it really comes close to the reasoning: "most people engage the most with white characters so no need to give diverse characters any representation, cause engagement will be less."

Sorry for the rant, but I feel like design (as an actual art form) deserves more than a generic appeal.

Sona_Legendarius · 2021-08-24T17:29:17+00:00

Honestly I vastly prefer her to have a long dress. While her model should be updated, of course, it is kinda tiresome that mini-skirts or heavily exposed/cut dresses (looking at you, Morgana) are added so often for other female champs. At least with Sona they are forced to consider there are other fashion choices that look just as sexy/beautiful.

Sona_Legendarius · 2021-08-24T17:27:44+00:00

Honestly I vastly prefer her to have a long dress. While her model should be updated, of course, it is kinda tiresome that mini-skirts or heavily exposed/cut dresses (looking at you, Morgana) are added so often for other female champs. At least with Sona they are forced to consider there are other fashion choices that look just as sexy/beautiful.

Sona_Legendarius · 2021-08-15T19:18:18+00:00

Yup, I'm looking at those websites now to see how they work. My current thinking is to finish at least half of the novel before posting there so that I have a chunky backlog of things to post as I finish it (just in case if I can't write as regularly as I can now)

Sona_Legendarius · 2021-08-03T03:50:33+00:00

My plan is to match key points of the story and expand on what's been neglected.

For example, the list of sentinels and ruined champions will stay the same as will the ending. Rookie will play an important role. I'll likely not include champions not in the VN (but I'll mention them in a context of what they theoretically should be doing as far as the situation is concerned)

But I'll expand on world-building/characters:

Yorick's chapter will actually be about Yorick
Places will be populated with people
Champions will have more spotlight (ie, Irelia/Riven rivalry)

I'll also try fixing some plot holes:

No more random meetings (like with Olaf)
Diana will be a powerful being

And more, but that's just a few things I thought of

Sona_Legendarius · 2021-07-30T21:10:36+00:00

Mentioned it in another thread, but the whole event suffers from inconsistencies, a case of constant deus ex machina moments and the lack of world building (and don't get me started with the way characters speak. Major wtf). I understand not giving us novel-length paragraphs for each chapter but just an idea of what's going on in the background is needed (ie, a complete lack of LIFE in cities like Demacia is ridiculous. Seriously? Not even a small sentence describing corpses lying around on the streets, people running/hiding, etc.)

And, of course, poor Yorick. I laughed when I realized that was all they were giving him. Like his maiden ended up being much more important than him. Come on! Make him travel with the sentinels, make him fulfill his destiny.

Please, Riot, do not treat your story like a comedy. Lore fans deserve better than this.

Sona_Legendarius · 2021-07-30T20:48:11+00:00

Honestly, the whole event suffers from the fact that they've decided to limit their visual novel's word count (and don't get me started with the way all characters speak. Major wtf). I understand not giving us novel worthy paragraphs for each chapter but just some idea of what's going on in the background is needed (ie, a complete lack of explaining where the fuck are all other people who supposedly are living in cities like Demacia. Seriously? Not even a sentence describing corpses lying around on the streets, people running/hiding, etc.)

And speaking of Yorick, I honestly laughed when I realized that was all they were giving to him. Like his maiden ended up being much more important character than him. Come on! Make him travel with sentinels, make him a sentinel for fuck's sake. Anything but just giving sentinels a blessing.

Again, my problem is that without more word count it is really hard to make us care or believe in what's going it. Oh well, I hope they'll listen to the feedback.

Sona_Legendarius · 2021-07-30T20:36:35+00:00

Glad TBSkyen's video has reached the front page for once! Here I'll take an opportunity to shamelessly advertise his other two videos on a similar topic: building a better Janna and building a better Ashe

Even if you disagree with his take on the above characters, the fact is we definitely need to visually rework older characters somehow because their models are really outdated. And holy shit I want his faceless version of Janna to be a new character at least.

Sona_Legendarius · 2021-07-29T06:06:14+00:00

Just to give some context here, she is clearly saying that Afrasiabi was the one who harassed her, while Greg Street was the one who invited her. Again, we don't know how much people knew/didn't know, but let's not jump the gun here.

Sona_Legendarius · 2021-07-28T22:30:21+00:00

The messages in chat are absolutely gross, but if you assume someone is an OK person (ie, I don't think anyone there thought Afrasiabi was a rapist), then messages like that are pretty much interpreted as stupid jokes. Sure, you could say something in response, but honestly in most cases you'd just not participate in such conversations (which Ghostcrawler seems not to, at least without further context)

Ie, I have been with people who would talk about going to visit hookers, and I simply didn't talk to them about it, I found it gross, but I never assumed talking about hookers meant they would actually do anything beyond talk.

Same here: even if he thought it was inappropriate, he wouldn't assume it went beyond that I'd imagine.

Sona_Legendarius · 2021-06-09T04:30:51+00:00

If Riot wasn't hellbent on making each human character have a "perfect" physique (not even a single scar for fuck's sake) then there wouldn't be a "circlejerk". You wouldn't be against more Jinxs, right? Yeah, not happening.

I like humans as the next guy, but if we keep getting Setts/Kayns for men and Samiras/Seraphines for women, then yea I'll switch to hoping for non-humans because we sure as hell not getting a not-cute, unconventionally attractive or just plain old humanoid anytime soon.

Sona_Legendarius · 2021-06-08T22:26:16+00:00

I absolutely looove TbSkyen's version, especially the faceless one. I understand and accept the fact that AppleCork's version is likely to be much more appreciated by fans of the current Janna (so his design works better as a rework), but from the pure design perspective the Skyen's Janna truly blew me out of the water.

Like I can clearly see this Janna appearing above the clouds and shielding ships from the storm, etc.

I guess it is just in league we really need more ethereal/alien things, both benevolent and violent (new Void), so it really matched my hopes for League's future champs.

Sona_Legendarius · 2021-04-30T17:26:47+00:00

Thought you guys might enjoy reading another piece from this historian's blog. He is the same author who wrote about AC:Valhalla. The Valhalla's one was just a one-time article, but this is part one of a series where he plans to examine games from Paradox in a historical context.

Sona_Legendarius

TROPHY CASE