Shortly on Story Mode
The Point
So, ‘ancient lore’ was taken down, and by that I mean the background stories, but story mode remained for many years.
Mur’s “Show of Force” as one of the last happenings in relation with story mode that influenced many people is in my opinion a voice that goes in favor of the importance of story mode.
Story mode was recently taken down to reorganize the starting experiences of new souls, but it was promised that it will return.
This varies from the utmost determination to bring down ‘ancient lore’ when the decision was made.
It is important to understand the difference between the context of background stories and story mode.
They are both speaking about events that didn’t actually take place in the realm – however, background stories follow events, they are a chronology of sorts, to be referenced as something that happened, ‘ancient history of the realm’.
Story mode, on the other hand, has various instances of the ‘same event’, based on your decisions, and all the events are revolving around you, they are personal experiences, not worldwide events.
To help you visualize, I’ll mention dreams, product of your mind. Dreams are personal experiences, yet ‘fictional’. And they are one of the tools for you to understand yourself, by solving the symbols your mind is sending to you.
Hopefully by doing so, you will bring yourself back into balance – after all, most imposing dreams are usually the ones when something is wrong, and you need to fix it.
Imagine story mode as lots of dreaming. Only these would be dreams in connection with the essence of the realm, it speaks through the stories – which actually makes sense, but that deserves a topic of its own – thus they are not ‘just a bunch of random symbols’ based on everyday life to be dismissed.
Story mode sadly wasn’t finished, ideally it is never-ending but regardless, it is not rounded properly because some instances lack chapters some other instances have.
So, a lot of things are missing, but even in that form it tried to determine the personality of the one experiencing the story.
The choices you made closed some doors and opened some other. The choices separated you towards one of the mainlands, getting you closer with every new choice.
As it wasn’t completed so the few instances that weren’t left with unfinished chapter in the end were saught for by people who knew what to expect of story mode.
One particular and a very popular instance gave access to Necrovion, which was closed for the rest.
If you are able to determine which choices bring you closer to which land, doesn’t it help you understand their nature better? And of course, figuring out your own nature based on the land that lured you in…
There was more to it than figuring out which road to take while on the crossroads, though.
The carnival, that people experience and see in story mode, became an important reference.
It can also be seen in various forms as you walk through the Marble Dale Park.
People pondered what was the carnival all really about, because the story implied a mystery within it.
Number of times Mur referenced the carnival and it finally found its place even in ‘research clues’.
Little girl Marind, who was she, why was she following you around? Another important reference unrelated to a specific crossroad, ultimately ‘spoiled’ and elaborated in the “Show of Force”.
Story mode is a whole world of symbols you can use to try to understand the realm, but it is not to be taken literally, it speaks in allegories, so when lost you rely on your feelings and inspiration, rather than reason – you use that later to connect the dots.
Story mode, although the core of an epoch of MagicDuel, is similar to story mode. Proof of this is a quote from your article: “Story mode is a whole world of symbols you can try to understand the realm”. Ancient lore may not be a whole world of symbols, but you can use it to explain things present in MD. But then, the Adventure Log is another source, maybe with even more substance than the story mode…all these compete for your attention and, what’s more, they all coexist in a strange way.
The similarity I see between them is one of role, purpose, because the depth of each is different, and I do agree with the fact that Story Mode was aimed at pointing out characteristics, traits, through choices and, why not, thus create a blueprint for a role.
Story mode has been removed for now (and the original idea of a never-ending story is gone), ancient lore is banned, and at some point there has been a discussion where the removal of AL was discussed (there should be a .txt on the forum, somewhere). These things show that it’s not the shape, but the purpose that matters here, so a new “book” with symbols can be used with the same goal as story mode…
But story mode and ancient lore will continue to exist, for now, because there is no way to explain this or that in the scenes…a player enters a realm that was not created by other players; instead, it’s “ancient” to all, and the search for what is the continuous action behind the apparent stillness needs a guide(line), and the guidelines are the ones mentioned.
(i hope i didn’t ramble too much)