16 minutes ago, Shiba Gunichi said:

Gakku didn't eat Kali-Ma, he ate the God-Beast's brain (which... was a really, really lame thing in and of itself, but moving on...)

Hungry goblin is... a HUNGRY goblin.

11 hours ago, Nagori-A-Go-Go said:

I came in when the Brotherhood ceased to be playable, so I find this point really interesting. Did Brotherhood play much differently from Dragon?

Dragon personalities had a different card pricing scheme than unaligned monks, so right there it messes with expectations. Also, if you wanted to play enlightenment victory, losing the House of Tao monk stronghold was a huge blow because it let you start play with a Ring, and you would generally pick Water because it was such a PITA to get into play legit. A lot of it was just flavor though - I just never really felt like a was playing my people; I was playing a vague copy. As mentioned, there was a fairly degenerate Phoenix deck that could play rings very effectively, until they errataed the crap out the kiho Finding the Harmonies.

The Monk deck that won Gen Con was military, though, so you could do things besides enlightenment with them.

11 hours ago, Shiba Gunichi said:

Gakku didn't eat Kali-Ma, he ate the God-Beast's brain (which... was a really, really lame thing in and of itself, but moving on...)

EDIT: The fact that that piece of knowledge is forever lodged in my brain? Almost depressing.

What happened to Gakku Afterwards? Stopped reading the fiction after kali ma her demise

5 minutes ago, Mig el Pig said:

What happened to Gakku Afterwards? Stopped reading the fiction after kali ma her demise

He... went through some changes.

Never really showed up in the story again, though, except as a passing mention

Did we ever learn the name of the original deity that became the God-Beast?

2 hours ago, Mon no Oni said:

Did we ever learn the name of the original deity that became the God-Beast?

It was probably Toku.
A more serious response (since I clearly don't know the answer): ignoring Onyx and 20F leading into Onyx, are there lots of unresolved or completely dropped story points in the game?

A fair few.

3 hours ago, Nagori-A-Go-Go said:

A more serious response (since I clearly don't know the answer): ignoring Onyx and 20F leading into Onyx, are there lots of unresolved or completely dropped story points in the game?

There was a TON of foreshadowing that Shinjo Shono's daughter was the reincarnation of Utaku. For YEARS.
And then, suddenly, she wasn't, someone else became champion, it was never addressed again and the entire thing was dropped.

Our local Unicorn player simply stopped caring about the story at that point.

17 minutes ago, Yogo Gohei said:

There was a TON of foreshadowing that Shinjo Shono's daughter was the reincarnation of Utaku.

She was the reincarnation of Shinjo. And this plot line was left in the dust when it was about to explode into a full-scale civil war between the Shinjo and the Moto (with the two reincarnations of Shinjo duking out who is the real Shinjo).

3 minutes ago, AtoMaki said:

She was the reincarnation of Shinjo...

Right.
Oops.

24 minutes ago, AtoMaki said:

(with the two reincarnations of Shinjo duking out who is the real Shinjo).

Had not been stablished that Naleesh was the real? That people had just assumed wrong about Shono's daughter?

3 minutes ago, Wintersong said:

Had not been stablished that Naleesh was the real? That people had just assumed wrong about Shono's daughter?

Were the story team among those assuming wrong? Because they seemed to be.

12 minutes ago, Wintersong said:

Had not been stablished that Naleesh was the real? That people had just assumed wrong about Shono's daughter?

Nope. Naleesh was declared to be the real to support her run for Unicorn Clan Championship and thus secure the Moto control over the clan. This took a big hit when the Phoenix spilled the beans about the Oldnew Moto Curse, prompting Shinjo Min-Hee (the other reincarnation) to make a move. IIRC the implication here is that both girls are Shinjo's reincarnations, but the Kami's soul was somehow split in half, and each got a different (opposing) aspect: Naleesh is more like the original "hot" Shinjo, while Min-Hee is more like the post-imprisonment "cold" Shinjo. There are also some Nothing shenanigans there because the Ninube had a special interest in Min-Hee.

The overall problem was there were at any point too many plotlines going on for years, and only a few took the spotlight.

Too many plotlines for some, almost none for others- or plotlines that lay fallow so long no one really cared anymore.

Jimen/Noritoshi, for example, got resolved... in the tail end of the Destroyer War after basically falling off the map for years.

22 minutes ago, Shiba Gunichi said:

Too many plotlines for some, almost none for others- or plotlines that lay fallow so long no one really cared anymore.

Jimen/Noritoshi, for example, got resolved... in the tail end of the Destroyer War after basically falling off the map for years.

To be fair, revenge served decades later is a pretty solid trope for samurai drama

8 hours ago, McDermott said:

To be fair, revenge served decades later is a pretty solid trope for samurai drama

Except for those times the ST said, "nah, it's been too many decades, no one cares anymore."
/sigh

To answer the OP, I remember I quit playing the actual game at the end of Celestial for financial reasons. I'd still buy a starter deck here or there and pretend I could still afford a CCG hobby, but I couldn't really and I knew it.
Ivory and the general "Colonies" storylines are when I stopped really caring about the story, and every plot push in favor of the Spider was another nail in that coffin.

I think, in general, you'll find most people will say Lotus was the worst point of the game, though some will argue for Diamond being even worse, some will argue for Celestial because of Spider Breeder decks dominating the scene with no real answer, some will argue Emperor Edition (thought I don't really know why, considering it's one of the most balanced editions for tournament showings).
I think Samurai Edition was probably the best. Decks felt strong without feeling too strong, multiple playstyles were competitive, and the story was at a peak with some pretty serious amounts of player involvement with the Race for the Throne. Everything that came after felt like a gradual downhill roll until Ivory came and gave us "+2F edition" and the damage was done.

Cheering on the samurai edition love I feel like all the strongholds from that editon were the pinnacle of thematic for the clans involved. The abilities reflected the miltary style and feel of the clans better than most other edition.

9 minutes ago, McDermott said:

Cheering on the samurai edition love I feel like all the strongholds from that editon were the pinnacle of thematic for the clans involved. The abilities reflected the miltary style and feel of the clans better than most other edition.

But, time to take off pink glasses and say that was still an edition where if you haven't seen two Holdings turn two you were mostly screwed. I really recommend to take old edition cards (or try some online stuff) to refresh "old good times". You'll be surpised.

Just now, kempy said:

But, time to take off pink glasses and say that was still an edition where if you haven't seen two Holdings turn two you were mostly screwed. I really recommend to take old edition cards (or try some online stuff) to refresh "old good times". You'll be surpised.

Due respect kempy, you've spent most of these discussions defending the game based on an edition that never actually came out. Rose colored shades indeed.

6 minutes ago, McDermott said:

Due respect kempy, you've spent most of these discussions defending the game based on an edition that never actually came out. Rose colored shades indeed.

I'm just pointing that CE/EE did a a great job with BK Cycle stuff and EE was a peak of official tourney stuff comparing to Samurai. I have really great sentiment to Samurai becasue i nearly started here, but when we organized Samurai tourney in SnM year ago i just remembered how clunky this "two holdings turn two" was.

I feel two different ways about the CCG... early on I loved the feel and stories of the game, but recognized there where many faulty poor mechanics. Later the mechanics got better but the story lost it for me overall. Their where times in-between of ups and downs but that is my overall feeling. At the end I did not like the story arcs at all, and I felt the improvements in mechanics did not make up for this; Ivory was both boring story and play wise... though I was looking forward to Onyx because I felt they recognized this and where almost trying to paint a different, but same, setting to restart the story from.

I haven't yet read through the thread yet, because I didn't want public opinion to alter my memory but, if I recall correctly, the game basically died for me and my whole meta at the release of Ivory Edition.

Emperor Edition was an extremely imbalanced meta with a ton of power creep and even more toxic strategies, so I definitely understand the decision to basically reset the game with new rules and kind of like a new "core set" kind of card pool. The most offensive power creep was, obviously, the amount of gold that was given out to certain clans for free. Like Library of Rebirth for Pheonix and Kalani's Landing for Mantis. Those two strongholds were toxic enough to justify resetting the entire game.

And, man, did they overcorrect. The base set of Ivory Edition was the most boring iteration of L5R I'd ever played. There were no splashy effects. A lot of blank characters. A lot of odd new rules (the whole double sided stronghold was so stupid, I couldn't even comprehend it).

I think the writing was on the wall because AEG even released a set of erratas to the previewed cards before the set was even released. That was a horrible sign of a lack of play testing and direction and, once the set did come out, it definitely showed. The game was slow, boring and tiresome.

You know how in some video games you start with all the power ups and abilities but then you're stripped of them after 5 minutes? Prototype and Darksiders, for example.

That's what Ivory edition felt like. The only problem was, by that point, people were so sick of the insane power creep of Emperor Edition that a lot of people just didn't feel like sitting around and waiting for the Ivory Edition to become interesting. Which it may have. I'm not sure.

It's a pity. Because it was such a great game.

Wow, no one's mentioned Paneki's Mask and the subsequent rules lawyering? I would say that's definitely a top-3 "what has this game become?" moment.

My personal low moment of Old5R, and what led to me and a friend quitting, was actually more to do with how a local TO cheated with a new card.

Holdings, which were basically land that cost money, were crucial. AEG realized this and added a holding that you could tap your stronghold to find from your deck on turn 1.

At the time there were about 6 of us showing up every week. The TO who organized leagues and tourneys started winning a lot more suddenly once that card came out, because he started getting godly draws. My friend and I realized that while he obviously offered to cut when he first shuffled his deck, he wouldn't after searching for this holding turn 1, and it was common card game etiquette to "tap" (or not cut) mid-game, especially among groups so small and casual as ours. So I started insisting on cutting after he searched, and he angrily let me, and he stopped getting godlike dynasty deck draws. We would see him use this trick against potential new players, in what would otherwise be learning games for them.

That combined with the already stale scene meant I had to say good bye to a game I loved. Hopefully he doesn't try to get involved in the new one.

Edit: to clarify, otherwise I loved Old5R and may have played it beyond that point, no matter what silliness arose.