I'm super looking forward to Andromeda still (if anything they'll overcorrect a la DA:I, just this time it'll be in the writing department), but yeah, ME3 really, thoroughly killed my interested in ancillary franchise stuff
Mass Effect: ANDROMEDA
- Thread starter HotRod
- Start date
Haven't read her stuff myself yet, but I hear Jemisin is a fairly well respected fantasy author. Her work seems to have a consistent 4+ stars on Amazon. Higher caliber than the types who typically write tie ins, especially video game tie ins. That one might be worth keeping an eye on.
The Walters one on the other hand? No thanks.
The Walters one on the other hand? No thanks.
Except for the last one (which I never read but gather it's a fizzing lump of hot industrial runoff) the Mass Effect novels were only ever so-so in terms of quality. The best one was I think the second one, with by far the more memorable cast and plot. I can barely remember anything about the other two.
So yeah, I'm not going to hold my breath that these new ones will be a revelation.
Now the Dragon Age novels on the other hand had a much better batting average. The last three in particular were legitimately good fantasy tales in their own right. In a way I think 'Last Flight' was the strongest since it didn't directly connect to the plot of the games, but instead depicted a key event on the lore from an interesting perspective.
But that's always been Dragon Age's strength compared to Mass Effect. Thedas is more of a living world since none of the games lingered on a protagonist for more than one game whereas the ME universe is to date has been too rooted in the exploits of Shepard. Andromeda seems likely to change that, but we'll have to wait and see how successful it is at doing so.
So yeah, I'm not going to hold my breath that these new ones will be a revelation.
Now the Dragon Age novels on the other hand had a much better batting average. The last three in particular were legitimately good fantasy tales in their own right. In a way I think 'Last Flight' was the strongest since it didn't directly connect to the plot of the games, but instead depicted a key event on the lore from an interesting perspective.
But that's always been Dragon Age's strength compared to Mass Effect. Thedas is more of a living world since none of the games lingered on a protagonist for more than one game whereas the ME universe is to date has been too rooted in the exploits of Shepard. Andromeda seems likely to change that, but we'll have to wait and see how successful it is at doing so.
I think it also helps that Thedas has a deep and rich history stretching back thousands of years, and while Mass Effect has an excellent lore of its own, its storytelling possibilities seem more limited to me because humanity has only been on the galactic stage for about 40 years prior to the first game. That's really not near enough time for humans to have become as widespread or as powerful as they were depicted in the game, but that's another topic.
Or a book about the Geth
I would gladly read books about any of the stuff you guys mentioned.
Jemisin is the biggest names I've ever come across doing a video game tie-in novel. I know the only non-Karpyshyn novel in the last batch was a disaster, but I don't think that means that nobody but him could do good ME novel. I like the fact that they are bringing in other people to write the novels.
As would I, and other fans. But I don't think the casual reader/viewer/player (depending on the medium) would be as interested.
Regardless, I still think it was a mistake to have humanity's introduction to the wider galaxy be so recent (well within living memory, really) while having them somehow already almost as powerful as any of the Council races. Maybe if it had been like a century after the First Contact War, or something, it might have been more plausible, but not forty years.
^Video game tie-in books aren't meant for casual players, it's for the die hard fans. Indeed, just about every piece of tie in merchandise from t-shits to plushies are aimed squarely at that relatively narrow market. Who else but the fans would even want an SR1 cap, or N7 mug? Same for the books. They've all been written (except that one that I'm going to pretend doesn't exist) with an assumption that the reader already has at least a passing familiarity with the IP.
Indeed, one of the recent Dragon Age novels was about the fourth blight and the fate of the Griffons. Nobody but a fan would even care about any of that.
Indeed, one of the recent Dragon Age novels was about the fourth blight and the fate of the Griffons. Nobody but a fan would even care about any of that.
I would love a book about the Quarians and the Geth and how they created a race to enslave.
Well that's just it, they didn't create a race to enslave, they created a line of household and industrial appliances with shared parallel processing. Imagine if your fridge or car one day suddenly asked you if it had a soul. Your first reaction wouldn't be "oh, we've created new life, LET'S ENSLAVE THEM ALL!" it'd be "oh bloody hell, this thing is on the fritz again!" It's a fairly standard set of sci-fi Asimovian tropes.
That's not how I took it. I took it as the Geth achieving sentience and asking about their place in the world. The Quarians reacted rather violently to this. They were wrong.
Hoooo-leeeee-shit, they finally did it. I was bored this afternoon and putzing around on Origin, click on the ME2 tab, and much to my surprise discover that Bioware has FINALLY made the Dr. Pepper promotional items free to everyone who didn't happen to get them six years ago. I've been wanting for so long to use the Sentry Interface on my ME2 Sheps and now it's finally possible. SQUEE!
My Origin client has gone mental a bit. I can log in but it won't remember my password so I have to log in every single time.
Has anyone else had this happen?
And EA have NO EMAIL support you keep getting directed to live chat which never works
Has anyone else had this happen?
And EA have NO EMAIL support you keep getting directed to live chat which never works
Haven't used Origin since I stopped playing DAI about six months ago, but I have had it go through spates of never remembering my password. An issue I do recall though is it's insistence that I shouldn't be running it in compatibility mode, even though it's not (I checked.)
ETA
Just had a looks see and they've also added the Terminus weapon & armor set for free, and on Dragon Age 2 the Dead Space 2 Ser Isaac's armour & Blood Dragon armour.
The strange thing is that I should already have the Blood Dragon armour registered to my account, but it seems to think I still don't own it. Same with the ME2 Dr. Pepper stuff. I wonder if they've buggered up the item assignment codes or it's an artefact of these DLC registrations being imperfectly ported from the old Bioware social site to the Origin database.
ETA
Just had a looks see and they've also added the Terminus weapon & armor set for free, and on Dragon Age 2 the Dead Space 2 Ser Isaac's armour & Blood Dragon armour.
The strange thing is that I should already have the Blood Dragon armour registered to my account, but it seems to think I still don't own it. Same with the ME2 Dr. Pepper stuff. I wonder if they've buggered up the item assignment codes or it's an artefact of these DLC registrations being imperfectly ported from the old Bioware social site to the Origin database.
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Oh you mean Rockstar Social Club, really it's DRM and it is sometimes glitchy.
My Origin is now working again go figure.
Yeah, never had any issues with Origin, it works just as well as Steam and GOG for me.
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