Fans Tear New Mass Effect Book to Shreds

[WMDogma]

Fans Tear New Mass Effect Book to Shreds

The novel Mass Effect: Deception is getting torn to shreds by fans who have found multiple errors and inconsistencies.

Book tie-ins to popular videogame franchises are hardly a new fad. In fact, I recall checking out S.D. Perry's Mass Effect: Deception [http://www.amazon.com/Umbrella-Conspiracy-Resident-Evil/dp/0671024396/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1328027398&sr=8-1].

Fans of the series have gone through the novel very thoroughly and complied a massive fire [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XBpMF3ONlI308D9IGG8KICBHfWKU0sXh0ntukv-_cmo/preview?pli=1&sle=true] out of frustration.

Here are a few (remarkably thorough) examples of mistakes found by fans:

[blockquote] 10. Batarian pirates slave-raid on the turian homeworld of Palaven - while not impossible, this is incredibly unlikely due to the militaristic nature of turian society, one consequence of which is possession of one of the largest military fleets in the galaxy. And even if there had been a raid on Palaven, the turians would have likely responded with overwhelming military force. [Error: Lore][/blockquote]
[blockquote] 27. Two volus are described as wearing masks that don't completely cover their faces - This would result in instant death for a volus, as they must wear completely sealed environmental suits that provide both the ammonia atmosphere and high pressure they require to survive, and keep them isolated from the oxygen-nitrogen mixture breathed by other species, which is poisonous to them. [Error: Lore][/blockquote]
[blockquote] 4. Hand Weapons that fire at "relativistic speeds" - for those who don't know it the term, relativistic speed means close or apprising the speed of light. The term is usually used when talking about speeds higher than 10% of C - considering that a sand corn fired of those speeds will have the impact of 90 kg TNT and also that a main gun on a Everest class dreadnought only fires at 1.3% of C I would say that relativistic speeds might be a bit high. [Error: Technology][/blockquote]

Unlike the previous novels, which were written by Mass Effect's Lead Writer Drew Karpyshyn, Deception is written by William C. Dietz. A veteran author of several original sci-fi novels and many others based off Halo, Starcraft, and Resistance: Fall of Man, Deception marks his first foray into the Mass Effect universe. Sadly though, it doesn't look like anyone at at EA or BioWare did much proof-reading of Dietz's novel, let alone provide him with a guidebook on how the ME universe works... Like the comprehensive codex [http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Codex] found right in the games.

Source: Kotaku [http://kotaku.com/5880729/]


Permalink

 

[imnot]

These people have waaaaaay to much time on their hands.
And thats coming from someone who spent the last 4 hours making orogami seals.

 

[Ferrious]

Spent the last few days of my time compiling a list of everything that's wrong in a half-baked video game tie-in novel. [Error: Life]

I can understand the frustration of said tie-in books being so poor quality, and setting it on fire is pretty funny, but the list seems pretty far. That said, however they deal with it is up to them.

 

[Fappy]

I didn't even know a new book came out and I have read all the previous ones and all the comics. Guess it goes to show you how much faith in this product they had if a ME-nut like me didn't even notice its existence.

Btw, how the fuck did they get away with someone other than Drew writing an ME novel in the first place. I have always thought his prose was rather bland, but his understanding of the ME universe made up for that. For shame Bioware.

 

[AstylahAthrys]

Dietz's novel was the weakest in the Halo series, but at least he didn't majorly muck up the lore (mostly due to the fact the book was based off the first game)

I'm increasingly beginning to wonder how such shoddy books can get by with risk to tarnishing the good name of the franchise. First that horrible Elder Scrolls book, and now Mass Effect looks like it has a bad egg too. Authors should be required to study all the source material before writing a novel based on something else.

 

[Shavon513]

The first three Mass Effect books weren't necessarily literary works of art (what video-game based novels are?), but this fourth book sounds atrocious. i read through half of that Google doc, and my GOD. if you are going to write for an established genre, at least, PLEASE, do your freaking homework and get the lore right. There are so many fanfiction writers, who are level headed and write very well that Bioware could have hired (for probably less than this guy) and it would have sold more and made fans happy.

I don;t get Bioware's laziness lately. it's so depressing to see the makers of Baldur's Gate, KotOR and DA:O turn into a steaming pile of lazy --.

 

[gigastar]

Just goes to show that fans are the untimate proof-readers.

If i ever get into the position of greenlighting a novel based on a game series, ill be handing advanced copies to hardcore fans of the series to make sure everything is in line.

 

[Daverson]

Erm, point 4, I don't think you can make assumptions of the "science" behind ME, considering their magical crystal are "Element Zero".

For those of us who apparently don't know what science is, elements in the periodic table are numbered by the number of protons they've got in their nucleus. So, Element 1 (Hydrogen) has a single proton in the nucleus, while element 13 (aluminium) has 13. Element 0 isn't something that's physically impossible, it's literally nothing! You can't have nothing as your magical crystals!

And it's not like it's just called "Element Zero", but it's something else entirely, they go out of their way to say that's exactly what it is! I'm pretty sure this is the first thing you learn in chemistry classes these days!

Besides, I thought the whole point of the guns in ME was that the projectiles where part of a solid ammunition core that was broken off in minuscule amounts (say, less than a nanogram), and accelerated to speeds close to the speed of light to cause an equivalent amount of destruction to a conventional firearm. Yeah, if you accelerate something like an apple to relativistic speeds, it's gonna blow up half a major city (hand-wavy physics here! don't correct me by saying it'll only blow up a few blocks =p ), but obviously at a microscopic level, there's no nearly as much destructive potential. (think about it, light travels at the speed of light, but each photon that hits the earth doesn't wipe out everything, does it?)

(In case you think I'm suddenly applauding their ability to write good sci-fi, I should point out this is blatantly plagiarized from Wh40k's shuriken weapons [http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Shuriken#.TyhVMoHnOwM] =p )

 

[Baresark]

That is why a writer MUST be learned in the lores of things people love BEFORE writing the books. I have to say, I have never read any of Deitz's works, but I'm surprised that someone so seasoned made this mistake. He has been around.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

Hahaha, thats nothing. These people have clearly never read anything by C.S. Goto. His work has been declared purgatis hereticus extremis in 5 sectors.

 

[Beryl77]

I just recently read the first three novels and was looking forward to this but I won't waste my money on it after hearing what some have said about it. No matter how well written or interesting a book is, I hate inconsistencies. They always aggravate me and it gets really hard for me to read the book or take it seriously.
Maybe the book wouldn't be bad if I wasn't a Mass Effect fan, I haven't read anything by Dietz but I doubt that I'll start with this book.

The saddest thing is that Casey Hudson himself said, that the book is good (link [https://twitter.com/#!/CaseyDHudson/status/101362747836604417]). I know he can't just publicly say the book is shit but he shouldn't get peoples hopes up.

A shame that it wasn't written by Drew Karpyshyn as well.

 

[Kinver]

And the thing is, as someone who read a 55 page excerpt of the novel, the errors are glaring at times. Some on that list are nitpicky, but others are simple facts. Example:

- Two characters are now 18 when they were 12/13 at the end of ME1, which is said to have taken place two years prior
- One of those characters was also Autistic, now they aren't
- Biotics are now suddenly ranked by power level and can level up if they gain enough experience
- A character who was dead is now alive
- A character who is known as a racist and was introduced to us by talking about how much he hates the Asari now thinks Asari are hot
- Many others (Just look how long that list is!)

Believe me, the list also ignores the simply amateurish writing (Characters getting killed by a sharpened toothbrush, another character stealing cereal to prove how much of a badass he is). It takes actual effort to have this many errors. You have to intentionally ignore the source material when it's staring you in the face.

There's hitting the mark, missing the mark, and shooting yourself in the foot. This book picks the third option.

 

[Fappy]

I just read the whole doc. God damn. I am not going to touch that travesty with a 12-foot pole.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

I read half of the Google Doc and WOW. Where was the editor during all this? And why didn't the author study the lore?

 

[Kinver]

Besides, I thought the whole point of the guns in ME was that the projectiles where part of a solid ammunition core that was broken off in minuscule amounts (say, less than a nanogram), and accelerated to speeds close to the speed of light to cause an equivalent amount of destruction to a conventional firearm. Yeah, if you accelerate something like an apple to relativistic speeds, it's gonna blow up half a major city (hand-wavy physics here! don't correct me by saying it'll only blow up a few blocks =p ), but obviously at a microscopic level, there's no nearly as much destructive potential. (think about it, light travels at the speed of light, but each photon that hits the earth doesn't wipe out everything, does it?)

The guns of Mass Effect operate by shaving off a piece of metal (Said to be the size of a grain of sand) and firing it at supersonic speeds. Certainly not "relativistic" as the novel implied and certainly not "less than a nanogram" as a grain of sand would at least weigh a few micrograms.

These facts come from the Mass Effect Wiki BTW, the same one Mac Walters said was "one of the best sources of information on Mass Effect". Too bad Dietz didn't think of using it.

 

[Rad Party God]

Even I'm pissed off by this book and I haven't read any of the Mass Effect books yet!, but I've read every single nook and cranny that the codex offers for both Mass Effects.

Why did I chose not to play ME3?...

Spoiler: OH, right.

 

[Fappy]

http://social.bioware.com/uploads_user/741000/740385/30367.gif
"Ah yes 'fact checking'. The act of checking factual assertions in a text intended for publication to determine the veracity and correctness of statements made there in. The job requires general knowledge and the ability to conduct quick and accurate research. We have discontinued this practice"

What is that human saying? "A little education is a troublesome thing."

 

[draythefingerless]

These people have waaaaaay to much time on their hands.
And thats coming from someone who spent the last 4 hours making orogami seals.

not at all. i know the ME lore to the point i understand all the errors they pointed out, and all i did was play the 2 games. furthermore, reading thru the book once and noting where the errors are as i read takes little time.