Bioware to Fix Error-Laden Mass Effect Novel

Beryl77

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Mar 26, 2010
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SurfinTaxt said:
Oh please dont think Im excusing this "atrocity" as you put it, I think book tie ins are just loathsome in general. All it ever amounts to is subpar filler, written so quickly and so lazily that they can be called nothing but a mainpulative cash grab
Have you read the previous books?
You can never make a generall statement like that without having read all tie in books that exist. I don't know what you expect from sci-fi books but I'm fine if the game tie ins aren't the best books but at least readable (which Deception isn't) and that the lore is accurate. Books can tell stories about a world in the game which the game itself can't do.
SurfinTaxt said:
VG books are terrible because they have to bring a writer in from the outside to write in most cases. They have to write in a world they didnt create, so it just feels alien
The Mass Effect novels were written by Drew Karpyshyn, who is the main story writer for the Mass Effect 1 and co-writer for Mass Effect 2, only Deception is written by a different guy.
Out of all people, Drew knows best how the world of Mass Effect is, he imagined most of it after all. They are more than just filler and cash grab. If someone is interested in the Mass Effect universe I really recommend them.
 

CrazyGirl17

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Sep 11, 2009
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That's good to know... though they should have done that before they published it. I'm surprised fans went crazy about all the inconsistencies, I like Mass Effect, but I'm not that knowledgeable about the back story, so maybe it wouldn't have bothered me... Hm. Maybe I'll wait for the revised version to come out.
 

zxvcasdfqwerzxcv

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I for one applaud them, though they should have been examined before the release. Still, its rare to find a company that will make such a move for its customers! Shows a good bit of maturity.
 

MetalMagpie

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Broken Blade said:
And that my first reaction to this was "Shouldn't you have done this BEFORE you published it?"
Presumably they didn't read it. They're a video game company, not a book publishers. I assume the Mass Effect merchandise is done under license by other companies. There's quite a lot of it, so it's understandable if the guys at Bioware don't have time to QA everything.
 

scorptatious

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May 14, 2009
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ChromaticWolfen said:
Good to know. I had planned to buy some of the Mass Effect books in the future. Saying that I would have probably not noticed the errors. Also, that's the scariest Shepard I have ever seen.
Clearly you have never met Ugly Shepard.


OT: Well it's good to see Bioware responding to it's fanbase this way. I didn't think anyone can actually would patch a book.
 

M920CAIN

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May 24, 2011
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We live in an era were everything seems to be in alpha or beta or a full of "bugs" state. Everyone is rushing to get the product to the market & that's how we end up with things like this. There is no "yup, it's finished" anymore. There's only "it will have to do". Not necessarily good or bad, but just wanted to say it.
 

Something Amyss

Aswyng and Amyss
Dec 3, 2008
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Denamic said:
Grey Carter said:
And with this, gentle readers, we have come full circle. Bioware is going to patch a book.
I just had a moment to let that sink in.


This is amazing.
It's kinda funny to me, because I was just at the Doctor's office the other day, and he asked about my Kindle, which had just froze while I was waiting.

So I joked that one good thing about paper books is you don't need to patch 'em.

Apparently, unless you're Bioware. XD
 

sms_117b

Keeper of Brannigan's Law
Oct 4, 2007
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There are a number of quite drastic errors, the largest of which would require the book to be re-written from the plot upwards, such a shame, I've been looking forward to this book, the other three have been amazing, even looking beyond the errors the book is lack luster
 

Sinclair Solutions

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SurfinTaxt said:
Its a VIDEOGAME BOOK, Of course its going to suck! Even if it got everything right canon wise it would still suck! Videogame books just fucking suck and it will always be that way. Just like paying your taxes
That's not entirely true. The book "Rapture" by John Shirley was pretty good. Wasn't amazing, but it did a fantastic job of filling in the gaps of Bioshock's story and putting more sympathy behind the characters. It's the only one I've read, but I thought it was pretty decent.
 

Something Amyss

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M920CAIN said:
We live in an era were everything seems to be in alpha or beta or a full of "bugs" state. Everyone is rushing to get the product to the market & that's how we end up with things like this. There is no "yup, it's finished" anymore. There's only "it will have to do". Not necessarily good or bad, but just wanted to say it.
It is kind of bad when it happens with books.

Video games I can understand. They're amazingly complex, and every element of choice or freedom adds more complexity to the code. It's not a good thing, but it's a tradeoff for complexity. Now, some cases, there's no excuse. Some games are freaking unplayable, and that's wrong.

Now, books? Books are a simple matter to do things like proof and error-check. Books have not significantly advanced. An increase in errors, especially simple ones (Surprisingly common) is simply inexcusable on a basic level.
 

Something Amyss

Aswyng and Amyss
Dec 3, 2008
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Sinclair Solutions said:
SurfinTaxt said:
Its a VIDEOGAME BOOK, Of course its going to suck! Even if it got everything right canon wise it would still suck! Videogame books just fucking suck and it will always be that way. Just like paying your taxes
That's not entirely true. The book "Rapture" by John Shirley was pretty good. Wasn't amazing, but it did a fantastic job of filling in the gaps of Bioshock's story and putting more sympathy behind the characters. It's the only one I've read, but I thought it was pretty decent.
The first two ME books were also damn good. Of course, they're still written by the head writer of the first Mass Effect game, but still.
 

RJ 17

The Sound of Silence
Nov 27, 2011
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Patching a book...heh heh that's a good one and for all intents and purposes true. Kinda reminds me of the Family Guy episode where the FCC starts censoring "reality".

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teh_gunslinger

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. did it better.
Dec 6, 2007
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SurfinTaxt said:
teh_gunslinger said:
haha youre obviously trolling because no one who actually read through dance w/ dragons would say that. How does it drone on and on? Things are happening all the time, the 4th might have dragged a bit, but every other book is packed to the gills with believable political intrigue, layered, interweaving sub plots, unique morally ambiguous characters, and gripping, tense moments.

Read the first book at least before making a comment like that. And no, thats different from me saying vg books suck because they are designed to suck. No one is spending more than 4 or 5 months writing these things, its like a book factory. Every game book Ive ever picked up sounds like a first draft
Oh, I'll happily admit that I've only read the first two and a half books. Can't bear reading any more of them to be honest.

My point was not that video game books are better (or even good). They mostly are not. Rather I wanted to show that when it comes to taste, it makes little sense to slam other people for theirs. If someone enjoys a Mass Effect book that's not really a problem. Likewise, it's not a problem that someone enjoys Martins books. To each their own.

I just don't enjoy them very much. I think there are too many better books I could read instead of spending so much time on ASoIaF. The ones I've read would have, as so much genre fiction, benefited from a harsh editor to trim out the fluff. Martin can obviously write. He just have problems stopping again. Much like Terry Goodkind and Robert Jordan. Though Martin certainly is a better writer than those two.

For the record, I've not read a good video game based book so far, but it's entirely possible one exists somewhere.
 

teh_gunslinger

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Dec 6, 2007
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SurfinTaxt said:
teh_gunslinger said:
SurfinTaxt said:
teh_gunslinger said:
haha youre obviously trolling because no one who actually read through dance w/ dragons would say that. How does it drone on and on? Things are happening all the time, the 4th might have dragged a bit, but every other book is packed to the gills with believable political intrigue, layered, interweaving sub plots, unique morally ambiguous characters, and gripping, tense moments.

Read the first book at least before making a comment like that. And no, thats different from me saying vg books suck because they are designed to suck. No one is spending more than 4 or 5 months writing these things, its like a book factory. Every game book Ive ever picked up sounds like a first draft
Oh, I'll happily admit that I've only read the first two and a half books. Can't bear reading any more of them to be honest.

My point was not that video game books are better (or even good). They mostly are not. Rather I wanted to show that when it comes to taste, it makes little sense to slam other people for theirs. If someone enjoys a Mass Effect book that's not really a problem. Likewise, it's not a problem that someone enjoys Martins books. To each their own.

I just don't enjoy them very much. I think there are too many better books I could read instead of spending so much time on ASoIaF. The ones I've read would have, as so much genre fiction, benefited from a harsh editor to trim out the fluff. Martin can obviously write. He just have problems stopping again. Much like Terry Goodkind and Robert Jordan. Though Martin certainly is a better writer than those two.

For the record, I've not read a good video game based book so far, but it's entirely possible one exists somewhere.
Sure, I get that (some) ME diehards want to continue their adventure in as many mediums as possible. To me it just waters the brand down unless its a real effort by a very talented writer. Im not slamming people, I just have hard time understanding the point in reading a tie-in book that isnt going to be at least memorable. I doubt many people reread the mass effect books.

Im actually appalled that you compared martin and jordan. When martin writes, every word has substance. Jordan on the other hand can write a thousand pages and say almost nothing.
I hope youll give the series another shot, Ill admit that some chapters can be a slog (every Bran chapter ugh), but I find that youre constantly rewarded for your persistance. Whether its the moment when the overbearing, entitled little shit prince gets gelded, or the victories of the deformed Tyrion with his keen wit, or Jon having to take the respect from his men as youngest Lord Commander of the nights watch with some no nonsense bad assery (I dont want to spoil it, but I will say he lets his men know that they will respect his authority or suffer very severe consequences, using a particularly loathsome character to set an example), the world of westeros and valyria across the narrow sea is so rich. If you dont continue, you wont get to see the landsmoot of the saltmen and all the subtle political things going on in the background, interweaving into the narrative. Im gushing I know Im sorry, but the last book was so damn good.

What is it that youre into? Do you have a favorite series that you reread over and over?
I didn't mean to compare Martin to Jordan (and especially not Goodkind, he really is not good) in any way other than he, in my opinion could benefit from trimming some filler out. He is certainly a better writer than both of those. I was perhaps being a little glib. :)

And I'll also give you that most of the chapters involving Tyrion are enjoyable, as was the Ned Stark stuff. It's just that for every one of those, there are a lot of Sansa, Bran, the young girl I can't recall the name of and Daeneries. Those parts, to me are most in need of slimming down. And the you girl, who get's saved from Kings Landing, her parts are just infuriating. A lot of walking around and never getting to the goal. I know that's a way of doing it, but at the point I got to, I started feeling like Martin was just yanking our collective chains. :)

So, I guess what mostly is my feeling of it being a very uneven read. The parts I enjoy seem sometimes to be drowned under what I don't enjoy. But I guess it's a bit of a slow burner. And seeing as I bought the books I'm sure I'll get round to actually reading them at some point.

As for myself, I don't have a series I read over and over as such. Well, the Discworld books are getting worn at this point. They might fit that bill. But they are not really the same.

As for stuff like Martins books with politics, plotting, inter-fighting and betrayals I find myself turning to Herberts Dune books. The first 3 in particular. Or, and this is a bit out of left field, Colleen McCoulloughs Masters of Rome series. That one has issues of its own though.

Though now that I think about it, I have read Alastair Reynols Revelation Space books quite a few times. While not directly comparable the books are pretty complicated, having several plotlines, moving in different timelines and having characters that live 100s of years apart influence each other in various ways. I remember, when I read the first one, I had to pay attention to keep the timelines straight in my head. :)
The books also have one of my favorite characters in quite some years, Ilia Volyova, chain smoking, misanthropic and acerbic that she is.
 

ReinWeisserRitter

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Cripes, they can't even release a book without a slew of bugs and anomalies?

What bizarro world have we walked into where novels get published without being... beta tested?