Dark Horse to release Mass Effect: Redemption comic to bridge gap between ME1 and ME2

[carocat]

BioWare and Dark Horse have unveiled the Mass Effect: Redemption comic, which is set to bridge the story gap between the first and second games.

Penned by John Jackson Miller (Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic, The Invincible Iron Man) and drawn by Omar Francia (Star Wars Legacy), the four-part series picks up just before the upcoming sequel, as Commander Shepard disappears and is left without the support of the crew on the Normandy in the lawless Terminus Systems.

"Shepard must fight for survival, and will be assisted by close companion, Dr. Liara T'Soni, to come home alive. This story is sure to be a must-read for fans looking to fill the gap between the first and second game," says BioWare.

"Fans of Mass Effect are going to be pleasantly shocked by the events in these comics," says BioWare's Mac Walters. "We worked very closely with Dark Horse to make sure this story was built in to the Mass Effect 2 arc, right from the ground up. Reading the series won't just add to your experience of the universe, it will change the way you look at Mass Effect 2... and beyond."

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=219911

My first thought was that I was really excited about this, after all, the more Mass Effect universe the better, but after thinking about it I'm not that convinced about it. The books avoid any reference to Shepard's gender and paragon/renegade actions which won't be possible in a comic about it.

Personally, my main Shepard is female and paragon which I'm pretty sure won't be what's in the comic..

Anyways, thoughts?

 

[Typical guy]

WTF. I might be a gaming nerd at times but I'm not going to spend my time reading comics to "fill in the gaps" between video games. I find this entire idea to be moronic. It rings of the "Star Wars" and "Star Trek" universes where you have these fanboys reading novels to "learn about Bobba Fett". Give me an f'ing break. I played the game and I liked it. I enjoyed the story. I'm not going to switch to non-game media in order to "extend" the story. If they want to tell you what happens between the games RELEASE A FREAKING EXPANSION to the game and charge 20 bucks for it and let the player continue after the game is over!

This reaks of greed. "What's that? Times are tough? Well, lets see if we can sucker some gamers into giving away their hard earned cash for some worthless comics that will extend the story of a video game! Hey, if this is successful why don't we put out some action figures that they'll buy and keep in the pacakages. We could put out a collectable card game too! Yeah, lets bilk 'em for all they're worth!"

The game was good enough and I'll buy the second one once it is only 30 dollars. I won't be buying any additional game related merchandise. I have no desire for any of it but if I did, I could just imagine the look on my wife's face when I told her I wasted money on comics so that I would know what happens between where one video game ends and another begins.

 

[carocat]

So I take it you didn't read either of the books released so far?

 

[Typical guy]

[QUOTE="carocat, post: 0]So I take it you didn't read either of the books released so far?[/quote]

No. I didn't even know there were books released. I looked up on Amazon after reading your initial post. I can hardly believe that they are making books based on video games. I wonder how many copies they sold, it couldn't have been more than 100k I'd guess? They probably had a really small printing, probably like 1 for every 100 games that sold, assuming that only 1% of the gamers would buy the book but that's just a guess on my part.

Honestly, this boggles my mind. No wonder it's recently been announced that they might not stop with a trilogy. Heck, why stop there when you can keep releasing additional games that people will buy and then pump out all kinds of non-game merchandise timed with each game release. Between the game releases, we can keep the money coming too by simply releasing "filler material", it's worked so well for George Lucas, why not us too?

 

[Typical guy]

I'm starting to get really mad thinking about this. Next thing you know, you won't be able to "just" play the game and understand what's going on without buying some books and reading them first.

I'm sure if this takes off, we'll be seeing Final Fantasy books. I can just see it now, 200 hours of game play into Final Fantasy 15 or 16 and the game just ENDS. You want to know what happens? Buy the book that "fills in the ending". Oh wait, Final Fantasy 7 already has all kinds of (horrible) DVD's that came out to "finish" the game. Oh that's right. So yeah, they're already doing it. I'm already at the point that I buy almost no game unless it's cheap (no more than 40 dollars) but if this trend continues I'm going to have to stop playing games altogether.

 

[Naxi]

[QUOTE="Typical guy, post: 0]I'm starting to get really mad thinking about this. Next thing you know, you won't be able to "just" play the game and understand what's going on without buying some books and reading them first.

I'm sure if this takes off, we'll be seeing Final Fantasy books. I can just see it now, 200 hours of game play into Final Fantasy 15 or 16 and the game just ENDS. You want to know what happens? Buy the book that "fills in the ending". Oh wait, Final Fantasy 7 already has all kinds of (horrible) DVD's that came out to "finish" the game. Oh that's right. So yeah, they're already doing it. I'm already at the point that I buy almost no game unless it's cheap (no more than 40 dollars) but if this trend continues I'm going to have to stop playing games altogether.[/quote] Wow.:lol:

It's not like these novels and comics are needed to follow the main story. These just expand it and they wouldn't make exciting video games either.Halo novels have been popular and there will soon be a God of War novel.

 

[Typical guy]

[QUOTE="Naxi, post: 0]Wow.:lol:

It's not like these novels and comics are needed to follow the main story. These just expand it and they wouldn't make exciting video games either.Halo novels have been popular and there will soon be a God of War novel.[/quote]

I guess I'm getting kind of worked up about it. The concept alone just ****** me off. I can't explain it but it does. I guess it's because I know that the companies behind this are just trying to nickle and dime the consumer. As I said, it's like George Lucas. I have a friend who's husband has an "Star Wars Room" in his house.

 

[carocat]

You don't need them to get the whole story about ME. The first book is about Anderson and his collaboration with Saren twenty years prior to ME1 and you can get a very condensed version of it in the game just after you take control of the Normandy. It's nice to know more about that event.

Personally, I like the way the universe expands with novels or even comics which shows just how much effort has gone into the details.

And yeah, I've read some Star Wars books, too.