Sta.sh
Welcome to yet another one of Koobismo's weekly updates, where I'm - as always - overexcited about some stuff and trying desperately to excite you too! Since I'm still full of myself after releasing Episode 30 (finally!), let me open up by asking you to: a) check it out if you haven't done so yet [link] and b) place your sexy vote (am I the only person out there who finds polls hot?) in our "who's the Second Catalyst" poll: [link]
Now, let me just jump to a few things that I'd like to cover in this update...
1. You are an awesome group of people and I love you.
I've been browsing around all the comments you guys have made in the last few days, trying to reply to at least most of them and - to my excitement - have discovered a really awesome thing... In the last few weeks the interactions between all of you have just skyrocketed. Readers are asking questions and receiving detailed answers from other readers, our voice actors are prowling for comments opinionating their work, the wonderful girls and gents that this comic is aimed at are speculating like crazy, exchanging ideas and helping each other out... And I can't even express how much I love that - it makes me all tingly, and fuzzy, and warm inside.
I was asked recently whether or not the Marauder Shields readers would call themselves a "community" - and I really wasn't sure how to answer that, as I usually don't like dragging people into tags and titles they haven't signed up for... And, yeah, even though it sounded cool, I never looked at what we're doing here in that way (although I've heard about a "Marauder Shields community" before). I now know how to reply to such tricky questions... Hell yeah, and it's a rockin' and fantastic community, Good Sir. So, from the bottom of my heart: thank you to everyone who takes time to comment, answer questions, dig up my old replies and to show the world that we're really together on this here ship.
And if you'd like to tell us about yourself, to give me and the others something to associate with your nick (aside from your DA profile information, which I am creeping through reguralily, muahaha!) - be sure to do so in the comments. I'd love to know you closer and to nod at you every time you come around, like good ol' pals do. No pressure if you don't want to, of course, just sayin'.
2. Question of the week: what about the Leviathan DLC?
As you all probably know by now, BioWare has announced the "Leviathan" Single Player DLC, which is supposed to add little bits of information about the Reaper origins story, explaining where they come from and (supposedly) why were they created in the first place. This obviously creates a problem for us, as I've planned the Reaper origins to the very letter back in March, making sure that we come back to the lovecraftian feel they carried with them back in Mass Effect 1. Up until this point (as seen in our "Explaining Marauder Shields", urm, infographic [link] - check it out if you haven't already), Marauder Shields was compatible with everything happening in Mass Effect 3 up until the very finale. I'd like to keep that going, but won't do so if it means sacrificing the spirit or the thick atmosphere of our own Reaper backstory...
In other words: I will check out "Leviathan", analyze it obsessively and then either cast aside or incorporate it into MScanon. Either way - I am not giving up on the backstory I've prepared for the Reapers, it either stays unchanged or will be slightly course-corrected to fit the official canon, as seen in the upcoming DLCs.
3. I adore the "Finding Shepard" Mass Effect point & click game. And you should too.
A brilliant and incredibly talented gal going by the name of Nightfable (who, as I've learned recently, is also a fan of the Marauder Shields comics!) is working on a fan-made Mass Effect point & click adventure game, following the post-ending adventures of Jack, trying to find a way to the Citadel to rescue Shepard. The project looks amazing, reminding me of games such as "Indiana Jones & The Fate of Atlantis" and "The Dig" (as well as many others) - two titles I simply adored and kept playing over and over again for around half of my life.
As everyone checking up with my twitter [link] knows, I'm supporting this project with my whole heart - and you should too. It's yet another example that Mass Effect fans are one the coolest people in the gaming world, that we are able to bring a lot of love and talent to the table... And that when we say that something wasn't good or complete enough - we may not be just talking out of our asses, Mr. Moriarty.
The game will feature Jack, Miranda, Wrex, Kasumi and Hackett, and will receive as much support from the Marauder Shields team as Nightfable wants - I have already confirmed that Natalie Loftus (our Jack, Miranda and Kasumi, amongst others) will provide her stunning voice acting skills for the project, and I'm hoping that both Matt "Calavera" O'Connor and StephanosRex will appear in the game as well (which is likely, seeing how awesome they both are).
You can learn more about the project, see the first screenshots and show your support at the Adventure Game Studio forums, here: [link] - I've already seen and played the pre-Demo build and I give it nine big kisses on the cheek and a pat on the bottom.
4. The Dark Knight Rises.... And so should you!*
This one will be short. I don't usually bother other people with movie recommendations (at least not too often), since my mum always taught me that imposing my cinematic taste unto others is an easy way to get my ass kicked (so I was a nerd growing up in a completely unnerdy enviroment, so what)... BUT if you haven't yet seen The Dark Knight Rises, do so. There are people who will dislike it, there are people who will hate it, but I personally find it not only fun, not only impressive, but also a well written and presented story, which closes up Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy in a most satisfying and multi-layered way... This is how trilogies should end, in my opinion. And if you dislike it to the point where you'd like to punch my face in for making this recommendation, always remember: I can't make comics if I don't see what I'm doing, and I can't see what I'm doing if my nose grows any bigger. Deshi! Deshi! Bashara! Bashara!
Oh, and one more thing - check out the latest song by Miracle of Sound (who is also a fan of my lil' comic! Yaay!), to which I've been chair dancing in the last few days: [link] - "Rise"... Yummies. Oh, and if you like it as much as I do, be sure to buy a copy at Bandcamp, here: [link] - Gavin has had a pretty lousy last month and could use some love from his fans.
*Rise... From yer chair! Bumm-tss
5. The Scraps.
Here's another example of how big a genius I really am - after using DeviantArt for, like, eons, I finally found out that there's a little function called "Scrapbook" where you can put all the little things, sketches, memes and funny one-pieces that you don't think are good enough to find their way into your main gallery. Easily excitable as I am, I ran to tell a friend who's been around DeviantArt for a month now and was shot down by a cold, cold stare and a question I will not repeat, but tell you that it contained the words "really", "didn't know", "make of yourself", "big ass", "technological momentum" and a few hundred implied question marks.
Anyhoo, you can access my shiny new Scrapbook from the level of the main gallery (there's a little "Scrapbook" link by the search field - huh) or by following this link: [link] - I will be putting various stuff there over the next few hundred years, so expect it to fill up with nonsense and stupidity pretty quickly. If the winds blow in my favor and the tide is low, I shall be adding new scraps there every now and then because I have lots and lots of them already, and with the amount of stuff going through my head every waking hour, I should have even more by the time I end this sentence. So, be sure to check up on that folder as well if you'd like your intellectual levels to plummet... Umm, just a bit.
6. I am in a book now. Frak yeah.
I've been recently interviewed by the awesome (why the hell are there so many awesome people around all of a sudden?) Emily Breder from The Content Studio about my work on Marauder Shields and my experiences and opinions as a writer in general. Hopefully it was interesting enough to find its way onto her upcoming book about online author platforms and helping out writers struggling with finishing up their narratives. We had a nice, three (or was it four?) hour long chat and ended up with an amount of answers that I could only describe as six and a half shitloads, so I will be sure to inform you when the book comes out. Whether you're interested or not.
7. A new era for the Marauder Shields audiobook.
This should probably be a much bigger announcement than it is, but I will return to this topic next week to cover it properly... We are remaking all our audiobooks to contain nothing less but original or licensed music that we will have full rights to use, present and publish both at DeviantArt and on our upcoming site. Together with JeffDaniel (our Audio Producer) we are scraping the last few coins we've got in our pockets to buy all the licenses for the new tracks - and believe me, you will love the changes we're making. If you are by any chance an amazing music composer or would just like to help us out a bit with this whole thing, contact me at koobismo@koobismo.com and we will find a nice way to make it happen.
If you're a voice actor interested in playing a part in our audiobook - be sure to contact Jeff directly, at his jeff@koobismo.com address - with my inbox overflowing and technical gadgets failing hard all around me it's much safer to get your voice samples to Jeffyo directly.
And I think that's all for today, folks! Gotta' get a bit of sleep before getting back to work.
I know I don't have to say this again, but... Hold the Line. And Rise.
Yours truly,
Koobs
P.S. Almost forgot to mention that the awesome GameFront - which I now officially recommend as a sweeeet source for all gaming-related info - makes sure that people will hear about our new releases: [link] - in Phil Horshaw's own words: "If you're a Mass Effect 3 fan and you're not following Koobismo's alternate ending comic, Marauder Shields, holy crap, get on that." Lots of love going from me to GameFront!
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Can't wait to read/hear more...
I loved the batman movie too, especially catwoman
You (and your team) are doing such a great job, oh, I'm speechless.
Greetings!
While I respect BioWare's reasons for the DLC, let me share my thoughts on why the MS project has to continue especially after I finished playing the Extended Cut DLC (It's kinda long):
I've been reading comments on YouTube about how ME3 was supposed to focus more on the journey than the ending, that's why the DLC ended the way it did. I however, respectfully disagree. The Mass Effect journey has been one of, if not THE most personal and incredible in gaming history, and because of that, nothing less than a great ending is expected to finish the story – something that reflects the choices we made so far, right up to the very end in order to make gamers feel like they accomplished something worthwhile. Not some Deus Ex Machina device forcing us to make a real sadistic choice.
Granted, we've had to make some of those in the Virmire and "Arrival DLC" missions, it wasn't in the same scope as the one in the ME3 ending. It did not reflect the choices we've made in the game and it certainly made us feel like it was all for nothing. Why? Because if the Reaper threat could’ve ended with something as simple as the Crucible, then that should’ve been made clear from the first or second game, and everything should’ve focused on understanding the Reaper threat and and getting the Crucible built, similar to how Sauron could be destroyed by destroying his ring in the volcano where it was made in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Besides, Liara’s explanation of “process of elimination mixed with a little desperation” didn’t exactly cut it for me. I would’ve gone with something like “We’ve had indications of this device for some time, but it was never fully decoded/understood until now”.
Also, Admiral Hackett’s explanation about the fears of the first atomic bomb igniting the Earth’s atmosphere and how it relates to the fears of building the Crucible doesn’t exactly justify the reasons either. Difference during that time was that after splitting the atom, all the WWII scientists had to do was refine that concept and apply it to make the bomb. Plus, the scientists had some idea on how the bomb would work, if only in theory. The Crucible was different: NO ONE even had a hint of how it would work, but they built it anyway. If the resurrected Prothean offered even the SLIGHTEST hint of how it was supposed to work, I might’ve gone along with it.
And for the last and BEST reason, since you mentioned The Dark Knight Rises... This is why the MS project must continue:
"Because that's what needs the happen, because sometimes, Truth isn't enough. Sometimes people deserve more... sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded" - Batman.
Cheers
There's hardly any truth in ME3. I'm actually at a point where I can think of ME series and be happy about it because as far as I'm concerned, ME3 never happenned
Don't put words I didn't say into my mouth, dude.
I never said I deny the end of Tuchanka, Rannoch or Miranda's storylines. Maybe I need to clarify, because from my posts here it looks like I reject ME3 in its entirety, every little bit of it. I don't, really. I just reject the majority of it. I liked Tuchanka and Rannoch. They were among these rare fragments of the third game when playing it actually felt like Mass Effect, and not a cheap knockoff of it.
I didn't mean that for me, the saga ends with ME2. Of course, there are too many unconcluded story arcs. I mean it stops there, and remains to be written. With all the necessary storylines included. There are good things to salvage from ME3 - many of them. But that's doesn't change the way I see this game now - as salvage. I'm sorry, but for me, after that horrible trainwreck the endings were, BioWare has lost all of their storytelling credibility when it comes to ME3.
The entire plot of ME3 (the game) revolves around the Crucible, which in the end turns out to be the most contrived, asinine and laziest plot device in history of video gaming. The entire game makes an effort of reducing the player's choices and achievements to a bunch of numbers. You accept that, that's fine. Just don't try to tell others to accept it as well.
And the idiotic plot wasn't the only problem I had with ME3. If you've read my other posts here, you know what else I gripe about, and that I was willing to forgive the game all these faults had the ending been good. Koobismo does a great job in providing that good, satisfactory ending for people who accept the "2.9" of ME3 like he does, and that's great. While I'm unlikely to accept his ending and the rest of ME3 along with it, I'm still curious how he's going to wrap it all up.
Ok, let me be clear, I don’t accept the part of the Crucible at all. Remember what I said about Liara’s “process of elimination, mixed with a little desperation” and Hackett’s justification of building the atomic bomb back in World War II? In my previous post, I outright rejected the Crucible since the game made the characters put so much hope into one device without even knowing what it does, out of despair I might add.
At least “Terminator: Salvation” made clear that the supposed “deactivation” signal could shut the machines down, and yes it actually led to the resistance leaders being wiped out. But the point is, everyone had an idea of what it could do, and even if it turned out to be a trap, at least the main objective of Kyle Reese being rescued was achieved. I can tell the MSCanon is pretty much going in the same direction when Mordin's recording came into the picture.
Terminator was like “Yeah, we’re losing people fast and we’re desperate. But we know what this thing does so let’s build it” even if it DID turn out to be a trap. But sadly, no, all I heard in ME3 was “we’re losing a lot of people and we’re too desperate right now, so let’s build this thing without even knowing what it does”. That's no way to tell a story.
I can agree with you that the Crucible is one helluva Deus Ex Machina, as koobs referenced in the Codex entry of "Brothers till the End". While that part does bug me, the MS story does the one thing no other fanfic did: Reject the Crucible outright as THE solution to the Reaper threat while tying it in to the Reaper mythos at the same time. How? Remember that ep. where Mordin’s recording said to abort the Crucible mission? It shows just how frightening the Reapers are to make everyone desperate enough to build it, but not desperate enough to fool a skeptical mind.
And for the record, I never said I accepted the part of “reducing player's choices and achievements to numbers”, and I'm not going to waste time telling others to accept it either. If you’re referring to the “War Asset” system, then we can also agree it sucked. Why? It basically turned the friends I’ve made along the way into mere numbers as you said. All for what? To unlock the supposedly “best” ending where Shepard survives? Screw that.
Jacob, Miranda, Grunt, Wrex, Samara, Zaeed, Kasumi, and let’s not forget Jack and her new biotic artillery squad. I’ve busted my ass trying to get their loyalties in the first two games and they’re way too awesome to be turned into mere stats. It would’ve been better to see them fighting alongside Shepard or probably running into them during the battle over London, maybe even have them save Shepard’s ass or vice versa in the process. THEN it would’ve made all the trouble I went through recruiting them worth the effort, that my choices DID matter. Again, this is something the MSCanon shines: by showing all the people you’ve recruited ACTUALLY doing something on the battlefield.
Still, for all those flaws you mentioned, that doesn’t mean I’m trashing the whole ME3 game. You take the good with the bad, as you've said your willing to forgive the game for most of its faults. It’s easy to remember that the Crucible and the RGB ending ruined most of ME3. But it’s also easy to forget that Shepard made one hell of an effort to unite the whole galaxy and did his darnest to take Earth back (which was his original mission to begin with). All that’s left is for the Marauder Shields story to come full circle and give it that ending that ME3 deserves, and while you’re unlikely to accept the MSCanon ending and most of the story as you said, it would probably be best to save the rants until we see the whole thing. You've had gripes with ME3 and that's fine, everyone did. I'm just saying it's not advisable to try to steer others into griping about it the way you do.
We cool?
It's not my intention to steer anyone anywhere. Why would I want to do such a thing?
It's just my general conviction that ME3 needs an equivalent of MScanon in many parts other than the endings themselves. I'd really like to put a full stop here (Or say "Period!" with a confident face) so I'll extrapolate in another post below.
ME3 needs an equivalent of MScanon in many parts other than the endings themselves.
^ This is the key to my gripings and the baseline for my attitude towards ME verse (the Part Three of it) right now.
MScanon itself, that I find great - sometimes a bit less than that, sometimes even more than great (varies with different episodes), but generally really great. Otherwise I wouldn't be here.
I actually had to check how to bold on DA, it wouldn't accept standard HTML brackets
So, now that that's sorted...
The problem is that with that premise, the "Take Earth Back" setting, the beginning of ME3 is almost as bad as the endings. Especially with it being badly portrayed - the ham-fistedness, the silliness (the Alliance committee that's all "what shall we do, help us o mighty Shepard"), the rushed quality of it... And there was supposed to be a trial for Shep's actions during Arrival. Where the heck was the trial? o_O
And on that bombshell, it's time to end today's griping
Yeah, true that. I'm hearing rumors that ME3 was made by a different team. Maybe that explains why a lot of elements from ME1 and 3 were discontinued.
"Earth isn't a center of tactical interest for the Reapers while attacking the Galaxy - the Citadel is. So really, if the Reapers want to enslave/huskify/destroy/reaperify etc. humanity, shouldn't they try to isolate Earth via the Citadel first and then go for it, instead of attacking it head on, while fighting the whole Galaxy at the same time? But more importantly, Earth isn't a center of emotional interest for the player either. Again, the Citadel is that center! We spend a substantial chunk of time on the Citadel in the first two games. We form emotional bonds with the places and characters there. And do we spend any time at all on Earth?"
Now, as for that issue on Earth... It's true that the Citadel, as you said, would be a more tactical target and would make more sense for the Reapers to start there then isolate Earth using the Citadel. I also agree with you that the Citadel is where we spent most of our time in the first 2 games, and that the guilt trip was kinda forced (the dreams never made sense until MSCanon wrote them as Shepard's indoctrination sessions).
The thing is, remember back what happened in ME1? Sovereign DID try that since he was the one left behind to open the Citadel Relay that would let the Reapers through (if you remember it was in Sovereign's Codex entry in ME3?), but we all know what happened then. So how else would the Reapers enter the galaxy after being denied that entry point? FTL, which took some time.
And as for why Earth was first hit by the Reapers and your point on Reaper tactics, while it may not make much sense, remember that the Reapers were stopped TWICE by humans (first in ME1 then in the Arrival DLC). Now, given the fact that they were denied their first entry point (being the Citadel), and they're really pissed off at the humans (particularly Shepard), it'll make sense for the Reapers to hit Earth first, being the human homeworld and all. Given their superior numbers, firepower and arrogance, I'd say it's more than possible for them to do that while fighting the galaxy at the same time. Plus, the Reapers were also behind schedule in purging the galaxy of evolved organics, so yeah.
Hope that clears tings up.
I wouldn't exactly go so far as to trash the whole game just because the endings suck, dude.
Now, I've looked at your other posts on the Marauder Shields-related stuff and what I can say is this:
"You're angry, I get that." - Shepard
But just because BioWare screwed up on the endings doesn't mean you can say ME3 never happened. To do so means you deny that Shepard finally helped Wrex cure the krogan genophage, that the quarians and the geth finally made peace, that Miranda finally killed her evil "father", and the fact that the whole galaxy was finally united in facing the Reaper threat after the Council denying it for so long.
You can't exactly separate ME3 from ME1 and ME2 since from the start, the characters had issues that needed solving (see above concerning Wrex, Miranda, and the quarians), and since many players have a strong emotional attachment to the ME-verse (as I said, it WAS a personal journey), they WANT to see those issues resolved, not just for the sake of closure, but for the sake of helping the friends we made along the way.
Even koobismo himself said that the ME series including ME3 was awesome, save for the ending. He wouldn't have included most of the ME3 canon into the MS canon if he thought otherwise.
So, as far as I'm concerned, the ME3 endings never happened. I daresay that the BioWare staff was indoctrinated by the Reapers into making those endings and that some of its staff defected (similar to Cerberus defectors) carrying the data for the REAL endings (the Marauder Shields) to be released in the way koobs did.