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General discussion (archive)Dragon Age and Mass Effect Books any good?(13 posts)(13 posts)
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Posted August 08, 2013
So, I´m recently replaying the dragon Age and Mass Effect Games again and I´m enjoying them much more on my 2nd tour of duty. I especially dig the Dragon Age Lore much more this time around. I´ve noticed that there a quite a few books on the market which enhance or add to the overall storyline.

Did anyone of you folks had a chance to read them? Are they decent and fun to read? I´m actually not to much into fantasy books as I find most of them very clishéd. But as I´m already quite familiar with the Universe and characters of both games and I do like quite a lot of them, I might overlook some not so Pulitzer Price worthy writing ;)
Posted August 08, 2013
The writing in the games is what I would consider barely acceptable, so I never really considered reading a whole book of it. Would be nice to hear they are better written than the games, though.
Posted August 08, 2013
I have read Mass Effect: Revelation. It was like reading bare bones of book. Little details, blunt lines, etc. I started reading Ascension but it felt same, mediocre.

I wish IP owners don't include important details for game plot in any book. Redemption is something I consider crossing the line. And I also dislike how comics of game series are written and drawn. :(

EDIT: And Deception is considered by many fans to be the weakest novel. A lot of inaccurate and contradicting information.
Post edited August 08, 2013 by Mivas
Posted August 08, 2013
I didn't read them, but I know that in one of Mass Effect books, ninja-master-assassin is sent to kill one of the main characters. Ninja went to his target's house, didn't find target, but he became hungry, so ninja decided to eat his target's cereals and after he ate them, he left empty bowl on the table and thanks to that his target later found out that assassin was in his house.

It's pretty much why I didn't want to read them.
Post edited August 08, 2013 by Aver
Posted August 08, 2013
Drew Karpyshin has gotten some attention for his Star Wars novels, but from some excerpts I've read, and the general lore evisceration that happened with TOR, I'm not going to bother with his works.

Not sure if/what he's written for ME of DA, either.
Posted August 08, 2013
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anaheim85: So, I´m recently replaying the dragon Age and Mass Effect Games again and I´m enjoying them much more on my 2nd tour of duty. I especially dig the Dragon Age Lore much more this time around. I´ve noticed that there a quite a few books on the market which enhance or add to the overall storyline.

Did anyone of you folks had a chance to read them? Are they decent and fun to read? I´m actually not to much into fantasy books as I find most of them very clishéd. But as I´m already quite familiar with the Universe and characters of both games and I do like quite a lot of them, I might overlook some not so Pulitzer Price worthy writing ;)
I read The Calling and The Stolen Throne. The writing is nothing stelar in either of them but they do offer a lot of lore and backstory. Good characters though, i have to hand it to Gaider, some of the characters in those two books really stuck with me.

You say you like DA lore so maybe give those a try. You'll also learn quite a bit about characters you already know like Duncan, Loghain, etc.
Posted August 09, 2013
Thank you all for the input. Will contemplate a little more about buying them ;) +1 to all.
Posted August 09, 2013
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anaheim85: So, I´m recently replaying the dragon Age and Mass Effect Games again and I´m enjoying them much more on my 2nd tour of duty. I especially dig the Dragon Age Lore much more this time around. I´ve noticed that there a quite a few books on the market which enhance or add to the overall storyline.

Did anyone of you folks had a chance to read them? Are they decent and fun to read? I´m actually not to much into fantasy books as I find most of them very clishéd. But as I´m already quite familiar with the Universe and characters of both games and I do like quite a lot of them, I might overlook some not so Pulitzer Price worthy writing ;)
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Namur: I read The Calling and The Stolen Throne. The writing is nothing stelar in either of them but they do offer a lot of lore and backstory. Good characters though, i have to hand it to Gaider, some of the characters in those two books really stuck with me.

You say you like DA lore so maybe give those a try. You'll also learn quite a bit about characters you already know like Duncan, Loghain, etc.
This ^^

But, basically, if you prefer books to games dont bother with them, on the other hand, if you prefer games to books then from a lore point (only) get the DA books, dunno about the others.
Posted August 09, 2013
Lol wut, Bioware have amongst the worse writers in the entire industry, AND you want to read third-party authors of them, lol

You must really want to be a dragon
Post edited August 09, 2013 by Crosmando
Posted August 09, 2013
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F1ach: But, basically, if you prefer books to games dont bother with them, on the other hand, if you prefer games to books then from a lore point (only) get the DA books, dunno about the others.
I agree. If you're any kind of reader, the DA books are going to be brain breakingly bad; you'd be better off going to fanfiction.net and reading My Little Pony stories. On the other hand, if you don't read outside of your gaming interest, the lore is there and you might not mind the writer's obvious weaknesses.
Post edited August 09, 2013 by JaqFrost
Posted August 09, 2013
I do read quite a lot outside of gaming and as I stated before it´s usually not fantasy. If I play a game I can often overlook glaring weaknesses in writing as a lot of what´s happening is enhanced by my own imagination.

If the books are really that astrociously bad written I might just pretend there are no books at all ;)
Posted August 09, 2013
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anaheim85: I do read quite a lot outside of gaming and as I stated before it´s usually not fantasy. If I play a game I can often overlook glaring weaknesses in writing as a lot of what´s happening is enhanced by my own imagination.

If the books are really that astrociously bad written I might just pretend there are no books at all ;)
You can always preview them in Amazon, 10 or 20 pages isn't much but it will give you some idea of what to expect.
Posted August 09, 2013
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Spinorial: Not sure if/what he's written for ME of DA, either.
Drew Karpyshin has written only for Mass Effect franchise. Dragon Age is handled by David Gaider. Interestingly, I started reading an unrelated novel by Patrick Weekes (Mass Effect) and I like how much fluff he adds in.

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anaheim85: If the books are really that astrociously bad written I might just pretend there are no books at all ;)
When there is something without needed context in a game, I look for a Wikia summary. It's been always thanks to a novel. Very helpful.
Post edited August 09, 2013 by Mivas
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General discussion (archive)Dragon Age and Mass Effect Books any good?(13 posts)(13 posts)
(13 posts)