108 réponses à ce sujet

[Chris Priestly]

Mac Walters was recently in New York for the New York Comic Con. He was at teh Dark Horse booth promoting his upcoming new comic Mass Effect: Evolution featuring The Illusive Man. While he was there, he was interviewed by the fine folks at Crave Online and was questioned about the Dark Horse comics, how the video games are written, Mass Effect DLC and much more.

Check out the interview with Mac here: http://www.craveonli...s-effect-114245

[VampireCommando]

Awesome, cheers Chris.

[Mox Ruuga]

So who's the guy they had to check from the wiki?

Barla Von? I think there was a deleted file about his assassination...

[Niniva]

Great interview!

[Fiery Phoenix]

I love how he acknowledged the ME Wiki.

[Beerfish]

Yes good interview.

[Darastryx]

Too bad he didn't hint at what the next DLC was going to be about.

Other than that, good read.

[iamsaige]

Great read. Looking forward to the new comic now. And hopefully some new DLC soon

[LordMandalore]

Watch that spelling Chris!

Great update btw.

[DarthCaine]

Bah, disappointing, I was expecting a minor hint about ANYTHING

[DIrishB]

FieryPhoenix7 wrote...

I love how he acknowledged the ME Wiki.

Yeah, apparently in regards to another short comic story like "ME - Incursion".

Mac Walters:  Well, yea, you guys are the ones playing the game so know what you actually saw, more so than I do sometimes.

Actually, I was just in a discussion, and I’m not sure if it’s announced yet, but we have an 8-pager coming out sometime and it features a specific character. But during this talk someone was like, “Wait, didn’t that guy get assassinated? Wasn’t it in a news commentary?”

I was like, “Oh, sh*t, wow.” But I wound up going to Wikipedia and finding out he’s still alive. So we’re all good [laughs].

Thats good news.  Wonder if this will be released around the time Evolution ships?

Modifié par DIrishB, 13 octobre 2010 - 09:01 .

[Dave of Canada]

I love how he explained how TIM remains gray in the comic instead of portraying him as a psychopath or something. TIM.

[TMA LIVE]

Dave of Canada wrote...

I love how he explained how TIM remains gray in the comic instead of portraying him as a psychopath or something. TIM.

Well, it's not like he kills people all the time. He just tell people to kill for him.

[Emperor Mars]

I will pay good money for that IP or third party bible.

[scarface71795]

So i didn't see anything about future dlc

Has he confirmed?

If so will it be A little dlc package this month or a big one in December or around that time

[Sailears]

Mox Ruuga wrote...

So who's the guy they had to check from the wiki?

Barla Von? I think there was a deleted file about his assassination...

I hope so, he's my favourite volus (after the biotic god of course).

[Mister Mida]

Meh, nothing of interest. So far I'm not much of a fan of Walters.

Modifié par Mister Mida, 13 octobre 2010 - 10:31 .

[TMA LIVE]

Man, I was hoping he'd say something about future DLC.

Come on Bioware, don't you have a tease for us this month? Like maybe a helmet? Or just say:

"New ME2 DLC is still in your future"?

Modifié par TMA LIVE, 13 octobre 2010 - 10:38 .

[implodinggoat]

Mister Mida wrote...

Meh, nothing of interest. So far I'm not much of a fan of Walters.

I think Walters dialogue is really good; but the fact that he's a comic writer definitely shows in his story writing.

When he's writing a short self contained narrative like the recruitment and loyalty missions or DLC like Overlord and Lair of The Shadow Broker he does a good job.  However; when he's writing a larger interwovern narrative like the main storyline in ME2 he has trouble keeping your interest and often includes story elements which clash with past events and the backgrounds of the characters he's writing for.   

[Minor Spoilers]

The way he dealt with Liara's character in the Redepmtion Comic, the main game and to a lesser extent the LOTSB DLC  is the most obvious example of his tendency to write a storyline which works unto itself; but which feels contrived and artificial when you consider the events which preceded it.    Liara becoming obsessed with revenge works as an independent story; but it never provides an adequate explanantion how her character would get to that point.  Likewise the concept of Shepard working with Cerberus is intriguing as its own story; but when one considers Shepard's interactions with Cerberus in ME1 the concept falls apart.  I mean in ME1 Cerberus is a twisted terrorist organization whose members are highly driven by anti alien xenophobia, yet in ME2 these motivations are almost totally absent and the sole motivation your crew members provide for joining Cerberus is because the Alliance wasn't doing anything.  In essence Liara in ME1 is an entirely different character from Liara in ME2 and Ceberus in ME2 is an entirely different organization than it was in ME1.

[End Minor Spoilers]

I'd like to see more input from Drew Karpashyn in ME3 since he's much better at crafting an epic storyline the gives the player with a sense of freedom and  provides meaningful ethical choices for the player.

As a comic writer Walters is more like Quentin Tarantino in that he's really good at crafting excellent dialogue and short independent scenes (Pulp Fiction); but struggles when it comes to crafting a longer interwoven story (Inglorious Basterds).  While as a novelist Karpashyn is more like George Lucas or James Cameron in that he excels at crafting an epic storyline set in a fascinating universe.

In ME3 I'd like to see Karpashyn tasked with writing the main storyline, while making sure Walters stories avoid contradicting the nature of established characters (Liara, Shepard) or factions (Cerberus).  And I'd like to see Walters tasked with writing smaller independent narratives (like the loyalty missions) while collaborating with Karpashyn on the dialogue throughout the main storyline.  Such an arrangement would play to the strengths of both writers and could deliver both an epic main story on par with ME1 while delivering the powerful independent narratives that ME2 excelled at.

Modifié par implodinggoat, 14 octobre 2010 - 01:53 .

[PARAGON87]

FieryPhoenix7 wrote...

I love how he acknowledged the ME Wiki.

This is awesome.  It's cool that the hard work of fans to chronicle every last detail of ME canon gets appreciated by even the devs. 

This isn't the first time the wiki was acknowledged, either.  Christina Norman also adds in an edit from time to time, too.

[Foolsfolly]

That was a fun read. Mac Walters is great.



Also, I'm willing to bet we see the origin of the Illusive Man's cybernetic eyes in the comic.

[JamieCOTC]

mild spoilers here too

@implodinggoat

Could not agree w/ you more. 100% dead on target as for the whole picture is concerned. Even after reading the comic, I could never connect to Liara's need for revenge. LotSB did a better job of explaining motive, but it sort of clashed w/ the previous Liara scene. As to Shepard and Cerberus I was not happy at all w/ the way that was handled, but then again I played a Sole Survivor. Cerberus killed the SS's unit on Akuze by unleashing a Thresher Maw yet it was never mentioned in the game proper. LotSB kind of gave SS players an "apology" by alluding to Akuze, but it was too little too late. Don't even get me started on Shep and friends go out for pizza while the Collectors take over the ship.

It was nice of Walters to give the interview and I'm sure he's a great guy. It is also cool that he admits to using the wiki. That's something we fans just eat up. I respect anyone who has even a modest bit of writing talent, so I'll give Walters credit for that, but I can't say I am a fan of his work. It's nothing personal, but the ME1 plot was just so much better. It was an interesting read nonetheless. Thanks.

Modifié par JamieCOTC, 14 octobre 2010 - 02:54 .

[Pacifien]

Don't know why it's only hitting me now, but after reading the majority of the storyline posts on the forums being about Cerberus, about why Shepard is with Cerberus, about what it means to work for the Illusive Man, about his role in Retribution, and now the buildup to this comic... I suddenly feel like I'm not in Commander Shepard's story anymore. I feel like I'm watching the Illusive Man's story from Shepard's POV.

It's like I knew this already, but reading this interview makes me now feel this. It's not a pleasant feeling.

As for the writers using the wiki, that just makes it sting all the more whenever I find something on the wiki that is wrong. Really wish that thing would use citations properly.

Modifié par Pacifien, 14 octobre 2010 - 04:01 .

[The_Numerator]

Pacifien wrote...

Don't know why it's only hitting me now, but after reading the majority of the storyline posts on the forums being about Cerberus, about why Shepard is with Cerberus, about what it means to work for the Illusive Man, about his role in Retribution, and now the buildup to this comic... I suddenly feel like I'm not in Commander Shepard's story anymore. I feel like I'm watching the Illusive Man's story from Shepard's POV.

It's like I knew this already, but reading this interview makes me now feel this. It's not a pleasant feeling.

As for the writers using the wiki, that just makes it sting all the more whenever I find something on the wiki that is wrong. Really wish that thing would use citations properly.

It's just so you'll be that much more satisfied when Shepard knocks him down a peg.

Not convinced yet?

Go listen to some of that ME2 OST Main Theme. That'll quod erat demonstrandum things for you.

Edit: Wait-- The writers use the wiki? That's... abominable. That's like learning that George Lucas taking his cues from wookiepedia.

Though in George Lucas' case, maybe it couldn't hurt.

Modifié par The_Numerator, 14 octobre 2010 - 04:06 .