9962 réponses à ce sujet

[lillitheris]

Returning to the topic of Shepards, I think I may be far more permissive about the character than many. There’s very little that I expect of a Shepard, very few traits that I see as essential. The only crucial factor is that the story works with the Shepard. Of course, that said, most Shepards do tend to have vast similarities.

On that topic, if you’ve not read “The Beautiful Indifferent”, you must. Like, right now.

[dpMeggers]

lillitheris wrote...

Returning to the topic of Shepards, I think I may be far more permissive about the character than many. There’s very little that I expect of a Shepard, very few traits that I see as essential. The only crucial factor is that the story works with the Shepard. Of course, that said, most Shepards do tend to have vast similarities.

On that topic, if you’ve not read “The Beautiful Indifferent”, you must. Like, right now.

I can think of precisely one issue I have had with ME-1 era Shepards in the past. When they are naive. I've read a few Sheps who seem more like teens or early twenties than an almost-thirty career soldier. Naivety is probably the only trait I won't put up with in a Shepard, because it just seems so unrealistic (to me) that someone who has seen at the bare minimum the Blitz and N7 training would be naive. 

[Seracen]

lillitheris wrote...

And, of course, the classic tune "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn" ("In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.")

Heh, I remember hearing a voice-actor pronouncing that line in the game Bethesda made.  Utmost respect for whomever had to suffer through reading THAT.

Modifié par Seracen, 15 juillet 2012 - 10:15 .

[TheMarshal]

lillitheris wrote...

Returning to the topic of Shepards, I think I may be far more permissive about the character than many. There’s very little that I expect of a Shepard, very few traits that I see as essential. The only crucial factor is that the story works with the Shepard. Of course, that said, most Shepards do tend to have vast similarities.

On that topic, if you’ve not read “The Beautiful Indifferent”, you must. Like, right now.

Maybe we can put together a kickstarter to get the author to continue that story.  Who's in?  

And I'm with you on Shepards.  They can be paragon or renegade, racist or all-inclusive, romancing Thane, Jacob, Samara, Miranda, whoever.  So long as there's a reason for it.  

I think the main thing that bothers me when reading Shepard is when the story is obviously from Shepard's POV and yet the character refers to himself/herself as "Shepard".  I need a name in order to define a point in space representing that Shepard.  Otherwise things are too nebulous for me and the entire construct falls apart.

[lillitheris]

dpMeggers wrote...

I've noticed this thread has a fairly heavy leaning towards FemShep x Liara (Seriously. There are so many of you.).

Funny you should mention this…it’s true enough, though I don’t think mine’s particularly popular at least with the Liara forumites.

It might be an interesting study to actually run the number on the pairings, and then aggregate some other metrics like length and so on.

[TheMarshal]

hot_heart wrote...

Have you ever had inspiration in odd places?

I actually wrote a little snippet last year which was based on a West Wing episode.  I loved the character of "Stanley" who popped up in a grand total of I think two episodes throughout the entire series, and I wanted to explore the psychologist side of Kelly, which I think often gets overlooked.

[Obsidian Gryphon]

hot_heart wrote...

Have you ever had inspiration in odd places?

I can't say I have. I tend to run with whatever images that come to my head, put them down and then worry over whether thwy would make sense.

IliyaMoroumetz wrote...

Ok, here's a question for you folks; when you read a ME fanfic, do you see your Shepard or are you trying to see the author's Shepard? I've met and spoken with folks who do both.

It's a little of the first but it's mostly the style of the storytelling that I look for.

P.S. On FemShep + Liara. Well, yeah. This pairing wasn't even my original choice. The other half was Kaiden but what she revealed in the game and LotSB changed my mind. I dabbled with the other choices in ME 2 and though Garrus came in close, didn't pick him because he's really more of a "blood brother". The rest didn't make it past the halfway mark. I abandoned Kaiden after ME 2.

I wouldn't even tryt dabbling in a fanfic about them (writing isn't my forte nor thinking about stuff too deeply) if ME3 hadn't turned out so horribly. There's nothing like extreme pique to kickstart me into starting something I never considered at all.

Modifié par Obsidian Gryphon, 16 juillet 2012 - 12:22 .

[Drussius]

lillitheris wrote...

dpMeggers wrote...

I've noticed this thread has a fairly heavy leaning towards FemShep x Liara (Seriously. There are so many of you.).

Funny you should mention this…it’s true enough, though I don’t think mine’s particularly popular at least with the Liara forumites.

It might be an interesting study to actually run the number on the pairings, and then aggregate some other metrics like length and so on.

My elder daughter says I should do a Mass Effect retelling with a Tali/Femshep pairing. When I finally let her play the games, she was terribly disappointed that it wasn't an option.

[dpMeggers]

TheMarshal wrote...


Maybe we can put together a kickstarter to get the author to continue that story.  Who's in?  

And I'm with you on Shepards.  They can be paragon or renegade, racist or all-inclusive, romancing Thane, Jacob, Samara, Miranda, whoever.  So long as there's a reason for it.  

I think the main thing that bothers me when reading Shepard is when the story is obviously from Shepard's POV and yet the character refers to himself/herself as "Shepard".  I need a name in order to define a point in space representing that Shepard.  Otherwise things are too nebulous for me and the entire construct falls apart.

Re: bolded. Without wanting to spoil too much, my Damon Shepard goes exclusively by his last name after about age 16. (He has a good reason) So his first name only comes up in about two chapters. I've seen a few other Sheps who were Earthborn and had to make up a first name when they enlisted  or who had really embarassing first names. As long as the first name gets mentioned at some point, I don't mind if the character thinks of themself as Shepard. 

[fluffywalrus]

Drussius wrote...

lillitheris wrote...

dpMeggers wrote...

I've noticed this thread has a fairly heavy leaning towards FemShep x Liara (Seriously. There are so many of you.).

Funny you should mention this…it’s true enough, though I don’t think mine’s particularly popular at least with the Liara forumites.

It might be an interesting study to actually run the number on the pairings, and then aggregate some other metrics like length and so on.

My elder daughter says I should do a Mass Effect retelling with a Tali/Femshep pairing. When I finally let her play the games, she was terribly disappointed that it wasn't an option.

Tali/Femshep is very rare on ffnet, it seems. I kind of always wanted that pairing...even though I see Tali as a little sister more than anything, I kind of wanted one of my femsheps to be with her. Had to choose garrus instead, who's very much like a brother anyway.

But yeah, Tali/Femshep is something I might explore eons from now when I'm done my fic, or maybe a one shot or something down the road when i'm bored or something. The pairing always intrigued me. I mean, I'd have more respect for the decision that Tali's 100% heterosexual if the game wasn't designed in such a way that they seemingly removed the femshep/Tali endgame romance while leaving all the buildup for it.

[TheMarshal]

fluffywalrus wrote...

Tali/Femshep is very rare on ffnet, it seems. I kind of always wanted that pairing...even though I see Tali as a little sister more than anything, I kind of wanted one of my femsheps to be with her. Had to choose garrus instead, who's very much like a brother anyway.

But yeah, Tali/Femshep is something I might explore eons from now when I'm done my fic, or maybe a one shot or something down the road when i'm bored or something. The pairing always intrigued me. I mean, I'd have more respect for the decision that Tali's 100% heterosexual if the game wasn't designed in such a way that they seemingly removed the femshep/Tali endgame romance while leaving all the buildup for it.

Tali and Miranda are the two squaddies I would have rolled new FemSheps for had they been available.  It feels like they did the same thing with FemShep/Miranda in ME3 that they did with Tali in ME2.  That last scene with the two of them at the QEC, coupled with the meeting in the apartment on the Citadel makes it feel like there's a TON of UST.

[nitefyre410]

hot_heart wrote...

Have you ever had inspiration in odd places?

 

Honestly yeah  I have mostly other Sci-fi Universe's, right now my muses playing and revisting my child hood with  Mass Effect in the Macross Universe.  

Interesting things going on the with that... I tell you   

 

[Drussius]

nitefyre410 wrote...

hot_heart wrote...

Have you ever had inspiration in odd places?

 

Honestly yeah  I have mostly other Sci-fi Universe's, right now my muses playing and revisting my child hood with  Mass Effect in the Macross Universe.  

Interesting things going on the with that... I tell you   

Oooo! Macross. I haven't seen those in ages! I have a sudden urge to dig through my attic and find my old anime video collection.

But darnit, I would have to buy a working VCR too

[Icyflare]

fluffywalrus wrote...

But yeah, Tali/Femshep is something I might explore eons from now when I'm done my fic, or maybe a one shot or something down the road when i'm bored or something. The pairing always intrigued me. I mean, I'd have more respect for the decision that Tali's 100% heterosexual if the game wasn't designed in such a way that they seemingly removed the femshep/Tali endgame romance while leaving all the buildup for it.

Stuff like this doesn't help. Hidden Romance Dialogue Between Tali and Femshep

I feel kinda the same way with femShep and Miranda. There's so much unresolved sexual tension there that I'm surprised nothing romantic came out of it in ME3.

Edit: Yup, just like TheMarshal said.

Modifié par Icyflare, 16 juillet 2012 - 01:33 .

[IliyaMoroumetz]

Sorry for the constant stream of questions, but I want to ask you folks how to make a proper first chapter to give a proper hook for a story.

Granted, I've been told that a lot of stories start out slow before things really speed up.  At first, I never thought much of that until I discovered how stressful the Call of Duty's 'story' is when it never gives you a chance to rest.

So, I come ot you folks to ask what I can do to make the first chapter of my Kelly story more... engaging?  Hooking?   Stuff?  I'm at a loss, here.

[Seracen]

IliyaMoroumetz wrote...

Sorry for the constant stream of questions, but I want to ask you folks how to make a proper first chapter to give a proper hook for a story.

Granted, I've been told that a lot of stories start out slow before things really speed up.  At first, I never thought much of that until I discovered how stressful the Call of Duty's 'story' is when it never gives you a chance to rest.

So, I come ot you folks to ask what I can do to make the first chapter of my Kelly story more... engaging?  Hooking?   Stuff?  I'm at a loss, here.

Something I like to do is have a flashback or dream sequence, one that recalls a fast-paced sequence of events.  Also, I prefer to have this opening sequence tie back into the main plot.

For example, in an original work I have, the main character is remebering a case he solved prior to the story.  The situation involved him saving the victim, but at the cost of being tortured by the killer, before managing to draw the events into a stalemate and buying time for backup to arrive.

I tied this into current events by having him driving through the rain, and the torrential downpour reminded him of that case.  Furthermore, I had a call back to that sequence, tying it to my main plot (the hero didn't know that the killer was tied to a larger conspiracy...).

Alternately, in my current ME fic, I am having someone unrelated participate in a series of events that will lead to my Shepard having to go on a jaunt around the universe.  In this situation, the opening scene would otherwise have been Shepard waking up next to his LI's (yes plural), which, while fun, was not nearly as dynamic.

[Mr.BlazenGlazen]

I wrote another chapter finally. Chapter 7: The Outward Movement

Took me a while to finally sit down and write because I was feeling uninspired, and I was juggling with something else that I wanted to experiment. Hope uh...you guys like it even if you find like a dozen grammar errors in it.

Modifié par Mr.BlazenGlazen, 16 juillet 2012 - 03:23 .

[Obsidian Gryphon]

Drussius wrote...

nitefyre410 wrote...

hot_heart wrote...

Have you ever had inspiration in odd places?

 

Honestly yeah  I have mostly other Sci-fi Universe's, right now my muses playing and revisting my child hood with  Mass Effect in the Macross Universe.  

Interesting things going on the with that... I tell you   

Oooo! Macross. I haven't seen those in ages! I have a sudden urge to dig through my attic and find my old anime video collection.

But darnit, I would have to buy a working VCR too

You're kdding. VCR??!   Macross dvds going for a song nowadays. .. well, erm, they used to. I haven't checked if they're still available.

... Minmei...Minmei .... gee, I don't think there's anyone in the ME universe that fit the bill.

P.S. I'm currently looking through ssytems of the Milky Way in WikiME but I can't access Hawking Eta, Verr System, planet Serao because Norton keeps telling me there's something wrong with the page. Can someone try it and see if it works? If so, can I get a summary of that planet, please? Thanks in advance.

Modifié par Obsidian Gryphon, 16 juillet 2012 - 06:49 .

[lillitheris]

I can access it just fine because I don’t bother with silly antivirus software (just script blockers)

Serao:

Location: Milky Way / Hawking Eta / Verr System / Third planet
Prerequisite: Firewalker Pack (Mass Effect 2)

Serao is a standard hydrogen-helium gas giant. Its more obvious features are a pair of gigantic storm cells, one in the northern hemisphere, and one in the south. While richer in helium-3 than Allusah, the difficulties of exraction from Serao's gravity well and stormy atmosphere lead to the other gas giant's development.

Serao has over 80 moons, ranging from a radius of 50 to 2,000 kilometers. The asari Tersicor Council has established an observation post on one of the larger moons to study the planet's twin storm systems.

Orbital Distance 2.14 AU
Orbital Period 5.7 Earth Years
Keplerian Ratio 0.302
Radius 70,881 km
Day Length 9.7 Earth Hours
Atm. Pressure N/A
Surface Temp N/A
Surface Gravity N/A
Mass N/A
Satellites > 80


Edit: given that it’s a hydrogen giant, I assume the Firewalker mission is on “one of the larger moons”.

Modifié par lillitheris, 16 juillet 2012 - 07:24 .

[fluffywalrus]

Obsidian Gryphon wrote...

P.S. I'm currently looking through ssytems of the Milky Way in WikiME but I can't access Hawking Eta, Verr System, planet Serao because Norton keeps telling me there's something wrong with the page. Can someone try it and see if it works? If so, can I get a summary of that planet, please? Thanks in advance.

Serao  is a standard hydrogen-helium gas giant. Its more obvious features are a pair of gigantic storm
cells, one in the northern hemisphere, and one in the south. While richer in helium-3 than Allusah, the difficulties of exraction from Serao's gravity well and stormy atmosphere lead to the other gas giant's development. Serao has over 80 moons, ranging from a radius of 50 to 2,000 kilometers. The asari Tersicor Council has established an observation post on one of the larger moons to study the planet's twin storm systems.


Orbital Distance: 2.14 AU


Orbital Period: 5.7 Earth Years


Keplerian Ratio: 0.302


Radius: 70,881 km


Day Length: 9.7 Earth Hours


Atm. Pressure: N/A


Surface Temp: N/A


Surface Gravity: N/A


Mass: N/A


Satellites: > 80

Modifié par fluffywalrus, 16 juillet 2012 - 07:25 .

[lillitheris]

IliyaMoroumetz wrote...

Sorry for the constant stream of questions, but I want to ask you folks how to make a proper first chapter to give a proper hook for a story.

Granted, I've been told that a lot of stories start out slow before things really speed up.  At first, I never thought much of that until I discovered how stressful the Call of Duty's 'story' is when it never gives you a chance to rest.

I got lucky, in that I decided to start off in the middle of the action — and didn’t need that much setup, since it should be familiar from the game.

In addition to that, I intentionally keep the hectic action going all the way to ~Chapter 9 or so, with the pace gradually slowing down as things settle. The idea is that this should work as a narrative device to impart at least some of the chaos of the first few hours.

Doing it this way does seem to be a double-edged sword: someone mentioned there could actually be a room for a ‘breather’ somewhere inbetween, because there really is no rest until the characters start being able to rest themselves. Chapter 4 is kind of a lull, but it’s very short, so the voracious reader will blaze straight through it, too.

So, I come ot you folks to ask what I can do to make the first chapter of my Kelly story more... engaging?  Hooking?   Stuff?  I'm at a loss, here.

I took a very quick look — I think I’ve read a chapter or two earlier — and I don’t think it’s too bad at all. You do have a lot of exposition, which itself isn’t a problem…what I think might be one is that it feels a little impersonal. So, I think primarily:

– Try to shift the narration closer to Kelly. Right now, many of the lines sound like explained by someone removed from her, an outside observer, where I think it’d work coming more from her perspective. It’s a bit hard to explain what I mean, so perhaps at least thinking about the next point might get you in the ‘right’ direction.

– You could add a bit of action before the exposition — so, have Kelly meet the Commander right off the bat, and then cue the expo off from that meeting. You can, for example, link the talk about her ruthlessness to the impression Kelly gets (confirming or diverging); you can link the description of her death and recovery to her physical state; you can link Kelly’s hiring process to maybe seeing/knowing who Jacob/Miranda are.

I’ll try come up with a more coherent example at some point…hopefully you can sort of see what I mean about the perspective, though.

Modifié par lillitheris, 16 juillet 2012 - 07:48 .

[nitefyre410]

Drussius wrote...

nitefyre410 wrote...

hot_heart wrote...

Have you ever had inspiration in odd places?

 

Honestly yeah  I have mostly other Sci-fi Universe's, right now my muses playing and revisting my child hood with  Mass Effect in the Macross Universe.  

Interesting things going on the with that... I tell you   

Oooo! Macross. I haven't seen those in ages! I have a sudden urge to dig through my attic and find my old anime video collection.

But darnit, I would have to buy a working VCR too

 

I just finished watching Macross  Fontier the most recent series in the universe and  its good.. tons   nods  to the orginal series  and it tied very  together very well I don't want to spoil it. 

your best bet would be to find a fan sub online... there are tons of them.  

And  I'm going to go back watch the Original myself...even in the old clips the show just aged  very well.   

My only hang up  dealing with Team  Dextro   DNA... because garrus + veritech =  

[Obsidian Gryphon]

@ lillitheris and fluffywalrus, thanks! Have a snack!



Q - Does anyone have any idea what is this Asari Tesicor Council? I'm thinking it's probably a scientific org that promote expeditions, etc.

Modifié par Obsidian Gryphon, 16 juillet 2012 - 11:05 .

[lillitheris]

Obsidian Gryphon wrote...

Q - Does anyone have any idea what is this Asari Tesicor Council? I'm thinking it's probably a scientific org that promote expeditions, etc.

Could be, or perhaps a regional governing body? There’s no info.

…

Edit: Mhehee, someone is spiritedly arguing against allowing proper quotes (“”, ‘’) on FFN…

Modifié par lillitheris, 16 juillet 2012 - 11:48 .

[Spiritwolf1]

Heh, guess my last chapter fell through, not one review, ah well. On to the next.