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[hot_heart]

Oh, FML. Installed the new PSU (after a few other problems I won't bore you with) and now the thing doesn't boot up properly, which could mean an issue with the motherboard. I think I am done with PC gaming, especially considering how little I do nowadays. I'll just get this fixed for writing-related needs, and any future gaming will be on PS4.

[Fatiguesdualism]

@hot_heart:  That doesn't sound good (Am I right in thinking the motherboard is the bit everything else plugs into?) conversely I'm thinking of doing the opposite - ditching the console for a PC - but for pretty much the same reason!  

 

@Ignis Mors:  I'd say you're better off stopping a chapter when it 'wants' to stop.  If everything you wanted in the chapter is there I wouldn't worry about the length, personally I only notice length when either; (a) it feels as if things are being overly prolonged; or ( the chapter seems short because it seems light on content.  I have to admit though, I'm really...really...really   guilty of (a) 

 

As for chapter names - I can barely manage titles never mind naming chapters.  However, the last chapter I posted I 'named' by using the scene's location (Normandy-Lesuss)  I was starting to feel bad about just leaving them blank - plus I thought I'd better start making it easier to remember stuff!

 

@sH0tgUn jUliA:  I'm not a 100% sure that ME gunfire would be much louder.  There's no explosive propellant and although the 'rounds' are travelling much faster - they're also much smaller.  Wouldn't that have an impact on the noise generated?  

[ftkerns]

Well, good news and bad news. Getting the bad news out of the way first...I've been having some problems with my computer overheating. Several nights ago, I was playing ME2 and about ten minutes in, the computer overheated and shut itself down. I opened it up and blew the dust out, and when I turned it back on, the CPU fan sounded like a goddamn buzzsaw. I wouldn't be surprised if people out in the parking lot could hear it. Then it overheated and shut down again. I managed to order a new fan from my tablet, even though I can't afford it. I tried posting on another site from the tablet, and the browser crashed three times in a row and I just gave up. Ended up having to use this crappy old netbook I bought about five years ago, which is about ten times slower than my first PC, which I got back in 1996.

 

Some of the good news is, yesterday I managed to finish the latest chapter of Freelancers and post it, even though it took an average of two minutes for each web page to load. Due to the frustration of the overheating problem and trying to get by on such an underpowered netbook, I completely forgot to add an author's note thanking hot_heart for the suggestions on Mordin's dialogue. I corrected that a few minutes ago, though.

 

So anyway. YAY! Actually got some writing done, and finished a chapter. 

 

But back to the bad news now. The new CPU fan arrived yesterday and I installed it...and it only kinda works. Well, it spins, and it doesn't make that loud buzzsaw sound. It's actually a lot quieter than the stock fan was even before it went haywire. But the problem is, the new one turned out to be a crappy fan. The computer's overheating worse than ever now. Last night, it shut itself down twice, and four more times this morning, and I wasn't even doing anything more strenuous for the CPU than watching a video. I left the case wide open to let some excess heat escape, and that slowed the overheating down quite a bit, but didn't stop it. If I don't put too much strain on the processor, the temperature stays between 54 and 56 degrees C. If I try to watch a video, it shoots up to 65 or 70. And for some reason, every time I plug in the (turned-off) tablet to recharge it, the temperature immediately shoots up to 79 or 80 and the computer shuts down. I'm afraid to see what might happen if I try to play any games.  

 

Anyway. The new chapter. It ended up being nothing but characters standing around and talking, so I was afraid it would be boring. I also thought it was overly long, and doesn't exactly end on a dramatic cliffhanger, but if I hadn't cut it off there, it would've kept going for at least another 5,000 words. So far, though, it seems to be pretty well received, from the comments I've gotten on the various sites I've posted it on. I did try to have some fun with the dialogue in places. Such as a bit with Matriarch Lidanya getting a little irritated with one of the Councilors. Not having seen much of her except in one scene at the end of the first game, I don't know that much about her...so I have no idea if it'd be out-of-character for her to go off on one of the Councilors in front of a roomful of people, but I just figured she'd had enough of their crap by that point. XD And what the hell, it was satisfying to write. 

 

and one question to help spruce up my military communications in my story:

 

can anyone give me some pointers on military radio shorthand and stuff? I've heard some in games and movies but I don't quite get the meanings of some of it. like "charlie mic" or when/how to use some of the other terms. any pointers would be awesome.

 

*waves*

 

Sorry, I forgot to reply to this last time. A lot of good suggestions have already been made, so I don't have much to add, except if you're looking for ideas on things like pilot call signs, here's a useful page for that. My favorites include "T-Bone" (I've seen several with that name, one because he dropped a bomb on a cow and another because he crashed his plane into a cow), and "Tickles" (her first name's Tess)....

 

Can't really comment on Omega or Leviathan haven't touched either.  Thought Omega sounded lifeless and drab 'team up with Aria and shoot more Cerberus mooks!' - it didn't sound like it brought anything new to the table.  Leviathan is apparently tied into ME3's 'Main Plot'  which I really can't stand.  I enjoyed the party variations in Citadel though - it's probably the only reason I'll ever play ME3 again.  Then again I'm about the only person I know, in the outside world, who enjoyed Alpha Protocol - so my opinion ain't worth much! 

 

As for MEHEM or other mods as a lowly 'console peasant'  I'm never going to have the opportunity to try them.   Curse You, PC Master Race! 

 

 

Yeah, the DLC's might've been worth playing if they'd made a difference to the overall story, but nope. Still, I'm looking forward to playing through at least one more time now that I can use the MEHEM and CE mods to cut the Catalyst out and play Citadel as the true ending.

 

And the console thing...yeah, that's one of the main reasons I use the PC exclusively. And the ability to upgrade. Also because I just never took a liking to consoles. I think it might be the controllers, specifically, that I never got the hang of. I remember trying to play one of the GTA games on a PS2, and was never able to wrap my brain around the idea that pulling the trigger made the car accelerate, but to fire a gun out the window, you had to push one of the buttons. To me, trigger always means fire weapons. O_o And then I could never hit the right button to fire, and ended up opening the door instead. While surging forward at full speed. Speaking of call signs, you could've nicknamed me "Splat" because of that alone. 

 

Here's a link for writing military science fiction: http://www.military-sf.com/

 

It'll kind of give you an idea. When I wrote "The Lost Asari," I tried to stay as close to this as I could, even though it may have broke canon in some places. You really can't go wrong with reality. Also know a few things about weaponry in closed spaces. Understand suppressors. MEU weapons are supposed to be like mini railguns. They're hand held weapons firing supersonic rounds and they're stabilized with mass effect fields otherwise the kick would blow the weapon out of your hands. Also they're going to be loud as hell. They're going to make today's modern firearms seem quiet. Any suppression is going to decrease the velocity of the round as well as eliminate the muzzle flash, and rail guns have a muzzle flash even though they use no powder or explosive charge. Helmets and hearing protection are going to be essential equipment. All communication in combat zones will be by communicator. These weapons are too loud.

 

Handy website, there. Bookmarked for future reference. Also, I hadn't even thought about the loudness of ME weapons. Now I'll have to slip a line or two into my fic about characters needing to wear some sort of ear protection if they don't have helmets.

 

Heh, and this reminded me of the newest Marauder Shields comic. In one panel, two characters are commenting on the noise caused by a bunch of explosives going off. "Haupmanns do a double-tap, sonic first, fire second. Add to that the sound of two dozen buildings crumbling...and now imagine how this would all sound without the dampening effect of your helmet." And the next panel is a close-up of Zaeed, sans helmet, holding his head and saying, "Yeah. Just goddamn imagine." 

 

Thanks for that, haha!  As for relationships in the future, I also used another validation for this particular triangle.  Considering that various individuals have cheated death multiple times, I can imagine their states of mind might be a bit fragile.  They really wouldn't have the patience for drama, and may even have turned the triangle into a coping and support mechanism.  But yeah, I usually don't criticize others' romance choices (obvious taboos are obvious).

 

As for elements that were better left out/in for ME3...it really feels as if budget and gameplay design began to hamper storyline decisions, which is never a good thing.  Again, I can headcanon the Omega DLC to right before the Reaper War starts in earnest, which renders it okay.  The Leviathan DLC is...well...interesting.  It DID provide an interesting hook for me to use in my fanfic.  As for an addendum to the original ending...such a thing helps nobody, lol.

 

Considering the Citadel DLC as anything other than epilogue is as jarring as Omega.  Honestly, Shep going out to battle his/her clone, then throwing a party, is as far removed from the war as going off on a raid with Aria.  However, headcanoning that bit into an epilogue makes for a poignant send-off to the characters and story.

 

Don't feel bad for being so passionate about it, so long as it doesn't become abusive, haha!  After all, here we are, nearly 2 years after the game came out, and we're still talking and writing!  The ME universe is rich, ripe for exploration, as is any proper fandom (anime, comics, sports, discussion about various genres of novels, etc...)

 

On unconventional relationships in the future, yeah, that's another good point. Several people going through enough intense cheating-death experiences would likely be drawn to each other in ways other people wouldn't be, and it makes sense that it could work as a coping mechanism. And yeah, aside from obvious taboos, I figure it's all good as long as it makes for a good, interesting story. I've noticed a tendency to put weird relationships in most of my novels and stories just because you see "normal" couples everywhere you look, and that kind of thing is written about all the time. Three or four characters getting into a relationship gives it a different dynamic that can be really interesting to explore if it's done right. My series of novels has the main characters in a...I guess it'd be called a "trio" or something. And I'm working on another story with a half-dozen characters thrown into a horrific situation and all ending up falling for each other while trying to find a way out. I hadn't thought about it before, but that one could have elements of the "coping and support mechanism" thing you mentioned.

 

Anyway, on ME3. Some of it really did seem rushed, and some seemed like whoever wrote that segment just didn't care anymore. Some bits were actually really good, like that scene with Garrus and Shepard on that rooftop, having some target practice. And the Rannoch and Tuchanka segments were damned good, though far from flawless. As for stuff that was cut out completely, I was really looking forward to seeing a resolution to the whole thing that was started with Daro'Xen, mostly. But at least I can come up with my own ideas for that while writing Freelancers.... XD

 

I try not to let my anger over the whole mess get to me, or become abusive, or anything like that. But sometimes, even after all this time, it still flares up full-force. After making such an emotional investment in the story, the characters, and the setting, to have it end the way it did...blecch. Add to that the condescending attitude from the people responsible for the debacle, and the insults hurled from some fans at the so-called "vocal minority"...well, stuff like that is why I stopped hanging around the ME3 discussion threads.

 

Still, a lot of good has come out of this. People have come up with a lot of creative ways to make up their own ending, or rewrite ME3. Like Marauder Shields. We wouldn't have gotten all those stories if this hadn't happened. So at least some people are finding positive, creative ways to work through all this stuff. And I definitely love the characters and the ME universe enough to keep playing around in my own corner of it.

 

I'm back again. Sorry for so frequently being gone. It seems like lately I have abandoned every forum I was a part of. Don't know why. Anyways, that's beside the point. I have a question for you guys. Do you have a specific length you aim for with your chapters? Personally I aim for at least 5000 words. I'm just asking, because earlier I put up a 2800 word chapter of Crucible Effect, and I'm feeling kinda bad about 1, taking so long to put out the latest chapter, and 2, putting out an extra-short chapter after all that time. Should I feel bad about putting out a shorter chapter? I wasn't really working on anything else, I was just playing Titanfall because when I tried to write, I'd just stare at the screen and be like, "Uhm.. what happens now? Do you bake cupcakes or do you punch a chimpanzee in the balls? Hellooooooo what do I put down?" 

 

 

For me, it's usually not about how long the chapter is, unless it's getting too long and needs to be divided into separate chapters. I usually aim for a combination of when the chapter comes to a natural conclusion and the number of scenes. Most chapters I write are three or four scenes, sometimes five. Occasionally two, if each one is long and/or the second one ends at a good stopping point for the chapter. My newest chapter of Freelancers was around 7,000 words with only three scenes, and I decided to cut it off there even though the end of the last scene didn't strike me as a good ending point for the chapter.

 

Oh, FML. Installed the new PSU (after a few other problems I won't bore you with) and now the thing doesn't boot up properly, which could mean an issue with the motherboard. I think I am done with PC gaming, especially considering how little I do nowadays. I'll just get this fixed for writing-related needs, and any future gaming will be on PS4.

 

Oh, that sucks.   I know how you must feel, having dealt with my own PSU problems a little over a year ago. When the old PSU blew up, it took the motherboard with it. What exactly happens when you try to boot it up? Don't know if I'd know the solution, but if it's something I've run into, maybe I can help. When I replaced the dead motherboard last year, I forgot which slot the graphics card needed to go into, and put it in the wrong one. The computer would power on but not boot at all. But when I switched the graphics card to the other slot, everything worked perfectly.

 

 

@hot_heart:  That doesn't sound good (Am I right in thinking the motherboard is the bit everything else plugs into?) conversely I'm thinking of doing the opposite - ditching the console for a PC - but for pretty much the same reason!  

 

@Ignis Mors:  I'd say you're better off stopping a chapter when it 'wants' to stop.  If everything you wanted in the chapter is there I wouldn't worry about the length, personally I only notice length when either; (a) it feels as if things are being overly prolonged; or ( the chapter seems short because it seems light on content.  I have to admit though, I'm really...really...really   guilty of (a) 

 

As for chapter names - I can barely manage titles never mind naming chapters.  However, the last chapter I posted I 'named' by using the scene's location (Normandy-Lesuss)  I was starting to feel bad about just leaving them blank - plus I thought I'd better start making it easier to remember stuff!

 

 

(Sorry if someone else already answered this and I just didn't notice it.) Yep, that's pretty much what the motherboard is. It's the thing with all the slots that the RAM and graphics card and what not plug into. When I was building a PC for my friend across the hall from my old apartment, I told her it's kind of like a combination nervous system and circulatory system, while the PSU (power supply) is the heart, the CPU/processor is the brain, the hard drive is long-term memory and the RAM is short-term memory.

 

As for chapter titles, I think I've mentioned before that I'm kind of hit-and-miss with those. I have a really awesome title in mind for when my story gets deep into the Reaper invasion, but I have to wait until the story actually gets there. Other times, I'll spend hours trying to think of a title and never come up with one. D:

 

And every once in a while, I just come up with something whacky. A few years ago, one of my friends told me about a house she visited that had a toilet installed in a closet in the living room. An old woman used to live there and couldn't keep climbing the stairs to use the bathroom, so she had a toilet built into the closet. As soon as I heard that, I knew I had to use it for something, and ended up putting it in my second novel. The main characters and several others were moving into a house together, and discovered the toilet-closet. It wasn't even a big deal, just something I tossed in...but I couldn't think of a title for the chapter, and finally ended up calling it "The Toilet in the Closet." 

 

Hmm. Quick note before I post this. I've been keeping an eye on the CPU temperature, and it's been holding steady at 52-53 C. Now that I think about it, the temperature kept skyrocketing when I had the tablet plugged in to charge it, but now that it's not plugged in, the temperature is back where it was normally with the stock fan. No idea why charging a tablet would do that, but it looks like it was. Now that the temp is back to normal, I'm not plugging it back in just to test my hypothesis, heheh. Someday I'll get a USB/outlet charger...in the meantime, I get to boot up the old netbook and charge the tablet off that. Whee.

 

Okay, looks like this post is enormous enough by now. Back to writing....

 

(Well, after I remove some emoticons so I won't get that stupid error message every time I hit the post button....)

[Seracen]

Sorry to hear about all the PC shenanigans.  I hope y'all get it sorted out.  I know how annoying such things can be.  Personally, I suspect my ISP of throttling the connection once I've hit a certain bandwidth limit.  They assert it isn't so, but magically the only things affected are streaming video.

 

Thank God gaming hasn't been affected...much...

 

I just hope that Net Neutrality isn't murdered...or things will get worse, even WITH working PC's...

 

Meanwhile, I've been unable to update my stories, as I left my laptop charger at the folks' house (and I use the lappy to get all my fanfic writing done...).  Grr...still, I hope to finish uploading the story next week, so hopefully the fans of the story won't be too perturbed, haha!

[Ignis Mors]

Sorry to hear about all the PC shenanigans.  Hopefully t'all get it sorted out.  I know how annoying such things can be.  Personally, I suspect my ISP of throttling the connection once I've hit a certain bandwidth limit.  They assert it isn't so, but magically the only things affected are streaming video.

 

Thank God gaming hasn't been affected...much...

 

I just hope that Net Neutrality isn't murdered...or things will get worse, even WITH working PC's...

 

Meanwhile, I've been unable to update my stories, as I left my laptop charger at the folks' house (and I use the lappy to get all my fanfic writing done...).  Grr...still, I hope to finish uploading the story next week, so hopefully the fans of the story won't be too perturbed, haha!

The inability to update your stories stinks, Seracen. 

Anyways, on the topic of things not writing related. I have a confession to make guys... I'm actually really excited for Transformers 4 outside of the fact that there are gonna be dinobots(which the very presence of in anything makes my inner child jump up and down as if it were on a caffeine drip.) Mainly 'cause, well, I'm really interested to see Lockdown outside of Animated. (Hopefully the writer doesn't mess up Lockdown, as he was my favorite TF Animated villain. F*ck animated starscream and Megatron. They were at best average for Starscream's and Megatrons. TF Prime  Starscream and Megatron were much better. Lugnut/Blitzwing, awful, they were basically comic relief. Shockwave, he was okay, but never really did anything other than kill Blurr. Which just made me think, "F*ck that guy. I really liked Blurr." Lockdown had a decent backstory, and his interaction with Prowl(my favorite Autobot from TF Animated.) was enjoyable. 

Also, well... I really want to see a Transformers movie with a lot of good actors other than the voice actors. And, well TF4 has Kelsey Grammer, Stanley Tucci, and Mark Wahlberg(who I have been told by other people in the TF community is a good actor.), so, it may actually have good acting. 

And lastly... I really, really think there's a high chance that there's gonna be Unicron in Transformers Age of Extinction. Especially after the Payoff Trailer where you hear Optimus Prime say, "Who sent you here?" and "This isn't War. This is human extinction." 

Oh, and also they've shown a bit where Mark Wahlberg is talking to Optimus. And, it's a hell of a lot better than anything Shia, nonononononono, Labeouf did. 
Aaaand I've now gone on a huge tangent again. Back onto other stuff.) 

And this too is not related to writing. I'll just call it a qotd since we haven't had one of those in ages. How many stories do you guys run simultaneously?(I'm counting extended ones, not oneshots you write up when that is what strikes your fancy.) Because I'm really curious if my writing three stories simultaneously is really weird. 

[hot_heart]

Well, the green light on the graphics card comes on and I'm sure I've reconnected everything that required connecting, but when I press the power button it only fires up for a split-second. Enough to make all the fans spin once though. Can't be that the PSU is duff.

 

I'll need to play around with the old PSU, because that still worked, just that the fan was noisy and clearly going to fail at cooling it sufficiently. Thing is, I'm sure I kept track of all the leads, but there is one small one that I'm unsure about. I don't recall unplugging one like it, nor can I see an empty slot the same. And the slot that is the same but filled is way too far away, considering that this connector barely splits off from the main 20-pin mobo one.

 

So, I'm really hoping it's just a silly little oversight, but annoyed that it might not be. And I've been too busy (in a good way) to sit down and give it a proper go. Gonna try again tonight, if not I should have some time off tomorrow.

 

 

Oh, and thanks for the acknowledgement, ftkerns. Much appreciated.

 

Also, it's kinda sad that if you're not constantly updating your fic, you simply drop off the radar. Oh, well.

[Seracen]

Well, the green light on the graphics card comes on and I'm sure I've reconnected everything that required connecting, but when I press the power button it only fires up for a split-second. Enough to make all the fans spin once though. Can't be that the PSU is duff.  [snip]

 

So, I'm really hoping it's just a silly little oversight, but annoyed that it might not be. And I've been too busy (in a good way) to sit down and give it a proper go. Gonna try again tonight, if not I should have some time off tomorrow.  [snip]

 

Also, it's kinda sad that if you're not constantly updating your fic, you simply drop off the radar. Oh, well.

Could be a power supply failure.  Happened to me several times when diagnosing other issues.  As for falling off the radar, well, it's our attention spans as a society, I suppose, heh.

 

 

The inability to update your stories stinks, Seracen. 

Anyways, on the topic of things not writing related. I have a confession to make guys... I'm actually really excited for Transformers 4 outside of the fact that there are gonna be dinobots(which the very presence of in anything makes my inner child jump up and down as if it were on a caffeine drip.)  [snip]

 

And this too is not related to writing. I'll just call it a qotd since we haven't had one of those in ages. How many stories do you guys run simultaneously?(I'm counting extended ones, not oneshots you write up when that is what strikes your fancy.) Because I'm really curious if my writing three stories simultaneously is really weird. 

 

Also a fan of Beast Wars, and am looking forward to a Lebouf-free Tranformers.

 

I will get ideas for new fics all the time.  Barring short one-shots, however, I limit prolonged simultaneous projects to 2.  The only exception is if, in a rare instance, I drop a project, or go on indefinite hiatus from it.

[sH0tgUn jUliA]

 

@sH0tgUn jUliA:  I'm not a 100% sure that ME gunfire would be much louder.  There's no explosive propellant and although the 'rounds' are travelling much faster - they're also much smaller.  Wouldn't that have an impact on the noise generated?  

 

Not necessarily. I was doing a lot of research and watching a lot of videos on suppressors on Youtube, and the differences between types of ammunition. You would be surprised how quiet sub-sonic rounds are. A good portion of the noise from a gun is from the shockwave.

 

With the rail gun, which also uses no propellant, still has a muzzle flash, and since it fires a supersonic round makes a loud noise. Because the rounds are smaller and are supposed to be more effective in ME, they have to be propelled at a higher velocity than standard ammunition. This means they are not going to be quiet. They are going to be hella loud. So there you go. 

[Ignis Mors]

I don't have a lot to say here other than to celebrate that Beyond the Light and the Dark has now reached an average of three reviews per chapter! Whoo!

[Fatiguesdualism]

 

 

Not necessarily. I was doing a lot of research and watching a lot of videos on suppressors on Youtube, and the differences between types of ammunition. You would be surprised how quiet sub-sonic rounds are. A good portion of the noise from a gun is from the shockwave.

 

With the rail gun, which also uses no propellant, still has a muzzle flash, and since it fires a supersonic round makes a loud noise. Because the rounds are smaller and are supposed to be more effective in ME, they have to be propelled at a higher velocity than standard ammunition. This means they are not going to be quiet. They are going to be hella loud. So there you go. 

 

True there's always going to be the sonic boom, so it's unlikely ME weaponry is unlikely to be much quieter than what we have today.  However if the strength of the sonic boom is generated by the speed, size, and shape of the object in motion - but speed plateaus fairly quickly (apparently above Mach 1.3'ish increasing speed only generates small changes in shock wave strength) so maybe the much smaller size and cross-shape of the 'bullets' could give some mitigation?    Still, I agree it's still going to be sodding loud!  

 

@hot_heart:  That sound's like somethings 'tripping out' somewhere, (not that it really helps much, sorry!  ) does the graphic card light go out as well after you try powering up?  Anyway hope you figure it out!

 

@Ignis Mors:  I can only really manage one story line in my head - mostly because it keeps trying to split itself on me.  I don't think my brain could handle all the what-ifs multiple stories would generate!  

[Seracen]

I don't have a lot to say here other than to celebrate that Beyond the Light and the Dark has now reached an average of three reviews per chapter! Whoo!

Congrats!  Also...  GREEN WITH ENVY!!!

 

 

True there's always going to be the sonic boom, so it's unlikely ME weaponry is unlikely to be much quieter than what we have today.  However if the strength of the sonic boom is generated by the speed, size, and shape of the object in motion - but speed plateaus fairly quickly (apparently above Mach 1.3'ish increasing speed only generates small changes in shock wave strength) so maybe the much smaller size and cross-shape of the 'bullets' could give some mitigation?    Still, I agree it's still going to be sodding loud!  

It's tough to say (not the noise, I fully beleive it would have noise)...because IIRC, the bullets are travelling at "relativistic speeds."  I don't care what % the speed of light that bullet travels...if it hits something, that other thing will...well, "explode" is too tame a word for it...lol.  That's why the concept of turning such a weapon into a rifle was such a big thing in Stargate (TV series) and Eraser (movie).

 

However, I feel this is splitting hairs.  In the future, I think we just assume that they worked out the science (ie having suppressors, etc).  Furthermore, for the sake of the player, the weapons can't feel wildly different from how we are used to seeing weapons portrayed.  Hell, I still catch myself using "eject the magazine" or "loaded armor piercing rounds" in regards to ME fanfiction.  I then try to remind myself that it wouldn't work that way.  Sometimes I change it, if I catch it in time.  The rest of the time, I don't allow myself to get hung on it so much, it ruins the flow/enjoyment of reading the story.

[Seracen]

Got my lappy back!  If I can find time in between studying for my exams, I hope to get back to posting chapters!

 

Also being distracted by the new XMen movie, as well as the new Dresden book...not to mention Watch Dogs, Bound by Flame, and upcoming B-day festivities.  Busy week = little time left over for writing...GRRR...

[hot_heart]

Really wanted to like X-Men DOFP because I loved First Class, but it's another slightly fumbled Singer effort. First Class had its flaws but it had a balance of levity and gravity with some interesting and cool direction and setting. Still, it's better than the other Singer films.

 

In terms of the script...

Spoiler

It's fairly decent and has a clear structure but, time-travel plotholes aside (comes with the territory), it commits amateurish mistakes and just undercuts the better aspects. It does feel that it was partly written to emphasise the roles of their major stars. Mystique, played by now superstar Jennifer Lawrence, copies appearances, not powers so why is she the key? Can anyone answer me why they really needed Magneto in the past? Sure, Michael Fassbender is great, but he wasn't necessary as part of the plan to change the past, and even worked against it more than anything.

 

And Wolverine, the X-Men films' linchpin, gets another starring role but is reduced to nothing. They even have to rely on technically-breaking their time-travel consciousness stuff so Patrick Stewart can actually give young Xavier the real push rather than Wolverine himself! So Logan gets 'nerfed' for most action sequences and is merely a vessel for Patrick Exposition Stewart. Telling me things I wanted to see and showing me things I wanted to skip.

 

Don't get me wrong, I like him and McKellen, but their future relationship, and regarding Mystique, is already undermined by all the events of the original three films so really didn't resonate that much.

 

Personally, I really wish First Class had just rebooted the whole thing. Unfortunately, now the continuity's irreversibly skipped a large interesting chunk of history to satisfy the 'big cast' past/future conceit.

 

On the plus side, it rights the major wrongs of Last Stand and Origins Wolverine, even just straight up ignores the latter from the off (Wolverine originally fought in Vietnam alongside Sabertooth; he wasn't guarding a New York mobster's daughter).

 

/endrant

[Seracen]

Really wanted to like X-Men DOFP because I loved First Class, but it's another slightly fumbled Singer effort. First Class had its flaws but it had a balance of levity and gravity with some interesting and cool direction and setting. Still, it's better than the other Singer films.

 

In terms of the script...

Spoiler

It's fairly decent and has a clear structure but, time-travel plotholes aside (comes with the territory), it commits amateurish mistakes and just undercuts the better aspects. It does feel that it was partly written to emphasise the roles of their major stars. Mystique, played by now superstar Jennifer Lawrence, copies appearances, not powers so why is she the key? Can anyone answer me why they really needed Magneto in the past? Sure, Michael Fassbender is great, but he wasn't necessary as part of the plan to change the past, and even worked against it more than anything.

 

And Wolverine, the X-Men films' linchpin, gets another starring role but is reduced to nothing. They even have to rely on technically-breaking their time-travel consciousness stuff so Patrick Stewart can actually give young Xavier the real push rather than Wolverine himself! So Logan gets 'nerfed' for most action sequences and is merely a vessel for Patrick Exposition Stewart. Telling me things I wanted to see and showing me things I wanted to skip.

 

Don't get me wrong, I like him and McKellen, but their future relationship, and regarding Mystique, is already undermined by all the events of the original three films so really didn't resonate that much.

 

Personally, I really wish First Class had just rebooted the whole thing. Unfortunately, now the continuity's irreversibly skipped a large interesting chunk of history to satisfy the 'big cast' past/future conceit.

 

On the plus side, it rights the major wrongs of Last Stand and Origins Wolverine, even just straight up ignores the latter from the off (Wolverine originally fought in Vietnam alongside Sabertooth; he wasn't guarding a New York mobster's daughter).

 

/endrant

Didn't really have the same issues with the story.  I did enjoy the movie quite a bit.

 

As for usage of powers, I am generally able to accept certain conceits as dictated by the story.

 

Certain aspects reminded me of how Liara was treated in ME3.  

Spoiler

such as Kitty being able to send Wolverine back, or Mystique's mutability being a basis for mimicking abilities...even though that's more of Rogue's/Mimic's wheelhouse

 

If Liara were used more smartly in ME3, she would have been the one to decode the transmission to Haestrom (as the freaking SHADOW BROKER), yet for the sake of making Samantha Traynor more relevant, they completely dropped the ball on a defining moment for their veteran character.  I was able to head-canon that, however.

 

Similarly, I could see

Spoiler

how they might think that Magneto would be able to talk Mystique into stopping.  It would have worked too, if Mags hadn't gone megalomaniacal.

 

Likewise, if ME had done a better job at sowing the seeds of discord with the Virmire Survivor, they might not have come off as grating in ME3.  I can see the reasoning behind the storyline choice, but the implementation was lacking.

 

It's part of the reason why I was so obsessive about avoiding such snafus in my own story.  Whether I was successful, that's for the readers to decide, but I do worry about it.  Still, I am used to making concessions based on marketing and gameplay constraints.  Such pandering is unfortunate, and certainly there's little excuse for it in writing.  In movies and games, it's understandable, even if it is exasperating.

[ftkerns]

Eesh. Because my life obviously isn't malfunctioning enough, a couple nights ago I managed to catch a cold. Leave it to me to catch a cold in a city where the temperature has been above 100 degrees for the last couple weeks. 

 

But on the positive side, last night I managed to write a chapter of the GI Joe fic I've been working on for Kindle Worlds. A whole chapter written over an afternoon and evening. Haven't done that in years. Wish I could keep it up. Anyway, I think I'm getting into the home stretch on that story. Probably just two or three more chapters to go, then I can polish it up and upload it to KW, and see if it goes anywhere.

 

Sorry to hear about all the PC shenanigans.  I hope y'all get it sorted out.  I know how annoying such things can be.  Personally, I suspect my ISP of throttling the connection once I've hit a certain bandwidth limit.  They assert it isn't so, but magically the only things affected are streaming video.

 

Thank God gaming hasn't been affected...much...

 

I just hope that Net Neutrality isn't murdered...or things will get worse, even WITH working PC's...

 

Meanwhile, I've been unable to update my stories, as I left my laptop charger at the folks' house (and I use the lappy to get all my fanfic writing done...).  Grr...still, I hope to finish uploading the story next week, so hopefully the fans of the story won't be too perturbed, haha!

 

Thanks...I've kinda sorta got a temporary solution in place for the CPU-overheating problem. Had to leave the case wide open to let heat escape, otherwise it overheats and shuts down moments after I reboot it. Replaced the broken fan, but it hasn't helped keep it any cooler, and it'll be a long time before I can afford a high-quality fan or a liquid cooling system. One of my readers on another site suggested I build a mini-swamp cooler with a 5-gallon bucket, a desk fan, a few pieces of PVC pipe, and a gallon jug filled with water and frozen. He showed me a video on how to put one together, but just my luck, I don't have the tools I need (hole saw, for example, and I was horrified at how expensive those things are). It would've cost me at least $50 to get the tools I needed, so I almost gave up.

 

But then I decided to try it with a Styrofoam cooler. Found one for a little over two dollars. I already had a utility knife to cut the holes in it, and I had some empty gallon water jugs which I could fill up and stick into the freezer. Had to get a new desk fan because the one I had was too big. And instead of PVC pipe, I just used cardboard tubes from the centers of a couple of toilet paper rolls, duct taped them together end-to-end, and shoved it into a hole I'd cut in one end of the cooler. Cut a hole in the lid just big enough for the fan to sit on top and blow air down into it. Tried it first with a single jug, but for some reason that actually raised the CPU temperature. I tried two jugs, and that sort of works. At least, it keeps the CPU temp at between 52 and 56 C most of the time, until they start to melt. Then I just switch them out with the other pair still in the freezer. I can get around five hours out of each pair of jugs before I have to re-freeze them.

 

Haven't tried playing a game yet, and I'm kind of nervous about trying that because the CPU temp isn't getting down to where I'd like it to be. I'll need to figure something else out. Sometimes I wish I could just pick up a small RV refrigerator and stick the whole computer into it, but then I'd need a way to get the power cord and other cables out of it. Blarg. Maybe sometime I can pick up a short hose and direct the air flow straight into the case....

 

Sorry about the lappy. Stuff like that is why I use Dropbox. Whenever something catastrophic happened to my desktop, I could still access all my writing with the laptop...until the laptop died. I've got the netbook and tablet linked up to my Dropbox, so I can still get by unless the PC, netbook, and tablet go boobs-up on me at the same time.  

 

The inability to update your stories stinks, Seracen. 

Anyways, on the topic of things not writing related. I have a confession to make guys... I'm actually really excited for Transformers 4 outside of the fact that there are gonna be dinobots(which the very presence of in anything makes my inner child jump up and down as if it were on a caffeine drip.) Mainly 'cause, well, I'm really interested to see Lockdown outside of Animated. (Hopefully the writer doesn't mess up Lockdown, as he was my favorite TF Animated villain. F*ck animated starscream and Megatron. They were at best average for Starscream's and Megatrons. TF Prime  Starscream and Megatron were much better. Lugnut/Blitzwing, awful, they were basically comic relief. Shockwave, he was okay, but never really did anything other than kill Blurr. Which just made me think, "F*ck that guy. I really liked Blurr." Lockdown had a decent backstory, and his interaction with Prowl(my favorite Autobot from TF Animated.) was enjoyable. 

Also, well... I really want to see a Transformers movie with a lot of good actors other than the voice actors. And, well TF4 has Kelsey Grammer, Stanley Tucci, and Mark Wahlberg(who I have been told by other people in the TF community is a good actor.), so, it may actually have good acting. 

And lastly... I really, really think there's a high chance that there's gonna be Unicron in Transformers Age of Extinction. Especially after the Payoff Trailer where you hear Optimus Prime say, "Who sent you here?" and "This isn't War. This is human extinction." 

Oh, and also they've shown a bit where Mark Wahlberg is talking to Optimus. And, it's a hell of a lot better than anything Shia, nonononononono, Labeouf did. 
Aaaand I've now gone on a huge tangent again. Back onto other stuff.) 

And this too is not related to writing. I'll just call it a qotd since we haven't had one of those in ages. How many stories do you guys run simultaneously?(I'm counting extended ones, not oneshots you write up when that is what strikes your fancy.) Because I'm really curious if my writing three stories simultaneously is really weird. 

 

I'm definitely curious about TF4, just to see a slightly new take on the characters. I never really got into any version of the franchise after G1 until TF Prime came along, and that one became my favorite take on the whole thing. I tried watching G1 again, and...well, I'll just say it would've been better to leave it as a childhood memory. Tried watching other versions of the show and couldn't get into them. But TFP hooked me right from the start, and I wish the show had continued.

 

TF4 does have a good cast. Mark Wahlberg is a decent actor. I couldn't stand him as a rapper (though a lot of that is because I just despise rap), but I've found him really likable as an actor.

 

As for how many stories running all at once, I didn't start out this way, but for the last few years I've tended to keep several stories or novels going at once. Currently, I'm doing half a dozen different stories at the same time. Usually I'm working on at least one original novel, and a few years ago I had two of those going until I finished one). Right now, the novel is Project: Phoenix (though I might end up changing the title), which is the third novel in a series. Since I spent ten years trying to get the first two published and never made it, I just stuck them on Kindle Direct, Smashwords, and Kobo, and I'll be doing the same with this one once it's finished.

 

For fanfics, I've got Freelancers, of course. Started off as a way of exploring what became of Lia'Vael after she met Shepard in ME2, and having her join a bunch of my original characters, then it gradually expanded with more and more characters, and after ME3 turned out to be such a huge letdown, I decided to turn Freelancers into my own personal rewrite.  Twenty-two chapters so far, over 95,500 words, and still chugging along. (Barely started, actually--in in-story time, it's still before the Shadow Broker and Arrival DLCs. I'm chucking out almost everything that was in ME3 and carving my own path.  )

 

Then I've got a series of Transformers Prime fics, the latest of which is Harbinger. When I finish one, I usually just go straight into writing the next. The previous three were Game-Changer, Rematch, and Enemy of my Enemy. Each is a story on its own, but there are themes and plot threads that continue from one to the next. Which is the reason why I was never able to make it as a short-story writer...just never got the hang of keeping everything self-contained, because I prefer writing (and reading) stuff that has separate parts contributing to an overall story arch.

 

For more original stuff, I've got Elsewhere, which is kind of an open-ended, serialized story I started posting scene-by-scene on Textnovel before going back to a full-chapter format and posting it on several other sites. I started it back in 2010, if I remember correctly, and kept writing it continuously since then, except for when I had writer's block for about a year. D: This story is actually a spin-off from the novel that's been accepted for publication, taking several tertiary characters and making them protagonists of this one. The basic plot is that a maintenance team on a space station have been zapped to an unknown part of the universe by a space-time rift that swallowed up the station's entire maintenance bay, and since then they've had to focus on just staying alive while trying to find out what happened and where they are--and if there's a way they can ever return home. I'm putting the rough draft on a couple of websites, then polishing it up and putting the revised segments on Kindle Direct.

 

Another original work I've got going is, for the moment, titled Arena. That's a little bland for my taste, so I keep hoping I'll be able to think up a better title by the time it's finished. This is the one I mentioned recently, if I remember correctly, with a half-dozen characters being tossed into a fairly horrifying situation and ending up getting into a sort of multispecies group relationship (my half-joking idea here is that humans are the only species in the galaxy that get really hung up on sexual matters ). They all wake up in an unfamiliar place and end up being killed over and over again, until they start fighting back and trying to figure out a way to escape. Once it's finished, if it looks like there might be a chance of it selling, I'll put it on Kindle Direct, Smashwords, and Kobo.

 

And back to fanfic, there's the GI Joe thing I've talked about a few times. When Kindle Worlds added GI Joe to their list of "Worlds," they finally had one I was kind of interested in, and since I need some extra money (and any possible new readers this might draw in), I decided to give it a shot. The story, which will become a series if this whole thing works out, is titled Reactivated. It's set several decades from now--Cobra was finished off many years ago, GI Joe was disbanded not too long after, and the world moved on. But now someone wearing uniforms with a familiar stylized-snake insignia have begun assassinating everyone who used to be a member of GI Joe, right down to people who worked in maintenance. I'm four chapters into this one, and like I said earlier, getting into the home stretch. It's all original characters so far, but in the next chapter I'll be bringing in Duke and Scarlet, even though they're ancient by this point...but that's what advanced cybernetics and prosthetic bodies are for.   I'm taking a few cues from the GI Joe: Resolute movie from a few years ago, since that's my absolute favorite iteration of the franchise.

 

Whew. So, that's what I have going on right now. Heh.

 

 

Well, the green light on the graphics card comes on and I'm sure I've reconnected everything that required connecting, but when I press the power button it only fires up for a split-second. Enough to make all the fans spin once though. Can't be that the PSU is duff.

 

I'll need to play around with the old PSU, because that still worked, just that the fan was noisy and clearly going to fail at cooling it sufficiently. Thing is, I'm sure I kept track of all the leads, but there is one small one that I'm unsure about. I don't recall unplugging one like it, nor can I see an empty slot the same. And the slot that is the same but filled is way too far away, considering that this connector barely splits off from the main 20-pin mobo one.

 

So, I'm really hoping it's just a silly little oversight, but annoyed that it might not be. And I've been too busy (in a good way) to sit down and give it a proper go. Gonna try again tonight, if not I should have some time off tomorrow.

 

 

Oh, and thanks for the acknowledgement, ftkerns. Much appreciated.

 

Also, it's kinda sad that if you're not constantly updating your fic, you simply drop off the radar. Oh, well.

 

That actually sounds like it might be the PSU. The first PSU I had in my computer lasted about five years, then one day it did something similar to what you described. Some lights on the mobo came on, but that's all. Found out that's what happens when a PSU dies, it generates enough juice to turn on a few lights, maybe spin a fan for a second, but no more than that. The replacement PSU must've been defective, because that's the one that exploded and blew out the mobo last year.  Anyway, you might have your PSU checked out, just in case.

 

No problemo on the acknowledgement.  I appreciate the help.

 

On dropping off the radar, I haven't quite had that happen yet, though when I posted the latest chapter of Harbinger, one of the comments on it was something like, "I thought you were dead."  And every now and then I get the occasional "please update."

 

I don't have a lot to say here other than to celebrate that Beyond the Light and the Dark has now reached an average of three reviews per chapter! Whoo!

 

Congrats!  And like Seracen, more than a little envious. 

 

Congrats!  Also...  GREEN WITH ENVY!!!

 

 

It's tough to say (not the noise, I fully beleive it would have noise)...because IIRC, the bullets are travelling at "relativistic speeds."  I don't care what % the speed of light that bullet travels...if it hits something, that other thing will...well, "explode" is too tame a word for it...lol.  That's why the concept of turning such a weapon into a rifle was such a big thing in Stargate (TV series) and Eraser (movie).

 

However, I feel this is splitting hairs.  In the future, I think we just assume that they worked out the science (ie having suppressors, etc).  Furthermore, for the sake of the player, the weapons can't feel wildly different from how we are used to seeing weapons portrayed.  Hell, I still catch myself using "eject the magazine" or "loaded armor piercing rounds" in regards to ME fanfiction.  I then try to remind myself that it wouldn't work that way.  Sometimes I change it, if I catch it in time.  The rest of the time, I don't allow myself to get hung on it so much, it ruins the flow/enjoyment of reading the story.

 

To be honest, I hadn't given it any thought at all until I read the discussion of it here. Hadn't thought of sound-suppression technology, either, but it makes sense that something like that would be developed if the guns really were that loud, just to protect the soldiers using them. With the thermal clips, I guess I'd already played ME2 so many times that I was used to the idea, so I haven't run into any problems with them in the fic. Though I did get confused at one point, when having a character talk about something his father witnessed during the First Contact War which involved a sniper rifle. I forgot that the guns in the first game didn't have thermal clips, so I had a soldier standing her ground against fighters strafing her position, blasting the pilot's heads off one by one--and ejecting a thermal clip after each shot. Didn't even realize my mistake until a reader pointed it out in a comment. Oops. 

 

Usually, though, I don't deal with the thermal clips too often unless there's something specific that happens in the story. Like when Lia and a merc were blasting away at each other, at point-blank range, and Lia's thermal clip couldn't handle any more heat. Her gun stopped firing and she panicked, froze, and didn't think to pop the clip out and let new one slot into place, while the merc kept wearing her shields down. Which is something that happened to me all the time in ME1--I was constantly having guns overheat and being completely unable to use them until they cooled down, and I always got wasted before that could happen. O_o I have to say I actually prefer the thermal clips because I always had enough of them to last through each fight.

 

 

Got my lappy back!  If I can find time in between studying for my exams, I hope to get back to posting chapters!

 

Also being distracted by the new XMen movie, as well as the new Dresden book...not to mention Watch Dogs, Bound by Flame, and upcoming B-day festivities.  Busy week = little time left over for writing...GRRR...

 

YAY! Having had to go without a computer or access to the internet at various times, I know how it feels. It's always such a huge relief when you're able to get back to business. Though I've also experienced the tons of distractions keeping one from doing any writing, and it's one of life's bigger frustrations, at least for me. If I go too long without writing, I start getting twitchy...and cranky...heh.

 

Hmm. CPU temp currently at 58 C. Really want to finish that playthrough of ME2 so I can try the MEHEM and CE mods, but not sure if I should risk it. Playing a game normally ramps it up to 75 or 80, and the last few times it shut down, it was in that range. Meh. Maybe later tonight, once I swap out the ice jugs again....

 

Anyway, guess I should get back to writing before my brain shuts down for the night....

[Seracen]

It's funny, I generally have a myriad of backups of my stories, and I was using my backup laptop last week.  For some reason, I just didn't want to write.  I suppose it was the version of Word Processor installed on it, in addition to the "feel" of using a shared family laptop.  It just wasn't my baby.

 

Totally understand not wanting to spend excess $$$ on a new PC.  Buying anything over $150 in parts...you may as well spring the extra bit and get a new PC (and gut the current PC for spare parts...it's what I usually do).  As for keeping a dying machine cool, I actually yanked the hard drive out, using a longer series of cords, and made sure that was well cooled, all while pointing a giant desk fan at the open casing.  Of course, for me, I had a dying power source, which lead to power fluctuations and poor fan performance.

 

Exam day after to..er...tomorrow now actually...haha.  Hope I can kick my own arse enough to post some more afterwards.  Still envious of those of you with reviews each new chapter.  Even so, I see traffic reports that attest to people actually reading the story, and I'd like to deliver the final bits.

 

Taken to doing books on audio, as well as fanfics via tablet...def a new medium for me.  Still not on board with Amazon monetizing fanfics though, unless it involves "paydays" wherein the truly good writers end up signing with game devs and movie crews.

 

[sigh] wish I was better at drawing, so I could illustrate my stories.  As it stands, I am stuck with paying for commissions (expensive) or photomanipulation with existing public licensed art.

[hot_heart]

Didn't really have the same issues with the story.  I did enjoy the movie quite a bit.

 

Yeah, maybe I came off a bit harsh. I do like it, but I wanted to love it. I really liked what First Class did, and I wanted more of that; which I got, just hamstrung by the past Singer stuff.

 

I can imagine the writer must have had a nightmare trying to structure it and please all parties, so in that regard, they did a decent job in tying it all together.

 

Spoiler

I get the why of freeing Magneto, as explained vaguely in the film, except it's driven more by this need to set up the Mystique/Raven struggle. If you stop to think about it, it becomes problematic.

 

Firstly, Magneto failed to stop the assassination of JFK (but can lift a football stadium from the ground?) so he hasn't exactly got a proven track record... 

Secondly, breaking someone out of the Pentagon seems way tougher than getting into a peace conference and preventing an assassination... except for the fact that no one bothers to try and convince super-fast guy to help save the future. The whole plan could've fallen apart at the first hurdle had that failed.

Thirdly, freeing the guy isn't going to do wonders for human/mutant relations anyway...

 

Would have seemed wiser to go after Mystique without Magneto, have another similar form of complication and that she can't be convinced and, for one reason or another, she's the one who wants to free him... then the big fallout.

 

However, I could see that order of events eating up more screentime that's already been wasted, plus you don't get your cool but inconsequential action scene. I mean, future Magneto says to go find his past self... could he not remember how much of a dick he was and how he'd jeopardise everything? I mean, there's a proven track record: Magneto will always do his own thing, even if you were working together initially. "I was on a darker path" YOU DON'T SAY.

 

And, yeah, the Quicksilver scene is great, but it's reminiscent of classic Singer where mutants are using their powers 'just because'. In X-2, Storm whips up a frickin' lightning storm just to blast Nightcrawler down from the church rafters so then Jean Grey can catch him. Then he's supposed to trust them?

 

It's the same with the future stuff. You're seeing all these cool powers but it's ultimately inconsequential, just empty flashiness.

 

So, I will forgive a lot of the general plotholes. And even one could be from the comics - haven't actually read them, but I know Mystique's central to that storyline - just played up for effect. It's just that, I see some poor craft or studio-mandated nonsense and it irks me. 

[hot_heart]

That actually sounds like it might be the PSU. The first PSU I had in my computer lasted about five years, then one day it did something similar to what you described. Some lights on the mobo came on, but that's all. Found out that's what happens when a PSU dies, it generates enough juice to turn on a few lights, maybe spin a fan for a second, but no more than that. The replacement PSU must've been defective, because that's the one that exploded and blew out the mobo last year.  Anyway, you might have your PSU checked out, just in case.

 

Ah, really? That's 'good' to hear. I'm sending it back first chance I get, but I was despairing that it must be more of a problem with my PC since that seems incredibly bad luck.

[Seracen]

Yeah, maybe I came off a bit harsh. I do like it, but I wanted to love it. I really liked what First Class did, and I wanted more of that; which I got, just hamstrung by the past Singer stuff.

 

I can imagine the writer must have had a nightmare trying to structure it and please all parties, so in that regard, they did a decent job in tying it all together.

 

Spoiler

I get the why of freeing Magneto, as explained vaguely in the film, except it's driven more by this need to set up the Mystique/Raven struggle. If you stop to think about it, it becomes problematic.

 

Firstly, Magneto failed to stop the assassination of JFK (but can lift a football stadium from the ground?) so he hasn't exactly got a proven track record... 

Secondly, breaking someone out of the Pentagon seems way tougher than getting into a peace conference and preventing an assassination... except for the fact that no one bothers to try and convince super-fast guy to help save the future. The whole plan could've fallen apart at the first hurdle had that failed.

Thirdly, freeing the guy isn't going to do wonders for human/mutant relations anyway...

 

Would have seemed wiser to go after Mystique without Magneto, have another similar form of complication and that she can't be convinced and, for one reason or another, she's the one who wants to free him... then the big fallout.

 

However, I could see that order of events eating up more screentime that's already been wasted, plus you don't get your cool but inconsequential action scene. I mean, future Magneto says to go find his past self... could he not remember how much of a dick he was and how he'd jeopardise everything? I mean, there's a proven track record: Magneto will always do his own thing, even if you were working together initially. "I was on a darker path" YOU DON'T SAY.

 

And, yeah, the Quicksilver scene is great, but it's reminiscent of classic Singer where mutants are using their powers 'just because'. In X-2, Storm whips up a frickin' lightning storm just to blast Nightcrawler down from the church rafters so then Jean Grey can catch him. Then he's supposed to trust them?

 

It's the same with the future stuff. You're seeing all these cool powers but it's ultimately inconsequential, just empty flashiness.

 

So, I will forgive a lot of the general plotholes. And even one could be from the comics - haven't actually read them, but I know Mystique's central to that storyline - just played up for effect. It's just that, I see some poor craft or studio-mandated nonsense and it irks me. 

 

Oh for sure.  There are always aspects of movies or games that make such snafus in deference to marketing.  They just HAVE to shoehorn in certain things when the story is written by committee.  Conversely, it's generally easier to make stories flow in novels, because you are supposed to make sacrifices in service to the story.  Case in point, I cut quite a bit of content, even entire characters, out of my "ME4" fanfic.  But in movies, whether due to marketing viability or whatnot, some folks will shoehorn segments and characters regardless.  That's fine, if you can find a reason for that character's existence.

 

Again referencing ME3, I take severe issue with the entire character of Traynor.  I had no problem with her inclusion in the story.  However, how they used her character pretty well rendered Liara useless.  Conversely, if Liara was the person always finding the information in relation to the war effort, it would reinforce her role as Shadow Broker.  Instead, all Liara does is find the plans for the Crucible, then fade into the background as nothing more than a romanceable soldier.  All the true intelligence work afterwards is done by Traynor.  It simply undermines one character in the service of another who doesn't get enough time to forge a meaningful relationship with the audience.

 

I think that's why so many people had problems with Quicksilver in Xmen, and Vega in ME3.  Sure, they are amusing and well acted characters.  However, in light of how many others are available, it seems a waste to invest resources in them, when it would be easier to share the work among the already established characters.

 

In the case of Xmen, they shoe-horn in a few characters for branding, then remove/diminish others to avoid solving the problems too easily.  I can understand, but I think part of it is the euphoria of knowing that the movies are mostly back on track.  In several years, if the franchise keeps going, I will likely see DoFP and say "above average."  But for now, it's a damn fine gem of a movie.

 

Similar to ME3.  There are a lot of stumbles, storyline wise, that were made.  However, a lot of this was due to player agency.  Vega fills the need for another character, should all the past crew be dead.  However, if the Virmire Survivor is swapped for Vega, that adds a lot of sympathy, as well as tension, to the VS.  However, this means you can't have the cool standoff during the attack on the Citadel...not without fiddling with the story even more.

 

Personally, I feel that it could have set up a more natural dialogue about the questions the VS had about Shepard.  Rather than cramming the "I don't trust you [rabble rabble] Cerberus lackey [rabble rabble]" into nearly half the dialogue the VS got...we could have a hearfelt coming to terms with their conflict, and provide much needed catharsis on Shepard's behalf as well.

 

As for the undermining of Vega...it needn't have happened if they had done Shepard's trial for the intro...but again, pacing kept this plot point out of the mix.  I actually managed to block out a scene that would have taken little more time than the intro we got (maybe adding 10 minutes to it).  However, I suppose a need to make a faster start won out.  Even without Vega, they could have taken the opportunity to reintroduce one of the older side characters, or even Nyreen from the Omega DLC, as a squaddie.  Hell, Aria would have been a compelling addition, or even Shiala (or a Thorian clone of her if she was killed in ME1).

 

Even better, they could have simply included several of the ME2 suicide squad into the mix.  It isn't as if they would have had to incorporate THAT much more dialogue to make it work (eg: the Virmire Survivor didn't REALLY have that much dialogue, compared to some of the other mainstays).  Moreover, you'd feel their deaths all the more, if they were lost in ME2.  Again, budgetary and time constraints probably kept a lot of things from happening.  If you read the leaked script...Priority Earth was supposed to play out like a game of freaking Risk...committing forces to the field at various stages...which would have affected the standard combat accordingly!

 

TL;DR: good editors make for good stories, both during script writing AND during filming (whether for games or movies).  Unfortunately, commercial concerns can often undermine good writing.  Usually, my head-cannon and BS-tolerance levels are enough to assuage any annoyance I might otherwise feel, but I get your point.

 

Again, it's why I am usually so obsessed during the editing process of my writing.

[MrStoob]

Hi all.

 

Just a flying visit from the local library, as I'm currently without internet at home (booo! being poor sucks).

 

Good to see the threads still trundling along, unlike my musings, which is a bit like pulling teeth at the mo, hehe.

 

Missing you all, hoping to get back on the net soon for more up-to-date ramblings.  Got some irons in the fire, as t'were anyway. 

 

@Yuri: most annoyingly, I haven't heard 'Gimme Chocolate' or 'Catch Me If You Can' in weeks now.  Getting withdrawal for dark cuteness overload. 

 

EDIT:

Oh, and why does Origin have no off-line mode?!  Can't even play ME3 without being online.  Grumble, grumble.

[hot_heart]

Good news: That new PSU was defective! The replacement one works.

Bad news: Turns out it was (also?) the mobo fan making a grinding noise. Seems fainter, so maybe they both started playing up. Otherwise, that thing was throwing its 'voice'... 

 

At least I know someone who seems confident that can be fixed though.

[Seracen]

Hi all.

 

Just a flying visit from the local library, as I'm currently without internet at home (booo! being poor sucks).

 

Good to see the threads still trundling along, unlike my musings, which is a bit like pulling teeth at the mo, hehe.

 

Missing you all, hoping to get back on the net soon for more up-to-date ramblings.  Got some irons in the fire, as t'were anyway. 

 

@Yuri: most annoyingly, I haven't heard 'Gimme Chocolate' or 'Catch Me If You Can' in weeks now.  Getting withdrawal for dark cuteness overload. 

 

EDIT:

Oh, and why does Origin have no off-line mode?!  Can't even play ME3 without being online.  Grumble, grumble.

Good to see you again!  Hope the net stuff resolves itself soon.

 

Strange about ME3 though.  That's a real shame.  For me, I modded so much with that game, I can't even remember WHAT I needed to do in order for it to work, lol!

 

 

Good news: That new PSU was defective! The replacement one works.

Bad news: Turns out it was (also?) the mobo fan making a grinding noise. Seems fainter, so maybe they both started playing up. Otherwise, that thing was throwing its 'voice'... 

 

At least I know someone who seems confident that can be fixed though.

Glad to hear about the replacement!  MOBO fan is a bit trickier, if it is soldered on (assuming it is, as per usual).  Still, my buddy's soldered quite a few things on and off a motherboard before, so I hope it works out for you as well.

 

 

In other news...my classes SUCK!  I just cannot understand how certain professors can be so up themselves about certain things.  I wrote an amazing paper, but my professor took off points for using external sources.  However, NOWHERE in the directions was it stated that I couldn't use outside sources.  Moreover, I aced the more advanced version of this course last semester.  There is simply no excuse for me losing two letter grades, in an easier course, to this shite...

 

Don't even get me started on the other class.  EVERY question on those exams is a freaking trick question.  There's a correct answer, a more correct answer, a plausible (but wrong) answer, and a completely wrong answer (easily avoided) FOR EVERY FREAKING QUESTION...

 

AAARRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!! 

 

Blargh...off to read a few chapters in my textbooks.  Here's hoping I get enough work done that I can justify taking the time to update my stories.

[YurigirlzCrush]

Hi all.

 

Just a flying visit from the local library, as I'm currently without internet at home (booo! being poor sucks).

 

Good to see the threads still trundling along, unlike my musings, which is a bit like pulling teeth at the mo, hehe.

 

Missing you all, hoping to get back on the net soon for more up-to-date ramblings.  Got some irons in the fire, as t'were anyway. 

 

@Yuri: most annoyingly, I haven't heard 'Gimme Chocolate' or 'Catch Me If You Can' in weeks now.  Getting withdrawal for dark cuteness overload. 

 

EDIT:

Oh, and why does Origin have no off-line mode?!  Can't even play ME3 without being online.  Grumble, grumble.

 

they keep deleting catch me if you can for copyright reasons, but thankfully people keep putting it back up. I like video. it's cute. but I have a lot of the songs on my iPod now anyway, so when it's down I can still listen. *grins*

 

hope everyone is doing well. I've actually been on a big writing kick the past five days or so. getting lots of (rough draft version) chapters done. which is something I've totes been trying to accomplish for ages! school just gets in the way so much. yay for summer break! *cheers*

[BronzTrooper]

Way off-topic.

 

Spoiler

Hey guys, there's this one troll that's been going around and cursing out people, dissing them, and breaking the rules again, and again, and again.  The damn mods are too lazy and he usually frequents the Lobby section of the forums.  PM me if you want more info and/or if you want to help get this guy banned... permanently.

[Fatiguesdualism]

So I ended up splitting my latest chapter into two.  The first one's a bit weird.  It's all Liara doing the old black eyes routine and kind of peppered with flash-backs to events that occurred in ME and ME2 - only they're mostly deliberately wrong in some details.  I think I've explained what I was aiming for in chapter, just not sure how well it works.  Also it gets a bit cloyingly sappy near the end.  

 

The second chapter's a bit more familiar ground, Shepard getting into fights...again.  

 

Anyway thought I'd pop my head in and say 'hello' - I'll try and think of a (sensible) question for next time!