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Mass Effect "Tales"

Discussion in 'Story Search' started by MonkeyEpoxy, Jun 13, 2013.

  1. MonkeyEpoxy

    MonkeyEpoxy The Cursed Child DLP Supporter

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    Ever since the third game came out, it seems like most of the fandom over at FF.net has been reduced to shitty tales that chronicle the lives of Shepard AFTER the Reaper War, and to be honest, fuck that noise. Pretty much the only Mass Effect stories I follow now are Agayek's story in WBA and LuxDragon's ME novelizations. Of Sheep and Battle Chicken by LogicalPremise is alright, as well, I suppose.

    Anyone have any other Mass Effect story recommendations? I don't care about Shepard's gender or class, and am ambivalent to the pairings, I just ask that they aren't the focus of the story. A biotic Shepard would be a plus, but isn't necessary.

    Gracias
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 13, 2015
  2. Red Aviary

    Red Aviary Hogdorinclawpuff ~ Prestige ~ DLP Supporter

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    Interstitium by AssaultSloth
    Sort of a "behind the scenes" novelization of ME2 that focuses on and fleshes out various characters on the Normandy and elsewhere. Personally I'd say it's the best ME fic, based on what I've read.

    Mass Effect: Interregnum by The Naked Pen
    Follows Garrus in between ME1 and ME2 as he becomes Archangel. I lost track of this one maybe midway through for reasons, but what I read up until then was good.

    Mind Over Matter by eyyowlf
    Another "behind the scenes" sort of fic, but for ME1. Sort of a drama/comedy fic. The author also has some one-shots and the beginnings of an apparently abandoned fic in the same continuity you can find on his profile.

    Graveyard Shift by Peptuck
    The beginnings of a novelization for ME1. Either on a long hiatus or abandoned, but what's there is good. The author has a lot of stories going simultaneously, but they're still active, so it might not be abandoned.

    Drift by Peptuck
    Crossover between Mass Effect and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I haven't seen much of the Terminator TV show, but you can still follow it pretty easily.

    Renegade
    by Peptuck
    Crossover between Mass Effect and Command & Conquer. The beginning is a lot like his other story Graveyard Shift, with some key differences, but it diverges as it goes.
     
    Last edited: Jun 13, 2013
  3. Agayek

    Agayek Dimensional Trunk DLP Supporter

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    Here's all the ones I'm following (that I can remember off the top of my head). They range from decent to pretty good and should hopefully give you something to read for a bit.

    http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9131009/1/Terran-Ingenuity
    This is pretty decent. It's a StarCraft/ME crossover where Raynor's Raiders + a few million refugees replace the Systems Alliance. I've been following it for a while and I rather like it. It's only 3 chapters in though, and hasn't gone much past the FCW.

    http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5898628/1/Mass-Effect-Iron-Rebirth
    Wilson attacks a day or two early and the Lazarus Project has to resort to Plan B. Shepard wakes up in the body of a YMIR mech and shenanigans ensue.

    http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9271192/1/Transcendent-Humanity
    Timeline fuckery, where the Prothean Cache on Mars is never found and humanity is post-singularity when they emerge on the galactic stage (and at roughly the same time as canon). There's a lot of HFY in it, but it's a good read so far.

    http://www.fanfiction.net/s/9332354/1/Ascension
    Humanity doesn't show up on the galactic stage until a couple decades post-Reaping. It's all been set-up so far, but so far, they've found the rachni and allied with them and saved the Drell from the Yahg, who are trying to conquer the galaxy so they can kill everything or something.



    The next few are all by the same author:
    http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8930158/1/No-Gods-Only-Guns
    Borderlands/ME crossover where Lilith replaces Shepard. Haven't read it yet, but it's on my to-do list. I've heard it's good, and many of the out-of-context quotes I've seen from it are kinda awesome.

    http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5851454/1/Renegade
    C&C/ME crossover. I tried to read it once, couldn't really get into it, but some people really like it, so I figure I'd toss it up here.

    http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6338566/1/Drift
    Terminator: Sarah Conner Chronicles crossover where Summer Glau's character ends up on Shepard's recruit list. I'm rather fond of it, though it hasn't been updated for a while.

    http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7896599/1/Harbinger
    FEAR crossover. Shepard's the Pointman, basically. Not sure what the greater plot is/will be, but so far it's Shepard and his ME1 team vs Fettel and the replicas
     
  4. Iztiak

    Iztiak Prisoner DLP Supporter

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    I vaguely remember most of the stories written by ElectricZ being pretty good. I think they mostly were one-shots with continuity, so you can read them in the order they were published.

    I could be wrong though, it's been a while. I'd also like to see some good ME1 or ME2 or AU fics.
     
  5. nahbutualright

    nahbutualright Slug Club Member

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    http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8427829/1/Memoirs
    A retelling of ME1 from Liara's point of view, it hits the same notes as canon but I remember there being enough new dialogue and small changes to keep it interesting.

    Its complete and has a sequel about 200k words deep which I have also been following.

    http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8776523/1/Memoirs-The-Illium-Years
    This one is Liara's POV during ME2, which is pretty much all new stuff plus Lair of the Shadow Broker so far, its quite interesting but can get a little grating, with pretty much everything that happens to Shepard being a result of something Liara did.
     
    Last edited: Jun 13, 2013
  6. Kraken

    Kraken Sixth Year

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    http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8042302/1/Control-That-Which-You-Cannot-Destroy
    Cerberus' goal was simple in concept: resurrect Shepard to be precisely the same. They failed. Pushing forward, the result was a powerful, untested cybernetic soldier who doubts his own humanity. Now, he will need to lean on his new crew of unknowns, old friends, a past love, and a new one even more fragile than he.

    Basically it's ME2 but much more logically done. The entire crew of the Normandy is developed and used well. Good work is done to show the extent to which Cerberus changed Shep in bringing him back to life. Also, excellent characterisation of squadmates and secondary characters.
     
  7. Iztiak

    Iztiak Prisoner DLP Supporter

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    Ah, now this is quite good. The characters are what really made the Mass Effect series as great as it was. Without the characters, ME is just a mildly interesting sci-fi universe, and it's a shame that so many writers fail to realize that. Before I came across this, the only author I noticed really trying hard to capture the characters was ElectricZ, the author I mentioned above.

    Thanks for the rec, I'm not sure how I didn't run across this story.
     
  8. yak

    yak Moderator DLP Supporter Retired Staff

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    Mass Effect: Human Revolution, by IgnusDei.
    Deus Ex/Mass Effect - Adam Jensen, from DX: Human Revolution, is defrosted some decades before Mass Effect begins. The post-H+ mankind, is not kind to augments, and especially not to the infamous Jensen who's held up as a model of everything post-humanity did wrong. We first meet Jensen as a seasoned C-Sec agent, and trusted partner of Garrus Vakarian, on the Citadel. His story and that of Mass Effect collides shortly thereafter.

    The time and consideration that must've gone into building this post-DX world is enormous and used to great effect. The story is in a bit of a slow point right now, but it feels like the calm before the inevitable shitstorm.

    Mass Effect: Glorious Shotgun Princess, by Gregg Landsman.
    Mass Effect/The Exalted crossover. Jane Shepard doesn't die at the end of ME1; during the Normandy's violent end, Shepard become one of the Exalted of the Unconquered Sun. All of a sudden she doesn't need oxygen, has a bad habit of punchsploding things, and accidentally throws enemies through spaceships.
     
  9. Jon

    Jon The Demon Mayor Admin DLP Supporter

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    I'm loving this fic currently.

    CONSUMING DIRECT CONTROL

     
  10. Deadsomeone

    Deadsomeone Third Year

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    Yeah, I freaking loved it. Sucks that the author took time off to write up her own work. Though I wonder what it's going to be about.
     
  11. Red Aviary

    Red Aviary Hogdorinclawpuff ~ Prestige ~ DLP Supporter

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    Don't want to open up that argument again here, but I'll have to vote against this recommendation. More detail in the review thread, though there are spoilers.

    In short though, most of the main ME characters are replaced and it's only superficially a Deus Ex crossover.
     
  12. Mutton

    Mutton Order Member

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    I have completely different problems with it, but it really went downhill recently.

    I also don't get how you could recommend Glorious Shotgun Princess with a straight face. The first few chapters are good, but once you're past the taco cart he's so out of material that every laugh track in the world couldn't make it humorous.
     
  13. Kraken

    Kraken Sixth Year

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    I'd be cautious about anything GreggHL wrote. He's infamous for destroying his initially humorous stories with increasingly bizarre plot twists and side-stories. I used to follow his Eva fic until it drowned under the weight of its many many unnecessary puns.

    EDIT: Relevant quote from Spacebattles;

    "GreggHL is a fanfic serial killer. He brings something new into the world, cares for it, nurtures it, gets us all to fall in love with it as it grows into something amazing.

    Then he makes us all watch as he slowly chokes the life out of it with shenanigans.

    And we keep letting him. "
     
    Last edited: Jun 13, 2013
    yak
  14. Vesvius

    Vesvius High Inquisitor DLP Supporter

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    I'm going to second that. Of them all, The Lioness and the Bull is my favorite. Jack and Grunt are two of my favorite characters, and it's great to see a little piece highlighting them.

    I'm also going rerecommend Fight For the Lost. Amazing ME2 novelization that's really a must read for any fan.
     
  15. TheWiseTomato

    TheWiseTomato Prestigious Tomato ~ Prestige ~ DLP Supporter

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    I'll second 'Mind Over Matter' and also give a mention to its sequel 'Cabbages and Kings'. Both really excellent fics featuring a genuinely amusing Magnificent Bastard Shepard. They don't cover a huge amount of the first game, but what they do is extremely well done. Believably gritty, darkly amusing, and witty all in one.
     
  16. Iztiak

    Iztiak Prisoner DLP Supporter

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    Yes, that one is rather good. I think my favorite is the one that just shows general crew interactions. I'm rereading all of them at the moment. I had forgotten just how much I enjoyed reading these stories.
     
  17. yak

    yak Moderator DLP Supporter Retired Staff

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    I like the distance it steps away from canon. Most Mass Effect stories follow the same old plot, but this author has managed to keep me engaged with his take on Jensen and his worldbuilding based on the future of the DX'verse.

    Yeah, the last few chapters have seemed almost like a dating sim, and even the fight against the revenge-seeking mercs was flat. There was a lot of good content before that, and I'm hoping it picks up again soon.

    Thanks. Good to know. I'm only up to chapter 5/17, and while there's a few crack elements, it hasn't completely devolved yet.

    I knew about GreggL's bad stories, but it's been a decade since I'd read anything of his, and I'd hoped he'd improved. He seemed to have improved. I guess I won't be disappointed now if the rest of the chapters are rubbish.
     
  18. Mutton

    Mutton Order Member

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    The reference issue has what's completely eclipsed the other issues I had with the fic. I'm okay with Manah, I like Brea, but Hein went from "slightly kooky" to "lol guys, I use le may mays."
     
  19. Vir

    Vir Centauri Ambassador ~ Prestige ~ DLP Supporter

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  20. MonkeyEpoxy

    MonkeyEpoxy The Cursed Child DLP Supporter

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    Fuck yeah, guys. You've all given me a hell of a lot to read. Thanks!
     
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