Although I've enjoyed some of the novels bioware publishes, sometimes it's a little frustrating that cool potential dlcs or game content is in the novels only (like the mage rebellion in asunder or learning about the ark in the new novel). How do you feel about this kind of stuff being published in novels?
I didn't understand how bad that really was until I read Nexus Uprising. The uprising as talked about in the game doesn't fully represent the one that really happened. Basically, history is written by the victors, and MEA gives us the victors' account of what happened. It doesn't really try to tell us what really went down because everything about the exiles is meant to make us think they're all a bunch of selfish assholes. IT BREAKS MY HEART. And Sloane? You can't fully understand and by extension judge her if you don't read Nexus Uprising. It's not fair at all.
So I think they should either do a better job of making sure the games truly reflect the content from the novels or make more efforts to include those stories in the game itself and not the novels. It would be better for us fans to read a novel set in the ME universe that either expends on something that was not talked about at all in the games and is therefore new and a nice little bonus to have than a story about something big in Andromeda that only people who have read the book can understand. They could write a lot of novels that I would devour about things that the game wouldn't even talk about. It's not like story ideas are lacking?
And if they keep going like this, with vital information in the novels and not in the games, you get a sort of weird gatekeeping or at least a difficulty to have balanced conversations because fans who have read the books can always go "I Read The Books So I Know The Truth, You Don't" or you know, "I'm A True Fan And You're Not." Makes little sense but then again, you do get an advantage if you read the books. And sometimes it's frustrating as hell. See every conversation about how Sloane is the pure devil and there is nothing redeeming about her ever. Enter me going "But actually in the book-"Last time I tried to do that, someone ended up accusing me of spoiling the novels and ruining their experience. But idk, they were really going in with a "Sloane is pure evil and nothing will prove she's not!!!!" comment so obviously I would be there to say that actually, there is a little something that can prove she is not pure evil. It would be nice not to have to do that and have it all in the games, which is our primary canon, so we're all on the same page. And I agree on how enjoyable the novels are! It also gives us so many more lore information, obviously that is going to please me. And it's not at all the writers' fault obviously. It's the context around it that is less than ideal.
