Mr. Buch Gives An Interview

Since he's not likely to post this himself: Mr. Buch recently did an interview with friend-of-the-forum, TerrorK, over at his spiffy-as-all-hell Mass Effect fansite, N7 Academy.

Here be the interview!

Mock Effect 2 is up and online...!

... and I am very impressed.

Regular readers of my blog entries will remember at the beginning of this year, me dilly-dallying about whether or not to write a spoof of Mass Effect 2, considering the bizarre and ego-boosting success of my parody of Mass Effect in 2007/8 - Mock Effect.
I spent ages going back and forth, trying to decide whether or not to do a sequel. I made a huge fuss about it and attracted a lot of attention to myself, which was secretly the whole point of the exercise.

But I was always quite sad that the concept and the characters of John and Jane Shepard died there, with my creativity.

OR DID THEY!

I really should have mentioned this ages ago. Fittingly, John and Jane have been ressurected by the beautiful Australian scientist/marine that is Clint Johnston.

Clint has been writing Mock Effect 2 for months now, and uploading each chapter as he goes. And honestly, it's very very good. If you enjoyed the first one - here is the improved sequel. It's teriffically funny, painstakingly well-observed, and very kindly brings back the Shepard twins exactly as I wrote them. It was a very nice moment when I first started reading this - seeing those characters still going and still just the same.

Because fanfiction.net doesn't allow script-format stories/parodies, Clint has been uploading at Bioware and the Mass Effect Fanfic Forums (the home of Mock Effect 1).

Here's an excerpt :D

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(The Turian in front of them holds up a finger, and the team waits impatiently as he takes out the last remaining mercenary. He then turns to them and dramatically removes his helmet, revealing GARRUS VAKARIAN)

JOHN: Oh shit. I’m out of here. Hey, guys, you can kill him now. We’re sorry!

JANE: Not so fast now. Maybe he’s not as boring as he used to be.

GARRUS: Guys, I’m right here. I can hear you. How come you aren’t dead?

JANE: We’re not… anymore… I think. I’ll explain it later.

JOHN: No thanks to you, Mr. I’ll-Shoot-My-Rescuers…

GARRUS: You were part of a heavily armed attack force that has spent the better part of the last few days trying to kill me. I was supposed to notice you were different? Thanks for shouting that out by the way, I got in a lot of shots at shocked mercs.

JANE: (dryly) No problem. No offense, but what the hell are you doing here? In Game 1 you at best a mediocre human shield, at worst, you were nearly killing hostages.

GARRUS: Don’t worry, I still do that, but I’ve picked up some new skills. I got tired of C-Sec and all it’s bureaucratic crap…

JOHN: Oh come on, not this again!

GARRUS: So I decided to come out here and lay waste to all the criminal lords in the area. Back at C-Sec, we never had decent sniper rifles.

JOHN: (suddenly paying attention) Actually, that doesn’t sound so bad. Shooting people interests me.

JANE: I don’t imagine that went over well.

GARRUS: Er… no. I’m throwing a major kink in their operations, not to mention the fragile local economy. But killing mercs is hard work. I’ve had to study up on gangland tactics. Would you believe that Eclipse uses cement shoes for disposing of undesirables? It’s all very impractical. Have you any idea how long cement takes to mold?

JANE: (mutters) Probably as long as it will take archaeologists to find our bodies. (aloud) How did you wind up with the name Archangel?

GARRUS: The locals gave it me for… for….(searching for a logical reason) all my good deeds.

(JANE raises an eyebrow)

GARRUS: (sigh) I don’t know. It just sounded badass. “The Punisher” was taken. I tried to call Wrex for some name ideas but he’s been very busy lately. Something about his new writing career.

MIRANDA: Well, if you three are finished with old home week over there, the robots climbing over the wall might need your attention.

JANE: Well it was polite of them to wait until we ran out of topics.

JOHN: Ooh, robots. Can I see?

(GARRUS hands him the Sniper Rifle. JOHN headshots a robot, exploding it in the middle of its compatriots. JANE, MIRANDA, and ZAEED join in, leaving nothing but spare parts lying around.)

GARRUS: I’m just going to take a nap on the couch over here. You guys keep up the good work. (Immediately falls asleep)

JOHN: Jackass. He thinks withstanding a siege for days on end gives him an excuse to nap?

JANE: Well… remember the Alamo! Let’s get ready to fight!

Mock Effect 2......

An announcement regarding 'Mock Effect 2' - my planned parody of 'Mass Effect 2'

I feel awfully silly making an 'announcement'... But this is my blog so I will prattle on for hours, going into far too much detail and getting vaguely emotional.

I'm almost certainly not going to write a second 'Mass Effect' parody. If I do it will be months from now.


About two years ago I wrote a parody script, full-length, spoofing the brilliant Bioware RPG 'Mass Effect'. I chose the very witty title 'Mock Effect'. Mirth Effect was also a contender. Seriously.

The parody format was based very much on my favourite ever piece of fanfiction - "Yet Another KotOR Parody" by Helena L.

http://hawk.kotorfanmedia.com/node/1593

It really was just an attempt to emulate the joy I got from that parody - in Mass Effect form.

Anyway, it went down extremely well among Mass Effect fans, and I got a ton of feedback - vastly more than I ever have for anything else I've written - most of it praising me highly. It was a big surprise for me. I even got a compliment on it from Helena L.

This feedback gave me confidence as a writer and the experience of writing it really improved things for me in general. After it was taken down from fanfiction.net (they don't allow scripts) it was given a new home by one Rascarin, who set up a forum to house it and other fanfic.

Rascarin's ME forum is now sooo much more - it houses lots of great fanfic, a lot of friendly, lively Mass Effect and game discussion, and a fantastic community. And it's where I've made some of my closest friends.

http://masseffectfanfic.proboards.com/index.cgi

And I always assumed there would be a 'Mock Effect 2'. After all, I really enjoy reading positive reviews telling me I'm funny! It rarely happens, except for Mock Effect.

Having now played Mass Effect 2 a decent amount, I've finally come to a decision. And believe me, I have been thinking long and hard about this.

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So - there will be no Mock Effect 2.

It is mainly a time issue. I have a decent job now, and some other bits and pieces at home taking my time and effort. And I have an English degree coming up later this year, hopefully. All in all, I just don't have enough free time to write more than one thing at once.

And I want to write original stories with the time I have. I am trying to really learn and make it work as a writer. I need practice.

Also - I have to say - Mass Effect 2 is a really well-written game, with excellent dialogue and very few plot holes to exploit. With one or two exceptions, the characters are brilliant and perfectly-played. And while I feel the plot lets the game down, espescially at the end, there isn't a great deal to make fun of.

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This decision has actually been made difficult because people (sometimes people I don't even know) have asked for a sequel, or wondered aloud when it will come or what it will contain.

To those people, and to anyone who read 'Mock Effect' - thank you! It means so much to me, as a would-be writer, to hear that kind of praise from peers and fans of the game.

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So there will (very probably) be no Mass Effect 2 parody. If I can find a way to make time later in the year I will. But I don't see that happenning.

(waves hand)

You don't want me to write a ME 2 parody...







(Good GOD that was self-indulgent. Sorry.)