Okay, we've been gone too long. There's no real excuse this time, life just got away from me as I was dealing with a bit of a creative block concerning my inability to do some projects that I wanted to do but for one reason or another simply could not do at the time. I'm not happy that it took so long to get this stuff off the ground, but I am more than happy to just finally get this stuff out and back to hopefully a more regular schedule. I'm going to be working more on my writing, in general, to try and push stuff more regularly because I don't want another wait like this. So, let's begin with some notes on things.
Spartan Objectives: It was important to deliver on the feeling that this could be an actual mission with the Master Chief and his Spartans from the games. That can be hard because a lot of those missions don't involve Chief being a leader as much as they probably should. Adding Samara and Grunt to this section of things is a no-brainer as they are some of the heaviest hitters on the Normandy. It also gives me an opportunity to showcase Chief's leadership skills and shows that he's evolved a bit to work with people outside his usual comfort zone. His tag-teaming with Samara was good fun, and also showed that Samara isn't revolving around Kowalski all the time for all her actions.
The only main concern was giving each Spartan a unique fighting style. I want them all to feel different compared to their personality and for each to cover a specific field to round out the team. Some are easier than others to define. Kelly is analytical, almost as much as Kat. Fred is a little more free-form, I think I have the most trouble pinning down Anton at times. Everyone else is almost second nature at this point, but I still keep trying to adjust them to find their voices more.
Shepard Objectives: Making this feel like a Mass Effect mission is a bit easier than writing out a Halo mission, mainly because you're dealing with a series that is based more directly on teamwork and coordination. So looking at his scenes through Shepard's eyes is basically like remembering any mission you've ever played with Shepard and recreating it, rather than trying to fit that style somewhat through the Master Chief when he is working with a full team of Spartans. Probably a reason to play the 5th Halo game, but I digress.
Generally, I'm not as worried about not capturing each squadmate's personality and fighting style because they are very well-defined characters to me. Not knocking Halo, but I've spent a lot more time playing with the Mass Effect characters than have with Chief and his Spartans together. So I know exactly how each person will interact with any given situation and how each character will bounce off the other. Especially Tali and Jack by now. That might seem like a weird team-up, but they have even more in common now than ever. Don't forget, Jack started a relationship with Thane a few chapters ago and I like showing that her being open with her feelings has made her more of a team player. Still reckless, but more focused. Their sections were fun to write overall.
Marines Objectives: This was simple enough, I wanted to do more with Johnson. I felt like I have neglected him. I didn't mean to, but I have somewhat. I want to fix that. For argument's sake, he was probably ground-side during the finale of the Colony Arc and had his own crazy Mind's Eye adventures when that stuff went down. Either now, you get to see him go full Johnson badass on everything. These sections honestly feel like more of a modern military shooter, because I have the Marines performing more traditional urban combat tactics.
Also, I got to put them all in gasmasks, which I looked up just to make sure the UNSC has them and they do and they look pretty cool. I really like gasmasks, I think they look cool, they add a certain badass aesthetic to characters, and they evoke a sense of danger or a hazardous environment. Whenever I play Fallout, I desperately look for something that looks like a Gasmask for my character to wear because I think it looks cooler than any face I could build. So having all the Marines running around fighting Space Pirates in an Alien Meth Factory while wearing gasmasks? Top-tier scene!
I'll Catch this Bird For Ya: Yeah, we're doing Jaws. We're... we're basically doing Jaws(x3) with Zek and Varvok's story. That's just what it is, there's no hiding it. I could say I'm not but look at the chapter quotes. This is Jaws. I don't care, I love that movie. Zek loves that movie. The Razorfins are basically sharks. They're badass alien sharks on steroids, but they're sharks! I just really, REALLY wanted to have Zek go up against Razorfins in a proper sea monster story and I loved every second of doing this. Zek's fight with the Razorfin in the shallows? One of my all-time favorite scenes to write during this story.
This is pure self-indulgence. I will admit that now, I am having the most fun with Varvok and Zek on this fishing trip from hell and the Jaws illusions are just going to get bigger as we reach the climax. I'm just glad I can fit some character development in there while I do it all and show that Zek's view of this mission for the Cutlass has changed. It's about stopping Zhoc's ambitions and getting revenge on him for trying to take everything he's fought to regain away from him again. But there's also some foreshadowing in there that alludes to what Zek could be, for better and worse, as well as what he really is right now, for better or worse.
I'll spoil this much for you, everything he said about wanting to piss off Snarlbeak with this whole raid and killing these sharks, is all true. But also... he just really wants to pretend he's Captain Quint but he wins this time. That's the complexity of Zek, he has good tactical reasons for wanting to do things, he has selfish goals for wanting to do those things also, and he also has completely stupid reasons he wants to do those things because he's kind of a reckless idiot but we love him for it.
Zix and Retz's Dueling Lies: So Zix is seemingly coming off to a few people as quite the horrible person. Good, it's gonna get worse. And that will make the final revelation of what she's really doing here all the worse for fans for how cruel/petty it is and why she feels the way she does about Retz's betrayal all the more hurtful. I've actually written a scene early on for next time that, I think is both important for Retz as a character, but also probably is going to make it really hard for anyone to sympathize with her. Which will make things even worse for some of the things she's going to tell Retz after that. Ever see that Onion Article "The Worst Person You Know Has a Good Point"... yeah get ready for that level of depression.
Zix has come across to me as just probably the worst person to write in a good way as a result. It's so rare to see Retz have someone get under his skin, lie so bold-faced to him, and not even seem to care about being found out. She values her relationship with Retz that little. I think that's what hurts the most. She literally does not what Retz thinks of her, she has no qualms about burning this bridge. She is just that completely over trying to fake it with him and in a way, she's using that against him. And Retz knows it, knows it is working to a degree, and can't do anything.
This whole arc is Retz's story setting up for who he becomes going forward and who Zek becomes as well in a way considering how linked they are. I am enjoying every minute of writing these two just outright hate each other, in all their toxicity, because I rarely give myself the chance to write someone who is as loathsome as Zix, but just because she isn't a good person, not because of anything specific or obvious, she's not a good person. And she doesn't care how bad a person she is.
The Female Elite: So yeah, I sorta brought the Banished into this story. I saw sorta because they are but they're not. That will be explained next time, but the important thing to note is... we have a Female Elite. We don't see those often. I don't know how much they show up in the books, but female Elites are so absent from the games you'd almost forget that they exist and that makes no sense, they should exist. We've seen more female Kig-Yar in the Halo games at this point than female Sangheili. Heck, we haven't even seen a female Grunt or Brute and we know they have to exist. So the chance to actually show a female Elite and give some insight into an oft-overlooked element of Sangheili society is too good to pass up.
Also, I'm going to be blunt here. I haven't written an Elite, at least not a real one, in the story for too long and I feel like I've been missing them. It's been just Jackals and Jackals for chapters and chapters. We need to bring back the main enemy species for the majority of these games. So, here we are. She'll have a significant role coming up, and I'll have to give her a name at some point honestly, I can't keep calling her the Female Elite because it feels... disrespectful? Dumb? For she's just this because she's still a minor if important character.
So that's all for now... um, I'm writing this on May 4th past midnight... so May the Fourth be with you and all that. Thank you once again for reading, here's hoping we can get back on a proper schedule at last.
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