Mass Effect Andromeda books & comics (Nexus Uprising 'soon')

I'll take this description with a grain of salt. Unless the uprising takes place while we (the Pathfinder) are in Heleus, then the stories aren't quite concurrent. It's possible for the timelines to only partially overlap.

It is also possible that the uprising does take place during the game's events. In the gameplay trailer, Sara mentioned the "trail of bodies" Sloane and her people had left in their wake. She didn't seem to be speaking about it in a detached way. On the other hand, those raiders seemed really entrenched, as if they'd been there a while. I'd supposed they'd beaten us to Andromeda, but this novel blurb suggests other possibilities.

It's possible that MEA could take place in major "Acts", as DAI did, with its narrative unfolding over time. This could explain how our Pathfinder could be "present" (at least relatively) for the uprising, and then go visit entrenched raiders under Sloane Kelley's leadership. We might have a "fade to black" fast forward, followed by "bigger fish to fry" than Sloane and her exiles.

While I'm not 100% sold on the game as a Day One purchase, though I hope to be, I did preorder this novel long ago. I'm not sure why everyone gets so flustered about these novels. The DAI/TME tie-in wasn't well executed on the game side of things, but Mass Effect has never had this issue. Aside from the terribad Dietz novel, they were good additions that supplemented the setting, without being required reading. I expect these upcoming novels will be good. They've hired good novelists. I only wish Ms. Jemisin could've had her novel ready on time, as it was intended to release first. We'd probably be less info starved, at present, had it been released last November.

I think its going to be more like that Discovery comic, it will be like an in-depth codex entry. But then again, I'm not too worried because I genuinely like that writers' original books.

Plus I dont think the books will mention Ryder beyond what the original ME books did with Shepard. I have a feeling this book probably takes place just as we arrive to Andromeda, since it looks like other arks and other things got there before we did.

Concurrently? Hmmm, if that's the case it will probably involve some character(s) that aren't directly tied to the Ryder's. With that said we'll proabably still hear about the beginnings/results of certain story arc missions involving the Tempest and its crew, but just not in great enough detail that alienate players in relation to their decisions. I'd like to see them give us something involving shenanigans occurring aboard the Nexus which results in Nakmor Kesh tossing a few Batarians out of the airlock (a guy can dream).

I'm going to be honest. I was convinced that "Uprising" was going to a prequel of some sort with perhaps some general tie in to concurrent events. Like others have echoed, it seems that some Milky Way inhabitants got there ahead of our Ark and have already created entrenched settlements. The gameplay trailer with Sara is what I was making that assumption on. We all know what happens when you assume... Of course, it's to be said that those MW people simply integrated into an already established Andromedian (sp?) colony. Either way, something happens(ed) to make things not as copacetic as we thought.

I never really thought about Kai Leng/ME3 from that angle. I always thought, "Damn, they ruined a pretty interesting character." I guess the reverse is true: "At least we knew who the hell this space ninja was supposed to be, before he got Mac-ified." I don't think Leng's is too egregious an example, though. It's much different than Anderson discussing his "history with Saren," and you either read that history in detail or not.

DAI and The Masked Empire was a big let down. DAI's presentation was rushed on many fronts, though, and often failed to feel like a typical BioWare game, for me. This story arc was particularly bad, because the book had filled us in, and set the bar high, amongst the arc's other failings that we both know we'll and need not revisit. 

Yeah, it will probably fill in the gap between our start (everyone together) and the late arrival/wake up of the Hyperion folks. So my guess is that the "Nexus uprising" story starts after the game starts, but ends before we meet anyone out of that storyline. Basically the explanation why there are already splinter groups in Andromeda.

I usually don't go in for tie-in novels, hopefully the game doesn't assume I've read it.

So this might not be worth a thread of its own, but I didn't want to polute another, so here goes!

I might be out of the country when the game releases. Which would allow me to buy and read the book on an e-reader before getting home to play the game.

Do you guys reckon this might be fun, or would it spoil the game? 

Thanks! I gave up on 'going in blind' a few week a go.. But the 'stuff looking different than imagined' is a pretty good reason not to do it.

In a completely different medium, I didn't like that I watched the Final Fantasy movie, Kingsglaive, before playing FFXV. It raised my expectations too high before playing the game giving me a different perspective while playing. I would rather have books or movies compliment the experience (even if it fills in gaps) after I get my impressions from the game so it doesn't diminish my experience playing.

I think I'll wait then. I would prefer to play the game, then read the book. It'll make more sense because I will know everyone and everything already.