Mass Effect: Legendary Edition Remaster

[Maryokutai]

1 hour ago, mfnick said:

Honestly doesn’t bother me though really either way.

 

It baffled me but it never bothered me either. I mean it was an alternate outfit after all. If you see it ingame it's of your own volition, the game never defaults to the outfit or anything.

 

As for decisions, I usually pick the same decisions every time. I played through ME1 three times, ME2 twice and I always picked the same answers. I don't see the point of picking something that goes against my personal opinion just to see an outcome I don't want to live with for the next 20 to 80-ish hours (depending on whether said decision is big or small). I think that's cool in a game with mostly grey areas (think The Witcher) but in BioWare games, or Mass Effect in particular, where there's a clear cut "good" and "evil" choice I always stick to my guns. 

[mfnick]

I almost always play the ‘good’ way, but a few times I’ve forced myself to play the evil way. Infamous 1&2 being examples that comes to mind immediately, and I ended up really fucking enjoying it! Don’t know what that says about me. Or maybe I do - I like to think I’m a decent person but deep down really I’m probably just a cunt ?

[Sly Reflex]

Better to be a cunt in a game than a cunt in real life.

[AndyKurosaki]

I first played the Trilogy as a Renegade. And you can bet I’ll be doing exactly the same when I replay it. Because being a bastard is just so much more fun.

[DisturbedSwan]

 

 

PS Blog: Mass Effect Legendary Edition: Rebalancing, tuning, & mechanical improvements

 

Quote

 

Combat in the Mass Effect trilogy has evolved across the series, with each game’s experience being different. We wanted to make the experience better across the board, but we didn’t want to unnecessarily change what our fans have come to love about each game. That proved a unique challenge, as the first game is quite different from the second and third in terms of gameplay and combat. Mass Effect was heavily influenced by traditional RPG mechanics, like the randomness of a dice roll and pen-and-paper stat building. As a result, weapons in Mass Effect often felt less accurate and reliable than the gunplay in Mass Effect 2 and 3.

We heard the consistent feedback that it was pretty frustrating to take a few shots with an assault rifle and suddenly have the reticle enlarge to span a large portion of the screen, so we looked at tuning the mechanics to provide better handling without outright scrapping the spirit of the original games.

In the first Mass Effect, accuracy (including reticle bloom and weapon sway) has been tuned across all weapons to allow players to maintain more consistent firepower while still managing their shots/overheat meter. We’ve also improved the aiming down sights (ADS) camera view to be tighter on combat so that ADS is more accurate (like the second and third games), and we’ve improved the aim assist to provide better precision. These small behind-the-scenes changes collectively make combat much “snappier,” putting more control into the player’s hands.

Abilities have also been rebalanced in the first game. For example, the “Immunity” ability now grants a powerful defensive buff that lasts a brief period of time instead of being a small buff that lasts indefinitely.

The following overview lists gameplay changes we made specifically to the first Mass Effect, with the goal of bringing it a bit more in line with the rest of the trilogy:
 

• Shepard can now sprint out of combat
• Melee attacks are now mapped to a button press rather than automatically occurring based on proximity to an enemy
• Weapon accuracy and handling has been significantly improved
  • Reticle bloom is more controlled
  • Weapon sway removed from sniper rifles
  • Aiming down sights/”tight aim” camera view has been improved
  • Improved aim assist for target acquisition
• All relevant enemies now take headshot damage in the first game
  • Previously some did not, including humanoid enemies
• Ammo mods (Anti-Organic, Anti-Synthetic, etc.) can now drop throughout the whole game
  • Previously, these stopped dropping at higher player levels
  • They are now also available to purchase from merchants
• All weapons can be used by any class without penalty
  • Specializations (the ability to train/upgrade certain weapons) are still class-specific
• Weapons cool down much faster
• Medi-gel usage has been improved
  • Base cooldown reduced
  • Levelling benefits increased
  • Increased Liara’s bonus to cooldowns
• Inventory management improvements
  • Items can now be flagged as “Junk”
  • All Junk items can be converted into Omni-gel or sold to merchants at once
  • Inventory and stores now have sorting functionality
• Some abilities have been rebalanced
• Weapon powers (i.e., those that are unlocked on each weapon type’s skill tree) have been improved:
  • Effectiveness/strength is increased (duration reduced in some cases)
  • Heat now resets on power activation

Additional gameplay improvements
Beyond general gunplay changes, we’ve made some specific changes to encounters, enemies, and how you engage in combat. We found a few opportunities to bring the first game in line with the second and third games, and we also found some systems across the whole trilogy that needed a tune up.

Without spoiling too much for new players, one example is the boss encounter on Noveria. The boss room has been slightly reworked, keeping it very familiar but making it less cramped. You’ll also be much less prone to being thrown around by biotic abilities.

Other targeted combat updates we’ve made include:
 

• Squadmates can now be commanded independently of each other in the first Mass Effect, the same way you can command them individually in Mass Effect 2 and 3
• Some boss fights and enemies in the first game have been tweaked to be fairer for players but still challenging
• Cover has been improved across the trilogy
  • Additional cover added to some encounters
  • Entering and exiting cover is now more reliable
• XP has been rebalanced in the first game (details below)
• Ammo drops have been rebalanced in Mass Effect 2 (details below)

The Mako
But of course, we’ve got to talk about the (in)famous M-35 Mako. This legendary vehicle from the first Mass Effect has been “calibrated” to perform better than ever. In the original game, the physics tuning for the Mako made it feel too light and bouncy, even at times becoming uncontrollable, but it’s now a much smoother ride while still being “loveable” like before. (Yes, you can still drive off cliffs to your heart’s content).

Its functionally has also been improved with faster shield recharging and new thrusters added to the rear, allowing for a speed boost when you’re inevitably trying to scale up the side of a near-vertical cliff. (We all do it.) This boost’s recharge is independent from the jump jets on the vehicle’s underside, so you can use both at once or separately.

These are the calibrations you can expect to experience when driving the Mako:
 

• Improved handling
  • Physics tuning improved to feel “weightier” and slide around less
• Improved camera controls
  • Resolved issues preventing the Mako from accurately aiming at lower angles
• Shields recharge faster
• New thrusters added for a speed boost
  • Its cooldown is separate from the jump jets’
• The XP penalty while in the Mako has been removed
• Touching lava no longer results in an instant Mission Failure and instead deals damage over time

 

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[Maryokutai]

The editing and those transitions in that video are really distracting.

 

Anyway, ME1 looking and running nicely. As mentioned before I'm still not sure if I'm going to replay these games because I was in the right state of mind back then and don't want to mess up my extremely fond memories of it, but I'm getting that Trilogy ASAP.

[one-armed dwarf]

It's shocking how bad ME1 ran, based on my memory of it on 360 it is way worse than those Cyberpunk videos you see. I dunno why it was acceptable at the time?

 

There is an interesting compromise there for the elevators where you can skip them. I think it was a cool technique to mask loading but now we have super fast SSDs it's a little annoying when you can't bypass these sequences. I always preferred the elevators over squeezing through cracks, at least. Dunno how anyone can stand to live in Sector 5 in Midgar with all the rusty metal scraping their face just so they can squeeze their way into the place where the shops are

[DANGERMAN]

I heard someone say the other day that they were going to play 1,2 and 3 back to back once this releases. That seems a lot of Mass Effect to me 

[Maryokutai]

Playing through the original trilogy takes just a little more time as going through Andromeda. It's a lot of ME at once but the games aren't that big individually. It's like 20-40-40 hours. That said I would probably take a week-long break between games if I'd replay them, just to let the endings sink in (again).

 

Comparison video looks great, though if I had to nitpick I'd say that Noveria looked better in the original. More contrast, a bit of blueish hue to give it a unique atmosphere. The remaster is better on a technical level but sometimes loses those little touches in the process.

[Maryokutai]

Jesus Christ they butchered Kelly Chambers.

 

 

ME2 - Legendary - ME3

 

Ok, to be fair it's an improvement over whatever they did to her in ME3, but still.

 

Anyway, one day to go until I buy this and never play it, but it'll be nice to have for the collection and as a somewhat future-proof version.

[shinymcshine]

Did they leave the Mako in ME1 for the planetary exploration ? 

 

I really enjoyed ME1, including the Mako driving, and rather disliked how they stripped back the more traditional RPG stats elements in the sequels, to become more action focussed (ME3 felt much like a cover shooter). Whilst I've read that they've 'streamlined' ME1 to feel a bit more like the sequels, I've not seen any details of what they've removed.

 

Update - just seen the post on previous page (quote) which explains it all, hadn't read it in the early previews / reviews.