Mass Effect: Legendary Edition | Spring 2021

[Blitzkrug]

Citadel was great. So fanservice-y but it hit all the right spots. Wrex in particular really shines

And it also has by far the best romance interaction in the entire series as far as i'm concerned

 

[Nizdizzle]

Mass Effect 2 was by far my favourite, purely based on Legion's dialogue. Every time I replay it, all I care about is getting Legion into my party ASAP.

Definitely going to look into this once it releases.

 

[S E P H]

I thought Mass Effect II was the best game of the trio. I loved that everything you built up in the first instalment got absolutely flipped in the second game when you joined the human-only alliance including the relationships with your old crew. I found myself seriously questioning which route to go in the second game based on the storyline elements and that's because the writers did an amazing job by bringing in fresh characters and reasons.

 

[Commander Clueless]

To me, ME1 is a legend of world building. The combat was a touch janky, but the storyline was great and the attention to narrative detail was excellent. If you're a sci-fi nerd, that codex though....

ME2 is a legend of character building, that took ME1 and flipped it on its head in a wonderful way. It was a strange story line overall, but the characters drove it forward, building on that base ME1 had built. Combat was streamlined and RPG elements were removed, but it had polish.

ME3 combined the best elements of the previous installments and took that on a rollercoaster, and I loved it. The ending killed ME3 for a lot of people, but what a ride getting there.


ME Andromeda was....okay. It was okay.

Just an incredible series that ranks up there with my favourites of all time in any form of media. Even polishing it up for modern systems has me more excited than most upcoming games.


Alright, I'll stop fanboying it up now.

 

[GlassesJacketShirt]

Cautiously optimistic about the remastering, but the next Mass Effect game will be interesting to track. I wonder if it'll allow Casey Hudson to finally exorcise some demons a decade (or more) after the ME3 controversy.

 

[Juve]

I can no longer count on my hands and feet how many times I played the trilogy. The trilogy is my favorite game of alltime. Andromeda was pure garbage.

My expectations are low for the next because they haven't produced anything good in a long time.

 

[Nizdizzle]

I think the Mass Effect 3 ending bashing kind of got the bandwagon effect. The 3 ending "scenarios" were fine, in my opinion. They just didn't seem fleshed out enough. and there should have been a longer endgame sequence explaining the consequences of your choices rather than a 5 minute "wrap-up" cinematic we got.

I tried Andromeda for about 30 minutes but was turned off by the negative reviews and the dialogue seemed unnatural. Has it become better since launch, and would people recommend playing through?

 

[Beau Knows]

The 2nd and 3rd games could pretty much just have increased resolutions and they'd be fine, although it would be nice if they added some modern technology on top like ray tracing.

The 1st game would benefit greatly from a rebuild, even in just the ME3 engine. It's significantly more dated looking and jankier than the sequels. But I'm sure they won't go through the trouble of doing that.

 

[Blitzkrug]

The one thing I think I would definitely like to see fixed (assuming they fixed anything at all) is the disparity between vanguard classes in 1 compared to 2 and 3.

2 and 3's vanguard is basically balls to the wall high risk high reward playstyle with biotic charge being used as a combo detonator. 1's vanguard is a basically a less versatile adept. It doesn't do anything particularly well and gets absolutely crushed by any other class in the game.

 

[Jovavic]

I think the Mass Effect 3 ending bashing kind of got the bandwagon effect. The 3 ending "scenarios" were fine, in my opinion. They just didn't seem fleshed out enough. and there should have been a longer endgame sequence explaining the consequences of your choices rather than a 5 minute "wrap-up" cinematic we got.

I tried Andromeda for about 30 minutes but was turned off by the negative reviews and the dialogue seemed unnatural. Has it become better since launch, and would people recommend playing through?

I bought it when it came out and I thought I got my money's worth out of it. I think people went in thinking it's a sequel but if you go in viewing it as a side story, your expectations will be managed better. Truthfully, everything is atleast a step down from the trilogy, aside from combat, which I thought was just as good. If you're a fan of the "universe" and you can get it for less than a pack of soda, what do you have to lose?

 

[RandV]

I think the Mass Effect 3 ending bashing kind of got the bandwagon effect. The 3 ending "scenarios" were fine, in my opinion. They just didn't seem fleshed out enough. and there should have been a longer endgame sequence explaining the consequences of your choices rather than a 5 minute "wrap-up" cinematic we got.

I tried Andromeda for about 30 minutes but was turned off by the negative reviews and the dialogue seemed unnatural. Has it become better since launch, and would people recommend playing through?

I haven't played any of the Mass Effect games, but while probably get this version at some point if it comes out on Steam or GoG. But the impression I had of the controversy is it was a failure to deliver what was promised. Like The Witcher 3 for all the decisions you could make on the way the ending was pretty lacklustre, basically a splash screen and a few lines for each pivot point, but it's not like the devs made any promises here.

Mass Effect 3 on the other hand imported decisions you made all the way through the first two games, and EA seemed to be hyping some big payoff at the end. Then from what I understand they delivered a stock good/neutral/evil endings delivered in a 5 minute cinematic. If you're looking back on it it's easy to say people over reacted but you can't really blame them at the time for being mad.

 

[kmart]

looks great but i pass because i already know the characters and their story. i keep my eyes on the progress of the new mass effect game tho... one thing is for sure, if they introduce the open world grind again to kill time with useless collecting/searching missions i wont even consider this game.

 

[super6646]

Love this trilogy, though I think mass effect 2 is overrated like hell

 

[Oogie Boogie]

I don't recall seeing a thread being made for this already. If so, apologies.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition - EA Official Site



The website has an Original and Legendary Edition difference clip on the website that gives you a good idea of how much it's been improved on graphically. Looks solid to me.

 

[Blitzkrug]

Sounds like they actually overhauled a good amount of stuff for ME1 too;

Mass Effect Legendary Edition: what’s changed in Mass Effect 1 | RPG Site

• Fast Elevators, at last: in a demo of the PC version of Legendary Edition versus the original game, BioWare showed that a 52-second elevator ride from the Citadel Wards to the Presidium now only takes 14 seconds in the remaster. In addition, if dialogue is playing out during an elevator ride, an optional skip prompt will appear once the area loading the elevator ride hides is complete.
• New Game+ No Longer Required for Level 60: for the Legendary Edition, BioWare has rebalanced the XP required to hit Level 60, the Level Cap. This is important because in the original game, New Game+ was required to hit level cap, and hitting level cap unlocked significant bonuses in Mass Effect 2. In the Legendary Edition, you’ll be able to hit 60 and max out your bonuses even on the first play-through.
• No more Class-Based Weapon Restrictions: in the original ME1, not all classes can use all weapons. This has been rebalanced for the Trilogy Remaster, with restrictions removed. This means that, for instance, that the Biotic-focused Sentinel class can use weapons other than pistols - but they won’t be able to train and put skill points into those weapon classes, limiting their abilities. In addition, penalties to aim based on your class have been eliminated.
• Aiming & Weapon Changes & Improvements: traditional RPG fans who struggle with the shooter elements will be pleased to know that ME1 now has a proper aim assist, including a ‘snap to’ enemy function, just like the latter two games. In addition, every weapon has been rebalanced and tweaked to try to give every weapon and every manufacturer “a unique feel”.
• The Mako gets an upgrade: ME1’s infamous ground vehicle featured controls and physics that often defied logic to often hilarious impact, but these things have been tweaked for the Legendary Edition. There’s new physics, an alternative control scheme, an overall speed boost, and camera shake to make it feel more dynamic.
• Modernized HUD, more in line with ME2 & 3
• Improved AI for both enemies and squad member allies
• Boss Encounter improvements & rebalancing
• Mini game changes - mini-games are now the same across all platforms, and have reduced difficulty & frequency
• Control Scheme adjusted to be closer to ME2 & 3, including a dedicated melee button
• Smoother Camera Control, including when aiming down a scope
• Improved First Aid cooldown - presumably to make it quicker
• More Customization options - as well as there being one unified ‘Shepard’ character model throughout the series, be that default or custom, all customization options are now uniform across all three games. If an option was available in ME3, it now exists in ME1.
• PC version upgrades including proper native controller support, better keybinding options and 21:9 ultrawide support

The only other one i wanted to see was bringing the Vanguard class of ME1 more in line with the other 2 games since in 1 its probably the worst class, whereas in 2 and 3 it's at least a high risk/reward type thing.

 

[Commander Clueless]

I need more like buttons for this thread.

 

[SuperScript29]

Looks like they're throwing a hail mary in order to save the company. I expect people will buy given the epicness of this trilogy, but the clock is ticking unfortunately.

 

[ArGarBarGar]

No, they neutered the fun Mako.

Oh well, super excited. Hope the Hahne-Kedar set from ME3 is acquirable during ME1. Favorite armor set.

 

[Beau Knows]

It'd be cool if they added a new New Game+ that let you take your character from the end of Mass Effect 3 all the way back to the first game.

 

[Zih]

I imagine if you've never played the Mass Effect trilogy, this will be a good buy. But if you already own the games and most of the DLC, there really isn't anywhere close to $60 of value there (at least on PC). You could install the various visual mods (ALOT, shaders, etc) and at that point the only thing you're paying $60 is some minor gameplay improvements to ME1. I'm in no rush to buy this, but I'll probably pick it up in a year or two when it's $10 on sale. For perspective, I've finished ME1 probably 30-40 times, ME2 probably 15 times, and ME3 once.

Honestly, I probably would've bought this day one if they included ME3 multiplayer with bug fixes and improved multiplayer architecture (dedicated servers, etc). I put something like 800 hours into ME3 multiplayer and I still think back on it fondly (except for the lootboxes).

 

[JaegerDice]

The only other one i wanted to see was bringing the Vanguard class of ME1 more in line with the other 2 games since in 1 its probably the worst class, whereas in 2 and 3 it's at least a high risk/reward type thing.

This was only really a thing on higher difficulties. I played through all 3 games as a Vanguard class without issue. It was only when I tried playing them on higher difficulty settings that the game punished you for a) being a jack of all trades and a master of none and b) requiring you to get in close to maximize your impact.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

Probably end up getting this. I remember playing the first one a bit, don't think I ever beat it though. Never played the others. Might as well give it a shot again.

 

[Commander Clueless]

No, they neutered the fun Mako.

Oh well, super excited. Hope the Hahne-Kedar set from ME3 is acquirable during ME1. Favorite armor set.

I was looking forward to ridiculous Mako navigation.

 

[The Nemesis]

I have the game as the PS3 trilogy release and while I enjoyed it well enough (until the ending, which I have a lot of problems with that are not worth going into detail about since they're likely beaten to death already in the years between ME3s release and now) I'm not sure I can justify buying this remaster. Sure the graphics are better, but not astoundingly better in all aspects. Plus it seems like a good 30% of the graphic upgrades went to just shoving lens flares in at every opportunity. It's almost as if they went and got JJ Abrams to direct the project.

 

[NyQuil]

The cost isn't an issue in my opinion.

You're looking at hundreds of hours of gameplay - so if you were planning on replaying the game, you might as well dump a few bucks into it and get the better version.

Again, a trip to the movies is around 3 hours and costs $15-25.

If I'm playing 300 hours worth of video game and it's costing me $60, that's a pretty good deal.