Mass Effect Legendary Edition

Can we at least bang the red head this time? Only reason I played through the last time. I think it ended with her giving me a hug.

Story of my life.
Kelly Chambers is my 2nd favorite space babe after Liara. I still enjoy watching her little dance routine in my cabin on the Normandy 2. ;)
 
I enjoyed all 3 games after patches , but don't know If I could replay again so soon...
Graphics look way better with this remastered version though

Might be a good game to play while I wait on gpu prices to go back to normal and
then become available without waiting. :unsure:
 
I finished ME2 for the first time a few months ago so I'm going to hold off until this release to play ME3. I can't wait, I loved ME1 and ME2 and I can't believe I waited until 2020 to play them.
 
Still salty about no ME3 multiplayer. Also looks like they replaced Femshep's default face in the first game with the horrible model in the third game. Should have went the other way and brought ME1-ME2 default Femshep into ME3.

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I tried to pre-order on Steam, but there's no way to do it. I'd prefer not to have any go through Origin if at all possible
 
Still salty about no ME3 multiplayer. Also looks like they replaced Femshep's default face in the first game with the horrible model in the third game. Should have went the other way and brought ME1-ME2 default Femshep into ME3.

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ME 1 and 2's female Shepard model was near perfect. She looked like a battle-hardened Lena Headey, way better than the pretty-boy male Shep, IMO. That updated model looks like hot trash.
 
I don't even know if I own any of these games I played maybe ME 2 I think which was like 10 years ago but it was on console I think.
 
ME 1 and 2's female Shepard model was near perfect. She looked like a battle-hardened Lena Headey, way better than the pretty-boy male Shep, IMO. That updated model looks like hot trash.

She doesn't scream "battle hardened" to me. That being said, ME3's FemShep was a step in the wrong direction. The model is just awkward. More so from certain angles.
 
Thank god they kept the ME1 RPG weapons system, by all accounts. I actually wish it carried forward, the weapons customization was much deeper in ME1 than in the sequels. Nothing like the Specter weapons with multiple upgrade slots by level 60.
 
Thank god they kept the ME1 RPG weapons system, by all accounts. I actually wish it carried forward, the weapons customization was much deeper in ME1 than in the sequels. Nothing like the Specter weapons with multiple upgrade slots by level 60.
I wonder if the pistol is still going to be the best weapon in the game since they mentioned rebalancing. The DPS you got out of it was insane. Made an Insanity playthrough a cakewalk.
 
User name checks out.
-Obligatory meme post fulfilled.

Hopefully they don’t mess this up. I also wonder what mod support it will have if any.

Keep in mind Mass Effect 1-3 never had official mod support. In fact, the game was specially made in a way to prevent modding. Initially, everything was done through Texmod. Overtime the community developed tools that allowed for permanent texture mods and scripting changes to the games allowing for more complex and even game changing mods to be made.
 
Store page is up:



RPG Site details some of the changes made to the first game. They mention that they didn't make any big changes to the game other than to update some of its systems for better playability. The firearm aiming and handling are a big one.

https://www.rpgsite.net/feature/10719-mass-effect-legendary-edition-what-s-changed-in-mass-effect-1

Will not preorder anything from EA ever on principle. They could Warcraft III remastered this and it could just be hot trash. I lose nothing waiting for day 1 reviews.
(Please don’t take this as an indictment on you. But on the principle of preordering. I hope it’s good and your preorder well spent).


Keep in mind Mass Effect 1-3 never had official mod support. In fact, the game was specially made in a way to prevent modding. Initially, everything was done through Texmod. Overtime the community developed tools that allowed for permanent texture mods and scripting changes to the games allowing for more complex and even game changing mods to be made.
Sure. This is their opportunity to rectify that. EA would be wise to learn that the community is a big reason for the success of ME.
 
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Can we import our old characters? I would hope so.

Changes look good but it seems to have an over done lens flare effect.

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Changes the look a bit too much. Otherwise the changes are looking good.
 
I tried to pre-order on Steam, but there's no way to do it. I'd prefer not to have any go through Origin if at all possible
Why does it even matter? You will still need to run origin to play the game. If you buy it with origin steam won't get the 30% either. Then again I wouldn't mind giving less money to EA.
 
I wonder if I'll ever see the demise of EA in my lifetime?

I've already given up on my college alma mater winning a national championship in anything
 
I can't wait to start reading from all the "hardcore fans" about how they changed 6 pixels on Liara's face and they upped the lighting levels on the Citadel 3.336% and now the game is totally ruined and only a shadow of the original game's greatness.

Guaran-fucking-teed to hear that crap.
 
I can't wait to start reading from all the "hardcore fans" about how they changed 6 pixels on Liara's face and they upped the lighting levels on the Citadel 3.336% and now the game is totally ruined and only a shadow of the original game's greatness.

Guaran-fucking-teed to hear that crap.
There will always be complainers. But they can still continue to play the original version(s) on Steam/Origin, so I kinda don't feel like it's even worth acknowledging.
I feel like EA is really too lazy to do any real overhauls. I imagine they'll just port all the games forward to a later version of UE - make all the gunplay like later games, and then make 4k textures as well as improve lighting (utilizing the lighting potential of later UE versions) and poly counts. I doubt they'll do anything else. Heck, they might not even do that much.

I think we'd all love to see ME 1 get all of its original content restored (it is well known to have a rushed development time and therefore a lot of cut quests/features). And I wouldn't mind a little more work on the ending for 3. But for what it's worth I'm not on the "I hate the ending of this game" bandwagon.

Also, I find it likely that they'll allow for the horizontal anamorphic flares to be turned off. I'd be surprised if not. Clearly someone like JJ Abrams films, but in the case of video games, they kinda don't make sense since no one "sees" in anamorphic. But I guess you could argue that you aren't Commander Shepard but merely observing Him/Her. (And a further argument you could say that no one "sees" in lenses anyway - which is what chromatic aberation, lens flares, and other "optical" effects are supposed to be emulating. The idea of course being that these defects make the game more cinematic).
 
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I wonder if I'll ever see the demise of EA in my lifetime?

I've already given up on my college alma mater winning a national championship in anything
Well there are rumors going around that Tencent has been saving billions to try and buy EA or Take-Two. If that happens you’ll see the demise of EA.
 
I am fine with a good fidelity, UI upgrades and general never previously touched bug fixes.

Games do not always need complete overhauls.
 
As I said in the news thread, I'm really hoping that they make as many improvements as possible but - if they're not going for full on new content remake status - I hope to see easy mod compatibility. Dan_D suggested they were doing so in order to keep this accurate, so if that's true that's a major benefit. All the games have noteworthy graphical and texture mods, but especially ME3 have some amazing "Fallout / ElderScrolls / Witcher" level custom content mods (Expanded Galaxy Mod being the pinnacle, ME Happy Ending Mod, ME3Recalibrated, LIME, ITEM, etc.) that I'd like to see easily made compatible with the Legendary versions.

However, I would like to see these remasters do some degree of upgrading/editing specifically related to content that was already in the game files, but was unfinished/removed. For instance, there's a mod to get a much longer and more in depth "director's cut" of Shepard's last conversation with Anderson on ME3 - all the content is right there in the game files, but it has been edited out. That sort of thing, as well as other unfinished content, stuff that needs some polish, updates etc... should likely be a default part of the ME Legendary experience and then users can further extend with mods if they wish. Having some new content would be nice indeed.

Its worth noting that they're not including Andromeda in the collection, which is debated to be one of the games most in need of "remastering/remake" at least from technical perspectives. I can understand them sticking to the original trilogy, but if they're going to be developing a new Mass Effect game and/or finally making sequels to Andromeda it would be nice if there was a remaster in the works for that side as well.

Finally, I'm a bit nonplussed if after all this that, by the Steam page info, still requires Origin client background use? That's asinine! Newer EA titles like Apex Legends do NOT require Origin - it is simply a matter of users on Steam connecting their EA/Origin accounts through login! Especially if ME Legendary Edition will NOT include the ME3 cooperative multiplayer (which is kind of a pity, I did remember quite enjoying it). there's no reason to have Origin required in any way if launched by Steam!
 
This is not going to end well, we barely saw anything and a dozen people already want it to be a dozen different things.
Don't touch this, it doesn't need that, but that must go, but I'm not that type. LOL
 
As I said in the news thread, I'm really hoping that they make as many improvements as possible but - if they're not going for full on new content remake status - I hope to see easy mod compatibility. Dan_D suggested they were doing so in order to keep this accurate, so if that's true that's a major benefit. All the games have noteworthy graphical and texture mods, but especially ME3 have some amazing "Fallout / ElderScrolls / Witcher" level custom content mods (Expanded Galaxy Mod being the pinnacle, ME Happy Ending Mod, ME3Recalibrated, LIME, ITEM, etc.) that I'd like to see easily made compatible with the Legendary versions.

However, I would like to see these remasters do some degree of upgrading/editing specifically related to content that was already in the game files, but was unfinished/removed. For instance, there's a mod to get a much longer and more in depth "director's cut" of Shepard's last conversation with Anderson on ME3 - all the content is right there in the game files, but it has been edited out. That sort of thing, as well as other unfinished content, stuff that needs some polish, updates etc... should likely be a default part of the ME Legendary experience and then users can further extend with mods if they wish. Having some new content would be nice indeed.

Its worth noting that they're not including Andromeda in the collection, which is debated to be one of the games most in need of "remastering/remake" at least from technical perspectives. I can understand them sticking to the original trilogy, but if they're going to be developing a new Mass Effect game and/or finally making sequels to Andromeda it would be nice if there was a remaster in the works for that side as well.

Finally, I'm a bit nonplussed if after all this that, by the Steam page info, still requires Origin client background use? That's asinine! Newer EA titles like Apex Legends do NOT require Origin - it is simply a matter of users on Steam connecting their EA/Origin accounts through login! Especially if ME Legendary Edition will NOT include the ME3 cooperative multiplayer (which is kind of a pity, I did remember quite enjoying it). there's no reason to have Origin required in any way if launched by Steam!
Andromeda is not in need of a remaster or remake. The game is just fine on a technical level. It's not even 4 years old, yet. It looks and plays fantastic, it just feels really shallow which is something that can't be improved with a remaster or remake.
 
Andromeda is not in need of a remaster or remake. The game is just fine on a technical level. It's not even 4 years old, yet. It looks and plays fantastic, it just feels really shallow which is something that can't be improved with a remaster or remake.

Wasn't it notorious for having Frostbite (I think) engine problems, which restricted what the devs planned to do with it, ended up devoting tons of time to QA, and still shipped with a lot of the "meme-able" bugs? Its problems aren't solely technical, but I was to understand that the technical problems and push to release ASAP held back many of the designs as intended.
 
Wasn't it notorious for having Frostbite (I think) engine problems, which restricted what the devs planned to do with it, ended up devoting tons of time to QA, and still shipped with a lot of the "meme-able" bugs? Its problems aren't solely technical, but I was to understand that the technical problems and push to release ASAP held back many of the designs as intended.
I've personally never experienced any of the well-publicized bugs that turned into memes across the internet in my 60'ish hours with the game, and I played it on launch day. It's still an EA game, meaning they won't be using a different engine. I don't know if devs really were not able to design the game they wanted due to Frostbite, but the engine's technical difficulties in the development process are well known. Andromeda's issue boils down to constant shifts in project management, ultimately, which is the same problem that plagued Anthem. It is fundamentally broken from a design perspective.
 
This should be fun, I only played through ME1/ME2 once and hardly remember the games other than I enjoyed the combat and remember feeling as if my choices mattered (not sure if they actually did). Playing this will almost feel like a first time playthrough for me since I hardly remember the games and never played ME3.
 
Andromeda is not in need of a remaster or remake. The game is just fine on a technical level. It's not even 4 years old, yet. It looks and plays fantastic, it just feels really shallow which is something that can't be improved with a remaster or remake.

I was going to say something similar. I actually fired up Andromeda last night and it looks great despite being 3+ years old and it plays fine. The game was never as bad as people made it out to be. Primarily, Andromeda has pacing issues which come from the fact that you have to do all the side quests to get the highest level of planetary viability. This in turn causes you to have to do a ton of busy work outside of the main story and thus, kills any sense of urgency the story tries to convey. Other than that, the game's characters are fine although, the main antagonist is a pale substitute for Sovereign or Harbinger and the Kett aren't nearly as terrifying as the Reapers and Geth were. However, I felt they were serviceable enough.

The game's biggest problem is its main protagonist which feels like "Shepard Lite". His or her actions are never as bold or as memorable as Shepard's were. You have more dialog choices but they aren't as polarized and therefore come across as being virtually the same. The game doesn't hold up its illusion of choice nearly as well as the Trilogy generally did. Games designed for sequels always have to have their endings converge to a single point to move into the next chapter. Andromeda does this, but because the dialog isn't split between Paragon and Renegade paths, its not nearly as memorable. Ryder is also far too diplomatic at all times and even backs down from some things. The player feels like they have less agency than they did in the trilogy and as a result of these issues, the character isn't as much fun to play. Ryder is too much of an "Everyman / Everywoman", while Shepard was larger than life and more of a "hero archetype." In my opinion, I think had BioWare nailed the protagonist the game would have been much better received despite its pacing issues.

I've got hundreds of hours in all of the Mass Effect games. I've played and replayed them through and availed myself of nearly every branching choice. I've made mods for ME2 and ME3. Believe me when I tell you, I know these games. On a purely technical level, Andromeda is the best executed of all of them. While the game was certainly problematic at launch, the game was quickly patched and worked on. The final patch was released about six months after the game launched. In its final state, it's far better than its predecessors. Even at launch, the animations in Andromeda were better than they are in the trilogy. Yes, facial animations were fucked and were terrible. That's what called attention to animation problems and those complaints were certainly valid. However, after the patching and updates, the game has (and never did have) the same problems with weapons clipping through armor, characters clipping through each other, objects held in hands being at impossible angles, or anything like that. Your armor choices rarely result in problems with weapon clipping the way they did in the trilogy.

The game also has fewer bugs than the trilogy games do. To this day, Mass Effect 2 has a crash to desktop bug on Illium. When you walk through the hallway near Liara's office to transition to another area, the game will crash to desktop. It doesn't occur every time but if it does happen to you, it probably always will. The only workaround is to visit Liara before heading through that hallway. This works everytime. There is a similar bug in Mass Effect 3 where you traverse a section of hallway on Horizon and get a crash to desktop. The work around there is to run through the area really fast without looking back and hitting the quick save button rapidly the entire time. This "sometimes" works. There are quests that fail to complete in the trilogy. Packages from Ish is one such quest. You can finish it, but it will remain in your log forever. These and many more issues were never fixed in the trilogy and exist to this day. Mass Effect Andromeda has none of those issues.

All Andromeda's issues aren't so much technical as they are a matter of design choices. Weapon balance being a good example of that. Fortunately, the modding community has addressed those problems and a few of the remaining bugs. I'm not claiming its perfect, but I have far more issues out of the trilogy than I do Andromeda. Post launch, ME3 was obviously rushed and had issues too. It's issues weren't visual, and certainly weren't related to facial animations so people tend to bag on Andromeda more. It's also worth noting that EA idiotically used an earlier pre-retail version of the build for the 3 day preview (before retail launch) rather than the retail build which was still being worked on until the day before release. That's the version that most of the internet memes came from, not the retail version which was far better.

Ordinarily, I'd call the Mass Effect Legendary Edition absolutely lazy. The standard for remasters was set by the Halo anniversary edition which basically imported the game to a new engine, giving the game the same exact gameplay, but with entirely new visual assets that looked on par with games being released at the time. Anything less than that is lazy in my opinion. A total remake would also have been acceptable or even potentially desirable but that's a risk BioWare and its overlords probably aren't willing to take. Going that route means potentially changing too much and the fan backlash for that could be worse than the ME3 ending fiasco, or Andromeda's poor reception or even the hate it got for Anthem. To be fair, Mass Effect 2 and 3 have aged surprisingly well given how old they really are. Mass Effect 3 in particular was dated when it came out and its textures were abysmal as they were downgraded across all versions for the XBOX 360. With updated textures the games don't look modern, but look good enough that they are still quite enjoyable and the visual style is still conveyed and it just sort of works from an artistic standpoint.

Then there is the whole thing about mod compatibility. ME3 is one of the most modded games out there. Sure, it's not Skyrim or its predecessors, but its still got a very impressive and comprehensive selection of mods that dramatically alter and improve the game. Sticking with the same engine means that these games should be compatible with existing mod tools and mods, if not, can be made compatible easily enough. Given how much these enhance my enjoyment of ME3, I'd be happy with the same exact game we got with updated textures. That way you can install things like EGM and MEHEM and that's it.
 
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