Mass Effect Legendary Edition

having played through the game from start to finish, every single part of it looked better to me. playing the game the way the developers intended and pouring over comparison screenshots for 5 minutes at a time are two very different things
 
having played through the game from start to finish, every single part of it looked better to me. playing the game the way the developers intended and pouring over comparison screenshots for 5 minutes at a time are two very different things

the developers intended for it to look the way it did in the original...going back in 13 years later and changing color timings etc was done because they could do it and not because it was their original intent...just because technology improves doesn't mean that the original work was missing something...you can go and make any older movie, video game or TV show more modern due to technological advancements
 
the developers intended for it to look the way it did in the original...going back in 13 years later and changing color timings etc was done because they could do it and not because it was their original intent...just because technology improves doesn't mean that the original work was missing something...you can go and make any older movie, video game or TV show more modern due to technological advancements
the nice thing about remasters is you don't have to play them.. if you find new takes on old games offensive, just play the old ones and pretend the new ones don't exist
 
the developers intended for it to look the way it did in the original...going back in 13 years later and changing color timings etc was done because they could do it and not because it was their original intent...just because technology improves doesn't mean that the original work was missing something...you can go and make any older movie, video game or TV show more modern due to technological advancements

So you're a mind reader? You know exactly what the developers intended? You can prove that they didn't design certain things in specific ways in order to hide technological limitations and make the game look better than it would have with a brighter atmosphere?
 
Turns out you unlock all the weapon talents for use on other classes after you finish the game once in ME1. You can see it on the Achievements menu in the game.
 
Turns out you unlock all the weapon talents for use on other classes after you finish the game once in ME1. You can see it on the Achievements menu in the game.
Wasn't the original release similar? Or was it they unlocked based on number of kills?
 
So, to get to level 60 on Insanity still requires two play throughs on ME1? Not a huge bother, but seems needlessly redundant given we have ME2 and ME3 now. Regardless, I forget, on the second playthrough you must reimport your Shephard and use the same classes, no? Or can you change you class you use for the second play though and are only required to keep your appearance?
 
So, to get to level 60 on Insanity still requires two play throughs on ME1? Not a huge bother, but seems needlessly redundant given we have ME2 and ME3 now. Regardless, I forget, on the second playthrough you must reimport your Shephard and use the same classes, no? Or can you change you class you use for the second play though and are only required to keep your appearance?

It shouldn't.
 
I played all the originals on PC, multiple times each. So, I bought this on PS4 to start, for all the achievements. Dang, if these controls are improved over the original ME1, then I cannot imagine trying to play this game on Console at launch. There is no Independent adjustment for Mako sensitivity, no FOV, there is no aim assist in ME1, the HDR is over bearing and often blows out faces in particular, we have to burrow into menus for the map while exploring random planets, and the voice tracks keep shifting from near silent center channel, to super loud in the rear channel.

The game certainly looks a lot better. Textures, resolution and HDR are all an improvement over all, even if the HDR could use some tweaks. I suppose I was probably expecting too much from the Console version. All that said, I'm still enjoying the refreshed play through.
 
I played all the originals on PC, multiple times each. So, I bought this on PS4 to start, for all the achievements. Dang, if these controls are improved over the original ME1, then I cannot imagine trying to play this game on Console at launch. There is no Independent adjustment for Mako sensitivity, no FOV, there is no aim assist in ME1, the HDR is over bearing and often blows out faces in particular, we have to burrow into menus for the map while exploring random planets, and the voice tracks keep shifting from near silent center channel, to super loud in the rear channel.

The game certainly looks a lot better. Textures, resolution and HDR are all an improvement over all, even if the HDR could use some tweaks. I suppose I was probably expecting too much from the Console version. All that said, I'm still enjoying the refreshed play through.

My first play through of ME1 was when it came out on the 360 (on a CRT TV even). The controls were...Not amazing, as I recall. There wasn't really much push for control customization back in 07 and A LOT of companies were still struggling to figure out what worked best. From what you've said, sounds like they didn't change much in terms of controls. So far, HDR seems alright on the PC version, definitely a little blown out in spots but not too bad so far.
 
having played through the game from start to finish, every single part of it looked better to me. playing the game the way the developers intended and pouring over comparison screenshots for 5 minutes at a time are two very different things
You can certainly believe whatever you wish, but this isn't objective. Certainly, lighting and some other aspects of the game can absolutely be subjective. However, this is not entirely true. As someone who has modded and in some cases created new new textures using the originals as a guide, I'm practically a student of the series' visuals. The textures and several character models are all universally improved. They modeled some texture elements so they are part of the models instead of simple textures. They also improved all of the game's textures. ME1 has never looked so good. Even the modding community never managed to do so much with it. ME2 benefits the least from these changes with ME3 benefiting massively in some cases as it had the lowest resolution textures in many cases. ME3 also wasn't taken far enough as some textures are definitely still shit. If the modding community updates the tools (as I do not know how) I will fix these issues in a mod or series of mods.
the developers intended for it to look the way it did in the original...going back in 13 years later and changing color timings etc was done because they could do it and not because it was their original intent...just because technology improves doesn't mean that the original work was missing something...you can go and make any older movie, video game or TV show more modern due to technological advancements
This is not necessarily true. When it comes to games or visual effects in films, sometimes the creators had a much more ambitious vision for the game than they were able to deliver due to any number of technical, time or financial limitations at the time. To say that the developers didn't originally envision things looking different than they did 13 years ago is simply talking out of your ass. You can tell by the released concept art that the original games don't match the intended vision as well as they would have liked.

yes



yes



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On this last part you are dead wrong and we can prove it. The developers specifically mentioned walls placed on Noveria to hide rendering limitations of the engine at the time.
 
This is not necessarily true. When it comes to games or visual effects in films, sometimes the creators had a much more ambitious vision for the game than they were able to deliver due to any number of technical, time or financial limitations at the time. To say that the developers didn't originally envision things looking different than they did 13 years ago is simply talking out of your ass. You can tell by the released concept art that the original games don't match the intended vision as well as they would have liked.


On this last part you are dead wrong and we can prove it. The developers specifically mentioned walls placed on Noveria to hide rendering limitations of the engine at the time.

there's always going to be technical limitations in any video game ever made...a game made in 2011 will look much better with 2021 technology...a game made in 2021 will look much better with 2031 tools etc...every TV show, movie or video game will have limitations of the time period it was originally made...look at how many video games get remasters/remakes...same with movies and TV shows remastered in 4K HDR...look at what George Lucas did updating Star Wars with improved visuals and additions etc...just because you can update something, doesn't mean that you should

you judge a game based on the tech available at the time and not some future tech which hasn't been invented yet or is not financially viable to use...early concept art is never an accurate predictor of how a game will end up looking...things change in production all the time...rarely does a game match perfectly what pre-production concept art and storyboards looked like
 
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Wasn't the original release similar? Or was it they unlocked based on number of kills?
The original was 150 kills with each weapon to unlock their respective talent. The buff for Marksman is gone, though. I guess they got rid of it as part of their balancing so Pistols are no longer the best endgame weapon.
 
there's always going to be technical limitations in any video game ever made...a game made in 2011 will look much better with 2021 technology...a game made in 2021 will look much better with 2031 tools etc...every TV show, movie or video game will have limitations of the time period it was originally made...look at how many video games get remasters/remakes...same with movies and TV shows remastered in 4K HDR...look at what George Lucas did updating Star Wars with improved visuals and additions etc...just because you can update something, doesn't mean that you should

you judge a game based on the tech available at the time and not some future tech which hasn't been invented yet or is not financially viable to use...early concept art is never an accurate predictor of how a game will end up looking...things change in production all the time...rarely does a game match perfectly what pre-production concept art and storyboards looked like

You've completely missed my point. You asserted that the developers intentions and vision for the game were fully conveyed and realized in the original version of the game. This is not necessarily the case. In fact, the original version of the game is probably the best compromise between their artistic vision and what they could do given the game's budgetary and technical limitations at the time. Even something as mundane as color pallet can change at any point in production for technical reasons. It's virtually impossible to know how close the game's original form was to the original vision for it. We also will never know if the version put out today isn't what they'd have done if the technology to make it this way was available at the time.

Although, I suspect the lighting upgrades and any pallet changes are reflective of the current development team's personal interpretation of concept artwork and what they thought would look good for improving the look of the originals' visuals. Many if not most of the original developers are gone as I understand it. That being said, we know the textures are more in line with the original game's visuals as they are just higher quality versions of the original textures. These are from the original high resolution assets created during initial development rather than the scaled down compromises used to hit various size and performance targets.
 
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You've completely missed my point. You asserted that the developers intentions and vision for the game were fully conveyed and realized in the original version of the game. This is not necessarily the case. In fact, the original version of the game is probably the best compromise between their artistic vision and what they could do given the game's budgetary and technical limitations at the time. Even something as mundane as color pallet can change at any point in production for technical reasons. It's virtually impossible to know how close the game's original form was to the original vision for it. We also will never know if the version put out today isn't what they'd have done if the technology to make it this way was available at the time.

Although, I suspect the lighting upgrades and any pallet changes are reflective of the current development team's personal interpretation of concept artwork and what they thought would look good for improving the look of the originals' visuals. Many if not most of the original developers are gone as I understand it. That being said, we know the textures are more in line with the original game's visuals as they are just higher quality versions of the original textures. These are from the original high resolution assets created during initial development rather than the scaled down compromises used to hit various size and performance targets.

To add to your point on limitations: The original was designed with the Xbox 360 in mind, with absolutely no plans to bring it any other platform (including the PC) until EA bought BioWare and purchased the publishing rights from Microsoft. I alluded to this in my initial post to polonyc, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if there were several decisions made with the intent of hiding the flaws in the game’s graphics and animations (those stick out like a sore thumb in LE) and highlight the parts they could make look good.
 
I finished ME2 as an engineer, primary weapon was the locust smg before getting assault rifles and then using my beloved mattock battle rifle. I sacrificed Jacob and incinerate was definitely my go to ability. Reave was fun and helped quite a bit and I rarely used defense drone. I noticed there’s a way to save the entire crew of Normandy from the collectors and I’ll attempt that in a future play through. I found Mordins personality the most entertaining. Overall I’m very pleased with the work on these remasters and even though I would’ve played the originals again, my preference now is the remasters. Oh and I prefer the hammerhead to the mako.
 
I finished ME2 as an engineer, primary weapon was the locust smg before getting assault rifles and then using my beloved mattock battle rifle. I sacrificed Jacob and incinerate was definitely my go to ability. Reave was fun and helped quite a bit and I rarely used defense drone. I noticed there’s a way to save the entire crew of Normandy from the collectors and I’ll attempt that in a future play through. I found Mordins personality the most entertaining. Overall I’m very pleased with the work on these remasters and even though I would’ve played the originals again, my preference now is the remasters. Oh and I prefer the hammerhead to the mako.

Yes, you can save all of the ME2 squad mates. It's actually very easy. The key is to actually pay attention to the dialog and personalities of the squad mates. You do their loyalty missions and when it comes time to assign their tasks out at the Collector base, you will know who should do what job. There is more than one possible solution for each job that will result in an outcome where everyone lives. You have two possibilities for most jobs.

You should have chosen Tali or Legion instead.
 
You've completely missed my point. You asserted that the developers intentions and vision for the game were fully conveyed and realized in the original version of the game. This is not necessarily the case. In fact, the original version of the game is probably the best compromise between their artistic vision and what they could do given the game's budgetary and technical limitations at the time. Even something as mundane as color pallet can change at any point in production for technical reasons. It's virtually impossible to know how close the game's original form was to the original vision for it. We also will never know if the version put out today isn't what they'd have done if the technology to make it this way was available at the time.

Although, I suspect the lighting upgrades and any pallet changes are reflective of the current development team's personal interpretation of concept artwork and what they thought would look good for improving the look of the originals' visuals. Many if not most of the original developers are gone as I understand it. That being said, we know the textures are more in line with the original game's visuals as they are just higher quality versions of the original textures. These are from the original high resolution assets created during initial development rather than the scaled down compromises used to hit various size and performance targets.

and you've completely missed my point...artistic intentions are never fully realized...you make do with the tools you have at your disposal at the time you are making the game/movie/TV show...the visions you create in your mind or through some software program are not realistic goals for the final product...is the Legendary Edition the developers fully realized vision of the game?...or in 2031 after technology has advanced even further can they make an even better version?...it will never end

so my point is that the 2007 version of Mass Effect is the definitive version of that time
 
To add to your point on limitations: The original was designed with the Xbox 360 in mind, with absolutely no plans to bring it any other platform (including the PC) until EA bought BioWare and purchased the publishing rights from Microsoft. I alluded to this in my initial post to polonyc, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if there were several decisions made with the intent of hiding the flaws in the game’s graphics and animations (those stick out like a sore thumb in LE) and highlight the parts they could make look good.

of course there are compromises made to hide certain flaws but that is part of the financial or technological limitations which is a part of the game/movie development process...if you're going to wait until everything is 100% perfect then games will never be released

even Avengers: Endgame had to make compromises with the final product...they don't have unlimited resources or finances to match what they envisioned in their heads
 
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For those curious about last gen systems:


XB1: good at 1080p30. Forget fps mode
PS4: great at 1080p30. Same for fps mode
PS4pro: Poor at 4kp30. OK at 1440p60
XB1X: great at 4k30. Poor at 1440p60

Current Gen recap:
Series S: good at 4k30. Good at 1440p60
PS5: good at 4k60. Great at 144060
Series X: great at 4k60. OK at 1440p120

XB1X in quality mode is overall the best experience of last gen.
I think I would still rather have the Series S though.
VRR has the potential to make fps mode on the Series S and X even better.

Overall, seems like a potentially good experience on all 7 consoles though the PS4pro could use some tweaks.
 
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of course there are compromises made to hide certain flaws but that is part of the financial or technological limitations which is a part of the game/movie development process...if you're going to wait until everything is 100% perfect then games will never be released

even Avengers: Endgame had to make compromises with the final product...they don't have unlimited resources or finances to match what they envisioned in their heads
i take it you think the demon's souls remake was an affront to the original developers and their creative vision?
 
For those curious about last gen systems:


XB1: good at 1080p30. Forget fps mode
PS4: great at 1080p30. Same for fps mode
PS4pro: Poor at 4kp30. OK at 1440p60
XB1X: great at 4k30. Poor at 1440p60

Current Gen recap:
Series S: good at 4k30. Good at 1440p60
PS5: good at 4k60. Great at 144060
Series X: great at 4k60. OK at 1440p120

XB1X in quality mode is overall the best experience of last gen.
I think I would still rather have the Series S though.
VRR has the potential to make fps mode on the Series S and X even better.

Overall, seems like a potentially good experience on all 7 consoles though the PS4pro could use some tweaks.

That is for posting this, really am considering buying for a launch Xbone. Loved the series, just nothing to play it on now (PC is a surface pro 2). You just don't hear about it on the old consoles, and whether or not there is any improvement to be had.
 
i take it you think the demon's souls remake was an affront to the original developers and their creative vision?

where did I say I hate remasters?...my earlier post was responding to your comment about "playing the game the way the developers intended"...I'm fine with remasters and remakes and Demon's Souls sounds excellent (even though they did change a lot of things)...my point was that you can't retcon things when a new version of a game comes out and say that it's now how the developers originally envisioned it...you don't know that...it's a new version based on new technology
 
where did I say I hate remasters?...my earlier post was responding to your comment about "playing the game the way the developers intended"...I'm fine with remasters and remakes and Demon's Souls sounds excellent (even though they did change a lot of things)...my point was that you can't retcon things when a new version of a game comes out and say that it's now how the developers originally envisioned it...you don't know that...it's a new version based on new technology
my comment about what the "developers intended" was referring to the developers that made the remaster, not the original game, but i can see how that was confusing
 
About halfway through ME2 now with my Sentinel. It's pretty funny as I look back through my notes from 2010 and realize what an idiot I was with talent distribution among squad mates. Almost none of what I have I have been using this time around and the game feels a lot less frustrating on Insanity than I remember. My theory build that I never finished on Sentinel wasn't very focused and I ended up focusing on the tank aspect that BioWare made it for. I really wish it started with Assault Rifles as I'd love to be using the Revenant with this build. I have almost total control of the battlefield and was even getting in the face of Harbinger-possessed Collector Drones and meleeing them to death.
Code:
2 Throw
1 Warp
4 Assault Armor
4 Area Overload
4 Full Cryo Blast
4 Guardian
3 Warp Ammo

Weapon Specialization: Assault Rifles
I finished ME2 as an engineer, primary weapon was the locust smg before getting assault rifles and then using my beloved mattock battle rifle. I sacrificed Jacob and incinerate was definitely my go to ability. Reave was fun and helped quite a bit and I rarely used defense drone. I noticed there’s a way to save the entire crew of Normandy from the collectors and I’ll attempt that in a future play through. I found Mordins personality the most entertaining. Overall I’m very pleased with the work on these remasters and even though I would’ve played the originals again, my preference now is the remasters. Oh and I prefer the hammerhead to the mako.
If you try NG+ with your Engineer you should try respeccing into full Drone. It is pretty OP even on Insanity. It can't take on a lot of things by itself, but it is a wonderful distraction to the enemies. Bring Tali with her Drone along with Grunt and his Claymore and let the hilarity ensue.
 
It shouldn't.
Sorry, this is likely more that I fail to comprehend than that you were unclear. What shouldn’t? The game should not require two play throughs? The game should not give me an issue selecting a new class upon importing ME1 save for a level 60 ME1 run? Or something else?

You guys are all awesome by the way. Love the nostalgia and respect for the series. Glad I am not the only demented fan.
 
Sorry, this is likely more that I fail to comprehend than that you were unclear. What shouldn’t? The game should not require two play throughs? The game should not give me an issue selecting a new class upon importing ME1 save for a level 60 ME1 run? Or something else?

You guys are all awesome by the way. Love the nostalgia and respect for the series. Glad I am not the only demented fan.

I don't think the game actually requires two playthroughs to hit level 60. That being said, I did a 100% playthrough and only hit 29 using the legendary leveling. When importing that savegame into ME2, it read as being level 57.
 
I don't think the game actually requires two playthroughs to hit level 60. That being said, I did a 100% playthrough and only hit 29 using the legendary leveling. When importing that savegame into ME2, it read as being level 57.
Same. I only got about 540,000 XP out of the required 622,100 for level 30 when entering the final phase with Sovereign Saren.
 
Interesting. Does the game still make available the Specter VII / X level gear on Legendary at (I take it to be) Level 25 or higher? I really loved that equipment and will happily slog away in game to unlock using it, just curious if it unlocks on play through 1 on Legendary. Otherwise it was Level 50 in the base game I think.
 
Interesting. Does the game still make available the Specter VII / X level gear on Legendary at (I take it to be) Level 25 or higher? I really loved that equipment and will happily slog away in game to unlock using it, just curious if it unlocks on play through 1 on Legendary. Otherwise it was Level 50 in the base game I think.
Yes, it does.
 
Agreed, there were a couple of really great items in the Specter gear store, If I remember correctly I pretty much stopped changing stuff after that... :ROFLMAO:
 
Agreed, there were a couple of really great items in the Specter gear store, If I remember correctly I pretty much stopped changing stuff after that... :ROFLMAO:
Colossus armor and Spectre weapons are still the best gear, so of course you wouldn't need anything else. No reason to even loot anything at that point unless you're still looking for Savant amps and omnitools.

I don't understand why they locked the Spectre amps and omnitools out of the game. They could have made them available in the LE.
 
Agreed, there were a couple of really great items in the Specter gear store, If I remember correctly I pretty much stopped changing stuff after that... :ROFLMAO:
The Spectre weapons are basically the best in the game. At least, the best you can obtain without console commands. There are "HK Shadow" weapons, but when you pull those they show zeroes for all their stats. I've used them, but they don't feel as powerful as the Spectre weapons.
Colossus armor and Spectre weapons are still the best gear, so of course you wouldn't need anything else. No reason to even loot anything at that point unless you're still looking for Savant amps and omnitools.

I don't understand why they locked the Spectre amps and omnitools out of the game. They could have made them available in the LE.
This is true, but like most of the armor in ME1, the Colossus armor is terrible to look at. I always end up rocking Onyx X heavy armor in my playthroughs even though the stats suck. I know this isn't viable on the harder difficulties, but I don't play ME1 on higher difficulty settings. The combat and overall gameplay systems are too frustrating for that.
 
Interesting. Does the game still make available the Specter VII / X level gear on Legendary at (I take it to be) Level 25 or higher? I really loved that equipment and will happily slog away in game to unlock using it, just curious if it unlocks on play through 1 on Legendary. Otherwise it was Level 50 in the base game I think.

It's currently bugged but there is a work around. Spectre gear use to be linked with the "Rich" achievement of having 1 mil credit and something broke in the update. They will appear at the C-Sec store right after you became a Spectre. but will disappear soon after that until you finish Virmire. Then version X will pop up for a bit. If you want the VII. Make sure you have a save game right before you became a Spectre. then when you want to buy the VII (when you get enough credits), you save your game near C-sec, load the pre-Spectre save and watch the cut scene, then go to c-sec store and you'll see the VII. then you load your current save and go to the C-sec store and they will be there.
 
I don't think the game actually requires two playthroughs to hit level 60. That being said, I did a 100% playthrough and only hit 29 using the legendary leveling. When importing that savegame into ME2, it read as being level 57.

29 will be imported as lvl 58 and get you lvl 5 in ME2 with over 1 mil credit and 10K of each mineral (Max available). I imported as lvl 55 and got lvl 4, over 1 mil in credit and 9K of mineral. so no big deal unless you're after some achievement.
 
29 will be imported as lvl 58 and get you lvl 5 in ME2 with over 1 mil credit and 10K of each mineral (Max available). I imported as lvl 55 and got lvl 4, over 1 mil in credit and 9K of mineral. so no big deal unless you're after some achievement.

I was level 29 and it came in at 57 when I imported the save. I got 999,999 credits and 10,000 of each mineral.
 
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