Mass Effect Legendary Edition

I have 8 playthroughs of ME1, 30 of ME2, and I'm on my 18th run of Mass Effect 3. I've chosen most dialog paths at one point or another. That said, I still occasionally get dialog I've never heard before. Or, I didn't remember some dialog given how old the game is and how many playthroughs I've had. They blur together at this point.

But did you change decision path just to try something new or did your change because of who you're now vs when you first played (I played all of them at launch but no more than 2 playthrough (and only to get to max level in ME1 given how bad the combat and Mako mechanics were).
 
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I used to play as paragon as possible when the games first came out, but since then I find it far more interesting (and more in line with how I'd actually run the missions IRL) to add a peppering of renegade here and there when it makes "sense" to do so. Be the good guy, sure, but endanger me or my crew and you're dead meat.

Yea doing the same. Basically good Shepard unless you get on my bad side. I made one Major decision change in ME1 this time around not based on what I thought would be the proper choice but rather how I actually felt. I'm about 3/4 through ME2 and I made another major decision change. This time after exploring more dialog options and getting a different context which made me change my decision.
 
But did you change decision path just to try something new or did your change because of who you're now vs when you first played (I played all of them at launch but no more than 2 playthrough (and only to get to max level in ME1 given how bad the combat and Mako mechanics were).

I've changed my choices throughout the trilogy many times just to see what would happen. I've gone exclusive paragon in all three games, 100% renegade, and everything in between.
 
Just out of curiosity, did they fix the bug in ME1 on Noveria where you could max out paragon/renegade points by speaking to a specific NPC? You could start the conversation and go through most of it before canceling the conversation but you kept the paragon/renegade points instead of having them thrown out.
 
Just out of curiosity, did they fix the bug in ME1 on Noveria where you could max out paragon/renegade points by speaking to a specific NPC? You could start the conversation and go through most of it before canceling the conversation but you kept the paragon/renegade points instead of having them thrown out.
Yes, it still works.
 
If you can enlighten me as to which NPC this is I can certainly try it out soon to see. Waiting for my install to complete, ATM. Definitely a big sucker at 93GB.
Just out of curiosity, did they fix the bug in ME1 on Noveria where you could max out paragon/renegade points by speaking to a specific NPC? You could start the conversation and go through most of it before canceling the conversation but you kept the paragon/renegade points instead of having them thrown out.
 
It's been a while since I played through ME1 so I couldn't remember the exact conditions of it or the specific NPC.

As useful as the bug/exploit is it's probably something which should have been fixed. Sadly it will be a while before I get the Legendary Edition but was wondering if this still existed. It will definitely be a good buy. ME1 is my favorite of the series by far for story but the gameplay is definitely lacking. It will be nice to eventually play ME1 again with some of my complaints and issues fixed especially since I don't care to play ME2 or 3 without importing characters and I do want to try out some different classes and choices.

I've been spending a bit of time playing through ME3 again and I have to say that while I didn't notice it much before, I have been noticing some really lousy textures. My copy is currently clean of any mods but I might put some of them back in and try out some texture packs though I'm not looking forward to navigating Nexus Mods again. Normally I'd have mods I've already used backed up but I think I deleted them a while back for some reason which means grabbing them all again.
 
ME3 is rubbing all my mistakes in my face.

Played a ton of ME1 & ME2 back in the day, but only played ME3 once because the ending upset me so much. Regardless, it had been a while and I missed a couple things I'd forgotten about. Most notably...

...when the crew gets abducted. I still had one loyalty mission left to do since I waited to do Tali's mission until I could take Legion with and see dialogue I'd never experienced before (worth it btw). This means I did one mission first before going to save the crew. That one mission was enough to lose HALF! I had never lost a loseable crew member before. Now every time I get off the elevator on the Crew Deck in ME3 I have to see the fact I failed Gabby, Kelly, Rupert and over a dozen others. If this series wasn't so adept at making me care about NPC's, it would only be a nagging OCD, but several times a session I feel the weight now. It is only a matter of time before I know I will go back and start all over.

One thing is for sure, I'll remember to keep key Save points after this. How many times do I have to learn this lesson?
 
Yep, I play through blind the first time (usually), and getting a bunch of crew killed broke me more that I would have guessed. But that Joker mission was so good, and such a great change up in the middle of the game.
 
Just finished the final main quest for ME2, Still have Arrival to do. I did miss out on a couple small upgrades but at least got all the major ones. I would not mind another playthrough to try some other class except for all the scanning, so I guess I'll just use a resource chart from one of the guides just to get enough for all the upgrades next time around.
 
New patch just came out, fixes the Spectre gear problem in ME1, a bunch of startup issues but most importantly, all the cut scenes are now back to normal, the over saturation and black crush are gone. Patch note here:

General

  • English spoken dialogue can now be selected separately from subtitle language
  • Resolved issues with unlocking some achievements/trophies, such as the Paramours or kill count trackers
  • Corrected pre-rendered cutscenes that were darker than intended after the previous update
  • Wireless headsets/devices no longer cause issues with the Xbox launcher
  • Improved PC performance across various hardware configurations, including on Virmire
  • Fixed an issue on PC where non-standard characters in the operating system’s username would prevent the game from launching
    • Removed the dependency on the AVX instruction set in the launcher
  • Other minor calibrations and fixes, including some instances of crashing


Mass Effect

  • Fixed an issue that prevented players from reaching the max level
  • Fixed an issue where tier VII Spectre - Master Gear was inaccessible
  • Various collision improvements
  • Fixed an issue that would prevent the ability to interact with objects
  • Lowered audio volume on Mass Relay load screens
  • Improved eye animations for male characters in some scenes


Mass Effect 2



  • Toned down the intensity of fog on Illium
  • Fixed an issue where a character’s eyes at the end of the Overlord DLC were unintentionally red
  • Reduced the max credits that can be carried from Mass Effect to Mass Effect 2 down to 100k for more balanced early-game progression
    • Credit carryover maximum now matches carryover from the original release
    • Posthumous banking fees are a lot! It’s a great way to dodge taxes.


Mass Effect 3

  • Resolved an issue where English dialogue no longer played during the Citadel DLC for German and Italian localizations
  • Fixed an issue where some key characters weren’t appearing as intended during the Citadel DLC
 
New patch just came out, fixes the Spectre gear problem in ME1, a bunch of startup issues but most importantly, all the cut scenes are now back to normal, the over saturation and black crush are gone. Patch note here:

General

  • English spoken dialogue can now be selected separately from subtitle language
  • Resolved issues with unlocking some achievements/trophies, such as the Paramours or kill count trackers
  • Corrected pre-rendered cutscenes that were darker than intended after the previous update
  • Wireless headsets/devices no longer cause issues with the Xbox launcher
  • Improved PC performance across various hardware configurations, including on Virmire
  • Fixed an issue on PC where non-standard characters in the operating system’s username would prevent the game from launching
    • Removed the dependency on the AVX instruction set in the launcher
  • Other minor calibrations and fixes, including some instances of crashing


Mass Effect

  • Fixed an issue that prevented players from reaching the max level
  • Fixed an issue where tier VII Spectre - Master Gear was inaccessible
  • Various collision improvements
  • Fixed an issue that would prevent the ability to interact with objects
  • Lowered audio volume on Mass Relay load screens
  • Improved eye animations for male characters in some scenes


Mass Effect 2



  • Toned down the intensity of fog on Illium
  • Fixed an issue where a character’s eyes at the end of the Overlord DLC were unintentionally red
  • Reduced the max credits that can be carried from Mass Effect to Mass Effect 2 down to 100k for more balanced early-game progression
    • Credit carryover maximum now matches carryover from the original release
    • Posthumous banking fees are a lot! It’s a great way to dodge taxes.


Mass Effect 3

  • Resolved an issue where English dialogue no longer played during the Citadel DLC for German and Italian localizations
  • Fixed an issue where some key characters weren’t appearing as intended during the Citadel DLC

Nice to see that stuff get fixed. Pity I just finished playing ME1 last week. Least it will be fixed when I get around to another run down the line.

Glad they made the credit import change for ME2. They were allowing way too much at first. I thought it was balanced well in the original, giving a decent head start but not going too crazy.
 
Yep, I play through blind the first time (usually), and getting a bunch of crew killed broke me more that I would have guessed. But that Joker mission was so good, and such a great change up in the middle of the game.

If you've done that "Joker mission" in the "middle" of the game then you've done it wrong and it's clear why and how you got a bunch of crew killed. That mission should be close to the end of the game. You should never go for the Reaper IFF until you've done everything in the base game and Zyeed and Kasumi's loyalty missions. Overlord and Firewalker can be done at any time, but are generally better done close to the end as there are upgrades you can take into the suicide mission. It's a similar story with the Shadow Broker DLC, although that can be done early on if you wish. I would not recommend that on higher difficulty settings. Lastly, Arrival should be after the suicide mission, although the game doesn't force you to do it that way.
 
If you've done that "Joker mission" in the "middle" of the game then you've done it wrong and it's clear why and how you got a bunch of crew killed. That mission should be close to the end of the game. You should never go for the Reaper IFF until you've done everything in the base game and Zyeed and Kasumi's loyalty missions. Overlord and Firewalker can be done at any time, but are generally better done close to the end as there are upgrades you can take into the suicide mission. It's a similar story with the Shadow Broker DLC, although that can be done early on if you wish. I would not recommend that on higher difficulty settings. Lastly, Arrival should be after the suicide mission, although the game doesn't force you to do it that way.
Yeah, I said middle remembering back to shortly after release of ME2 11 years ago, my bad. I think I only lost one teammate, but again, 11 years ago and first of many playthroughs.
 
Yeah, I said middle remembering back to shortly after release of ME2 11 years ago, my bad. I think I only lost one teammate, but again, 11 years ago and first of many playthroughs.

All I remember from ME2 all those years ago was loyalty and ship upgrade and very little else 😜, oh and get the discount for any store before buying anything but it didn't really matter since I did the import before the patch which gave me over 1mil credit to start.
 
i remember being pissed about the change to thermal clips and then the overall story arc and final boss being crap in ME2. also how tedious planet scanning was. never went back for another playthrough after the first.
 
i remember being pissed about the change to thermal clips and then the overall story arc and final boss being crap in ME2. also how tedious planet scanning was. never went back for another playthrough after the first.
I really never understood the hate for that. The final boss wasn't great, but it's a very small part of the game. Lastly, planet scanning, while crap is easily avoided. You really need to get a save editor and give yourself enough resources to avoid dealing with it. Or, you can use a mod that pulls all the resources in a single probe.
 
i remember being pissed about the change to thermal clips and then the overall story arc and final boss being crap in ME2. also how tedious planet scanning was. never went back for another playthrough after the first.

ME2 is probably my favorite game of all time, but yeeeah that final boss was garbage. Helps that I liked the thermal clip change as I always hated the overheat mechanic in the first. The writing for (most) the characters is top notch and really makes the game. ME2 easily has my favorite cast of any Bioware game.
 
i remember being pissed about the change to thermal clips and then the overall story arc and final boss being crap in ME2. also how tedious planet scanning was. never went back for another playthrough after the first.

Well. With a ME1 import, even after the patch. You can easily get 9K-10K of each mineral and 100K credits. The mineral amount may not sounds like much but that's ~20% of the eZero you need for the whole game. I then just opened up one of the where to find eZero guide and just scan those planets for the rest and you'll probably get most of what you need on the other minerals as a lot of them are rich planets.
 
I actually love scanning the planets in ME2. I didn't care for how they simplified it in ME3, but I can see why they did in order to make most gamers happy.
 
I feel like I'm the only one who liked the last boss in ME2. It was a masterful convergence of all the gameplay mechanics in a single fight.
 
I feel like I'm the only one who liked the last boss in ME2. It was a masterful convergence of all the gameplay mechanics in a single fight.
The mechanics were fine, the careful selection of squad members or people die things was also great. But the final boss being.a dancing human skull? Really? It's like Mort grew arm's and now he had to be out down. None of the other reapers, before or after resembled their hosts. It size was too small, even for still being constructed. And 3 (exceptional) individuals can solo it? It was just bad.

The individual missions, character writing were all excellent in the second. Really, really good, but at the end of the game, what has changed to move the over-arcing story? The reapers were coming? They had established that at the end of the first game. They used enslaved hosts? Also established by the first game. They didn't advance the overall narrative.

If I have to use an exploit, guide or save game editor to make a mechanic palatable, it's a bad mechanic.
 
The mechanics were fine, the careful selection of squad members or people die things was also great. But the final boss being.a dancing human skull? Really? It's like Mort grew arm's and now he had to be out down. None of the other reapers, before or after resembled their hosts. It size was too small, even for still being constructed. And 3 (exceptional) individuals can solo it? It was just bad.

The individual missions, character writing were all excellent in the second. Really, really good, but at the end of the game, what has changed to move the over-arcing story? The reapers were coming? They had established that at the end of the first game. They used enslaved hosts? Also established by the first game. They didn't advance the overall narrative.

If I have to use an exploit, guide or save game editor to make a mechanic palatable, it's a bad mechanic.
The reapers do look like their original creators though (see ME3), which makes the human one extremely out of place.
 
The mechanics were fine, the careful selection of squad members or people die things was also great. But the final boss being.a dancing human skull? Really? It's like Mort grew arm's and now he had to be out down. None of the other reapers, before or after resembled their hosts. It size was too small, even for still being constructed. And 3 (exceptional) individuals can solo it? It was just bad.

The individual missions, character writing were all excellent in the second. Really, really good, but at the end of the game, what has changed to move the over-arcing story? The reapers were coming? They had established that at the end of the first game. They used enslaved hosts? Also established by the first game. They didn't advance the overall narrative.

If I have to use an exploit, guide or save game editor to make a mechanic palatable, it's a bad mechanic.
The Human Reaper didn't have any armor on it or able to generate kinetic barriers, yet, exposing its power source to attack. It was half a torso and arms, and by the scale of it it was easily going to be at least as tall as a Leviathan Reaper once completed, which are 1000-2000 metres. Being a larva, of course it's going to be weaker than fully "grown" and complete one.

Have you played the Leviathan DLC in ME3? Capital Ships are made to resemble the species being harvested, and they're all created in the same manner we learn the Human Reaper is.
The reapers do look like their original creators though (see ME3), which makes the human one extremely out of place.
Not all Reaper Capital Ships come from the Apex/Leviathan race. They are just the ones that are most prominent since they are the original ones.
 
The Human Reaper didn't have any armor on it or able to generate kinetic barriers, yet, exposing its power source to attack. It was half a torso and arms, and by the scale of it it was easily going to be at least as tall as a Leviathan Reaper once completed, which are 1000-2000 metres. Being a larva, of course it's going to be weaker than fully "grown" and complete one.

Have you played the Leviathan DLC in ME3? Capital Ships are made to resemble the species being harvested, and they're all created in the same manner we learn the Human Reaper is.

Not all Reaper Capital Ships come from the Apex/Leviathan race. They are just the ones that are most prominent since they are the original ones.
Played ME3 (with DLCs) through multiple times. I don't recall seeing another reaper in any other form than the leviathan form, except the ME2 finale. I know what your referencing. I don't recall whether that revelation came from ME2 or Leviathan as a way of supporting the Boss from decision. But again, you didn't see Promethean shaped one, and of that was truly the idea, it would have been the easiest one to throw at a mission planet to support the idea. Recognizable and opens dialogue possibilities with the Promethean DLC character.

Even then, let's take it the rest of the way. What was going to be when complete? A giant superman flying through the galaxy, curb stomping and eye-lasering everything in it's path? Like some Godzilla-esque rampage?
 
Not all Reaper Capital Ships come from the Apex/Leviathan race. They are just the ones that are most prominent since they are the original ones.
I totally forgot about the one that fights with the queen thresher maw. I wonder what race they are taken from.
 
Played ME3 (with DLCs) through multiple times. I don't recall seeing another reaper in any other form than the leviathan form, except the ME2 finale. I know what your referencing. I don't recall whether that revelation came from ME2 or Leviathan as a way of supporting the Boss from decision. But again, you didn't see Promethean shaped one, and of that was truly the idea, it would have been the easiest one to throw at a mission planet to support the idea. Recognizable and opens dialogue possibilities with the Promethean DLC character.

Even then, let's take it the rest of the way. What was going to be when complete? A giant superman flying through the galaxy, curb stomping and eye-lasering everything in it's path? Like some Godzilla-esque rampage?
There was an explanation as to why the Protheans were not made into Reapers, but I can't remember what it was.

And why not? It's not anymore ridiculous than the idea of giant flying squids that shoot lasers out of their eyes.
I totally forgot about the one that fights with the queen thresher maw. I wonder what race they are taken from.
The Destroyers? I don't think they were harvested from anything. I don't even think they're sentient. I think they were manufactured as drones. They look like Leviathans, just on a smaller scale.
 
I do miss the freedom of travel from ME1, the sense of exploration landing on planets (especially now that the Mako actually handles OK). ME2 & ME3 is more story focus and have a sense of urgency which kinda restrict the amount or random side mission you can do. If they go back to a more exploration story arc using ME:A mechanics for ME4, I would be happy.
 
I do miss the freedom of travel from ME1, the sense of exploration landing on planets (especially now that the Mako actually handles OK). ME2 & ME3 is more story focus and have a sense of urgency which kinda restrict the amount or random side mission you can do. If they go back to a more exploration story arc using ME:A mechanics for ME4, I would be happy.
I did quite enjoy that aspect of Andromeda, and how a lot of missions took place across the entire explorable part of the planets. I think the more linear focus in ME2 and ME3 definitely fit those games, though, due to the urgency as you say.
 
The reapers do look like their original creators though (see ME3), which makes the human one extremely out of place.
The human Reaper wasn't even close to finished; it was just starting to be built. The boss you fight is the "core" of the Reaper, basically the brain and the power source. There's no frame, superstructure, decks, armor or anything else. Of course the most important internal parts aren't going to look like the external portion of a finished Reaper.

The practical reason we never saw any major visual differences between the Reapers is because of cost and effort to design a thousand different ones for the cutscenes. It's something I find annoying but it is what it is.
 
The human Reaper wasn't even close to finished; it was just starting to be built. The boss you fight is the "core" of the Reaper, basically the brain and the power source. There's no frame, superstructure, decks, armor or anything else. Of course the most important internal parts aren't going to look like the external portion of a finished Reaper.

The practical reason we never saw any major visual differences between the Reapers is because of cost and effort to design a thousand different ones for the cutscenes. It's something I find annoying but it is what it is.

There was even talk back in the day that every Reaper had a "pilot" of sorts that represented the species it was harvested from inside it. That's honestly the only way the human reaper makes any sense. Otherwise, why build one? We know humans aren't the only species to ever kill one. For starters, humans weren't the only ones involved in killing Sovereign. Beyond that, we know that one died 37 million years ago on the planet Klendagon when it was hit with a monstrous mass effect weapon. There is also the Leviathan of Dis which the Batarians were studying. How it died is a mystery, but presumably it died in a previous cycle due to resistance it met during that cycle.
 
There was even talk back in the day that every Reaper had a "pilot" of sorts that represented the species it was harvested from inside it. That's honestly the only way the human reaper makes any sense. Otherwise, why build one? We know humans aren't the only species to ever kill one. For starters, humans weren't the only ones involved in killing Sovereign. Beyond that, we know that one died 37 million years ago on the planet Klendagon when it was hit with a monstrous mass effect weapon. There is also the Leviathan of Dis which the Batarians were studying. How it died is a mystery, but presumably it died in a previous cycle due to resistance it met during that cycle.
I think that's the point of the larval boss Reaper of ME2. It was the heart and brain in which a Reaper ship would be built around. That's the reason for melting down actual humans which was somehow (and I don't want to get into the how) used to infuse it with the "essence" of the species the Reaper was created from.

The reason for the Reapers in the first place was supposed to be to "preserve" the species. Sovereign specifically tells us this in ME1. I don't remember the exact quote but he stated that our destruction was our salvation. Destruction of the physical bodies of the species would enable the species to live on in Reaper form. The knowledge and essence would survive but not in a way organics would understand.

This is also a reason I really hate the ending options for ME3 and why the Leviathan DLC feels wrong to me. It was my expectation from the first game that we would find out the Reapers weren't inherently evil but a program started by a very old species to preserve themselves before they died out or because they thought they had reached the pinnacle of their evolution. For people familiar with the Asgard in Stargate SG-1, it would be similar to how the Asgard decided to clone themselves to keep themselves alive for potentially eternity because they figured they had advanced as far as they could as a species. In the case of the Reapers they decided to carry on that tradition with species which came after. It's likely the later species wouldn't take kindly to the idea so the Reapers forced it onto them and put controls into place to force the new Reapers to help out as well. I think the ending choices of ME3 should have been to use the Crucible and Catalyst to destroy all Reapers or free the individual Reapers of top down control to make their own choices.

Anyway, those are my ramblings on the subject.

PS. The Starbrat AI can go burn in the hell reserved for pedophiles and people who talk in the theater. Stupid, idiotic and worthless addition to the game.
 
I think that's the point of the larval boss Reaper of ME2. It was the heart and brain in which a Reaper ship would be built around. That's the reason for melting down actual humans which was somehow (and I don't want to get into the how) used to infuse it with the "essence" of the species the Reaper was created from.

Like Dan said, that's the only thing that really makes any sense, but IIRC there is never a single mention in the game (dialogue, journal entries, etc) that the "human Reaper" was some sort of core or "heart" that would be at the center of the larger cuttlefish looking Reapers... it's just referred to as a "human Reaper" multiple times. If taken literally then one would indeed assume it was supposed to be a giant space-borne entity like the other Reapers but in a form loosely resembling a human. This idea really doesn't make any sense for the reasons outlined above. It was sort of theorycrafted by fans into the "core of a Reaper" idea.

In other words I'm agreeing with you, I'm just pointing out that the concept was kind of bungled by the writers and/or development team because it really wasn't made clear.
 
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