Mass Effect Trilogy Remaster

I'd be happy with a good visual quality improvement, especially for ME1, and fix the bugs that popped up in all thee games. The Mako game play could use some love as well. It was an interesting concept, but felt tacked on and was so freaking repetitive. But I guess the same could be said about the planet scanning/probe game play.

I'd rebuy a remastered trilogy for 50-60 bucks, assuming they do it justice.

I liked the ME games more for the side quest/team member building quests than the main story lines. While main story was very cliche, that is really pretty standard for most story driven games to follow a generic hero arc.

I also generally liked Andromeda, minus the lack luster voice acting and writing. I still think the majority of the crap it received for the animation bugs, was more about when it was released, and the bad media left over from ME3 than anything else. The prior trilogy was riddled with charater animation bugs.
 
ME1, is the worst gameplay, except for the Mako, I know everyone hates it but I loved driving it around the heightmaps.

Looks like I am not the only one. I enjoyed that one mission where you land to investigate a damaged convoy and get attacked by a thresher maw to. Yes it could've been better but the exploration wasn't forced and obnoxious like most games. And it was more of a real exploration for fun rather than necessity of finding something.

I agree that the story is cliche, but the writing is very good. In other words, stuff like character interaction is really good and engrossing, which I consider to be under the umbrella of "story" in a video game.

If you want to simplify it most stories are simple, with ME2 and 3 being very similar. And honestly, even more simplistic.

What makes the first game standout is how it starts off small and gradually expands into something much bigger. Most games take a simplistic, small approach to things and it feels like you're operating in a vacuum with the universe centered around you.
 
If they are pricing the trilogy at 50-70 dollars it may be worth it, if they are pricing the individual games at 60 then I will pass. Hoping for the former, expecting the latter considering it is EA...
 
I think a lot of people often ask too little for remasters. I understand paying for the same experience with modern technology doesn't warrant the full price, but you're practically rebuilding half the game. You can take the story writing, most of the audio files (might need some work), music and save some time on gameplay prototyping. But everything else essentially is redone from scratch. I'm going to assume AI/NPC programming needs to be redone, the animation system needs to be developed, all the artwork, gameplay systems and the like redesigned in a new engine. Not a small task by any means.

I think it is fair to charge half price for a good remaster/HD/whatever you want to call it version. $90 for all three with all the DLC included is fair. If they do it for $60 that would be great to $20 per game, but I wouldn't feel ripped off at $90. More than that and I'd certainly say it is too much.
 
I think, after a string of games that have not been well received by fans, that EA is trying to buy back some patronage with this move. The Community has been asking for this since before ME3 even came out. Initially there were some license issues with ME1 (published by MS), but I always figured they would keep this card up their sleeve until it served them best. If we get it as a remaster for next-gen, alongside an announcement they are working on the next game, it would maximize their marketing.

Not sure I want EA & BioWare to make another ME game right now. I'd love more ME, so long as it is good, but I've serious doubts EA would produce anything worthy of ME's history so long as they are hard-lined on "games as a service". Especially in today's "woke" climate. I'd love to be proven wrong, Jedi Fallen Order was a nice surprise, but they were painted into a corner with that one. I'm just going to start ranting so I'll shut up. I am excited there is a remaster on the horizon. I'm playing through the series right now using all the latest mods. It will be interesting to see how the remasters compare.
 
I think, after a string of games that have not been well received by fans, that EA is trying to buy back some patronage with this move. The Community has been asking for this since before ME3 even came out. Initially there were some license issues with ME1 (published by MS), but I always figured they would keep this card up their sleeve until it served them best. If we get it as a remaster for next-gen, alongside an announcement they are working on the next game, it would maximize their marketing.

Not sure I want EA & BioWare to make another ME game right now. I'd love more ME, so long as it is good, but I've serious doubts EA would produce anything worthy of ME's history so long as they are hard-lined on "games as a service". Especially in today's "woke" climate. I'd love to be proven wrong, Jedi Fallen Order was a nice surprise, but they were painted into a corner with that one. I'm just going to start ranting so I'll shut up. I am excited there is a remaster on the horizon. I'm playing through the series right now using all the latest mods. It will be interesting to see how the remasters compare.

I also think we're hitting the same issue Hollywood has. Everything has been done to death. Few games have that magic anymore. Seems like games have become too formulaic and rely too much on task based gameplay and level chasing. Which ultimately makes them all blur together. Stroking nostalgia seems to be a way to help standout.

We're certainly in an era with ever increasing remakes/reboots.
 
If they are pricing the trilogy at 50-70 dollars it may be worth it, if they are pricing the individual games at 60 then I will pass. Hoping for the former, expecting the latter considering it is EA...
Doesn't matter, Origin Pass is cheap
 
It'll be interesting to see how far they do with a remaster of these games. At least assuming this really is happening.
Do they go the route of Resident Evil 2 and make a whole new game set in the same environment or do they just boost the textures/res/fps and keep things mostly the same?
When you're dealing with a beloved franchise, that's a tough one. As clumsy as ME1 is, people love that game. They run the risk of pissing their audience off even more if they change ME1 in a way they don't like. Granted, I'm sure no matter what they do some folks are going to be pissed. It's EA after all.
 
It'll be interesting to see how far they do with a remaster of these games. At least assuming this really is happening.
Do they go the route of Resident Evil 2 and make a whole new game set in the same environment or do they just boost the textures/res/fps and keep things mostly the same?
When you're dealing with a beloved franchise, that's a tough one. As clumsy as ME1 is, people love that game. They run the risk of pissing their audience off even more if they change ME1 in a way they don't like. Granted, I'm sure no matter what they do some folks are going to be pissed. It's EA after all.
Depends on how long they have been working on it, but I would not expect a full-blown remake in the vein of RE2. Maybe port it over to the new version of UE or Frostbite, upscale assets, etc. I don't think we'll see any gameplay changes.
 
Granted, I'm sure no matter what they do some folks are going to be pissed. It's EA after all.

This has nothing to do with it beeing EA, people are going to be pissed no matter what. People need to learn to buy the games they want to play and leave the rest for the people that actually want to play the game as is iso biching about a game for not beeing exactly how they would want it to be.
 
I have to admit I'm not sure that the trilogy needs a "remaster" really, unless they take the time to really enhance it overall. From what is described in Cmdr Shepard's video, it seems like a reasonable update but not a huge enhanced overhaul RE2Remake style ; still viable but I hope it is reasonably priced (ie cheap, ) especially given how you can get the trilogy for cheap today so trying to push it as a new $60 game even for all 3 isn't going to work without significant overhaul.

The other real concern I have is the port to the Frostbite engine. Its understandable to update the engine, but Frostbite is notoriously difficult to work with and this bothers me about mod compatibility. Mass Effect titles, particularly ME3 have some HUGE mods. Things that change the endings, add whole new playable characters and storylines, and overall create an overhaul of extreme proportions (ie MEHEM + Expanded Galaxy Mod alone are incredible, not to mention all the other addons and overhauls). I wonder if these along with the kind of "simple" modding and flag changing under the existing engine will be possible with the remaster using Frostbite.
 
So, the Reddit rumors have been debunked it seems. Remaster coming for sure, but ignore all the info in that dump... But I hope they get the combat fluidity up to the level of ME:A. Going back to the first is painful as far as movement and combat (and don't get me started on inventory).
 
I have to admit I'm not sure that the trilogy needs a "remaster" really, unless they take the time to really enhance it overall. From what is described in Cmdr Shepard's video, it seems like a reasonable update but not a huge enhanced overhaul RE2Remake style ; still viable but I hope it is reasonably priced (ie cheap, ) especially given how you can get the trilogy for cheap today so trying to push it as a new $60 game even for all 3 isn't going to work without significant overhaul.

The other real concern I have is the port to the Frostbite engine. Its understandable to update the engine, but Frostbite is notoriously difficult to work with and this bothers me about mod compatibility. Mass Effect titles, particularly ME3 have some HUGE mods. Things that change the endings, add whole new playable characters and storylines, and overall create an overhaul of extreme proportions (ie MEHEM + Expanded Galaxy Mod alone are incredible, not to mention all the other addons and overhauls). I wonder if these along with the kind of "simple" modding and flag changing under the existing engine will be possible with the remaster using Frostbite.
Most games don't really need remaster/remakes. It is just easy money and remakes rarely live up to the original. Like FF7. Final Fantasy 4-6 deserved a proper remake before 7. I am not talking about the lame mobile ports/remakes.
 
I have to admit I'm not sure that the trilogy needs a "remaster" really, unless they take the time to really enhance it overall. From what is described in Cmdr Shepard's video, it seems like a reasonable update but not a huge enhanced overhaul RE2Remake style ; still viable but I hope it is reasonably priced (ie cheap, ) especially given how you can get the trilogy for cheap today so trying to push it as a new $60 game even for all 3 isn't going to work without significant overhaul.

The other real concern I have is the port to the Frostbite engine. Its understandable to update the engine, but Frostbite is notoriously difficult to work with and this bothers me about mod compatibility. Mass Effect titles, particularly ME3 have some HUGE mods. Things that change the endings, add whole new playable characters and storylines, and overall create an overhaul of extreme proportions (ie MEHEM + Expanded Galaxy Mod alone are incredible, not to mention all the other addons and overhauls). I wonder if these along with the kind of "simple" modding and flag changing under the existing engine will be possible with the remaster using Frostbite.
Mods are my main concern. I couldn't go back to playing the standard versions alone. You're right about EGM and MEHEM. Fantastic content! The Spectre, Ark, and Omega mods are outstanding, as well. I figure they'll need tweaking to work with the remaster.
 
I for one would love a remaster. I assume by remaster that all it means is that they'd update the graphics and maybe get rid of some bugs as well as add in some missing content (and perhaps correct a few story things here and there).
There has been a lot done by MEHEM and others as has already been noted, but a lot of the massive texture packs cause the game to slow down unnecessarily. If it's possible, I'd love them to update all three games to UE4 and update the models and textures as well as lighting for an overall better looking game than what the mod community was able to offer.
But modders can't fix all the bugs. They can't make the mechanics of the games better. This would be an opportunity to improve those things in all three games.

ME1 was supposed to be a bigger game than it ended up being. Watching retrospectives on it is definitely illuminating. If they have time to add any of that content back in, that would be great.
It also had limited memory that the following games didn't have. So many of the interior bases were the same with different layouts on the inside. A lot of side stories got relegated essentially to a dialog box (which they used SO effectively! Showing it's not necessary to always do everything in some crazy graphical way). It might be nice to see what all that stuff would look like fleshed out.
It would also be nice to flesh out more of the characters in the first game, I feel like Bioware was really still finding their footing in terms of character development with the first game. That said, I think it's story-wise one of the strongest in the series. Harbinger revealing himself is still a story moment that I don't think either of its sequels topped. The Rachni Queen. Meeting your friends for the first time (Tali, Liara, Wrex, etc). And there was genuine wonder about where the series would go next when I first played it.
Correcting the ME3 ending might be the real swan song that most would be looking for in a remake. As well as better integration of all the DLC content.

I'd also love them to finally get around to porting it to macOS, especially now that they've finally put everything back up on Steam. I'd day one buy it for sure in the case they do. If not, then I'd likely just wait for it to get to $10.
 
Last edited:
So, the Reddit rumors have been debunked it seems. Remaster coming for sure, but ignore all the info in that dump... But I hope they get the combat fluidity up to the level of ME:A. Going back to the first is painful as far as movement and combat (and don't get me started on inventory).

This does not surprise me, but do you have a Source to back this up?
 
I am not convinced yet that this is anything past glorified rumor and wishful thinking all told. Where are the real source and proof?
 
Nope- I went back to the articles that I saw previously and they are all noting that it's all rumor at this point. I thought that the fact that is was being done had been confirmed, but I am incorrect.
 
Nope- I went back to the articles that I saw previously and they are all noting that it's all rumor at this point. I thought that the fact that is was being done had been confirmed, but I am incorrect.

Thanks for checking either way. I did some digging myself and came up with the same answer. We know they are working on it, and that it releases this year, but that is all we know for sure. I can be happy with that for now.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Q-BZ
like this
Do we know this really? What am I missing?

EA had it in a lineup of remasters and other games slated to come out this year. I can't remember, but some article showed it on the list. Absolutely no official announcements concerning the release have been made. We don't know exactly what this so called remaster even entails. Is it getting the full Halo 1 Remastered treatment, new textures or something in between? We just don't know. As far as I know there is basically nothing known about the project other than it exists.
 
I am not convinced yet that this is anything past glorified rumor and wishful thinking all told. Where are the real source and proof?

  1. Started with VentureBeat's Jeff Grubb going over an EA Investor's meeting that revealed an "HD remake of an EA Game" that he said was the Mass Effect Trilogy
  2. Then BioWare's Twitter account started dropping hints.
  3. Jeffery Grubb has also shared further insight via his Twitter while answering questions
  4. Various BioWare Dev's have further added to the rumors, while EA and BioWare have made no effort to deny them (which given their reputation, would serve them to do)
For a basic synopsis:

 
  • Like
Reactions: Q-BZ
like this
I'm not sure how much I trust the rumors. There are lots of claims being made and many of them don't really sound all that plausible. I could be wrong and kind of hope that I am. That said, some of the changes I've heard about in these videos could go either way. Things like changing the boss fight mechanics in ME1 concern me. My biggest fear though, is that identity politics and virtue signaling will be thrown into the game if its more than a simple port to a new engine with new textures models and game assets.

I believe the rumors about it being ported to Frostbite. Not only does EA use it whether it makes sense or not, but it would enable them to flip some assets from Andromeda. That cuts down on time and development costs. Beyond that, I don't know how many of the rumors I believe.
 
I believe the rumors about it being ported to Frostbite. Not only does EA use it whether it makes sense or not, but it would enable them to flip some assets from Andromeda. That cuts down on time and development costs.
I think EA has pushed Frostbyte to be their 'one engine to rule them all' within their catalog. In fairness, it works pretty well across a pretty wide range of game styles, and with Mass Effect: Andromeda playing as well as it does, it's hard to criticize them if that's the way they're going. This would also mean that they'd be able to keep the Mass Effect assets up to date as they update Frostbyte.
 
I think EA has pushed Frostbyte to be their 'one engine to rule them all' within their catalog. In fairness, it works pretty well across a pretty wide range of game styles, and with Mass Effect: Andromeda playing as well as it does, it's hard to criticize them if that's the way they're going. This would also mean that they'd be able to keep the Mass Effect assets up to date as they update Frostbyte.

The engine isn't meant for RPG's like Mass Effect. It wasn't suited to open world games either, but EA's done it. Since it was done with Andromeda, it can surely be done with these remasters, which is why I believe that part of the rumors.
 
It could go to UE4, not sure if porting it over is easier than Frostbtye but I assume it is. Remember Jedi Fallen Order was on UE4 and that was a new game.

I do hope it moves to a new new engine with greatly improved graphical features and small quality of life fixes. As for expanding ME1, maybe make the side quests a bit better (unique buildings/interiors) and expanded slightly. But I don't need another 10 hours of crap slapped on.
 
Honestly, I don't think I'm interested anymore. I re-watched someone playing the first game the other day and it was a slog. Even more than I remember. Very much a product of the time and a willingness to overlook a shaky game because it had a cool story. At this point I know how everything plays out, so the little issues jump out more and more. While 2 and 3 were better games, I don't know if I really want to go back to them either.
To get my interest, they're going to have to totally remake the series (a la FF7 or RE2). I don't get the impression that's what they're going for here.
 
this series was all about the world building and interesting characters...a remaster is nice but the original still stands up pretty good
 
Honestly, I don't think I'm interested anymore. I re-watched someone playing the first game the other day and it was a slog. Even more than I remember. Very much a product of the time and a willingness to overlook a shaky game because it had a cool story. At this point I know how everything plays out, so the little issues jump out more and more. While 2 and 3 were better games, I don't know if I really want to go back to them either.
To get my interest, they're going to have to totally remake the series (a la FF7 or RE2). I don't get the impression that's what they're going for here.

The first game is by far the most challenging to revisit. Everything about it is dated. If any sort of remaster is happening, I really think this one needs to be reworked from the ground up. You can only sell so many copies on nostalgia, no doubt EA wants to make these games approachable to younger gamers who started gaming in the current generation of consoles. The only way to do that is to massively tighten up the combat and gameplay mechanics to fall in line with modern titles. Two and three hold up much better in regards to how they play. I think those two stand a much better chance at being marketable with just the HD treatment.

Mass Effect is one of my favorite franchises and one I'd happily rebuy if enough effort were put into them. For a top-to-bottom remake, I'd pay $60 a piece again. But if they just get the HD treatment, not so much.
 
this series was all about the world building and interesting characters...a remaster is nice but the original still stands up pretty good

ehhhhhhhh... first, lemme say I'm a massive Mass Effect fan, but the first game has not aged well in terms of gameplay. It's not *bad* of course, but there are so many things that could be tweaked with some of the many third person shooter mechanics that have been refined to a science in the years since its release.
 
this series was all about the world building and interesting characters...a remaster is nice but the original still stands up pretty good

I've replayed most the series with some of the more popular mods on Mod Nexus and in many ways it can be more ideal. Most are graphical improvements, but you can also tailor some gameplay mechanics to your liking. For ME3 you can alter the whole ending if you choose. Not sure that level of modding that will be possible with Frostbite, which is one of the reasons I think EA likes the engine, but I could be way off on that one.
 
ehhhhhhhh... first, lemme say I'm a massive Mass Effect fan, but the first game has not aged well in terms of gameplay. It's not *bad* of course, but there are so many things that could be tweaked with some of the many third person shooter mechanics that have been refined to a science in the years since its release.

The overheating mechanic sucked. I still think the reason they did this wasn't to be unique but rather to same time with animations. Shooting in general just didn't have much impact. It was serviceable then, but ME3 blows it and ME2 even out of the water. The conversation camera work got much better in ME2 and 3, so they can change that up to. Lots of small things like that can be improved to make the game smoother. But I think changing the weapons from the overheating type would change up the lore/gameplay a bit too much; supposed they can mix in ones that would appear in ME2 as well. I did like the grenades and actually walking up to the Normandy and entering via the airlock over the cutcenes in the later games.
 
ehhhhhhhh... first, lemme say I'm a massive Mass Effect fan, but the first game has not aged well in terms of gameplay. It's not *bad* of course, but there are so many things that could be tweaked with some of the many third person shooter mechanics that have been refined to a science in the years since its release.
The first game has definitely aged more than the others but whether it's better or worse depends on what type of game you like. The first game is a better RPG and stays more true to the series KOTOR roots while the 2nd and 3rd games are much better shooters.

Personally I prefer the first game but I do understand how someone might prefer 2 and 3. They all had their individual warts as well(inventory, planet scanning, red/green/blue) but it was still a really good trilogy.

Edit: As far as a remake goes I'm not against it but I don't see the point since I think they all stand up quite well and were still perfectly playable the last time I played them which I believe was last summer.
 
ME1 could certainly use it, although I assume if they do one they will do them all. ME1 could use some minor updates in general. Change up the inventory and upgrade system to be more like ME3. Not exactly like it, but closer. It was absolutely a weak spot for the first game. Maybe update the cinematic camera angles and whatnot to feel more like 2/3.

Wonder if it will be Frostbite or UE4.

It's going to be a few higher-res textures and some animation and audio clean up (with a few additional horse-armor microtransactions thrown in), nothing more. It will be just enough for an excuse to release it on new platforms/consoles.

As for the jab in the article about Andromeda, I'm with the rest of you guys -- it was a very good, albeit not stellar, game. I'm just replaying it and it holds up as well as the other MEs in fun and re-playability (although the story is quite weak).

Edit: No way in holy heckfire this re-release will be done in a new engine. It's going to be still good old Unreal 3, without a doubt.
 
Last edited:
The engine isn't meant for RPG's like Mass Effect. It wasn't suited to open world games either, but EA's done it. Since it was done with Andromeda, it can surely be done with these remasters, which is why I believe that part of the rumors.

Nevermind Frostbite being forced on the developers is one reason why ME:A stank so badly.
 
Unpopular opinion: DA:I was worse than ME:A. At least a shooter worked on frostbite, but the fantasy rpg not at all. And it had some of the same or similar bugs as ME:A.
 
Back
Top