Gaming Mass Effect: Legendary Edition

Organic Potatoes

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MAKO > Probing any day, I loved driving MAKO in original ME, never understood the hate.
Yeah, don’t take away my drunk Mako. That’s like taking away quick jumping up a mountainside in an Elder Scrolls game; it’s something so goofy it becomes part of the charm of the game.
 

Mr Pigeon

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Mass Effect 1 looked very good for its age. It came out in 2007!

Quite an influential year for gaming, incidentally. Mass Effect, Portal, Assassin's Creed, Crysis, BioShock, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - not bad at all. Not quite on a patch with 1998 but then what year is?
I think Mass Effect and Assassin's Creed were the first two games I played through HDMI on the 360 so I was completely blown away by its "1080p" goodness
 

Siorac

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MAKO > Probing any day, I loved driving MAKO in original ME, never understood the hate.
The controls were just awful, and you could easily get stuck on terrain. It was frustrating. And not very rewarding, frankly. You drove around a lot and then eventually found a small outpost that looked exactly the same as every other small outpost in the other side jobs. Meh.
 

Massive Spanner

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The controls were just awful, and you could easily get stuck on terrain. It was frustrating. And not very rewarding, frankly. You drove around a lot and then eventually found a small outpost that looked exactly the same as every other small outpost in the other side jobs. Meh.
Yeah it's funny to see people looking back on it so fondly when bioware basically did the same thing in Andromeda only much better and got absolutely slaughtered for it. It was awful!
 

Mr Pigeon

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You fecking wot, m8?
The entire point of the remaster - the absolutely main reason why it's being made - is to enhance the quality of the Miranda arse shots. That's a fecking fact and I'm sick of people lying about it.
 

Drainy

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Looks like arse to be honest (not Miranda's though by the sound of it.)

At least it's one up on the Silent Hill HD collection in that they actually included all the games. That was a really lazy shitshow. Although I expect this to be very lazy too in many ways.
 

Organic Potatoes

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Looks like arse to be honest (not Miranda's though by the sound of it.)

At least it's one up on the Silent Hill HD collection in that they actually included all the games. That was a really lazy shitshow. Although I expect this to be very lazy too in many ways.
It is in the respects that they used the old Unreal engine to do it, and left the MP out. But really the draw is a chance to play 1 with updated graphics and QOL/mechanics improvements, and that’s a huge draw for me personally.
 

Minkaro

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I want to buy this, how many hours per game am I looking at?
Howlongtobeat.com is your friend.

But according to Steam, ME1 took me 29.2 hours, and ME2 69.1. Not sure on 3 because that was on some other weird platform.

Edit: I might have replayed 2, actually. So about 30 hours each?
 

Bojan11

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Also, I can't remember as I played them last a decade ago. I would say roughly 25 hours for each game not including DLC and depends on difficulty. But it's also good to play the games again with a different build. I played the soldier class as that's the most overpowered and then for my second playthrough as Adept.
 

Bojan11

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Can't be bothered starting a new thread, but good news. Thankfully the sales of the Star Wars game has woken up EA that single-player games can sell.
 

Salt Bailly

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Can't be bothered starting a new thread, but good news. Thankfully the sales of the Star Wars game has woken up EA that single-player games can sell.
Sweet.

Hopefully it'll be next gen only and epic in every sense of the word.
 

rotherham_red

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Can't be bothered starting a new thread, but good news. Thankfully the sales of the Star Wars game has woken up EA that single-player games can sell.
Is the Dragon Age series worth getting into? The synopsis is tempting but I'm struggling to find a place where all the DLC for DA2 is available in one place on the PS3
 

Salt Bailly

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Is the Dragon Age series worth getting into? The synopsis is tempting but I'm struggling to find a place where all the DLC for DA2 is available in one place on the PS3
1 and 3 are excellent, 2 is ok but you won't miss much by skipping it.
 

Balljy

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Can't be bothered starting a new thread, but good news. Thankfully the sales of the Star Wars game has woken up EA that single-player games can sell.
"Has Allowed". Sums up EA really and although great news I hope they're not having to rework everything now to start again. One of the developers called it Anthem with dragons a while ago before this news.
 

Massive Spanner

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All the dragon age games have aged pretty poorly to be honest. 1 and 3 were great when they came out but a bit shit now.
 

evil_geko

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First Dragon Age is the best by far, second unfinished and pretty bad, third is filled with empty open world and repetitive side quests.
 

Bojan11

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Combat in the Mass Effect trilogy has evolved across the series, with each game’s experience being different. We wanted to make the experience better across the board, but we didn’t want to unnecessarily change what our fans have come to love about each game. That proved a unique challenge, as the first game is quite different from the second and third in terms of gameplay and combat. Mass Effect was heavily influenced by traditional RPG mechanics, like the randomness of a dice roll and pen-and-paper stat building. As a result, weapons in Mass Effect often felt less accurate and reliable than the gunplay in Mass Effect 2 and 3.

We heard the consistent feedback that it was pretty frustrating to take a few shots with an assault rifle and suddenly have the reticle enlarge to span a large portion of the screen, so we looked at tuning the mechanics to provide better handling without outright scrapping the spirit of the original games.

In the first Mass Effect, accuracy (including reticle bloom and weapon sway) has been tuned across all weapons to allow players to maintain more consistent firepower while still managing their shots/overheat meter. We’ve also improved the aiming down sights (ADS) camera view to be tighter on combat so that ADS is more accurate (like the second and third games), and we’ve improved the aim assist to provide better precision. These small behind-the-scenes changes collectively make combat much “snappier,” putting more control into the player’s hands.

Abilities have also been rebalanced in the first game. For example, the “Immunity” ability now grants a powerful defensive buff that lasts a brief period of time instead of being a small buff that lasts indefinitely.

The following overview lists gameplay changes we made specifically to the first Mass Effect, with the goal of bringing it a bit more in line with the rest of the trilogy:

  • Shepard can now sprint out of combat
  • Melee attacks are now mapped to a button press rather than automatically occurring based on proximity to an enemy
  • Weapon accuracy and handling has been significantly improved
    • Reticle bloom is more controlled
    • Weapon sway removed from sniper rifles
    • Aiming down sights/”tight aim” camera view has been improved
    • Improved aim assist for target acquisition
  • All relevant enemies now take headshot damage in the first game
    • Previously some did not, including humanoid enemies
  • Ammo mods (Anti-Organic, Anti-Synthetic, etc.) can now drop throughout the whole game
    • Previously, these stopped dropping at higher player levels
    • They are now also available to purchase from merchants
  • All weapons can be used by any class without penalty
    • Specializations (the ability to train/upgrade certain weapons) are still class-specific
  • Weapons cool down much faster
  • Medi-gel usage has been improved
    • Base cooldown reduced
    • Levelling benefits increased
    • Increased Liara’s bonus to cooldowns
  • Inventory management improvements
    • Items can now be flagged as “Junk”
    • All Junk items can be converted into Omni-gel or sold to merchants at once
    • Inventory and stores now have sorting functionality
  • Some abilities have been rebalanced
  • Weapon powers (i.e., those that are unlocked on each weapon type’s skill tree) have been improved:
    • Effectiveness/strength is increased (duration reduced in some cases)
    • Heat now resets on power activation

Additional gameplay improvements
Beyond general gunplay changes, we’ve made some specific changes to encounters, enemies, and how you engage in combat. We found a few opportunities to bring the first game in line with the second and third games, and we also found some systems across the whole trilogy that needed a tune up.

Without spoiling too much for new players, one example is the boss encounter on Noveria. The boss room has been slightly reworked, keeping it very familiar but making it less cramped. You’ll also be much less prone to being thrown around by biotic abilities.

Other targeted combat updates we’ve made include:

  • Squadmates can now be commanded independently of each other in the first Mass Effect, the same way you can command them individually in Mass Effect 2 and 3
  • Some boss fights and enemies in the first game have been tweaked to be fairer for players but still challenging
  • Cover has been improved across the trilogy
    • Additional cover added to some encounters
    • Entering and exiting cover is now more reliable
  • XP has been rebalanced in the first game (details below)
  • Ammo drops have been rebalanced in Mass Effect 2 (details below)

The Mako
But of course, we’ve got to talk about the (in)famous M-35 Mako. This legendary vehicle from the first Mass Effect has been “calibrated” to perform better than ever. In the original game, the physics tuning for the Mako made it feel too light and bouncy, even at times becoming uncontrollable, but it’s now a much smoother ride while still being “loveable” like before. (Yes, you can still drive off cliffs to your heart’s content).

Its functionally has also been improved with faster shield recharging and new thrusters added to the rear, allowing for a speed boost when you’re inevitably trying to scale up the side of a near-vertical cliff. (We all do it.) This boost’s recharge is independent from the jump jets on the vehicle’s underside, so you can use both at once or separately.

These are the calibrations you can expect to experience when driving the Mako:

  • Improved handling
    • Physics tuning improved to feel “weightier” and slide around less
  • Improved camera controls
    • Resolved issues preventing the Mako from accurately aiming at lower angles
  • Shields recharge faster
  • New thrusters added for a speed boost
    • Its cooldown is separate from the jump jets’
  • The XP penalty while in the Mako has been removed
  • Touching lava no longer results in an instant Mission Failure and instead deals damage over time
 

Bojan11

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We’ve also added the Mass Effect: Genesiscomics by Dark Horse into the base experience before Mass Effect 2 and 3 as an optional experience so players can make choices from previous games no matter where they choose to start.

Of course, the Legendary Edition includes a variety of additional enhancements. Here are some of the things you can look forward to:

  • New unified launcher for all three games
    • Includes trilogy-wide settings for subtitles and languages
    • Saves are still unique to each game and can be managed independently of each other
  • Updated character creator options, as mentioned above
    • FemShep from Mass Effect 3 is the new default female option in all three games (the original FemShep design is still available as a preset option)
  • Achievements across the trilogy have been updated
    • New achievements have been added to the trilogy
    • Progress for some achievements now carries over across all three games (e.g. Kill 250 enemies across all games)
      • Achievements that were streamlined into one and made redundant were removed
    • A number of achievements have had their objectives/descriptions and/or names updated
  • Integrated weapons and armor DLC packs
    • Weapons and armor DLC packs are now integrated naturally into the game; they’re obtainable via research or by purchasing them from merchants as you progress through the game, rather than being immediately unlocked from the start. This ensures overall balance and progression across ME2 and ME3
    • Recon Hood (ME2) and Cerberus Ajax Armor (ME3) are available at the start of each game
  • Additional gameplay & Quality of life improvements
    • Audio is remixed and enhanced across all games
    • Hundreds of legacy bugs from the original releases are fixed
    • Native controller and 21:9 display support on PC, with DirectX 11 compatibility
 

Organic Potatoes

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Sounds like 1 might be more viable if played like a shooter now. Not that it matters because I’m not going back in as anything other than a biotic.
 

muller

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So excuse the lazy approach here, but 13 seconds of googling haven't given me the exact answer I want.

In short, my friend and I need a new game to play online. I'm bored of being terrible at COD, and he's bored of being terrible at rocket league.

Will there be an option for online co-op story play on Mass Effect at all? I assume not but just want to check.

I can't wait to play through them all again.
 

Siorac

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Weapon sway removed from sniper rifles
Why though? I mean it's not a big deal, certainly, but I LIKE having weapon sway on a sniper rifle; it's part of the challenge and the fun of sniping.

I do massively appreciate the changes to the Galaxy at War part of ME3. Multiplayer having an effect on it in the original was unjustifiably awful.
 

AaronRedDevil

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So excuse the lazy approach here, but 13 seconds of googling haven't given me the exact answer I want.

In short, my friend and I need a new game to play online. I'm bored of being terrible at COD, and he's bored of being terrible at rocket league.

Will there be an option for online co-op story play on Mass Effect at all? I assume not but just want to check.

I can't wait to play through them all again.
I don’t think there’s any co op or even multiplayer. I think they removed the multiplayer all together. But if your looking for a fun co op game. Back 4 Blood might be it, it’s basically a Left 4 Dead clone. Fun as hell if you have someone to play with. It will be out in may as well.
 

muller

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I don’t think there’s any co op or even multiplayer. I think they removed the multiplayer all together. But if your looking for a fun co op game. Back 4 Blood might be it, it’s basically a Left 4 Dead clone. Fun as hell if you have someone to play with. It will be out in may as well.
Superb, thanks mate. I assumed that was the case but just wanted to check! I'll have a look.