Mass Effect Legendary Edition - Gameplay Tuning, Rebalancing and More

[Silver]

Gematsu reports on the gameplay tuning and rebalancing coming to Mass Effect Legendary Edition.

Table of Contents

• Combat Tuning (Mass Effect)
• Additional Gameplay Improvements (All)
• The Mako (Mass Effect)
• Unifying and Modernizing the Trilogy (All)
• Galaxy at War Rebalancing (Mass Effect 3)

■ Combat Tuning

"I don't need luck--I have ammo."

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.

[...]

More information.

 

[JDR13]

Most of the changes, like improved controls and the integration of previous DLC items into the game, sound good, but it also sounds like they've made the games even easier and more accessible than they already were.

Some boss fights and enemies in the first game have been tweaked to be fairer for players but still challenging.

XP gained during the first game has been rebalanced for better consistency, especially towards the game’s end. Players who complete most aspects of the game should be able to more reliably get to higher levels on a single playthrough rather than needing to play through a second time to do so. Additionally, there is no longer a level cap on a first playthrough.

we also tweaked ammunition in Mass Effect 2. We found that ammo was spawning too scarcely in the original game, so we’ve increased the drop rate for ammo in Mass Effect 2, particularly when using a sniper rifle since that had a reduced ammo drop rate in the original release.

Shields recharge faster (Mako)

The XP penalty while in the Mako has been removed

I don't recall any of those things being an issue for me. I'd prefer they left an option to use the original settings for stuff like that.

 

[Couchpotato]

Still not excited about games I played over twenty times already. Still if you never played the whole trilogy and DLC godspeed, you'll probably love this enhanced edition.

 

[ilm]

I only played them once. This would be a good opportunity for a second playthrough. I also had absolutely no problems with the difficulty and the fixes mentioned. In fact, it was fairly easy.

 

[Redglyph]

I've only played the first one, maybe that's a good opportunity. I'm curious to see a few reviews of this.

I wonder how Casey Hudson must feel about this release. Perhaps he'll finally have the time to play it peacefully

 

[mercy]

Maybe the idiots at Bioware's Corpse can't mess up this one, but no insurances..

 

[GabrielMP_19]

Yeah, all these tweaks seem so unnecessary.

 

[Carnifex]

I played the first two, demanded and received a refund for the third, and promptly wrote the series off after that. I've not replayed the first two in some years, and I'm not sure I ever will, to be frank.

 

[Mosaic]

Ah yes, taking a classic game that was a hit of it's time and making game-play changes because we know better what people want today! Ugh, really?

Quality of life improvements like integrating DLC, sure, all good. But take something as simple as the Medi-gel cooldown being tweaked. You don't think they playtested the crap out of it? Probably had meetings discussing the pro's and con's of it's cooldown time. There was well thought out game design decisions behind all of these gameplay elements that are being changed here.

When you make things easier in a vacuum, there's ripples across the whole experience.
We might discover players find it just not quite as fun as they remember and they can't quite put a finger on why. Also, if you want an easier game - use the Easy setting.

Perhaps I'm being a bit too much of a chicken little and it'll be fine. I wouldn't mind another run through, just gotta remember to trip over the power cord at the end.

 

[Ripper]

There's some difficulty tweaking that would be useful. I juiced up my Charge ability, and became the Unstoppable Human Cannonball.

 

[Redglyph]

That, and the fact they've unified the experience is good for who wants to play the trilogy for the first time.

Sure, I'd rather see a completely new game, I always find remakes a bit unimaginative, but on the other hand it's nice that people preserve bits of culture. I'm speaking here in general: games, movies, and so on; in this case perhaps I'd rather see a remaster of KotOR than ME but that's entirely subjective. Besides, a modern-looking KotOR would probably require much more work than ME.

It's still a good thing IMO.

 

[JDR13]

This isn't a remake. It's just a remaster with a lot of (mostly minor) tweaks.

They didn't even upgrade the engine. It uses the same engine (Unreal 3) as the original versions. It was apparently too much work to move them to Unreal 4.

 

[Redglyph]

This isn't a remake. It's just a remaster with a lot of (mostly minor) tweaks.

They didn't even upgrade the engine. It uses the same engine (Unreal 3) as the original versions. It was apparently too much work to move them to Unreal 4.

That's right, thanks! Poor choice of words, I edited my post (but left the first 'remake' bit when I considered the general idea of releasing the same story)

I understand U4 mainly has better textures and more lighting features, that sounds like a lot of work if they had to take advantage of it. Do you fear it'll look aged by today's standard?

EDIT: I found this amusing

According to BioWare project director Mac Walters, who worked on the original Mass Effect trilogy, the reasoning behind this move to not use the upgraded engine is to essentially maintain the feel of playing the original games in all their early 2000's glory.

Later in the article, however, they mention that "some of the scripts in Unreal Engine 3 don't have an alternative to use in Unreal 4, which means that so much of the base game would have to be re-made from scratch", which seems a more honest justification.

 

[rune_74]

I'm actually looking forward to this. I have all three games through the years but I think sitting down in front of the tv playing this on my xbox will be a good time, even if I have played them before.

 

[zypek]

It's rare for me to replay a game, but I'm going to make an exception for these. I really enjoyed playing all of the Mass Effect games. Yes, even Andromeda (played it after they patched it).

 

[Couchpotato]

Mass Effect Legendary Edition Official Remastered Comparison Trailer

Get an in-depth look at the visual upgrades you’ll experience when Mass Effect™ Legendary Edition launches May 14. Check out a side-by-side comparison of the stunning environmental, character, and visual effects improvements waiting for you – the people, places, and tech you know and love have never looked so good.

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition - 15 Things You NEED To Know Before You Buy

One of the greatest gaming trilogies of all time is coming back soon, and it seems BioWare and EA are giving it the respect it deserves. Based on everything that we've seen so far, it's looking like Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is going to remaster and improve the already amazing original trilogy in notable ways (especially the first game).

 

[JDR13]

Am I the only one who finds the visual upgrades underwhelming?

 

[Pladio]

Still not excited about games I played over twenty times already. Still if you never played the whole trilogy and DLC godspeed, you'll probably love this enhanced edition.

I've only played through each of the games once but replayed portions a few times.

I don't see myself buying this game until I clear my never-ending backlog...

 

[Pladio]

This isn't a remake. It's just a remaster with a lot of (mostly minor) tweaks.

They didn't even upgrade the engine. It uses the same engine (Unreal 3) as the original versions. It was apparently too much work to move them to Unreal 4.

How would you define remaster vs remake?

I'm not familiar with the differences.

 

[Couchpotato]

How would you define remaster vs remake?

I'm not familiar with the differences.

Remaster

When something is labeled a remaster, this generally means it retains most of the original content with modern touch-ups to its visual and mechanical fidelity, due to newer technology at developers' disposal. Aside from these updates, remasters leave most of the base game intact.

Remake

The word 'remake' basically means a completely new game based on an older game, usually a classic. But there are variations on how this is defined. Usually a new engine and different from the original.

Link - https://www.techradar.com/news/game-remakes-vs-remasters-whats-the-difference