• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Mass Effect Legendary Edition Changes - Original vs. Remastered

N1tr0sOx1d3

Given another chance
Did the ending of M3 ever get addressed?
I never played 3 due to the controversy.

Something about all the choices in both 1 and 2 never amounting to anything in M3?

Sorry details are vague as it’s been so long.
 

Umbasaborne

Banned
I agree, except for ME2 being objectively the best entry. It's not. What does it really have..?

Best story/plot? ME1
Best gameplay? ME3
Best lore? ME1
Best banter? ME3

The only thing that ME2 truly does better is the characters. And the memes, which says a lot. And even then, I think ME3 handled the characters better in multiple cases.
Even the ending, which is generally praised, brought a lot of confusion when it just came out. The majority of the ending was good, but giant baby terminator reaper was not only confusing, it was stupid. It was a precedent of what we would be getting in ME3. Not to mention that the game is mainly filler. ME3 could have been pasted after ME1, skipping ME2 entirely, and it would work.

I still am of the opinion that ME2 is loved so much because it was the first Mass Effect game to arrive on PlayStation. Anything that is remotely good on PlayStation gets praised to the heavens and beyond. It brought a whole bunch of people to the Mass Effect franchise, but they all played it wrong by starting with ME2 rather than ME1. I also still maintain the perspective that the downward spiral of Mass Effect started with ME2. The downward spiral accelerated because of the high praise despite the many flaws in many areas that did not and still do not receive fair criticism.

The main reason I will be getting this is due to the ME1 changes. That alone makes it worth it. Because ME1 is better at pretty much everything. The main thing that held ME1 back was the poor controls and poor framerate. With that fixed, hopefully, more people see the true value of this game.
So for a little bit i vastly preffered one ( i played all of them on 360 starting with the first one in 07). And while its still my favorite for its tactical combat, deeper rpg mechanics, and amazing and haunting atmosphere that feels straight out of a 70’s space opera, lately ive realized that mass effect 2 has better writing and more interesting characters, and while the combat is less strategic and exploration is non existant, it makes the game have better pacing than its predecessor, which makes sense as time is a
Bit more of the essence in the plot. Ultimatley, the writing and characters are why i come to this series, and i really feel like 2 is the best in this department. Some of the hubs are great to, i love the sunset bathed city scape of illium. Its one of my favorite locations in video games
 

Ascend

Member
Did the ending of M3 ever get addressed?
I never played 3 due to the controversy.

Something about all the choices in both 1 and 2 never amounting to anything in M3?

Sorry details are vague as it’s been so long.
Play 3. A LOT of things are addressed. People trash the whole game because of the last 15 minutes, but really, the whole 30+ hours before that are great and resolve a lot of what was set up in the prior games.
 

Valonquar

Member
They tacked on an extended ending with some more brief "here's what happened afterward" summary type stuff without cutscenes. It isn't much better than before but at least it isn't the super turd of an ending it started out as.
 

N1tr0sOx1d3

Given another chance
Play 3. A LOT of things are addressed. People trash the whole game because of the last 15 minutes, but really, the whole 30+ hours before that are great and resolve a lot of what was set up in the prior games.
Thank you. Will do.
Looking forward to this remaster. Loved the 1st and 2nd games.

I take it andromeda was bad though?
 

Renozokii

Member
"Go outside" is just projecting from the fact that there's mass censorship in the games industry. So what if people want attractive video game characters?
Mass censorship meaning a broader focus on mass appeal for people of all genders and an industry that is growing in maturity at a super accelerated pace? You can play black desert online on a PlayStation and make a barely clothed character that’s a child but not really. There’s no damn mass censorship.
 

Ascend

Member
I take it andromeda was bad though?
Yes... Andromeda was basically an open world or sandbox ME2 without good characters and terrible pacing.

So for a little bit i vastly preffered one ( i played all of them on 360 starting with the first one in 07). And while its still my favorite for its tactical combat, deeper rpg mechanics, and amazing and haunting atmosphere that feels straight out of a 70’s space opera, lately ive realized that mass effect 2 has better writing and more interesting characters, and while the combat is less strategic and exploration is non existant, it makes the game have better pacing than its predecessor, which makes sense as time is a
Bit more of the essence in the plot. Ultimatley, the writing and characters are why i come to this series, and i really feel like 2 is the best in this department. Some of the hubs are great to, i love the sunset bathed city scape of illium. Its one of my favorite locations in video games
Better writing...?
You mean like the moment you can enter a plague zone, but after the plague is gone, the area becomes inaccessible?
Or do you mean how the whole crew including your main playable character randomly go away on an unknown mission that you know nothing about, just so your spaceship can be invaded...?
Or do you mean killing off the main character to immediately revive him/her afterwards...?

Especially the last one kills any sort of 'better' writing in my view. ME2 has more spectacle, but that's not what I would call better writing. ME1 has a coherent plot, and everyone has a purpose, compared to a pretty much non-existent plot with a lot of filler.

I agree that the characters are written better in ME2. They are written very will within their own bubble, but they lack any sort of true connection with the whole, which to me is important. The main exception is Legion, because he throws everything you learned in ME1 under the bus. The other exception is Mordin, because Genophage.
All that being said, Liara and Garrus are my favorite characters in the trilogy, and that's not because of what they were in ME1. It's because of what they became in ME2, and especially in ME3.

ME2 does have better pacing in a lot of areas. But some of the things implemented here annoyed me. Being constantly teleported back to the Normandy after a mission for one, was extremely annoying. I would have loved the option to teleport to the Normandy, or to walk back myself. Why? Because too often I got teleported to the ship from Omega, while I still had other stuff to do, which meant landing again and sitting through yet another minute of load screen. The game sacrificed agency for hand-holding in a few areas, and, I hated it.

I disagree about the hubs as well. The ME1 Citadel is unbeaten across the whole trilogy and Andromeda. The first time you step there, it truly feels big and overwhelming. The ME2 Citadel is pretty much non-existent, and Omega is claustrophobic. The whole of ME2 is pretty much claustrophobic in comparison to ME1. I do like Illium's aesthetic design, but it was also still claustrophobic.
I do realize that it was likely designed this way due to technological limitations and to enable proper loading of different areas. It was likely the sacrifice to guarantee a smooth framerate. So in a way it's a shame that it ended up like this, but it is what it is. We have to judge the games on what they are rather than what they could have been.

Dragon Age 2 and Mass Effect 2 got the same treatment. But for some reason, people see the issues mainly in Dragon Age 2 and not Mass Effect 2.
 

Umbasaborne

Banned
Yes... Andromeda was basically an open world or sandbox ME2 without good characters and terrible pacing.


Better writing...?
You mean like the moment you can enter a plague zone, but after the plague is gone, the area becomes inaccessible?
Or do you mean how the whole crew including your main playable character randomly go away on an unknown mission that you know nothing about, just so your spaceship can be invaded...?
Or do you mean killing off the main character to immediately revive him/her afterwards...?

Especially the last one kills any sort of 'better' writing in my view. ME2 has more spectacle, but that's not what I would call better writing. ME1 has a coherent plot, and everyone has a purpose, compared to a pretty much non-existent plot with a lot of filler.

I agree that the characters are written better in ME2. They are written very will within their own bubble, but they lack any sort of true connection with the whole, which to me is important. The main exception is Legion, because he throws everything you learned in ME1 under the bus. The other exception is Mordin, because Genophage.
All that being said, Liara and Garrus are my favorite characters in the trilogy, and that's not because of what they were in ME1. It's because of what they became in ME2, and especially in ME3.

ME2 does have better pacing in a lot of areas. But some of the things implemented here annoyed me. Being constantly teleported back to the Normandy after a mission for one, was extremely annoying. I would have loved the option to teleport to the Normandy, or to walk back myself. Why? Because too often I got teleported to the ship from Omega, while I still had other stuff to do, which meant landing again and sitting through yet another minute of load screen. The game sacrificed agency for hand-holding in a few areas, and, I hated it.

I disagree about the hubs as well. The ME1 Citadel is unbeaten across the whole trilogy and Andromeda. The first time you step there, it truly feels big and overwhelming. The ME2 Citadel is pretty much non-existent, and Omega is claustrophobic. The whole of ME2 is pretty much claustrophobic in comparison to ME1. I do like Illium's aesthetic design, but it was also still claustrophobic.
I do realize that it was likely designed this way due to technological limitations and to enable proper loading of different areas. It was likely the sacrifice to guarantee a smooth framerate. So in a way it's a shame that it ended up like this, but it is what it is. We have to judge the games on what they are rather than what they could have been.

Dragon Age 2 and Mass Effect 2 got the same treatment. But for some reason, people see the issues mainly in Dragon Age 2 and not Mass Effect 2.
I love the mass effect 1 citadel. Ive been playing that game consistently every year for the past 13 years, and i never get sick of exploring the different wards and taking in the sights. Your right, it offers scale and spectacle that is somewhat lacking in mass effect 2 and 3
 
Mass censorship meaning a broader focus on mass appeal for people of all genders and an industry that is growing in maturity at a super accelerated pace? You can play black desert online on a PlayStation and make a barely clothed character that’s a child but not really. There’s no damn mass censorship.
"Broader focus on all genders" all 2 genders? What do women have to lose from a body part being censored and how does that demean them or show immaturity in any way?

No mass censorship? DMCV and Tracer (Overwatch) are just 2 examples but, sure, let's throw shade at an Asian game.
 

Renozokii

Member
"Broader focus on all genders" all 2 genders? What do women have to lose from a body part being censored and how does that demean them or show immaturity in any way?

No mass censorship? DMCV and Tracer (Overwatch) are just 2 examples but, sure, let's throw shade at an Asian game.
Even if your scientifically incorrect position is that there are only two genders the word all still works and you nit picked that word to start an irrelevant argument. It’s also exactly the same amount of effort as the word two, which I would have used in this context, so not really saving effort either way.

You say mass censorship and post an entire two examples. One of which does loosely fit I suppose, and another that I have to assume was that single pose of tracer that got removed, ignoring overwatch having some of the most sexualized, blatantly made to be drooled over (and successfully) females in any western game.

If you want to stare at sexy digital girls you still have a plethora of options. I just say that’s probably not the best thing for really anyone aside from a small subset of sexually deprived gamers that need females with triple d tits in skin tight clothes in their games to be satiated.

And I’ll throw shade at Japanese pervert culture all day. From massive issues of literal groping in public, the fetishizing of literal school girls, and their piss poor birth rate they need some of that shade.
 

Andodalf

Banned
"Go outside" is just projecting from the fact that there's mass censorship in the games industry. So what if people want attractive video game characters?
I think you should stop censoring people. If they wanted to change the camera angle they can't? They aren't allowed to have a creative vision? Sounds like 1984......
 
I think you should stop censoring people. If they wanted to change the camera angle they can't? They aren't allowed to have a creative vision? Sounds like 1984......
Censorship is okay, but being against censorship is censorship so stop it you fascist!

Image saying this shit whilst being serious.

Anyways, I picked up the Mass Effect 2 and 3 DLC bundles on Origin during the last sale, that way I have access to the full original experience. If this new release turns out to be good and they haven't ruined it with their 'creative vision', I might pick it up. Depends on the reviews I guess.

And if they are going to change things, they might as well do something about those terrible endings, at least that's something people wanted to be changed.
 

Andodalf

Banned
Censorship is okay, but being against censorship is censorship so stop it you fascist!

Image saying this shit whilst being serious.

Anyways, I picked up the Mass Effect 2 and 3 DLC bundles on Origin during the last sale, that way I have access to the full original experience. If this new release turns out to be good and they haven't ruined it with their 'creative vision', I might pick it up. Depends on the reviews I guess.

And if they are going to change things, they might as well do something about those terrible endings, at least that's something people wanted to be changed.

People chosing to change a camera angle in the new game they are making is in no way shape or form censorship.
 

brian0057

Banned
Hahaha... I love how they just straight up refer to the "heat sinks" as ammo for the second and third game.
At least someone at Bioware stopped pretending they were anything else.
If it looks like ammo, your weapon needs it in order to function like ammo, and does a clicky sound when you're out of ammo, it's ammo.

The energy cooldown from the first game is still the best. Not surprising since it's the best game in the series.
 

Dr.Morris79

Member
People chosing to change a camera angle in the new game they are making is in no way shape or form censorship.
I'm affraid it is

censorship
/ˈsɛnsəʃɪp/

noun
  1. 1.
    the suppression or prohibition of any parts of books, films, news, etc. that are considered obscene, politically unacceptable, or a threat to security.
    "the regulation imposes censorship on all media"



 

Patrick S.

Banned
Even if your scientifically incorrect position is that there are only two genders the word all still works and you nit picked that word to start an irrelevant argument. It’s also exactly the same amount of effort as the word two, which I would have used in this context, so not really saving effort either way.

You say mass censorship and post an entire two examples. One of which does loosely fit I suppose, and another that I have to assume was that single pose of tracer that got removed, ignoring overwatch having some of the most sexualized, blatantly made to be drooled over (and successfully) females in any western game.

If you want to stare at sexy digital girls you still have a plethora of options. I just say that’s probably not the best thing for really anyone aside from a small subset of sexually deprived gamers that need females with triple d tits in skin tight clothes in their games to be satiated.

And I’ll throw shade at Japanese pervert culture all day. From massive issues of literal groping in public, the fetishizing of literal school girls, and their piss poor birth rate they need some of that shade.
There are only two genders.
 

Ascend

Member
I'm affraid it is

censorship
/ˈsɛnsəʃɪp/

noun
  1. 1.
    the suppression or prohibition of any parts of books, films, news, etc. that are considered obscene, politically unacceptable, or a threat to security.
    "the regulation imposes censorship on all media"


I'm on the fence with this... If they removed all shots, it's censorship. But if it is only during the 'sad' conversations, it's fine. To put it in a bit of an extreme context... I don't think it makes sense to support a lady in a bikini at a funeral.
 

Dr.Morris79

Member
I'm on the fence with this... If they removed all shots, it's censorship. But if it is only during the 'sad' conversations, it's fine. To put it in a bit of an extreme context... I don't think it makes sense to support a lady in a bikini at a funeral.
Why? Why'd you say it? Now I want ladies in bikinis at my funeral.
 

jonnyp

Member
I love Mass Effect but this just looks pointless to me. Changes are too subtle to warrant double dipping.
 

CamHostage

Member
Play 3. A LOT of things are addressed. People trash the whole game because of the last 15 minutes, but really, the whole 30+ hours before that are great and resolve a lot of what was set up in the prior games.
Right, 3 kind of is the ending in and of itself, with tons of event triggers for conversations or situations throughout the entire game which depended on your choices in 1/2 playthroughs; the frustration was primarily that the end cutscene was a unified experience, instead of being individualized to each player (so unlike a Star Ocean or something like that, with all these variant "endings" that you could play again and get a different ending or argue about which is the "best ending".)

It probably seemed like a good idea at the time, that everybody's story threads from 1+2 paid off (more or less) yet there was still one big finale to talk about forever at the watercooler or on the playground or online. Instead, it backfired in a real bad way. It didn't help that the single unified ending they built wasn't really to players' satisfactions as it was (which they tried to address with an ending patch.)
 
Last edited:

meech

Member
Wait...it is 30 fps? The fuck?

And all I need is the first Mass Effect.
No need for any of it's mediocre sequels
Mediocre?Far to generous. I treat the sequels as bad halucinations/nightmares Shepard has after beeing hit by debris at the end of the first game.
 

zaanan

Banned
Indeed I did. But even if not, I‘m not the guy who‘d dislike the entire show just because the ending isn‘t the one I‘d have loved to see.
Good for you, kemosabe. But who is this guy you are talking about who dislikes the entire show?

Anyways, back on topic, I would hope they would put some work into making the ME3 ending feel more satisfying, which is exactly what I would hope for in a “director’s cut” of Lost or GOT. Clear as mud?
 

DustQueen

Banned
Mediocre?Far to generous. I treat the sequels as bad halucinations/nightmares Shepard has after beeing hit by debris at the end of the first game.

I think you just do not appreciate all the hard work Bioware put into not writing Main plot for the second game while retconning all the character development from the original in the first 5 minutes and how hard it was to make every fucking scene about shootouts with bad 3d person combat.
Plus after you finished all 20 side quests you get your ticket to cliffhanger.

Also people say there was 3rd and 4th one but I do not believe them.
 

RAIDEN1

Member
And we have lift off!!!....The game has gone gold!!! finally after the flop that was Andromeda, we are (hopefully) back to when it was all good!!...
exXovtM.jpg
 
Last edited:

Vaelka

Member
I'm on the fence with this... If they removed all shots, it's censorship. But if it is only during the 'sad' conversations, it's fine. To put it in a bit of an extreme context... I don't think it makes sense to support a lady in a bikini at a funeral.

Self-censorship is a thing, I'd still call this censorship especially since it's done after the fact and for the reasons it's done.
With that said I'd have far bigger problems with it if they had just sliced Miranda's breasts off because '' big boobs bad '' or covered up Samara.
In this case it's moreso just cringey pandering, especially with the comments made about it they really came across as '' it's current year guys ''.

It's kinda like with the R.Mika and Cammy changes in SFV, yes it was censorship.
But it's not as big of a deal as if they had given Cammy a full bodysuit underneath her leotard just to cover more skin.
A different camera angle isn't quite as significant as changing the design of a character, it's still stupid but not as big of a deal.

People chosing to change a camera angle in the new game they are making is in no way shape or form censorship.

But why are they '' choosing '' to do it, that's what you're leaving out and what matters.
And it's not a new game, it's a remaster of an existing game that other people created most of which have left Bioware.

If devs have to censor what characters wear in order to have their game released in China, it's still censorship even if they '' choose '' to do it.
It's obviously not as extreme here, but it's still other people '' choosing '' to change something because of perceived pressure to do so.
 
Last edited:

Andodalf

Banned
Self-censorship is a thing, I'd still call this censorship especially since it's done after the fact and for the reasons it's done.
With that said I'd have far bigger problems with it if they had just sliced Miranda's breasts off because '' big boobs bad '' or covered up Samara.
In this case it's moreso just cringey pandering, especially with the comments made about it they really came across as '' it's current year guys ''.

It's kinda like with the R.Mika and Cammy changes in SFV, yes it was censorship.
But it's not as big of a deal as if they had given Cammy a full bodysuit underneath her leotard just to cover more skin.
A different camera angle isn't quite as significant as changing the design of a character, it's still stupid but not as big of a deal.



But why are they '' choosing '' to do it, that's what you're leaving out and what matters.
And it's not a new game, it's a remaster of an existing game that other people created most of which have left Bioware.

If devs have to censor what characters wear in order to have their game released in China, it's still censorship even if they '' choose '' to do it.
It's obviously not as extreme here, but it's still other people '' choosing '' to change something because of perceived pressure to do so.

You have no idea. If I was remaking those games I would absolutely think about removing those shots because they add nothing to the game and can distract from what the game is actually about
 
Mass Effect 2 is one of the best single player experiences I ever had, but Im still not motivated enough to replay it.
If this re-master had ME3's multiplayer (and didnt censor EDI or the Asari outfits), I'd have been on it from day 1. I guess the devs thought that gameplay from 2012 was too dated for large numbers of gamers to care about.
 
Last edited:

Nico_D

Member
I agree, except for ME2 being objectively the best entry. It's not. What does it really have..?

I agree with what you are saying, mostly. But also, I think ME2 had a terrific starting and ending sequences - and by ending I mean from the IFF onwards.

Also I liked the character interactions the most in ME2.
 

lefty1117

Gold Member
Andromeda was solid. Just not as good as the others and so it was disappointing. It did seem to lose momentum as the story progressed - it's a shame though because the premise was very good and the sense of discovery and accomplishment early on is well done. Shame - would love to see a proper follow up but doubt it will happen.
 

kyussman

Member
It's not really a deal breaker.....but I hope they have done something with all the side mission locations in ME1....visiting the same couple of copy and pasted outpost buildings got old fast....just adding a bit more decoration to the interiors would be something.
 

Hero_Select

Member
Well I decided now to buy the PS3 Trilogy because it is the superior version.
They fucked the lightning up in the Remaster.
I already have it on 360 but my ME2 disc is pretty scratched so I buy it again just in case.
The only "superior" thing it has going is that it has Multiplayer.

Not sure this warranted a thread bump just to let everyone know you're getting a worse version of the game.
 

Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
Well I decided now to buy the PS3 Trilogy because it is the superior version.
They fucked the lightning up in the Remaster.
I already have it on 360 but my ME2 disc is pretty scratched so I buy it again just in case.

You screwed up friend. If you want to play the originals the PC is better in every way. And if you want to play on console the Legendary Edition is still the way to go despite some minor changes.
 
Top Bottom