Posted in: Electronic Arts, Games, Mass Effect, Video Games | Tagged: bioware, Electronic Arts, mass effect, Mass Effect Legendary Edition

BioWare Releases More Details On Mass Effect: Legendary Edition

BioWare has dropped a ton of new specification details for the upcoming release of Mass Effect: Legendary Edition. With the game set to be released on May 14th, the team decided it was a gfodo idea to let people know about some of the changes they made to the actual gameplay and how it will effect the way you decide to push forward compared to the first time you ever picked up any entry int he trilogy. We have a couple of the major points below, but you can read the full blog from the team here. Plus we have a video from the team at the bottom showing the changes between the original and the Legendary Edition.

Mass Effect Combat Tuning

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.

Galaxy At War Rebalancing

As Commander Shepard, you're tasked with the hardest mission of all: defeating the Reapers and saving the galaxy from annihilation. This comes to a head in Mass Effect 3 when the galaxy unites, but your choices from across the trilogy lead you there and determine who fights at your side. The Galaxy at War feature puts you in the heart of the Reaper War from the Normandy's Combat Information Center, which has been rebalanced in the Legendary Edition. For example, Galactic Readiness is no longer impacted by external factors that aren't part of the collection, like multiplayer or the old companion app for ME3. However, that doesn't necessarily mean defeating the Reapers will be easy.

The more content you complete across the entire trilogy, the more likely you'll be prepared for the final fights in its conclusion. If you only play Mass Effect 3, you'll have to do just about every option available in the game to be eligible for an ending that doesn't result in massive galactic losses. Playing the first two games and carrying over your progress is the most reliable way to get good results in the final hours of the Reaper War. For comparison, if you previously played ME3 with the Extended Cut (which included Galactic Readiness rebalancing), fully preparing for the final fight will be more difficult to achieve in the Legendary Edition. And on that note: the Extended Cut ending is now the game's default finale.

However, readying your intergalactic armies will be made a bit easier by a number of critical bug fixes and backend improvements made to the Paragon-Renegade system in ME2; we resolved some legacy issues that inhibited accurate reputation stats from being displayed and outright prevented certain dialogue options from being selectable when they should have been. Because of this, key moments that have been notoriously difficult to achieve in ME2 (and impacted ME3) can now be completed more reliably, leading to better results in the story's final act.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!