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Mass Effect: Legendary Edition (Trilogy Remaster) & new game

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Mass Effect is my favorite video game (series) ever! ✨🤩⭐💫😍

I am extremely happy that a remaster of the original trilogy is coming in Spring 2021 to the new(er) generation consoles!
This also allowed me finally to sell my Windows PC (which had the trilogy supped up with fan made mods for HD etc.) and I can now move on to a M1 Mini :)

I am hypertrust excited about the next Mass Effect game, which is only in early development however. Likely it's a couple of years away.
 
Nice its coming out on PC too. I actually have the first two games but never played them. Are all three of the original trilogy good? Should I wait for the remaster?
 
this answer is SPOILER FREE.

Mass Effect 1
Mass Effect 1 has great world building, but the gameplay and graphics haven’t aged well IMO.
It’s clunky to play and since I know every story/path and played it many times I usually use a old save file to import directly into ME2 without having to play it again.
However you should still at least play it once so you can experience it for yourself. the ground vehicle is either loved or hated and has many memes.
I never modded the elevator rides (on PC) even if you could, awesome and legendary conversations.

Mass Effect 2
My favorite video game of all time is Mass Effect 2, so I’m biased. It's more character/team building focused.
Love the characters and variety of missions, hubs, continued world building and fleshing it out, having the first consequences of things I did/didn't in Mass Effect 1. Also my favorite video game soundtrack and score.
I have fully replayed it countless times and regularly do so a couple of times per year.


Mass Effect 3
Mass Effect 3 feels more shootery, less RPG, more railroaded, more auto-dialogue, narrower story paths. the tone is very different (urgency), but it still a good game overall.
Many storylines and arcs have great conclusions, however the "final mission and various endings" are disliked or even hated by a lot of the fanbase.
Some background: a couple of months before the games original release, there was a big leak from datamined game files or so, there were also development issues at Bioware and pressure from EA to publish within their fiscal year. As a result a lot of content was outright cut or changed due to these reasons, most of it would have made the base game and stories much more coherent/logical and IMO better.

I don't replay the base game itself regularly, however I use save game files to replay the romance story arc from my female protagonist with my female love interest from time to time.

the "Citadel" DLC (it's pure fan service and IMO the best DLC of the whole trilogy) gets replayed frequently however. To get the most out of it, keep as many alive as possible. I usually play it with a save game file, just before the final two priority missions and endings would start.


Recommendation
If you have other games to play I'd wait these couple of months, because the Legendary edition will include all single player story DLC, all weapons and preorder bonuses, updated graphics and possibly some game mechanics updates (see further below).

However: If you have a PC, you might still want to get the "old" Trilogy including the DLC bundles on EA Origin (the usually have sales a couple of times per year), then mod your games out (up to 4K graphics, lots of gameplay mods > see nexusmods.com)

Play the trilogy once as a female and male protagonist, both voice actors are IMO just awesome!
I'd recommend all single player story DLC to play, some for stories and world building, other for gameplay and different tones.

One of the reasons the Legendary Edition was supposedly delayed was because they weren’t happy with how the remastered ME1 turned out.
There are no details yet, but I could see them going down the Mafia trilogy route, where the use the game engine from the 3rd game for prior games.
According to the Devs we should be getting an update in soon in 2021. Rumored release is spring 2021.
Note so far they have stated it's a Remaster not a Remake.

Sorry for the long answer, no matter which platform or version you play, you're in for a treat, what a wonderful video game series it is IMO.
 
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I am a huge fan of the mass effect soundtracks but have never played the games.

I look forward to playing the remastered versions next week.

MiniApple said:
this answer is SPOILER FREE.

Mass Effect 1
Mass Effect 1 has great world building, but the gameplay and graphics haven’t aged well IMO.
It’s clunky to play and since I know every story/path and played it many times I usually use a old save file to import directly into ME2 without having to play it again.
However you should still at least play it once so you can experience it for yourself. the ground vehicle is either loved or hated and has many memes.
I never modded the elevator rides (on PC) even if you could, awesome and legendary conversations.

Mass Effect 2
My favorite video game of all time is Mass Effect 2, so I’m biased. It's more character/team building focused.
Love the characters and variety of missions, hubs, continued world building and fleshing it out, having the first consequences of things I did/didn't in Mass Effect 1. Also my favorite video game soundtrack and score.
I have fully replayed it countless times and regularly do so a couple of times per year.


Mass Effect 3
Mass Effect 3 feels more shootery, less RPG, more railroaded, more auto-dialogue, narrower story paths. the tone is very different (urgency), but it still a good game overall.
Many storylines and arcs have great conclusions, however the "final mission and various endings" are disliked or even hated by a lot of the fanbase.
Some background: a couple of months before the games original release, there was a big leak from datamined game files or so, there were also development issues at Bioware and pressure from EA to publish within their fiscal year. As a result a lot of content was outright cut or changed due to these reasons, most of it would have made the base game and stories much more coherent/logical and IMO better.

I don't replay the base game itself regularly, however I use save game files to replay the romance story arc from my female protagonist with my female love interest from time to time.

the "Citadel" DLC (it's pure fan service and IMO the best DLC of the whole trilogy) gets replayed frequently however. To get the most out of it, keep as many alive as possible. I usually play it with a save game file, just before the final two priority missions and endings would start.


Recommendation
If you have other games to play I'd wait these couple of months, because the Legendary edition will include all single player story DLC, all weapons and preorder bonuses, updated graphics and possibly some game mechanics updates (see further below).

However: If you have a PC, you might still want to get the "old" Trilogy including the DLC bundles on EA Origin (the usually have sales a couple of times per year), then mod your games out (up to 4K graphics, lots of gameplay mods > see nexusmods.com)

Play the trilogy once as a female and male protagonist, both voice actors are IMO just awesome!
I'd recommend all single player story DLC to play, some for stories and world building, other for gameplay and different tones.

One of the reasons the Legendary Edition was supposedly delayed was because they weren’t happy with how the remastered ME1 turned out.
There are no details yet, but I could see them going down the Mafia trilogy route, where the use the game engine from the 3rd game for prior games.
According to the Devs we should be getting an update in soon in 2021. Rumored release is spring 2021.
Note so far they have stated it's a Remaster not a Remake.

Sorry for the long answer, no matter which platform or version you play, you're in for a treat, what a wonderful video game series it is IMO.
Click to expand...
Should I jump straight into the second game or do you think I should start with the first game?
 
I am so sad this won't be out for Nintendo Switch. Instead, I am hoping for a Mac port, since I've never played them and they are at the top of my want-list.
 
@Macalicious2011

Do you have Bioware / EA sources, that you get to play the remastered version next week?!

You should definitely play Mass Effect 1 at least once, it’s worth it for world and story building alone. Gameplay can be a bit cumbersome, but stick trough it and don’t give up.
 
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T'hain Esh Kelch said:
I am so sad this won't be out for Nintendo Switch. Instead, I am hoping for a Mac port, since I've never played them and they are at the top of my want-list.
Click to expand...

Contrary to popular belief, it takes a lot of time, money and people to port games to the lower end switch hardware and actually have the game somewhat in a acceptable playable state, let alone perform well.
It wasn’t viable for EA, otherwise they would have done it.

as far as I’m aware there were people who played the Trilogy on Macs/Macbooks (booted in Windows).

I sold my Windows gaming PC, ordered an entry model MacMini and an will get a new XBox series S or X once the Legendary Edition is out. It’s easier this way. Alternatively you might soon be able to stream Xcloud games to your Mac, instead of hoping for ports.
 
MiniApple said:
@Macalicious2011

Do you have Bioware / EA sources, that you get to play the remastered version next week?!

You should definitely play Mass Effect 1 at least once, it’s worth it for world and story building alone. Gameplay can be a bit cumbersome, but stick trough it and don’t give up.
Click to expand...
I am on a 3 month gamepass trial and mass effect is on gamepass. I should just get cracking and play the game.
 
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Unless they update the controls in the remaster, I am not playing ME1 again.

Parts 2 and 3, anytime, with pleasure!!
 
Macalicious2011 said:
I am on a 3 month gamepass trial and mass effect is on gamepass. I should just get cracking and play the game.
Click to expand...
well that's the original Trilogy you've got then, just like me and everyone else.
Regardless, enjoy the (elevator) rides ;)

Taustin Powers said:
Unless they update the controls in the remaster, I am not playing ME1 again.

Parts 2 and 3, anytime, with pleasure!!
Click to expand...
Totally with you. Fingers crossed, the rumors (all games will use an updated Unreal Engine, thus allowing a Mafia like remaster of steering/game mechanics, without breaking the game worlds and levels) are true.
 
from video game industry insider Shinobi. Mass Effect-wise Shinobi is very trustworthy.

Bisnic said: This is like Blizzard's Soon™. Where soon can be anything from a week to sometime before the end of time.

shinobi602: You can survive one more weekend 🙃

Asklepios said: It’s probably just going to be a straight up high-res texture port anyway

shinobi602: It's a lot more than that, especially ME1.

shinobi602: Don't expect a visual overhaul on the level of Halo 2 Anniversary or something, but there's definitely a good amount of work that's gone in, not just visually but systems wise too.

Source: https://www.resetera.com/threads/ha...legendary-edition.368292/page-3#post-57463755
 
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I am going to sell my PS3 copies of ME2 and ME3 in anticipation of this! ME1 is digital, so I am stuck with it. :D
 
Not long to go before the release on the 14th of May. It will likely be the next game that I buy and will therefore not start playing anything new in the next 14 days.

Will anyone here be brave enough to pre-order? :p Hopefully we'll see a DF review towards the end of next week.

I would love a physical copy that I could resell once I've completed all three games.
 
I pre-ordered the Xbox version when it became available. It's the only series I (still) do so.
Had the 360 versions on my Xbox One S and now on Xbox Series S.

What is a DF review, what does DF stand for?

There will be physical copies of the game.

the Legendary Cache (i'ts the collectors edition stuff without the game itself) contain a steel box along with some art and a N7 helmet replica. I spent some of my vacation money on it, cost me almost an iPhone SE 2020 with shipping and taxes. 😭
 
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