Mass Effect Trilogy Remaster (Legendary Edition)

[barlew]

So I appreciate that I am reawakening an old thread however as I finally got round to completing the ME1 remaster I thought I would drop my thoughts in here.

It must be at least 10 years since I completed the original so my recollections and the comparison in my mind may not be entirely accurate.

On the whole the remaster was fantastic. Obviously it still has the same epic story (Sci Fi at its best without a doubt). The game felt much easier than I remember it originally. I put this down to a couple of things, the first being that I don't think when I originally played the game I got fully invested in the armour/weapon drops and their upgrade systems.

I am pretty sure I just left my squad mates with their standard weapons and armour and only occasionally changed mine. I treated the game more like a 3rd person shooter than an RPG. I most likely made the game much harder for myself than it should have been. I remember years ago being stuck on the Krogan boss fight after rescuing Liara for literally days. In retrospect that was because I was using bog standard weapons and armour. In fact I probably hadn't specced out my Shephard's points particularly well either. This time round it wasn't a boss fight it was just like killing a regular Krogan.

Secondly I think the way they have remastered the gameplay mechanics have made it so much more accessible, and intuitive which makes the game easier to play just because you are not fighting with its controls.

The second observation I had was that it was not as smooth as it could have been. I ended up binning off all of the side missions because exploring any planet caused the FPS to tank horrifically. To be fair that was no great loss as they were always dreadful. I also suffered from a micro stutter which happened every few seconds. It seemed to be more pronounced in certain places such as the citadel. Turning off V Sync and maxing the frame rate seemed to help but didn't eliminate it. From reading around these are two common bugs with the game.

All in all though this is by far and away an amazing remaster and everyone should play it. You do not get stories like this too often in games any more.

Time to boot up number 2.

 

[SpyderTracks]

So I appreciate that I am reawakening an old thread however as I finally got round to completing the ME1 remaster I thought I would drop my thoughts in here.

It must be at least 10 years since I completed the original so my recollections and the comparison in my mind may not be entirely accurate.

On the whole the remaster was fantastic. Obviously it still has the same epic story (Sci Fi at its best without a doubt). The game felt much easier than I remember it originally. I put this down to a couple of things, the first being that I don't think when I originally played the game I got fully invested in the armour/weapon drops and their upgrade systems.

I am pretty sure I just left my squad mates with their standard weapons and armour and only occasionally changed mine. I treated the game more like a 3rd person shooter than an RPG. I most likely made the game much harder for myself than it should have been. I remember years ago being stuck on the Krogan boss fight after rescuing Liara for literally days. In retrospect that was because I was using bog standard weapons and armour. In fact I probably hadn't specced out my Shephard's points particularly well either. This time round it wasn't a boss fight it was just like killing a regular Krogan.

Secondly I think the way they have remastered the gameplay mechanics have made it so much more accessible, and intuitive which makes the game easier to play just because you are not fighting with its controls.

The second observation I had was that it was not as smooth as it could have been. I ended up binning off all of the side missions because exploring any planet caused the FPS to tank horrifically. To be fair that was no great loss as they were always dreadful. I also suffered from a micro stutter which happened every few seconds. It seemed to be more pronounced in certain places such as the citadel. Turning off V Sync and maxing the frame rate seemed to help but didn't eliminate it. From reading around these are two common bugs with the game.

All in all though this is by far and away an amazing remaster and everyone should play it. You do not get stories like this too often in games any more.

Time to boot up number 2.

I'm still wandering around the citadel!

One thing to note if you're playing superwide, 1/. it's supported which I just think is fantastic 2/. there does seem to be an odd redraw issue with mine on the left hand side of the monitor where it would stretch from ultrawide to superwide.

Only happens in this game, so it's not the monitor. Could be my GPU on it's last legs, that's entirely possible, but the fact it is definitely the overtrace from ultrawide to superwide makes me think it's the coding.

It's not bad at all because it's at the periphery of your view, but worth mentioning.

But I totally agree with you about the mechanics, they've done such a good job of it without changing the feel of the game.

 

[AccidentalDenz]

So I appreciate that I am reawakening an old thread however as I finally got round to completing the ME1 remaster I thought I would drop my thoughts in here.

It must be at least 10 years since I completed the original so my recollections and the comparison in my mind may not be entirely accurate.

On the whole the remaster was fantastic. Obviously it still has the same epic story (Sci Fi at its best without a doubt). The game felt much easier than I remember it originally. I put this down to a couple of things, the first being that I don't think when I originally played the game I got fully invested in the armour/weapon drops and their upgrade systems.

I am pretty sure I just left my squad mates with their standard weapons and armour and only occasionally changed mine. I treated the game more like a 3rd person shooter than an RPG. I most likely made the game much harder for myself than it should have been. I remember years ago being stuck on the Krogan boss fight after rescuing Liara for literally days. In retrospect that was because I was using bog standard weapons and armour. In fact I probably hadn't specced out my Shephard's points particularly well either. This time round it wasn't a boss fight it was just like killing a regular Krogan.

Secondly I think the way they have remastered the gameplay mechanics have made it so much more accessible, and intuitive which makes the game easier to play just because you are not fighting with its controls.

The second observation I had was that it was not as smooth as it could have been. I ended up binning off all of the side missions because exploring any planet caused the FPS to tank horrifically. To be fair that was no great loss as they were always dreadful. I also suffered from a micro stutter which happened every few seconds. It seemed to be more pronounced in certain places such as the citadel. Turning off V Sync and maxing the frame rate seemed to help but didn't eliminate it. From reading around these are two common bugs with the game.

All in all though this is by far and away an amazing remaster and everyone should play it. You do not get stories like this too often in games any more.

Time to boot up number 2.

I'm forever reawakening old threads here in the PC Gaming section. If the rumours are to be believed, the Cyberpunk 2077 may be getting a little more traffic soon with the release of v1.5 in the near future.

I'm glad you enjoyed number 1. I need to get back into the games, but it's having the spare 110Gb that is my problem!

 

[barlew]

I'm still wandering around the citadel!

One thing to note if you're playing superwide, 1/. it's supported which I just think is fantastic 2/. there does seem to be an odd redraw issue with mine on the left hand side of the monitor where it would stretch from ultrawide to superwide.

Only happens in this game, so it's not the monitor. Could be my GPU on it's last legs, that's entirely possible, but the fact it is definitely the overtrace from ultrawide to superwide makes me think it's the coding.

It's not bad at all because it's at the periphery of your view, but worth mentioning.

But I totally agree with you about the mechanics, they've done such a good job of it without changing the feel of the game.

You must have been wandering around the citadel for 8 months now! You are taking your time finding the exit.

You are right minus the frame rate glitches I had the game looks fantastic, however what makes it really is the rework to the gameplay mechanics. I wouldn't have been able to stomach a complete play through now without them.

Anyhoo I have started ME2, carrying my character across of course, and my god it is like night and day. I forgot how much of an evolution 2 was. And the graphics for the remaster look phenomenal. Also the framerate issue I had in 1 doesn't seem to be present which is amazing!

Get yourself off the citadel and into ME2!

 

[barlew]

I'm forever reawakening old threads here in the PC Gaming section. If the rumours are to be believed, the Cyberpunk 2077 may be getting a little more traffic soon with the release of v1.5 in the near future.

I'm glad you enjoyed number 1. I need to get back into the games, but it's having the spare 110Gb that is my problem!

Don't get me started on Cyberpunk. It's getting there but it is still sat in my to play list. I want to wait a few more patches until I attempt it again.

 

[moosEh]

So I appreciate that I am reawakening an old thread however as I finally got round to completing the ME1 remaster I thought I would drop my thoughts in here.

It must be at least 10 years since I completed the original so my recollections and the comparison in my mind may not be entirely accurate.

On the whole the remaster was fantastic. Obviously it still has the same epic story (Sci Fi at its best without a doubt). The game felt much easier than I remember it originally. I put this down to a couple of things, the first being that I don't think when I originally played the game I got fully invested in the armour/weapon drops and their upgrade systems.

I am pretty sure I just left my squad mates with their standard weapons and armour and only occasionally changed mine. I treated the game more like a 3rd person shooter than an RPG. I most likely made the game much harder for myself than it should have been. I remember years ago being stuck on the Krogan boss fight after rescuing Liara for literally days. In retrospect that was because I was using bog standard weapons and armour. In fact I probably hadn't specced out my Shephard's points particularly well either. This time round it wasn't a boss fight it was just like killing a regular Krogan.

Secondly I think the way they have remastered the gameplay mechanics have made it so much more accessible, and intuitive which makes the game easier to play just because you are not fighting with its controls.

The second observation I had was that it was not as smooth as it could have been. I ended up binning off all of the side missions because exploring any planet caused the FPS to tank horrifically. To be fair that was no great loss as they were always dreadful. I also suffered from a micro stutter which happened every few seconds. It seemed to be more pronounced in certain places such as the citadel. Turning off V Sync and maxing the frame rate seemed to help but didn't eliminate it. From reading around these are two common bugs with the game.

All in all though this is by far and away an amazing remaster and everyone should play it. You do not get stories like this too often in games any more.

Time to boot up number 2.

As a massive fan of ME I was disappointed that the games weren't remastered enough. Each game still has its own backend UI styles e.g. 1 has its inventory system with grenades etc, 2 starts moving more towards the "console" ease of access with less customisability (and 3 I haven't played). I wish they unified the UIs and made 1 standard for the games moving forwards.

(I've played the trilogy to the end once a year since it came out + many runs of 1 and 2 before 3 came out. I've made every choice at least once).

 

[AccidentalDenz]

As a massive fan of ME I was disappointed that the games weren't remastered enough. Each game still has its own backend UI styles e.g. 1 has its inventory system with grenades etc, 2 starts moving more towards the "console" ease of access with less customisability (and 3 I haven't played). I wish they unified the UIs and made 1 standard for the games moving forwards.

(I've played the trilogy to the end once a year since it came out + many runs of 1 and 2 before 3 came out. I've made every choice at least once).

I have become known as the "Lord of Steam" round these parts, but you truly are the ruler of all things Mass Effect if you've played the trilogy every year since release!

 

[moosEh]

I even did a manogomy run for Tali..... 3 games we waited 3!

 

[barlew]

Soooo I just completed Mass Effect 2 LE and my thoughts are somewhat mixed.

First of all unfortunately it did have the same framerate issues which I saw in the first game which is disappointing I fear it must be a problem with the whole remastered collection. Its not a problem with my hardware because I had exactly the same problem across two different laptops with very different configurations. That being said it wasn't enough to ruin the game by any means it was just not ideal.

ME 2 is exactly how I remembered it. In many ways it is streamlined for the better but I do think its a shame they dummed down a lot of the true RPG progression mechanics.

The story remained excellent and I think the character and world building was better second time round.

The biggest disappointment was the final boss. I am not sure if its because I had unlocked the majority of unlocks for my shephard and his team but the final boss which looks like an absolute monster didn't actually hit me once and was a huge anti climax.

All in all though a great game.

Time to boot up number 3. I am excited for this as I never played it first time round.

 

[AccidentalDenz]

Soooo I just completed Mass Effect 2 LE and my thoughts are somewhat mixed.

First of all unfortunately it did have the same framerate issues which I saw in the first game which is disappointing I fear it must be a problem with the whole remastered collection. Its not a problem with my hardware because I had exactly the same problem across two different laptops with very different configurations. That being said it wasn't enough to ruin the game by any means it was just not ideal.

ME 2 is exactly how I remembered it. In many ways it is streamlined for the better but I do think its a shame they dummed down a lot of the true RPG progression mechanics.

The story remained excellent and I think the character and world building was better second time round.

The biggest disappointment was the final boss. I am not sure if its because I had unlocked the majority of unlocks for my shephard and his team but the final boss which looks like an absolute monster didn't actually hit me once and was a huge anti climax.

All in all though a great game.

Time to boot up number 3. I am excited for this as I never played it first time round.

I enjoyed ME3 - the opening sequence on Earth is fun. The ending was somewhat controversial, but Bioware did make a fix to it, but having bought it on release, I never got around to doing a second playthrough to see the extended ending. Mass Effect 3 was particularly enjoyable as some of the situations vary a little depending on what you chose to do in previous games. You meet whichever squadmate you didn't sacrifice in the first game during the game's opening for example. There's other moments like that in the game, isn't facing upto the consequences fun?!

 

[barlew]

I enjoyed ME3 - the opening sequence on Earth is fun. The ending was somewhat controversial, but Bioware did make a fix to it, but having bought it on release, I never got around to doing a second playthrough to see the extended ending. Mass Effect 3 was particularly enjoyable as some of the situations vary a little depending on what you chose to do in previous games. You meet whichever squadmate you didn't sacrifice in the first game during the game's opening for example. There's other moments like that in the game, isn't facing upto the consequences fun?!

I do remember the controversy surrounding the original ending so I am looking forward to seeing how the extended version plays out considering I didn't play the original.

I have deliberately stuck with the consequences of my decisions through the first two games even if I didn't like the outcome. I find the most rewarding aspect of the game. Even today there aren't many games I can think of that reflect your decisions in the same way. The only one of the top of my head really is the Witcher 3.

I have just booted up ME3 so lets see what the start has to offer.

 

[SpyderTracks]

I enjoyed ME3 - the opening sequence on Earth is fun. The ending was somewhat controversial, but Bioware did make a fix to it, but having bought it on release, I never got around to doing a second playthrough to see the extended ending. Mass Effect 3 was particularly enjoyable as some of the situations vary a little depending on what you chose to do in previous games. You meet whichever squadmate you didn't sacrifice in the first game during the game's opening for example. There's other moments like that in the game, isn't facing upto the consequences fun?!

I played it on release as well so never played the later ending, I'm looking forward to seeing that too.

The last level of the game was INTENSE, I loved it.

 

[barlew]

I played it on release as well so never played the later ending, I'm looking forward to seeing that too.

The last level of the game was INTENSE, I loved it.

Did you get out of the Citadel yet?

 

[SpyderTracks]

Did you get out of the Citadel yet?

Lols, no, haven't played it for a while. I'm just sparring in the bar about to enlist the krogan.

I did this on the first playthrough as well, I was in the citadel for ages, same with FF7 when I eventually got into the desert I just wandered for months doing little quests.

If I don't follow a walkthrough I just get lost for ages.

 

[barlew]

Lols, no, haven't played it for a while. I'm just sparring in the bar about to enlist the krogan.

I did this on the first playthrough as well, I was in the citadel for ages, same with FF7 when I eventually got into the desert I just wandered for months doing little quests.

If I don't follow a walkthrough I just get lost for ages.

Hahaha that makes me itch. If I don't stay focused I don't complete games to the end. My new years resolution is to work through my backlog!

So far this year I have completed 7 games from the steam library. I am on economy runs all the way lol.

 

[SpyderTracks]

Hahaha that makes me itch. If I don't stay focused I don't complete games to the end. My new years resolution is to work through my backlog!

So far this year I have completed 7 games from the steam library. I am on economy runs all the way lol.

I need to adopt that strategy. I've given up buying games aside from the Crysis remaster because I just spend so long playing anything, there's no point buying anything new until I've played through my catalogue.

 

[barlew]

I need to adopt that strategy. I've given up buying games aside from the Crysis remaster because I just spend so long playing anything, there's no point buying anything new until I've played through my catalogue.

I am fully on board with that. I will not buy games now unless they are ridiculously cheap in the steam/epic sale. I have hundreds of games in my back catalogue I have never installed (obviously not as many as @ActuallyDenz but still enough).

 

[AccidentalDenz]

I am fully on board with that. I will not buy games now unless they are ridiculously cheap in the steam/epic sale. I have hundreds of games in my back catalogue I have never installed (obviously not as many as @ActuallyDenz but still enough).

I have embraced the farce that is my Steam account.

I'm well aware that my wishlist is many times larger than many people's entire libraries (464).

The "short"list of games I actively want to play is also larger than most people's libraries (370).

I complete games when I can and try to keep things ticking over. There are definitely times when I am gaining games far quicker than I can complete 'em though!

 

[barlew]

I have embraced the farce that is my Steam account.

I'm well aware that my wishlist is many times larger than many people's entire libraries (464).

The "short"list of games I actively want to play is also larger than most people's libraries (370).

I complete games when I can and try to keep things ticking over. There are definitely times when I am gaining games far quicker than I can complete 'em though!

How can you have that many games on your wishlist!

How many games do you actually have in your library?

 

[AccidentalDenz]

How can you have that many games on your wishlist!

How many games do you actually have in your library?

I'm interested in playing a wide variety of games - to be honest, there's games on the wishlist that I no longer want, but I don't have the patience to go in, scroll through the list and remove them. I usually wait for them to pop up in a weekly Steam sale, then remove them.

I currently have 2,470 games in my library and that's going up by a half a dozen or so each month thanks to Humble Bundle. It'll be beyond 2,500 before the end of the year!