BioWare Provides Details on Gameplay Tuning for MASS EFFECT LEGENDARY EDITION

I am extremely excited for the release of Mass Effect Legendary Edition from BioWare and EA. This is a remaster of one of my favorite video game trilogies and I’m liking what I see. Recently, the team shared a number of ways that they’re tuning the gameplay experience for new players and veterans both. You can find all of the details in the official blog, but I’ve included highlights below. Mass Effect Legendary Edition is set to release on May 14 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

The first thing to note is that the team has gone back into Mass Effect to work on the combat mechanics. They didn’t want to completely change things, but they did go in and tune and improve accuracy, aiming down sights, aim assist, and more. Abilities were also rebalanced such as Immunity being stronger, but only lasting a limited time. Here are more notes on combat:

• Shepard can now sprint out of combat

• Melee attacks are now mapped to a button press rather than automatically occurring based on proximity to an enemy

• Weapon accuracy and handling has been significantly improved

  • Reticle bloom is more controlled

  • Weapon sway removed from sniper rifles

  • Aiming down sights/”tight aim” camera view has been improved

  • Improved aim assist for target acquisition

• All relevant enemies now take headshot damage in the first game

  • Previously some did not, including humanoid enemies

• Ammo mods (Anti-Organic, Anti-Synthetic, etc.) can now drop throughout the whole game

  • Previously, these stopped dropping at higher player levels

  • They are now also available to purchase from merchants

• All weapons can be used by any class without penalty

  • Specializations (the ability to train/upgrade certain weapons) are still class-specific

• Weapons cool down much faster

• Medi-gel usage has been improved

  • Base cooldown reduced

  • Levelling benefits increased

  • Increased Liara’s bonus to cooldowns

• Inventory management improvements

  • Items can now be flagged as “Junk”

  • All Junk items can be converted into Omni-gel or sold to merchants at once

  • Inventory and stores now have sorting functionality

• Some abilities have been rebalanced

• Weapon powers (i.e., those that are unlocked on each weapon type’s skill tree) have been improved:

  • Effectiveness/strength is increased (duration reduced in some cases)

  • Heat now resets on power activation

The team also went into encounters and reworked some of them to keep them challenging while maybe making a few aspects a bit fairer. XP was also readjusted for better consistency during the first Mass Effect. Ammunition was also given an increased drop rate in Mass Effect 2.

• Squadmates can now be commanded independently of each other in the first Mass Effect, the same way you can command them individually in Mass Effect 2 and 3

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

• Cover has been improved across the trilogy

  • Additional cover added to some encounters

  • Entering and exiting cover is now more reliable

• XP has been rebalanced in the first game

• Ammo drops have been rebalanced in Mass Effect 2

Next, we’ve got the Mako. I am so glad they are tweaking this thing. I personally hate driving the Mako and am hopeful that the tweaks made help make it feel less like suffering. The team went in and tuned the physics to help the Mako feel weightier. That’s not the only adjustment, but it’s a pretty big one. There are also new thrusters, the shields recharge faster, and more.

• Improved handling

  • Physics tuning improved to feel “weightier” and slide around less

• Improved camera controls

  • Resolved issues preventing the Mako from accurately aiming at lower angles

• Shields recharge faster

• New thrusters added for a speed boost

  • Its cooldown is separate from the jump jets’

• The XP penalty while in the Mako has been removed

• Touching lava no longer results in an instant Mission Failure and instead deals damage over time

We already knew that character creation and customization was going to become more unified in Mass Effect Legendary Edition. However, a few notes were made for this as well. Additional skin tones and hairstyles were added, character creator codes will be available for all three games, updated textures, and even the addition of the Mass Effect: Genesis comics from Dark Horse. This will let you make choices from previous games and have those impact your playthrough of Mass Effect 2 and 3 if you’d rather start with one of those.

• Updated character creator options

  • FemShep from Mass Effect 3 is the new default female option in all three games (the original FemShep design is still available as a preset option)

Mass Effect 3 will also see a rebalanced Galaxy at War. As you play through the entire trilogy and complete content, you’ll become more prepared for the final fights. The more you skip, the harder things will be. The team notes that it will be more difficult to achieve good results in the finale than in Mass Effect 3 with the Extended Cut.

There are also notes about bug fixes related to the Paragon-Renegade system in Mass Effect 2 as well as many more general quality of life improvements.

• New unified launcher for all three games

  • Includes trilogy-wide settings for subtitles and languages

  • Saves are still unique to each game and can be managed independently of each other

• Achievements across the trilogy have been updated

  • New achievements have been added to the trilogy

  • Progress for some achievements now carries over across all three games (e.g. Kill 250 enemies across all games)

    • Achievements that were streamlined into one and made redundant were removed

  • A number of achievements have had their objectives/descriptions and/or names updated

• Integrated weapons and armor DLC packs

  • Weapons and armor DLC packs are now integrated naturally into the game; they’re obtainable via research or by purchasing them from merchants as you progress through the game, rather than being immediately unlocked from the start. This ensures overall balance and progression across ME2 and ME3

  • Recon Hood (ME2) and Cerberus Ajax Armor (ME3) are available at the start of each game

• Additional gameplay & Quality of life improvements

  • Audio is remixed and enhanced across all games

  • Hundreds of legacy bugs from the original releases are fixed

  • Native controller and 21:9 display support on PC, with DirectX 11 compatibility