The PlayStation Blog has revealed some new details on the Mass Effect Legendary Edition and highlighted how the games have been upgraded for modern platforms.
First of all, the blog highlights combat tuning BioWare have made, with the first game having accuracy has been tuned for all the weapon, with the Aiming camera view also being tighter, so you can be more accurate. Aim assist has also been improved to ensure better precision. The first game has also seen abilities rebalanced. For example, Immunity will now grant a powerful defensive buff that lasts a brief period of time, rather than a small buff that lasts indefinitely.
BioWare then lists all the changes that have been made to bring the first game in line with the rest of the trilogy:
- 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
Bosses and encounters have also been tweaked to make the trilogy more cohesive with the full list of changes being as follows:
- 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 (No level cap in first playthrough)
- Ammo drops have been rebalanced in Mass Effect 2 (increased ammo drop rate)
The Mako has also seen some upgrades, with the ride in the first game being far smoother than it was in the original release of the first game. On top of that, shields now recharge faster and new thrusters have been added to the rear allowing for speed boosts. The full list of changes can be seen below:
- 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
Shepard’s customisation options have also been unified across all three games, with some new options added as well. So, your Shepard will now have a consistent appearance across all three games. The full list of additional changes are as follows:
- 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
- Updated character creator options, as mentioned above
- 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)
- Trophies across the trilogy have been updated
- New trophies have been added to the trilogy
- Progress for some now carries over across all three games (e.g. Kill 250 enemies across all games)
- Trophies that were streamlined into one and made redundant were removed
- A number of trophies 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
The final section of the blog post hights the rebalancing of the Galaxy At War feature, with external factors like multiplayer and the Mass Effect 3 companion app no longer mattering. But, in order to be prepped for the final fight, you will need to carry over all of your progress from the first two games to get a good result at the end of the Reaper War. This is possible by just playing Mass Effect 3, but you will have to do just about every option.
IGN has also released a comparison video, showing off some of these changes:
Mass Effect Legendary Edition releases for PS4 on May 14, 2021, and is playable on PS5 via backwards compatibility.
Source – [PlayStation Blog, IGN]