With all the drama going on I missed the biggest news of the weekend:

Announced on N7 Day (November 7th). Bioware are remastering the full trilogy plus all DLC, remastered with targeted enhancements, support for 4K ultra HD resolution, HDR visuals with updated textures, models and effects and improved frame rates. Bioware has said it's not a full remake, but an enhanced version to let players experience the trilogy in it's "best possible form".

I know what I'm going to be doing in the New Year...

Oh, and apparently a fifth Mass Effect game is in it's early stages as well. All we've got to go on so far is a screenshot...

Got to love Jennifer Hale.

Was actually a little sad they said it wasn’t a full remake for ME1. I was really hoping they’d go back and upgrade the combat system. It felt kinda janky when I first played it, and the improvements they applied to the other two games makes it feel worse.
Maybe “targeted enhancements” could still spark hope for a combat overhaul?

Anyway, even if ME1’s combat is untouched, I’m looking forward to the Legendary Collection. A new play through of the trilogy with all the fixings will be delightful.

59 minutes ago, SabineKey said:

Was actually a little sad they said it wasn’t a full remake for ME1. I was really hoping they’d go back and upgrade the combat system. It felt kinda janky when I first played it, and the improvements they applied to the other two games makes it feel worse.
Maybe “targeted enhancements” could still spark hope for a combat overhaul?

Anyway, even if ME1’s combat is untouched, I’m looking forward to the Legendary Collection. A new play through of the trilogy with all the fixings will be delightful.

I couldn't agree more. The games saw substantial improvements on the combat system throughout it's life cycle - in my opinion, ME3 had a phenomenal 3rd person combat system which was highlight ed by just how surprisingly good the multiplayer component was. I spent (literally) weeks playing that game. I'd love to be able to play through all three games with the third game's combat mechanics.

That said, the focus on action meant that the series did eventually drift away from the more RPG style gameplay of the first installment. I suppose it's always going to be interesting to see how the game evolved over time.

43 minutes ago, FTS Gecko said:

I couldn't agree more. The games saw substantial improvements on the combat system throughout it's life cycle - in my opinion, ME3 had a phenomenal 3rd person combat system which was highlight ed by just how surprisingly good the multiplayer component was. I spent (literally) weeks playing that game. I'd love to be able to play through all three games with the third game's combat mechanics.

Agreed. Spent a ton of time both by myself and with friends playing ME3’s multiplayer. Bringing the whole series up to that level would be very agreeable to me. But...

45 minutes ago, FTS Gecko said:

That said, the focus on action meant that the series did eventually drift away from the more RPG style gameplay of the first installment. I suppose it's always going to be interesting to see how the game evolved over time.

There is something to be said for preserving the way a game was. And while I preferred the combat of future installments, I can see people preferring the more RPG styling of the first game.

38 minutes ago, SabineKey said:

Agreed. Spent a ton of time both by myself and with friends playing ME3’s multiplayer.

Gah, the hours I played that! I don't think anyone expected it to be as good as it was considering it was the first time Mass Effect had a multiplayer component. It was supported well by the devs as well, with new equipment, classes, maps etc. I loved it when they brought the Collectors back.

I'd really love to see a tabletop miniatures game based on that multiplayer mode. Great stuff.

2 hours ago, FTS Gecko said:

I'd really love to see a tabletop miniatures game based on that multiplayer mode. Great stuff.

I'm actually trying to make my own tabletop game. My mechanics have drawn heavily from Mass Effect 3, Grandia II and x-com I feel.

The ME:3 Earth DLC was awesome. I loved the N7 Shadow class. Being able to teleport behind a Phantom and instant kill her was so gratifying.

30 minutes ago, MasterShake2 said:

The ME:3 Earth DLC was awesome. I loved the N7 Shadow class. Being able to teleport behind a Phantom and instant kill her was so gratifying.

Yeah, the N7 Shadow rocked. All of the Earth DLC specialists were really good, the N7 Destroyer with a Particle Beam or Cerberus Harrier was my go-to for fun times.

The Retaliation pack was my favourite DLC, just for the return of the Collectors and the Hazards. Collectors on Hazard: Ghost or Hazard: Dagger could be insanely creepy. I also loved hatesurfing with the Batarian Brawler.

Right, getting seriously nostalgic now. I need to break out the 360 and find a lobby. The Legendary Edition better include the multiplayer. And allow me to port over my profile!

12 hours ago, FTS Gecko said:

Yeah, the N7 Shadow rocked. All of the Earth DLC specialists were really good, the N7 Destroyer with a Particle Beam or Cerberus Harrier was my go-to for fun times.

The Retaliation pack was my favourite DLC, just for the return of the Collectors and the Hazards. Collectors on Hazard: Ghost or Hazard: Dagger could be insanely creepy. I also loved hatesurfing with the Batarian Brawler.

Right, getting seriously nostalgic now. I need to break out the 360 and find a lobby. The Legendary Edition better include the multiplayer. And allow me to port over my profile!

This announcement actually prompted me to replay the series...man, I will never understand how they arrived at controls for the Mako where you move in relation to where you're looking with the turret instead of the direction the vehicle is facing.

37 minutes ago, MasterShake2 said:

This announcement actually prompted me to replay the series...man, I will never understand how they arrived at controls for the Mako where you move in relation to where you're looking with the turret instead of the direction the vehicle is facing.

Stupid vertically aligned mass effect field.

so are you replaying it then going to buy this and THEN replay it again?

13 minutes ago, That Blasted Samophlange said:

Stupid vertically aligned mass effect field.

so are you replaying it then going to buy this and THEN replay it again?

You're asking like that would be weird

2 hours ago, MasterShake2 said:

You're asking like that would be weird

Of you’re like me you've already played it every which way. 😜

Though mass effect 1 I have very little desire to replay.. the gear grind and mako ensure that it is a horrible experience. Maybe the re-telease will make it tolerable.

Three other tweeks I would like to see (though ultimately just icing):

1) In ME3, they introduced a preset Female Shepard to go along with the preset Male Shepard. If they could stick that face in as an option in the first two games as well, I think that would be nice. I’m still probably not going to use the preset faces, but there is a completeness factor that would be nice to address.

2) Similar to the first point, in ME3 you could import and edit your Shepard’s appearance, while for ME2, you could only import. Taking that ability back to ME2 would be fun. Example; for the first two games, my Shepard sported a high and tight hair style with some five-o-clock shadow. For ME3, he shaved his head and I think I chose a fuller beard option. Being able to make such adjustments in between all three games would be fun.

3) This is more pipe dream territory, but some extra content for the multiplayer would be cool. Another pack or two of characters, weapons, and maybe a map or two would be golden. There may be some grounds for an additional enemy faction, but the best I can come up with either don’t seem to have enough of a hook, or would be potentially canon breaking (if you are worried about that).

15 minutes ago, SabineKey said:

Three other tweeks I would like to see (though ultimately just icing):

1) In ME3, they introduced a preset Female Shepard to go along with the preset Male Shepard. If they could stick that face in as an option in the first two games as well, I think that would be nice. I’m still probably not going to use the preset faces, but there is a completeness factor that would be nice to address.

2) Similar to the first point, in ME3 you could import and edit your Shepard’s appearance, while for ME2, you could only import. Taking that ability back to ME2 would be fun. Example; for the first two games, my Shepard sported a high and tight hair style with some five-o-clock shadow. For ME3, he shaved his head and I think I chose a fuller beard option. Being able to make such adjustments in between all three games would be fun.

3) This is more pipe dream territory, but some extra content for the multiplayer would be cool. Another pack or two of characters, weapons, and maybe a map or two would be golden. There may be some grounds for an additional enemy faction, but the best I can come up with either don’t seem to have enough of a hook, or would be potentially canon breaking (if you are worried about that).

How about the import feature actually working for 3. IIRC, at least at launch, if you tried to import a ME2 to ME3 character that you had previously imported from ME1, it would just give you a default face. Can't recall if they ever fixed this.

14 minutes ago, MasterShake2 said:

How about the import feature actually working for 3. IIRC, at least at launch, if you tried to import a ME2 to ME3 character that you had previously imported from ME1, it would just give you a default face. Can't recall if they ever fixed this.

Huh. I don’t recall this happening. I imported my Shepard’s face just fine. Though, I didn’t do that at launch. Tighter budget in those days.
But I would definitely be for a general lack of bugs like that.

30 minutes ago, MasterShake2 said:

How about the import feature actually working for 3. IIRC, at least at launch, if you tried to import a ME2 to ME3 character that you had previously imported from ME1, it would just give you a default face. Can't recall if they ever fixed this.

I'm pretty sure this was fixed, I played through the ME3 campaign numerous times and always imported characters used in the previous two games. No problems with importing their looks.

49 minutes ago, SabineKey said:

This is more pipe dream territory, but some extra content for the multiplayer would be cool. Another pack or two of characters, weapons, and maybe a map or two would be golden. There may be some grounds for an additional enemy faction, but the best I can come up with either don’t seem to have enough of a hook, or would be potentially canon breaking (if you are worried about that).

I always thought there was potentially room for a "Mercs n'Mechs" style faction. OK, so wouldn't fit into the multiplayer's theme of the ongoing Galactic war, but it would make for a bit of nostalgic fun and variety. You could potentially even split it down into the three mercenary factions from ME2, Blood Pack, Eclipse & Blue Suns.

35 minutes ago, FTS Gecko said:

I always thought there was potentially room for a "Mercs n'Mechs" style faction. OK, so wouldn't fit into the multiplayer's theme of the ongoing Galactic war, but it would make for a bit of nostalgic fun and variety. You could potentially even split it down into the three mercenary factions from ME2, Blood Pack, Eclipse & Blue Suns.

I thought along the same lines, but wasn’t sure it had enough of a hook to really work for thematic reasons. There could be a worry that they’d end up feeling like Cerberus again, but it could be dispelled.

In the canon breaking column, I though about the Thorian. You have hive mind colonists with a very “tool turned weapon” vibe to their gear, the creepers, and have the kind of “mini-boss” units be the green asari clones. Throw in some more plant and spore/toxin based shenanigans, and you might have an interesting new faction. Might end up with identity issues too, but I feel there could be potential.

1 hour ago, SabineKey said:

I thought along the same lines, but wasn’t sure it had enough of a hook to really work for thematic reasons. There could be a worry that they’d end up feeling like Cerberus again, but it could be dispelled.

Yeah, there'd definitely be a risk of crossover. Let's call it the "Everyone Gets A TIE Fighter" syndrome.

There's a lot of cool enemy units from ME1 and ME2 that could be represented in the multiplayer mode. The LOKI, FENRIS & YMIR mechs (arriving by orbital drop!) obviously, the Mantis Gunship would be cool on the outdoor map.

i was a bit disappointed we never saw the Geth Hopper units from ME1 again as well (the Stalkers, Sappers and Ghosts).

4 minutes ago, FTS Gecko said:

Yeah, there'd definitely be a risk of crossover. Let's call it the "Everyone Gets A TIE Fighter" syndrome.

There's a lot of cool enemy units from ME1 and ME2 that could be represented in the multiplayer mode. The LOKI, FENRIS & YMIR mechs (arriving by orbital drop!) obviously, the Mantis Gunship would be cool on the outdoor map.

i was a bit disappointed we never saw the Geth Hopper units from ME1 again as well (the Stalkers, Sappers and Ghosts).

It would've been cool to see them again...then again, basically having to aim your gun with the power wheel was a little on the tedious side, so I definitely would've wanted a gameplay rework.

I know it won't happen, but I want the whole thermal clip thing retconned. I actually like the first games overheat system.

I’d like to see that combined with the thermal clip. You can let it cool down notmally, OR eject and put in a new thermal clip. That way you get the best of both worlds. I hated 2 and 3’s it’s just ammo mechanic.

22 minutes ago, That Blasted Samophlange said:

I know it won't happen, but I want the whole thermal clip thing retconned. I actually like the first games overheat system.

Same here. It was a sacrifice to the altar of action games.

And another great example of how the series developed over time. Quite apart from the absolutely incredible world building Bioware did with the franchise (seriously, the Mass Effect universe is one of the deepest science fiction IPs created this so far this century), I think each game really delivered in different ways.

The first Mass Effect game was probably the best of the series when it came to delivering the thrill of awe of discovery and space exploration. It just had that sense of scale.

The second was probably the most "complete" all round experience. Great story, balance between the main quest and your companion's stories, and the sheer amount of choices and crew interactions that could have an impact in that final mission. Then there was the DLC, which took the story in different ways and added so much. Kasumi was a fun diversion, Overlord was tragic, Shadow Broker was insane...

And the third game absolutely perfected the action in the series. Biotics and Tech powers really came into their own. I really think it's one of the best third person action games I've played.

Incidentally, what's everyone thinking about Elite Dangerous: Odyssey? From what I've seen so far I'm getting some real Mass Effect vibes from it.

21 minutes ago, FTS Gecko said:

Incidentally, what's everyone thinking about Elite Dangerous: Odyssey? From what I've seen so far I'm getting some real Mass Effect vibes from it.

I've never played any of them. They are multiplayer games correct? Apart from certain games like Squadrons, I don't play many multiplayer games anymore. Especially when it comes to exploration - I like doing things in my own time and way.

I just looked at the videos for Odyssey, and it looks to me that everything looks so.. well.. sparse. There is no real excitement, and I didn't see a hint of story. Granted, much is early I'm sure, but it looks too generic so far. Again, I'm not steeped in the game lore, but nothing catches me right off.

14 minutes ago, That Blasted Samophlange said:

I've never played any of them. They are multiplayer games correct? Apart from certain games like Squadrons, I don't play many multiplayer games anymore. Especially when it comes to exploration - I like doing things in my own time and way.

I just looked at the videos for Odyssey, and it looks to me that everything looks so.. well.. sparse. There is no real excitement, and I didn't see a hint of story. Granted, much is early I'm sure, but it looks too generic so far. Again, I'm not steeped in the game lore, but nothing catches me right off.

Elite: Dangerous is basically a space trading and exploration game, set in the cockpit of your chosen ship. It's part of a series that started... eh... almost 40 years ago now, on the old BBC personal computers. Then there was Elite: Frontier, which came out in the 90's if I remember rightly.

Elite: Dangerous is a massive multiplayer online game, yes. But it's not really a multiplayer game as you'd know it. It's set in a pretty close approximation of the Milky Way, with 6 BILLION star systems to discover and explore. Populated systems in game account for less than 0.1% of the game's space. So far - in about 8 years - the player base has visited less than 5% of the star systems in the game, and fully explored even less.

You can play in open play (where you can encounter other players) and not run into a human player for hours, day, weeks, months or ever, depending on what you do and where you go. Or you can see dozens, if you keep tabs on in game events and track them down. When you do run into other players it can run the entire range from friendly greetings, sharing knowledge and tips to tense stand offs, piracy or hostility to some incredibly complex interactions and community driven events that really push the envelope of what multiplayer gaming actually can be.

There are ongoing stories in the the game, and lots of background information and lore, but it takes a back seat for the most part, leaving you to play as you see fit. A lot of it is about the thrill of discovery, finding things that no other player has seen before and putting your name to them. Some players will absolutely find it sparse or empty or repetitive. Then there's players who'll get caught up in the atmosphere and completely lost in it.

Personally, I think a combination of Mass Effect's character-driven stories and narrative and Elite's vast, open universe would be the perfect game. All wrapped up in the Star Wars license, of course 😆