Welcome back, my beautiful freaks, to Sean's Workshop!
I've finally Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, so here are my thoughts on what's the same and what's different.
First off, what's the same. The engines for each game is the same, quests are the same, companions are the same, the way the romances work are the same (for better or worse in the case of ME1), and the classes are the same for the game you are playing. It's still Mass Effect as you know it, but better in most cases.
As for the differences, well, some games are more different than others. I'm going to front load this analysis by saying the graphics are better across the series as you'd expect for a 2021 remaster of a game series that initially came out in 2007. So, full 4k support, better textures, etc. Also, all DLC is available (save for Pinnacle Station, which they lost the source code for) for the full trilogy. This includes the Extended Cut ending changes in Mass Effect 3, making it the standard way you experience the trilogy's end. Some of the achievements have been pruned, removing redundant ones and taking away the hardcore and weapon kills achievements in ME1.
First off, Mass Effect 1. The soldier is no longer a required run for your first time through, something I didn't realize until I looked at the achievements and saw that the weapons ones were gone. And the reason for this is something that has been well published; all classes can use all guns with the accuracy of ME2 and 3 from the start. The biggest reason to play the soldier in this one is that you can make ALL your guns better, as opposed to only some better for the infiltrator and vanguard, or at all for the adept, engineer and sentinel. This creates a bit of a disconnect later, which I'll get to.
Also, the grenade button was moved, and a sprint was added for outside combat. So you should familiarize yourself with the controls on the ship or in the early parts of Eden Prime before entering battle.
Second biggest change is the character creator. We are now using the Mass Effect 3 character creator in both 1 and 2, so there will be no surprises when you load your character into 3, bugs aside. But what comes along with that character creator is the ME3 femshep is now the standard for the whole trilogy.
And the third biggest change to ME1 is the Mako. First off, you no longer lose xp for killing with the Mako, so you're able to fight as intended with the Mako. This is important, since Thresher Maws now work differently. In the Thresher Maw fights, they have those pop up tentacles that you see in the ME2 Grunt loyalty mission boss fight, and when they're low health, they chase you around the arena. This makes the fight much more intense, making them a real threat and, if you're the Sole Survivor, much more scary.
The second major change for the Mako is the maneuverability is better. It is slightly less bouncy, and while it can still "turtle on its back" if you're not careful, it's less likely to happen. In fact, I only turtled once in my first playthrough.
The Mako also took the boosters from the Andromeda APC, meaning you can go faster when you want to and can get up the sides of cliffs faster.
As for Mass Effect 2 and 3, they remain mostly unchanged, at least according to what I saw in terms of gameplay. They play the same as they did previously, though the disconnect I mentioned previously pops up in ME2. You see, since ME1 originally restricted the sentinel, engineer and adept to pistols and gave the sniper rifle to the infiltrator and shotgun to the vanguard, none of the classes had a rapid fire weapon in ME2 outside the soldier, so they granted the submachine gun to all but the soldier. However, since ME3 removes the weapon restrictions (though they replace it with the weight system), ME2 exists in a strange place in the Legendary Edition trilogy, as its the only one with real weapon restrictions. You can still choose a new proficiency on the Collector Ship, but as was before, that is halfway through the game. Which is why there are mods for the PC version to remove the weapon restrictions, making the trilogy more consistent.
Also beginning in ME2, all the DLC armors and weapons are now purchasable at shops throughout the game. That means that powerful guns like the Eviscerator and geth shotguns, the Phalanx pistol and the Kestral armor set have to be bought before you can use them. This was made to rebalance the game so the difficulty is as its supposed to be.
And for Mass Effect 3, you get a lot of the same; all DLC available, DLC gear has to be bought, etc. But the two biggest changes are the removal of the multiplayer (which was done to make a superior single player experience), and a change to Galactic Readiness. Since a lack of playing multiplayer removes the need for the Effective Military Strength (EMS) due to not playing multiplayer halving the strength of war assets, Legendary Edition simply makes all war assets worth their full rating all the time. And while this could be considered worrisome to returning players, if you play the game as intended, you'll have more then enough assets to get access to all three endings.
So yeah, the Mass Effect Shepard Saga is very much improved. If you're playing it for the first time, you'll definitely enjoy yourself. And if you're a returning player like myself, you'll enjoy it as well.
So for now, stay beautiful freaks!
