Report: EA Is Remastering The ‘Mass Effect’ Trilogy At Long Last (Unconfirmed)

[More AWS-8Q Than You]

Working with Mac Walters and the Weekes must have been like hell.

I don't think the Weekes had quite the pull at the time. ME2 did have Patrick pulled into the team, since he took over Garrus from Mac Walters. That's really when Patrick started to get popular with the fan base. I don't know that he became full on insufferable until ME3 or after. The success of ME2 really went to a lot of people's heads, even if ME2 is were the massive story and narrative problems in Mass Effect start. The sad part is, most of 2 and 3's story beats could be reworked with some changes and an actual fucking outline and planning ahead. Move the suicide mission to the end of 3 instead of slapping it in the middle, have Indoctrination be the real threat and have that be the ending beat in ME2, the realization that it really is Shep and team against everyone important. Don't make Javik DLC, he's critical to the story and I like how his solution to all of life's problems is throwing them out of an airlock. I mean, we know the Citadel is the key to the Reapers coming back, and if it was blocked off in ME1, imagine most of it now being held by an Indoctrined council at the end of ME2.

My personal thought on an appropriate ending at that point is you and Javik, after fighting through the Indoctrinated Citadel at the end, send a self-destruct code to the Relay on the other side and maroon the Reapers in deep space. The best you can do and just leave that question of whether you ended the threat or just delayed it hanging. Leaves the door open for more in the future.

 

[Kane Lives]

I don't think the Weekes had quite the pull at the time. ME2 did have Patrick pulled into the team, since he took over Garrus from Mac Walters. That's really when Patrick started to get popular with the fan base. I don't know that he became full on insufferable until ME3 or after. The success of ME2 really went to a lot of people's heads, even if ME2 is were the massive story and narrative problems in Mass Effect start. The sad part is, most of 2 and 3's story beats could be reworked with some changes and an actual fucking outline and planning ahead. Move the suicide mission to the end of 3 instead of slapping it in the middle, have Indoctrination be the real threat and have that be the ending beat in ME2, the realization that it really is Shep and team against everyone important. Don't make Javik DLC, he's critical to the story and I like how his solution to all of life's problems is throwing them out of an airlock. I mean, we know the Citadel is the key to the Reapers coming back, and if it was blocked off in ME1, imagine most of it now being held by an Indoctrined council at the end of ME2.

My personal thought on an appropriate ending at that point is you and Javik, after fighting through the Indoctrinated Citadel at the end, send a self-destruct code to the Relay on the other side and maroon the Reapers in deep space. The best you can do and just leave that question of whether you ended the threat or just delayed it hanging. Leaves the door open for more in the future.

I have to say you put in more thought in the story outline than the writers did.

 

[More AWS-8Q Than You]

I have to say you put in more thought in the story outline than the writers did.

Some people just got mad about it, I tried to be constructive.

 

[Snekposter]

My single biggest beef with the ME3 plot is how utterly incoherent it is. Let me give you what I feel is the most blatant example. According to Javik the centralized command and control method of the Protheans and the forced doctrine and battle planning allowed the Reapers to adapt and smash them. And on Earth, the Codex mentions that the various independent nation-states not centrally coordinating their attacks and adopting a unified battle plan is allowing the Reapers to... adapt and smash them. So uh, which is it guys?

 

[Duncan Hills Coffee]

I beat ME3 for the first time last year, so I was prepared for the shitty ending. That and I installed the Extended ending ahead of time so that it could be less shitty and annoying. I had the ending spoiled for me a long time ago so I already knew about the inconsistencies, plot holes, and other miscellaneous problems. As such, I went into it at least wanting some kind of emotional closure. I can look past logical inconsistencies if the emotional resonance makes up for it. Just as an example, MGS4's ending is one of my personal favorite conclusions because the emotions behind it make up for the sillier and nonsensical elements that went with it.

Thing is, ME3's ending left me cold even on a pure emotional level. It just stops. There's no follow up to the characters you spent nearly a hundred hours getting attached to. There's no feeling of satisfaction that you just stopped the worst threat the galaxy ever faced. All you get is a bunch of "everything is fine" stills, Shepard's crew mourning them (or being optimistic if you had a high effectiveness rating), and a kick to the credits. ME3 stank of being rushed, but I didn't feel it anywhere as badly as the ending. And this was the Extended ending which was supposed to be less bad. I realized that if I had played ME3 at launch all those years ago I would have been pissed.

Next time I beat the game, I'm installing one of those alternate ending mods, probably MEHM. At least that tries to give some sense of closure.

 

[Grandpa Simpson]

There is multiplayer in ME2/3/Andromeda and that's where they would put in MicroTransactions as they are already there.

If they clean up the UI, standaradize it across all 3 games, evened out the story line across all 3 games (this is easily 3 months of work alone) then and only then would i be interested.

I like ME 1 and 2, 3 was OK and the ending was pure lazy pozz.

Andromeda can fuck right off I'm never playing that or DA:I again. Beat them both, deleted both. Don't care.

All they needed to do was make COD : Black Ops in Space. By ME2 they already had the "Dirty Dozen" "Magnificent Seven" storyline. They could've just copy pasted a COD storyline, throw in some interesting hard sci fi lore like ME1 had, a few romances, copy paste COD multiplayer and they'd be golden.

It just boggles my mind how utterly they fucked up a Franchise this badly.

 

[James Roancrest]

To anyone installing ending mods, go for JAM instead of MEHEM. MEHEM is pretty bad (complete with OCs by the mod author), whereas JAM takes only the good elements of MEHEM and makes it a lot less jarring. Best ending mod.

Also, install the Citadel Epilogue Mod as a nice send-off to the Normandy crew.

 

[Miller]

All they needed to do was make COD : Black Ops in Space. By ME2 they already had the "Dirty Dozen" "Magnificent Seven" storyline. They could've just copy pasted a COD storyline, throw in some interesting hard sci fi lore like ME1 had, a few romances, copy paste COD multiplayer and they'd be golden.

It just boggles my mind how utterly they fucked up a Franchise this badly.

Instead of a soft reboot (Andromeda) they should have made a game about the First Contact War.

 

[Snekposter]

Oh man, that would be impressive. I'm more than a bit fond of the backstory and historical events in the ME universe prior to the games, and that war was hilariously lopsided in outcome given the massive force disparities. A bunch of backwards nobodies stretched thin with their own exploration and colonization efforts give the single biggest military in Council space one hell of a twerked nose. Normally anyone who even thinks about fucking with the Turians gets preemptively fucked over, and the Alliance not only managed to hit the Turians in what passes for a nose on them, but they got forced to pay us reparations for starting the whole thing. They got militarily and diplomatically embarrassed on the galactic stage as our first entry into Citadel politics, and we did it all by accident.

 

[Miller]

Oh man, that would be impressive. I'm more than a bit fond of the backstory and historical events in the ME universe prior to the games, and that war was hilariously lopsided in outcome given the massive force disparities. A bunch of backwards nobodies stretched thin with their own exploration and colonization efforts give the single biggest military in Council space one hell of a twerked nose. Normally anyone who even thinks about fucking with the Turians gets preemptively fucked over, and the Alliance not only managed to hit the Turians in what passes for a nose on them, but they got forced to pay us reparations for starting the whole thing. They got militarily and diplomatically embarrassed on the galactic stage as our first entry into Citadel politics, and we did it all by accident.

Exactly. Even if we know how it ends, it would be interesting to play as one of the people who took part in that war, from the early days as an explorer to the discovery of the Mass Relay and the Turians. There's no need for alternate endings, just one, well-written story with cool characters and set pieces.

 

[Stardust]

Mass Effect 1 is clunky going back to, especially driving the Mako, but the soundtrack and area designs, to me, make up for it. Though I do enjoy ME2's focus on characters and the Loyalty Missions, it is hard to deny the change in presentation from the first game. The Illusive Man is very entertaining to interact with in ME2, but ME3 pushes him and Cerberus to ridiculous levels of competitive presence as, suddenly, they're on par militarily with the united forces. It's jarring.

 

[Scarlett Johansson]

I beat ME3 for the first time last year, so I was prepared for the shitty ending. That and I installed the Extended ending ahead of time so that it could be less shitty and annoying. I had the ending spoiled for me a long time ago so I already knew about the inconsistencies, plot holes, and other miscellaneous problems. As such, I went into it at least wanting some kind of emotional closure. I can look past logical inconsistencies if the emotional resonance makes up for it. Just as an example, MGS4's ending is one of my personal favorite conclusions because the emotions behind it make up for the sillier and nonsensical elements that went with it.

Thing is, ME3's ending left me cold even on a pure emotional level. It just stops. There's no follow up to the characters you spent nearly a hundred hours getting attached to. There's no feeling of satisfaction that you just stopped the worst threat the galaxy ever faced. All you get is a bunch of "everything is fine" stills, Shepard's crew mourning them (or being optimistic if you had a high effectiveness rating), and a kick to the credits. ME3 stank of being rushed, but I didn't feel it anywhere as badly as the ending. And this was the Extended ending which was supposed to be less bad. I realized that if I had played ME3 at launch all those years ago I would have been pissed.

Next time I beat the game, I'm installing one of those alternate ending mods, probably MEHM. At least that tries to give some sense of closure.

Imo the Citadel DLC is the true ending and the point of no return doesn't happen lmao

 

[Notgoodwithusernames]

Mass Effect 1 is clunky going back to, especially driving the Mako, but the soundtrack and area designs, to me, make up for it. Though I do enjoy ME2's focus on characters and the Loyalty Missions, it is hard to deny the change in presentation from the first game. The Illusive Man is very entertaining to interact with in ME2, but ME3 pushes him and Cerberus to ridiculous levels of competitive presence as, suddenly, they're on par militarily with the united forces. It's jarring.

IM being antagonistic in 3 didnt bother me as much in my playthrough since I told him to fuck off in 2 but if you chose to side with him at the end of 2 I can see how it can come off as a big what the hell moment. Even in the Destroy Collector base version of events it feels like I flipped over a couple pages. The way I would do it is if you destroyed the collector base in 2 Illusive Man in 3 would be an antagonist at the beginning of the game but if you chose to hand it over to Cerberus they'd be friendly in 3... at least for the first half of the game. I'd also ad a gameplay component to the fate of the collector base. If you chose to spare the base you'd get access to a set of weapons that are extremely effective against Husks and all cerberus opponents in the first half of the game would be replaced by husks or other enemy combatants (Maybe a couple of side missions would have you face rogue cerberus operatives) with a few missions being skipped over... However in the latter half of the game when you start fighting Cerberus enemies they would be a lot tougher. If you destory the collector base you're cutoff to the bonus weapons and Cerberus is an enemy faction from the start but they are also a lot weaker

 

[Stardust]

IM being antagonistic in 3 didnt bother me as much in my playthrough since I told him to fuck off in 2 but if you chose to side with him at the end of 2 I can see how it can come off as a big what the hell moment. Even in the Destroy Collector base version of events it feels like I flipped over a couple pages.

The antagonistic part isn't a huge issue for me, as it could be argued indoctrination is influencing The Illusive Man. Your ideas are rad though!

My issue was the sheer resources Cerberus had. In ME1 they were terrorists, and in ME2, while well funded, still felt sensibly sized. In ME3, suddenly, they have the means and numbers to rival other formidible forces. Gameplay wise it makes sense, but lore wise it comes off shoddy or lazy, a case of 'Oh, they were always capable of this'. If that makes sense.

 

[Fuck Y'all]

While I have no faith in Bioware, EA somehow managed to NOT fuck up the CNC remaster. Just something to keep in mind.

because they didn't interferred when it was unnecessary (like they tend to do)

 

[Back me up!]

because they didn't interferred when it was unnecessary (like they tend to do)

Lol Bioware is such a shit company that EA hands off approach is what actually fucked up ME:A and Anthem. If the EA suits had shown up earlier and demanded an actual plan / demo earlier instead of trusting "Bioware Magic " the shit show of those games would have never happened.

 

[Overcast]

Literally the only interesting thing about him is that he's voiced by the same guy as Carth from KOTOR, but Carth was far more interesting. People complain about Jacob, but Jacob had some semblance of personality and background. Kaiden is the most boring fucking party member in the trilogy. He felt like an afterthought in 3, as if BioWare didn't expect anyone to have saved him in the first place.

He also voiced this magnificent bastard:

Spoilering this due to length and being a bit incoherent and spergy.

Spoiler

Mass Effect was a series I was pretty obsessed with back in my high school and early college days. I loved the story, characters, lore, atmosphere ect.

I was really hoping for Mass Effect 3 to be amazing. I even tried to justify the whole Day 1 DLC regarding Javik. And for a while I was even in denial over the ending.

Looking back, it really is difficult to look at the games (mainly 2 and 3, I still hold the first game in high regard) without noticing all the holes and seams.

2 was gutted in terms of gameplay mechanics, and while they did try and bring back some essential features from 1 into 3, it still felt left me wanting. Although I still felt it had a lot of great character interactions. (Mordin and his dilemma in particular was beautiful)

Most of 3 really was just slapdashed together in an attempt to get the game out as soon as possible and it really shows. The high points were still pretty high. (Again, Mordin and the genophage. Although I imagine someone who's more observant than me can see all the little problems that arc probably has.) but the low points were REALLY low.

Romanced Jacob in ME2? He dumps your ass and knocks up some random chick. Fuck you for liking him.

Need a reason to actually care for Earth beyond the fact that it's... well our actual home? Have some random kid get murdered by the Reapers and have Shepard be sad about it the entire game. As if all the people he may have potentially lost throughout the series up to that point weren't as important.

Also, I remember someone mentioning about how the series suffered a bit from characters being writer's pets. And I can't really say they're wrong.

In 2's Shadow Broker DLC, I remember bringing Tali with me and Liara as we faced the DLC's namesake. I was romancing the former and was hoping for some unique dialogue. Instead, we have Shepard grabbing Liara and diving out of the way as the Shadow Broker throws his desk and knocks out Tali.

Like I liked Liara, but it was pretty blatant there that whoever was writing the DLC was incredibly biased towards her. Even back then I thought that was really stupid.

Not to mention a lot of the returning characters in 3 were given very little screen time in comparison to others. Like, I'm happy Garrus, Wrex and Tali were given a lot to do, but characters like Thane, Jack and Kasumi were very clearly sidelined. (Granted, Kasumi is a DLC character, but still.)

Also, was it just me or were the Renegade options in 3 almost cartoonishly evil? Like, you could do some messed up shit in 1 and 2, but at least with those games, there was a semblance of logic and pragmatism to most of those choices that made the morality system a bit more nuanced than most other games. Certainly wasn't perfect, but with 3, it felt like they didn't even try.

Bottom line, not gonna bother rebuying the trilogy. Bioware and EA can suck it.

 

[Snekposter]

Thane has an actual reason to be sidelined though. He was already slowly dying in ME2 when you snagged him, so him just trying to enjoy what little time he has left isn't exactly a big issue, especially since his illness has progressed to the point he can no longer keep up without being a drain on the Normandy's resources. Jack though? Dumping her kids on the military now that they can handle themselves and then joining you to finish kicking ass and saving the day is much more in character than being mother hen and coddling them.

 

[April Ryan]

Instead of a soft reboot (Andromeda) they should have made a game about the First Contact War.

That was the original plan, until the fanbase told them unambiguously that they had no interest in a prequel and wanted the story to advance.

I however have no idea how anyone could think that the first contact war would make for a good game.

The order of events are:
-Turian scout fleet finds unknown primitives trying to activate a mass relay, a massive legal no-no, so shoot first with-out asking questions.
-After curb-stomping the humans they follow the survivors back to their base on Shanxi and curb-stomp the utterly unprepared defenders there as well.
-A few days later the entire alliance fleet shows up and wreaks the Turians shit.
-The Asari notice the large scale Turian military build up as they plan to attack the humans in full force and so shut them down, before making a proper, peaceful first contact with the humans.

Thats it, no epic battles or cool mystery to explore, just 3 utterly one-sided annihilations over the course of less than a week. It could make a decent film, but nothing to make an action-rpg out of.

And all over the fanbase I see people talking about how the first contact war was some great victory, that showed that humanity was able to stand toe to toe with the great powers of the galaxy, when like I said their victory was literaly using their entire fleet to trash a small frontier scouting fleet that went way beyond their assigned role. If the Asari hadn't stepped in the alliance would have gotten it's shit pushed in very quickly.

 

[More AWS-8Q Than You]

That was the original plan, until the fanbase told them unambiguously that they had no interest in a prequel and wanted the story to advance.

I however have no idea how anyone could think that the first contact war would make for a good game.

The order of events are:
-Turian scout fleet finds unknown primitives trying to activate a mass relay, a massive legal no-no, so shoot first with-out asking questions.
-After curb-stomping the humans they follow the survivors back to their base on Shanxi and curb-stomp the utterly unprepared defenders there as well.
-A few days later the entire alliance fleet shows up and wreaks the Turians shit.
-The Asari notice the large scale Turian military build up as they plan to attack the humans in full force and so shut them down, before making a proper, peaceful first contact with the humans.

Thats it, no epic battles or cool mystery to explore, just 3 utterly one-sided annihilations over the course of less than a week. It could make a decent film, but nothing to make an action-rpg out of.

And all over the fanbase I see people talking about how the first contact war was some great victory, that showed that humanity was able to stand toe to toe with the great powers of the galaxy, when like I said their victory was literaly using their entire fleet to trash a small frontier scouting fleet that went way beyond their assigned role. If the Asari hadn't stepped in the alliance would have gotten it's shit pushed in very quickly.

The First Contact War pisses me off so damn much, since it's just the Turians jumping a race that was breaking a law they didn't know existed and getting butt hurt they lost. No attempts to explain anything, no rational response, just kick the shit out of the new guy without explaining shit. The fact that Humanity doesn't just tell the Council to go fuck themselves or that anyone actually trust the Council races blows my mind. The Council races are such shit to anyone not the big three.