Mass Effect Legendary Edition rebalancing certain gameplay elements in the interest of unity
While the galaxy is anxiously awaiting Commander Shepard's triumphant return, gamers across the globe were recently informed of some modifications to the original Mass Effect games that will be present in Mass Effect Legendary Edition. Jay Ingram, community manager for EA and BioWare, has revealed that there will be some gameplay rebalancing and other mechanical improvements to the upcoming remaster via via a blog post on the EA site. The most prominent change is a complete re-tuning of the combat in the first Mass Effect game, which is notorious among fans for how differently it plays compared to the rest of the trilogy. Gunplay is the primary change here, offering increased accuracy and aim assist to make the entry point of the series feel and play more like its sequels. Beyond weapon accuracy, other gameplay changes for the first game include faster weapon cooldown, melee being mapped to a button rather than automatic at close range, and the ability for Shepard to sprint both in and out of combat.
This is in line with a major goal for the remaster touted in the blog, which was to make each piece of the trilogy feel more consistent with each other, without losing unique features and the general "feel" special to each game. Another major way that this is being achieved is by taking the series finale into account from the get go, and accounting for content completed and choices made through all three games leading up to the final battle against the Reaper threat. Legendary Edition's version of the finale will also no longer be affected by external factors such as the old Mass Effect 3 companion app, or the game's removed multiplayer mode.
Other gameplay re-balances for the remaster include individual squad member commands added to Mass Effect that are present in Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3, improving the handling and combat elements of the land vehicle gameplay in the original game, a more uniform character creator process for the entire trilogy, and tweaking specific boss fights and combat cover elements across all three games. Mass Effect Legendary Edition will be released on May 14th, 2021. It will be available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows systems, with forward compatibility for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S.
Source
