Mass Effect the way you see it

[Jick Magger]

Mass Effect 1 - essentially leave it as-is. Game is pretty vanilla, but overall harmless and a decent launching point for a trilogy.

Mass Effect 2 - Keep the gameplay, re-vamp the story. The whole "fight the collectors" story was a gigantic waste of time, try to do something that actually ties in with the Reaper invasion instead of a glorified side-story in which next-to-nothing is accomplished by the end. This could be as simple as just having the end-game be the characters realizing that The Collectors are gonna try open up another space portal that the Reapers can use, and the player has to stop them.

At the same time, get someone else to write the Cerberus side of things. Remind them over and over and over again that if the player can immediately think of a compelling counter-argument to any of The Illusive Man's reasoning, then they either need to re-write his reasoning to something more justifiable, have Shepard actually voice this reasoning instead of just impotently bitching about not being informed, or just completely re-write that entire section from the ground-up.

Mass Effect 3 - Since the overarching plot, that being the reapers has finally arrived and you have to stop them, fundamentally goes against everything the first game establishes (that being if the reapers manage to reach our galaxy, we've already lost), this'd necessitate a total revision from the ground-up. I honestly wouldn't even know where to begin with this, so I won't try.

 

[pippin]

When I was playing ME2 I kinda assumed the Collectors were like mini reapers. I never truly understood why they were there and I don't really care. I do loved how the companions were half of the game, though. This made everything feel really tight and to the point, even though this game probably has nothing to do with the entire Mass Effect theme. As I've said before it really feels like you have more links between 1 and 3 than between 2 and 3, as you go completing missions and meeting characters from the previous games. Even the gal from the ME1 dlc shows up if you do her mission correctly.

 

[sser]

Make it turn-based. Delete the 2nd game. Leave the third game in existence just to confuse people.

 

[sullynathan]

complete reboot

 

[Jick Magger]

When I was playing ME2 I kinda assumed the Collectors were like mini reapers. I never truly understood why they were there and I don't really care. I do loved how the companions were half of the game, though. This made everything feel really tight and to the point, even though this game probably has nothing to do with the entire Mass Effect theme. As I've said before it really feels like you have more links between 1 and 3 than between 2 and 3, as you go completing missions and meeting characters from the previous games. Even the gal from the ME1 dlc shows up if you do her mission correctly.

I didn't have any problems with the companions either. Only real revision I'd make wit them is removing Jacob and replacing him with a different character, maybe one who actually is loyal to Cerberus and is able to provide a nuanced argument for supporting him (as opposed to the "They're just right" arguments you get from Jacob and Miranda). Jacob was an overall waste of time, his character very bland and his loyalty mission a bare basic daddy issue story, so I don't think the game would suffer much from his absence.

 

[JarlFrank]

I'd keep everything as it is but greatly reduce the cutscenes by like 90% and make level design actually interesting rather than just glorified Call of Duty corridors.

Then I might actually be motivated enough to play through the fucking game for once.

 

[warpig]

Gameplay wise -> Shooter-y gameplay from ME2 but instead of "streamlined" corridor-like levels have more complex and "open" locations. Have a fixed number of enemies roaming freely and reacting to your actions insead of script-spawning them before you. Weapons like in ME2, armor customization for you and your team (for example: heavier armor -> you're slower or power armor suits specialized for operating heavy weapons etc.).

Story wise -> ME1: keep it as it is, I liked it. ME2: keep the "assemble the team" story but have some new main bad guys instead of derped-up Reapers. Their gateway to the galaxy was closed in ME1 so you don't have to worry about them for the next few hundred or whatever years. Maybe you could occasionally bump to some remains of the Reapers (like that derelict Reaper)... ME3 -> something completely new, ME3 story was total shit imo.
Some changes to the lore, I would get rid of the Asari nerd-fap material and re design aliens that look like humans with rubber heads (like these four-eyed guys or that lizard like assasin character). Less soap opera shit and stupid nerdy quirky humour from ME2. No sex with aliens...or give the player the option to hit on them but they would be weirded out by it -> "WTF human!?" xD No faggotry - why would I want this kind of crap in a computer game?

 

[Neanderthal]

Simple. First shot o ME1 is that Shepard blokes skull bein crushed under power armoured boot on an Adeptus Astartes, then galaxy bein cleansed from end to end o Xenos an Heretics wi high calibre bolter rounds an liberal applications o promethium.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

ME1 I'd keep similar to how it was, although the combat could be improved by making enemies less bullet spongey.

ME2 I'd keep the companions and loyalty missions. I'd also keep the main thrust of the gameplay intact (no planet exploration, doesn't make sense to piss around with the reapers closing in). The main story would have been about who helps you find the best way to kill the reapers. No resurrection storyline, although Cerberus are still there, especially in the early missions, because they make you an offer right at the start of the game. You can choose whether to accept their help (which pisses off Kaiden/Ashley, the Alliance and the Citadel massively and makes getting their support in ME3 a little more difficult, unless you find a way to fool both sides - see, this is what RPGs do!). The aim of the suicide mission would have been to get prothean or reaper tech to learn how to kill them effectively. You are the one to do it because of the prothean marker stuff and the Vigil conversation you had in ME1.

ME3 would have actually been mostly the same, but with more consequences. Most of the game would be unchanged - fighting the reapers, getting allies, meeting up with old companions etc., dialogue etc. Star Child would have been removed utterly. The Catalyst would still be there (without the deus ex machina part - what the catalyst does depends on how much you learned in ME2, who you sided with, resources gathered etc).

The galaxy can end up being dominated by reapers (for retarded playthroughs where you just let companions die, don't bother with sidequests, do a shitty job in the main missions etc), or by Cerberus (with or without your support), or by the Alliance (with or without your support), by the Council, all depending on choices made throughout the games.

ME1 would have introduced the reaper threat, ME2 would have been about learning how to kill the reapers (and choosing who helps you do it, Alliance or Cerberus) and ME3 would have been about putting that plan into effect and deciding how the galaxy looks after everything is done.

I've only talked about how they could have improved the story, of course. I don't know how to improve on the systems without completely making a new kind of game (isometric and turn-based, knowing the Codex).

 

[Sykar]

Just from the top of my head for ME 1:

1.) Scrap romances
2.) Make Mako missions enjoyable with proper level design, physics engine, etc.
3.) Less linear
4.) Away with radial menue for dialogue choices
5.) Less skill points for more meaningful choices
6.) Good inventory system
7.) Make companion AI at least passable

ME 2? Unsavable. Needs to be completely redone. The whole Space Jesus Shepard retardation alone makes the whole game unbearable for me from a story perspective.

Same with ME 3 and don't even get me started on the ending.

 

[pippin]

Romances really feel forced into you in ME1, yeah. But I don't think you want Bio trying open world. Look at DAI.

 

[Sykar]

Romances really feel forced into you in ME1, yeah. But I don't think you want Bio trying open world. Look at DAI.

Where did I mention open world?

 

[Grif]

I find it interesting that a lot opted to keep ME1 as is. Don't get me wrong, it's really decent for what it set out to do, and for most part it achieves it pretty well barring a few hiccups. (Inventory management in that game was horrible and don't let nostalgia tell you otherwise.) But given $CURRENT_YEAR technology, I'd actually like to see ME1 being remastered in something that isn't a shitty Bioware engine (something like the TW2/TW3 engine, perhaps), make the randomly generated worlds to be less sparse, more variety in interior design, and yes, improved combat that doesn't involve bullet-sponges.

Improving ME2 would require first stripping out the stupid jesus plot, Collectors plot and make Cerberus not pants out retarded... actually that's 90% of the game so you may well scrap it and redo the entire thing.

 

[pippin]

Romances really feel forced into you in ME1, yeah. But I don't think you want Bio trying open world. Look at DAI.

Where did I mention open world?

Less linear?

 

[Sykar]

Romances really feel forced into you in ME1, yeah. But I don't think you want Bio trying open world. Look at DAI.

Where did I mention open world?

Less linear?

I do not associate open world with linear level design at all.

 

[Jazz_]

Mass Effect bored me to death, there wasn't one single thing in it that didn't give me a deejavu feeling. Didn't finish it and didn't bother with 2 and 3.

 

[Reinhardt]

Remove ugly blue

 

[vortex]

Remove ugly blue

I agree, it should be more visceral like DOOM

Spoiler

 

[Alex2C]

As already mentioned above, would make it military sci fi about faction struggle in the galaxy and Shepard can use one or another faction by player's choice to establish humanity as a galaxy worth race. Absolutely no eating-all-organics megacreatures.

 

[pippin]

Yeah but you're asking military sci fi from people who never were in the military....

 

[Max Stats]

Remove faggots from the universe.

Especially STEEEEEEEEEEEEVE.


also the star child would instead be whoever you left to die at virmire instead of some dumb kid that you met for 10 seconds

 

[pippin]

Mark Meer said he did like 3 or 4 versions of the STEEEVE yell, according to how close you were towards him during the game, but for some reason every reaction is always the most over the top one.

 

[J1M]

I find it interesting that a lot opted to keep ME1 as is. Don't get me wrong, it's really decent for what it set out to do, and for most part it achieves it pretty well barring a few hiccups. (Inventory management in that game was horrible and don't let nostalgia tell you otherwise.) But given $CURRENT_YEAR technology, I'd actually like to see ME1 being remastered in something that isn't a shitty Bioware engine (something like the TW2/TW3 engine, perhaps), make the randomly generated worlds to be less sparse, more variety in interior design, and yes, improved combat that doesn't involve bullet-sponges.

Improving ME2 would require first stripping out the stupid jesus plot, Collectors plot and make Cerberus not pants out retarded... actually that's 90% of the game so you may well scrap it and redo the entire thing.

All three Mass Effect games used Unreal Engine 3. The missteps of those games had nothing to do with engine technology.

 

[Ninjerk]

Remove the Reapers completely. I don't remember enough about ME to change anything else.

 

[abnaxus]

Just play Precursors.