How Mass Effect: Legendary Edition Fixes The Renegade & Paragon System
BioWare is making quite a few changes to their critically-acclaimed science fiction RPG trilogy for the remastered versions in the Mass Effect: Legendary Edition. The very first Mass Effect is reportedly getting the most work done, including big changes to combat and Mako vehicle gameplay. The Legendary Edition is looking to make some sweeping changes across the entire Mass Effect trilogy as well in order to unify the vision and ensure even smoother transitions from one game to the next. This includes some improvements to Mass Effect's Renegade and Paragon morality system.
Like earlier BioWare game Knights of the Old Republic, which used the Light and Dark Sides of the Force, Mass Effect contains a morality system that pushes the character towards Paragon or Renegade depending on their actions and dialogue choices. The trilogy contains continuity for such choices between games, and the fate of squadmates, side characters, and whole communities can depend on whether the player decides to take the Paragon or Renegade route in certain situations.
According to a blog post by Electronic Arts, the publisher behind all four Mass Effect games and the upcoming Legendary Edition, Mass Effect 2 will receive the most work in terms of the morality system. Apparently there were some issues in the original release where Paragon/Renegade stats would be incorrectly displayed, which in turn affected possible dialogue options, some of which require a player to surpass certain thresholds on the morality scales. This bug caused Mass Effect 2's Paragon- and Renegade-specific dialogue to be mistakenly inaccessible, which had ramifications for both the ending of Mass Effect 2 as well as consequences throughout Mass Effect 3.
There's always a place for difficult games in the video game world. A reputation has been built on the often frustrating combat in Dark Souls and other FromSoftware games. Mass Effect even has a satisfyingly brutal "hardest" difficulty setting, but difficulty in navigating the dialogue system can easily lead to player disillusionment. Without going into spoiler-filled specifics, the ending to Mass Effect 2 can have wildly different outcomes depending on player choice. The "best" ending was notoriously difficult to achieve, requiring the player to do a tremendous amount of Mass Effect 2's side missions in a certain order and make many correct dialogue choices. According to these new changes in the Legendary Edition, it may not have been so difficult intentionally.
Making combat difficult is one thing, but outright punishing a player for having their Commander Shepard say a couple of boneheaded things is unnecessary, especially when a player has put potentially a hundred hours into their playthrough across the first two games. Yes, the character interactions are possibly the most important part of the Mass Effect games, and BioWare certainly doesn't want players to take the RP in the RPG lightly, but restoring the intended leeway for players to more easily accomplish their goals is the right move for the Mass Effect: Legendary Edition.
Source: Electronic Arts
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