How Mass Effect Legendary Edition’s Character Creation Is Different

In revealing more of the changes coming to Mass Effect Legendary Edition on May 14, one thing BioWare has highlighted is its new approach to character creation. The remaster will take care of some of the annoyances in the original Mass Effect trilogy, such changing the way the original ME‘s Mako functions. BioWare is simultaneously working to bring its characters up to 2021 visual standards.

The ability to craft a custom Commander Shepard has always been one of the appeals of Mass Effect. From the beginning, players were able to pick a male or female protagonist, and change everything from their hair and skin color through to scars and the shape of their nose. These choices set the stage for the many plot decisions in the series, including who – if anyone – players would be able to romance, which was relatively novel in 2007.

According to EA and BioWare, the key theme of character creation in Mass Effect Legendary Edition is unification. Once players produce their first Shepard, a unique seed code will spawn that can be copied and pasted into any of the three (overhauled) games. In the original trilogy players were sometimes forced to recreate their character, especially if they switched platforms mid-series. The creation tool now includes additional skin tones and hairstyles, along with updated textures and models – and some gamers will likely be happy to know that the default female Shepard is now the one from Mass Effect 3, but the first default will still be available as a preset.

In Mass Effect Legendary Edition, No More Plots From Square One

One of the perks of the original Mass Effect games was that some plot choices could be carried over with save files. Importing saves wasn’t always an option, however, and to reduce the games’ dependence on each other in the remaster, BioWare has added Dark Horse’s Mass Effect: Genesis interactive comics as an optional way of making choices before leaping into Mass Effect 2 or 3. This includes Mass Effect’s love interests along with the fate of major characters and subplots, though there’s no sign of romance options being expanded for either straight or gay relationships. BioWare was an early pioneer of LGBT romance in mainstream games, even if it has sometimes been criticized for its handling of the topic.

Of course there are many other improvements planned for Mass Effect Legendary Edition, ranging from graphics technology through to the ending of Mass Effect 3. The ability to put a player’s true self into a game can be important, however, so the new character creation tools could be one of the things people latch onto, at least once they’re done driving around the re-tooled Mako rover.

Source: EA/BioWare

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Roger Fingas
(307 Articles Published)

Originally from Ottawa, Canada, Roger now lives with his family in Austin, Texas. He has years of experience in tech writing, and his gaming specialties include FPS and VR games on the PC.

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