BioWare is making some major changes to Mass Effect for the remaster

One of the big questions about Mass Effect: Legendary Edition is how it will bring the games in the trilogy together into some sort of mechanically coherent whole. The first game in the series came out way back in 2007, after all, and significant changes were made over the subsequent releases.

BioWare detailed a number of those changes in a blog post that went up today, running down what players can look forward to in the updated games. Some of what it covers has already been announced—fewer gratuitous butt shots, better handling in the Mako—but this provides a much more detailed rundown of everything from combat updates to an overhaul of Mass Effect 3's Galaxy at War system.

Combat changes are probably the most noteworthy overall, as Mass Effect 1 plays dramatically differently than Mass Effect 2 and 3. The first game "was heavily influenced by traditional RPG mechanics," which added an element of randomness to firefights and had the effect of making weapons sometimes feel less accurate and reliable than they are in the sequels, which are more shooters by nature.

"We heard the consistent feedback that it was pretty frustrating to take a few shots with an assault rifle and suddenly have the reticle enlarge to span a large portion of the screen, so we looked at tuning the mechanics to provide better handling without outright scrapping the spirit of the original games," BioWare said.

As a result, the original Mass Effect will see the following changes in the Legendary Edition:

    Shepard can now sprint out of combat
    Melee attacks are now mapped to a button press rather than automatically occurring based on proximity to an enemy
    Weapon accuracy and handling has been significantly improved:
    - Reticle bloom is more controlled
    - Weapon sway removed from sniper rifles
    - Aiming down sights/”tight aim” camera view has been improved
    - Improved aim assist for target acquisition
    All relevant enemies now take headshot damage in the first game (Previously some did not, including humanoid enemies)
    Ammo mods (Anti-Organic, Anti-Synthetic, etc.) can now drop throughout the whole game
    - Previously, these stopped dropping at higher player levels
    - They are now also available to purchase from merchants
    All weapons can be used by any class without penalty
    - Specializations (the ability to train/upgrade certain weapons) are still class-specific
    Weapons cool down much faster
    Medi-gel usage has been improved
    - Base cooldown reduced
    - Levelling benefits increased
    - Increased Liara’s bonus to cooldowns
    Inventory management improvements
    - Items can now be flagged as “Junk”
    - All Junk items can be converted into Omni-gel or sold to merchants at once
    - Inventory and stores now have sorting functionality
    Some abilities have been rebalanced
    Weapon powers (i.e., those that are unlocked on each weapon type’s skill tree) have been improved:
    - Effectiveness/strength is increased (duration reduced in some cases)
    - Heat now resets on power activation

Other "targeted combat updates" include:

    Squadmates can now be commanded independently of each other in the first Mass Effect, the same way you can command them individually in Mass Effect 2 and 3
    Some boss fights and enemies in the first game have been tweaked to be fairer for players but still challenging
    Cover has been improved across the trilogy
    - Additional cover added to some encounters
    - Entering and exiting cover is now more reliable
    XP has been rebalanced in the first game 
    Ammo drops have been rebalanced in Mass Effect 2