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TheUnsunghero26 · Jun 21, 2013

One thing I've always found interesting is looking at old videos/screens of games and seeing how they've changed. Mass Effect was one of my favourite 360 games from this gen, and it has changed a lot from its initial unveiling.

Microsoft first unveiled the game at X05 . The trailer shows a few familiar things: a Geth, Volus, and a Thresher Maw. Shepard looks completely different from the default one. Here he is completely bald and wearing white armor. Some of the locations seem to have been carried over as well. I think the grass covered planet is supposed to be Eden Prime and the place where the Volus is standing is probably in the citadel wards.

2006 is when it gets interesting. A short clip was featured in the Microsoft press conference at E3 that year. A couple months after, BioWare and Microsoft released a video walkthrough of the E3 demo. Here we see a redesigned Shepard with two squad mates, Ashley and Garrus. The demo starts off by showing the squad in the flux casino, a location that is in the final game but the lighting is different. Shepard walks up to the bar tender and to start a conversation to show the dialogue system. This conversation is not in the final game, but I'm pretty sure there is still a Salarian bar tender in the final build. The Asari contact is also not in the game. After the casino, the video shows off combat in a different location. The planet shown is a dark jungle, I've always assumed it was Ilos. Combat seems fairly different, it looks like you could lock on to enemies. Certain environments could be destroyed with biotics (I'm sure that was great on the frame rate...) and the squad controls were different, you had to pause and put an arrow where you wanted them to go.

Even later at X06 another video was released. We get another look at the galaxy map, which looks more complex than the one we have today. We are shown a mission on the planet "Caleston" which is actually just a different name for the planet where you had to rescue Liara. Your mission is to save miners. The conversation system is expanded again, allowing Shepard to interrupt the person he's talking to. This feature would reappear in the sequels, albeit in a different form. Other things such as Character customization and the ability to control squad mates (like in KotOR) are shown. Combat is shown once more.

Closer to release, Game Spot had a stage demo of the game. It looks practically the same as the one we got today , with two big differences. The Power/Weapon wheel isn't in the game, instead you used the Dpad, and There was a armor crafting bench.
Those are just some of the things I could find. I guess it's the whole "You always want what you can't have" thing, but I would love to play an earlier build. Maybe one day someone at BioWare or Microsoft will leak an early build.

Updates:
-Unused Music, Cancelled DLC, and possible Wacky Wasteland equivalent?
-Finding Liara was supposed to be a bigger quest & it was possible to save Both Ashley and Kaiden
-Old Galaxy Map
-Sprinting and Primary Training skills

Lime · Jun 21, 2013

I remember the E3 demo blowing my mind back then, especially the bartender conversation and threatening him. It also seemed like Bioware was stressing the squad command elements back then during the particular demo, thereby relying on their reputation as RPG developers. Nevertheless, I think Bioware had some troubles with the Unreal Engine, akin to what Silicon Knights and others had in its first couple of versions.

Remember that this was before Gears of War became incredibly popular. Too bad what happened with the direction of the series.

PinkCrayon · Jun 21, 2013

In the art book it says they changed Shepard's armor from white to black because it made him look like a medic.

Always interesting to look back on things like this, good stuff OP.

soulx · Jun 21, 2013

Lime said:
Too bad what happened with the direction of the series.

Too bad? Mass Effect 2/3 shit all over 1 in everything but story.

Fezan · Jun 21, 2013

just realized. i m getting too old

on topic = Really loved mass effect. I was a ps fan boy that time and i was very jealous that how was ms able to make these big space operas where everything felt epic(Halo and mass effect) where as sony had nothing for reply.

ME2 & ME3 disappointed me greatly. They were mechanically very great games and i love to replay them but their stories are total shit. And people say stories don't matter in game

Blake'sGrave · Jun 21, 2013

I always went with white armour since it reminded of those early screenshots. Goddam, I remember being so fucking excited when they previewed it in 360 magazine, dat Thresher Maw.

goddammit OP, now I want to replay 1+2 again.

S¡mon · Jun 21, 2013

Fezan said:
just realized. i m getting too old

on topic = Really loved mass effect. I was a ps fan boy that time and i was very jealous that how was ms able to make these big space space operas where everything felt epic(Halo and mass effect) where as sony had nothing for reply.

ME2 & ME3 disappointed me greatly. They were mechanically very great games and i love to replay them but their stories are total shit. And people say stories don't matter in game

I absolutely loved the ending of Mass Effect 3.

Fezan · Jun 21, 2013

S¡mon;65437536 said:
I absolutely loved the ending of Mass Effect 3.

well then you are the only one

but good for you. The ending of ME3 made whole trilogy average for me. AND for ME2 was just filler action i don't think any thing prominent happened in that part

Kinyou · Jun 21, 2013

Being able to activate the Makko's jump jets separately looked so awesome.... The galaxy map also looked much more impressive back then

I think in general did the end product kind of fall flat compared to the early versions. Maybe they were a tad too ambitious

Tilian · Jun 21, 2013

Ashley's voice in the Casino part is completely different too. Not sure if it was just a placeholder until the real VA got her work done? Interesting though.

Anyway, these initial scenes blew me away too back then. Too bad the series went to shit after ME1 imo.

Terbinator · Jun 21, 2013

soulx said:
Too bad? Mass Effect 2/3 shit all over 1 in everything but story.

Loved ME1 - couldn't bring myself to get even half way through ME2.

TheUnsunghero26 · Jun 21, 2013

Turns out Mark Meer also voiced that Salarian Bartender. I'll have a bit more info in a bit. Everyone else feel free to add anything they know.

Xamdou · Jun 22, 2013

My favorite RPG series of this generation! The dlc where you went to the moon and you can see Earth from the sky was just unbelievable!

kuYuri · Jun 22, 2013

There is actually a different Caleston in Mass Effect 2 and 3 as one of the moons of another planet.

Orpheus Telos · Jun 22, 2013

Xamdou said:
My favorite RPG series of this generation! The dlc where you went to the moon and you can see Earth from the sky was just unbelievable!

That moment was ruined when I noticed the earth was backwards, which was pretty much instantly. How in the world that got through testing I will never understand.

Kromis1 · Jun 22, 2013

Damn, I actually prefer the old, more ethnic looking Shepard from the past.

Blake'sGrave · Jun 22, 2013

Xamdou said:
My favorite RPG series of this generation! The dlc where you went to the moon and you can see Earth from the sky was just unbelievable!

Orpheus Telos said:
That moment was ruined when I noticed the earth was backwards, which was pretty much instantly. How in the world that got through testing I will never understand.

I think Xamdou means Bring Down The Sky, which features the moon of a different planet.

Although yeah, the Earth thing was a bit weird. I was too distracted by driving around on the moon doing jumps and shit to really care though. Simple pleasures.

Trigger · Jun 22, 2013

I really loved the galaxy map from ME1. I think it felt more natural to pick locales on a map vs the little flying ship concept from ME 2/3.

Thug Waffle · Jun 22, 2013

Fezan said:
just realized. i m getting too old

on topic = Really loved mass effect. I was a ps fan boy that time and i was very jealous that how was ms able to make these big space operas where everything felt epic(Halo and mass effect) where as sony had nothing for reply.

ME2 & ME3 disappointed me greatly. They were mechanically very great games and i love to replay them but their stories are total shit. And people say stories don't matter in game

ME2 stripped away so much of the RPG element that it really did disappoint me as well. I still liked the game, but it didn't match my expectations. Then 3 came out with one of the worst stories I've ever encountered in a video game I enjoy playing.

Definitely never matched up to ME1, even with its sluggish controls.

inky · Jun 22, 2013

Mass Effect 1 is one of my favorite games of the generation, maybe ever, and I bought it entirely due to the material you posted OP.

It was slightly disappointing as time passed by to learn about things that would not make it in, like the more dynamic conversation system, squad placement or the destructible environments, but god if I didn't care anyway after I played it and listened to the credits song for the first time.

I agree that it is pretty interesting to go back and see how games changed and evolved from the very first rough ideas they showed.

HK-47 · Jun 22, 2013

Kinyou said:
Being able to activate the Makko's jump jets separately looked so awesome.... The galaxy map also looked much more impressive back then

I think in general did the end product kind of fall flat compared to the early versions. Maybe they were a tad too ambitious

Maybe thats part of the reason the next two games played it really safe with design.

exmachina64 · Jun 22, 2013

Thanks for the thread, OP. Pre-release ME1 had faded from my memory by this point.

It was one of the games that got me excited for this gen and it was the reason I purchased a 360.

Darmik · Jun 22, 2013

This brought back a lot of memories, I followed the game quite a lot before release. Never had a game got my imagination all hyped up as much as ME1 did. It overall did live up to the hype for me. I remember all of the speculation of what Ashley looked like under that helmet, I don't think they even showed her until the launch trailer IIRC. I wonder what they were intending with that whole miner plot, strange how that was completely dropped. I wonder if it was originally going to be more similar to Noveria/Feros as Therum feels a bit out of place for a story planet.

I do wish they went with playable squadmates. I'm guessing it was slowing down the combat too much. I do hope it's something they revisit one day. It would have been awkward to quickly tab between squadmates with the 360 controller but now you have Kinect, PS4 Touchpad, WiiU Gamepad and the keyboard so I'm sure they could put it in if they wanted to now.

Gillian Seed · Jun 22, 2013

Amazing Game! I still need to play through it again on PS3.

Mass Effect · Jun 22, 2013

Thanks for this. Makes you wonder if they cut these ideas because they weren't panning out or because they were scrapped for time, or both. I do remember reading that they basically did run out of time and had to get the game out there.

I wish they had built upon refining the ideas in they had in ME1 (along with the stuff they cut out) in ME2. Though they did bring back a few things, like the dialog interrupt and the work bench, sort of.

Now I want to play ME1 again.

soulx said:
Too bad? Mass Effect 2/3 shit all over 1 in everything but story.

No.

Jarmel · Jun 22, 2013

There's a lot of nostalgia glasses going on with Mass Effect 1. The combat in 2 and 3 are leagues better, especially 3.

That said ME1 does a lot right and isn't matched by the sequels in certain areas such as immersion, scale, art design, and level design.

shinobi602 · Jun 22, 2013

I remember being hyped for the game way back when they unveiled the first gameplay demo at X06. I was blown away by the scope of it. Still my favorite franchise this gen bar the shitty ending.

Still, Mass Effect 4 is still my most anticipated game next gen bar none.

TheUnsunghero26 · Jun 22, 2013

A couple more things.

Sam Hulick has uploaded a few unused tracks on his YouTube account. These include an early version of the Normandy theme, the concept for the Galaxy Map, and most intriguingly, a track from an unreleased DLC. A BioWare employee (Ryan Warden) confirmed on Twitter that it was for a DLC set on Caleston. I wonder if this was going to bridge the gap between ME1 and 2, maybe put more focus on Cerberus. Don't know why it was cancelled, but my best guess is that the change in publisher had something to do with it.

Here's a short off screen video of the E3 build. Has some really impressive lighting.

A website called Hold The Line has a great thread about data mining the games. One thing that stood out to me was this line:

1300 151338 Throughout Mass Effect, you will notice that cool stuff can happen, from time to time. Keep an eye out.

Sounds like they were going to have something similar to Fallout New Vegas's Wacky Waste Land trait.

Lastly here's IGN's Screenshot archive. It's interesting that it doesn't look like the current game until the end of March 2007, only a couple months before the game was released.

badnewsbeers · Jun 22, 2013

Thug Waffle said:
ME2 stripped away so much of the RPG element that it really did disappoint me as well. I still liked the game, but it didn't match my expectations. Then 3 came out with one of the worst stories I've ever encountered in a video game I enjoy playing.

Definitely never matched up to ME1, even with its sluggish controls.

Nailed it. Dropped the RPg and became a shooter. Boring

base shagohod · Jun 22, 2013

Thanks for the memories.
Seriously, forgot how excited I was for ME when I first saw it.

Alucrid · Jun 22, 2013

Remember when you could change armor in Mass Effect? Remember how fucking awesome putting Garrus in Nihilus' armor was? Or Wrex in the green, blue or red glowing suits? So goddamn good. Then they took it all out.

BolognaSoup · Jun 22, 2013

I loved driving the Mako around. It had so much more potential than scanlaunchscanlaunchscanlaunchscanlaunch.

Madness · Jun 22, 2013

Played through ME1 like 5 times, such a great game. The first time I played through Ilos I was so hopeful for the future, couldn't believe the atmosphere and the ramifications etc.

Mass Effect 2 and 3, while good games, completely killed the wonder and exploration of the first.

Basically became a linear shooter and gameplay became run from one point to the next in an almost straight line.

The first time you are on the Citadel and see the Destiny Ascension fly by, when you meet Sovereign and speak to him, see the statues of the Protheans and that limited memory.

TheUnsunghero26 · Jun 22, 2013

Better look at the old galaxy map.

Not as many clusters, but I wonder if the plan was to have almost every planet visitable in each system?

brandonh83 · Jun 22, 2013

The franchise took a nosedive for me after the first one, which I thought was absolutely incredible. People cried that certain aspects were too boring or convoluted but I found that most of that stuff made me more immersed in the atmosphere and world of the game. It felt like an experience. I don't give a fuck that the shooting was better in the sequels. Nearly everything else was worse.

WiiredShawn · Jun 22, 2013

Jarmel said:
There's a lot of nostalgia glasses going on with Mass Effect 1. The combat in 2 and 3 are leagues better, especially 3.

That said ME1 does a lot right and isn't matched by the sequels in certain areas such as immersion, scale, art design, and level design.

I would probably only disagree with you on the level design bit - some of the level design in 1 is utter crap. 2 and 3 did introduce some varied levels that, while coming under the scrutiny of "corridor shooter," did still manage to more seamlessly guide the player to the destination.

EDIT: Also, interesting that SOLE was switched to SOL. I guess someone on the team caught on to the troublesome implications of calling our galaxy the "SOLE" galaxy, ha.

anexanhume · Jun 22, 2013

WiiredShawn said:
I would probably only disagree with you on the level design bit - some of the level design in 1 is utter crap. 2 and 3 did introduce some varied levels that, while coming under the scrutiny of "corridor shooter," did still manage to more seamlessly guide the player to the destination.

EDIT: Also, interesting that SOLE was switched to SOL. I guess someone on the team caught on to the troublesome implications of calling our galaxy the "SOLE" galaxy, ha.

I agree with the quoted poster and your point of difference.

MrTroubleMaker · Jun 22, 2013

That pre-release stuff is fantastic, I wish most of it actually made it into the game.

Lime said:
Too bad what happened with the direction of the series.

I agree.

vitaminwateryum · Jun 22, 2013

I miss the grenades from ME1. Such a cool idea.

Jarmel · Jun 22, 2013

WiiredShawn said:
I would probably only disagree with you on the level design bit - some of the level design in 1 is utter crap. 2 and 3 did introduce some varied levels that, while coming under the scrutiny of "corridor shooter," did still manage to more seamlessly guide the player to the destination.

EDIT: Also, interesting that SOLE was switched to SOL. I guess someone on the team caught on to the troublesome implications of calling our galaxy the "SOLE" galaxy, ha.

Well I think ME1 is better than 2 in this regard. Mostly for the outdoors elements and some of the Mako stuff. That said, the warehouses on every planet wasn't great. Both certainly aren't good and ME3 did improve on that at times.

TheUnsunghero26 said:
Better look at the old galaxy map.

Not as many clusters, but I wonder if the plan was to have almost every planet visitable in each system?

I actually kinda like that map more than one we got.

HalfBakedProphet · Jun 22, 2013

I really hope they go back and try to expand some of their ideas from ME1 into the next-gen ME.

Despite all it's bugs and copy/paste interiors, it's still one of my favorite games of all, time

funkystudent · Jun 22, 2013

Was the game running on a difference engine early on and moved to UE3 half way through?

Whompa · Jun 22, 2013

soulx said:
Too bad? Mass Effect 2/3 shit all over 1 in everything but story.

I would even debate that ME2's story is way more interesting than the Reaper stuff...the only thing that ME1 had that was cool was Saren...outside of that the story was pretty bleh.

ME2 improved a lot of stuff, even narrative-wise.

I only wish ME2 retained the open world.

FStop7 · Jun 22, 2013

Setting course to Callistan.

Poor Callistan got wiped out of existence so late in the process that it still made it into the official art book as well as the TV commercials.

Freezasaurus · Jun 22, 2013

What? No one remembers that horrendous face Ashley originally had?

Bisnic · Jun 22, 2013

Freezasaurus said:
What? No one remembers that horrendous face Ashley originally had?

That's Ashley? Looks like a generic female human soldier.

MrTroubleMaker · Jun 22, 2013

funkystudent said:
Was the game running on a difference engine early on and moved to UE3 half way through?

I believe it was.

TheUnsunghero26 · Jun 22, 2013

I can see why they kept the helmet on for most of the screens haha.

Foxix Von · Jun 22, 2013

Freezasaurus said:
What? No one remembers that horrendous face Ashley originally had?

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that it's still better than the one she ended up with, you know, in that last game that I don't want to talk about for fear of having flashbacks again.

Freezasaurus · Jun 22, 2013

Foxix said:
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that it's still better than the one she ended up with, you know, in that last game that I don't want to talk about for fear of having flashbacks again.

In some ways I agree. I don't think the facial structure [on the original pictured above] is too bad, but the hairstyle they tossed on killed it.

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