How much is Mass Effect 1 going to have to be changed to be adapted to the big screen?

I think its the biggest mistake of any video game movie by trying to be as close to the original source material as possible. The way I see it is that video games are a medium where a player can spend tens if not hundreds of hours playing and doing things where a movie has to condense all that in about 90min. Also things that players thing are fun and interesting in a video game might translate to being hard to watch in a movie. I think the Tomb Raider movie is a good example, the majority of the movie was fairly good for the part I like the most was the start where it was completely unrelated to the games. When it tried to be closer to the actual games it felt clunky and something they forced into the movie especially the part where it felt like a quicktime event combination of all the major set pieces of the game just went too far.

I think the big thing for Mass Effect will be condensing of the storyline. I could see things like Eden Prime including meeting Liara or merging Feros, Noveria, and Virmire into one stop where instead of the Tholian its more about curing the Genophage.  They might even have to reduce the important of Krogan in the storyline just because of the amount of VFX that would be required to get them to work within the movie.

Personally I cannot go too far into what Ready Player One changes, for I never cared for the book so the changes were needed for me to be interested in the movie to begin with.

If we must revisit ME2-3 at some point I'd personally re-work the plot completely getting rid of the ridiculously stupid and forced death of Shepard and covering some of the expanded lore such as Leviathan, Shadow Broker, A House Divided, etc in separate movies. I'd tie Geth more closely into the central narrative by making the Shadow Broker a front for the Geth -  it makes much more sense imo as a galactic-wide front the Geth use in order to study/observe/monitor, trade and conduct diplomacy with the rest of the Galaxy while being shunned by organics. The Geth/Shadow Broker movie would be heavily centered around Legion. I'd point to the Geth's willingness to integrate with galactic society as a reason why they and this cycle is unique. Geth were not a created intelligence, their consciousness evolved organically like ours which is why the Reaper's assumptions are flawed in the case of this cycle.

ME3 made some profound mistakes with the Geth which undermined the central narrative. No true Geth would ever accept the Reaper code imo as it criminally undermines Chris E'toile's work in ME2 and the series underlying theme of triumph over adversity in the face of overwhelming odds not through submission but through mutual co-operation and self-determination. I'd replace the ill-fitting Deus Ex machina catalyst with a Sovereign like exchange with Harbinger... Shepard's final act in defiance of Harbinger would be to reject synthesis (a forced co-operation Shepard already rejected when 'Saren' proposed it) by rigging the crucible to explode believing the only obstacle to breaking the cycle is over-coming our nature (i.e. natural distrust, self-interest - mental not physical): Belief alone that everlasting peace is possible is the solution and we as organics and synthetics together must be prepared to risk life itself to protect our universally shared ideals - our consequences and our fates belong to us not the self-appointed masters of the universe. That's the moral of the story which was butchered back in 2012, and why ME3's ending felt like such a fundamental mis-understanding of the established themes of their own franchise a betrayal of the Shepard character.

You could fundamentally re-work/re-structure the story of ME2/3 and still do the Cerberus/Collector b-plot separately in parallel by re-working Jacob as the protagonist of the Cerberus SR2 in a  Cerberus spin-off series with Miranda as his partner/love-interest. A Cerberus spin-off could involve Miranda and Jacob tracking down and convincing Jack, Thane, Mordin, .etc. to join the Cerberus suicide mission which could be it's own movie. Eventually tackling the plot of Sanctuary/Cerberus HQ (i.e. Shepard/SR1 vs. Cerberus) could be done in a standalone crossover movie where Miranda & Jacob, et al. become allies of Shepard in his fight to take down the very clearly Indoctrinated Illusive Man during the Reaper war.

Fan favorite moments like Garrus becoming a vigilante on Omega, Tali on Haestrom/Exile, etc. loosely connected to the Reaper plot could be expanded into standalone movies prior to the arrival of the Reapers.

First a question - Why is this doing in the Andromeda section?  This should probably get combined with the thread already asking about a Mass Effect movie or TV show in the MET Discussion section.

I posted to that thread.  IMO, Andromeda is far better suited for a movie than the old Trilogy.  The story is wide open at the point the game left off.  Ryder's personality is less variable and how that personality might evolve as Ryder gains experience is also completely wide open.  There is also a Ryder of each gender regardless of which one the player's chose as their pathfinder and both are awake and ready for further action at the end of ME:A.  As I've posted before, the story could easily be primed to take us back to the Milky Way at some point... so why not in a movie that sets up a next ME game (a new Trilogy) in the Milky Way with a more Shepard-like character and a return to the variability of the old paragon/renegade system?  As best I can see - it would be a win/win for everyone.  Putting a particular Shepard and particular Trilogy choices defeats the purpose of replaying those games because you'll no longer feel like you can create your own Shepard and make your own choices.

Great.  It's going to feature every choice you would never make.  Still want that show?

Altered Carbon wasn't a choose your own adventure book so it worked fine. ME has a lot of player choice in it that would entirely be tossed out the window to cater to straight white men and feature women in tight-fitting catsuits with plenty of ass shots. I'll pass, though I'm sure it's exactly what you want.

What gender of Shepard are you going to present?  What side of Shepard's character are you intending to present... Paragon who shows the upmost respect to his/her superiors (including the Council) ... and all the Renegade lovers get upset.  Renegade who lips off to everyone... and that situation is reversed but doesn't disappear.  What about whether or not Shepard likes aliens vs. one who is a total racist (the reason why some who left Wrex off their squad might be upset if he were just thrown in as you suggest). To avoid committing Shepard to being straight or gay, you'd almost have to avoid all love interest in the movie... not something that generally goes over too well.  I don't think a "majority" rules approach to who survives on Virmire solves anything either.  Whatever way a movie does it, that becomes canon... so the only way to play the game after that is to play it exactly how the movie did... which defeats the purpose of the games and wipes out a remake... unless you turn the Trilogy into an Action shooter with no choices to make.

You would think people would have realized by now that there is a core, fundamental reason why video games don't work as movie adaptations.


Other than to make money, of course.

Comic books never gave us choices and never let us shape the personality of the principal character.  Heck, you all hated Ryder not being made in the "image" of Shepard.  Are you honestly going to not complain if they take Shepard and write his/her personality in some way different from who you envision your Shepard to be like?  I really doubt it.

... BTW... Dick Tracy made his film debut in 1937 (source Wikipedia)... Movies based on comic book/strip  characters have been around for a long, long time.

... but Superman was never the player's character.  They redefine another author's character when they redefine a comic character... They don't redefine their audience's character.  Big difference.

I think video game movies are cursed. As of now, every single one has blown chunks for some reason or another and there seems to be no hope of that changing. It jiggers the imagination that Castlevania is the only decent one, but that's an animated series on Netflix, and so far we only got a few episodes and that can eventually suck too. And honestly, I think an animated series is the only way Mass Effect could be adapted and not turn out a shitshow. It will instantly solve the problem of having to get actors that can both look the part and can act (I have no hope of a live action movie accomplishing this), and get around any finicky FX issues of the aliens themselves. And as I said before, a series will not be hamstrung by the compressed viewing time of just 2+ measly hours.

That being said, Mass Effect's core plot, if we're really looking for something remotely logical and cohesive for a motion picture, is actually kind of terrible. The entire reaper plot part is kind of broken, because it makes no sense. Honestly, in a Mass Effect movie, the reapers would probably work out better if the 50K year cycle was canned altogether, because it's nonsense. But it being a core bit of the trilogy makes that tough.

So you're honestly saying someone who watches this movie, goes and buys the game is going to not want to continue playing the game because it doesn't match the movie.  I seriously doubt that.  And the ME1 would be pretty simple.  Reapers destroyed the galaxy in the past and they're coming back to do it again.  It's not returning threat after thousands of years has never been done before.  They need to do X.Y. & Z and Saren is helping them.  Shepard deals with Saren the for most of the series, Sovereign comes in near the end on Virmire, and there's a huge battle outside the Citadel at the end.  Things look bleak for the MW races.  Shepard reaches deep down, stops Saren, Sovereign is defeated soon after.  Reapers have no other way to return, so that's it.  I've seen the stuff they put out nowadays.  Sadly, it doesn't take much to make money.  As long as the biotics and the alien races don't look cheesy, it would work fine.

You never going to please everyone, I've never seen a perfect fan score for a movie.  Some choices are more popular than others by a wide margin, and even out of those who are in the minority, how many are actually going to swear off the franchise because Shepard saved Ashley instead of Kaiden on Virmire?
  

I liked the Assassins Creed movie, i really enjoyed Warcraft an i like the Final Fantasy spin off films an i honestly dont care what anyones opinions are on them least of all critics.

If they, emphasis on the if, made a movie "based" of ME1 i couldn't care less the gender/colour etc etc they make Shephard aslong as who they choose could act an there lines were half decent, just like i couldn't care if, for whatever reason they made him/her paragon/renegade but tbh that shouldn't even be included in a movie they should just portray a soldier trying to do there job an either making the right or wrong call.

As previously stated i think ME would/could be better served on television but i certainly wouldn't dismiss watching a movie based of it just cause they never took my shephard an his/her choices into account, thats just absurd