Mass Effect 1 LE, Seizure Inducing effects on Ilos

Why on earth would you subject yourself to video game entertainment when everyone from the video game industry to the World Health Organization have determined that video game entertainment should, under no uncertain terms, be sampled by those with epilepsy or any condition that causes similar sensitivity.

Every time you start playing, you’re gambling with your health, or as you so bluntly stated, your life. I appreciate the warning you put in this forum but, that warning is on every video game product I’ve ever purchased. I’d also like to point out that, Vigil isn’t the only animation for you to worry about. These effects span the entire trilogy, Mass Effect 2’s load screens, most of Nos Astra, etc. and remember, these effects were present in the original, respective releases. It’s nothing new.

Those epilepsy warnings are in place for a reason, I STRONGLY urge you to consider them. Good luck.

I don't have epilepsy, but even for me the Vigil scene was very uncomfortable to look at. They definitely amplified the effect compared to the original.

I don't think this is a framerate issue because the frequency of the flashes isn't affected by that.

Edit: Removed a quote because the original post was edited.

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@dominolabustier wrote:

Why on earth would you subject yourself to video game entertainment when everyone from the video game industry to the World Health Organization have determined that video game entertainment should, under no uncertain terms, be sampled by those with epilepsy or any condition that causes similar sensitivity.

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Epilepsy is very common and a lot of people don't know they have it yet. That's why people who never had a seizure before got one from one particular scene in Cyberpunk 2077. This is also why developers should put in some effort to reduce the number of potential triggers, because you don't know who it might affect.

Hey @TheDoctor455, thanks for taking the time to post and share your feedback with the community.

We will pass it along to the team.

Darko 

Hey,

There's a really big issue with Vigil on Ilos. The animation is horribly nauseating. I never had issues with the original release, but Vigil is so bright and strobing now, it gave me and my partner a horrible headache afterwards.

Could you please look at trying to make some changes so that the brightness is less pronounced. Vigil never used to be like this.

For the record, I'm using an LG C1 on XSX in Fidelity Mode. I'm a good 3 metres away from the screen. Nothing else in the game has bothered me really apart from this one things.

Cheers!

Glad I'm not the only one. I basically had to look away for most of the conversation because I was afraid it would give me an epileptic seizure, and I don't even suffer from epilepsy. This needs to be fixed.

I have been gaming for 15+ years and I never had an issue with flashing lights in video games,

untill I saw Vigil on Ilos and holographic projection (while talking to Illusive man in opening on ME2)

I want to mention that myself or my family have no history with epilepsy. But this was extreme.
under 30 seconds I started feeling nauseous even tho I was looking away , I felt like I was going to puke
I couldn't focus on the conversation at all , I even put my hand to block the direct light but the reflections
around my room still were affecting me. It has been 2 days now I still feel a bit nauseous. Today 
I started ME2 LE and the conversation with the Illusive man has a similar issue , there is the same flickering
although the light is far less intense it still affects me a lot even though as I said I never had problems with 
flashing lights.  , the frequency it is flashing and flickering seems to be why it affects people this way.

This is a serious issue and if its affecting people without epilepsy so much and it is extremly hard to look at.

I wonder how it actually is for ppl with epilepsy.  This needs to be fixed . 
I showed this to my girlfriend and my brother and they both started feeling unwell after 20-30 seconds of
looking at it.

I tried to summarize this as best I can and I was NOT EXAGGERATING.

Thank you!

youtube videos of what I am talking about:
Vigil on Ilos ME1 LE:                https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpxndyWFHIo
Holo Projections in ME2 LE:    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwWe5pVK9Ac&ab_channel=AdrianHarrellAdrianHarrell
 

I suffer from migraines and so I tested someone's theory of limiting the FPS to 60, it's a tweak in the upgrade and flashing which has made possibly one of my favourite moments one I'll have to be insanely careful with and want over ASAP. Please fix this so it's the same impact as the original at least, there's no reason to tweak Vigil graphically to affect people- it doesn't make the moment more impactful to have bright pulsating lights going off. As other people have said, they can get seizures- I can get migraines and it's one thing to have a scene you can't alter but this was a scene amplified into becoming a prominent health issue.

This is not a framerate issue and I have tested it- it's the frequency and pulsing of the lights and when it seems to affect and be uncomfortable for people who suffer neither migraines nor seizures, it's something that needs to be fixed. You have an intense narrative moment currently being ruined because even for regular people, Vigil is unpleasant to watch.

Side note to players who think people with health risks shouldn't play games:

There is nothing stylistic about adding a graphical enhancement that causes this kind of effect and even were it to only affect people who got migraines and seizures, it's wrong to make a game less accessible than its original release and a major step backwards. I assume this was an accident and hopefully it can be addressed quickly.