Mass Effect - "the" Xbox360 title to get

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

OK, now it's my turn to request a spoiler:

Spoiler

I have just finished Feros, and am now rebel scum fleeing the Council. If I go to Ilos, am I locked into finishing the game? Do I need to go ahead and wrap up loose ends first?

[sblock]Illos is the point of no return. Once you hit that planet, its full on out to the end of the game.

So yeah, definitely finish up any side-quests and such before you head there.[/sblock]

 

[Felon]

Thanks!

Funny thing is though, there are no achievements for doing side quests, so even if I try to go for those last couple heavy metals or Promethean artifacts, I'm not sure there's much of a point, besides trying to squeeze every drop of XP I can in order to hit level 60.

 

[ohGr]

Getting to lvl 60 requires an absolutely brutal amount of XP; so much, in fact, that i'm not even sure if it's possible in only two playthroughs. Time-wise, it's faster and more efficient to simply ignore all the tedious, time-consuming side-missions and just power your way through the main storyline 3-4 times, if 60 is your goal.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Thanks!

Funny thing is though, there are no achievements for doing side quests, so even if I try to go for those last couple heavy metals or Promethean artifacts, I'm not sure there's much of a point, besides trying to squeeze every drop of XP I can in order to hit level 60.

Actually, there are. Its a bit indirect, though.

The Ally and Completionist Achievements require you to complete a certain number of quests. I believe its roughly 15 Story Missions and 45 Side Missions.

 

[stonegod]

Getting to lvl 60 requires an absolutely brutal amount of XP; so much, in fact, that i'm not even sure if it's possible in only two playthroughs. Time-wise, it's faster and more efficient to simply ignore all the tedious, time-consuming side-missions and just power your way through the main storyline 3-4 times, if 60 is your goal.

It helps if you've gotten the achievements to boot XP. My 51st level Adept got to 60th in her second go around and long enough before the endgame (after Ilos) that it should be possible in 2 playthroughs (one to unlock 50+, another to do it).

 

[Arnwyn]

Time-wise, it's faster and more efficient to simply ignore all the tedious, time-consuming side-missions

In every RPG I've played, side-missions are quite fun. Is this not the case with Mass Effect?

 

[Blackrat]

In every RPG I've played, side-missions are quite fun. Is this not the case with Mass Effect?

They start to repeat themselves quite quickly. Maybe the first playthrough they are almost enjoyable to go through but not later.

 

[John Crichton]

In every RPG I've played, side-missions are quite fun. Is this not the case with Mass Effect?

They do get kinda repetitive but I found them kinda fun as I got to flex my muscles of a high level character by that point. I actually found the Mako driving parts the most frustrating overall, especially the combat.

 

[Vocenoctum]

Side missions are kind of comparable to other games, like Oblivion. Once you've seen the same ruins for the 15th time, it loses luster.

ME only has a few "models" of side-quest buildings, so it's noticeable.

 

[GoodKingJayIII]

So now that we know DLC is on its way, I'm curious to know if any of you are surprised/upset that this content is not "plug-n-play." For those of you that don't know, you need access to the galaxy map in order to access the extra mission. So there are brief windows at the beginning and end of the game where it cannot be accessed.

I'm just wondering if there is any general dissatisfaction with this decision. Personally, this is exactly what I expected from the DLC; the fact that it's limited by access to the galaxy map doesn't really bug me, because a) ME is not a plug-n-play game and I would not expect its DLC to be plug-n-play and b) I have access to the galaxy map for over 90% of the game. That brief 10% where I do not have access, I am involved in the main story plot, and therefore would not be pursuing sidequests of any sort anyway.