Replaying the Game

[Faust]

I've recently completed Mass Effect for the first time on normal mode. I played a male sentinel with heavy paragon leanings. I completed enough side quests to receive the Completionist achievement and to climb to level 50. Out of curiosity - for those of you who have played the game more diligently than I - does the game have much replayability? Does going "renegade" and switching genders, or some such thing, lead to enough substantial gaming differences to make the game sufficiently entertaining the second time around? I welcome any thoughts.

[BuckGB]

If you've already had enough of the game's uncharted worlds and don't really care about getting all the achievements, then no, there isn't a whole lot of reason to replay it. Aside from changing some of the dialogue and opening up an additional romance option, choosing the opposite gender and/or alignment alters very little in the game.

There are five optional assignments that are tied to your pre-service history and Paragon/Renegade standing (which means there are at least 3 assignments you haven't seen), but they're very short and probably not worth a full play-through. If you'd like to make your own decision about whether or not they're worth it, you can find information about all of them in the Mass Effect walkthrough I recently published.

[Faust]

Originally Posted by BuckGB

If you've already had enough of the game's uncharted worlds and don't really care about getting all the achievements, then no, there isn't a whole lot of reason to replay it. Aside from changing some of the dialogue and opening up an additional romance option, choosing the opposite gender and/or alignment alters very little in the game.

Thanks, Buck. That's pretty much what I expected. I liked the main story tremendously but found the unchartered worlds a bit on the dull side. So, I may avoid a complete replay. It seems to have less replayability, on some level, than even Jade Empire or KoTOR. The walkthrough is very nice, by the way (as usual).

[Cyro]

I'd agree the replayability level isn't very high, but I wouldn't proclaim it "non-existent" just yet. Though that may just be me, I skipped a lot of side quests and missed a fair few worlds (also I kinda care about my gamerscore, only recently picked up a 360 and feel a bit left behind.)

Still I think theree's enough changes to warrent a second play through... just not for a few months.

[Faust]

Originally Posted by Cyro

I'd agree the replayability level isn't very high, but I wouldn't proclaim it "non-existent" just yet. Though that may just be me, I skipped a lot of side quests and missed a fair few worlds (also I kinda care about my gamerscore, only recently picked up a 360 and feel a bit left behind.)

Still I think theree's enough changes to warrent a second play through... just not for a few months.

I would think that on some level replayability is probably either achievement passed or exploration based. There are a lot of unchartered planets and side quests in the game. If you focused on doing most or all of the sidequests then replayability would be diminished. Many players due only a fraction of these sidequests and, thus, have a lot to do in a second or third play through. I, unfortunately, did not do that. I did nearly all of the sidequests because I'm obsessive like that. By the same token, if you're interested in achievement points or simply enjoy playing with the combat system then higher difficulty settings could warrant another play through.