Worth going out of way to do all/most sidequests in ME1 before heading into ME2?

[june]

No spoilers for ME2 and ME3, please. I accidentally got past the point of no return in ME1 before completing all the side quests I would've liked to, and I don't really feel like doing an NG+ playthrough just to complete more of the side quests. The gameplay's fine and all, but the story was really the biggest incentive for my continued playing, and now that I know what happens I no longer have that incentive.

My playthrough amounted to about 23 hours according to Steam (13 according to my actual save, since I suppose save reloads and stuff because of dying or what-have-you can throw it off) and I did some side quests but not many. I.e, barely any. Maybe like, one or two. I completely planned on getting to almost the end of the game and then going on a binge-run of sidequests. I have no save from before the point of no return (which, to my knowledge, is completing the last of the Virmire/Noveria/Artemis Tau/Feros quests) I don't have ME3 yet (becuase no Steam release), but I definitely won't be at all willing to replay both ME1 and ME2 to get a "perfect" save for ME3. Is it really worth doing another whole playthrough (even in NG+) just for the sake of completing more side quests? Does it really affect *that* much in ME2 and ME3 to be worth it?

[T02my]

Sidequests of ME 1 do not affect that much in ME2-3. ME1 sucks by gameplay, but still, don't forget to finish sidequests in your new game if you're going to replay after ME 3, worth to play for once.

I played ME 2 twice from begin just to get better ending and enjoyed the game on 100% even after replay.

[redfblack]

Man I've only played through ME1 once and I really regretted doing all the side quests.. they're just too repetitive and as such I was quite bored of the minute-to-minute gameplay by the time I finished the game.

If I do play through the whole series again I will barely touch the side quests in ME1.

[SwobyJ]

ME1 sidequests affect portions of side stuff in ME2-ME3, and how some conversations go in ME2-ME3.

For example:
-Doing the Cerberus quests in ME1, leads to you questioning a Cerberus character in ME2 about their experiments and the ethics/purpose of them.
-Doing a combination of a few rather random quests (including collection quests) in ME1, leads to you getting the optimal result of a ME3 sidequest involving two side NPCs of ME1.
-Doing Garrus' sidequest doesn't really result in anything/much, but doing Wrex's sidequest to get his family armor will be recognized later, and doing Tali's sidequest to get Geth data for her Pilgrimage is recognized and slightly helps in her Loyalty Mission in ME2.
-Doing Nassana Dantius' (in the Citadel Embassies) sidequest and then a certain Loyalty Mission in ME2 results in meeting her again and both Shepard and Nassana remembering each other, making the events of the mission more 'personal' than detached.

Stuff like that.

Does any ME1 sidequest affect future games in BIG ways? NOPE.

And just FYI, the N7 missions of ME2-ME3 (the 'random planet' ones) don't affect anything (ME2 N7s won't affect ME3, and ME3 N7's likely won't affect the next game, even if Bioware decides on a save file/story import). I think other sidequests do, but not necessarily all of them and in ways that don't really change much for ME3, but instead just provide a start to mini-stories that is optional.


Doing all ME1 sidequests ONCE (+whatever NG+ playthroughs for the same Shepard) is rather worth it, for a 'main playthrough', but after that, I don't blame anyone for either passing them over, or picking-and-choosing favorites that they know will either be more fun or have to do with consequences in later games.

[june]

Thanks for all the replies. I think I'm going to end up doing an NG+ playthrough considering how relatively short the main game was to begin with and the fact that I plan on using this character throughout the entire trilogy. One more thing, if I do NG+ will it affect my old saves at all (to my understanding, to play NG+ you start a new career with your old ID and items, paragon/renegade, level, etc. will be transferred over)? As in, will I be penalized for transferring over an NG+ character as opposed to a normal character?

[erthminkey]

With NG+ you do keep the gear you've collected, as well as skills/abilities, and you get those bonuses of cash & research materials. Paragon/renegade are reset to 0, because they are story-related, and you will be starting the story over from the beginning, potentially making different choices. Some players have felt that as a penalty. You do have the option of choosing to alter your character's appearance in the custom character screen, but that will not affect the character otherwise. You'll get to choose your bonus ability again at the start. To my knowledge, there is no change to old saves-you should be able to go back & restart any time with any previous career save. I don't know if ME3 works differently. I'm currently most of the way through a second run of ME2, same character, generally same approach, and it's interesting to see how dynamics can shift based on tiny choices (first play was 95% successful-I lost some crewmembers, but no squadmates; this time there may be more casualties due to a loyalty snafu)-but to me that's part of what makes the game so enjoyable.

[SwobyJ]

FilthyPlebeian eredeti hozzászólása:

Thanks for all the replies. I think I'm going to end up doing an NG+ playthrough considering how relatively short the main game was to begin with and the fact that I plan on using this character throughout the entire trilogy. One more thing, if I do NG+ will it affect my old saves at all (to my understanding, to play NG+ you start a new career with your old ID and items, paragon/renegade, level, etc. will be transferred over)? As in, will I be penalized for transferring over an NG+ character as opposed to a normal character?

In ME1, you only get rewarded for NG+ if anything. Erthminkey is correct.

Its nice to start the game with high Charm/Intimidate (from the first playthrough), making Paragon/Renegade points much more 'optional' to 'game' for.

Its pretty reasonable to:
-Do 2-3 playthroughs of ME1 (only two completionist runs to get to Lv 60)
-Do 1 playthrough of ME2 (NG+ is pretty CRAP and was only inserted due to player complaints; only do NG+ if you really think you messed up on what you wanted in the roleplaying)
-Do 2-3+ playthroughs of ME3 (game is built to support it and you may want to keep going for fun and to keep upgrading weapons, though the Arena in Citadel DLC is a constant source of credits if you want that)

[june]

I'll probably end up doing another playthrough of ME1 in NG+ to get all the sidequests finished and maybe refine my paragon/renegade points a bit (I don't care much for level bonuses to be completely honest, ME1 wasn't too hard on normal and I don't plan on doing runs higher than normal, at least on first playthroughs (and probably not at all for ME1 unless there's some significant incentive to doing it); after those I don't think level bonuses would matter much), and with ME2 I'll be a bit more careful in terms of saves and points of no return just so I don't end up in this same situation again (I'll probably mostly make new saves instead of overwriting old ones since it's not like I lack hard drive space) and do a single playthrough of that. I'll probably end up doing multiple playthroughs of ME3 if I enjoy it enough, but that'll have to wait a bit since I don't own it (Origin exclusive and all).

Are there any sidequests in particular you'd suggest that are just especially fun or rewarding/influential on the other games? The name or wiki link would be helpful just so I can check out how to pick it up. I don't really plan on doing a completionist run unless it proves easier or less time-consuming than I think it will.

[T02my]

FilthyPlebeian eredeti hozzászólása:

Are there any sidequests in particular you'd suggest that are just especially fun or rewarding/influential on the other games?

For the first time playing the game I think it's better to finish them all just to get full view and feelings of the game, maybe skip DLCs and play them in next playthrought after you beat ME 2 and 3. I was very annoyed by Land missions with Mako. After researching a few planets I've found MassEffect.Wikia.com and just watched the maps of planets to know all spots, cause it's boring to drive Mako today. You can check PC Tweaks section there and add a button to speed up the game, saves lot of time while driving Mako. But I did not use it for the first time and anyway I don't regret the time wasted on ME1 and these landing missions, the next ME 2 is so awesome that you just enjoy the game and you don't think like "♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, again found some crap planet to land in that system...". So, well, don't know. You decide, I've got best feelings after playing ME 1-2 and even replayed ME 2 from begin just to get better story of my Shepard.

P.S. third part was like a knife under your heart, but anyway if you play it for first time you will know why, it's not because the game is badly made... but I won't spoil. Just I recommend to do not rush playing ME 3 after ME 2.

[june]

Oh yeah, ME3's ending is infamous, but I'm sure it won't ruin my experience that much. Anyway, thanks for everyone's help, but I've discovered that I wasn't quite at the full point of no return in ME1. I can still do sidequests that are fully in the Citadel and side quests that don't require me to return to the Citadel (for reference, I still had a save in which I had finished the last core mission but hadn't returned to the Citadel just yet). I doubt I'll ever be doing any paid DLCs, considering they aren't available on Steam and I'd imagine physical copies being hard to come by. I think what I'll do is finish up all the sidequests I can do in Mass Effect 1 and complete the game like that. I think I'd be satisfied with that. I'll have to redo the ending planet and onward, but that's much better than redoing the entire game. Thanks for all the help everyone!

[SwobyJ]

FilthyPlebeian eredeti hozzászólása:

Oh yeah, ME3's ending is infamous, but I'm sure it won't ruin my experience that much. Anyway, thanks for everyone's help, but I've discovered that I wasn't quite at the full point of no return in ME1. I can still do sidequests that are fully in the Citadel and side quests that don't require me to return to the Citadel (for reference, I still had a save in which I had finished the last core mission but hadn't returned to the Citadel just yet). I doubt I'll ever be doing any paid DLCs, considering they aren't available on Steam and I'd imagine physical copies being hard to come by. I think what I'll do is finish up all the sidequests I can do in Mass Effect 1 and complete the game like that. I think I'd be satisfied with that. I'll have to redo the ending planet and onward, but that's much better than redoing the entire game. Thanks for all the help everyone!

You can get Steam ME2 DLCs on the Bioware Social Network. ME3's on Origin.

[june]

I might one day get a couple of the Mass Effect DLCs. Probably when I get ME3, seeing as I'll be buying that with an EA Games card and will probably have some money left on my Origin account afterwards which I could use to buy some BioWare Points. Either way, it's relatively low priority. EDIT: One actually last thing, does ME2 have a point of no return and if so is there a way for you to tell me where it is without spoiling anything? I'd just google this but I'm so afraid of spoilers.

[T02my]

FilthyPlebeian eredeti hozzászólása:

I might one day get a couple of the Mass Effect DLCs. Probably when I get ME3, seeing as I'll be buying that with an EA Games card and will probably have some money left on my Origin account afterwards which I could use to buy some BioWare Points. Either way, it's relatively low priority. EDIT: One actually last thing, does ME2 have a point of no return and if so is there a way for you to tell me where it is without spoiling anything? I'd just google this but I'm so afraid of spoilers.

Yes, there is some sort of point of no return. But, well, just can't tell without spoiling heh, play it until you meet all or almost all your ME1's crew members and then check ME2's guide on wiki

[fenke]

FilthyPlebeian eredeti hozzászólása:

One actually last thing, does ME2 have a point of no return and if so is there a way for you to tell me where it is without spoiling anything? I'd just google this but I'm so afraid of spoilers.

Haven't finished it but if I am not mistaken that point of no return is fairly clearly and early indicated. I wouldn't worry about it.

[Centisteed]

If I were you, I'd go back & do them all. I've played through ME 1 around 6-7 times on my Xbox to get all the ally achievements & try all of the difficutlties & I always felt I had to do every mission, no matter how small. It adds to the fun of the game.

[june]

I'll be careful when it comes to points of no return in ME2, then.

Centiseed, I don't find the gameplay fun enough to justify doing another whole playthrough just to be able to do a couple more assignments. Especially with Mass Effect 2 sitting in my library, it's almost taunting and I'm really curious as to how the story progresses after the end of ME1. On top of all that, I've found that it seems I'll be able to do most of the assignments anyway. I've been able to do all but a few of the Citadel assignments and I'm going to try and do as many galaxy-wide assignments as I can. Maybe I'll replay ME1 and do the last few unfinished assignments someday, but not now.