History VideoGame / MassEffect1

** A more obscure feature is that all of your squadmates also have Paragon and Renegade leanings, and those can be manipulated based on your decisions when talking to them and resolving their personal quests. The main use for this is during major story decisions, which will see the two squadmates you brought with you arguing over the decision, with the sides they represent depending on their personal morality in relation to each other. This means for example that Garrus can find himself arguing for the Paragon choice if he is with Wrex, but the Renegade option if he is with Liara or Kaidan. This also means that with the right dialogue options you can completely flip your squadmate's morality; it ''is'' possible to get [[spoiler:Wrex to argue in favor of saving the Council, and Kaidan to argue against it]] for example.

* LaserSight: Played straight with the Assassination skill, but only with enemies, making their shots somewhat easy to dodge. It would return in the later games even though the skill itself was removed.

-->'''Ian:''' Not looking for, looking to get rid of. [The geth] are a thorn in the side of the--AAARGH! Trying...to get the--AIEEEE! ''[[LargeHam HA-HA-HA! HAHAHAHAHAHA!]]''

* LuckBasedMission: Trying to kill a [[SandWorm Thresher Maw]] using HitAndRunTactics. Aside from being a really tough opponent to begin with, if you get too far away, it will burrow and pop out, resulting in an insta-kill. One tip: the Thresher Maw usually prefers to pop up on low ground; standing on small hills will protect you from it popping out and killing you.

** The geth do this on two separate planets. It doesn't work out well for them either time.

* MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot: The story very quickly escalates out of control. It starts with a standard shakedown run of a prototype warship, then you learn it's actually a covert pickup of a {{Precursor|s}} communications beacon. Which is then complicated by an invasion of robotic aliens trying to get the beacon. Which then turns into hunting down a rogue government agent, who intends to use the robotic aliens and the knowledge in the beacon to attack humanity. Which then turns into a desperate, clandestine battle to stop [[spoiler:a race of [[EldritchAbomination mechanical gods]] from wiping out every organic sentient in the galaxy.]]

* MonsterCloset: This has been almost entirely replaced by "Ah, they're coming out of the air vents!" in video games. For instance, this game does this with some of the [[spoiler:rachni on Noveria]], although the exact same problems apply to those as to the monster closets.

** It's possible to mod an assault rifle to the point where it ''never stops firing''.

** The Spectre-issued HMWP Pistol can fire almost continuously on its own with no mods.

* NoHarmRequirement: On Feros, taking the Paragon path means you have to disable infected colonists with special grenades or [[TapOnTheHead melee attacks]]. If you go Renegade you can just kill them, which is much easier.
** There is also an assignment you only get with a high Paragon score, involving neutralizing a group of biotic terrorists while avoiding any of the scientists they are hiding among (who are all drugged and will wander into your line of fire). Hackett is amazed if you complete the mission without killing any of the hostages.

* OffscreenTeleportation: It's one thing for the Mako to be [[DynamicEntry air-dropped wherever you need it]], but how does it get to the other side of a force of attacking geth on both Feros and Noveria, both in indoor garages? If there was another route through Zhu's Hope large enough for the Mako, that might be handy to know, and in all likelihood you weren't even cleared to enter the garage on Noveria until a few minutes earlier. Similarly, Elanos Haliat manages to hijack your Mako and drive it around the mountains to his camp on Agebinium in record time. AcceptableBreaksFromReality in each case, of course.
* OhCrap: The Council races appear to have had a moment of this during the First Contact War, in which humanity both introduced itself to the wider galaxy and proved they're as good at war as the turians are. Turian battle doctrine is to not only defeat an enemy but to keep them from ever being a threat again, usually with the employment of weapons of mass destruction and things like the genophage, and given our species' history it's hard to argue that humanity is much more forgiving. So just before these two almighty armies started wiping each other out, the Council arranged a ceasefire to end the conflict before it escalated and formally invited humanity to join the Galactic Community. They also forced the turians to pay reparations since they were the ones who started the whole thing with an unprovoked and unauthorized attack on a brand-new species.

* PaletteSwap: All of the planets Shepard visits are basically the same terrain type, just randomized and with different colors and skyboxes, though some of the skyboxes can be ''impressive''.

* PlanetOfHats: Done mildly and often played with, but in general this is there. The hats are:

** Krogan: honor and warrior prowess.

* PoorCommunicationKills:
** The Citadel: Jahleed's Fears assignment can result in this. The two are working on scanning the Keepers, but Jahleed is getting paranoid about Chorban's behavior, and can ask Shepard to talk with him. Going full Renegade will result in Chorban dying without explaining things. Turns out Jahleed is withholding information and Chorban was just trying to talk to him about it. If Shepard didn't go full Renegade, they get so irritated they mutter that they ''should'' have killed the pair of them anyway.
** A meta example. [[spoiler:The final choice to either save the Council or let them die/focus on Sovereign is often misread by first-time players as a binary choice of either saving them but losing to Sovereign or losing them but defeating Sovereign. It's not until actually choosing to save them is it made clear that Sovereign will lose no matter what you do.]]
* PossessingADeadBody: [[spoiler:Saren's]] OneWingedAngel form consists of [[spoiler:the Reaper ''Sovereign'']] reanimating his body, already killed by Shepard ([[spoiler:either in battle or by [[TalkingTheMonsterToDeath talking him into suicide in a cutscene]]]]), using [[spoiler:Saren]]'s cybernetics. This evidently involved some form of mind transfer as well, [[spoiler:because destroying the OneWingedAngel causes ''Sovereign'' the starship's DeflectorShield to fail, letting the Alliance Fifth Fleet finish him off]].
* PretenderDiss: The geth worship Sovereign as a god. [[spoiler:Sovereign is not flattered.]]
* PrettyLittleHeadshots:
** Headshot animations are not included in this game, so during gameplay there is no differentiation damage-wise between shooting somebody in the foot and shooting them in the head.
** The mechanics of [[spoiler:Saren's suicide shot are a little odd. When Sovereign animates his corpse, you can see the hole where one of your companions shot him a second time, but not the actual killing wound]].
* ProductionThrowback: At the end of the game, Shepard comes out of [[spoiler:the wreckage holding his/her chest and limping]], exactly as the [[spoiler:player character]] did in ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' when they [[spoiler:were injured]].
* PsychicNosebleed: In a conversation with Kaidan, he'll mention that one of his colleagues at Jump Zero "reached for a glass of water instead of pulling it biotically. She just wanted a drink without getting a nosebleed, you know?" However, this may not be in reference to the biotic trainees getting nosebleeds because of using their powers and more a reference to the biotic trainees not having full control over their abilities, resulting in something as simple as grabbing a glass of water being dangerous and possibly causing the person to bash themselves in the face with said glass...resulting in said nosebleed. Within the context of the conversation and what the characters were talking about before that line was spoken, it's more likely that Kaidan was referring to the latter example.

* RenegadeSplinterFaction: Cerberus to the Human Systems Alliance.

* RetroactiveIdiotBall: Sovereign: The mere existence of the [[RememberTheNewGuy Collectors]] in ''2'' kind of makes Sovereign look like an idiot. After the [[spoiler:Keepers do not respond to Sovereign's signal to open the Citadel mass relay]], it goes on a mission to gather allies and open the mass relay manually. Yet for some mysterious reason, Sovereign never enlists the help of the Collectors. Although their overall strength is never fully specified, it seems to be substantial. Adding them to its army could easily have tipped the balance in the final fight giving the victory to the Reapers.

* SlippySlideyIceWorld: Noveria (and any other planet with a similar environment). You don't slide around so much, but you do take damage from the cold.

** Shepard has the option to antagonize the turian councelor:

* ThanatosGambit: [[spoiler:The plan of the Protheans who sabotaged the Keepers and built the Citadel relay]].

* TooDumbToLive:
** The Council trusts C-Sec to investigate Saren's activities when he is accused of the attack on Eden Prime, then give them such a low security clearance that the officers involved can access literally nothing relevant to his actions.
** Subverted when Shepard encounters a pair of warehouse workers while fighting through the club of a local crime boss. The Renegade dialogue choice "I just killed fifteen guards to get in here. What do you think I'll do to you?" convinces them to leave.
** Many enemies seem convinced that ''their'' group of badly armed, badly trained thugs will somehow prove more apt at killing you than the other ''dozen'' groups that have tried the exact same thing on a dozen different planets. Wrex puts it best:

** Anyone who doubts Shepard's Spectre status counts. Special mention must go to the [=ExoGeni=] research team that has been overrun by Thorian Creepers. They themselves note that they were unable to defeat the Creepers, and that your ability to drive them off saved their lives. However, depending on the choice you make, they'll still attack you. Though it is justified in the dialogue--they don't really think they could win, they just don't want to go into prison after what they have done.

* UnconventionalCourtroomTactics: During the first Council hearing regarding Saren's involvement with the Eden Prime attack, Anderson tries to ''submit a dream into evidence'' (granted, it was a PropheticDream, but he had no way of proving that and even if he could, it didn't directly implicate Saren). This is quickly subverted, as it goes about as well as you would expect, and Anderson is KickedUpstairs shortly afterwards. In Anderson's defense, he was kind of desperate.

* TheUnReveal: Wrex reveals early on in the game that he had met Saren once before joining up with Shepard; Wrex was part of a crew of Krogan mercenaries hired by Saren to raid ships in the Terminus systems. However, he only actually saw Saren once; when the mercs had taken a large Volus cargo ship, and Saren was silently walking through the ship, seemingly looking for something. [[GutFeeling Wrex then got a feeling]] that there was something ''very'' wrong with the whole situation, and fled before receiving any payment. Turns out his hunch was right; all of the other mercs turned up dead within a week after the job was finished. Despite this, it's never revealed whatever Saren was after on the ship or the exact reason why all the mercs were killed to hide it.
* UnreliableIllustrator: Elanos Haliat, the criminal leader responsible for the Skyllian Blitz, was ''supposed'' to be a turian, but was accidentally given a human model instead, resulting in him having [[http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/masseffect/images/8/88/Haliat_ME_holoshot.png/revision/latest?cb=20140908183656 a baffingly bizarre face]]. It also gives some truly baffling dialogue where he rants about "the humans" even though his model is one. If one didn't know the details, one would think it was foreshadowing [[HumanAliens a very humanoid species]], since it was mentioned that the terminus systems were home to renegades. ''Legendary Edition'' actually rectifies this by giving Haliat a turian model, so his dialogue makes much more sense.

* VillainHasAPoint: Saren dismisses the possibility of Shepard's "vision" being used as evidence against him at the initial council hearing, since dreams cannot be accepted as credible evidence.

* WakeUpCallBoss:
** In the Eden Prime mission, you're introduced to the cover mechanics, and taught how to use cover to avoid damage, and pop out to shoot the enemy. The krogan battlemaster on Therum is purposely designed to make using that cover-based strategy you learned on Eden Prime a form of tactical suicide. He shows up to the fight with four geth: two Shock troopers, one Rocket Trooper, and a Sniper. And all five enemies will ignore your squadmates to focus on Shepard. If you try to hide behind cover, you'll be a sitting duck. The geth will use suppressive fire to pin you there. If you stand to shoot back, they'll hit you and kill you. If you stay behind cover, the krogan will flank around it with one of the Shock Troopers and kill you with his shotgun. So you have figure out how to keep moving to stay away from the krogan, while at the same time avoiding getting shot to death by the geth.
** Before entering the dig site, you'll have to fight a Geth Armature on foot as a prelude to the fight with the krogan battlemaster. Its siege pulse is a OneHitKill if it hits too close to you, so you have to keep cover between you and it. This is easier said than done, because there will be Geth troopers trying to flank you and flush you out, and Geth Sappers will be bouncing around and sniping you behind cover. Just like in the krogan fight, you'll have to deal with the Geth supporting the Armature before you can even think about trying to take it down.

** [[spoiler:Matriarch Benezia can break free of Sovereign's indoctrination only after you have mortally wounded her, where she can give you just a little bit of information before succumbing to her wounds]], on Noveria.

** [[spoiler:If you have enough Charm or Intimidate points, Saren can be forced to realize that he is indoctrinated and playing into the Reaper's hands, turning his gun on himself in a last-second redemption]] at the end of the game.

** Elevators. Though the team managed to soften the blow in some cases, giving your squad members unique dialogue and adding some amusing news reports in a lot of them, they swiftly become mind-crushingly tedious. Gone, and even {{lampshade|Hanging}}d, in ''2''. And given ''another'' one in the Citadel DLC for ''3''--both [[RunningGag by Garrus]]. Also in ''2'', it turns out Tali hates it just as much as most players:
---> '''Garrus''': You ever miss those talks we had on the elevators?\\
'''Tali:''' ''No.''\\
'''Garrus:''' Come on, remember how we'd all ask you about life on the flotilla? It was an opportunity to share.\\
'''Tali:''' This conversation is over.\\
'''Garrus:''' Tell me again about your immune system!\\
'''Tali:''' I have a shotgun.\\
'''Garrus:''' (''hesitant'') Maybe we'll talk later.
** To a lesser extent, the DecontaminationChamber on the ''Normandy''. You'll be hearing that "decontamination in progress" sound clip a lot.

* EarlyGameHell: Due to a severe case of GameplayAndStorySegregation. Our very first look at Shepard is accompanied by Captain Anderson telling us that they are the best fighter humanity has to offer, and being part of the most elite Special Forces unit in human history, one should expect Shepard to be exceedingly well trained and equipped. Alas, since this game is an [=RPG=], you start out with the combat skills of a rookie straight out of boot camp. Even worse is your starting equipment. Your armor and shields offer next to no protection, your Lancer I assault rifle is so ridiculously inaccurate you can barely hit anything that's farther away than 5-10 meters, aiming through a sniper rifle's scope feels like Shepard is epically drunk due to the enormous sway, and so on. The only weapon class that doesn't suck at this point is the pistol. It takes quite a while before you get some proper gear. Of course, starting a NewGamePlus completely averts this issue and turns the entire game into one long CurbStompBattle.

** ''2'' and ''3'' adhere to a strict [[TakeCover cover-based shooter]] model, whereas this one allows for a more freewheeling run-and-gun style (''[[VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda Andromeda]]'' would take cues from both styles, requiring you to alternate between making good use of cover and staying mobile on the battlefield). The weapon and character upgrades are also streamlined, and the mandatory driving segments and infinite ammo with cooldown get ditched. The second game also introduces headshots that deal significantly more damage than other hits.
** This game leans harder into the RPG side of the Action RPG genre than the later games. All your weapons and armor are discrete items that are kept in your inventory. Items have as many as three upgrade slots, and you can hand configure these for every character in your party. Characters have a much more traditional skill structure, including passive checks for things like decryption (lockpicking) and first aid (healing). ''Mass Effect 3'' would revisit a small amount of this complexity, but most of the RPG mechanics never returned.
** The Protheans have a completely different implied appearance in this game, being depicted as tall, bony creatures rather than the form we later see. ''3'' implicitly {{retcon}}s this as the "Prothean" statues seen on Ilos actually depicting the Inusannon, a race that dominated one of the previous cycles.
** You can actually go down to planets' surfaces and drive around approximately a square mile, laying beacons next to resources and downed satellites. In the sequels, you scan the place from orbit and drop a survey probe on goodies -- though ''Andromeda'' also brought back surface exploration and resource gathering on top of this.

** Lorewise, it's clear the developers hadn't yet pinned things down on the side of alien cultures or backgrounds--Wrex refers to the krogan having "tribes," while ''2'' and ''3'' refer to them as "clans," the batarians only appear in the Bring Down the Sky DLC, and, if you're playing without it installed, the codex on them has a different concept image. There's also an implication that there are many races that aren't even seen or mentioned specifically within the universe, and that several of these unnamed species hold sway over the Terminus Systems, rather than just the later mercenary gangs that operate out there. Finally, Tali is the only quarian featured in the entire game, despite them playing a significant part in the lore as the creators of the geth. She also claims that the quarians practice capital punishment, while in ''2'' she claims the quarians are too few in number for that and instead use exile as their harshest penalty so that the accused's children can rejoin the Migrant Fleet.
** The romance subplot is more akin to a high school romantic comedy, with lots of petty jealousy and snide comments between potential romantic partners. This sort of jealousy doesn't appear in any game except ''3'', and only if Shepard dumped their original LoveInterest in favor of a new one in either the second or third game. Also, both Liara and the romanceable human often give Shepard a LongingLook or a blush at points when they say or do something nice; the human does it if Shepard doesn't blame them for getting trapped by the beacon and Liara does it if Shepard brushes off the krogan that's come to capture her.
** Cerberus is portrayed as a rogue Alliance black ops squad that conducts illegal experiments and criminal activities in remote areas of the galaxy, and they only appear in certain assignments where they're no different from the other one-dimensionally evil mercenaries and pirates you'll take on. The sequels elevated their status to an NGOSuperpower that is one of the most powerful players on a galactic scale, with ''2'' in particular portraying them as a morally complex organization that employs both despicable and honorable people, and has the means to single-handedly bring Shepard BackFromTheDead -- albeit it does at least contain a nod to their depiction here, establishing that the "Cerberus" seen here is a splinter group that isn't making much effort to stay secret, and that the main organization is much better at hiding itself.

* EntitledToHaveYou: General Septimus Oraka towards the asari consort:

* ExperiencePenalty: In the original version of the game, killing enemies while riding the Mako cuts experience gain by ''60%''. Thankfully, attacking enemies with the Mako doesn't instantly qualify for a penalty, so you can whittle an enemy down to a few hit-points with the Mako's weapons, get out of the tank and kill the enemy with your own guns for full experience gain.
* ExpositionBeam: The Prothean beacon. This is subverted, though, due to the fact that since they were designed for use by a different ''species'', not to mention the fact that they've been lying around for fifty thousand years, renders the message incomprehensible to any human or turian that happens to stumble across them. Shepard eventually finds a way to understand the beacon's message on one of the main quest worlds.

* FamousFamousFictional: The names of the systems in the Armstrong Nebula are all named after famous astronauts, save the last found, Grissom, after the ''Mass Effect'' character Jon Grissom. Though it's downplayed, since it's possible it was also named after Gus Grissom, one of the three astronauts that died in the Apollo 1 disaster.

** Due to the multilateral setting, this is present throughout the setting, with even your crew members not being exempt from this. Pressly and Ashley will often come across as {{Noble Bigot}}s due to their distrust of aliens. Garrus mentions that turians are taught that the krogan are all thugs and he tells Wrex that he is a [[YouAreACreditToYourRace credit to his race]]; the asari often make mention of their unfortunate and misguided reputation of being "easy" due to the nature of their reproductive abilities (they can procreate with literally any gender of any race); and most people's opinions of quarians like Tali is that they're all beggars and thieves. However, depending on your actions, Shepard can change their opinions [[CharacterDevelopment for the better]]. Even humans aren't exempt as they're viewed by some alien races as entitled, simple-minded, and rash beings with little patience or foresight.
** Even Shepard themself will be on the receiving end of this from [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Anoleis]]. Spacer background? Nothing more than a collection of vagabonds and tax dodgers. Colonist? A bunch of socialist protectionist rubes, all of them! Earthborn? Excuse him if he has no inclination to deal with anyone from that smog choked acid wash! Apparently, he can't ever meet a human that he likes.

* FlingALightIntoTheFuture: The [[spoiler:Prothean scientists]] who understood who and what the [[spoiler:Reapers]] were realized that there was ''nothing'' they could do to [[spoiler:stop their own extinction]]. Their solution was to [[spoiler:leave beacons directing future species to Ilos to get them to speak to the virtual intelligence "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7bE3hUwylQ Vigil]]"]]. Most of the [[spoiler:remaining Protheans put themselves in stasis, hoping someone would come, but they knew their lives were not as important as maintaining Vigil's power, and eventually all of them were shut off. A dozen Protheans snuck onto the barren Citadel to reprogram the Keepers to ''not'' respond to the Reaper signal to activate the mass relay to allow them to catch the resident species in time]].

** When exploring the ''Normandy'', before setting down on Eden Prime, you can participate in introductory conversations with many of the background characters of the game as [[InfoDump they explain the universe]]. During the conversation with Dr. Chakwas and Corporal Jenkins, they outline the upcoming plot of the game in a theoretical discussion about the Spectres, including pointing out that Shepard would make a good Spectre as well as questioning how a Spectre could be revoked in official status and also how the Council would retaliate.

** A ''massive'' case with the Citadel: Signal Tracking assignment where you hunt down a signal that was funneling credits out of a quasar machine, only to discover the signal originated [[spoiler:from a hostile artificial intelligence that hoped to rendezvous with the geth]]. If you try to reason with it, it shoots you down and informs you that organics can only ever control or destroy synthetics. [[spoiler:Guess what your big final choice is at the end of the third game? Unless you choose Synthesis, of course.]]
** In an elevator conversation, [[WarriorPoet Wrex]] asks Liara why her people didn't use their natural biotic ability to conquer the entire galaxy. Liara replies that her people just aren't inclined towards warfare and conquest. If only both of them knew that [[spoiler:the Protheans genetically engineered the asari with biotics so that they could conquer the galaxy to unite it against the Reapers. And that the asari never lived up to this role, choosing diplomacy and soft power instead of warfare]].

** Later in the game, you go against the Council, getting yourself and your accomplice ([[spoiler:Anderson]]) in trouble with the law. Despite this, Admiral Hackett still sends missions your way (the EventFlag is you entering the system the mission takes place in). However, Hackett seems to have UndyingLoyalty towards Shepard (especially during the events of the Arrival DLC in ''2'', when Shepard is working for ''Cerberus''), so it could be more an example of Hackett ignoring the Council and Systems Alliance to get jobs done.
** Dialogue frequently refers to Saren getting more cybernetic as the story nears the end, but his model never changes. It also comes off as ridiculous in the early game where his alien implants and Geth arm ''really'' should have raised some eyebrows.

* GreatOffscreenWar: The Rachni War that ravaged the galaxy some thousands of years ago, the Krogan Rebellions a thousand or so years before the current date which lead to the turians joining the Citadel races and the creation of the [[SterilityPlague genophage]], the Morning War between the quarians and the geth that forced the quarians into the Flotilla, the Skyllian Blitz, and the First Contact War/Relay 314 Incident that was humanity's introduction to galactic society. The First Contact War is the reason why the Citadel races are softer on the Systems Alliance, as they had fought the turians, the backbone of the Council races military force, to a draw over the course of ''three months''. This also caused relations to turn sour as the Council species and humans developed a mutual xenophobia towards each other.

* GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe: The asari appear hardly any different from humans, and they are all female. Naturally, ''some'' of them have to be sexy.

* HelmetsAreHardlyHeroic: Played straight by default in all locations with a breathable atmosphere. However, helmets can be turned on from the squad menu.
* HeroicSacrifice:
** [[spoiler:Whomever you leave behind on Virmire.]]
** You can order the Alliance fleet to save the ''Destiny Ascension'' and the Council at the end of the game. [[spoiler:Many human ships will be lost in the rescue attempt, but you'll save the Council and the ''Destiny Ascension''. This will also cast humanity in a more positive light towards most of the alien species and earn them a seat on the Council, in comparison to when the Council is left to die and humanity becomes its leader to pick up the reigns at the cost of interstellar relations.]]
** The Prothean scientists on Ilos. They set up Vigil to warn someone, ''anyone'' in the next cycle about the Citadel's role with the Reaper invasion. Even more heroic and critical, they went on a suicide mission to the Citadel to reprogram the Citadel so the signal for the Reapers would not work, forcing Sovereign to try to do it itself, and forcing a delay to the Reaper invasion that eventually leads to the defeat of the Reapers. In other words, the entire trilogy hung on the actions of [[HeroOfAnotherStory heroes of another story]].

* HoldTheLine: A common cry of [=NPCs=]. Captain Kirrahe gives a memorable speech about the necessity of it on Virmire. And there's a mission on one planet where Shepard, their team and some marines have to hold out against several waves of rachni, the marines already having had to do so for several days (to the extent they're down to ''three'' people out of ninety).
* HolyGround: Wrex tells Shepard of how his father, Jarrod, called him to a Crush, a meeting between rival krogan clans, at the Hollows, as close to sacred ground as krogan have. Weapons and fighting are not allowed. Of course, it's a trap, and a fight breaks out, ending with [[SelfMadeOrphan Wrex killing Jarrod]].

** If you pick one of the two Renegade options at the game's climax, the Alliance ships will pour through the relay. [[spoiler:The Council and the crew of the ''Destiny Ascension'']] think the Alliance ships are there to save them, [[spoiler:but are ignored and left to perish as the Alliance moves to destroy Sovereign]].
** The sequel turns the Paragon ending into one of these. [[spoiler:It ends with the new Councilor giving a RousingSpeech about how the Council races will come together to defeat the Reapers. Two years later, Shepard comes back from the dead to discover that not only are the Council not working on the Reaper problem, but they're actively undermining those who are]].
* HubUnderAttack: The culminating mission of the game is Race Against Time: Final Battle where [[TheHero Shepard]] follows [[TheHeavy Saren]] to [[SpaceStation the Citadel]] to prevent him from transferring control of the hub to Sovereign who would then initiate the Reaper Invasion. By this time, Shepard has spent a great deal of time exploring the Citadel and is very familiar with how to navigate the station. However, with Saren currently at the controls, none of these pathways are available. Shepard has to find an alternate route, all the while fighting swarms of [[MechaMooks Geth]] and [[DumbMuscle Krogan]].
* HuntingTheRogue: Saren is a highly decorated Spectre, a member of an elite squad who are entrusted with missions so vital they are literally above the law. However, upon discovering the powerful precursor battleship known as Sovereign (larger than any known warship and capable of single-handedly destroying entire fleets), he went rogue and began launching attacks on civilised space alongside the [[RobotWar Geth]] and [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Krogan]]. The other Spectres (mainly [[PlayerCharacter Shepard]]) are tasked with hunting him down.

* IncrediblyLameFun: Quasar (basically [[RecycledInSpace space]] blackjack) is an incredibly dull adding game with two buttons, yet it has entire casinos dedicated to it.

* KangarooCourt: The initial hearing against Saren can be interpreted as this as the Council has clearly made up their minds about Saren's innocence before the hearing has even started. The asari councilor mentions "discussing the C-Sec findings", but there are no C-Sec findings, as C-Sec wasn't able to find anything solid due to Saren's Spectre activities being classified, something the Council likely knew. Even more egregious is the blatant dismissal of direct eyewitness testimony in which the witness in question not only described how Nihlus died, ''but even named Saren''. The Council is forced to listen to reason when Shepard and company find an audio file of Saren discussing the attack on Eden Prime, which is something they are unable to ignore. Granted, Anderson's attempt to submit Shepard's vision into evidence was a pretty shaky move, but the outright dismissal of Powell's testimony likely resulted in more than a few raised eyebrows among players.

** The scale does not reflect "good" or "evil" choices, but instead grades based upon what the game terms "Paragon" and "Renegade" depending on ''how'' you achieve victory. The options on each decision tree fall on opposite sides of the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism, and Paragon and Renegade points stack up on separate meters; gaining in one area will not reduce the points in the other. Keep in mind that a lot of actions you take in this game will carry over if you play the sequels and use your save file from the first game, such as [[spoiler:sparing the Rachni Queen, who will contribute to your fight against the Reapers in the third game if you save her again]].

* ActionFilmQuietDramaScene: Several. One example is when Shepard has to decide whether or not [[spoiler:to let the Rachni Queen live.]]

* AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler:Benezia and Saren]] are under "[[MoreThanMindControl indoctrination]]", a subtle form of mind control, and depending on your choices, [[spoiler:the latter may kill himself if you make him see it]].

* AlwaysABiggerFish: One uncharted world has an area with a number of corpses and wrecked vehicles bearing signs of [[MechaMooks geth]] weapons fire. Unfortunately for the geth, this happened in a [[SandWorm thresher maw]] nest. For another layer, you'll likely find this after killing said thresher maw.

** When you defeat an enemy, their loot (credits and/or items) is automatically deposited in your inventory, when most other [=RPGs=] would make you search their corpse manually. Given the high bodycount in this game, that saves a lot of tedium.
** On Noveria, to reactivate Mira, the Peak 15 VI, you can either fiddle around with a Tower of Hanoi puzzle or you can just spend 100 omnigel. It's a good idea to convert the crap gear that drops at low levels so you can have the omnigel required.
** Also on Noveria, once you deal with Benezia and the rachni, the game automatically fast travels you from the hot labs back to the ''Normandy'', sparing you a long, boring return trip.

** In Bring Down the Sky, there are three missing miners you have to find as part of an assignment, one of which leaves an ApocalypticLog prior to her death:

** The Predator X armors sold after getting the Armax Arsenal license has lower damage reduction than the Colossus, but makes up for it by having much higher shields, making them an alternative for any squadmate that has the "Electronics" skill.

** The Codex entry on the human military points out that the rest of the galaxy sees the Systems Alliance as a sleeping giant. The Systems Alliance has only 3% of the total human population in uniform, a far smaller number than any of the established (and more numerous) Council races. The entry uses the actual "sleeping giant" term, and explains why the rest of the galaxy tends to treat humans with kid gloves: they're terrified of what the Systems Alliance might be capable of if sufficiently motivated by fear, anger, or desperation. And then along comes Shepard, who ''shows'' them what they're capable of. Note that this is twenty-some years ''after'' what the turians refer to as the "Relay 314 incident" and humans call the "First Contact war", where a turian force initially forced the surrender and occupation of a human colony, then had their asses handed to them when the Alliance sent the bulk of their fleet against the relatively few number of turian ships holding said colony.

** The ''SSV Normandy'' [=SR1=] is considered to be this InUniverse (with an emphasis on 'impractical') by a human Alliance admiral. Basically he considers the ''Normandy'''s stealth system to be useless and would have preferred that the funds and resources had been used to create a more conventional warship instead. He is very wrong.

* BoomHeadshot: Can be done on most enemies you face off against (without any difference in damage from shooting any other part). [[spoiler:Saren may do this to himself as well, if you can convince him that he's been indoctrinated by Sovereign.]]

* BrokenRecord: Some:

** "ENEMIES EVERYWHERE!" "GO, GO, GO!" "ENEMIES EVERYWHERE!" "I WILL DESTROY YOU!!!"
** Shepard: "I've lost shields!"
** Also, everyone at Zhu's Hope evades questions by telling Shepard to "talk to Fai Dan", or some variation thereupon. And should you talk to Fai Dan, he's just as evasive. [[spoiler: This is because they're under the control of the [[BotanicalAbomination Thorian]]]].

* TheCavalry: Joker, Admiral Hackett, and the entirety of the Alliance Fifth Fleet [[spoiler:when Sovereign attacks the Citadel]]. Crosses over into BigDamnHeroes territory [[spoiler:if you choose to save the ''Destiny Ascension'']].

* CollectionSidequest: Several, including many in space and one on the Citadel. Most of them have to do mainly with space exploration, though a couple involve Shepard investigating lost remnants of battles and explorers who came before them, which given the general theme of the game, is very appropriate, if somewhat sidetracking.

** Snipers can [[OneHitKill kill you in one shot]]. Sure, you can do this as well, but they aim ''much'' faster than you (once their laser sights are visible, you have about a second to get out of its way). Oh, and they have infinite ammo.

* CopKiller: {{Discussed|Trope}}. One of the missions on Noveria has you fight through a seemingly closed off part of Port Hanshan's security force to retrieve incriminating evidence on the corrupt boss of the place. On the way out, you run into the irate sergeant, herself going [[DirtyCop behind her captain's back]], who points out that her superior, Anoleis, would just toss you offworld for your actions and says, "You know what we did to cop killers on my world?" If Wrex is present, he retorts that she's taking a bribe for doing a dirty deed for Anoleis and adds "You know what we do to dirty cops on my world?"

* CurbStompBattle:
** In a non-combat example, during the first Citadel trial against Saren, he proceeds to utterly dismiss and annihilate every piece of evidence Anderson and Udina try to raise. However, the second trial doesn't go as well for him.
** The squad vs. Dr. Saleon. If you convince Garrus not to kill him, or if you leave Garrus behind, Saleon will try to kill you, but goes down in ''one shot''.
** Until downing Saren causes a nasty feedback loop that disables its shields, the battle against Sovereign was going this way in the Reaper's favor. Despite two entire fleets attacking it and Sovereign barely putting up an effort to fight back, it {{No Sell}}s virtually everything thrown at it and convinces some in the Alliance fleet that it is unbeatable until the crucial moment.

* CutAndPasteEnvironments: Almost every assignment in the game takes place in (1) a mine that's a big room with two smaller ones branching off the back, (2) a building with an exterior overhang that's just one big room and a balcony, (3) a boxy bunker with a "T" junction in back leading to two small rooms. Or, (4) a freighter (or sometimes space station) that has a short entryway, a large main hold and a crew/cockpit area with three small rooms. About the only variation is the crates/computers/boxes/whatever placed inside and how they're positioned. If the designers were feeling particularly [[SarcasmMode creative]], you might get some combination of the three. It doesn't help that in a few of these assignments you're fighting geth and husks, i.e. the same enemies you fight for most of the main storyline. Types 2, 3, and 4 are justified if they are considered mass-produced prefabricated structures. As for the mine layout, it's quite a stretch to assume that miners cut the exact same passages on a dozen different planets at different times.
* CutLexLuthorACheck:
** A pettier example than usual. In Flux, a salarian needs your help testing out a device he built to cheat at Quasar. If you foil his plans, he'll be crestfallen that the years of work he put into making the device have gone to waste, wondering what he will do now. Your squad members suggest that he could use his skills to get a real job.
** Dr. Saleon grew cloned organs ([[BadBoss inside his employees]]) which he sold on the black market (if the organs [[BodyHorror didn't develop properly he just left them inside]]). While he probably made more money this way than if he went legit, his [[PlayingWithSyringes antics]] ended with him [[HoistByHisOwnPetard trapped in a ship]] overrun by [[BodyHorror hostile mutated monsters]] and catching a bullet in the head courtesy of Garrus or Shepard.

* DoorToBefore: Most places just have one door and aren't that complex. However, there is a force field in the [=ExoGeni=] building on Feros you have to deactivate before using the door, and on Ilos you have an elevator which will not work before you plug it in again (after a long walk around it, of course).
* DoubleTap: If [[spoiler:Wrex]] dies, his killer puts three more bullets in him when he's on the ground. Shepard will also tell the squad to do this to [[spoiler:Saren]] in the endgame.

** Bring Down the Sky is a full-on expansion to the story where Shepard and company must stop the batarians from destroying the colony planet Terra Nova with an asteroid.

* HundredPercentCompletion: The main storyline can be completed in roughly 10 hours, but there are dozens of assignments as well, and there is an achievement for players who complete 75% of the game. There are also achievements for completing a majority of the game with each squadmates.[[note]]As part of the game's major overhaul in the ''Legendary Edition'', this was changed to completing five missions with each squadmate to make it easier to get the achievements in few as one or two playthroughs.[[/note]]
* AbandonedMine: Some assignments take place in these from recovering missing Alliance intelligence to killing [[OurZombiesAreDifferent husks]] of a mining team that DugTooDeep.

The plot revolves around one Commander Shepard, a military officer who becomes the first human Spectre, a member of [[SpacePolice an elite interplanetary peacekeeping force]]. They are tasked with tracking down a rogue Spectre named Saren Arterius, who has apparently allied himself with the geth, a race of [[MechaMooks murderous robots]]. As the storyline progresses, Shepard explores a variety of worlds, encounters a wide range of sapient species, and uncovers an ancient plot involving the [[DoomyDoomsOfDoom coming doom]] [[ApocalypseHow of every sapient organic being in the entire galaxy]].

There is a selection of plot-relevant missions and, if you focus exclusively on those, the game would be in the realm of 9-10 hours, but being an RPG, there is an entire galaxy for you to explore as you engage in [[{{Sidequest}} assignments]], expanding the game to upwards of 25 hours or more. The game lacks a traditional good/evil KarmaMeter, and instead gives you options on how to proceed with each encounter based on the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism; you are a hero either way, but your heroism can range from KnightInShiningArmor to UnscrupulousHero. You can choose whether to recruit all of the characters optioned to be part of your crew or ignore them and do it all yourself. You even have the option of different characters to [[RomanceSidequest pursue a romantic relationship with if you so desire]], including a possible LoveTriangle.

*** When pressed on her distrust of aliens, Ashley tries to clarify that it isn't that she ''hates'' them per se, but she knows that, if the chips came down to it, any specie (humans included) would sacrifices others to ensure their own survival, which is why she dislikes you placing so much trust into aliens crewmembers. [[spoiler:Comes the third game, and that reasoning is thrown back at Shepard almost word-for-word by the Council as to why they don't want to take huge risks defending Earth and prefer to focus on their respective defenses]].

* CryonicsFailure: [[spoiler:The fate of most of the Protheans on Ilos who went into stasis to escape the Reapers' purge of the galaxy. Admittedly, they realized this might happen and specifically programmed Vigil to cull non-essential personnel first, leading Wrex to snark that he doubts said non-essential personnel were told about ''that'' probability]].

* HitchhikerHeroes: Apart from Kaidan, who is actually part of your squad at the beginning of the game, and Liara, who you are specifically sent out to pick up, every squadmate joins either of their own free will or because Anderson thought they might be useful.