With the legendary edition of Mass Effect right around the corner, it’s exciting to learn that some fans are going to be experiencing the first game for the first time. Those who remember the first installation of the franchise have fond memories of Saren, indoctrination, Liara, and so many other staples of the franchise.
Yet there are other recollections that only the most hardcore fans will be able to bring to mind. With such a solid foundation to build on, gamers are grateful for the various plotlines that survived. But after playing the first game, it’s also worth looking at the stories that either tapered off or were outright dropped after giving players an enticing first taste.
9 Keeper Development
In the game’s very first side questline, you’re tasked with scanning the Keepers. Eventually, you discover they are a pre-Prothean race that has been modified, very similar to the Collectors.
But that’s about it. You receive no information on how they reproduce or what their intellectual capacity is like or how they are connected to the Citadel. They take turns both assisting and hindering some of the worst villains in Mass Effect, but players never get to understand the rationale behind these activities.
8 Sha’ira, The Asari Consort
Before Liara swooped in and became everybody’s favorite companion, there was a reasonable expectation that your first asari traveling buddy was going to be Sha’ira.
You can even have a brief fling with her after finding out about her powers of perception. Unfortunately, it never goes further than that and she disappears. They placed her back into the Citadel DLC for Mass Effect 3, but she reveals nothing significant about her past or, more importantly, your future.
7 Self-Realized AI
It’s fun to think about the cool alien races introduced during the series, but what about cool AI types? Even before Legion made the Geth a race that felt relatable, there was a renegade AI on the Citadel.
After locating this AI, Shepard learns that it is trying to escape and is funneling credits to fund its adventure. You destroy it, of course, but this was the first time meeting an AI that self-realized and was not created. You never find out if there are others.
6 Cerberus Experiments
Science can be a game where everybody loses in the end. Just ask the deceptively dynamic Urdnot Wrex about that. When you discover that Cerberus is engaged in a scientific activity involving Thresher Maws, the Rachni, and human test subjects, you naturally think the conclusion of the experiment would be coming up.
Yet even as you venture around space working for Cerberus, this particular study never once comes up again. You find out a million other things about Cerberus but never get to the bottom of this particular experiment.
5 The Terra Firma Party
People will be divided on whether or not the human-loving Ashley Williams deserves to be on the list of the most beloved Mass Effect companions due to her occasionally bigoted statements. Yet when even she condemns the Terra Firma Party, a human-first political wing, that certainly opens your eyes about how radical they must be.
The movement was going strong and then it just completely dies out by the time the next game rolls around. Even if you make all the choices that make humanity look superior and independent, there’s no mention of them. In fact, the anti-human campaign has become a much stronger initiative.
4 Helena Blake’s Disappearing Gang
Mass Effect was from an era well before all of the renegade interrupts were available, but had that mechanic been around, you better believe doing business with Helena Blake would have given you more than one opportunity to act like a brute enforcer.
You can find Helena Blake again in the early hours of Mass Effect 2 on Omega, but she’s claimed to just be doing nothing. True to her word, you never really hear anything from her again. This is the same woman that was willing to die to run an interstellar crime syndicate. And she had dreams of getting rid of all of the violence and slavery that made these criminals unpopular. How did she lose her passion?
3 The L2 Resolution
On one hand, there is some degree of political resolution for the L2 biotics. Having been cast aside by society and ignored by the same politicians that were responsible for their pain, with the right decisions, you can get them some monetary reparations.
But money doesn’t fix all problems. The issues the L2s are having, even with the lightest symptoms, are crippling headaches and inability to focus. They did mention that surgery was possible, but brain damage was a side effect. It’s hard to believe Shepard, who knows Chloe Michel, Dr. Chakwas, and various other medical prodigies, never managed to find a permanent solution to this problem.
2 Destabilizing Suns
This one will shock no Mass Effect fans who read the news that the ending of the series was supposed to be a lot different. Specifically, the writers were toying with the idea that dark matter was possibly being intentionally diverted into certain suns, like Haestrom’s sun, in an effort to make them die out early.
Who was behind it? And what kind of technology did they have? Sadly, we’ll never know. The team went in a different direction with the ending and this particular point about destroying stars was left on the drawing board.
1 Who Is Armistan Banes?
Who could possibly forget Garrus? The first time you join forces, you stop a shakedown at the hospital. After doing some exploring, you find out the thugs are working for a certain Armistan Banes.
After more digging that gets responses from the top military admirals, you find out that Banes was found dead a long time ago. In a passive conversation in Mass Effect 3, you hear that Banes used to work for Cerberus. But you never get to find out how he faked his death, what he’s up to, and why he’s shaking down medical personnel.
NEXT: 10 Crazy Things You Didn’t Know Happened Between Mass Effect 3 And Andromeda
