User blog comment:The Milkman/Indoctrination Theorists Say the Darndest Things, Part II/@comment-1683278-20121205235312

I don't understand how a person can believe that player choice is just an illusion in Mass Effect. Choice is the critical backbone of the trilogy. Even the small things, like choice of dialogue or morality, shape how the people within the galaxy view you, and how you view the galaxy.

As for the bigger choices, all of them matter in some way. Choice doesn't always need to be some ground-breaking phenomenon that radically changes the story at every point in the game. If this was the case, the story would be extremely cluttered and confusing, and all the alterations that would be required would be extremely impractical. The choices in the games are just how they should be; as long as they matter to the story or the player, they are important.

Within the course of three games, these are some of the "illusions" we can experience:


 * 1) Commit multiple mass genocides, or decide to be the savior of these species
 * 2) Save or abandon the leaders and peacekeepers of the galaxy
 * 3) Have multiple squadmates and friends die under your command
 * 4) Commit to a relationship (or a few at a time, if you're that kind of person)
 * 5) Thwart a terrorist attack and save hostages
 * 6) Destroy or keep the highly dangerous, advanced Collector base
 * 7) Stopping or continuing a controversial research project
 * 8) Overthrow a secret information dealer who has tabs on nearly everything in the galaxy
 * 9) Meet the creators of the Reapers themselves
 * 10) Re-writing the most advanced synthetic race in the galaxy
 * 11) Deciding the fate of the entire galaxy and its future

I'm pretty sure these aren't illusions going on in our heads, unless BioWare has secretly addicted us an advanced hallucinogen in the form of colored pixels.