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Mass Effect Wiki
Completionist Achievement

This is a brief guide intended to outline a reasonable order to complete 100% of all missions and assignments. It covers experiencing virtually all of the content of Mass Effect.

There are a number of other excellent achievement specific guides listed below. These should also be consulted for specifics concerning those achievements.

Note that this is not intended to be a walk-through in the usual sense: it is more of a checklist. It is not necessary to complete the game more than once to gain the "Completionist" achievement.




Checklist

This checklist will provide one possible order for accomplishing all of the missions and assignments.

Prologue

Distinguished Service Medal Achievement

Exposing Saren

Spectre Inductee Achievement

Note: Avoid triggering any assignments!

Finding Liara T'Soni

Search and Rescue Achievement

Note: If you are already at least level 20, it will be impossible to avoid triggering the UNC: Rogue VI assignment at this point. This will not adversely affect the ally achievements, as only 75% of the assignments are necessary.

The Citadel

Noveria

Honorarium of Corporate Service Achievement

Feros

Medal of Heroism Achievement

Uncharted Space

The Citadel Redux

Uncharted Space Redux

Note: This is the final opportunity to complete assignments outside of the Citadel.

Virmire

Council Legion of Merit Achievement

Citadel Detainee

Ilos

Medal of Honor AchievementLong Service Medal Achievement

Multiple Characters and Replays

In order to experience every possible assignment and to gather all possible achievements, it is necessary to play through Mass Effect at least four times. If one follows the possible career paths:

  • the first game will yield all but three of the assignments and the majority of the achievements;
  • the second will yield a few further achievements;
  • the third will provide two further assignments and several more achievements;
  • the fourth will see the final assignment and finish up the last possible romance combination.

Further replays may be required to gain the Extreme Power Gamer achievement and/or the various talent achievements.

Character Creation

When creating a custom Commander Shepard, several immutable characteristics must be chosen which will affect all future play using that character, even if a new game is started.

The default "quick start" Commander Shepard is a male Soldier, Earthborn, and a Sole Survivor.

Morality

Morality affects certain dialog choices available during each game (and therefore the outcome of certain assignments) as well as a morality-specific mission. A character's morality is represented by running tallies of Paragon and Renegade points (to a maximum of 330 each). Accumulating Paragon points unlocks higher levels of the Charm talent; Renegade points unlock Intimidate levels.

When starting a new game, Paragon and Renegade points are reset, but any Charm or Intimidate levels already earned are not. Thus, with enough play, it is possible to have both maximum Charm and Intimidate at the same time. (It is even possible to do so without spending a single talent point in the process, if you have the patience. See Morality.)

Certain dialog options will only be open to characters possessing high enough Charm or Intimidate talents. As a result it is typically not possible to see all of the possible assignment outcomes until about the fourth game.

Difficulty Achievements

Medal of Valor AchievementDistinguished Combat Medal Achievement

The two difficulty level achievements need at least three games to acquire:

Both of these achievements will be gained by following the possible career paths.

Ally Achievements

Main article: Ally Achievement Guide

The six ally achievements are linked to the Completionist achievement in that they require a given squad member to be present for 75% of the assignments. Therefore at least three games are needed to acquire these achievements:

  • the first game using the same two squad members at all times;
  • a second using a different two squad members at all times; and
  • a third using the final two squad members at all times.

Following the possible career paths will result in gaining all six of these achievements.

Possible Career Paths

Although Mass Effect features six primary classes and six specializations, the twelve possible combinations do not themselves materially affect the content of the game. (For example there are no class specific missions.) As such, this guide will forebear from suggesting the fourteen or so replays that would be necessary to cover them all along with all of the achievements.

In fact, the only major distinction that matters from the perspective of this guide are the talents available which fall into three broad categories: combat, biotic, and tech. Therefore the possible career path outlined here is just that: one possible path that can potentially yield all of the various talent achievements. There are plenty of other possible variations with respect to class and team members: let your play style and role-playing be your guide.

Here is one possible set of careers along with a list of the achievements which can be expected at each step.

See Also

General Guides

Main article: Mass Effect Guide

Achievement Guides

Main article: Achievements
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