The original fixed in the Legendary Edition. The Legendary Edition was just a remaster, however, and couldn't save the first Mass Effect from its unnecessary amount of repetitive side content.
While traveling throughout the far reaches of Citadel space in Mass Effect, Commander Shepard frequently gets sidetracked with optional quests. Many of the assignments are compelling, especially those that have the player exploring the Citadel or are primarily completed through branching conversations. Unfortunately, a lot of the optional assignments feel as though they were added for the sake of having more content in the game.
Though Mass Effect finds narrative reasons for Commander Shepard to explore some mostly barren world, many assignments end up playing out the exact same way in scenarios with very little variation. There are only a handful of different building and spaceship layouts the player ever enters on a side quest. They typically consist of an entrance, a large storage area filled with crates where a mob of enemies is fought, and a couple more rooms where some narrative flavor is added before the quest ends in (usually) more violence. A quest to the Moon, for instance, which would normally be a really cool experience, is made incredibly boring by having to enter three identical buildings.
Mass Effect 1 Should Have Focused on Quality Over Quantity
These repetitive assignments are especially disheartening when compared to some of the other content in the game. All of the locations for the main missions, such as Feros and Noveria, are much more compellingly designed, and play into the first Mass Effect's strengths - namely, all the parts that aren't combat. Mass Effect's Feros has strange colonists and the nefarious deeds of the ExoGeni Corporation to make the planet feel like a mystery that needs to be unraveled. Noveria has an ulterior goal of reaching the Binary Helix research facility on Peak 15, but there are multiple ways to get there, which involve a lot of well-written dialogue and parties with varying interests.
Most of the assignments to some random planet or remote space ship involve nothing more than going there, killing everyone, and then getting a pat on the back from iral Hackett. Having more side quests on the more detailed planets, or simply paring down the number of assignments and bulking up the remaining ones, would have cut down on the monotonous effort required to complete the entire game. While doing every assignment isn't necessary for finishing the experience, they are a good source of Mass Effect's Paragon and Renegade points, and many have genuinely interesting hooks. It's too bad the actual gameplay for most assignments is usually little more than a copy of the others.