Quarian Ark author doing Q&A on reddit now

It's only short if you blitz through the main story. After looking at my most recent save file (second plathrough), I'm at 75% completion with 52hrs played, and that's as an experienced ME player and someone familiar with the game already. There's a wealth of extra stuff out there. I can't go anywhere without getting the urge to mop up some of those side-missions.

That just comes with the territory of being a partial completionist. I have no care for achievements and things like that, but I do like to keep my quest-logs empty and check things out. As such, both my initial and future playthroughs have been very long and enjoyable experiences. Getting to the end of the story is always my last priority, as I tend to switch off at that point rather than save the extra stuff for 'after' I've won. When I completed the game @ release, I had no further interest to explore the galaxy and tie up loose ends because I was done. Was the same in ME2 after the Collectors. May have done one or two little things but I was mentally finished with the game. We all have our quirks.