" i dont see why people say it takes 15-20 hours the first time... "

There is so much more to do in Mass Effect than the main quest. You may have beaten the game in ten hours, but you missed about 20-30 hours of additional content

Some people like to explore the universe?

Fail.

" Fail. "

A  thorough play through took me around 33 hours. You must of just played the main missions and skipped through dialogue.

it depends if u just plow through the main quest or if u do some side quests as well.

You can actually beat it in much less than 10 hours if you want (I've seen speed runs of that game that clock under 3 hours) but that kind of ruins the gaming experience.

Since when did people start defending Mass Effect's side quests?  There are like, two or three worth doing. 

The game is an rpg man. Explore, Explore, Explore. Don't just rush through the main story quest like it's another mindless "Go from Point A to Point B" kinda game. 

One of my playthroughs took more than 60 hours.

It FELT like I was gaining levels pretty fast... and I took the casual explore-the-world approach. Found myself at 20-hrs at level 33. 5 hours later I had level 36 and beat the game with what seemed to be highly over powered characters (but I have heard the game is generally easy on normal setting). Shepard was a biotic, and  I had Ashley and Garrus.
 
Need to try this on hard now.

why even buy a game to rush threw it  took me about 27 hours first time i played the  game then done it evil so thats about 50 hours then the dlc came out >_> 10 hours is a fps game length rly =/

I got like upper 20s on my first playthrough.  Rushing through a RPG is a pretty fail based method of playing it.  Speed runs are cool but i've never understood the purpose of buying a game just get done with it as quickly as possible.
 
I understand why reviewers do it cuz they HAVE to play like 100+ games a year, but for a consumer it's seems pretty stupid imo.

" The game is an rpg man. Explore, Explore, Explore. Don't just rush through the main story quest like it's another mindless "Go from Point A to Point B" kinda game.  "

I got 11 hours on my first playthrough and 23 hours on my second... weird.

 It took me about 8 hours to leave the citadel on my first play through. I just spent hours exploring the citadel, doing all the side quests there, and getting immersed in the universe.

The main quest takes 10 hours or less if thats all you play. Doing every quest probably takes about 25-30. But on average if your not doing no side quests but your not going for 100% most players will get 20 hours roughly out of a playthrough.

You're not playing it right.

" well i played through a second time and it still only took me around 10 hours and i explored a whole helluva lot "

" The game is an rpg man. Explore, Explore, Explore. Don't just rush through the main story quest like it's another mindless "Go from Point A to Point B" kinda game.  "

I don't think it's that unusual for one's first ME playthrough to be short.
 
I mean, all through the game the point is emphasized that you've got to stop Saren now - the sense of urgency got to me so much that I felt like doing side missions was almost inappropriate, in a way.  Before I knew it, I was facing off against Saren himself.
 
On additional playthroughs, I got the opportunity to explore more.

" i dont see why people say it takes 15-20 hours the first time... "

it only took me like 18 hours the first time through and i did almost all of the side missions i have no idea how someone could take 60 hours on a playthrough

It takes the same time for me if I didn't do any side quest. With all side quest it would take more time.

It took me 25hrs the first time and I even got the Completionist achievement, but it felt like it went by really fast