I wonder if all of us with this problem are Deluxe Edition users.
TL;DR:
After adding the Deluxe Edition download to my regular game files, I got an instant "unreadable disc" error. The game was working fine before. After clearing cache and restarting the Xbox 360 twice, I could get the game to start again. Immediately, dialogue got chopped up and could not be understood again without the aid of subtitles.
Here's some new data points:
1. I returned my discs and got new ones. This caused fewer "unreadable disc" errors-- just two in a whole evening.
2. I still had problems when I could play, with the sounds being the most obvious. Dialogue was choppy and played as if the the words had been scrambled. Only having the subtitles on saved me for being able to understand the plot.
3. I thought with the new discs, maybe I should do a reinstall of the game files. I thought maybe that would clear up the sound problems and fix the remaining "unreadable disc" errors. Today I did the reinstall.
4. I played with no disc errors and the sound and dialogue were never corrupted.
5. I forgot to reinstall the Deluxe Edition after I installed the fresh game files. I played all the way to Haven without a glitch in sound or an "unreadable disc" error.
6. When I realized my deluxe edition items weren't in the chest, I remembered to go back and install the deluxe edition download piece. By the way, I've re-downloaded the Deluxe Edition files off Xbox Live 4 times. I do not have a set of corrupted files for that.
7. Instantly I got an "unreadable disc" error. Immediately, dialogue got chopped up and could not be understood again without the aid of subtitles.
Related comment to the developers and anyone who wants to try this solution:
The makers of the game committed the nearly unforgiveable sin of tying character save files to the game install. Everything I had done before the reinstall of the corrupted game files was completely gone. I nearly lost faith and returned the game as a lost cause at this point. It made everything I did seem futile. It will definitely inform my decision on whether to purchase games from Bioware in the future. This is so sad, because I truly love this series and Mass Effect. But I'm about done. There are too many games to play and too many other things to do in life to waste so many hours like this.
Does this mean that if we delete the downloads for deluxe edition, we can quit having the damn error? I'd give up those downloads for that.
