Help me play the Mass Effect series

Off all the Bioware RPGs ME is the only series I've never given a fair shake. My husband owns both 1 and 2 though (and probably 3 soon), and the recent discussions about sexism and romance in video games kind of got me curious again.
I tried ME1 when it first came out, but only got as far as getting Ashley. I wasn't keen on having my character fully voice-acted, I'm awful at shooters, I was disappointed when I found out I couldn't romance Joker, and I was miffed that I couldn't make certain choices at character creation until I had played through the game and unlocked stuff. I uninstalled, and never touched it again.
However, in any RPG tread Mass Effect comes up as (one of) the best RPG series in recent times, and perhaps I should approach it a bit more open-minded. I'm willing to give it a chance, and I accept that I'll have to put up with sounding like Bastila for the duration of the game :D

So, what would be the best class for me to chose? I've gotten slightly better at combat in video games but I'm still no ace. I have no problem with playing on Easy either.
I would like to have conversation skills like Diplomacy/Persuade, I'm not keen on things like Intimidate though. I'll be playing pure Paragon.
What companions are the most interesting to take along? I'm not looking for spoilers here by the way. Which companions last the whole series? I know that

is considered the best romance option for Femshep, so I'll probably end up with him.

Is there support for the xbox 360 controller? I find driving in games painful I really suck at it, and even more so in PC games. I have xpadder though, so I could set up a profile myself if I have to.

Is there anything else I need to know, need to be aware of? (no spoilers please)

Has the ending of 3 been fixed yet? I haven't missed the outrage about the ending, although I made certain not read any spoilers, and vaguely remember something about a DLC to fix it. Has that been released, and is it free or do you have to pay for it?

I honestly can't remember what the engineer was like in ME1, but I love the shit out of that class in 2 and 3.

That's my main input. :P

Oh, and yes, the DLC to "fix" the ending was released, and while it didn't completely fix it, it made it tolerable instead of a giant pile of WTF (for me at least). It is free.

Well, first of all, your class don't matter one bit when it comes to "roleplaying". That is, you can Charm and be Super-Nice in conversations while you shoot people in the face with ammo that melt their bones or casts spells that rip them apart on the molecular level. If you're uninterested in the combat I suggest playing as an Adept which uses space-magic to make pretty much any encounter trivial. One word: Singularity. Max it. You should also note that the combat and character system gets a complete makeover between ME1 and 2. But just choose Easy and it won't matter what you do or don't do. I'd also NOT choose who you'll end up with before you even start playing. And really take your time to explore the galaxy in ME1. ME2 and 3 are much more focused and semi-linear in that regard.

if you still need to buy 3, and you prefer controllers, maybe a good solution would be to get the recently released ME Trilogy box for the xbox, and play all of them there?

I've played an Infiltrator in the 3 PC games. I like sharpshooters with cloaking devices. What class you choose doesn't matter, just go with the one that you like best. Try them all a bit and then choose. I'm not sure, but I don't think the PC version support the XBox controller.

"Which companions last the whole series? " it depends on your decisions during the 3 games. that's the fun of it :D

"Is there anything else I need to know, need to be aware of?" - do all the quests you can before the "end quest" of each game; don't rush it, when you're tired of questing just go explore the galaxy a bit. And don't go read spoilers about game relationships :)

Space magic! cool! That might be a good option indeed, I like playing mages so that would be familiar.
Normally I go into a game blind and just pick whoever I think my character would pick, but I've read too much about ME to be able to do that. But I'll give every one a fair chance, that's a good point.
I love exploring so I will do that as well, make most out of the game.

I'd love to do that, but my husband prefers playing on the PC over consoles, and all his saves are on PC. So he'll want the PC version. If I had the funds to get both I would though, but I'm not really sure whether it would be worth it just for me since I didn't get on with the series before.

Too late, hehe. There have been so many general RPG threads where they got spoilered that I haven't been able to avoid that, like the recent #1 reasonwhy thread. That's okay though, it happens when you're really late to playing such an iconic game I suppose :)

Someone who remembers the details

It CAN be an issue, Jason, but it doesn't have to be.

Unless there was a patch,

Another quick question: I suppose I'll have to deal with locks and traps/hacking like in most RPGs. I suppose companions can do that, but I's rather not be locked into having to take 1 particular companion along at all times because of that (for example Neeshka in NWN2 or Mission in KotOR). It's much nicer to be able to take who I like to get to know them all.
Which classes would be better for me in this case?

From a few playthroughs.

Soldier is alright. It's a solid class through all three games, standard run and gun with the widest choice of weapons. Infiltrator is silly in the first game as it gets the soldiers damage sponge skill as well as a shield boost from one of the tech skills. Less broken in the subsequent games but still very powerful as a sniper in 2 and with both rifles and shotguns in 3. Adepts will make game one a cakewalk, game 2 a terror on anything over normal and land on being a well balanced class with cool options in 3. Vanguard in one I have no clue about, it get's an interesting ability in 2 that's cool but very risky, propably the most powerful class in 3 though.

In the end you can take any class through the games without major issues on normal, the second game has some hurdles but only on the higher difficulties, third one has very good balance. Just grab what you feel like.

I've only played ME2 (something that I really need to address and soon) but I don't recall any traps. Both lock-picking and hacking were pretty easy as well but I've no idea if that's true of the other two games.

Lock-picking is basically a match two game (turn over a 'card' to reveal a symbol, try to find its match under one of the other cards). Hacking was a match game as well. Both had very forgiving time limits.

I'm pretty sure that you can't direct one of your other party members to pick a lock or hack in ME2. IIRC the only orders you can give them are position, ammo and skill.

I liked the soldier because I could use pretty much any weapon. To me, that was a better tradeoff than having biotics.

If you intend to play on Easy then you can pick whichever class sounds fun to you. It really, truly doesn't matter. You can just shoot your way through, use your abilities as you see fit and just enjoy the experience.

Having said that, soldier and adept are the two most consistent performers if you're looking to play the same class through all three games. For my money, adept is the more fun of the two because you can toss people around, cause kinetic explosions and generally be a pain in the rear... all from the safety of cover. Note that you can hotkey your squadmates abilities and partake of some of that fun space magic stuff regardless of Shepard's class, so it's not a total loss on that front if you decide to play a soldier.

Most importantly, have fun! I envy anyone playing through the series for the first time.

The first game is the only one where hacking is tied to a specific skill, it's for getting more loot and never a necessity. There are two separate skills for opening stuff, Electronics and Decryption, that work on different types of chests. Engineers, Sentinels and Infiltrators have both. Furthermore, Garrus, Kaidan and Tali all have access to both skills and for the purpose of opening stuff their skills will count of higher than your own or if you have none of the skills.

Electronics also increases your shields, making it good for pretty much anyone, Decryption increases damage on tech abilities so is a bit more situational. I tend to up Electronics on my character first if I have it and up Decryption on a party member instead.

This is ONLY and issue in ME1 where you want someone along with a high Decryption and Electronics along in order to loot ALL the crates. They completely remove this mechanic in ME2 and 3. And you can switch class between games. I also have no idea why anyone would say Adept would be hard in ME2, to me it's the most powerful class in all three games. It's also the one that require the least amount of shooter skill.

In ME1 Kaidan, Garrus and Tali can be the lockpicker OR you can choose to play as a Sentinel, Engineer or Infiltrator IIRC. Not totally sure on Sentinel.

Because on higher difficulties, ie. hardcore and insane, almost all enemies have a small layer of shields/armor/barriers, preventing most of the Adepts crowd control effects from triggering on them. You can get around that with combining powers for biotic explosions but compared to one and three it's much less effective. As I said, it has no effect on normal.

It sounds like there are plenty of companions to help out with Electronics and Decryption, so that won't be a problem. I'll start with an Adept then, because I love the sound of playing a space-mage.
Thanks for all the help, I'm sure I'll have more questions later but for now I'll go and play :)

Hehe, I always feel that way when people say they are going to play KotOR or Morrowind for the very first time. What we wouldn't give to erase the memory of our favorite games just to experience them as new!

If your husband has beaten the game already, then use his profile when you make your new save. Depending on the class he has beaten it with you can get a bonus skill for your Adept, such as the assault rifle skill if he beat it as a soldier.

Or, it should be noted, on Veteran. Which was my preferred difficulty for ME2, Hardcore for ME1. It's been some time since I played ME2 with my Adept Shep but I think I just always brought someone along with Overload (plus used a SMG) and that was that on Hardcore? No matter, I'm picking nits and I mainly just wanted to market Veteran as a fun difficulty setting.

I started an Infiltrator and abandoned it. It plays nothing like the description in the manual. It was a crap class in ME1. Allegedly it was fixed in ME2, but that's too late.

I didn't want to play run and gun so crossed off the soldier. Vanguard was recommended to me and I enjoyed it.

Help, the game wants me to assign points! Besides Singularity (which I can't stick points in yet), what do I stick points in? I'd like some points in Charm, but no idea about the rest. Armor, I suppose, also for access to pistols. Anyone got a newb-friendly build?

I'll offer one word of caution for ME 2
It sounds like you're going to be trying to do everything... which is how I am.

Ok trying to word this without spoiling too much
You'll get to a certian point where most of your crew will be gone from the ship.
It's near the end point. At that time you'll have a choice to trigger off the last mission, or continue exploring the galaxy completeing stuff.
The longer you hold off, the ummm worse off it will be.
NOTE: It dosn't make the final mission harder, just, something bad from a story perspective.

If you're hot for Singularity, check and see what skill unlocks singularity.
Bascialy if it's not avaiable yet, then there's a certian point you have to get in another skill tree to unlock it.

Edit[/] Oh and also decide do you want ot be a nice guy or mean guy?
Nice guys should go down the Paragon route, and Mean guys the Renegade. Going middle of the road dosn't really seem to help much.

Oh, Paragon all the way. I always play goodie-toe-shoes :D

I'll start with some points in Warp and Charm then.

For your early priorities, I'd go for enough points (5?) in Armor to unlock Pistol specialization, and enough points in Warp (6?) to unlock Singularity. Barrier is also important as it helps your survivability, and IIRC it eventually overtakes Basic Armor in bang for your buck defensively. Lift is more for crowd-control than anything, and Throw is nice for knocking people off ledges and cliffs (or combining with Lift / Singularity), but I don't remember using either power that much in ME1.

In ME2, there's one storyline mission that triggers a deadline. Any side missions you take afterward are added to a counter that can block anything but a pyrrhic "I won but I feel awful" ending. Slightly but not hugely spoilery details:

I'm feeling really dumb now... how do I use my powers, like Warp and Throw?

Wait, I worked it out! Space, then drag into the slots on the top left. Crisis averted!

When you get to ME2, I recommend not playing as an Adept (which I'm doing right now). For most of the game, your weapon choices are limited to pistol and SMG, both of which are hideously unsatisfying and make combat a chore, even if you start out by doing the Kasumi DLC, which nets you the best SMG in the game.

I actually prefer heavy pistols to pretty much everything else. But the key in ME2 adept play is to learn that your primary weapon is Warp -> Throw. It's basically a biotic grenade. ME2 adds layered defenses though, so remember that you can't biotic nuke things that are blue (shielded)

This is indeed true, but I hadn't played an ME2 Adept until after I played through ME3 as that class, and the biotic combos are way better in ME3. And you're still stuck with the miserable pew-pew of the Locust or the hideously limited ammo of the Carnifex to bring down shields (although you should always be bringing [REDACTED BUT YOU KNOW WHO I MEAN] with you for Overload purposes).

Good call jumping into this series, Mirriam. I'll be interested in reading your impressions as you go along, hope you'll keep updating this thread. I played through the first game as a soldier, adept and engineer and ultimately liked soldier best, and I'll tell you why: you exert direct control over your squad mates' powers, so bringing along a biotic and a technical character gives you options for any situation. Plus soldiers are walking weapons platforms, so you look like a badass, if that kind of thing matters (and I think we know it does). Sorry I spoiled some plot developments over in the dating sim thread, Mass Effect is a series I enjoy discussing with people almost as much as I enjoy playing. Hope you have a good time.

Adept is great, and it makes ME1 hilariously easy which is good since it's the least well-rounded combat system for obvious reasons. Sending enemies flying into space in outdoors combat is still one of my favorite moments in the series.

My wife beat ME1 and 2 on insane (couldn't be bothered to go beyond the second hardest level with the third), and she used an infiltrator throughout as her primary character. It really depends on how much the invisible sniper stuff appeals to you.

Regardless, other than the blah soldier class, it's always easy to round out your skills with your squad and you'll even have to rotate them out depending on the enemies on the harder difficulties. Turns out I've been lucky and apart from being slightly sub-optimized in the last by choosing a biotic companion who was less effective but more awesome, it never felt like my hand was forced that much.

The right answer is having to choose, not having your cake and eating it. It's one of the best and most well-crafted decisions in the game if you don't min-max your way to the "everything is rainbows" conclusion.

It'd be a shame not to see it, that's for sure. I'm fine with downers and consequences but I sort of expect the choice/consequence tree to look less arbitrary than it did to me, partly because of the head-scratcher of not getting the exile/not exile result I'd "picked" in ME2.

Always build your squad around power providers. I will say that ME2 is trivial if you bring someone with overload, then two biotics with warp + any combo biotic. At the end mission I was insta nuking every *redacted hilarious meme cat* before it even finished it's introduction thing by immediately biotic bombing it into dirt. And ME3 makes it even meaner to be a biotic.

The only class I can't recommend if you're not bit into shooters is the Vanguard. Hilariously fun in ME2 and 3, but really really easy to get your ass kicked since you're basically soloing the game.

My long lost sibling, clearly! I, too, sneak around and shoot things in the face. It only got more satisfying in ME2 with the Widow, and then glorious with the Black Widow and Javelin, in ME3. I also enjoy my femshep's occupation, which is Vanguard - setting up your companions as a firing line and then using biotic charges to get behind enemy lines for a shotgun rampage never really gets old.

Pffft, Biotics. I just triggered assassin's cloak and sent a slug downrange from the Widow. It's cleaner, and less fussy. "Assuming direct con- BOOM." Every single time. You'd think [SPOILERNAME] would get PTSD by the end of the game.

I'll certainly post my impressions as I go along, as long as people are interested :)

So far I'm struggling with the combat system. I'm constantly very low on health. I keep ducking behind walls, but every time I pop my head up I get hurt. Kaiden is everywhere but attacking the enemy. I can only use my powers every once in a blue moon, and my weapons don't seem to do much. I'm sure I'm doing it wrong and it's a case of sussing out the control system and the order giving system a bit better. being down with the flu probably doesn't help either (but it gives me time to play all afternoon) :D

I didn't mind people spoiling things in other threads, it's to be expected of older games and it's hard to discuss things like romances without spoiling them.

So, people who are mentioning sneaky characters:
I love those in games like TES where I play alone, but I never found them that useful in party based games since your group ruins any stealth chances you have. It might give me a bit more time to prepare and aim though, and it might mean I'd draw less agro myself.

I might try out a soldier as well anyway, might be less of a squishy option for me...

(and here we go again, give me options and I'll reroll umpteen times)

A word about that: there is a lot of side-quest/exploration content in ME1 that is both extremely bland and extremely repetitive. If you find yourself thinking that the planets feel a lot alike or that this here rescue mission feels familiar then that's your cue to stop exploring the galaxy. If you never find yourself thinking those things, well, enjoy. YMMV