Help me play the Mass Effect series

I find that you end up so flush with cash after the first planet or so that it isn't really worth the time (for me) to do this stuff. Cash and space goo go infinite pretty fast unless you're doing crazy things with the Mako and repairing all the time.

You're exaggerating. After the first planet you'll have enough cash to purchase the various contracts and the medi-gel / grenade upgrades, but attempting to purchase top of the line equipment will bankrupt you.

The top of the line equipment is rather too good... You could get a similar effect without grinding simply by turning the difficulty down.

Well, no, you won't be buying Specter VII/X stuff until probably after 3 planets, or maybe 2 if you are super thorough about doing side stuff as you go. I never felt the least bit squeezed ever in ME1 though. I think they do a better job with making the money spending decisions more interesting in later games.

Side note - that particular bullet hose is INSANELY DEADLY for the N7 Destroyer class in multi. Man, I wish I had people to play ME3 multi with on the 360. Sigh.

<3 bullet hose <3

I play Mass Effect 3 on my PC though, so I cannot help you out on the multiplayer thing. You might be able to lure Ingmar in, though.

Oh dear. Trying to drive the MAKO is like trying to remote-control a helium balloon in a hurricane o_O
I feel sorry for the people inside, I get sea-sick just looking at it. Perhaps they shouldn't let Shepard drive. Or at least make sure she's sober before she hops behind the wheel...

I got the game now too! We can all play together :D I'm a Paragon Infiltrator. The combat is a little tougher than I expected, but manageable (got up to Noveria with only 1 death). I'm wondering who is best to bring along with me, though; I like Garrus and I take him with me, but he dies/comes close to dying pretty often.

Also, I hate driving cars in games. I am terrible at it. I feel very apologetic towards Shepard & co.... But it's fun being able to drive over mountains.

Honestly, it really doesn't matter unless you're playing on Insanity or something. I've beat the game multiple times on normal and hardcore and I just choose whichever companions I like the best (and I leave squad AI power usage enabled).

One thing to make sure you do with companions is occasionally check to make sure they're using the weapon you want them to use. It isn't unusual for Garrus to occasionally decide to use his shitty level 1 assault rifle that you never upgraded instead of the fabulous gold-plated Spectre sniper rifle you bought him, etc.

He does that in Mass Effect 3, too. Just like old times indeed, Garrus.

Pretty much. When you get Insanity it's definitely handy to have someone to Biotic Combo off of, but short of that you can get by without it.

Yay! I'm a Paragon Infiltrator too :D I'm on Noveria at the moment, but I did that other planet first, plus a bunch of side-missions. I've died about 5 times, all of them involving driving the Mako of a bridge >.<

I'm taking Wrex and Garrus with me. Garrus goes down regularly, but Wrex does really great. I give both of them the best weapons and armor I can find for them, and I levelled up their weapon and armor skills pretty fast.
I sometimes swap Garrus out for Kaiden, but I prefer Garrus in combat. At the moment I have Liara along, who is very sweet but really should stay on the Normandy and make tea, she keeps standing right in front of my sniper rifle or blocking my path. She also always stands in front of any activator so I select her instead. Darn civilians ;)

So far I'm enjoying the game a lot when it comes to story and the combat is okay. But the Mako is a nightmare, I really have to force myself to play through those parts. That means I'm also not exploring as much as I probably should. I'm glad I gave the game a second try though.

If you are exploring as little as possible in ME1 then you are exploring exactly as much as you should!

I don't recall anything of interest to be found driving around outside of specific missions.

Bah! There's LOTS of interesting side-stuff in ME! Plus, you simply must collect ALL the ore and canisters!

There are items of interest which aren't missions, but they're always pre-marked as ? on the map. rather than being ones you need to discover.

I am one of those people who really does feel they have to collect everything they see... So I explore all of the points of interest. ALL OF THEM. On every planet I can land on.

Thanks for the help, guys! I still have to get Liara, but when I do I'll probably take her and Tali along. Tali is great, and I love her accent.

Biotic powers are ridiculously overpowered in ME1. Liari will be godlike in late game.

Yeah. She doesn't do a lot of direct damage (they didn't add exploding singularities 'til ME2), but she has ridiculous crowd control capabilities.

Same is true in ME3, if you have any power that can combo with her.

I don't think Mirriam minds, but strictly speaking talking about squad compositions in later games is a spoiler.

I've been spoilered enough to know which characters reoccur, so I don't mind. But there are others in this thread who are playing for the first time as well who might not, which may be a good thing to keep in mind ;) I hadn't thought about that either when I started the thread, I think I've probably spoiled a future romance option myself early on. Sorry if I spoiled things for people :(

Honestly, this long after the first two games, while avoiding spoilers is nice, I think anyone who got mad about being spoiled in this particular thread might be wound a little tightly. ;)

This long? The second game came out less than three years ago! And I don't think worrying about spoilers in a thread given a gameplay advice title is crossing the line.

I'm completely unspoiled plot-wise, but I have seen the characters in the next 2 games and spoilers don't particularly bother me anyway.

Just finished all of the exploration and collected Liara. Permanently replacing Kaidan with her. I happen to like all of the aliens more than my human companions...

Kaidan is okay, but most of the aliens are simply more interesting, and more useful during combat too.

I think Liara/Wrex is probably the most powerful squad combo.

I'm actually doing a re-playthrough of ME1 right now (actually wanted to do ME2, but had lost all my old saves so decided to go back rather than picking up a save online); time allowing, I'll go through both ME2 and ME3 as well sometime during christmas/winter.

I downloaded some of the high resolution mods for ME1, which really improved the visuals compared to the original. Playing as a Vanguard (I always do fighter-mages in RPGs if I can). Can't be bothered running around to collect all of the silly minerals, but have gone through the sidequests for the extra flavor in ME2. I don't think it's that bad - most of the time you only have one place travel to and there is often a reasonable path. I actually find the Mako sections in the story missions worse, because those missions railroad you through interminable driving along a specific path.

You are probably right. I prefer taking Garrus over Liara simply because I like him better as a character, but Liara's skills are a lot better.

By the way, if you don't already have it, I'd suggest getting the free "Bring Down the Sky" DLC. Mainly because it gives you your only chance of actually meeting Batarians in ME1 - they're otherwise only ever mentioned in the codex and discussions.

I finished it! It took me around 24 hours, but I did skip all the side missions.

I really liked the story which was well presented through cut scenes. The companions were likeable, I didn't feel the urge to chuck any of them of the Normandy.
The combat was meh. Admittedly I'm not a big fan of guns opposed to swords and magic so that didn't help.
The MAKO was an abomination. What a horrible, horrible thing to force on your players. I hated every minute of it, really had to force myself through those sections. This is why I ended up not doing any side missions or any exploration, which is a shame because normally that is one of my favorite things in games.

I can't imagine ever wanting to replay it to be honest. the story was great, but I've seen it now and am happy with the choices I made. I'll eventually take my Shepard in to ME2 and continue on with her story, but for now I'm taking a break. The Steam winter sale is around the corner and I'm likely to pick up a new bunch of games and get distracted, so I'll leave ME2 for later.
For now I'm happy I decided to play it despite my original first impression. Just like Jade Empire ME1 wasn't what I wanted Bioware to make, but once I took it for what it was it was an enjoyable enough experience, if not a game that would ever make it on my "Best Games Of All Times" list.

Spoilers for those who want to know which choices I made:

You'll be pleased to hear that the combat was overhauled and is much improved in the sequels. Biotic-based characters especially are in for some treats as they added combo moves that cause "biotic explosions".

Thankfully, you'll never see the Mako again. There are no vehicle sections in the sequels except for an optional DLC pack for ME2 which you really don't need to play unless you're an obsessive completionist.

I'm looking forward to ME2. If it wasn't for the upcoming Steam sale I'd play it right away, but I know myself well enough that I'll get distracted by whatever new games I pick up, and then lose track of the story.

Be aware that it is a pain in the ass to get now (for PC, I already forget if Mirriam is playing on xBox.) You can download it but you'll have to open a ticket with EA to get the key needed to install it, because the one they have listed in their support site has reached its activation limit.

EDIT:

On the vehicle DLC in ME2, I actually think it is pretty good (and half of it is free as long as you're not playing a used copy.)

EDIT 2:

Skipping side missions makes me twitch (I'm OCD about that sort of thing) and it should be noted there are going to be events you'll miss out on in later games (and a couple references you won't understand) if you don't have them in your imported save. None of them are hugely important that I can think of off the top of my head, I guess. Not sure what if any effect if it will have on the Warscore mechanic in ME3 and if that even matters that much post-New Ending.

Which is to say, we all played it and so should you.

ME2 deviates significantly from the usual BioWare story structure. I went in expecting the usual sequence of prologue (tutorial/intro/meet your NPC companions), go to 3-4 different locations searching for something or another, big event, end game. Roughly 90% of ME2 consists of missions to either recruit a squad member or gain their loyalty, not what one would consider the "main quest". For most of the game, I kept wondering when the real story was going to start (i.e. Shepard's continued fight against the Reapers), but the game doesn't flow that way. Every 4-5 missions you'll be assigned a "Priority" mission that continues the main story, but there's no reason to rush to do these prior to finishing any of the recruitment or loyalty missions you already have. I now appreciate that BioWare was making a clean break with their usual story-telling conventions, but I found it a bit jarring the first time I played ME2.

Also there's one thing you should probably know before starting ME2 (I think it's been mentioned previously in this thread): the game never states this explicitly, but when you embark on a mission about a "Reaper IFF", you're triggering a point of no return. I suggest leaving that mission until all your other business is taken care of. IIRC, if you do that mission too early, you are guaranteed to have bad consequences in the finale, but the game gives you no warning that that might happen.

Man I hate when people give that particular piece of advice. It makes people miss out on a potentially really powerful emotional experience. </3

You can always reload and do it 'right' afterwards.

Sure, but that assumes the player even knows to keep a save from before that point and is willing to replay the last ~5 hours of the game again just to get a different ending.

I typically rotate through 3-4 save files, so I wouldn't even have had a save prior to that mission when I finished the game. If I wanted to reload and do it 'right', I would have had to start over from the beginning.

I'm about 24 hours in too, but I think closer to 3/4 of the way through the game since I did so many side missions.

More thoughts later on when I finish the game, but for now I have to agree that the combat is not great for me. I'm definitely an old-fashioned swords n' shields kind of gal.
I got used to the Mako. Can't say I liked having to use it so much, but doing all those tedious side missions made the segments during the main quests really easy.

I doubt I'll replay the game again, either; I might breeze through with a Renegade male Shepard just to see the contrast, but it's unlikely. The story is very nice (and the codex is awesome, I spent a lot of time just reading the entries), but I don't feel that it's really worth another playthrough. At least, not until I play the other games.

Update: I am still on the first mission. That's still farther than I got the last time I tried playing. I blame many things for this and it may be awhile yet before I return but I vow to chronicle the eventual adventures of Ned Shepherd here.

Or at least post a screenshot.