Rank Trilogy in terms of replay value

3/2/1

Overall, the trilogy has a lot of replay value just for the amount of stuff that can be found by doing this, that, and the other thing differently

I have a hard time deciding if I think ME2 or ME3 provides higher replay value.

For me, ME1 is only there to create a Shepard. Apart from the main story missions, the rest of the game tends to feel like a slog. It makes large portions of the game tedious to get through.

ME2 is highly replayable, with several ways to spec Shepard for each class, including choice of bonus weapon.
ME3 can be highly replayable, if you restrict your talent choices (and weapons) to make unique playstyles. ME3 multiplayer also adds replayability. ME3 single player falls a little flat for me though. But its probably the game I played the most because of the multiplayer.

If I restrict it to just single player, then it would be 2 > 3 > 1 for me.
If I include ME3 multiplayer, then it would probably be 3 > 2 > 1.

I'll have to think about this some more.

The only challenge in ME3 is Armax and multiplayer. The rest of the game has zero challenge even on hardest difficulty. Also hope you guys aren't including ME3 for multiplayer, because of course it has the highest replay value.


Hardest is starting a new game of ME1 and unlocking new game plus final difficulty via console command (PC). Game starts out really hard, last playthrough I was stuck outside of strip club trying to figure out how to fight 2 Turians for an hour. Very satisfying to beat ME1 on that difficulty, even turns the game more into a tactics game then a shooter.

And the final mission on Pinnacle Station took quite a few tries on that difficulty too. Though eventually gave up trying with the level 7 spectre weapons and waited until acquiring level 10. Still had to figure out one heck of a cheese tactic to make it through.

I chose 2-3-1. The only reason why I did not choose 3-2-1 is that several of the story differences in ME3 occur because of who lived and died during the SM. ME1 really has only one significant choice that impacts ME3. That is the choice whether or not to shoot Wrex because it changes the politics of the Krogan and that has a significant bearing on what a player might decide to do about the genophage. The decision whether to save AShley or Kaidan really only changes your squad mate in ME3. That is, saving one over the other doesn't change the political environment of the game and, as such, has no bearing on how the player might decide to resolve the reaper threat. The things that affect the player's decisions regarding the geth/quarian war are in ME2. That is, did both Tali and Legion survive and was Tali exiled?

From a combat perspective, ME2 is probably the most difficult of the games, but I actually find ME3 to be the most interesting, simply because more different combos are possible. ME1's combat is just plain boring for me now and planet exploration in that game always was boring as far as I am concerned. I'll replay ME1 because I like to design my Shepard's from the beginning (appearance and background) and because I like to have a Level 50 bonus to play ME2 on insanity, but I really struggle to maintain enough interest to just get through ME1 anymore. As far as the different classes in ME1, because you have unlimited ammo, you can pretty much play any of them exactly the same way just by selecting a squad that fills in the talents Shepard lacks. Since the player is the one controlling all of the powers and they are one individual cooldowns and the squad doesn't even need line of sight for their powers to work, the simplest way to get through ME1 on insanity is to park your squad behind the warehouse doors so they can't be killed and go in with your infinite guns and all their powers in additional to your own. Boring as shit, but it works every single time. ME3 is much more interesting with working out the various combos after taking into account whether the enemies have shields barriers or armor and their different attack patterns.

As far as atmosphere, ME2 and ME3 have a ton more of it than ME1 ever did.  The planets in ME1 are barren (just different colored mountains) and have essentially the same stuff on them as each other - 3 mineral, 2 crates/debris, and 1 main facility (either a warehouse or a mine).  There's the odd little twist... a pack of mercenaries, a thresher maw... always in the exact same   ME:A has far more variety than anything in the Trilogy.  For one thing, enemy spawning patterns are less predictable, so there is more an element of surprise... sometimes when you approach a camp there will be enemies there, sometimes not; sometimes there will be a device there, sometimes not... and the nomad handles way better than the mako.

You know you can still come to a conclusion despite playing entire Trilogy, right? It's called which hold your interest more over time.

Soldier and Infiltrator: walk around, spam Immunity.

Every other class: Activate both turrets, hide behind one of the walls near a turret and park Wrex and Ashley on the stairs. Survive.

Hmmm, not really. I mean, ME3 surely has the most significant variations in consequences but they are only coming into their own because of the decisions you import from ME1 and 2. So without the context of the other games, those consequences would be rather meaningless.
ME2 has a lot of internal variety in how you can play the game, which missions you choose, which characters you recruit and play with and how concequently the Suicide Mission will play out but despite all this variety, I wouldn't even want to replay the game on it's own because without the others, that tell me where the story comes from and where it's going afterwards, it wouldn't give me that much.
ME1 on the other hand is the game I probably replayed the most out of the trilogy as it is, partially because it's the oldest but also because it's the foundation for everything else and it's the only real way for me to make the playthroughs of ME2 and 3 distinct.

So no, in my mind, especially when talking about replay value, the three games are absolutely linked together and since I never played any of them separately (except ME1 before ME2 was out), let alone played them separately multiple times, I couldn't even tell you which one would be best if I assumend the were all on their own (which would also immediately make them far less enjoyable overall anyway).

Sorry.

No, he's not lying.  I've beaten it several times on insanity using different strategies... and quite a few of them have been without starting one of the turrets and a couple of times have been without starting either turret.  Moving around a lot a spamming immunity is a sound strategy (you can also alternate in some shield boost).  Setting your squad up with snowblind rounds can also help keep them alive since it decimates enemy accuracy.  Singularity and lift can also work to keep many of the enemies airborne (and not firing at you).  i quite often use Liara and Kaidan as my team for beating this.  I do normally wait until later on in the game after Shepard and squad are at a reasonably high level, although I have beaten it on normal difficulty right after leaving the Citadel at about Level 13.

Not sure what "cheesy" thing you referred to for beating the mission.  I don't consider starting the turrets to be cheesy in any way.  They are there and available for that purpose.  Starting them up is just being a smart commander who uses what cover (including weapons cover) is available.

I suggest you git gud then.  As I said, I've beaten that mission many times on insanity.  I've probably beaten it at least 10 times on insanity with Level 60 characters (earned the hard way, by playing through the game twice; which is obviously what you're terming "new game plus difficulty") and I've probably beaten it another 10 times on insanity with a Level 45-50 character.  I have beaten it moving around and I've beaten it without the help of the turrets.  I'm quite certain that Red is not suggesting you kite around foolishly just dodging bullets like Neo, but rather move from cover to cover quickly while you have immunity on.  You can also create opportunities to move by, for example, having Liara and/or Kaidan lift numbers of them which stops them from firing on you while they are in the air.  If you're an infiltrator, you can also use your own and/or Kaidan's sabotage to overheat their weapons.  With all these powers combined, you have a pretty good ability to create significant lulls in the fire of the enemies that would enable you to move without instantly getting sniped dead.  As I also mentioned, you can use snowblind rounds, which significantly lessens the enemy's accuracy.

On insanity, I will only attempt this mission once I have the Level VII spectre weapons (Level 45 to 50) or once I have the Level X spectre weapons (above Level 50).  The one time I beat it on normal at a low level, I will admit that I used the Dr. Michel sell/buyback exploit to get enough money to buy the Level VII spectre gear before leaving the Citadel.  I can't imagine doing it with any other weapons since they overheat much more quickly than the spectre ones.

Ahern's mission is just a giant square with a bunch of stuff in the middle. It is split in two by a chasm, but there are two bridges. As an Infiltrator or Soldier, you can go just around in a square: go across a bridge > walk around > go across the other bridge > walk around > repeat. Use Immunity as soon as it is off cooldown. Feel free to shoot things. Standing in one spot can get you cornered by enemies, but you can hang out on the far side (away from the turrets/hangar door) in a few spots away from the two snipers.

You can even run occasionally.
You also have Medi-gel (up to 10). 

I like bringing Wrex and Ashley since they are the tankiest squadmates. Killing an enemy spawns another enemy, so I prefer using the tanks instead of the crowd-controllers as squaddies.

Wear your best armor, Colossus if you have it.

Wear a Medical exoskeleton armor mod. You can buy one from Dr. Michel. If you have two, wear both. If you only have the one, the second armor mod should be more health regen. As a Soldier/Infiltrator, the Medical Exoskeleton VIII mod you get from Dr. Michel is enough to re-activate Immunity before its initial duration ends.

Ahern's mission is easiest with Soldier and infiltrator because of Immunity and Medium/Heavy armor. 

Vanguard is probably next easiest, because Adrenaline Burst can reset your cooldown if an enemy uses Damping. (Gotta keep that Barrier activated.) I tend to just bunker down near the exit with non-Immunity classes. Vanguard, Adept, and Sentinel can have constantly-regenerating shields with the Bastion/Shock Trooper specializations.

Adept and Sentinel can be tough. You pretty much have to hang on for dear life as an Engineer.

ME2 tends to have the largest replay value for me, mainly for the squad members. Combat was distinct for each class, adding to the various ways to spec Shepard and squadmates. The fringe benefits like increased armor and casual wear (Thank you, Kasumi, for the dress), better graphics and proportions for Shepard (I never realized how much I'd loathe how they shaped Shepard in the third game), variety of mission outcomes and the importance of decisions affecting the end made it worth replaying. The downsides were the loss of choices in other areas like having Wrex and Ashley/Kaidan as teammates, true exploration as each environment felt like a restricted corridor than a separate world and the godawful autodialogue in some areas (at least the scenes were skippable).

ME1 had so much more versatility when it came to combat and certain missions. Shepard was more distinct in personality depending on how you played them as they were starting out, the environment was a place you truly felt like you were exploring, such as the Citadel, places like Noveria had a LOT of different ways to finish certain missions. Combat was a bit tedious but the physics were hilarious as biotics could affect objects outside of combat. No weapons were restricted but skill mattered according to class. And I wasn't obligated to be nice to teammates if I didn't want to be their damn friend!

ME3 is enjoyable for the combat. Too much is a frustrating reminder of how scripted the series became from writing for players which teammates were special to us, to more corridor shooting, to tediously long cutscenes, to a more automated Shepard who lost a chunk of unique personality compared to the previous two, to loss of variety in outcomes.

I actually think the focus on gameplay over exploration helped the series. While I wish Bioware expanded on the exploration in ME2 in meaningful ways, they have yet to show us that they can do exploration well if you ask me. In ME1 it was tedious and driving the Mako was annoying. MEA's exploration was the worst in the series and had very little interesting quests. DAI had some nice things to look at, but most of the quests were boring fetch quests. I'd prefer the keep things more focused, because they just don't know how to do engaging exploration.

I think I agree with auto dialogue, but I think for the most part I was ok with what Shepard said in these scenes. I also think its worth noting that Shepard tends to look the best in ME1 as well. While I do have a femshep and a broshep that I like throughout all three games, they seem drawn the best in ME1. But I totally agree with him/her having the most personality in ME1 because you chose everything. I just wish this series would adapt a bit more DA mentality where you can ditch team-mates you don't want. I would also have been ok with some sort of relationships system as well though ME3 sort of has it.