Simple Question: Which is the best Mass Effect game?

ME3 -> ME2/ME1. I like 3 the best and the other two I have things about them I like/dislike. Prefer the weapons systems that came later. Hate that I can't climb or jump in ME1 (plus those damn long elevator rides) but I prefer the storyline over that of ME2. I hate putting Shepard in Cerberus clothes. I hate that the VS is unplayable. And since I like my s/s male Shepard, I hate that I can't get the romances I like in ME1 or ME2 without modding. ME3 brings that home. Sure, I don't love some of the ending choices but I've got headcanon that ties it up neatly.

ME2, by a fair magin.

ME3 was easily the best gameplay-wise, but the story of ME2 felt like the most personal one to me. The game had me literally on the edge of my seat during the final cutscene, not because that scene was particularly well done (it was), but because of all that went into it up to that point - quite an impressive achievement for a video game.  

Those were supposed to be clues in 2. It's just that Drew K left, I think. The game touched a lot on "genetic destiny" for various races, but Harbinger had specific reasons for his focus on humans. The clues were in finding this out and what happened to the last guys (Protheans). It isn't that games' fault for changing things later.

As much as they want to deny it, I think Dark Energy was what they were going for. Even though Drew now says it was only one option they might've headed.

Yeah that was a big reason I restarted my current playthrough.. At first I did Jack, but thought Archangel and all the Merc intros is a good opening. Mordin's OK too though. It's more of an intro to Vorcha imo.

The machine and I came to the same conclusion, albiet for different reasons.

ME3 has by far the best gameplay, including multiplayer, so it wins. However, it did ruin a few established arcs and characters (The Reaper motivations are nonsense, Rannoch is a symphony of stupid, Wrex developed backward, Legion turned into pinnochio, Tali's a bit of a wuss etc.), so if we were just judging on narrative and character stories alone, ME2 would win (the companion quests in particular were almost all excellent), but its clunkiness keeps it just behind.

ME1 deserves credit for establishing the setting and some of the important players, but it's a chore to actually play and the plot is pretty stupid (even by ME plot standards), so it comes in last.

I have the most fun playing 3, but story wise ME 2 is the best.

ME 2
ME 3
ME 1

I like the trilogy as a whole but ME3>ME1>ME2

Mass Effect 1; Babylon 5 + Starship Troopers + a dash of Farscape aliens without the animatronics. Not really that impressed until the end of the game where Shepard broke the damned elevator and she's weightless and then magboots activated *swoon*. Hate the heatsink system so much. Love Tresher Maws. The freedom to agree and disagree with everyone.

Mass Effect 2; Shepard got spaced, as if that wasn't enough, she broke her suit easily and she was choking to death and she hit atmosphere. A few seconds later, there's a series of montage of a very masculine skeleton and there's super tiny tiny needles puncturing tiny tiny shriveled microcapillaries suspended in some fluid to revive the circulation because gamers don't know their Biology. As if its not enough, she walk like she's been possessed or having a year long constipation. Also how does an Akuze veteran could stay quiet and be happy working for Cerberus in this entire game? Really Miranda? That's how you summarize her life of hell? She grew up in a prefab colony but you're never be as good as her despite having daddy Frankenstein's genes? And why must she solve everyone's personal issues just so they could get it together to survive the endgame mission? As if she doesn't have her own personal issues, she died for two years!! Why is everyone being so selfish to demand her to fix them that nobody ask if she's having trouble coping? For god's sakes, some of you lived for centuries! Also Tela Vasir, "don't listen to me, I'm trying to sound like a headless badass, of course Akuze matters. They sic multiple Tresher Maws on me and I haven't forgiven what they did to Toombs. And they also effed my career, reputation and relationship, of course, it bloody matters! Except I bought this DLC so I could give this creepy Asari all the tools to creep on me and my friends and all the children I'm going have with Alenko for the rest of our lives. Peachy?"

Its a chore trying to play this thing over and over without feeling like Shepard becoming nothing but a self-sabotaging robot who get emotionally manipulated by everyone she met. Sure, there's more quirky people, a baby Krogan to love and explosions, throwing people off the building because it look so cool. Even the Reapers and Collectors get less scenes than all the time you spend until the 389# merc you kill. The only replayable part was not the differing ways Shepard could say the same thing in the game, no... just all the variation for the crew and squad to die and how many missions you could do without Illusive Man trying to get you killed again.. its already a bloody suicide squad!

Mass Effect 3; Considering most of the interesting things in the game depended on your import from the first two games; who lived, who died, and whether you've wiped someone's emotional diarrhea; so you do have the luxury to sit back and enjoy its consequences or the lack of it. Everything you do in the gameplay is ridiculously OP. The ability to unequip weapons so you're no longer stuck playing several useless weapons after your main gun is out of heatsink. Heatsink drop everywhere. Extra squad power. Can vault without breaking your spacebar since console players need the same button to do everything and apparently PC players is fine about not being able to keybind some stuff separately. The ability to find proper cover without high probability of still being shot at because you're stuck exposed at the corner of the thing you're using as cover. For once you can spam NovaCharge without stupid crates error. Squad no longer stupidly walk in front of you and for once they learn the meaning of self-preservation. No dumb ground vehicle sequences. No dumb minigames. No dumb resource scanning (also the buggy 10 war asset for mineral resources import if you ever use gibbed in ME2). No more noir-ish red/yellow/orange filters to fake how badly pixelated the game is. FemShep for once look and walk like a woman again.. most of the time. Squadmates that talk to each other. Environmental changes as you proceed on with the story ; ambient and people in Citadel changes position before and after the coup, certain missions and parts of the galaxy couldn't be accessed at some point and some have consequences. Less repetitive animations. 

The story isn't perfect, neither does the ending, and there's occasional bugs and some favoritism being forced on without any consideration of an alternative. But even after all these years, I still enjoy replaying this more than the other two.

Dead accurate where I'm concerned.  Also, I hate Cerberus and felt like Shepard was surrounded by enemies.  

Mass effect II

I'm torn between ME1 and ME2 - ME1 has a huge sentimental value for me as the introduction to the series and the general "first-everything" flavor.

ME2 has great characters, gameplay and loyalty missions. Also, Lair of the Shadow Broker.

ME3, while still a good games, comes third, not really because of the endings. I just don't care about Javik and Vega. Still, it has Omega DLC and there's no such thing as too much Aria for me.

I love all of them for different reasons:

ME1 - Awesome Story

ME2 - Awesome Characters

ME3 - Awesome Gameplay

Instead of remastering the whole trilogy they should combine all three somehow. Imagine how good a game it'd be if we had ME1's story with ME2's characters combined with ME3's gameplay. Maybe throw in a a great ending and BAM!! The best video game of all time.