Just play it..and don't be a soldier...you can just shoot dudes in any game... play a class that let's you crush people with your mind or something...

I played the sniper/stealth class, custom male. 
There really isn't any stealth, but going invisible is pretty useful for getting out of hairy situations as the enemy AI isn't that great. It's a fun class. And making a custom guy is the only way to go.
 
As for the end, it is terrible, but apparently the Leviathan DLC makes it less so? Try it? The series is still worth playing despite the ending, but I don't think I'm ever going to go back in thanks to it, something I was originally planning to do as I played through the game. It really is that bad.

PARAGADE FEMSHEP.

i played soldier femshep through the whole series and LOVED the games, i just found the casting times on Biotic and Tech powers got in the way of me shooting more dudes when my team mates could instantly fire them off for me, and i always had the most fun playing on the higher difficulties so this kind of thinking became essential, its an RPG so you know, i was thinking about the party on the whole rather than what i could or couldn't do with my own character

my tip to you is get some of the DLC, by the sounds of it, especially in ME3, i plan on going back to 3 once all the DLC is released, but there is a pretty essential one for ME2 and a couple for 3, that you should definitely get. there are bunch of others throughout the series that add colour, if you've got the spare dollar i'd pretty much recommend it all, none of it hurts the experience (other than maybe Pinnacle Station) and it'll make the games that little more fleshed out

@StingerMK2 said:

i played soldier femshep through the whole series and LOVED the games, i just found the casting times on Biotic and Tech powers got in the way of me shooting more dudes when my team mates could instantly fire them off for me, and i always had the most fun playing on the higher difficulties so this kind of thinking became essential, its an RPG so you know, i was thinking about the party on the whole rather than what i could or couldn't do with my own character

my tip to you is get some of the DLC, by the sounds of it, especially in ME3, i plan on going back to 3 once all the DLC is released, but there is a pretty essential one for ME2 and a couple for 3, that you should definitely get. there are bunch of others throughout the series that add colour, if you've got the spare dollar i'd pretty much recommend it all, none of it hurts the experience (other than maybe Pinnacle Station) and it'll make the games that little more fleshed out

Well you know after ME1, Tech and Biotic classes are equally capable of 'shooting more dudes' I even found it weird when I was given so many weapons at no consequence. They brought some of that in in ME3 with weight affecting cooldowns but SMG's are super light and equally effective for killing things.

Sentinel is a good half way house and what I went for in 2 and 3. Decent weapon abilities but also a couple or three slots for some badass biotic abilities. I also agree with some of the other posts that say to play it thru and live with the consequences of your decisions without reloading saves.

BTW I wish I was in your position! I'd love to play through the whole thing again for the first time, its so damn good! Sadly I missed out on 1 at the time of its release but after finishing the last one I went back and played all three in a row. T'was freaking awesome!

In regards to DLC, which are the ones for each game that I should try and play (incorporating them into the story)? I'm not 100% which ones come with the trilogy and which ones don't...

@Mike_Sandbag: The PS3 version comes with all of the good ME2 dlc. Don't worry about Arrival, it's not that good and Bioware gloss over it in the first 4 lines of ME3. Shit goes down, but it's not incorporated well into the over all story at all. Story-wise the Shadow Broker is the one you want to see.

I wouldn't know but From Ashes and Leviathan seem like they have a pretty big impact on ME3. And the ending is free DLC.

ME1: I'd recommend Bring Down the Sky, you get more context into the Batarians than you do either in ME2 and ME3. It's more mako vehicle content, but I don't necessarily consider that a bad thing. Pinnacle Station is largely a combat arenas, I think it is passable.

ME2: In terms of large, payable DLC, there is Kasumi: Stolen Memory, Overlord, Lair of the Shadow Broker, and Arrival (I'm assuming you get Zaeed, Normandy Crash Site, and Firewalker Pack with the trilogy)

I'd recommend all of them actually. Kasumi is very short but has some cool set pieces, new weapons, and a new character

Overlord is sizable and has some good characters in it. It is a self contained story for the most part.

Lair of the Shadow Broker is fantastic. Get it.

Arrival sets up the story for Mass Effect 3. I enjoyed playing it.

ME3: There's Leviathan and Omega and From Ashes (Not sure if you get From Ashes with the disc, you should get it, Javik is great)

Leviathan is great. Cool set pieces. The ending is worth it too. This DLC reminded me why I love the series. (Got good ME1 vibes from it)

Haven't played Omega, can't speak to its quality.

Hope this helps!

Gender: You can go either way honestly. Mark Meer's (male Shep) performance evolves nicely of the course of the series. I thought he was great in ME3. That said, you can never go wrong with Jennifer Hale.

Classes: I agree with most of the others here however I enjoyed playing as a Soldier. The Soldier didn't bring anything new to the genre when the game came out in 2007. The plethora of third-person cover based shooters since then has widened the gap in quality and polish even further. I wouldn't discourage you from picking Soldier but another class might provide a more unique experience.

Wikia: Get familiar with this site, http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Mass_Effect_Wiki Any question you have for dialogue options, romances, dlc, you name it, go here. They even have a whole section on classes: http://masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/Classes It gets VERY "spoilery" here - only read what you need too! It's more fun that way when you play the games!

Also, max out charm/intimidate skills. A large amount of new dialogue options become available to you if you keep dropping points into it.

Infiltrator all day. You get obscenely powered Sniper Rifles, Incinerate is a great power and Cloak is good for getting out of near death situations.

@HistoryInRust said:

ALSO: In Mass Effect 1, max out either Charm or Intimidate. Regardless of class. You'll thank me later.

Also do the same in ME2. You'll need it if you want everyone to live.

Shadow Broker in 2 gives a good insight into the universe and characters plus its a great mission. From Ashes and Leviathan are essential for 3. These really should have been part of the game.

Arrival in 2 is a good bridge between the last two games but its not a particularly exciting mission. Overlord is a tremendous but story wise it can be skipped and Stolen Memory is an excellent mission.

Im not familiar with 1's dlc.

@Mike_Sandbag: This may have been said already, but when choosing your party, of course it's completely good to go with characters you like (especially in the later games, when having certain characters in certain missions can add extra bits of personality or exposition through their unique opinions and viewpoints), it's also helpful to keep in mind what their abilities are and to choose a well-rounded party. This may not have that big of an impact on lower difficulties, but on the higher difficulties, at least, more enemies have different types of secondary health (Armor, Barrier, Shields) that are weak against certain types of abilities and strong against others.

This mechanic can also affect what class you'd like to choose. I, like a lot of other people who have already replied to you, like the Vanguard, as it allows you to play with a much more fast-paced and in-your-face style in combat, though I eventually really liked the Sentinel as well, as I thought it was a really well-rounded class since it has both biotic and tech abilities (which are strong against both barriers and shields, respectively). Also, in Mass Effect 2, the Sentinel's "Tech Armor" ability is really useful, though they did scale back its usefulness in Mass Effect 3 to a disappointing degree.

I'd personally try going with a class with different and cool abilities ("Lift" is always a fun one to start off with, as you can just levitate enemies out of their cover) because it introduces a fun level of strategy to the gameplay that you don't really get in many other games. Coordinating attacks with your teammates and experimenting with ability combos is really fun in the latter two games, especially in Mass Effect 3. The abilities can be kind of weird to work with in the first game, since the skill trees are a lot more complex and the cooldown times for the abilities are WAY longer (for instance, in the first Mass Effect, the cooldown for "Lift" is 60 seconds, whereas in Mass Effect 2, the cooldown for the equivalent ability "Pull" is 3 seconds), but it's still pretty fun to experiment with the systems and try out new things to see which abilities work for you in each of the games.

On a random note, in the first Mass Effect, if you have a class that can wield a shotgun, I'd do so. Shotguns in the first game can be pretty ridiculous. As you progress in the game and get higher level shotguns and gun mods, modding a shotgun with a high-level Corrosive Ammo (and perhaps a mod to help with the overheating) can give you a pretty awesome weapon.

@Mike_Sandbag said:

In regards to DLC, which are the ones for each game that I should try and play (incorporating them into the story)? I'm not 100% which ones come with the trilogy and which ones don't...

You can probably skip all DLC for Mass Effect 1. None of the DLC for 2 is essential, but Shadow Broker is incredibly good. From Ashes and Leviathan, for Mass Effect 3, are pretty much required reading if you're at all serious about the narrative.

Man adpet in ME1 was so fucking fun...

Just flinging people around all day. Anyone can shoot a gun. My guy will just throw you into fucking space.

I think any class will work on normal. There's really not a lot to know besides use your squadmates as best as you can. You can't take a lot of damage in Mass Effect games.

@ahgunsillyo:

I think shotguns in ME1 are good because unfortunately I think the AI is basically busted in that game.

Either it'll be a sniper which will hide away at the back.

Or it'll be every enemy rushing you with disregard for safety or cover to the point where you get overwhelmed from multiple people flanking and attacking you at point blank range. I've even seen Snipers doing that. Rooms full of cover and giant cargo walls and enemies opt to just walk right up to you.

@Pierre42: That might be true, but I also felt that the shotguns in the first game also had an unreasonably long range. I feel like I was taking out good chunks of health from enemies that were clear across rooms, or at least far enough away for a shotgun to be ineffective.

If you haven't started the 1st game yet, I have a recommendation. Play the game as a Sentinel. It's my favorite class, because It lets you be both a tech expert and a biotic expert at the same time. Master as many abilities as you can from the list of talents the class gives you. As you level up, you'll essentially become a Jack-of-all-trades type character. Choose whether to be a Paragon (The good Shepard), or a Renegade (The bad Shepard). And most importantly, make important decisions as best as you can. The choices you make get imported into the two sequels.

Finally, play the game on either easy or normal mode, so you can get the hang of the combat.

That's my advice to you. Good luck.