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[seacrest3000]

I want to see if I can finish the trilogy by only doing the main storyline missions. No sidequests will be done. The main reason I'm doing this is for the challenge; by the endgames of ME1 and 2, your builds and equipment/upgrades are so strong that most fights become trivial, even on insanity. Also, the Mako and planet scanning become a bore after a while.

Here are the rules I thought of for this run:
No sidequests. This includes those that can be done during main missions. Therefore, this will also be a no specialization challenge as Luna is optional.
No exploring. This includes the parts where you are forced onto the citadel. I will allow myself to shop at certain merchants like those on Feros and Virmire because they are in non-optional areas.
No changing class between games. This is my personal restriction for all my normal ME playthroughs for lore reasons and I will keep it here. However this will make it much more complicated when choosing a class.

Apart from these rules, I will allow myself freedom to do anything else I wish, so bonus powers and weapons, builds and squadmates are not restricted. However, due to the way the game will be played, Wrex will die in ME1 unless you don't recruit Liara and Garrus before Virmire, and your squadmate selection will be fixed to allow you to survive the suicide mission.

I'm posting this here to get some help choosing a class, bonus power and build. Any general feedback is also welcome, and I would love to hear if anyone has done this before. My goal is to get through this as smoothly as possible, but hopefully not without challenge to keep it interesting.

The main issue now is that optimal and maxed out builds are no longer possible, and the class tiers have changed. For example, with the lack of the bastion specialization and medical exos, adepts and sentinels will lose out to adrenaline burst vanguards. Also in ME2, many upgrades and weapons cannot be obtained. Ilium and Tuchanka must be totally skipped because they are optional. Caster classes will be stuck with the shuriken smg until the bonus weapon is obtained. ME3 is easy with any class even in a lazy playthrough and will only be done for the sake of completion. Prepare for the absolute worst ending everytime.

From experience with my semilazy engineer run, I will be at level 30+ at the end of ME1 and level 15 at the end of ME2.

So anyways here are my proposed class choices and bonus powers, from most preferred to least:

1. Infiltrator
For a nice combo of defense and tech. Anticipate ME2 will not be too difficult. Build will focus on immunity first, followed by electronics. Hacking will not be taken due lack of points.
Bonus powers:
a) Singularity - for cc. 1 point only until immunity and electronics are maxed. 3 points for pistol.
Assault rifle - for dps. Pistol will be skipped.
c) Barrier - for some extra defense before immunity is maxed. Not very useful mid to late game. 3 points for pistol.

2. Vanguard
As mentioned before, adrenaline burst biotics will be the bnb. Has barrier for defense. 3 points for pistol. Singularity most likely be taken as bonus power. However, I expect the ME2 lazy vanguard will be HELL ON EARTH, as it is my worst class to play in ME2.

3. Soldier
Less squishy and versatile than the infiltrator. I expect this will be the easiest to finish for ME1 and 2, but also the most boring.
Bonus powers:
a) Singularity - for cc
Barrier - to guarantee victory with the least number of restarts. The easiest and most boring build in the game IMO.

4. Sentinel
Not too keen on this class as I always have Kaidan in my team. Very balanced. ME2 will be easy but boring with tech armor. Most probably will take singularity or assault rifle as bonus.

5. Adept
Inferior to vanguard in this challenge. Also I have played this class 4 times already. ME2 will be very challenging. If I were to do it again, I would get all biotics except barrier to advanced and max passive asap. Assault rifle for bonus.

6. Engineer
Never again.
ME2 will be fairly challenging but doable ( I have done this).
Anybody want to do this challenge as an engineer with Garrus and Tali for the whole game?

Now for squadmates. I use Kaidan and Liara for most of the game. Kaidan and Wrex for Therum. Ash will always be sacrificed.

That's all for now. I will leave this here so hopefully anyone can help me choose a class and discuss the rules and restrictions of the challenge. If not one replies I will choose one myself and use this topic to blog on my progress. Cheers!

[RedCaesar97]

I have sort-of done a main-mission only run in each game before, although I did certainly do a few sidequests and shopped at some stores.

 

There is nothing wrong with the Shuriken in ME2.

 

 

Just to help everyone out (including myself), here are the list of missions you are restricting yourself to:

 

ME1 mission list:

Eden Prime

Citadel: Expose Saren (meet with council > Harkin/Barla Von > Garrus/Wrex > Fist > Tali > Normandy)

Therum, Feros and Noveria (any order)

Virmire

Meet with Anderson > back to Normandy

Ilos > Citadel

 

ME2 mission list:

Lazarus Station

Freedom's Progress

Recruit Mordin, Garrus, Jack, Grunt (any order)

Horizon

 

Minimum five missions + 2 more squadmates. This list includes, but is not limited to: 

 - recruit Zaeed (DLC required), does not count as a mission

 - recruit Kasumi (DLC required), does not count as a mission

 - recruit Tali

 - recruit Samara

 - recruit Thane

 - any squadmate loyalty quests

(QUESTION: Will you allow yourself secondary missions here, or are you restricting yourself to squadmate-only missions? Because if you are lazy, some of the side missions do not involve any shooting.)

 

Disabled Collector Ship

Derelict Reaper

Any further missions required to unlock the suicide Mission

Suicide Mission

 

 

 

ME3 mission list:

Vancouver

Mars

Meet the Council > Weird dream + lots of talking

Menae

Meet the diplomats

Sur'Kesh

Missing Krogan Scouts (recommended) OR Turian Platoon

The Shroud > another weird dream

Citadel Coup

Meet with the Quarian Admirals

Geth Dreadnaught

Rescue Korris (will not have enough persuasion though) OR Geth Server

Geth Base

Meet with Asari Councillor

Thessia

Sanctuary

Cerberus HQ

Earth

[themikefest]

I did a few playthroughs like that.

 

I finished ME1 at level 32 and finished ME2 at level 16. The only reason why I finished at level 16 in ME2, becasue I completed the Arrival dlc

[RedCaesar97]

Soldier or Infiltrator would probably be easiest in ME2 and ME3 without a lot of upgrades as their signature powers work well starting at rank 1.

 

Sentinel is one of the better classes for starting ME1 since you can have about 5 decent powers starting at level 1. Same with Adept.

Adept kind of sucks in ME2 until level 4 (when you can get 1-point Pull and Throw). With a low-level import like you will have, that will take a few missions.

 

I would not recommend Engineer at all for this. Mainly because it sucks in ME1.

 

Bonus powers in ME1 would be Lift or Singularity, unless you already have those powers. Otherwise take Medicine (Neural Shock) or Decryption (Sabotage) to round out your skills.

 

 

 

Uhhh..... Put me down for Infiltrator with bonus powers:

 - Lift in ME1

 - Neural Shock in ME2

 - Fortification, Energy Drain, Proximity Mine, or Slam/Reave/Flare (for detonating with Liara) in ME3

[seacrest3000]

Thanks for the help.

For ME2 I will only do fast side missions to meet the number required to proceed with the story. This means no recruiting Samara, Thane and Tali, and no loyalty missions.

Question: why lift for ME1 and neural shock for ME2 infiltrator? Just curious.

[themikefest]

This is what I did when I did as little as possible

 

ME1

Eden Prime

Citadel - recruit Garrus

Feros 

Noveria

Virmire

Therum

Ilos

 

ME2

Freedom's Progress

recruit Garrus ,Mordin, Grunt, Jacl Zaeed and Kasumi

Horizon

firewalker dlc

Collector ship

IFF

Miranda and Zaeed's loyalty missions

Collectors invade the Normandy

suicide mission - Mirand and Zaeed alive

Arrival dlc - I don't have to play the dlc, but I like talking with Harbinger at the end

 

ME3

Earth

Mars

Menae

Sur'Kesh

Rachni

cure/sabotage genophage

Coup

dreadnought

geth server

side with the Quarians

Thessia

Sanctuary

Chronos

Earth

[seacrest3000]

Did you survive 5 waves at object rho? That should be the ultimate test for a lazy Shepard.

[themikefest]

Did you survive 5 waves at object rho? That should be the ultimate test for a lazy Shepard.

In that playthrough I did.

 

The only time I never survived was my most recent playthrough where I purposely had them "kill" me right after gaining control of Shepard

[seacrest3000]

In that playthrough I did.

The only time I never survived was my most recent playthrough where I purposely had them "kill" me right after gaining control of Shepard

I might load a save right after Horizon and try it then. I'm most probably going to use an infiltrator. I remember the last time I used an infiltrator in ME2 ( a long time ago) that if you're solo and you cloak all the enemies go into cover until you decloak. Was I doing something wrong?

[themikefest]

I might load a save right after Horizon and try it then. I'm most probably going to use an infiltrator. I remember the last time I used an infiltrator in ME2 ( a long time ago) that if you're solo and you cloak all the enemies go into cover until you decloak. Was I doing something wrong?

I don't know. I don't recall when I played the dlc as an Infiltrator. All I know is I was able to kill the enemy without too much of a problem

[Jukaga]

I might load a save right after Horizon and try it then. I'm most probably going to use an infiltrator. I remember the last time I used an infiltrator in ME2 ( a long time ago) that if you're solo and you cloak all the enemies go into cover until you decloak. Was I doing something wrong?

 

They do. You cloak to move position and flank them, then you can fire on them with no obstructions.

[RedCaesar97]

Question: why lift for ME1 and neural shock for ME2 infiltrator? Just curious.

 

Because in ME1, biotics affect both organics and synthetics, unlike Neural Shock which only affects organics. Lift can also potentially lift multiple enemies within its radius (as long as you "aim" Lift at the floor), whereas Neural Shock hits only one enemy.

 

And in ME2, Neural Shock has a quick cooldown. You could switch it out for Slam I suppose (Slam is sort of like Lift). You also have Disruptor Ammo for stunning synthetics if you need to.

[seacrest3000]

I started an infiltrator run with singularity. I just finished Eden Prime and the first citadel visit. With singularity from the start and access to overload and sabotage I pretty much breezed through everything so far. The Krogan bouncer in Chora almost killed me but I backed up in time before he could charge me.

One thing is that this is the first time I used a sniper rifle in ME1 as I completely ignored it in my soldier run. At the moment I have no points in sniper. I'm not used to the wobbly scope; when I hit something it hits hard, but I miss most of the time. With limited talent points available, is it worth putting points into sniper since I have so many other good talents like singularity, pistol, fitness and electronics?

Therum is next. Here I go!

[RedCaesar97]

One thing is that this is the first time I used a sniper rifle in ME1 as I completely ignored it in my soldier run. At the moment I have no points in sniper. I'm not used to the wobbly scope; when I hit something it hits hard, but I miss most of the time. With limited talent points available, is it worth putting points into sniper since I have so many other good talents like singularity, pistol, fitness and electronics?

 

With limited talent points in a "lazy playthrough", then no, I do not think it is worth it to put points into Sniper Rifles since you will be so starved for talent points.

[seacrest3000]

Thanks Caesar.

Reporting in for Therum and Feros. I had a minor setback in the miniboss fight outside of the digsite where I was flanked by shock troopers, ghosts and sappers, but once I learned to prioritise targets I got it done after a few retries.

Things got a little frustrating at the last fight with the krogan battlemaster. Kaidan died before I could send him into cover, even with barrier and first aid. Wrex followed him soon after, leaving me to fight the krogan alone every single time. Also now I understand why you recommended lift instead of singularity as a bonus power as a low level singularity does squat to a krogan. Eventually I discovered that the box near the exit is a great place to camp and slowly chip away at the krogan's health safely.

By the time I was halfway through Feros I had learned master fitness so it became a battle of attrition slowly picking away at the creepers' health. A boring level as usual.

Noveria awaits.

[seacrest3000]

All done! About 8 hours of play time at level 33.

I don't remember Benezia being so difficult. She and her commandos were chaining biotics on me. Not even immunity could help me survive. After about 5 retries I got lucky and managed to end up behind the rachni tank with both squadmates dead. From there I had to quickly dispose of any geth spawns so I could kite the commandos in a circle.

Virmire and Ilos were easy. In the final fight I got careless and Saren killed me once in a fireball volley.

Now for ME2... I'll open a new thread in the ME2 forum.

[themikefest]

All done! About 8 hours of play time at level 33.

Not bad

 

My most recent ME1 playthrough took me 4 hours 12 minutes and finished at level 32

[seacrest3000]

Not bad

 

My most recent ME1 playthrough took me 4 hours 12 minutes and finished at level 32

Wow! How did you do it? You must have killed almost the same number of enemies as me to end up with that level. I can't imagine doing the game that fast even with my strongest class.

[themikefest]

Wow! How did you do it? You must have killed almost the same number of enemies as me to end up with that level. I can't imagine doing the game that fast even with my strongest class.

I avoid killing a lot of the enemies by running past them to activate a cutscene.

 

I've tried a few times to see if I can finish at a lower level and wasn't able to. Level 32 is the lowest I've ever finished a playthrough. If I was to do a couple things different I might be able to finsh at level 31. I might try again after I finish my current trilogy run

 

this was my mission order

 

Eden Prime

Citadel

recruit Garrus

did not recruit Wrex

Feros

Noveria

Virmire

Therum

Citadel

Ilos

Citadel