What I'm looking for out of people is spoiler-free (besides names, obvs) suggestions for Shep's characteristics and also whom to romance.

Hm. Well, you don't have a ton of romance options in 1.

Let's see... Sentinel is probably the weakest class or at least one of the weaker class.

(In 1, anyway)

It's fine if I can't get to the 'main' romance until 2 or even 3.

Okay. Tali is a pretty popular choice, but can only be romanced in 2, and only by a dude, though there is subtext with Femshep.

Kaidan is available for shipping in 1 only for Femshep, but can be romanced by both a FemShep and a dude in 3.

Liara can be romanced in 1 by either gender.

Garrus can be romanced by FemShep from 2 onward.

Ashley is available to dude Shep in 1 & 3.

And there are a whole mess of romance options from 2 onward.

IIRC Thane tends to be a popular choice for FemShep

Though not as popular as Garrus?

You don't really need to "balance" your party in terms of keeping biotic / techies / combat experts even.

I was more looking for a specific suggestion than a run-down, though I appreciate it (and the fact that my first instinct isn't on your list beyond being in the 'whole mess of romance options' might be tell-

ing?)

In 1, you just want to make sure you have someone with tech expertise on you at all times.

Since techies can open chests/doors that others can't in 1 (they get rid of this from 2 onward, though), so they function like rogues would in a fantasy universe

I guess it really depends on what appeals to you in terms of a romance?

Honestly, pretty much the gamut of what Bioware typically offers for romance. I haven't done every romance in Inquisition, yet, but I've done all of the romances in BG2, and DA 1/2.

In terms of weapons, if you end up focusing on them, pistol is by far the strongest choice in the long run once you have marksman, especially for a soldier of an infiltrator.

I did Liara for my initial runthrough, but playing 2, I grew increasingly fond of Miranda. I like Jack's storyline (overall, not just romance) better if you go Paragon.

If you go FemShep, most people really dislike what they did with Jacob in 3, so you may want to avoid that.

Relationships were pretty limited on ME1.

My first thought was Miranda, and on the playthrough I started I was going Renegade/Infiltrator, but I found myself not enjoying the combat. Is that an infiltrator problem, or a ME1 problem?

ME1's combat isn't very rewarding, honestly.

It's very much a Bioware RPG. It feels like you're rolling dice instead of shooting a gun.

2 and 3 are a lot more action-oriented and the combat is a lot more fun

See, that somewhat worries me-I would rather remove the action elements pretty much entirely and just make it a bioware rpg

you might not enjoy ME3 in that case aha

How action-y is it compared to da2 or dai?

It's worth noting that the class play styles become a lot more distinct from 2 onwards

Would any lend themselves more towards a tactician role than a shooter?

Infiltrator has cloaking, sentinels have armor that blows up, vanguards get biotic jousting, etc

Miranda is a solid choice.

The action level is pretty similar to Inquisition.

Alright, I can probably handle it, then. I was iffy about Inquisition at first, but I wound up coming around.

yeah I felt similarly

but yeah if you're looking for a tactician's role you'll probably want Infiltrator since it's the stealth/sniper class.

you can stay back, keep enemies off of you and command your followers from afar.

Okay, so that was a good choice, just not great for me1.

I'll probably continue that playthrough, then, unless I decide I wanna do a femshep only romance.

yeah I don't remember if you get the cloak in ME1?

if you want to do something different you can always change your class at the start of ME2.

also do you have the DLC?

I think the ME1 dlc is all free now, but I definitely recommend getting the DLC for ME2 if you don't.

or at least Shadow Broker and Arrival since they're relevant to the plot.

I currently don't have any dlc and probably aren't looking to spend money on it, though that might change as I play the games.

yah I can understand that

Alas. I got lucky.

I got the whole trilogy and (I think?) almost all of the ME/ME2 DLCs for like. 5 bucks.

One day Playstation Network deal.

Best five bucks I ever spent.

Wow.

But then you had to play on a console

I'm not a PC gamer anyway

(Which I guess I could actually see for this game, but I'd much rather play on PC)

I'm a filthy casual