ME1 class

[Jhurricane99]

I was just curious what otherrs think. Which class is the best for shepard in ME1?

[Ciphy]

Personally I prefer adept, but I have to admit I haven't tried all classes so far.

I prefer adept because "throw" (I hope that's the real name...basically I'm talking about the attack that throws enemied around :P) is really strong in ME1, it gets even better if your companions are biotic too. If that's not enough to kill your enemies, simply use "lift" (or let your companions do it) and make sure to skill your pistol so you'll get that extra attack from it. I don't know, other classes might have more powerful/quicker attacks, but I really like this combination, especially if you have tons of enemies - and it's even helpful in boss fights, I've only seen one encounter where this strategy doesn't work that well (but still well enough).


****To the OP and anyone else who hasn't played the game yet****
Careful, there are some major spoilers in this thread (approximately from post #7 on). If you're still looking for an answer which class to play, well, more or less every class had been recommended in this thread. ;) After all it depends a lot on your personal taste.

My recommendation would be to pick a class by the description in the game - just take whichever class appeals most to you. If you're unhappy with it you can either start all over or pick another class in ME2.
However I'd recommend to play at least two missions with your class, even if you don't like it that much at the beginning - they all get better the more skill points you have.

Just my personal opinion, that's how I did it. If you have any questions feel free to poke me

[Uh Playoffs?]

I'm a run and gun kind of guy so it's always soldier for me. Being able to use any gun effectivly far outweights any biotic class IMO. Not to say the perks of biotics are bad, but I found them more effective in the hands of allies. Pistols are strong in this game, but who wants to shoot a pistol for 40+ hours?

All in all, theres nothing like loading 70+ assult rifle rounds with shredder perks into a husk without overheating.

[GrimAquatic]

Nymbdisittich님이 먼저 게시:

I prefer adept because "throw"

You do know that when you get corresponding achievement you can equip any class with that skill, don't you? For example my Shepard is a soldier with Lift.

[SwobyJ]

Really doesn't matter so much in ME1, but I was Vanguard and was ok with it enough.
Wouldn't hurt to be a class with Tech decryption/electronics to unlock things without requiring Kaidan, Liara, Tali, or Garrus to have the skill for it (Engineer, Infiltrator, Sentinel).

[SwobyJ]

GrimAquatic님이 먼저 게시:

Nymbdisittich님이 먼저 게시:

I prefer adept because "throw"

You do know that when you get corresponding achievement you can equip any class with that skill, don't you? For example my Shepard is a soldier with Lift.

Yeah. Canonically Shepard is primarily a soldier, but he can be assumed to have a biotic implant at any point (for the most part) and he has some good enough tech skills.

I really hope the next game has a protagonist that is more canonically more of an Engineer. Engineer/Infiltrator needs some love!

(note that by 'canonically' I mean by the storyline - Shepard is always gonna be associated with the Alliance military as a soldier and a war fighter regardless of combat class. I'd rather try to be a builder, fixer, hacker, spy, etc next time.)

[GrimAquatic]

SwobyJ님이 먼저 게시:

Yeah. Canonically Shepard is primarily a soldier, but he can be assumed to have a biotic implant at any point (for the most part) and he has some good enough tech skills.

I don't think getting an implant would help without her having biotic abilities in the first place. And since we're never told whether or not she has any biotic or tech abilities, it's left to our imagination (through achievements any class can wield a rifle).

I really hope that they won't establish any canonical class in the next game.

[SwobyJ]

GrimAquatic님이 먼저 게시:

SwobyJ님이 먼저 게시:

Yeah. Canonically Shepard is primarily a soldier, but he can be assumed to have a biotic implant at any point (for the most part) and he has some good enough tech skills.

I don't think getting an implant would help without her having biotic abilities in the first place. And since we're never told whether or not she has any biotic or tech abilities, it's left to our imagination (through achievements any class can wield a rifle).

I really hope that they won't establish any canonical class in the next game.

You only are able to use biotics as a human at this point in the timeline, WITH an implant.

NO humans can use biotics without an implant. They don't have the nervous system to direct the energy properly without one. Kaidan has L2 (I think) implants. Jack has extensive experimental implants.

In ME1 if you're a biotic-using class (Adept, Vanguard, Sentinel) you even get a few exclusive lines talking about your L3 implant, but that's a bit subverted by the fact that Soldiers and such can get biotic bonus abilities anyway.

And in ME2-3 it doesn't matter what class we have - our bonus abilities also include biotic ones.

So no matter what, we're playing a:
-soldier for the military
-under special assignment (either Spectre, Cerberus agent, or war organizer)
-with biotic sensitivity (but didn't undergo the earlier dangerous issues that Kaidan did)
-but we can avoid that sensitivity and RP as though we never acted on it with implants/abilities


~~~

And I think you're misunderstanding my 'canonical class' thing. Shepard is ALWAYS a soldier. There's NO way not to be a soldier. He's literally one. Even when he joins Cerberus in ME2, he is still attached to the Alliance Military unofficially and works under Admiral Hackett... as a soldier.

That's all I mean. That even when we pick 'being an Engineer' for example, it's still going to be a 'Soldier-ish-Engineer' instead of a 'Quarian-ish-Engineer' or a 'Mordin-ish-Engineer'. Shepard is Shepard, and Shepard is always *military*.

So all I'm saying is that I wouldn't mind if the next game is more thematic to the 'Engineer' idea or the 'Infiltrator' idea. AKA the next protagonist spends more time building and fixing big things, or sneaking around, then he does fighting a war. I'm talking about themes there! :)


Basically I'm talking about protagonist writing to fit themes, than combat classes. In my head, an 'Infiltrator' story would be closer to Deus Ex, an 'Adept' story would be fantastical, an 'Engineer' story would be closer to Dead Space. What we got with the Soldier story (again forget about combat class mechanics...) was the Gears of War cover shooting emphasis. Future games would include cover shooting, obviously, but I wouldn't mind a bit more Deus Ex and Dead Space elements to enrich the franchise, moving forward. I'm really just talking about Mass Effect eventually involving several protagonist stories that round out a large universe of lore.

~~~

This comes from a personal bit of information I learned (take it or leave it). Someone I knows knows someone who worked at Bioware for a little while. During that time, they were prototyping a Dead Spacey UI (user interface) except with the omnitool, but I can't confirm where they're on that now (whether they dropped or kept it). That kind of thing excites me, because it means a growth in concepts for the series. ME1-3 grew in 'Gears of War' concepts and writing (war war war, shoot shoot shoot), but future games may incorporate a lot more.

Example: An Engineer story may mean that even if you picked 'Soldier' as class, you're still more about moving around and directly fighting off enemies, than shooting at them from cover (even though a cover system may still exist). Different classes, but also different full implementations of them.
The story may also be more about roaming and exploring the galaxy to find out its secrets and ancient tech, instead of struggling to prepare them for the Reapers asap.

[Ciphy]

Shake님이 먼저 게시:

All in all, theres nothing like loading 70+ assult rifle rounds with shredder perks into a husk without overheating.

Hehe, yep^^ the good thing is that overheating isn't a problem as an adept if you use your pistol talent - on my second playthrough I had the spectre weapons unlocked - overheating the spectre pistol is almost impossible. Of course it's always a matter of taste, but I can highly recommend it if you want to try another class someday

GrimAquatic님이 먼저 게시:

You do know that when you get corresponding achievement you can equip any class with that skill, don't you? For example my Shepard is a soldier with Lift.

Yep, I know - it's awesome! My next character will be a sentinel, but after that I'll might try a soldier or vanguard, so I'll most likely use that.
It's not the only reason I prefer adept, I simply love biotic abilities in general - but I'll give every class a try, the game is awesome enough to be played multiple times. ;)

[SwobyJ]

Yep, there's a separation, yet connection, between 'story class' and 'combat class'.

Kaidan --> Story class is 'Alliance Officer', Combat class is Sentinel-ish. Therefore he's a soldier (later officer, and Spectre) who focuses on tech and biotic attacks.

Miranda --> Story 'class' is 'Cerberus Officer'. Combat class is Sentinel-ish. Therefore she's an officer (technically special agent) who focuses on tech and biotic attacks.

Kaidan is more 'Soldierish' while Miranda is at least more 'Sentinelish' but both are technically Sentinels in combat.

[SwobyJ]

Shepard is written to be evolutionarily advanced, so at least having sensitivity to biotics is pretty much canon. It would allow, for example, a stronger will when interacting with the Prothian Beacon, or melding/joining with asari, or resisting Ardat-Yakshi.

A biotic ME1 Shepard has the lines where he has a L3 implant (a more biologically stable but less powerful overall one compared to Kaidan's L2).
If we have biotic bonus abilities in ME2-ME3 but on a non-biotic class, we can just headcanon that Shepard either always had a L3 implant, or he got one in the meantime (?), or his Lazarus Project implants included the potential for biotic use.

Shepard was *never* part of Jump Zero. He didn't go through the childhood experiences that Kaidan did, but was instead just issued a more advanced implant while in the military. I think by the end of ME3, there's something like L4-L5ish implants and biotic use is becoming increasingly more common among the more privileged humans. It's reached the level of luxury and you can bet that within the next few hundred years, it'll be as common as on the other council races* (save for asari). Still, only certain people will specialize in it or use it regularly in combat.


*The salarians use biotics sparingly (and care more for tech) but have the ability for it. It's also present in the turian society but rarer, and it turian biotics tend to end up in special forces like the one in Omega DLC or Saren (at least he was rumored to be in one lol). Regardless, it's common enough to not be seen as supernatural, like many humans still see biotics during the time of ME1ish.

[SwobyJ]

What I mean about all that class stuff is that there's so many KINDS of people that fit into even one ARCHETYPE.

In terms of purely 'combat system', it goes...

Soldier (full combat):
-Ashley
-Grunt
-James
-Zaeed (DLC)
-Richard (temp)
-David (temp)

Engineer (full technology):
-Tali
-Mordin
-Legion
-EDI
-Amanda (temp DLC)

Adept (full biotics):
-Liara
-Jack
-Samara
-Morinth
-Javik (DLC)

Infiltrator (half combat, half tech):
-Garrus
-Kasumi (DLC)

Vanguard (half combat, half biotics):
-Wrex
-Jacob
-Thane
-Aria (temp DLC)

Sentinel (half tech, half biotics):
-Kaidan
-Miranda
-Wilson (temp)
-Nyreen (temp DLC)

~~~~

Yet, there's important aspects to them.

1)For example, Jack can upgrade into the class of 'Primal ADEPT', but she can also be 'PRIMAL VANGUARD'. Result? She can be thought of as either, especially considering her weapon type selection. She may have all biotic abilities, but attributes that trend towards Vanguard.

2)There can be several 'subtypes' of one combat class. Clearly, Tali is little like Mordin. Tali is more about fighting and hacking synthetics exclusively. Mordin is more about affecting several types of enemies and their defenses with direct 'magicky' elemental attacks.

3)Sometimes the combat class doesn't entirely match the character. Thane may have a mix of biotics and combat, which should make him a Vanguard, but his story and weapons and more, make him more of an Infiltrator CHARACTER. Legion is also much more of an Infiltrator character, but his abilities make him a combat-class Engineer. So that big list I gave isn't entirely accurate when it comes to how we should view the character *overall*.


So when I mean Shepard is a 'Soldier', I mean that even when we play an Adept or whatever, the story and game experience we have is almost overwhelmingly as a 'Soldier that focuses on using biotics'. The game still expects us to shoot almost everything, focus on cover shooting, and do military type things. A new Mass Effect with a 'new' protagonist should shake this up a lot, while keeping most central elements from previous games :)

[SwobyJ]

Anyway, to OP, go Soldier if you want to be most true to how Shepard is mostly designed as, but pick any of them to enjoy yourself and still have it fit :). Combat wise, I find Sentinel farrr too squishy imo. (it gets much better in ME2-3 with the Tech Armor power)

[Empanda]

adept is alright, i tried it for 1 or 2 missions in me1 and me2 but i prefer inflitrator because i like playing the assassin type. and with the right skill points and weapon mods you can one shot almost anything with cloak.

[GrimAquatic]

SwobyJ님이 먼저 게시:

Yep, there's a separation, yet connection, between 'story class' and 'combat class'.

That's because there is no such thing as class outside of gameplay mechanics. Every single member of the Alliance is a soldier, just like any member of any military is a soldier. What you call class is just personal abilities.

SwobyJ님이 먼저 게시:

You only are able to use biotics as a human at this point in the timeline, WITH an implant.

You can only abilities if you have said abilities (let's call it predisposition). An implant only enhances your innate talent and lets you control it. Just jacking an implant in won't make you a biotic.

SwobyJ님이 먼저 게시:

And I think you're misunderstanding my 'canonical class' thing. Shepard is ALWAYS a soldier. There's NO way not to be a soldier. He's literally one. Even when he joins Cerberus in ME2, he is still attached to the Alliance Military unofficially and works under Admiral Hackett... as a soldier.

I think you're confused. A soldier is a person serving in a military, so when Shepard joining Cerberus she is still a soldier because Cerberus is a military organization. There is no need to tie it with working undercover (which she actually doesn't do).

SwobyJ님이 먼저 게시:

So all I'm saying is that I wouldn't mind if the next game is more thematic to the 'Engineer' idea or the 'Infiltrator' idea. AKA the next protagonist spends more time building and fixing big things, or sneaking around, then he does fighting a war. I'm talking about themes there! :)

I would much prefer that the next protagonist has more non linear diplomatic options to resolve conflicts. I don't want her to put up bridges the entire game.

[SwobyJ]

That's because there is no such thing as class outside of gameplay mechanics. Every single member of the Alliance is a soldier, just like any member of any military is a soldier. What you call class is just personal abilities.

You're already agreeing with me. Guess this is a good start..
ME1-3 is a military story. Combat classes are put into the frame of the character role. What I call character class is only a form of archetype for the series. ('Soldiers' are more likely to run and gun the enemy, 'Infiltrators' are more likely to sneak around in some way. Engineers' are gonna hack or work on machinery. This is all in the story, just not established as a set rule. Again, archetypes.)

You can only abilities if you have said abilities (let's call it predisposition). An implant only enhances your innate talent and lets you control it. Just jacking an implant in won't make you a biotic.

And again, you're agreeing with me. A biotic without an implant has next to no powers. Maybe can push someone a bit. Maybe an unfocused manifestation. The implant is necessary to control the ability and heighten sensitivity.

I think you're confused. A soldier is a person serving in a military, so when Shepard joining Cerberus she is still a soldier because Cerberus is a military organization. There is no need to tie it with working undercover (which she actually doesn't do).

True, Cerberus is a paramilitary organization. I never said though that Shepard is working undercover, only that he is attached (personally) to the Alliance unofficially. In ME3 he is reinstated to the Alliance.

I would much prefer that the next protagonist has more non linear diplomatic options to resolve conflicts. I don't want her to put up bridges the entire game.

Dunno where you got 'bridges' from that.