hey! it's computer-anon again. thank you so so much for the advice and help (both you and Clio). the site you found made so much more sense than the ones i was finding and you both gave me somewhere to start for sure :) I’m going to try to save up for a gaming laptop like yours for when i check out the new game, but it looks like my current laptop can support the ME trilogy (yay!) so excited :D thank you again!!
AAAAA YAAAAY!!! :D DO THE THING!
Here is some helpful stuff for when you play! :D
Mass Effect 1 Galactic Checklist - this is a list you can print out for all the missions and side quests, so you can keep track of what you’ve done and what you have left to do. I tend to ignore the pages that have stuff about mineral collection - It’s good to collect minerals and scan planets as you go, but I don’t feel the need to get ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING. But get as much as you can, because it will help a wee bit when you move on to ME2. And if you WANT to get everything, now you can!
(This is jumping the gun a bit, but if/when you’re ready to move your Sheppy from ME1 to ME2, it can be done, but it’s kind of fiddly and stupid the way they set it up. But you won’t need to worry about that for a while.)
Mass Effect 2 Galactic Checklist - Same thing, but for ME2!
Mass Effect 3 Galactic Checklist - I found one for ME3! This one is new to me, actually - I’d just used the wiki to help me with the game the other times I’ve played. And speaking of the wiki...
Mass Effect was the first video game I’d played since, like, Donkey Kong on Super Nintendo. Or, well. Maybe some on N64. So I really needed a lot of guidance. The wiki has walkthroughs for every main mission (link here) and side assignment (link here) - really detailed, and it gives you outcomes of different decisions you make during the game. Definitely contains ALL THE SPOILERS so if you like to be surprised as you play, avoid it. But I found it super helpful, both to figure out how to play the game, and to tell the story I wanted to tell for my Sheppies. I included links for the first game, but the wiki has info for all three games. I haven’t looked to see if the new game is on there yet, but I’m sure it’s just a matter of time before it is.
Hope that helps! And I hope the links work, because they seemed a bit wonky :P But if they don’t, I’m sure some strategic googling can help you. :D GOOD LUCK AND HAVE FUN! Feel free to ask any other questions you have, and let me know how it goes! :D