I've searched all over the Mass Effect Wiki and can't find a page that has all the information I'm looking for. I was hoping to find something similar to the Playthrough 2 page on Borderlands Wiki but it seems no such page exists, or no such page is easily findable via the logical search terms I'm using.
I have several questions about how the replay system works in each of the Mass Effect games:
- How many times can you replay the same character?
- When you do replay, what parts of your character get carried over to the new playthrough?
- Pre-service history?
- Psychological profile?
- Class?
- Appearance?
- Paragon/Renegade points?
- Level?
- Skills?
- Inventory items and/or ship/weapon upgrades?
- Cosmetic surgery?
- In-game choices?
- If I've played a single character multiple times, and if I can change significant decisions in each playthrough, can I choose which playthrough I want to import to the next game? If so, can I import multiple instances (from different playthroughs of previous games) of the same character into separate, new games on the sequel(s)?
- What benefits do you get from replaying a character, that new characters don't get?
Best Answer
1 - Pretty much as many times as you want. You essentially create a new character using the last one as a template. Certain things can be changed, see part 2 of this answer.
2 - Too numerous to mention in an answer here. This is the page on the wiki you want to check out. It's also dependent ongoing from 1->2, 2->2, 2->3, 3->3, or 1->2->3.
3 - You'll get to select any save games for a character from the last or current game, so long as the character completed the game(provided she didn't die at the end of ME2). The game treats replays as a new character instances. You can tell them apart by the character level and the date on the game completion.
4 - See 2. Though generally replays in 2 get you additional credits and resources, and 3 gets you war assets.