Can I play ME3 without playing 1 and 2?

OK, I didn't get into the mass effect series. Honestly speaking can I play mass effect 3 and still be sort of up to date without playing 1 and 2?

Is it necessary to play the first 2?

Why would you skip the two better games in the series and start with the worst one?

I wouldn't unless you want to skip extremely important plot details.

It isn't absolutely necessary to play the first two games but I'd strongly recommend that you do as it'll provide a MUCH better experience if you do. Without playing the first two games there will likely be some aspects you'll either miss entirely or have far less impact otherwise. Also there are decisions you make in previous games that carry over and affect subsequent games.

Depends.... are you it for the game play or the story ?

No. Mass effect is all about the story. So if you jump straight into the third game, all you'll be left with is a cover shooter.

You would be doing yourself a grave injustice.

The Mass Effect series' strength is how it links together. The entirety of ME3 could be considered a conclusion. You don't want to play a conclusion do you? Playing them in sequence could be one of the best experiences of the generation.

Hmm, you dont need to play the first 2 to understand what's going on in 3

But why would you not play the first 2? right now you can get them all pretty cheap,

You can, but I wouldn't recommend it. You get a much better experience, I near say a more 'epic' experience, if you play the series from the first game, make your choices all through the series, import your character from the first to the second and from the second to the third, establish the relationships and more throughout the course of the series.
Going straight for the end is like reading a series of books and only reading the final chapter because you can't be bothered to actually read through the entire series out of impatience.

It is a lot better to play from the first game and go through the entire series bit by bit, DLC by DLC, to get the full experience.

There is no point coming into a trilogy in the final entry. Most of the characters you interact with in the third game have background stories in the first two games that are assumed you know about in the third (despite EA saying this isn't true).

Don't read summaries, play the games.

i would not recomend it

Not required but like the others said, VERY, VERY recommended

No, they constantly refer to events in prevoius games, at least watch a lets play of Mass Effect 2 and watch this to up date you on the events of Mass Effect 1.

Mass Effect Genesis

Mass Effect is a very story-driven trilogy and with a focus on your relationships with other characters. You can start from 3 but you'll be missing on A LOT if you skip the previous games.

No, why would you do that? you need to play the first two to understand whats going on.

That's like watching "star wars: return of the jedi" without watching a "new hope" and "the empire strikes back"

A better question is why do you want to play the third game if you "never got into" the series?

-Byshop

I honestly wouldn't even recommend starting with the second game, even if I think it's the best of the bunch. I started with 2, but felt lost with the overall story throughout most of it. I did eventually go back and play the first one after having also played the third one. That's definitely the one you should start with; that is, if you care anything about keeping up with the story. The first Mass Effect does easily have the weakest gameplay, at least in my opinion. But it's still worth starting out with.

Can you watch the return of the king without watching the other two?

NO NO NO NO . everytime I want to play mass effect I start from the first one to the last .

it's better to

Yes...and no. Like some have mentioned before, you can play Mass Effect 3 without playing the other two. The problem with that is that when you do play the other two, it gives you a lot more insight to what exactly is going on. It allows you to see how certain friendships were formed, or destroyed depending on the circumstance. I would suggest playing all three of them in chronological order to understand the full story, This is just my opinion.

Playing first two games make it a lot better experience. You can also bring in your saves from first two games that increase your war assets in third game (be sure to download extended ending Dlc and day one prothean dlc) . Me 2 is best in the series.

NO! Please do not commit this sin, the first two are a must play (especially the second one, I lost track how many times I beat it).

The best analogy I can think of, is the Star Wars trilogy(we will not speak of what happened AFTER that technically came before). Imagine stepping into Return of the Jedi, without having seen A New Hope or The Empire Strikes Back. That's kind of what you're doing when you play ME3 without 1 and 2. I personally liked ME3 more than 2, but I do feel that ME2 was the game that gave real definition to the ME universe. it explained a lot more than 3 did(which was more of a wartime setting so explanation did go out the window) and offered a bit more detail than 1 did.

You can but it won't feel like such a long and epic journey. I started at 2 and enjoyed it. Went back to one and it was to much of a step back from 3. So either start from 1 or 2 but don't just delve into 3 without at least having some sense of what's going on. At least play the second as it's still an awesome game and no where near as dated as 1.

That's a good addition. The extended ending is free anyway and while it might not fix the problems some people have with the ending it at least gives a little bit more meaning to having a different ending. The Prothean DLC also adds some extra dialogue to the ending, which also makes it a bit more bearable.

And as others have said, ME 1 and 2 are strongly recommended. As far as you can call ME a classic series, I think it's because those three games made for one epic journey, not because the series was particularly unique when looking at the individual games. Playing one of the three isn't really going to be that impressive, I think. You need to invest and let the characters and story grow on you, I guess. At least, that's how I experienced it.

start at the beginning.. make sure you play the story DLC too, especially Lair of the Shadow Broker

@mikehockbourns: Yes, it would be a very good idea to at the very least play part 2.