세 작품, 세 종류의 막대

ME1은 스킬 점수를 씁니다. ME2는 한 색만 봅니다. ME3는 두 색을 같은 평판에 더합니다.

Mass Effect 1

Charm and Intimidate are skills. Two meters sit beside them.

Mass Effect 2

Separate bars. A check reads one color.

Mass Effect 3

One Reputation bar. Both colors fill it.

Paragon and renegade are not one system wearing two colors. Mass Effect 1 stores points and then asks you to have spent squad points on Charm or Intimidate. Mass Effect 2 deletes the skill and checks how full one color's bar is. Mass Effect 3 pours both colors into a single Reputation bar so a mixed Shepard is finally allowed to pass a story check.

Playing the whole trilogy on instinct, taking whichever interrupt looks good, is safe in ME3 and expensive in ME2. The Tali–Legion and Jack–Miranda arguments are ME2 checks. Rannoch's 80 percent gate is an ME3 check. They do not spend the same resource.

What to do with the bar you actually have

In ME1, put points into Charm or Intimidate early if you care about Wrex and the late persuasion gates. A full paragon conversation log will not substitute for an untrained skill. The morality page is not going to offer a point calculator for this, because the checks are skill ranks plus flags, and a slider would pretend otherwise.

In ME2, pick a color and stay near it until the loyalty fights are done. The bar fills against the points available so far, which is why an imported high-paragon Shepard still has to keep earning paragon in the sequel. Interrupts are a separate button: blue and red, on a timer. Zaeed's loyalty, if you saved the workers before chasing Vido, is one of the interrupts that matters. Most of the others are tone.

In ME3, fill Reputation however you like. The fourth bar, about 80 percent, is the number Rannoch and the Citadel coup ask for before they even show you the good line. Interrupts still exist. They add to the same bar.

What the check actually reads
Game	System	Check	Interrupt
Mass Effect	Two meters plus skills	Paragon and Renegade points accumulate, but the hard gates spend Charm or Intimidate, which are squad-point skills. Saving Wrex and several late dialogues need those skills trained, not just a blue conversation picked once.	No timed interrupts.
Mass Effect 2	Two ratios	There is no Charm skill. A check looks at how full the Paragon bar or the Renegade bar is, relative to points you could have earned so far. Mixing both colors leaves both bars too low for the Jack/Miranda and Tali/Legion fights.	Timed paragon and renegade interrupts. Some are flavor. A few, including Zaeed's loyalty if you saved the refinery, are the check.
Mass Effect 3	One Reputation bar	Paragon and Renegade both fill the same Reputation meter. Mixing is no longer a trap. The 80 percent gate on Rannoch and the coup read that combined bar.	Interrupts remain, and they still add to Reputation.

Open next: Rannoch and the coup, which read the ME3 bar; Charm and Intimidate as ME1 skills.

Questions the codex gets

Is renegade the evil route?

It is the harsh route. Several renegade lines are efficient, and several are cruel. The mechanics do not score them as morality points you can cash in for a better ending. Endings read war assets.

Why did my ME2 paragon check fail after a full ME1 paragon game?

ME2's bar is a ratio of what you have earned against what the game has offered you in ME2. The import helps. Skipping paragon dialogue in the sequel still empties the bar you need for Jack and Miranda.

Can I mix colors in ME3?

Yes. Both colors fill Reputation. Save the discipline for ME2, where they do not.