I'm really considering starting a new career all the way from the original, and instead of going all-out paragon or renegade or even doing that Garrus-style thing you mentioned, just playing by my own personal morals. My only misgiving is how, while ME2's length and depth really enhanced the gameplay experience, ME1 (in my opinion, of course) did not. ME1 by contrast even feels unnecessarily long, because I think the length added by the side-quests doesn't really give the game the depth side-quests gave to ME2.