Mass Effect 2 teaser

[Zenicetus]

I think Mass Effect 2 will be close to perfecting the RPG genre. Mass Effect was a revolutionary leap forward, with its more dynamic dialog system, but it was obviously new and not taken to its full cinematic potential, shown by the relatively lack of animations when it came to the dialog as compared to the more refined sequel. I don't want to go on a limb here, but really, when we were nit picking the first one, what were the four big complaints:
1. Mako (enough said)
2. Inventory system
3. Combat
4. Same environments/buildings on every planet (for side quests)

Those four were essentially the only thing people said were holding Mass Effect 1 from being a true work of art (aside from the texture popping that was patched a bit I think).

I can think of one other major flaw that was discussed often:

5. Inconsequential "moral" choices for the player character.

You could play Shepard as an angel or a hard-@ss, but that "moral" choice was pretty lightweight compared to other games, and it had no real impact on the world except right at the ending sequence. The only consequential choices you had to make in the main game involved which companions would live or die, and that wasn't linked to the "moral" axis... it was just which party members you wanted to keep around, which ones you could afford to ditch. To me, a "classic RPG" has to give the player choices in character development that make an actual difference in the game world, and aren't just tacked on as salad dressing for a shooter.

Maybe there is more of this in the sequel, I don't know. I'm not surprised we're seeing so much eye candy combat featured in the previews, that's just marketing (like the awful previews they did for Dragon Age). I just hope the combat improvements are not the main focus of the new game.

[AggonyDuck]

I can think of one other major flaw that was discussed often:

5. Inconsequential "moral" choices for the player character.

You could play Shepard as an angel or a hard-@ss, but that "moral" choice was pretty lightweight compared to other games, and it had no real impact on the world except right at the ending sequence. The only consequential choices you had to make in the main game involved which companions would live or die, and that wasn't linked to the "moral" axis... it was just which party members you wanted to keep around, which ones you could afford to ditch. To me, a "classic RPG" has to give the player choices in character development that make an actual difference in the game world, and aren't just tacked on as salad dressing for a shooter.

Maybe there is more of this in the sequel, I don't know. I'm not surprised we're seeing so much eye candy combat featured in the previews, that's just marketing (like the awful previews they did for Dragon Age). I just hope the combat improvements are not the main focus of the new game.

Well I'm pretty certain that the choice regarding the Rachnid Queen will come back to haunt us in the sequels.

[Mailman653]

I let her live so she better not haunt me, if anything, I expect to have some Rachni allies at some point.

[Zenicetus]

True, the Rachnid Queen ending episode did have that weighty feeling of being an important decision that you didn't want to to screw up. That's half of what a great RPG should include. The missing half was any consequence in the rest of the game. Sure, there might be something in the sequel, and that would be interesting. But it's just a throwaway gimmick in the main game because you never see any result of that decision. They couldn't even bother to write in a brief news message for the elevator ride about a fresh Rachnid attack, or the Queen being observed fleeing to uncharted space.

(IMO) the Rachnid Queen episode was just "RPG Lite" salad dressing like the final Wrex sequence, or decisions about which party members are sacrificed. All heavy-seeming decisions on the front end, with no effect on the game world. Shepard could basically do no wrong, and make no bad decisions, even if he/she wanted to.