Femlob wrote...
I think I can see where the OP is coming from. I experienced a similar cultural shock when I first fired up Mass Effect 2; nothing felt familiar, very few things were still the way they used to be in the original Mass Effect. In sharp contrast to the OP, though, I went the exact opposite way.
Allow me to adress the two points I think I gathered from the OP's post:
Mechanics
Having beaten both games several times, I can no longer motivate myself to go back to the first game for one simple reason: the often lauded, yet critically flawed inventory system. I was annoyed with it back when I first played the game, and I'm still annoyed with it today - even more so, really, considering Mass Effect 2's fluid handling of new equipment (although I'll be the first to admit that I would have liked to have seen some more gear, too).
We all love loot; loot is good. But if you cut your looting teeth on games like Diablo, there is no way you'll ever find Mass Effect's handling of looting anywhere near acceptable. You essentially have to memorize the equipment of all of your characters, or write it all down; for each time you collect an item, you have to add it to your inventory in order to figure out if it's something you can use. Which clogs up your inventory, which in turn forces you to either omni-gellify junk gear or visit a merchant on a way too regular basis - a slow process, since adequate scrolling speed is apparently limited to PCs.
In a game that places so much emphasis on story, sandbagging a player with a lousy inventory and so forcing him or her to put the story on hold every ten minutes in order to deplete said lousy inventory and make room for more loot is a great way to discourage curiosity. Sure, one could argue that you don't have to pick everything up - but that kind of defeats the purpose of having loot to begin with, doesn't it?
And really - one would argue that scanning barren planets is somehow worse than driving around on them? I don't really know how to respond to that... If nothing else, scanning is a lot faster - leaving more time for the story.
Story
I've often read that Mass Effect 2 doesn't have much of a story beyond recruiting characters and making them loyal. I find this surprising, since there's very little difference between the stories of Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 from a purely structural perspective. Start game, get acquainted, clear four major hurdles, defeat last boss, victory tune.
Eden Prime equals Freedom's Progress; Feros, Noveria, Virmire and Ilos equal Horizon, Derelict Reaper, Ancient Reaper and Collector Base; Saren equals Reaper Embryo. One can argue in favor of either story based on personal preference, but to say that there is more story in Mass Effect as opposed to Mass Effect 2 is complete bullocks.
Where Mass Effect 2 differs from its predecessor is in its attention to the characters you get to work with. Not only do you get more characters, but they all get their chance to shine, their fifteen minutes of fame if you will - an integral part of a story that focuses more on emotional connection and relationships (platonic or not) than on destroying the Evil Synthetic Army led by the Big Bad Dude who's mind-controlled by an even Bigger Badder Thing. I jest, of course - but where the focus of the first game was entirely on destroying a galactic threat, this still existing galactic threat takes something of a backseat in the second game in favor of explaining exactly what motivates the game's primary characters to fight.
It's a focus not often seen in modern video games, considerably more adult-oriented, and reminds me of the cultural shock induced by Final Fantasy XII's highly political character... Regardless, it is far less easy to comprehend and thus easily mistaken for something it's absolutely not - lacking in depth and enticement. You just have to be willing to appreciate it.
1. ME2's inventory system isn't "Fluid", it's non-existant. It's a loadout screen for a shooter. There is no inventory in the game.
2. Which in turn makes character customization impossible.
3. Inventory management has been a "problem" in all CRPGs. The reason it's a problem, is because CRPGs only implement half of the system. The system actually is meant to represent a character's carrying capacity and make them weigh choices in their equipment. CRPGs eliminate that half letting you tote around the better part of a continent on your back. Hence, they all have issues with overloaded inventory. Now don't get me wrong, I hate burden as much as the next guy. But honestly, it's insurmountable, and removing loot is most definitely not an acceptable solution. I'd rather run back to the store, or spend 20 minutes omni-gelling than deal with ME2's complete lack of any reason to kill anyone or do anything.
4. The writing is, at best, dodgy. To appriciate it you have to pretty much ignore plot holes the size of the Normandy. If I've gotta spend more time ignoring plot holes than I do hearing story, then you've already lost me.
5. The Mako is an order of magnitude better than the mini-game. Being able to optionally explore planets and discover hidden things is a great deal better than the mind numbing scroll over a planet that is absolutely critical to playing the game.
To close, I'm sorry certain people are "Tired of hearing the complaints", I'm tired of hearing blind praises myself, know what I do? I don't read the blind praise threads. If you are going to head into a thread about the major problems with the game, it'd probably be best to be prepared to deal with the fact that the game is really bad.
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