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[Vena_86]

Many things have been discussed on these forums, including alot of constructive critizism which BioWare will hopefully take into account while developing the final chapter of the superb Mass Effect series.

However there is something which is not getting the attention it deserves in my opinion. Maybe because it is so abcent from ME2 and also ME1 (eventhough it was a little better in the first one). But I see immense potential in...

Party Interaction

The "problem" or rather the wasted opportunity I see is that BioWare makes such great characters, brilliantly written and voice acted with backstorys that give them depth. However, once you enter the third-person view, moving arround freely, fighting and decrypting they become not much more than faceless bots that aid you in battle. There is a rather harsh break from the great dialogs and cinematics.

In Mass Effect 1 there was the short elevator banter and there seemed to be more occasional comments on what was going on. That was a start but still very underdeveloped.
ME2 is a bit worse in that regard (dispite the characters beeing more interesting) but on that level it doesnt matter much.

I try to explain what I would suggest to greatly improve the immersion and making the player feel more attached to the otherwise great characters.

Third Person Dialogs

By that I mean simple comments of your party members according to where you are and what is going on without entering the cinematic dialogue. That is nothing new but it is so rare. Most of the time, they are just numb.
An occasional "I don't like this place...too ambush friendly." or "Humans all look alike, no offense Shepard." or "We are beeing watched." really helps breaking up the silence and give the characters more life throughout the game. Specially, when these comments fit the personality of the team member saying them and maybe even revealing new aspects about them. Also, the more the team mates talk to each other the better! I intentionally put Garrus and Wrex together in teams in ME1 just to see them arguing since Turians and Krogans arn't exactly on good terms. But nothing happened...
In ME2 you atleast have some team conflicts outside the "normal" gameplay. Great, more of that please! But also more arguing, teasing and insulting during missions would be great. Like SuZe (or Jack) saying something like "Your pretty butt makes a great target, princess." when Miranda gets wounded/incapitated and gets back up.

When I went on my first sidequest back in ME1 to investigate a distress signal of some research facility I ended up finding a deserted settlement. I got out of the Mako and took a closer look. With the howling wind in the background some squad member (Ashley maybe) said something like "Looks like nobody is home."
At that moment I felt so very engaged and drawn into the games universe. Just through a little comment from a squad member I felt alot more immersed, specially because I thought the whole game would be like this. I am not alone, the others actually pay attention! But in that regard I was a bit dissappointed after a while and even more so by ME2 as I hoped with the focus on the team you are setting up there will be be more life during missions.

So this would be the outer layer, like cinematics, that improves immersion without really influencing gameplay. Now to the inner layer that does influence gameplay...

Active Team Intervention (cant find a better headline, sorry)

So far in the series there is pretty much no strategy involved as to what squad member to take on a mission. Your position as leader is underused. You as the commander should decide which member with which expertise to take on the mission not just "Ok, you two look cool, come with me."
You as the commander should make such decisions based on...something. This would not always be character specific but also skill specific. Several characters can be powerfull biotics or tech specialists or masters of combat.

Step 1

A system which could work well, would be that you get some basic information about the mission, written or voiced from which you can draw conclusions which characters would fit best on the upcomming missions. And for those who don't want to deal with that kind of thing and jump right into the action can have their team suggested. Better for roleplayers, not any worse for shooter fans. (I play both genres and more equally btw)

But so far that would be pointless without...

Step 2

The characters and what their specialties are should matter more. So, I suggest adding situations into the missions where characters designed to deal with these can shine. These things would be extras that reward you with improved chances for an upcomming battle, finding special items or something similar. They should always reward you with a little extra experience. Those situations should not hinder the normal gameplay, as taking characters on a mission that are not suggested should not be a huge disadvantage.

I give you some theoretical examples of what I had in mind, with the ME2 characters:

1.
You are in a collapsing building, several stories deep underground. You have a timer that is counting down, which is the time you have until you are burried alive. At the bottom there is an elevator but the building lost all power supply. However, the hud still shows the elevator as point of interest which you can activate. When you do that a powerfull biotic could say something like (in the case of SuZe) "I bet I can lift your fat asses up there." 
A window will pop up asking if SuZe should try to lift up your team inside the elevator to the exit. You pick yes, Shepard says something generic like "Do it", "Fine" or "What are we waiting for" and a short cinematic of everyone standing inside the moving elevator with SuZee doing some generic biotic animation would be shown. Nothing all too special would be needed. You exit the elevator and escaped the situation. If you would have chosen "no" or for instance had Tali and Grunt as your team then you would have used the stairs fighting of remaining enemies under time presure.

The whole talking and choice thing could alternatively be done in the typical dialogue system as well. Which would be harder to develop though and not really necessary.

2.
You are supposed to make a deal with some mysterious person but you suspect a trap. You reach the door that leads into the meeting room and someone, maybe even Shapard comments on that to notify the player. The hud shows a point of interest on some ventilation shaft. You activate it and Thane says "Shepard, I could try to find an alternative way in and evaluate the situation." Just as before, either through a pop up box or within the dialogue system you say "yes" and Thane goes into the ventilation shaft. It doesnt even have to be visible how he does it, similar to how you not see but hear an Elcor walking away. The screen fades to black shortly to imply time has passed. Over your radio you hear Thane reporting "I'm in Shepard. The negotiator is standing in the middle, guarded by two armed soldiers. Hidden behind some boxes on the left side of the room, another 3 soldiers are waiting. I suggest you take cover on the right side, as soon as something happens.
You enter the room start a dialogue with the negotiator, something goes wrong and everyone pulls their weapons. The negotiator, which is the hardest enemy in the room is struck down by thanes sniper rifle who is hiding in some higher spot and the fighting starts. You and your other teammate go straight for the cover on the right side as you know you would run into the hidden soldiers on the left otherwise...

This is getting too long but alot more can be done. Mordin could manage to keep someone who is dying alive long enough to give you additional information about something, Tali could open a safe with some great item inside. Grunt could smash down a wall which leads to a better fighting position etc. etc.

When I didnt have enough electronic skill to terminate the trapped Rachni on Noveria in ME1 and I couldnt tell Tali to do it, was the first time I felt that party interaction within the missions is really lacking and also has a lot of potential.

Just look at all the popular SciFi series. In Star Gate, you have the commander giving the orders, the strong fighter, the tech/physics/math genius solving technological issues and the history, archeology expert who starts solving mysteries whenever they stumble upon ancient writings and so on. Or Star Trek. Commander/fighter, the medic and the genius.

These group synergies are missing in Mass Effect(1 and 2) and that is pretty much the last possible major improvement I can see for the series.

Thanks for reading (those who actually did)