Okay so Mass Effect 2 was indeed awesomeness when it came out about a year ago, I was deeply immersed and overall an excellent game. Although I did have problems with it, mainly being the role playing elements being striped out making a bare minimal rpg with mostly shooter elements in place.
The original Mass Effect had a decent though flawed RPG system in place which in the end got taken out in Mass Effect 2, like the inventory system. Pretty much anything that had some issues got taken out, also i think ME2 was designed for a more general audience aka Shooter mobs.
I didn't like the fact it was entirely mainstream with little free roam available, although side missions were put together better than the first. There was actually little treasure to find and little variety to speak, the whole customisation part from ME1 wasn't preset in ME2 - and the leveling guide was just simplified to very basic choices.
I thought overall both games have their own good / bad qualities and I would personally love to see the mix of both for Mass Effect 3. Infact I'll list below what I think should be present to have the third and last installment a bang:
***********************************
> Bring back the inventory system - it should be present. It was fine but just needed a better interface. Along with that there should be more treasure and variety of rewards. Perhaps when you complete a mission or side quest you could have what World of Warcraft has and choose from several different armour or equipment each having their own unique stats - replay value a high. Have plenty of shops to buy from and also mini games wouldn't hurt!
> Do the rpg properly - like how ME1 did it - you kill enemies you get x exp, x money. Not by just doing missions, or only. I thought the system was fine in ME1 you just needed more ways to spend money, and they could rework the leveling tree but i thought they had the right idea initiating points to individual skills.
> Have locations more open worlded - doesn't have to be a elder scrolls open, but remember the Citadel from ME1? Compare that with it in ME2. If they have environments opened more and not so confined you have better atmosphere, and more belivable worlds. Remember those large open parts when you were in the vehicles? Also plenty of room for optional quests and world events - which I found ME1 a lot better in that department.
> Characters could be more involved - like you could ask them for advice when choosing dialogue choices and even affect them turning them into a paragon or renegade. Like how Knights of the Old Republic 2 tried to do - and perhaps you could have certain factions or groups that you could only do missions for depending on how much paragon or renegade you have. Characters themselves should be moving freely to give them more realism especially when on the normandy ship, not just standing in one place. On planets have more world event stuff like Majora's Mask had you know?
> Remember the game Vanquish from last year? Tht had some killer fast paced gameplay perks. Perhaps some abilities they could add are more faster dashing (which Shepherd does but not enough IMO) and maybe the slider technique. Change it a bit from making it too much common with every other shooter, granted they have abilities which these could be used in, what i'm saying is perhaps more manuvers that are more jumping/flying than flat footed on the ground all the time - especially since it's in space. Also bring back the vehicle segments! Perhaps add some manual controlled flying?
***********************************
I'm sure there's plenty more I'm forgetting but it's late now and should get some zzzz. Overall from my list I want Bioware to bring back more of their traditional rpg stuff in but keep the core gameplay the same. I did read up that Bioware are planning to add a lot of rpg elements back in for Mass Effect 3 which is a good sign!
P.S - I'm not too happy about Jack Wall won't be doing the original score this time, instead their bringing a more renowned Hollywood scorer to do it. Sure he maybe good, he did the soundtrack to the movie 'Black Swan' and yes i admit it was quite good, but personally.. If it's a game series, I like the composer who began from the beginning to stay to the end. Anyway seems not many people are upset by this, so rant over.
