Originally posted by: Liet
Mass Effect could have been a great game, but it suffers severely from consolization and bad design. I agree about replayability - it has next to none... so if I miss something from this list, it's because I've forgotten about it and don't want to play it again.
I agree with some of your points but disagree with your conclusion. Mass Effect
is a great game, however it could have been much better. Bioware touched on the possibility of a game where you can explore a galaxy and actually land on each planet, that is something people have wanted for such a long time that when you finally get it you can just see so much more potential there. But that doesn't invalidate their attempt.
1. The dialogue matches your thoughts or reactions to what is being said, your character forms a response based on that. It's different, I'm not sure it was better, but I also wouldn't say it was worse. There were times where I picked something and was pleasantly surprised with what the main character ended up delivering and there were times when I regretted it. But it was interesting in that it's kind of like sometimes in real life when you react emotionally and then end up regretting what you said. The game mimics that to some degree by not letting you always mull over ever detail of your sentence wording.
2. That's because there is no evil path. There is a renegade path, and renegades aren't inherently bad. Some of their methods are questionable but they are legitimate. There is no "I'm here to fuck up the whole galaxy" alignment. They did this on purpose because while being funny it's entirely unrealistic approach that would leave your character without a ship stranded on a planet somewhere dying. They wanted a more grounded realistic choice, something where someone who meant good could end up straying down the renegade path because of their ideals.
3. Inventory is terrible.
4. The base textures, completely agree, however I'm 90% sure this is due to xbox360 memory limitations, also explains why the planets look the way they do (most are different colored ground texture but mostly barren).
5. While the driving didn't have a purpose, the game would have been more lacking if it had just delivered you right at your destination with no need to explore a planet. I'd say the only thing the driving added was atmosphere, giving you that feeling that you are being dropped off in these absolutely remote parts of the galaxy with nothing around but maybe a small base off in the distance.
Bring Down the Sky proved that the developers were learning from Mass Effect. The Asteroid you land on in BDTS has more things going on than any other side quest planet. It feels alive, the skybox is absolutely beautiful and the mine's were an interesting addition forcing the player to do something other than steam roll everything with the all powerful buggy.