Bioware really improved upon the level of character influence/interaction in ME2. Where only three of your choices in the first game actually mattered, there are now dozens of potential outcomes that could affect you in the eventual third. Another improvement was the removal of the Mako in favor of a Planet Scanner. As much as I would have enjoyed playing another mission like Virmire in the Mako, I don’t miss navigating cookie-cutter planetary grids and encountering the same sandworms, ambushes, and turrets ad nauseam. Being able to simply scan a planet from the Normandy for mineral deposits and other points of interest (such as missions) makes more sense when you’re working on a timetable to save the galaxy. =P The missions you do discover are also set in unique maps/areas with different objectives, which is a welcome change from the first game, where every mission seemed to involve shooting up replicas of the same intergalactic FedEx warehouse.

If I had to pick the most noticeable change of gameplay though, it would be the removal of the inventory system. I felt like I spent more time in the original Mass Effect converting redundant upgrades into Omnigel than I actually did playing the game. The last time I remember being so frustrated by a poorly-executed inventory system was in 1998 with Parasite Eve — so it is definitely an “RPG element” I don’t miss!

So here I am again, playing ME1 so that my male Shepard can be with Tali 100% and single too. Doh! Meanwhile I’m playing my female Shepard Renegade in ME2 casually, pursuing Garrus. *L*

I really loved Tali’s Loyalty mission — it felt like it was practically written for people like me (law students/law buffs). I just wish there had been more involved in the trial process, like presenting evidence to back up Shepard’s Paragon/Renegade tirades, or exonerate Tali without besmirching her father’s reputation. It was one of those things that just screamed out at needing the Phoenix Wright treatment…