Relics of RPGs Past
I am about 80% done with Mass Effect 2 now. Rynala wrapped up the game on her character yesterday. Being a bit of a completionist myself, I have been doing every little side quest possible before moving forward with the story. For Rynala, she was lukewarm on the first game. She saw the game as "good, but flawed". She was originally reluctant to event start playing ME2. Now, she loves the game so much that she just started her second play through. She is probably even more excited than me for Mass Effect 3.
Many of my friends have finished the game as well and while most are giving it nothing but praise, there are some that think the game has drifted too far from the RPG roots. You can see this sentiment echoed in various places on the internet. Personally, I feel this game is just as much of an RPG as the original and the areas of the game that were changed were areas that did not enhance the game originally.
One friend of mine complained about the lack of inventory. He wanted more guns to drop and more variety. Personally, I do not see the point. In ME2, there are 2-6 different weapons for each slot. Each weapon has different pros and cons. One weapon may have higher damage but another may have higher accuracy while another may hold more ammunition. You are allowed to pick a gun that fits your style and go with it. In Mass Effect 1, people just kept upgrading to the best guns until they got the Spectre weapons and then they would never upgrade their guns again. Now, you pick the gun you like and that will always be the best gun. You can still upgrade its damage and accuracy through the tech lab but you do not have to spend half the game dealing with an inventory full of guns you will never use anyway.
To me, an RPG is not about constantly fiddling with the inventory or allocating stat points. To me, a role playing game is about playing a role. It is playing the personality of the character and changing the world around me. So many of the things that were trimmed off Mass Effect 1 make sense. They are shackles of the past that are just busy work. Streamlining role playing games is not a bad thing. I would much prefer more time playing the character out in the world and less time having to check spreadsheets and min-max characters. When playing games, we need to ask ourselves: "Is this really enhancing the game or is this just busy work?"