BioWare: JRPGs suffer from 'lack of evolution'

[Reasonable]

loves2splooge said:

I'm playing through Mass Effect right now and to be quite honest, I'm not really digging it. I don't mind wrpgs but it depends on the wrpg (the same can be said about my view of jrpgs). I liked Fable II. I really liked the "Sims"-like elements of Fable II. Buying up properties and raising prices through the roof to make yourself rich and pissing off all the villagers, going around sleeping with a bunch of people and spreading STDs (threesomes, orgies and committing adultery is always fun. "Get away from my husband you strumpet!"), being able to kill civilians whenever they piss you off or just for fun. Mass Effect may be seen as a more traditional wrpg compared to Fable (which is more of a casual wrpg) but Fable II was fun. And to be quite honest I'm not really digging Mass Effect's combat. I just can't get into it. Maybe I'll grow to like it. Who knows.

I have wondered if maybe it's because I'm not that experienced with shooters but I DID love Crackdown (TPS/vertical sandbox to be precise) and Borderlands looks like it would be a lot of fun (First-person Diablo with guns). Though on the other hand, I wasn't crazy about Gears 2's single-player campaign. While I liked Gears of War 2 at first, the single-player campaign felt tedious after awhile and I just wanted to get it over with. And to me ME felt like KOTOR and Gears of War made a baby so maybe that's why I'm not crazy about the combat. Maybe I just prefer a more run n gun type of shooter as opposed to more slow-paced tactical shooters (like ME and Gears). When I think shooter, I want something that gets your adrenaline going. Not these slow-paced affairs.

It might be that the shooting and combat in ME was distinctly average and not that polished - at least IMHO.  ME to me was a success and got the plaudits it did because it seemed to a console audience to be amazing (much like Bioshock before it) vs the real benchmark for such titles, and because it seemed to offer a much more action/combat experience in line wth popular Western tastes, not because it really was an amazing game, because I'd argue it wasn't.  It's a good game with some damn poor design (the inventory system for a start is awful from people with Bioware's experience and other examples in the genre) and a very familiar and borrowed plot.  Still good, and I'll definately get ME2, but I have a hunch that, when ME2 arrives, it'll be what many were making ME to be in the first place.

Still, I'll take a solid new IP with flaws that delivers a superior sequel over the latest iteration of a tired franchise anyday.