In Japan -> No
In the USA -> Yes, because it's the best thing we've gotten after Oblivion > Fallout 3 > Borderlands then Dragon Age. Also because of our racism to JRPG's, except Final Fantasy.

RPGs have always still been here. I know I will get flamed for saying this buy in MYYYY opinion. I think The Last Remnant is better than Mass Effect 1 + 2.

May get it next week friday, since it's Half-term and I want to treat myself.

The OP is essentially incorrect. I write tabletop roleplaying games for a living. Mass Effect, for all it is a fun game, is very far from a traditional (or even indie) tabletop RPG. In fact, it's miles from it. Dragon Age (as a single example amongst many) is closer. So much so it even has a tabletop iteration written by Chris Pramas (used to work on D&D, wrote WFRP2, head of Green Ronin). Still, Dragon Age is also far from a traditional tabletop RPG. It's just too restrictive. Too scripted. But at least it has tools to create your own adventures, something Mass Effect does not have...

i played on an internet cafe you MISTER WHO KNOWS EVERYTHING

RPG's were in nowhere land?

I disagree.

I would also say Dragon Age: Origins is more of a "tabletop RPG" than anything released this gen, from what i have played.

And Baldur's Gate 2 is more RPG than any game i've played in the past 19 years.

ME2 is fun, but it is pretty much a J-dating sim with TPS missions in between.

I don't really believe RPG's were in Nowhere Land.

I would also like to point out that Demon's Souls is the most Innovative RPG I've played this Gen, that game deserves recognition.

I've played a bit of Mass Effect 2, its a really good game, I just don't feel it did anything that hasn't been done before in some way. Its my favorite Bioware game though.

I`m not a fan of Mass Effect`s Gears of War-esque combat (obviously it`s not completely like GoW since you have skills but you know what I mean). Different strokes.

RPGs were not in nowhere land prior to ME2. Western RPGs have been going strong for awhile now. You have your Bethesda rpgs (Elder Scrolls, Fallout), you have your Bioware rpgs (Mass Effect, Dragon Age, KOTOR) and you have Fable.

Jrpgs are the ones that have been hurting on consoles. The audience for this genre is moving away. And rightfully so, the genre is getting stale. Jrpgs don`t need to be like wrpgs. If anything, I think jrpgs need to borrow pages from the srpg playbook instead. Combat design wise. And they need to trim down on the narrative (much of which is pretty bad and overrated) and the whole `going around town talking to people so that you are allowed to progress the plot` tedious crap like that. I think Etrian Odyssey is a positive example to follow. Little to no narrative (thank you) allows the developers to focus on gameplay. Only catch is that the game is too hardcore for a mainstream audience. Of course there is stuff like Demon`s Souls on consoles but games like Demon`s Souls are not the target of my criticism. Demon`s Souls is Japanese-made and has RPG elements but so do SRPGs and you don`t call those jrpgs. They are from different genres.

I don't think so. From what I've seen and heard, Mass Effect 2 steered the series away from RPG and way more into action/adventure.