If it weren't for framerate issues and texture pop-in Mass Effect would easily compete with Gears 1 and Uncharted graphically.

Certainly it has some of the best character models around to this day. The second game could get away with not making any graphical upgrades as long as it fixes that damn pop-in.

I don't see that much of a difference.  But the first one is still one of the better looking games out, and i'm sure when ME2 comes out we will see a pretty noticable difference between the two.  My guess it will probably be almost as good looking as Gears 2.

I think for Mass Effect 2 they mainly focused on fixing the framerate issues and texture problems. I mean, what would you rather have, a big upgrade of graphics, but still the same problems, or similar graphics, but no issues at all? Now that they've tackled that problem, they can focus a bit more on the graphics themselves for Mass Effect 3. In my opinion there's nothing to be dissappointed about...

Well...I thought the first game looked great, so any improvement over the original is a plus! The magic of Mass Effect was the story, imho, not the graphics, and the bane was that FREAKING inventory system...I want to see reports on THAT...not graphics, which were just fine, imho.

Not groundbreaking improvements, but its not like the first game had bad visuals

I'll have to see pics of Tali before I can make an any kind of assessment.

I'm playing mass effect on my pc at the moment, and for the most part, the game looks MUCH better than what those screenshots would suggest.

I have been wondering about how they will improve the graphics considering it will be a good 2 years in development since it's come out, and from the screenshots I've seen/videos I've watched of Mass Effect 2 I can't see a huge difference. That said, while playing Mass Effect - some parts look awesome while other parts looks rather plain so I'm hoping that even if Mass Effect 2 isn't a huge leap over Mass Effect, it will at least look consistenly as good as the best parts of the first game.

Still too early to tell in my opinion. At least bioware have stated they've fixed the appalling elevator sequences...

Exactly...cleaner lines, sharper images...ALSO...they are still fine tuning the game...as it doesn't get released until next spring...so there is a TON of time to get things looking prettier...what I want is a prettier inventory...did I already say that?  I'd like a bigger city scape as well.  The Citadel was nice...but there wasn't any empty space...which was a drag...I don't want open world...but certianly more open space than the previous.  I'll glad lvoe to see the final game of the trilogy going multi-disc.

sorry for the noob question

what is framerate exactly? is it like or could it be compared to lag?

Lol...never thought about it that way...but I guess you could call it graphical lag.