Opinions are for things involving quality. Linearity is not such a matter. Those characters have no bearing on the plot of the game whatsoever, and until we see what purpose they have in the second game, we won't know if the affected that either. I love Mass Effect, it's a great game, but stop trying to pretend it's something it's not. It's not some unique WRPG full of unique and branching choices and moral decisions. Everything in it is part of a few scripted and linear paths.

And that reviewer obviously

1)  Has a great dislike of most JRPGs

2) Didn't play past Navyblue Marsh.  (Probably just started the area)

Yet, he felt qualified to talk about the game?

Look, he even got several major facts about the game incorrect in his review.

1) He said that characters outside of the party do not gain SP (Skill Points).

This is completely false.  Anyone who has put any significant time into the game would know that, as one of the things you do reguarly is go into the WoW like skill trees to customize your characters.

2) He points at the screenshot on page2 of the review and proclaims that the blue girl there opposite Juto is Celestine.

This is completely in-accurate.  That is basically the mayor of the More people.  Celestine looks nothing like her and becomes a member of your party.  Anyone who had played the game past that point in any significant quantity would definately know what one of the six party members looked like.

Now, being that I am roughly 30% of my way into the game I will say the following about it.

It is not an "omg amazing"  JRPG.  What it is, is better than most JRPGs that I have played this generation.  I would rank it below stuff like ToV, Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey.  But so far (mind you only 30% through) slightly above Infinite Undiscovery, Star Ocean 4, and all the SRPGs on the 360.  It is about on par with Last Remnant so far as fun factor and interesting story.

The world is very colorful and has many unique and interesting areas.   The story is not laid bare in front of the user, nor is it os obscure that you feel like they are pulling facts out of thin air to justify plot changes.  It just works so far.

In regards to the battle system, I am actually growing to like it, especially now that I am far enough in the game for the difficulty to have ramped up.  The Chain Break system takes a bit of getting used to, but once you get the hang of it you just breeze right through swapping out characters.  You can easily tell who you should switch to simply by looking at each characters stamina guage and available Kan prior to swapping once you overheat your existing character.  After you pop into a character, you can even pause the game briefly by pulling the right trigger and pick which Spell or Skill you want to use while on that character.  It is a fairly complex, but well defined combat system.

The achievements are quite possibly some of the most sane ones in a JRPG to date.  Unlike The Last Remnant, I don't have to follow a detailed faq just to have a chance of getting all of the quests.  All of them are marked on your map as you go around towns.  You only have to be a bit careful to turn them in before heading off for more plot.

So far, I would say that if you are looking for a fun, relaxing, and pretty well written JRPG; Magna Carta 2 is definately worth your consideration.  Will it have your jaw dropping or you kneeling in admiration?  No.  Will you enjoy the time you spent playing the game and generally feel like it was time well spent? I do believe so.

I have to agree with naznatips here. Although I loved Mass Effect, not once did I feel that I could change the outcome of the plot in any meaningful way

Besides, it isn't as if similar choices hadn't been presented in JRPGs before. For example: Shadow's fate at the mid-way point of Final Fantasy VI presented you with a choice of life or death - albeit, a very discrete one; Persona offers many choices as well, most of which affect stats, dialogue and side-stories, but never affect the plot in any meaningful way, what with it having only two endings (I think). Not unlike Mass Effect.

I mean, surely if there were a plethora of choices in the game, each having an unknown amount of consequences, there would be more than only four possible eventual plot paths? Half of which is solely decided in the last part of the game - sacrifice or save the council.

That really doesn't allow much for having your actions determining the plot.

Anyhow, on topic (I have a feeling I'm going to regret going off topic on this): I dunno. I haven't played Magna Carta 2 yet. I plan on renting it the weekend but I have my reservations about it. I couldn't play much of the first. I thought it was awful.

It has some stiff competition and I think it's unlikely that it'll compare favourably - for me,  namely Chrono Trigger, DQ V, P4 and Disgaea 2. Sure, most of them are remakes but are, nonetheless, great games.

I think the spoiler point might be the most signifigant point of you making a decision to go left or right, but it's not going to be realized until ME2...and I'm waiting to see how that plays out.  In general, I agree with Naznatips about the gamer's overall ability to effect the game's outcome...sure, you might choose to save  a character here or there, but it's not like you can preemptively end the game by getting Saren early.  I'll say this for Fallout...there's more flexibility with that game...I regretted not saving the Sheriff...but even there in general, you're still heading for a similar ending decision tree.

I consider this a sexRPG. Anybody claiming otherwise is out of thier minds. This game is some pretty good FAPing material. Even the male characters make you want to bang them.

Joke thread?

Yeah, it'll certainly be interesting to see how it plays out. I'm curious as to what will be the default starting point in the sequel. As in, if you had skipped the first game or had had you save file deleted.

Well, I wasn't referring to the characteristics per se. I just assumed that RPG names go by where the developer is based.

But in terms of characteristics, it feels more Western.

I think it's possible to start the PS3 on ME2...I can't see EA returning those rights back to M$ to publish the game.