Inventory:
The first Mass Effect had, and will probably remain to have the most RPG elements of any entry in the series. One area where this is very clear is the inventory. There is plenty of loot to take from dead enemies and unguarded containers, including weapons, weapon mods, armors, armor mods, grenades, grenade mods, class mods, and so on. All of the items that you'll acquire (and there are many) are thrown unceremoniously into a big list that has no sorting options whatsoever. Finding the best weapon, armor, and grenade for your class really depends on finding the needle in the haystack, and finding the equipment with the best statistics. Party members must have their inventories manually handled. Also annoying, is that the weapons have different statistics, but they rarely behave differently. If you pick up an assault rifle, you'll always know that it will be automatic and fast firing, a lack of variety that hurts the loot. However, the modifications you can equip to your various pieces of equipment can modify your play style drastically, and every armor looks different. The less-than-optimal UI for the inventory was more of an issue in the 360 version, but still remained annoying on the PC.
Mass Effect 2 "solves" this issue by removing inventory entirely. The closest you'll get to loot in Mass Effect 2 is a number of scripted scenes where a new weapon is found. Weapons can be upgraded, but there is no choice involved, since every upgrade makes the weapon better, and none of the upgrades override each other. Most of the "loot" you'll find in the missions are either stashes of currency, or medkits (which, when you have the maximum amount, turn into more currency), and every once in a while a weapon upgrade schematic is found.
Mass Effect 3 hopes to strike a balance between the two, at least according to Bioware developer Jesse Houston. The inventory system will exist in Mass Effect 3, but it will be far more fluid, and players who want to not use it at all have the option. "It's deep, it's going to be very fluid, and we'll get you in and out of that screen quickly," We'll see.
Skill Trees
Skill trees in the original Mass Effect have several layers and prerequisites for unlocking those layers. Certain abilities will never be unlocked by certain classes, some abilities are unlocked by having a certain number of points in another ability, and each skill that you level up has several ranks which each have multiple effects, both statistical and overt. You can choose to either manually level up your party members, or let the game auto level them. The inventory is affected by the skill tree, not letting you use certain armors until you have points invested in them. Both Charm and Intimidate, Paragon and Renegade versions of persuasion respectively, are leveled up on the skill tree, and impact large sections of the game. For instance, you can avoid several small fights, and an entire boss fight if you have a high enough Charm or Intimidate. It is also near impossible to unlock even 2/3 of the skill tree, so player choices are important.
Skill trees in Mass Effect 2, on the other hand, have very few skills to improve, but each with large effects on gameplay, rather than multiple statistical effects. At the final rank of each skill, you can choose to specialize in a particular direction, most of the time, either giving you offensive or defensive specialization. While there was one generic skill tree across every class in Mass Effect, with the abilities being locked off per class, Mass Effect 2 simply changes the skill tree per class. Another ability can be learned by gaining the loyalty of party members. Charm and Intimidate options on the skill tree are dashed in favor of tying Persuasion to how many Paragon or Renegade points you have, meaning that if you want to play the game effectively, you must choose one type of dialogue at all times. The effects of persuasion are diminished as well, never having scenarios as grand as avoiding entire boss fights. If you play the game effectively, you can easily unlock most of the skill tree, making the choices seem less meaningful.
Mass Effect 3, once again, wants to strike a balance between these two very separate design philosophies. It will certainly have a larger skill tree than Mass Effect 2, though this won't be as complex and time consuming as the original Mass Effect. There is also a mix of both statistical upgrades and the larger gameplay changes of Mass Effect 2.
Combat
Though all of the Mass Effect games take place in real time (with the option to pause), the original Mass Effect is probably where you will pause the most. Pausing is necessary, both to queue up the string of attacks and movements of your party members, and to manage your numerous abilities and ammo types. Speaking of which, there are several different ammo modifications and types which have different effects on different enemy types. Disruptor ammo is great against shields, but Tungsten rounds are even better for synthetic targets. Bullets can poison, pierce, or shock your foes. Health is allocated into two sections: Health and Shields. Shields are a bi-product of armor and skills, and Health is upgraded through the skill tree exclusively. Shields can be boosted by biotics or Engineering abilities. There are three main class types, with three different hybrids in between: Soldier, Biotic, and Engineer. These different classes change the way you play in significant ways from the very first level.
There are multiple sequences where you man the Mako, a space rover with rockets and machine guns that can decimate normal enemies with ease -- as long as they are above or equal to its horizon line. Unfortunately, while designing the Mako, Earth's top engineers couldn't solve the simple problem of aiming down! You fight on rough terrain in these sequences, meaning plenty of hills and rocks, which exacerbates the issue. That, along with the party AI, high recoil on weapons, and awkward close quarters combat, create an exciting, unique, but ultimately flawed combat model in Mass Effect.
There are multiple sequences where you man the Mako, a space rover with rockets and machine guns that can decimate normal enemies with ease -- as long as they are above or equal to its horizon line. Unfortunately, while designing the Mako, Earth's top engineers couldn't solve the simple problem of aiming down! You fight on rough terrain in these sequences, meaning plenty of hills and rocks, which exacerbates the issue. That, along with the party AI, high recoil on weapons, and awkward close quarters combat, create an exciting, unique, but ultimately flawed combat model in Mass Effect.
In Mass Effect 2, it is far less necessary to pause the game due to improved real time party commands. Combat is faster, with quicker cover animations, and smaller enemy health bars. There are different types of ammo that are effective against certain enemy types, but more importantly, against certain armor types. Unlike Mass Effect, ME2 has three different armor types: Shield, Biotic Barrier, and Armor. These different armors require different abilities and ammo types to effectively eradicate, and the game quickly throws enemies with different armor types at you, meaning you'll switch ammo types and strategies quickly, rather than remain on one loadout for an entire level. Classes are each given one special ability that makes them unique, such as slow motion for the Soldier, and a powerful biotic charge for the Vanguard. Weapons, like in the original, are satisfying here.
There are no vehicles in the main game, though one was added for DLC. While it controls far better, the mission itself is short and not as seamless as the transition between on foot combat and vehicles. The close quarters combat is far better, as well. Unity, an ability that only trained Spectres could have in the original, is now used as your medkit in Mass Effect 2.
There are no vehicles in the main game, though one was added for DLC. While it controls far better, the mission itself is short and not as seamless as the transition between on foot combat and vehicles. The close quarters combat is far better, as well. Unity, an ability that only trained Spectres could have in the original, is now used as your medkit in Mass Effect 2.
Mass Effect 3 takes the trend of Mass Effect 2 further, making the combat faster, and the melee combat more effective, with the comically sized Omni-Blade. These can be used stealthily, or just to take out a close enemy quickly. The weapons are similar to the ones found in Mass Effect 2. Rather than have controllable vehicles, Mass Effect 3 has on rails turret sequences. This -- sounds like a strange decision, to say the least, but I hope they will be used as tastefully as possible.
