But let's agree that it's not a "good RPG" - I'd argue that it's not an RPG at all. It's an action with some RPG elements that add flavour.
I agree it's it's not even an "RPG", maybe if I reallyyyy stretch my definition. But my main point was that it wasn't an "improvement on every element of ME1" like the post I replied to claimed.
1. The point I'll grant is that yes, the story "explanation" of why ammo exists in the first place was silly. But from a gameplay mechanic standpoint it served a very clear purpose - forced you to switch between weapons and prevented you from using the same gun all the time during protracted engagements. And other things like that.
From a gameplay perspective, it didn't work. That's why if I even waved away my hate for a shit cover shooter by even accepting it as a "sidegrade". I've played through the game multiple times on the highest difficuly and easier ones, only once have I ever had a problem with ammo. The heat sinks are lying around randomly all the time, and the enemies will drop them too, and that was even using an infiltrator who's restricted to a sniper and smg. On the other hand, ME3 caused more ammo issues despite you being able to equip all the guns you want (with the added weight mechanic). That worked because I took the risk of choosing less weapons for faster cooldowns. That's my whole point, if you're going to destroy the unique & interesting part of the combat, make it better, which is what ME3 did not ME2.
2. You never defined "the cover shooter issue" therefore I don't know what is exacerbated. I take it you don't like cover shooters - cool. I don't either usually. One of the ME series strengths is that they're basically cover shooters that are acceptable and still fun for players who usually never play cover shooters.
The cover shooter issue is exacerbated by my other points. Only once throughout the whole game needed to leave cover because the mechanic that requires you to leave doesn't work plus global cooldowns. So it's sit in the same piece of cover --> wait for global cooldowns --> kill all enemies in the wave --> repeat. This was not an issue in either ME1 or ME3.
3. And this is a problem why? I mean, I understand that this is silly in terms of worldbuilding but gameplay-wise these worked fine.
I can conceded this point, despite being retarded. It wasn't in ME1 or ME3 (a far better version of ME2), so just another example of a big part of gameplay that's not an "upgrade to ME1".
4. "on the higher difficulties" - you refer to that a few times including later when you compare the three games and mention armor. I believe the problem is shit balancing of higher difficulties and not "useless classes", and poor difficulty level balancing is something that Bioware has always done ever since their games started to have adjustable difficulties.
No, again, this is not a problem in ME1 or ME3. This is purely an ME2 problem and again goes back to my main point of talking about all the major parts of ME2 that are not a "direct upgrade to ME1. Although biotics are fucked even in lower difficulties in ME2 due to the limited moments you can use them.
5. Look. ME story was always full of holes and undercooked. The Mass Effect worldbuilding fell apart when you poked a stick at it since the first game and kept being like that ever since. It was always a collection of sometimes cool sci-fi tropes and concepts put together in a world that really made barely any sense.
ME1 was still relatively internally consistent. ME2 goes more ridiculous about it, which again isn't an "upgrade". Although to really get into it would require an entire separate conversation dissecting the story.
I don't get how can we talk about "narrative cohesion" and complain about ammo clips when we're talking about a world where biotics exist but have no real impact on the world, you're a super powerful (reportedly) SPECTRE agent but that has no real impact on the world and the interactions people you meet, "the council" is a group of three doofuses etc etc. It's all pulp that requires a lot of suspension of disbelief to stand straight.
I'll reiterate: The Mass Effect games never had good writing or believable worldbuilding. The plot holes you mention in ME2 - I could spend days writing up all the fundamental ridiculous problems with the setting that were introduced in ME1 and always waved away. I don't think the series ever really gunned for serious narrative consistency or proper worldbuilding and therefore I think it's probably best not to judge it for it.
You were never a "super powerful SPECTRE" in ME1. You were a top human soldier, yes, who was in the right place at the right time to be able to get yourself to the end of the game with the help of a select few. In ME2, "he's a bloody icon".
Then do it. ME1 is still much more consistent. But as you've shown, you think all of them are ridiculous, so unless you're claiming the internal consistency of ME2 is better it doesn't go against the original point of my previous post.
6. You'll need to substantiate that statement with something - I personally don't see the negative affect.
Global cooldown which further exacerbates the cover shooting in ME2 is not an upgrade to the ME1 system. Again, ME3 did it better despite using that global cooldown because that can be considered an upgrade, not ME2.
It seems to me that your core issue is that you want/expect a specific kind of a game with a specific set of design choices and ME2 is simply not it. This is fine and that's your preference, but the problem is that you're trying to elevate your personal preference to something that looks like an objective assessment of quality and that's just not really working out.
Wrong. I never talk against ME3's combat despite it being different than I want/expect so your little thesis there doesn't mean anything. My core issue is that ME2's combat is at best a generic, middle of the ground cover shooter which is not an upgrade in ME1, and ME2 is not "much better in pretty much every department" to ME1.
In ME2 they refined it a lot and delivered a tighter, much better game in pretty much every department.
Production values really influence you that much? With the Legendary Edition your point holds even less weight now.