Mass Effect 2. True RPG?

Being a frequent poster on the Bioware forums I have come across quite a few complaints about this game. Well not a few, many.

While most of the views of the game are similar, Amazing Visuals, Great Voice Acting, etc.
Some say that Mass Effect 2 is "Gears of War with dialog"

Now the term "RPG" has been thrown around alot these days with games that can be considered something else. Like Fallout or Oblivion, which could both be considered more Action Adventure.

So is Mass Effect 2 a Shooter with RPG elements? Or a RPG with Shooter elements?

Many seem to agree that Mass Effect is the RPG and Mass Effect 2 is the Shooter.

What are your opinions about the RPG/Shooter argument?

its a rpg to the core just becuase you dont take turns or level up traditionaly makes it no less of a rpg. your playing a role that you have influence over hence ME2 is a rpg. i would say more so then FF

I'll post the link to the thread so you guys can see what I am talking about.

http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/103/index/851078/9#910483

Its an RPG with a shooter element, but from the perspective ME1 was more of an RPG then ME2.

It's an RPG, plain and simple. Is it like a JRPG? No. Is it an RPG in the far superior western style? Absolutely.

How do you define an RPG?

All it needs is three basic things:

Play the role of a character - Check

Build that character through some kind of skill/experience system - Check

Do things that effect the story, characters, and outcome of the game - Check

I'd say it's more of an RPG then most JRPGs. The battle system in Final Fantasy for example has nothing to do with it being an RPG and neither does the combat in Mass Effect.

What game has consequences that carry through an entire trilogy that will dramatically change the way you play the game... Mass Effect 2.

IMO no other RPG has even come close to achieving true "role-playing" than Mass Effect 2.
As for the shooting, its not that similar to Gears since Gears has a much faster cover system, although that might not seem like a lot, it dramatically changes everything.

343_Guilty_Spark wrote:

It's an RPG, plain and simple. Is it like a JRPG? No. Is it an RPG in the far superior western style? Absolutely.

How do you define an RPG?

All it needs is three basic things:

Play the role of a character - Check

Build that character through some kind of skill/experience system - Check

Do things that effect the story, characters, and outcome of the game - Check

I'd say it's more of an RPG then most JRPGs. The battle system in Final Fantasy for example has nothing to do with it being an RPG and neither does the combat in Mass Effect.

QFT

And the best thing about it is that it's not generic like any of those goddamn jrpgs >.<