Snuggler said:
MegaKungFooRadio pretty much nailed it, in my opinion. About 95% of the weapons, armor and mods you'd find were garbage/clutter/useless. It didn't help there was almost no need for money, you could sell them but halfway through the game you had more money than you could spend. Yeah, they could have just tried to keep it the same and improved it but I much prefer the system of upgrading your weapons. Not only do you still make progress towards having more powerful weapons throughout the game but finding/buying new upgrades is actually worthwhile and satisfying unlike finding the occasional good item among all the garbage.
The upgrade system for weapons is fine...but I don't think the same holds true for armor. What makes the new system for weapons interesting is that the weapons actually do different things that you can see and feel, i.e. going from the assault rifle to the LMG, or the basic sniper to the auto-sniper.
Putting on a new piece of gear doesn't give nearly as tangible benefits.
I know you can go through the whole game without changing your armor at all (at least on normal for my first playthrough), it's not nearly as big a factor statistically as it was in the first game.
But honestly, there's only the "basic" N7 gear, and one, maybe two different choices for a suit of armor, of which one is a clear upgrade and one is more of a "gimmick".
Don't get me wrong, being able to fully color your armor and such is pretty nice, but it just still seems a bit lacking.
Having like 3 or 4 choices for each piece, like one for weapon damage, one for shields, one for power damage, and one for health would have still made not nearly as much a mess, yet still offered customization options.
I know you could use the "bonus suits", but I like being able to see Shepard's face. The animations in Mass Effect play a large role in delivering Shepard's voice, so not being able to see past the Collector helmet seems boring.
And because of this the Vanguard class suffers terribly
Yeah, I find myself using the machine pistol a lot more then the shotgun, even up close, it seems lacking that "oomph" that they had in the first game.
It doesn't help that I'm also not a fan of the straight on angle of her face. Side view is OK, but directly I find it disturbing as fuck.
the lighting in that room doesn't do her any favors either. When she's not sitting at the desk, she looks fine, but when that glow hits her, it gets a bit awkward.