I do hope to have a reasonable thought out discussion about this. Before I start though I request that you seriously think deeply about this since many of the problems do become quickly apparently under scrutiny. Also feel free to argue only one game or all of them if you so desire. Since it seems this entire console generation they have been slipping with some minor exception to Dragon Age Origins, and I do mean minor because for whatever fun it is the game has no sense of balance with mages practically being easy mode and is nearly completely unoriginal.
1: Mass Effect
While I do give Mass Effect credit for trying to blend RPG and TPS together it has some serious problems with writing and balance. Many of the dialog options are completely pointless since they all lead to your character doing the exact same thing, for example right after the beginning mission when you talk to the council the only times you talk all of your options are basically the same (for example the first one you accuse Saren of attacking the colony and the second you get angry at the council for not believing you, someone who has just come out of a temporary coma). Biotics are beyond overpowered in small rooms when they basically lift every enemy onto the ceiling and Soldiers have nearly no need for their skills at all (I managed to beat the whole game without even knowing the skills on normal). Also there are some serious holes in logic like the entire universe all speaking English (EDIT: people have said this was explained in the Codex in a PM). Then we get into more well known problems like the horrible drop rates which make menus a nightmare and the Mako which personally I didn't have a problem with but I fully understand why others do.
2. Dragon Age Origins
I'm going to be honest here I haven't played enough to know much more than the balance thing so this is only here to quickly talk about the unoriginal thing. The darkspawn just feel like fancy undead to me, the Fade is obviously the Warp from Warhammer/Warhammer 40000 and many of the other fantasy elements were never trying to be original in the first place (ex: elves, dwarves, etc). However I do give it some leniency because it was essentially Baldur's Gate 3 which was a D&D lisenced game and it's combat also feels very D&D with some modifications.
3: Mass Effect 2
Once again I managed to beat the entire game as a soldier on normal with no skills, also when I did Tali's recruitment mission on Hardcore for the geth assult rifle I honestly didn't feel challenged at all again and didn't use a single skill the entire time. I will give ME2 this at least it feels like everything has more weight. The thermal clips were easily an improvement over ME's combat where some end game weapons could basically be fired forever. Biotics feel way more powerful with moves like warp and shockwave, though are still a bit overpowered when I can knock an entire line of enemies off the railing with a single skill. Also the "mixed" classes feel like they are way more usefull with unique skills like charge and tech armor (which actually did change my entire playstyle). However the writing gets seriously abysmal at times. Every single conversation with the Illusive Man feels like nothing but BS with the game practically taunting you that you are forced to work with him, like the option to say "I'm not working for Cerberus" which leads to "I'm working with Cerberus because....". Fusing the speech skills and the morality bars was a horrible decision because, aside basically meaning if you are a dick/saint enough times you get good at persuading both dicks and saints, if you actually do the RPing in RPGs then if you even try to have a grey morality then you are screwed because many of the dialog options needing max paragon or renegade. Also once again holes in logic. How can they possibly explain everyone in the entire universe all replacing their old weapons in a year?
4: Dragon Age 2
Lets start with the combat. For an action RPG the cooldowns are way too long for that to matter and for being tactical like the original Dragon Age everything moves way too fast for a lot of tactics to be effective (ex: rouge's AOE stun skill is almost useless if they change targets since how fast enemies move). Also the trash mobs make absolutely no sense when going to fight a single enemy or small group of enemies and having 30 more spawn out of the ether.
Next story. I get they were trying to make a story about someone's rise to power rather than an epic story about saving the world. Also I will give them the sections where Varric is lying and making up some awesome lie are pretty cool. However the 3rd act makes no real sense with everyone basically attacking everything. Also leliana always being there even if you killed her is total BS.
Now writing. Ok this does not start well. Literally the starting sequence doesn't start well. As soon as the normal game starts (after Varric's little lie at the beginning) your very first dialog options are all basically the same. Also from what I've heard when talking to the very first npc in Kirkwall one of the sets of dialog options are all literally the same but I don't own the game anymore to confirm this. Characters are hit or miss but then again when aren't they? Also forcing you to romance Anders or shut him down is just bad. If you disagree just imagine that scenario in real life and tell me if that makes any sense for someone to just get pissed and not talk to you again because you aren't gay.
Now for a new topic. Retconns. Many of these are nothing but pointless like flemeth's apperance and the look of the darkspawn. Then we get to things like Leliana not being dead if you killed her. If you didn't know why that was there then the lead writer basically it didn't fit into the story HE was telling. Would the game have been better without them I don't know but all they really do is just make things inconsistent.
5: Glitches
If you were expecting SWTOR then it's way too soon to honestly talk about that. However a pattern I have notices is many of Bioware's recent games have been rife with glitches and bugs. Mass Effect has plenty of wierdness happening with graphical glitches and such then we have stuff like the game glitching so you can't leave an elevator. Dragon Age Origins still has problems and I'm afraid to keep going since last time I did the game glitched and made it so I could go neither forward or backward, also I saved after it glitched without knowing about the glitch so I quit since I didn't feel like restarting. Mass Effect 2 has tons of graphical bugs like flickering eyes from clipping and all your party members just running around when you talk with the council again. Also I've managed to get myself about 30 feet in the air without even trying by walking up a wall. DA2 was a bit unstable for me with the sound cutting out several times with no real indicator of what caused it and it crashed a few times in about 6-7 hours.
6: DLC
First off I have no problem with DLC personally but I don't like that day 1 DLC crap when it's already made and they withhold it because they can. With that said ME only had 2 pieces of DLC and one of them was free if you bought it new. DA:O has an absolute ton of DLC and that guy in your camp basically advertising the DLC was a bad move there. ME2 also has a lot of DLC but you can only use it if you have the Cerberus Network DLC so basically if you buy used you have to pay for DLC if you want to pay for any of the other DLC. I wish I couldn't believe that no one said this was a bad idea but I know they still are trying to make money. Now DA2 goes absolutely balls to the wall with its quite frankly off DLC choices. Basically making people go on a scavenger hunt across the internet (or googling it) to get a bunch of weapons was just odd but I don't get why they did it save for the ones you needed to play the facebook game to get. I can't comment on the DLC that came later since I sold the game a few days after it came out since I was not going to play it again.
If you want to argue any of these points then please go ahead. Let's try to have a reasonable discussion here. Also if I can say one quick thing about SWTOR why did they keep the dialog wheel for that when it was designed for consoles? Ok that is it sorry for the absurdly long post and now let's discuss.
EDIT: I just came up with a better title. Changing it now.
1: Mass Effect
While I do give Mass Effect credit for trying to blend RPG and TPS together it has some serious problems with writing and balance. Many of the dialog options are completely pointless since they all lead to your character doing the exact same thing, for example right after the beginning mission when you talk to the council the only times you talk all of your options are basically the same (for example the first one you accuse Saren of attacking the colony and the second you get angry at the council for not believing you, someone who has just come out of a temporary coma). Biotics are beyond overpowered in small rooms when they basically lift every enemy onto the ceiling and Soldiers have nearly no need for their skills at all (I managed to beat the whole game without even knowing the skills on normal). Also there are some serious holes in logic like the entire universe all speaking English (EDIT: people have said this was explained in the Codex in a PM). Then we get into more well known problems like the horrible drop rates which make menus a nightmare and the Mako which personally I didn't have a problem with but I fully understand why others do.
2. Dragon Age Origins
I'm going to be honest here I haven't played enough to know much more than the balance thing so this is only here to quickly talk about the unoriginal thing. The darkspawn just feel like fancy undead to me, the Fade is obviously the Warp from Warhammer/Warhammer 40000 and many of the other fantasy elements were never trying to be original in the first place (ex: elves, dwarves, etc). However I do give it some leniency because it was essentially Baldur's Gate 3 which was a D&D lisenced game and it's combat also feels very D&D with some modifications.
3: Mass Effect 2
Once again I managed to beat the entire game as a soldier on normal with no skills, also when I did Tali's recruitment mission on Hardcore for the geth assult rifle I honestly didn't feel challenged at all again and didn't use a single skill the entire time. I will give ME2 this at least it feels like everything has more weight. The thermal clips were easily an improvement over ME's combat where some end game weapons could basically be fired forever. Biotics feel way more powerful with moves like warp and shockwave, though are still a bit overpowered when I can knock an entire line of enemies off the railing with a single skill. Also the "mixed" classes feel like they are way more usefull with unique skills like charge and tech armor (which actually did change my entire playstyle). However the writing gets seriously abysmal at times. Every single conversation with the Illusive Man feels like nothing but BS with the game practically taunting you that you are forced to work with him, like the option to say "I'm not working for Cerberus" which leads to "I'm working with Cerberus because....". Fusing the speech skills and the morality bars was a horrible decision because, aside basically meaning if you are a dick/saint enough times you get good at persuading both dicks and saints, if you actually do the RPing in RPGs then if you even try to have a grey morality then you are screwed because many of the dialog options needing max paragon or renegade. Also once again holes in logic. How can they possibly explain everyone in the entire universe all replacing their old weapons in a year?
4: Dragon Age 2
Lets start with the combat. For an action RPG the cooldowns are way too long for that to matter and for being tactical like the original Dragon Age everything moves way too fast for a lot of tactics to be effective (ex: rouge's AOE stun skill is almost useless if they change targets since how fast enemies move). Also the trash mobs make absolutely no sense when going to fight a single enemy or small group of enemies and having 30 more spawn out of the ether.
Next story. I get they were trying to make a story about someone's rise to power rather than an epic story about saving the world. Also I will give them the sections where Varric is lying and making up some awesome lie are pretty cool. However the 3rd act makes no real sense with everyone basically attacking everything. Also leliana always being there even if you killed her is total BS.
Now writing. Ok this does not start well. Literally the starting sequence doesn't start well. As soon as the normal game starts (after Varric's little lie at the beginning) your very first dialog options are all basically the same. Also from what I've heard when talking to the very first npc in Kirkwall one of the sets of dialog options are all literally the same but I don't own the game anymore to confirm this. Characters are hit or miss but then again when aren't they? Also forcing you to romance Anders or shut him down is just bad. If you disagree just imagine that scenario in real life and tell me if that makes any sense for someone to just get pissed and not talk to you again because you aren't gay.
Now for a new topic. Retconns. Many of these are nothing but pointless like flemeth's apperance and the look of the darkspawn. Then we get to things like Leliana not being dead if you killed her. If you didn't know why that was there then the lead writer basically it didn't fit into the story HE was telling. Would the game have been better without them I don't know but all they really do is just make things inconsistent.
5: Glitches
If you were expecting SWTOR then it's way too soon to honestly talk about that. However a pattern I have notices is many of Bioware's recent games have been rife with glitches and bugs. Mass Effect has plenty of wierdness happening with graphical glitches and such then we have stuff like the game glitching so you can't leave an elevator. Dragon Age Origins still has problems and I'm afraid to keep going since last time I did the game glitched and made it so I could go neither forward or backward, also I saved after it glitched without knowing about the glitch so I quit since I didn't feel like restarting. Mass Effect 2 has tons of graphical bugs like flickering eyes from clipping and all your party members just running around when you talk with the council again. Also I've managed to get myself about 30 feet in the air without even trying by walking up a wall. DA2 was a bit unstable for me with the sound cutting out several times with no real indicator of what caused it and it crashed a few times in about 6-7 hours.
6: DLC
First off I have no problem with DLC personally but I don't like that day 1 DLC crap when it's already made and they withhold it because they can. With that said ME only had 2 pieces of DLC and one of them was free if you bought it new. DA:O has an absolute ton of DLC and that guy in your camp basically advertising the DLC was a bad move there. ME2 also has a lot of DLC but you can only use it if you have the Cerberus Network DLC so basically if you buy used you have to pay for DLC if you want to pay for any of the other DLC. I wish I couldn't believe that no one said this was a bad idea but I know they still are trying to make money. Now DA2 goes absolutely balls to the wall with its quite frankly off DLC choices. Basically making people go on a scavenger hunt across the internet (or googling it) to get a bunch of weapons was just odd but I don't get why they did it save for the ones you needed to play the facebook game to get. I can't comment on the DLC that came later since I sold the game a few days after it came out since I was not going to play it again.
If you want to argue any of these points then please go ahead. Let's try to have a reasonable discussion here. Also if I can say one quick thing about SWTOR why did they keep the dialog wheel for that when it was designed for consoles? Ok that is it sorry for the absurdly long post and now let's discuss.
EDIT: I just came up with a better title. Changing it now.
