Mass Effect 2 and what this means for gaming.

Mass Effect 2 revolutionizes what a sequel should be in the western RPG market.
I finished Mass Effect 2 and I can safely say that it is the best western RPG I have ever played. It now ranks in my top 10 favorite RPGs of all time and I am venturing a guess that this game will have no rival in terms of what a sequel does to evolve a storyline.
Mass Effect 2 as stated in my last post, is the follow up to Mass Effect...duh. In Mass Effect there are tens of hundreds of choices a player can make that shapes the plot of Mass Effect, but as the saying goes "all roads lead to Rome" so to do all choices in Mass Effect lead to the end goal of the game. Regardless of how players chose to get there, the end destination is the same for every player save a couple minor details.
That is, until Mass Effect 2 game along. Never in my life as a gamer have I ever been shown the consequences of my actions on a longer time-line. I will say that it is one of the most awe-inspiring moments to see that all of those good choices I made in Mass Effect are so far reaching that they even help countless others in Mass Effect 2.
Knowing now that my consequences have actions, choices became even harder to make and had more impact. Choice no longer became "Do you skin this family alive for lying to you, or do you let them go?" I now had to debate on what the consequences of my actions would have to be in the long run.
Perhaps my next statement is a tad to early to tell, but it could be that BioWare is making a statement to the players of the game. Saying "Wake up gamers, choices do exist and they have consequences."
While this statement may seem an obvious one, how often do we see gamers choosing games over family or other obligations. I love games and always will,but a problem with my peers seems to be a general separation from the choices that they are making. Even now as I write this blog, I wonder if this would not be better a discussion to have in a public forum open for debate and the kind of feedback that one can only receive while having genuine human interaction. But, I guess that's a topic for another day.