The biggest and most welcome perk is most likely the “open world” alteration, where all locations remain accessible. Nothing was as unsatisfying as this in 1, being cut off and shut out. It doesn’t matter if all quests were finished, it isn’t even important if all quests were discovered in the first place. The world map allows a return at any time (while not on story quests). They were very consequent with this change in game design. Places even progress, after story quests are done there. New people arrive, dialog options adapt to the new situation, sometimes new quests await… As if this wasn’t great enough, a Mass Effect 2/GTA is pulled here, because the game doesn’t necessarily end with the main story. After the ending credits it’s possible to return to the ship, to hunt down overlooked quests and the like (and people are once again aware of this in dialogs!). No pressure is added, where none should be. Cool!
