That's simply the genre - the traditional J-RPG style game. Not a flaw, but a function. Like when people complain that Korean or Indian food is "too spicy" -> thats how its supposed to be, anything else makes it a different game.
I dont know about that, but personaly i think the mass effect decision making structure is better for rpg, TLS feels like a threshold optimization. It is a game intended to be dissected and min-maxed, rather than simply played.
For example, the game hides the math. You might see "+RP Robin" or "+Investment," but you rarely see the threshold you are aiming for, the game doesn't tell you "You need X Investment to open the War Vault." It just gives you a choice.
If you fail a check in Mass Effect (e.g., you can't save the Salarian councilor, or Wrex dies on Virmire), the game adapts. You don't lose the ability to shoot guns or use biotics. You get a different scene. The game continues to function at 100% capacity, even if the story is sadder or darker. Mass Effect wants you to live with your regret; TLS wants you to restart your save file.
In Mass Effect, big decisions are clearly framed as big decisions. You almost always know in the moment that something important is happening, rather than quietly setting a hidden flag that bricks your run 50 hours later, also, consequences are primarily narrative and adaptive, not mechanical locks: your choices shape the story, who lives/dies, and which allies you get, but they rarely hide core content behind obscure, distant resource thresholds or force you to play with a guide to avoid being soft-locked.
In the end this is just preferences, i still enjoyed the game, but there is no way in hell i will do multiple playthroughs, i prefer a branching narrative style.
