Mass Effect and thoughts on changes between games

I haven't actually finished Mass Effect - I have all of the party members and I've finished the plot-important events in Feros and Noveria. I'm stalling before I go to Virmire, because since I played ME2 first, I know what happens there. So I'm finishing sidequests and helping out my crew before I go there.

So these thoughts are less about plot, so far, and more about gameplay. There are things in each game that I like, and there are things that I wish had been in both games. Overall I like the series; most of these are fairly small things. (I should read the novels at some point... I'd play the cell phone game too, just for the plot, if I had a phone that could actually play games. :p)

( Spoilers for both Mass Effect games, especially the second. )