The Paragon vs Renegade approach to morality in Mass Effect was something that fans of the series really enjoyed, but Bioware's Mac Walters recently explained to the Official Xbox Magazine (via GamesRadar) that it's gone, and they have their reasons for the choice.
"Paragon and Renegade is gone. The reason they're gone is because they felt very Shepard - they were very tied to the Shepard character, so they didn't really make sense if we weren't going to have Shepard as our protagonist," he explained. "What we have now is based more around agreeing and disagreeing. The reason I like that is because in the trilogy it's like, 'I'm gonna play Paragon,' and then you know which way you're moving the stick on every conversation. You don't have to think about it, because you're just going to hit Paragon every time."
"With agree and disagree it changes by the circumstance and it changes by the character you're talking to, so you have to actually be more engaged in what's going on, to know if you're going to do that."
Tones of voice are also important as well. "We've added in four tones and we'll talk a little more in the future, but they basically allow other types of characters to express them[selves] in one of four different ways, and sometimes one of two different ways. And I think that gets back to that more traditional role-playing sort of feeling which is less about 'Do I want to be good or bad,' and more about 'How do I want to express myself?'"
Paragon vs Renegade was no doubt popular, so are these reasonings strong enough to justify its removal?