It would be "different", not necessarily "better". I liked Mass Effect (only BioWare game I've played, I think). It was a great game. But it was very different from an FF game. Which is "better"? It depends on what you look for in a game. As I said before, each had its stronger points, and each also has its weaknesses. There are some things ME did great that FF8 did terribly, but there are also things that FF8 did great that ME failed at. I can appreciate both games for their strengths, and I'm not even going to try to decide which is "better", since their are different enough that the question becomes meaningless to me. I'll play each of these games when I want to enjoy the parts of them that I loved.

Making every game into a carbon copy of Mass Effect, no matter how great that game was, would suck. Can't you just enjoy the parts of FF8 you like without demanding that the entire game be rewritten just because you don't like the story? It's not Mass Effect (or Baldur's Gate, or any of their other RPGs), and it will never be one of those RPGs. I am fairly sure I would not enjoy this game nearly as much as I do if it was an open ended game like Mass Effect.

Accept the game for what it is: a Final Fantasy game. If you can't, then go play Baldur's Gate and leave the rest of us alone.