Been working my way through this Trilogy and now I find myself part way through Mass Effect 3. I keep turning these games over in my head as I play them, trying to get a vibe of how I feel about them. With Mass Effect 3, one work keeps sticking out to me though: messy.
Mass Effect 3 feels messy. This isn't meant as a pejorative either. I like the messiness of it so far. It feels overwhelming, intense, and part of me has at the back of my mind "Is this the mission that's going to trigger the endgame? Am I ready enough? Is the project complete?". I feel this way because war doesn't operate on a schedule. Especially not one with an enemy capable of completely wiping races and planets out entirely.
As you play Mass Effect 3, you're constantly acquiring War Assets. These can be specialized forces, scientists to work on your secret project, resources, and anything else that can help the galactic war effort. When I see "Urgent" pop up in my Journal after a scene that brings up what that mission is about, my first thought is "Oh, taking care of that will give me a big boost to the war effort, more so than some random mercenary band might".
This doesn't deter me from doing side missions, mind you, I just feel the pull to do the thing that feels higher priority. After all, what if I have a set mission count, and the last thing I do is deliver some heating unit to a residential, instead of resolving a conflict between two races? This really lets me evaluate where my priorities lie. I've gone out of my way to help the crew of my ship get a part they need, for some upgrades to the ship which may or may not have some effect later, instead of getting a vaccine for another race's illness. After all, these are people I see regularly, why wouldn't I help them? And if it helps keep our ship around during a major attack, all the better. Those people should be fine for a little while longer while I go shopping.
Here's the thing: generally, they are fine. I don't think I've had a mission disappear from my Journal (though, I'll need to try to remember to look for one next time I play), nor have I gotten any disparaging remarks for not helping random citizens on Citadel. This is where I start to feel a little conflicted. I know we have "some" time before the invasion. I know we have "some" time to prepare. And I know this is a Video Game, with content that is meant to be played. However, I am not sure how much Bioware wanted to play with that idea and force players to prioritize their efforts and give them a hard deadline. I'll find out, I suppose. But if I see a mission marked "The final battle" then I guess I'll know.
I like this messiness, if I'm being honest. Each of the non-Citadel fetch quests feel like important, because you can see, in your mind, how this can help. Every "Oh, go raid this place" feels important because they're holding resources. "Evacuate these people" feels important because you can find more people to assist the war effort, either as soldiers or people working on your projects. "Take out this beacon", hell yeah, I'm slowing down their advance. It feels like you really are trying to fight this war on all fronts, while dealing with another dangerous adversary, who ostensibly wants the same thing you want, but you just cannot work with them, due to ideological differences. I could pursue stopping them, but I don't know how much that will advance my war efforts, which comes back to this vague sense of "some" time. This uncertainty actually lets me feel some pressure. I might be a little deflated if I can just do everything and clean up the quest log before triggering some big fight.
I'm interested to see where this game goes. I am secretly hoping that it's not afraid to say "nuh uh, you used the time you had" instead of being a regular video game-ass video game, but the journey's been interesting enough I won't mind if that's the case. In any case, give me games like this and Disco Elysium, which feel at times like structured chaos, where you aren't sure when something is just going to come crashing down around you.
Huh, guess I know why I might like Roguelites now.
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