Getting through Mass Effect 3 has been slow going. After racing through the first game – the trilogy’s weakest offering – I took the time to savour Mass Effect 2 – its strongest. I explored the tragedy of Thane Krios, leapt into the heist with Kasumi, and rued the fact I’d never get to see the best of Legion, since doing so is effectively a death sentence for everyone else on the ship. Grunt’s so good they introduce him twice. Tali’s loyalty mission is perfection – honestly, gaming should have packed up after that, it’s never going to be bettered. Though the space cop vibes are off-putting, Mass Effect 2 is a fantastic experience. Now I’m in Mass Effect 3, and progress has stalled.
It’s not that I hate Mass Effect 3. Kai Leng is just the worst, but 3 is a significantly better experience than the first game. It knows how to bring in characters, for one thing. It also has the best opening in the trilogy, even if it does Thane so dirty. I haven’t even visited Thessia yet, nor have I started the Citadel DLC – my two favourite parts of Mass Effect 3. I haven’t drifted away from Mass Effect 3 because I hate it, but because I love it too much. I just don’t want it to end, and the ending itself has nothing to do with that.
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Mass Effect 3’s ending is fine, especially with the Extended Cut DLC. Yeah, I wish your choices leading up to it had mattered more, the indoctrination theory for the Illusive Man would have given the Reapers a more intimate role in the story – hence why Sovereign will always be the most impressive Reaper – and distilling hundreds of hours down to A, B, or C is a bad look. But that has nothing to do with my lack of willingness to push forward with the series.
I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve played the Mass Effect trilogy; I replayed the first two games – especially Mass Effect 2 – several times over before 3 came out, and then carried various different saves into the ending to let my multiverse of Shepards each have their moment. But ahead of the Legendary Edition, I hadn’t played them for years. The last two Mass Effect games I’ve played were Andromeda, twice. Once at launch, and a second time a year or so ago when I got the Mass Effect itch and discovered they weren’t on PS4. The Legendary Edition was a chance to sink back into these games that I love, but they’re so. Damn. Long.
I wouldn’t have them any other way, and there’s not much I’d trim from any of the games, but I know it will be a long time before I ever go back to Mass Effect. There’s always new releases, always fresh experiences in the backlog, and I don’t see myself committing to Mass Effect again any time soon. Especially with them now all in one place, I’d have to start again at the very beginning, pick something – anything – besides Soldier class, and race through it to get to Mass Effect 2. Maybe I’d do something different with my decisions next time, but let’s be honest – none of us will.
This is my last Mass Effect for a long time, so it needs to last. That’s why I can’t bring myself to keep going, as much as I want to. It’s a paradox – for as long as I don’t play Mass Effect, I’m still playing Mass Effect. But the more I play it, the closer I get to not playing it.
I have a full squad at this point. I’ve met all my Mass Effect 2 friends aside from Zaeed, and honestly, who cares about Zaeed? Because Mass Effect 3 is back loaded with content – the various DLC packages help this – it still feels like I'm in the first half. The Reapers are making significant gains and destroying worlds, but because Mass Effect frames certain races as inherently more valuable to the story, it still feels like we're on the precipice of disaster, rather than in the midst. But the truth is, especially when the DLC is optional and not part of the core experience, I'm much closer to the end than I would have otherwise realised, and I don't want to be. I want to go back to Eden Prime with Nihlus, but I don't have the time to start it all over again.
Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon, and for the rest of my life, I'll finish Mass Effect 3. We'll always have Tuchanka.
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