Mass Effect 3 and its DLCs (Spoilers)

[Skyblade]

Decided to pick up an play Mass Effect 3 again (needed a small break from XCOM, I'd been pushing it a bit too hard. I'll get back to the EyesOnXCOM run tomorrow, but I definitely needed to get away. And I found myself missing high cover when I got into ME3). While I hated the ending, the rest of the game was fairly solid, and I quite enjoyed it, and with my rage at the ending cooled a bit, I decided to try out the DLCs.

Back when the ending DLC came out, I quite appreciated it. While the ending remained a badly written piece of shlock, the extended ending did a great deal to close the numerous plot holes.

However, the Leviathan ending helps to resolve some of the issues left. By setting up and giving some backstory to the Reapers, letting us understand where they came from, and what they were trying to achieve, it helps to set up the Catalyst without just dropping it as a last minute twist.

Honestly, had the game been released with both of these DLCs as a part of it, had I played it that way from the very beginning, without experiencing the original cut, I think I would have had a lot less hatred for the ending. It wouldn't have been great, by any means, but it would have been far, far more tolerable. Heck, I probably would have actually enjoyed it.

I'd still be a bit miffed about the personal effects of the endings (Shepard's survival and the survival of the geth), which still seem like just a cheap way to make people second guess their choices, rather than a natural part of the choice itself, but the ending would have made more sense, wouldn't have come out of nowhere, and most of the plot holes would have been fixed.

Really, the contents of this DLC could have saved the game. But it became too little, too late, and Mass Effect 3 will forever be remembered for its bad ending.

[Aulayna]

Saved the game? Aren't we being a tad dramatic here. Sure the original ending left me DAFUQ'ing at the screen but ending aside was one of the best gaming experiences as a whole I've had in a long time. Yes it's pretty whaff that so many of your choices get rendered redundant as they standardised some plot elements but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience from start to finish and I'm not going to write off the entire game because of what effectively amounts down to a 5 minute cutscene. Let alone that I have continue to have a blast with it's multiplayer offerings. It's by no means a bad game by any stretch of the imagination.

[Skyblade]

Saved the game? Aren't we being a tad dramatic here. Sure the original ending left me DAFUQ'ing at the screen but ending aside was one of the best gaming experiences as a whole I've had in a long time. Yes it's pretty whaff that so many of your choices get rendered redundant as they standardised some plot elements but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience from start to finish and I'm not going to write off the entire game because of what effectively amounts down to a 5 minute cutscene. Let alone that I have continue to have a blast with it's multiplayer offerings. It's by no means a bad game by any stretch of the imagination.

You're not, but a lot of people have. And when the game is looked back on, years from now, that horrible ending is going to be its legacy. As great as the series is, and it is great and I do love it, the ending is going to overshadow it in the gaming community, I believe. And my opinion is simply that had these two DLCs been part of the main game, this probably wouldn't have happened.