So the new Mass Effect 3 ending DLC, in which I had almost completely forgotten about, is now available for download on Origin. I will eventually get around to playing it either tonight or later this week. It is a shame that an overall great game was marred by such a not-so-great ending. It’s not that it outraged me, as it did many people, but it sure was underwhelming given the scope of the series, how much time was invested, and the game’s core themes (in which I feel were not properly addressed if at all). I guess it wasn’t that terrible, but it sure was anticlimactic.
Thematically, I am fine with the ending including a good, neutral, and evil choice. The ending however, should feel like a culmination of player experiences and choices made throughout the game. There just weren’t a wide enough variety of outcomes to say the least. I mean, I’m not asking for a Return of the King, 40 minute long ending sequences but cheezus, something other than the same ending movie with a different explosion color and +/- 3 seconds of footage would have been really swell.
I was quite satisfied with how some of the storylines wrapped up, specifically the genophage and the Geth. The ending should have at least been on par with that. Also, gameplay wise, I was hoping for an ending mission similar to Dragon Age or Mass Effect 2 in which you are given the option to deploy the various resources you have gathered throughout the game. You spend the entire ME3 game gathering war assets that more or less boils down to a number which determines which cutscene you get. That’s kind of lame.
So will the dlc fix everything? We will see (opinions thus far appear to be polar in that players either love or hate it).