Mass Effect 3 DLC

Subtitle: How I learned to ignore a shitty ending.

Sooo... it's been a while since the debacle of the Mass Effect 3 Sadly Shitty Ending (MESSE, pronounced 'messy'). I've gotten over it at some point, and decided to have a look at the DLC... including the extended ending.

Yes, that's right. I was so pissed at the ending that I didn't even bother to check out the extended ending until now.

So below, I shall give a paragraph on each DLC and then a conclusion, is ME3 better with or without DLC? Does the extended ending make the pain lesser? Is the DLC just an extra turd on the shit sandwich of the MESSE?

Very, very MESSE.

Let's see.

First off, let us speak of "From Ashes", day one DLC. It's not good enough for what they charge, simple as that. It should have been part of the main game... but this article is more about the later true DLC packages.

Omega; this one is ok, but overpriced. Aria wants to take back Omega, you help her and meet an old friend of hers... who then dies. You kill Cerberus for two, maybe three hours... kill a few odd reaper themed enemies in a rather alienesqe scene... that's it. Skip it.

Leviathan; I won't spoil this one at all, it's a must see for those looking for more story and background... It also has an amusing change up in that you need to do a bit of sluething to work out what to do. Skip it if you aren't looking for story. Note: one negative that has annoyed me since finishing this DLC is that other than some unique war assets the DLC does not seem to affect the main story. Some dialogue simply doesn't fit with what you learn from the DLC.

Citadel; this is an odd one, I loved this DLC. It's easily the best one for me, but it is also completely skippable. It's so much fun to have all these characters coming back, my favorite is a brief encounter with Wrex post-genophage cure... having a drink at the bar with Wrex, all the while he's requesting bags of ice for some... relief. Very amusing, but totally fan service.

See, there's a problem with the above that's becoming more and more evident... the DLC, good or bad... is skippable. If I never played them would I miss them at all? Then again, the argument could be issued against the game itself... But ME3, wether the MESSE is considered or not, is a great game. The DLC on the other hand feels, at best, average.

Is that EA's fault? The Devs? The market? I dunno.

Word.

Still, watching Wrex whine about having to make babies so much made me laugh out loud. If you enjoy the character interactions of Mass Effect in general, then the Citadel DLC is the only one you need. Otherwise, skip all of 'em.

Oh, and the extended ending... hoo boy. It's improved the ending a lot... but it's just not a good ending. It's still kind of insulting that despite all your choices you get it all boiled down to red, green, blue.At least it's free I suppose.

Colours are pretty...

Despite the ending and weakness of the DLC; ME3 is still one of the best games of 2012... but it's a low note compared to ME2... and a poor ending to the trilogy.

Keeper3, Who really wanted multiplayer shooter action in an RPG anyway?!? Fuckers!

P.S. I really REALLY hate all the 'checking' that the damned game does every time it started, like it needed to check my DNA and do a rectal temperature measurement to make sure I'm the PAYING CUSTOMER on their records or some shit. Oh, and I hate Origin too.

DLCs and the death of the expansion pack...

DLCs are interesting... In essence, the DLC is a replacement for the old idea of an expansion pack... How many "expansion packs" have you seen in the last few years? Beyond the next sack of insipid content for your chosen poison of the MMO variety I can't remember any.

Sooo... is this a good thing or a bad thing?

Well, ultimately it doesn't matter. The slow, unstoppable change to electronic distribution won't be stopped by our complaints or any misstep by any random company. But let's look at it anyway!

Positives:
DLCs allow you to buy only the content you want! Each DLC can be a bite sized bit of content that is both easy to download and install yet give you plenty of enjoyment for your money and bandwidth.
DLCs are easier to make than an expansion, meaning more content will be available (on average) compared to what we used to see.

DLCs are a less risky method to providing content, allowing developers and publishers to release more experimental types of material that in our modern profit driven existence might not otherwise see the light of day.

Negatives:
DLCs are the next stage of non-complete-release-itis; back when games were on cartridges or floppy disks (that were actually floppy! *gasp*) it was bad practice, worthy of flogging, to release a game with any notable bugs... let alone leaving the game unfinished! These days incomplete games are sadly common, with endings that show a lack of care and game killing bugs, poor design... etc. DLCs are often promised to fix various issues, a DLC pack should not be considered a good way to deliver bug fixes.

Stupid ideas for DLC! E.g. Horse armour... FUCK YOU BETHESDA!!! Simple model and skin changes, stupid boosters to your characters for no good reason... Essentially pay to win booster packs for your game.

And finally, Day One DLC; this has a special place in my cold, dead heart, Day one DLC covers any 'content' that is either used as a stick to flog people who buy a game second hand or as a way pretend a game is cheaper than it actually is and sell important game content at an inflated price. EA are especially guilty of this practice and seem to have elevated it to a level of an art form providing BOTH TYPES of day one DLC for their most recent opus, Mass Effect 3 (Oh, and a review is coming for that one folks!).

Conclusion:
DLCs are good overall, but it's clear that just as any game that comes out can be a piece of garbage fodder or the best thing since sliced bread DLC content isn't necessarily good or bad so my advice? If you love a game and it's got DLC have a look, otherwise ignore.

Keeper3 - Ooooh... there's DLC for fallout 3 that makes it NOT CRAP!!! Oh wait, that was a mod, nevermind.