So, I finished my third walkthrough of it last night and I'm working on my fourth as of the moment. It'll probably be my last for awhile until I finish all four main "canon" walkthroughs for the sake of file saves. The entire piece seemed to be a walking, talking, and breathing interaction with both Bioware and BSN. And I guess, this is why I have such a hard time digesting all that this DLC brings.
The piece is extremely well done. The effort is evident. Bioware did a lot right with the piece: inclusion of ME2 squadmates (both in the Armax and party), the time spent with squadmates, a customizable flat, a highly interactive new HUB area, comedic gold moments (Grunt's birthday and Drunk Javik to name a few), the soundtrack, and the final send-off. Possibly the best DLC moment Bioware has done with ME3, was this scene. The entire dialogue between Shep and the LI feels as if the LI is not talking to Shep, but you. The Citadel had several high points to this swan song.
However, it has quite a few missteps. The whole thing is so clunky and out of piece with ME3. Unfortunately, a lot of it feels like forced and rehashed BSN jokes. Calibrations, "In my cycle...", "I should go," and etc. While the piece warranted a lot of lol moments, it felt like it was trying too hard to be comedy hour and it felt like it was more of BSN or Bioware talking to me rather than the characters. I just found it to be too forced and really out of character for a series which does a great job delivering humor so subtly and smoothly. We receive another Cerberus armor piece, though cool, despite several asking for Alliance colors and not the design of a human terrorist group we extinguish later on. The Clone could have had a whole lot more depth to him besides, "I want to be you, garrrr." His final death scene was well-done, he was a formidable opponent (what Kai Leng should have been), but he trips over how shallow he could be at times. And the major problem, which stems several minor problems: the plot. I understand the need for a break, but we have to call all hands on deck for a small rag tag group of Cerberus rejects? We can take on metal behemoths which shout out scorching liquid metal at such velocities it can disintegrate people, but we need everyone for these guys? I guess, it's mostly a little upsetting seeing what we could have had with Wrex and the ME2 squadmates as temp squadmates in ME3 via the Armax, but didn't.
And lastly, Bioware "speaking to us" and the ending. Anyone else pick up on the subtle Bioware responses to scathing fan feedback? Brooks calls EDI a sexbot, Shai'ra addresses the Retakers and needing to just "win," and your entire apartment is decked out in various forms of art. I'm sure there's more that I missed, but it's rather clear: Bioware made several passive aggressive taunts to the disgruntled members of the fanbase. While I found these pieces hilarious and much needed, as some fans were just atrocious, it troubles me. It comes off as funny, but slightly vindictive. Hopefully, Bioware, and it's "vocal" critics, drop their attitudes and differences so it doesn't spill out into the new game.
The Citadel was a lovely DLC, but troubling as well. It makes me think what could have been if we had waited to get the EC at a later date so more content could be included via the two part DLC style Bioware has been using. And it made me return all of my canon endings to High EMS Destroy. I'm curious as to where Bioware will take ME4 afterwards and what we'll learn about Shepard's legacy. Anyways, thanks Bioware for the journey, the squadmates, and Shepard. It's been quite the ride and an enjoyable chapter to my gaming life. Best of luck in your future endeavors and I look forward to ME4 and DA3.
)
Retour en haut
(In all my playthroughs, I throw the party after everything.)
none the less 
