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[Dean_the_Young]

http://social.biowar...9589/1#14029777

Disclaimer: this is called TL;DR for a reason, you have been warned, posts reiterating it will not be commented on for being redundant...

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Summary:

I look forward to the prospective Omega DLC, but not towards the obvious outcome of the station going to Aria. I'd really prefer the Alliance take the station instead, and prefer Cerberus keeping it to that.

Cerberus < Alliance < Aria.

Omega, no matter how good the gameplay and scripting is, may well be a DLC I prefer not to replay.

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While I'm confident I will appreciate the Omega DLC on a mechanics and gameplay level after the strength of Leviathan, and even in presentation of character dialogue and pacing, there's something about Omega that I'm not exactly looking forward to:

The prospect of kicking Cerberus out just to hand it back over to Aria.

There's two main 'objections', if that's the word, I have to this obvious scenario: first, I don't value Aria enough to simply hand over a strategic piece of real estate over to her.

Second, even despite the overbearing Cerberus antagonism in ME3, I still think they have enough potential and basis to be interesting in a post-ME3 setting, especially if they can survive the loss of TIM and the base-station by having another strong fallback.

For the first, it starts with how Aria is hardly a sympathetic character and it goes on to 'how does Aria on Omega serve the galactic interest better than Omega under the control of someone else?'

Aria is, first and foremost, has no claim to moral superiority. She doesn't do nice things for nice people, but rather has built (and since lost) a criminal empire based upon bad people preying on other people. Before ME3 she certainly had more claim to being a greater personal and economic harm to the galaxy than Cerberus, one being a secretive cabal and the other being a galaxy-spanning crime syndicate, and during ME3 her 'virtue' is that she's willing to help you help her help herself against the Reapers while Cerberus's designs against the reapers conflict with yours.

That might put her better than Cerberus for the war effort, given the forced nature of Shepard-Cerberus antagonism, but a claim to holding Omega? A station that not only controls access to the potent technology of the (remains of) the Collector Base, but is a strategic hub in the Terminus with strong trade route influence? If you put Aria in place, she'll simply re-instate her criminal empire, soak for profits, and play coy with access.

I'd sooner hand over the station to Hackett for the Alliance to annex, and deal with Aria's antagonism if I couldn't kill her then. You'll deal with her criminal attacks rather than inflated corruption, but al least the station would be under a more reliable hand in servicing the war effort, and the post-war scene would be better* as well.

*Better in the sense that an Alliance bastion of strength in the Omega Nebula could help stabilize the post-relay setting, protect Human colonies, and establish a humane civilization more interested in rebuilding for public good than in pursuing personal profit.

In short, I'd take fewer assets, or even some negatives, in defying Aria and taking the station for the Alliance than in proping her back up by handing her Omega. (Lord knows I have the multiplayer to counter even if every Aria-related asset went negative.)

On the second point, I may be one of a few but I feel Cerberus still has the ability to be interesting (if not benevolent) in the post-war, and keeping their base on Omega remains the only clear way they could survive in some recognizable form in the post-war setting.*

*Well, the bases in the galactic core studying the Collector Base/debris, but those are pretty isolated from the rest of the galaxy. I'm referring to in a more direct context.

I've raised them a time or two, but there are enough questions I have regarding Cerberus that an Omega DLC would be well-placed to answwer. Some are more of fill-in-the-gaps of the lore (if the priority of Cerberus was to control the Reapers, why try to destroy the Krogan/Citadel Coup/all the other apparently unnecessary actions that get in the way of implementing a Control scheme, and how was Cerberus even intending to do it?).

Others are more abstract. How much individuality/identity do the Cerberus troopers have after their 'upgrades'? The implants and indoctrination make them loyal, but we still see them express self-awareness, question their orders, and even show emotion. Mindless husks they are not, and even if their organization now acts like a parasite (or, more accurately, a 'conversion' religion in which new adherents are converted, not born and raised), it's a parasite that could have interesting implementation at a later point. Especially if, in a post-Reaper setting in which their maing goal fell through, they now have to adapt to the new reality.

In so much that I see Destroy as the most likely/reasonable 'continuation canon', from which future settings should be planned or cast, Cerberus on Omega gives them a place in that setting that no other known stronghold could. While Cerberus might remain a cabal without Omega, spread across the galaxy, by keeping Omega Cerberus more or less becomes a state: one with identifiable boundaries, influence, and interests.

Without the anticipated control of the Reapers, Cerberus on Omega would need to readjust itself even as the rest of the galaxy tries to adjust for the loss of the relays. While Cerberus on Omega could simply abandon the station, it could also try and double-down and own it, turning the existing Cerberus stronghold into an outright sphere of influence over the Omega Cluster. The local colonies, human and alien, would need to be kept in line. A continuing supply of Human 'recruits' would be needed to continue the organization as attrition takes its toll: that's a power and relationship balance with the local human population that is just filled with potential. The alien populations as well: will they be suppressed, will deals be made for support, or will alien's also be given implants and turned into pro-Human forces?

By the time the galaxy reconnects, whether by rebuilding relays or slow-FTL caravans traversing the clusters, a Cerberus state with its own implementation of its long-claimed 'pro-Human vision' could be both fascinating, and disturbing, in equal measure. General Petrovsky would be a key part of this transformation, no doubt, and he's a man who would also work to keep the situation from descending into a blatant dystopian allegory.

Seeing or contemplating Omega turn into a Cerberus state in the post-war, with necessary changes and evolving outcomes, interests me far more than Aria's petty criminal empire. What she would do is already obvious: make everyone pay tribute, but not care what else they do. There would be no direction, no purpose, and no greater goal behind it: the situation would still suck (the criminal environment preying on the weak, the massive corruption, the uncaring attitude towards anyone).

Between Cerberus, with a twisted but (as an observor) potentially interesting drive towards something that could be called a civilization, and Aria and a mega-slum third-world future, I'd rather leave the station with Cerberus than give it to Aria. I could even, and plausibly, argue that a Cerberus civilization might even be better for more people and aliens in the medium-term than Aria's criminal indifference: while Cerberus would doubtless make an uneven playing field for Human interests, but it would also have an interest in striking political bargains and compromises in exchange for support and ease of ruling.

So there you have it: the obvious Omega DLC storyline of helping Aria retake the station will largely fail for me on the simple grounds that I'd honestly favor the villains over the nominal ally. In some respects, I'd even favor leaving the station with Cerberus than have my own faction (the Alliance) take it. Cerberus >= Alliance > Aria.

Given that Cerberus holding the station is the status quo, the Alliance annexing it is the least likely solution, and Aria reclaiming it for her personal Mogadishu is the most obvious outcome of the DLC, the only way for me to 'win' Omega may well be for me not to play.

Obviously there could be some untrue assumptions in this analysis. Unlike the linear Leviathan, this DLC could have a ME2 style Big Decision: after some revelation, the choice of siding with Aria or giving the station to someone else could be offered. Maybe General Petrovsky, in revealing the 'why' of Cerberus taking the station or 'how' Cerberus intends to implement Control, could make a compelling argument for leaving the station to Cerberus. Or maybe Hackett, none too fond of Aria, wouldn't raise an eyebrow in seizing the station for the war effort and not for a crime boss.

It's possible. I'll certainly play through Omega to see. But for future playthroughs, Omega may well be a case of 'someone else's problem' that my Shepards won't take for whatever reasons.