![]() ![]() The Catalyst was created in an act of hubris, from the Leviathans believing themselves above every other organic race in the universe. The Catalyst (godchild’s official name) was an AI created by the Leviathan, an ancient race of super evolved beings. While Harbinger is still absent, the DLC pack, Leviathan, establishes the lore of the “godchild” fairly early on in the game. Needless to say, people don’t like it when you introduce a new villain in the final minutes of the game who appears to have power over everything and all the answers to all the questions in the universe. I’m not going to get more into the reaction, there are already plenty of articles on it. Despite a strong, physical presence at the game’s climax, Harbinger feels very absent from Mass Effect 3. In other words: pretty good villain material. Harbinger appeared to be the largest Reaper, head of their fleet and, possessed a major grudge against Commander Shepard. In addition, Mass Effect 2 and 3 had been, up until that point, establishing a Reaper known as Harbinger as the main antagonist (the Illusive Man, despite being Martin Sheen, doesn’t count). At the time there had been no other mention of this being at any other point in the trilogy (aside from an absurdly minor mention in Mass Effect – like Codex level obscure). Christened “godchild” by angry fans, this creation felt like a walking deus ex machina (plot device existing solely to nicely tie up the story). So let’s start with one of the largest factors in the ending: the main antagonist. People (myself included) had problems with this. ![]() The game ends with the final battle, Shepard confronts the main antagonist of the story (the Reaper AI manifested in the form of a child) and either destroys the Reapers, controls them or merges all organic and technological life into a new infused state of “technorganic” being. The Reapers are a great threat, with their larger-than-life presence they seem almost invincible… almost. In the game, Shepard unites the various species of the universe against the apocalyptic force of the Reapers, a race of mammoth sentient machines bent on exterminating all advanced civilizations. Having recently replayed Mass Effect 3 with all of this content, I have formed a new opinion on the ending(s) and surprise, surprise: I like it.įor those of you who don’t know, Mass Effect 3 concludes the story of Commander (insert first name here) Shepard. ![]() So playing the game today, with this content installed, yields a vastly different experience than we received back on March 6, 2012. ![]() Bioware added four single-player DLC (downloadable content) packs, three of which were targeted at changing the experience of the ending: Extended Cut, Leviathan and Citadel (not to forget From Ashes, which was available day one). What about now? It’s been a year and the game has changed in that time. But, like most well-thought out reactions out there on the internet, it was instantaneous. From the overwhelming negativity at the initial ending(s) to the lessened reaction to the Extended Cut to the few people out there who were satisfied all along, everyone who played the Mass Effect trilogy has something to say about that ending. I know, I know: beating a dead horse right? Who hasn’t talked about the ending of Mass Effect 3? Few video game stories last year were as widely discussed. ![]()
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