While on shore leave at the Citadel, Shepard is targeted by a mysterious group that wants him/her dead. It would have decimated the building tension of the original narrative and felt wildly out of place as part of the initial playthrough, but as an epilogue of sorts it is a endearing final moment that unites the cast of all the Mass Effect games (assuming they are all still alive in your playthrough) for one final gathering. The DLC is basically a comedic and lighthearted episode in the life of Shepard and his/her crew. The placement is important though, and despite being accessible before the final battle, Citadel is best played after you have beaten the game. The Citadel DLC is set before the final battle, but after certain major events on the Citadel itself that should be obvious to those that beat the game, but would be spoilerish to discuss if you haven’t. With many DLCs, the content is simply additional, and the timing of the release doesn’t really matter – at least in the sense that you could play the DLC during your first playthrough and not notice or be affected by its placement.
That is more or less the gap that Citadel fills. The new ending slightly fleshed out the goodbyes – and did a decent job of it given the circumstances – but it still lacked a bit of punch. Part of that was resolved in the extended ending, but even that was a Band-Aid on a bullet wound.
Second, the well written and carefully crafted interactions between Shepard and his/her crew were quickly skipped over and handled as almost an afterthought. The main criticism of the ending, beyond the rhetoric and hyperbole from fans that felt like BioWare had personally targeted them to break their hearts, was twofold: First, the major complaint was that the final choices offered essentially negated every choice you made in a game that was defined by making choices. You also likely have an opinion on whether or not EA and BioWare did the right thing by releasing the extended ending following fan reaction that was the internet equivalent of a soccer stadium riot in England. If you have played Mass Effect 3 – and since you are reading a DLC review for that game, the odds are good that you either have, or you are just a really big fan (much love) – then you no doubt have an opinion about the ending of the game.
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