Next (Last?) ME3 Single Player DLC

[TheCommanders]

So, fresh on the heels of the release of Omega (which I thought was a rather bland DLC, not bad, not great) a few details have leaked to the surface regarding the next single player DLC. I'm sort of scratching my head as to what there is left for them to make DLC about. The only things I've managed to gather about this DLC are that there are more voice actors and writers coming back than for any of the previous ones, and that it has the potential to jerk a few tears (according to the composer). I'm sure some people will think this will be the indoctrination vindication, but at this point that seems pretty unlikely. I would guess that this will affect the ending in some way as a major complaint for the last two DLCs was that they were pretty much irrelevant to the overall story (particularly Omega). Thoughts?

PS- A comment about how you don't care about Mass Effect any more both begs the questions of why you're reading this thread and why you're bothering to waste both our times.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/12/05/next-mass-effect-3-dlc-has-high-potential-for-tears?utm_campaign=ign+main+twitter&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social

(quoted for people with something against going to ign)

BioWare is already working on the next story DLC for Mass Effect 3, the first details of which have appeared online.

While we don't know the name or proposed release date of the new content patch, we do know that BioWare is enlisting the helping of several names that have previously been involved in the series.

In a post on the BioWare forums, designer Jos Hendriks explained that a team of about eight writers were penning the script, most of whom had worked on some aspect of the game before, saying, "It's all hands on deck for this one. Pretty much every ME3 DLC writer here in Edmonton is involved. (which would include both Patrick Weekes AND John Dombrow)."

While that handles the story of the game, what about the music? Well, it seems series veteran Sam Hulick is set to return to score the new DLC, tweeting last night, "What I'm up to lately: working on an unannounced Mass Effect 3 DLC! More details on this coming later on."

Hulick has previously worked on the first and second Mass Effect games, as well as Mass Effect 3, though he was noticeably absent from the soundtrack for the recent Leviathan and Omega expansions. He also dropped in a little tease about what he's planning on bringing to the table this time, tweeting, "Tossing in piano and muted strings for this one particular piece. High potential for tears. #ME3DLC"

The final piece of info we have covers some of the voice actors that are set to return. It seems Seth Green, who's voiced Normandy pilot Joker since the series began is back as BioWare producer and voice director Caroline Livingstone tweeted him to say, "@SethGreen thank you for yet another fantastic session. And thank you for being such a kind person. You are lovely!"

Additionally, Raphael Sbarge who voices squadmate Kaiden Alenko tweeted back in October that he was recording new lines for the game. With none of the squadmates appearing in Omega, it looks like this was also for the unnamed upcoming DLC.

This will be the fifth major single-player DLC pack BioWare has released for Mass Effect 3. With such a host of big names being called back in, do you reckon this could be the studio planning to see the title off with a bang?

 

[MarsProbe]

Hopefully this DLC will be ME3's Lair of the Shadow Broker which in my opinion is the best singleplayer DLC we have had for an ME game so far. It would be interesting if this was a post ending piece of DLC showing us what happens after the endgame events of ME3

Omega was alright (we did at least get some new enemies this time) but I felt it was over way too soon and I would have liked to have been able to visit Omega again as a hub after kicking out Cerberus. The way things are, it almost seems to be of little consequence, liberating the station.

Captcha: shoulder of Orion

How appropriate

 

[DustyDrB]

Sounds like it could might possibly maybe perhaps if things go right have a chance at being good.
I really want another squadmate or two. There's a lot of unused space on the Normandy.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

It will be the real ending where the fix it and make everything right. What? I can dream, can't I? Please let me dream...

I thought Omega was rather good. Could have been a lot better if, as you said, it actually had any impact on the story itself. You know, like seeing the boost you get from Aria's forces in the final battle. Or you get a new squadmate out of it, like Kasumi-style. Leviathan was okay too, and if had been included in the actual game, it would have been amazing.

As for this new DLCs, I can't really see what else is left--unless, as was suggested, it takes place after the war. DLC to bring Shepard back! Hell yes. That would bring a tear to my eye. Control ending, you have to build a body for Shepard to inhabit. Destruction ending, you have to find Shepard. Syn ending...space magic (because that's what it is). I choose none, Shepard and her team's final moments as they fight more and more enemies until they finally die. But that sounds like a lot of work, and I doubt BioWare is going to put that much effort into it. Sigh.

 

[TheCommanders]

It will be the real ending where the fix it and make everything right. What? I can dream, can't I? Please let me dream...

You're allowed to dream. I'm hopeful too. At this point, as I mentioned, redemption is unlikely, but that doesn't mean it's impossible

 

[Soviet Heavy]

A soundtrack that will jerk some more tears? You mean that Clint Mansell is going to make another annoyingly manipulative, overused score that dictates the scene? Because screw Requiem for a Dream's theme and the ME3 "sad" music.

 

[DustyDrB]

A soundtrack that will jerk some more tears? You mean that Clint Mansell is going to make another annoyingly manipulative, overused score that dictates the scene? Because screw Requiem for a Dream's theme and the ME3 "sad" music.

Hey, something I can disagree with you on. How 'bout that? I'm assuming you're talking about "Leaving Earth".

I have to say I loved Mansell's work, that song included. While I still hold that the first game's soundtrack is best for just fitting the setting perfectly, I also love Mass Effect 3's soundtrack almost as much. I really never have understood the criticism of music being manipulative. As a musician, I know I always try to make a song bring out some emotion or idea (through the music alone. Not through lyrics that say shit like, "I'm all alone. I am sad. Yadda yadda"). I think it's a great feat when an artist accomplishes that.

Just sucks that the other version of that song is associated with the ending...

 

[BloatedGuppy]

A soundtrack that will jerk some more tears? You mean that Clint Mansell is going to make another annoyingly manipulative, overused score that dictates the scene? Because screw Requiem for a Dream's theme and the ME3 "sad" music.

Hating on Clint Mansell? What is this about? I just...I don't...I never!

As a musician, I know I always try to make a song bring out some emotion or idea (through the music alone. Not through lyrics that say shit like, "I'm all alone. I am sad. Yadda yadda"). I think it's a great feat when an artist accomplishes that.

Exactly! That's the entire fucking point of music! It's all manipulating you! Whether it's trying to make you feel sad, or happy, or romantic, or angry, or just fill you with frantic energy, it's trying to make you FEEL something. It's all very, very deliberate. All of it.

If we had no idea how certain chords or progressions made people feel, music would just be a bunch of random honking and crashing, and anything people felt would be totally accidental.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

I highly doubt that this DLC, or any other DLC's to come if there are any, will have any impact on the ending. I think Bioware made it pretty clear that the Extended Cut was to be their final word on that, and I for one am glad. It doesn't have to be heavily linked in to the main plot of ME3 to be a 'tear-jerker'. For me, the best emotional moment in the entire trilogy is the end of the Overlord DLC for ME2, which had precisely jack shit to do with ME2's main conflict.

Anyway, as ever, I'm looking forward to it but I'm also not going crazy. I've enjoyed all the DLC that they've put out for ME3 so far, but I don't think any of them have come close to the kingpins of LotSB and Overlord. I think the problem is, with the Reapers decimating the Galaxy throughout the entirety of ME3, all of the content in the game has to have something to do with the war effort, otherwise it just doesn't make sense why Shepard would be wasting his/her time on it while people are dying. I understand this perfectly well, but it's a shame, because as far as I'm concerned the best moments in the trilogy have always been parts when they've taken time away from the main plot to do something smaller and more personal.

 

[sanquin]

A DLC to rescue Shepard would be awesome. Or at least something after the ending. But I doubt that would happen.

Maybe it's a DLC for Kaidan/Ashley, seeing them on a mission as a spectre or something. As even though the one that survives becomes a spectre, you never really see them in action apart from that one mission with the council on the citadel.

 

[Joseph Harrison]

I would actually be kind of upset if you had a paid DLC that changed the ending because that's basically holding the best ending hostage behind a price wall. Personally as long as the DLC is good I will be happy. I haven't gotten any of the DLC's yet but I probably will in the future when I'm starting a new character.

 

[mad825]

I hoping it's DLC relating to the Rachni. Seriously, we only know Rachni as savage beasts and is the only race left unexplored.

 

[crazyrabbits]

I would actually be kind of upset if you had a paid DLC that changed the ending because that's basically holding the best ending hostage behind a price wall.

The problem is that, for the last nine months, Bioware has either been unwilling or unable to honestly accept that the ending was a clusterfuck of mass proportions. Even the EC did little except answer a couple of plot holes (while creating even more questions), and that was done in regards to the backlash.

It's November, and the problems with the fanbase still haven't subsided. It is, quite possibly, the biggest "base breaker" of any video game in recent memory, so much so that you can't enter any topic without the discussion turning to the failings of the game, while the scant few fans try desperately to make people believe there was nothing wrong with the game except the ending. According to the HTL forums (where one of the members is a consumer analyst in France who has access to industry figures on brand awareness), the consumer confidence in the ME brand has gone down close to 40% over the last few months - and that's not counting the middling sales figures of Omega and the Trilogy boxset. According to said user, everything is down across the board - page visits to the Bioware Social Network are nowhere near what they were back in March, the sales figures for all of the products have substantially tapered off, and the target audience now skews much, much younger, with most page visits to their site (supposedly) coming from school IP's in various regions.

This "final" DLC seems to be a last-ditch effort to salvage the fanbase - I wouldn't be surprised if this whole debacle was why Zeschuk and Muzyka left. Even if it's the fabled "war assets show up, deleted material gets reinserted, conventional victory, Shepard lives, everyone gets a reunion ending" DLC, it will still be too little, too late for fans who've waited for months, in the face of snarkiness and backhanded insults by Bioware and EA staffers, to have decent closure.

Considering how mediocre the ME3 DLC's have been so far, I'm not holding much hope that things will get better unless they radically overhaul the ending, take their parting injuries and focus on the next game.

 

[Nooners]

If this IS a "Save Shepard" DLC, then I might actually be tempted to bump X-COM off my games to buy list in favor of the Mass Effect trilogy. Guild Wars 2 still comes first, though.

 

[skywolfblue]

A soundtrack that will jerk some more tears? You mean that Clint Mansell is going to make another annoyingly manipulative, overused score that dictates the scene? Because screw Requiem for a Dream's theme and the ME3 "sad" music.

le gasp!

But seriously I love Mansell's music.

Exactly! That's the entire fucking point of music! It's all manipulating you! Whether it's trying to make you feel sad, or happy, or romantic, or angry, or just fill you with frantic energy, it's trying to make you FEEL something. It's all very, very deliberate. All of it.

If we had no idea how certain chords or progressions made people feel, music would just be a bunch of random honking and crashing, and anything people felt would be totally accidental.

Indeed. It IS dramatic, it IS manipulative, and gosh darn it's beautiful.