So, if you haven't seen my previous post (link above), go read my post and some of the responses. If you do, this is going to make more sense. So I literally just finished Mass Effect 3 for the first time. My play through clocked in around 30 hours. I did have the luxury of having the extended cut, so I didn't have to go through the pain of the original ending (although I will be honest and say that I did go on YouTube and watch the original and if I had played it through then, I also would have been mad). So I want to tell you my thoughts on the end and ask your opinion on another matter. I thought the ending was good and it wrapped things up well. I enjoyed the break in between Earth 1 and Earth 2 where I could go around to the various crew members and say my final goodbyes. They were all great, but my top 2 would have to be Ashley and Liara. I romanced Ashley, so hers could be different for others out there, but for mine I thought it was fitting and it showed the love between the two. I liked Liara's because she has so much respect for Shepard that she shares her memories with you. Shepards paragon speech evokes emotions that are only there because the crew is a family and they care for each other. Now on to the Citadel. The final walk to the beam was interesting and a good way for Shepard to be at his last moments. The conversation with the Illusive Man was quite interesting and it reminded me of Mass Effect 1 when you have to talk to Saren. When (in my playthrough) Shepard convinces him that he is indoctrinated and he commits suicide, that really cemented in my mind the relation he has to Saren. It was sad to see Anderson die, but it was good to see him go so peacefully thinking that they had just won and the war was about to be over. Lastly, the child and the three decisions. I didn't watch the original interaction with the child so I don't know how ridiculous it was then, but it was fine for me. What I got out of it was that his creators were the first organic race to develop synthetics and then they rebelled. When that happened, 2 factions formed. One, similar to Shepard, believed that it could be resolved somehow. The other faction believed that this type of thing was inevitable and the only way to keep it from getting out of control and all organics getting wiped out was to destroy any species developed enough to have advanced technology, and to do it every 50,000 years to allow those circumstances to arise. Ultimately they won and wiped out their entire race, leaving behind the Star Child to oversee the execution of the reapers purpose. Over time, the star child has experimented with other possibilities, but they never worked out. I really liked his analogy comparing reapers to fire. Although, it may seem that the reapers are in conflict, they are just doing what they were programmed to do.They thought that what they were doing was right and no one else had been able to complete the Crucible to challenge them. And now that Shepard had arrived, the Star Child realized that it was time for things to change. Which brings us to the choices. I'll go in the order that the Sta Child presents them to Shepard. 1) Destroy. I went in to the final moments leaning toward control with a slight thought of maybe choosing destroy, based on what the Star Child said.although that has been a theme of the entire series, I decided not to do destroy because I had worked hard to end the war with the geth peacefully, and Shepard had helped EDI discover her identity that I couldn't see my Shepard throwing it all away when there were other viable options. The final nail in the coffin was when the Star Child said that there was no guarantee that it could happen again far down the road, either in a new set of reapers or Synthetics wiping out organics since it seems that only Shepard has the charisma and talent to stop that. 2) Control. I found it interesting that when they showed the control terminal, that Shepard saw the Illusive Man activating it. Confirming that his theory was right (his motives for it are another thing entirely). I was also relieved that Shepard was also correct in his conversation with T.I.M. when it is confirmed that because he was being controlled, he couldn't do it. I also liked it because Shepard's way of thinking and doing things would be present in his AI form that would control them. 3) Synthesize. I half expected to see an image of Saren activating this console and was saddened when he didn't. The star child made sense with our need to better our lives with technology and that fusing the two would give organics the benefits that synthetics had and vice versa. The thing that turned me away from it was when he said that this was something that could not be forced in order to work. Shepard would be doing exactly that. After the three explanations, my choice was simple. I chose control. Everything in the cutscene following was good with a few exceptions. I liked seeing the fate of the galaxy, knowing that people made it home and were recovering. I liked the construction on Tuchanka, the reapers helping rebuild London and the mass relays, and the Quarians rebuilding their homeworld. What I didn't like, however, that the Geth weren't helping rebuild like they were going to. But the biggest dislike came when they place Shepard's name on the memorial. EDI is standing behind the rest of them at full attention while everyone else is obviously mourning. It is as if she is either reverted back to her old "shackled" self, or she is just a VI in a body. So now I am wondering if maybe Synthesis was the better option for the preservation of the "self". So, overall I think the ending was good. VERY EMOTIONAL. I nearly cried at parts throughout the game when we would lose people or planets. That is a sign of a good store. Which brings me to my questions for y'all. With this detailed personal reaction, what was your own reaction as you were presented with the choices? Also, is the single player DLC worth the price? I don't care for the MP DLC, but most story DLC doesn't cost $14.99 either. Do you feel that they are good enough to warrant the price, and would you recommend getting them? TL;DR What were your reactions as you experienced the final 3 levels of Mass Effect 3 and do you recommend the single player DLC?