A slightly more comprehensive review of the ME3 EC DLC
Save Games: So, despite the BioWare team saying that you need to play through from before the Illusive Man's base, there is in fact no point as far as I can tell. Just pick the closest save you have to either the forward operating base or the missile battery. Do not use a save any further forward than this or it will not work.
The Goodbye / Normandy Pickup: Added in to explain how your squad mates went from fighting for their lives on earth to sitting nice and happy on the Normandy. Unfortunately, the explanation they've come up with is 90% nonsense, evened out with 10% sweet. I had Garrus, my LI, with me down on the ground and there was another 'goodbye' scene when the Normandy came and picked him up. Personally, I thought this was too much - and the 'I love you, I love you too" confession seemed weirdly timed. Especially after we'd talked about having/adopting krogan babies at the forward operating base.
I *did* like that your squad mates were injured, and you went back to help them - but I can see that this wouldn't suit every Shepard. A better option, in my opinion, would be to give you the choice about whether to go back for them or not. If you choose yes, you get the new cut scene. If you choose no, then it plays out like it did originally. But ah well, it's not too bad... I can live with it.
Leaving Shepard Behind: I did like that we got to see someone giving Joker the order to leave Shepard behind. In my case, this was Kaidan - my ME1 LI who was subsequently dumped for Garrus. Him being an alliance soldier and my ex just made the scene of giving Joker the order to leave that much better. I approve.
More Explanation from the Catalyst: I really, really like that we can ask the Catalyst more questions. And yes, the answers that the Catalyst gives are still 110% bullshit. But, this time around it felt less like sloppy writing and more like the Catalyst has completely fucked logic. I approve.
The New 'Refusal' Ending: I didn't see this organically. I didn't even know that it existed until I went on the community after I finished playing. But I like it. Don't want to play the game? Well you get to keep your pride, but you're sacrificing humanity. Thankfully, that clever Asari who made the beacon has given subsequent civilisations a chance - maybe civilisations that have slightly less stubborn pride than you.
Troll from BioWare? Response to fan feedback? A little from column A, a little from column B I think. I approve.
Differentiated Endings: This is the single best change in the ME3 EC, and goes a long way to fixing the endings for me. Instead of having colour-coded explosions, we actually get to see what the differences are. I love, love, love the new 'control' ending - even if I will never, ever pick it with my Shepard (I watched it on YouTube). It is so creepy and disturbing and awesome. I approve. I dislike the happy, magical ending of Synthesis which seems to completely ignore the fact that it's extremely morally dubious. Having the new 'alive' (what was she before?) EDI narrating the ending, and basically saying how it's fixed all of the world's problems and brought magical happy-land to the universe completely glosses over the fact that you've rewritten the DNA and possibly the minds of every single being in the galaxy. This decision reminds me a lot of the decision you make regarding the geth heretics in ME2 - but there they acknowledged the morality of the issue. Here -- well, it seems quite clearly intended to be the best ending. And maybe it is - but it isn't quite so simply and easily awesome as the post-game montage makes out, imho.
And that leaves 'destroy' - my personal favourite. In the new post-game montage, you get to see that your decision has finally won the war. With huge, horrible sacrifices of course - and the ending now acknowledges that EDI is dead - but you've completed your mission. And you've rejected the Catalyst's fucked logic - because in a way, by picking the 'destroy' option you're putting your faith in the next cycle of synthetic and organic finding a way to co-exist together - as different beings. This is instead of either a) saying that difference can't exist without conflict (Synthesis), or by) insisting that conflict can only be avoided through control. Destroy is the ending that acknowledges what you did with the Geth and the Quarians - that you brokered peace, that you were building a new future. And although it has the horrible sacrifice of the Geth, you are putting your faith that when the next synthetics are created, which they will, that peace can still be had. That there is that chance. That the 'cycle' does not need to exist. And that's why I like destroy.
New ending montages that show the differences? I approve.
The Wall: My other favourite part of the ME3 DLC. The moment when Commander Shepard's name either gets added, or doesn't, on the memorial wall. In my case, Garrus, the LI, was about to place Shepard's name on the wall below Anderson's... but then doesn't, because my Shep is actually still breathing in the rubble. I've seen other YouTube versions where the name does get put up, without hesitation.
It does raise some timing issues... like, Shepard may be alive now but how alive is she going to be when they actually arrive to pick her up? Given that she's in rubble in space? And, how long do they wait after the battle before putting up her name?
But overall, it's a solid gesture that makes use of an existing part of the story. I approve.
The Crash Landing that Wasn't: I was extremely disappointed when the Normandy still crashed landed on the weird jungle-oasis planet. And then they took off and left again. Which is good, but it makes me question what the whole point of the crash landing was anyway? Especially since in the original ending, it seemed that the crash-landing planet was the home of the Stargazer and the kid... but this time they take off. What, do they remember the coordinates and send someone back later to colonise it? And that's where Stargazer is? What's going on there? What is the point of this scene anymore?
Not a fan of the jungle planet. But never was. And at least they left, eliminating questions of how Garrus and Tali were going to survive.
Overall: The differentiated endings and the Wall make this absolutely worth it. The Goodbye/Normandy Pick Up was awkward but understandable, and I like that we see the order given to leave Shepard behind.
It was good. If it had been part of the original ending, it probably wouldn't have kicked up the stink that it did. As an afterthought it isn't as amazing as it could have been. But it is better.
And, as I said in my other post, it's totally ficcable - and that makes up for the slightly awkward fix-it scenes.