So I bought ME3 a few weeks ago for $12, and now I have upcoming leisure time to sit down and play through the game 3-4 days straight. This is what I've done for each game, and am looking forward to doing with ME3.

My question is though, should I buy all the story DLC for 2800 Bio points($45) before I start playing ? I adore Mass Effect, even so I'm not super deep into the lore, reading books and what not. More so I guess I'm in it for the ride to the finish line. (ME2 DLC really didn't change anything for me, maybe because I did it after I finished the game?)

I' m wondering if the DLC would really enhance my enjoyment, the idea of paying $45 for some extra tidbits of info isn't really appealing. Since this is a ancient aliens storyline as well, I don't feel as if it would contain anything too complicated where I couldn't connect the dots.

As you can probably tell, I'm trying to discourage myself from spending $45 on DLC. Oh and original ending first or extended cut?

Thanks Guys!

Play the game the way they made it. For better or for worse, that's the experience they intended for you to have. Buying and downloading a bunch of add-ons to make the experience better might make you enjoy it more in the long run, but you'll have supported a system in which a developer can sell a game and then fix it later on your dime. If you're already reticent to spend the money, I'd say even from an academic perspective, playing the game as it was originally created is reason enough not to add anything else to it.

Brad said the extended ending and from ashes are a must.

@The_Laughing_Man said:

Brad said the extended ending and from ashes are a must.

He said Leviathan was pretty important as well. Omega and the multiplayer stuff not as much. Personally, I played it at launch with just From Ashes installed and didn't care for the story at all. Based off of Brad's opinion, it might not hurt to get Ashes, Leviathan, and the extended ending if you want a slightly more cohesive story. If you just really like the combat, Omega might be for you. Overall, just do what you are comfortable with.

@The_Laughing_Man said:

Brad said the extended ending and from ashes are a must.

He said Leviathan was pretty important as well. Omega and the multiplayer stuff not as much. Personally, I played it at launch with just From Ashes installed and didn't care for the story at all. Based off of Brad's opinion, it might not hurt to get Ashes, Leviathan, and the extended ending if you want a slightly more cohesive story. If you just really like the combat, Omega might be for you. Overall, just do what you are comfortable with.

Don't get the weapon packs, or the appearance packs. From Ashes is great. If you buy it, bring Javik with you all the time. Extended Cut and all multiplayer DLC is free, so get all of that. The other 3 important packs that you have to pay for are From Ashes, Leviathan and Omega. Is that $45? I say get all 3 of those. Maybe not Omega since that's the most expensive.

As others have indicated, From Ashes and Leviathan tie directly into the main story and provide important background/supplemental information. Omega is fine and has some fun combat (particularly with Aria in your party) but unless you are hugely invested in Aria's character you can pretty safely skip Omega.

The Extended Cut is free and I would recommend you get that.

I recently finished my ME3 playthrough and had an experience very similar to the one that Brad described. Given that you have the opportunity to play the game with the Extended Cut and Leviathan materials (along with From Ashes, which was available Day One) I would suggest that you avail yourself of that additional content.

I played through the game for the first time two weeks ago so my recommendation is to get From Ashes and Leviathan but skip Omega. Also extended ending because let's not be fucking crazy.

From Ashes is great, just bring Javik around.

And Leviathan is worth it. Pretty decent chunk of content and a solid story payoff.

Yeah, definitely get From Ashes, Javik lends an important point of view on events. And Leviathan is almost certainly worth the 10 bucks. And the extended ending is free, so why not? It should only land you at $20. From what I have read Omega is basically a throw away DLC that adds very little in the way of story and the two characters you get to work with are both temporary and only interact with one another. I'm going to skip it... which will be the first piece of DLC in the series that I haven't purchased. That alone should speak volumes.

For those who played on the 360 did anyone have issues with the ally achievements in the first game? Ive done all the side quests and all that is left is Illos and the DLC quests and I have not gotten the Asari achievement.  
 
 
Do I need to get the arena one to get the ally achievements? Or will it pop right before the end of the game?  
 
Is that DLC (arena one) even worth it? 

@The_Laughing_Man: Those ally achievements in the first game were very poorly designed. You essentially need to decide ahead of time who you want to get the achievement with, rush to get them into your squad while doing as few side quests as possible, and then once they're in your squad, you have to do EVERYTHING. If you skip even one minor sidequest, there's a chance you might not get the achievement.

Also, pretty much none of the DLC for the first game is worth it.

From Ashes and Leviathan are the two most important ones, plus the free extended DLC.

@The_Laughing_Man: Those ally achievements in the first game were very poorly designed. You essentially need to decide ahead of time who you want to get the achievement with, rush to get them into your squad while doing as few side quests as possible, and then once their in your squad, you have to do EVERYTHING. If you skip even one minor sidequest, there's a chance you might not get the achievement.

@The_Laughing_Man: Not sure about the achievements, but regarding the arena DLC, I haven't played it but I think the combat in ME1 is very clunky, and the arena DLC is all combat, so that didn't sound very appealing to me. Plus I don't think it was even developed by Bioware.

@The_Laughing_Man: Those ally achievements in the first game were very poorly designed. You essentially need to decide ahead of time who you want to get the achievement with, rush to get them into your squad while doing as few side quests as possible, and then once their in your squad, you have to do EVERYTHING. If you skip even one minor sidequest, there's a chance you might not get the achievement.

Also, pretty much none of the DLC for the first game is worth it.

From Ashes and Leviathan offer better insight to the lore but have very little to add to the core goings-on of ME3. Omega ties in more directly to the core struggle, but only slightly.

If you want a deeper understanding of the universe, download From Ashes and Leviathan. If you want to see a female Turian, download Omega. If you prefer an ending with some subtlety that assumes you can put one and one together, stick with the original ending. If you prefer to have a game that talks down to you, holding your hand and spelling out every minor detail, then download the extended cut.

@The_Laughing_Man: I applaud the mere gesture of going through and getting those Ally achievements/trophies. Christ. So little feedback on what actually warranted the achievement itself.

@The_Laughing_Man: I applaud the mere gesture of going through and getting those Ally achievements/trophies. Christ. So little feedback on what actually warranted the achievement itself.

@The_Laughing_Man said:

@sixpin

@The_Laughing_Man said:

Brad said the extended ending and from ashes are a must.

He said Leviathan was pretty important as well. Omega and the multiplayer stuff not as much. Personally, I played it at launch with just From Ashes installed and didn't care for the story at all. Based off of Brad's opinion, it might not hurt to get Ashes, Leviathan, and the extended ending if you want a slightly more cohesive story. If you just really like the combat, Omega might be for you. Overall, just do what you are comfortable with.

Female turian. Also isn't most of the multiplayer stuff free?

A lot of it is. Not sure how much though. I haven't touched ME3 since I beat it back in March. I remember something was said on the Bombcast about some of that stuff being free though.

I just got done playing through the DLC today and as someone who loves the Mass Effect universe and is a bit of a BioWare apologist, I'm gonna say yes to From Ashes and Leviathan and no to Omega. Omega is over-priced, has nothing new in terms of combat scenarios, contains the least interesting characters and universe building in the entire series and has an extremely poor ending.

I can't stress enough, no matter how much you THINK you love Mass Effect or THINK you'll enjoy the Omega DLC, don't get it. As easy as I am to please and as eager as I am to consume content in that universe, it was a complete waste of time and money and I regret buying it.

I'm pretty sure all of the multiplayer maps are free. You can pay for in-game credits or some such to play with the microtransaction stuff, but you'll earn enough of the credits by just playing a couple games online.

Edit: Spelling mistakes.

@sixpin said:

@The_Laughing_Man said:

@sixpin

@The_Laughing_Man said:

Brad said the extended ending and from ashes are a must.

He said Leviathan was pretty important as well. Omega and the multiplayer stuff not as much. Personally, I played it at launch with just From Ashes installed and didn't care for the story at all. Based off of Brad's opinion, it might not hurt to get Ashes, Leviathan, and the extended ending if you want a slightly more cohesive story. If you just really like the combat, Omega might be for you. Overall, just do what you are comfortable with.

Female turian. Also isn't most of the multiplayer stuff free?

A lot of it is. Not sure how much though. I haven't touched ME3 since I beat it back in March. I remember something was said on the Bombcast about some of that stuff being free though.

All of the multiplayer DLC is completely free.

@The_Laughing_Man: Those ally achievements in the first game were very poorly designed. You essentially need to decide ahead of time who you want to get the achievement with, rush to get them into your squad while doing as few side quests as possible, and then once they're in your squad, you have to do EVERYTHING. If you skip even one minor sidequest, there's a chance you might not get the achievement.

Also, pretty much none of the DLC for the first game is worth it.

@Beaudacious: I'm currently doing the exact same thing as you and playing through ME3 for the first time. I got from ashes and leviathan and made sure to download the extended cut also. Seems like the right way to go, and Javik, discovered in 'from ashes' provides a really interesting perspective on events.

Well I've decided to skip the DLC and just play as if on release. I dislike EA's DLC practice, and will vote with my dollars.

Get all the DLC, without question. Leads to the best experience.

Get the free extended cut. The original ending is garbage, and the extended cut isn't exactly good, but it definitely makes the ending more bearable.

From Ashes was actually pretty damn good, Javik adds a lot of interesting dialogue to the game. I can't speak for the other DLC though, since I haven't played them.

I just finished Omega and I don't understand how Eurogamer gave it a 4/10 and Gamespot 5.5. Sure it is not the best DLC for a ME game, but it was good. I would say a 7/10. I played on Insane and the battles were fun and challenging. Maybe not the most story driven DLC but if it was a Gears of War DLC or something like that then it would have gotten better score because people don't play it for the story.

I would get all singleplayer dlc except Omega. From Ashes helps us learn more about the Protheans. Extended Cut helps us learn more about the Catalyst. Leviathan helps us learn about the (spoiler alert) Leviathan race.

Who cares?