User blog comment:Ygrain/Leviathan: Do you know what you are doing, Bioware?/@comment-24174486-20120906181610

"it finally did the proper foreshadowing of the Catalyst"

I guess the "oh, you need to put the Crucible and Catalyst together!" you heard from Vendetta doesn't count, because that foreshadows the Catalyst's role in resolving the plot. The Catalyst being revealed as an AI that created the Reapers is a twist, but it doesn't change the fact that, in the end, you were told what the Catalyst does and it does exactly that in the end.

"Vital information from the main storyline should NEVER have been made a DLC."

Does that information help you build the Crucible? Does that information help the galaxy fight the Reapers? Does that information change anything at all? There's a difference between "vital" and "relevant".

"it is the reason why so many people felt the ending didn’t fit."

The reason why some people felt that the ending didn't fit was that they ignored the fact that what you do in the ending is exactly what you sought to do for the entire game and they insisted that the inclusion of a biased character in the ending magically meant that you're supposed to agree with it—never mind the ability to choose the option it explicitly condemns, of course.

There's also the fact that if it told you what to expect in the ending, then it wouldn't be a Mass Effect ending. The ending to every Mass Effect game brings a major relevation. It was the Conduit in ME1, the Human-Reaper in ME2, and the Catalyst in ME3. It's endlessly amusing to see people complain about Mass Effect 3 over aspects that practically define the Mass Effect series.

"Now we learn from the Leviathan that it is an AI of their creation, what it is doing and why, and we still can’t do a thing to act on it? No way to find/stop/reprogram/destroy it?"

First and foremost, where would Shepard even start looking to find it? Even more importantly: why would Shepard, if they learned that the Intelligence was the Catalyst they sought, destroy or tamper with the thing that they need to stop the Reapers?

"You’ve cared to provide points to make the Catalyst more convincing"

How? If anything, Leviathan actually weakens the Catalyst's stance. It reveals that, while the civilization that created it did have organic/synthetic conflicts, it also gives many reasons to believe that the Leviathans' involvement was a major factor in creating a galaxy where organic/synthetic conflict was common. It certainly doesn't paint a positive picture of the Catalyst's creators, either.

"there is still this tiny problem with the Leviathans, who haven’t learned a thing from their own demise over the millennia, and there won’t be a force able to stop them"

What about Control, then? Legionwrex's blog also offers that as being beneficial in the case of the Leviathans rising against galatic civilization. Synthesis only comes close to being the "only option" if you believe that Synthesis will bring eternal galatic peace to every living being.

This argument also completely ignores that the Mass Effect series has always been about rising up against seemingly-impossible odds. As such, it's quite ironic and silly to see many complaints towards the third game being in the vein of "Everyone's doomed! There's no hope!"

Given the widespread positive reception of Leviathan, I think it's very safe to say that BioWare knows exactly what they are doing. And having seen a rare few negative responses to the DLC, I get the impression that the angry critics don't.