The Extended Cut Fixes NOTHING

‣ Feature ‣ The Extended Cut Fixes NOTHING

Cody Fullbrook
June 28, 2012

Mass Effect 3’s ending was bad for just one reason, and the Extended Cut doesn’t even seem to know it exists.

It isn’t bad because it lacked closure, no matter what Casey Hudson says. Closure would have been nice, but that’s not the ‘problem’ about ME3’s original ending, as well as the “new” one. As far as closure goes, the Extended Cut added what I already assumed happened, like the Mass Relays being repaired.

Now that BioWare has been given a second chance to fill in some gaps the original feels even more incomplete, as if they accidentally left out the cinematics that were eventually shown in the Extended Cut. It’s not about closure, it’s about explanation. I have dozens of questions involving virtually every single moment of the ending and the Extended Cut kinda answers about three, all of which are in the Control choice (My personal favourite now), while just randomly changing others, like the Normandy crew going to a jungle place just to smile at a sunset and then fly away for no reason

Showing the fleet escape from the Citadel’s ‘explosion’ does help a bit, even though they shouldn’t really know what’s going on, but no amount of cinematics, dialogue or even game play could fix the main problem the ending Mass Effect 3 already had…and here it is:

Every branching decision you made throughout the series suddenly crashes together into one spot before spreading off into THREE incredibly unrelated conclusions, excluding a fourth which I found surprisingly engaging. The problem isn’t that there are only three possible endings, it’s that your previous choices have no bearing on what those possible endings are. I could tolerate three conclusions as long as my journey brought me to my own personal ending, not just being allowed to choose a cinematic I could watch on YouTube later.

As a demonstration, let’s say that the numbers between 1 and 20 represent the possible decisions Shepard (you) could have made in the Mass Effect series, and adding specific ones together results in your particular conclusion.

7 + 9 = 16

14 + 6 – 10 + 5 + 1 = 16.

Sure, we’ve come to the same conclusion, but it was because of completely different numbers. As far as Mass Effect is concerned, it’s about how we get to the conclusions.

There is no reason why the original ending couldn’t have been exactly like the Extended Cut, if not better, and I honestly would have preferred the Indoctrination Theory being correct. At least then BioWare could have milked another game out of the franchise and get more money.

Overall, the Extended Cut just feels like a hasty reassurance directed at panicking fans, especially the Destroy ending where Hackett is essentially going “It’s okay! Everything’s fine!”. I’m glad they didn’t just change everything as an apology, but the Extended Cut feels so ‘shoddy’ that it may as well have never been made.

The images of Krogans, Mass Relays and people on a balcony are uncomfortably inappropriate for something as ‘science-fictiony’ as Mass Effect, and the cinematics themselves look much less detailed than usual. Just like the game, the Extended Cut needed more time before getting released.

Also, the Synthesis ending is still pointlessly arbitrary, and the green eyes look freaking stupid.

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Cody Fullbrook

Editor at Bag of Games

Games can influence people in ways that any other medium can't come close to and as I get older I keep understanding and respecting them more. To see more Stretch visit his blog at www.stretchreviews.blogspot.com

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Ian

How about this: Go make your own fucking game then. Instead of crying like a baby, quit your writing job and start a multi-million dollar company. Then hire a good 600 staff members and get to starting the next Mass Effect 3. Call it “Mass Effect 3: The “I’m a little whiner who needs everything explained to me, cause i don’t have an imagination” Edition” Frankly, I’m glad gamers like you, who think that the ending was crap and that you are entitled to something, are suffering. I’m glad you will never get your “New” ending. It’s almost July. My State is burning to the ground, and i get on the computer to read this shit?

Get over it.
Seriously, because the more all of you babies bitch, the less Bioware wants to make more single player content that I actually want.

Just shut the hell up already. It’s really getting old.
- KingOfArcadia
  
  Well said Ian, well said.
  
  Cody, go get yourself a moist towelette and clean the sand out of your vagina.
- GideonKain
  
  What do Wildfires in Colorado have to do with your feelings about an opinion piece?
  
  Telling somebody to stop whining is whining.
  
  Do you honestly think BioWare feels less inclined to make single player content because it’s fan base felt cheated?
  
  As if they’re all just too sad to turn on the cash milking machine in the morning?
- Henk
  
  Dude, seriously? Let the guy write a fucking opinion piece, the game didn’t satisfy him and now the extended cut just adds more weirdness to it. If you don’t agree, fine, just comment why and give him some good feedback why you didn’t like it. And you are saying that he’s whining, while you’re acting like you’re in the middle of a fucking warzone with your: WEEEEEEEH!!! MY STATE IS BURNING TO THE GROUND BECAUSE IT’S SO HOOOOOOOOT!!!11!1!1!! Bullshit.
  And riiiight… Bioware won’t make anymore dlc because people didn’t like the ending, seriously? That’s like somebody else allready told you: not turning on the milking machine in the morning.
- mZwerghamster
  
  Whats your problem Ian? Its not like people bitch because the ending sucks and ist doesnt explain everything.. they bitch becaues it doenst al that DESPITE the promise it would.
  
  In the end i agree, we will probably have to get over it, but it doesnt help but still ruining a great game. (Since the ending sequence with the starchild is messed up beyond all hopes and all possible endings a total antithesis to all the things you do in the game, lest youz play renegade at heart and destroy everything)
  
  So, YOU stop bitching and whining about those people who (imo) rightfully feel betrayed.
- Dragonwaz
  
  Wish there was a spam button here. I honestly feel there are 20 people who have hate filled responses for and against Mass Effect 3 who just paste them everywhere to start crap that will make them feel special.
Vlad

I agree with you, Cody, on the fact that all the decisions made during the game don’t matter at the end. That’s why I’m not tempted to ever replay the game and make different choices, cause it doesn’t matter what you do.

I guess that’s the only problem I have with it. They could’ve redeemed themselves in my eyes if they worked more on those slides at the end, to make them like the Fallout 1 and 2 endings, where a narrator explains, thoroughly, what happens to each of the races and characters. For example if I slept with Liara maybe she got pregnant and made a beautiful blue baby, one that will also be a hero like his lost father some day. I think with little things like that they could’ve won the fans back.
Magnus the Red

Honestly, I don’t agree. I can see where you are coming from and why you are making these criticisms but I think closure would have been more important for a finale than a full explanation. Further details and ideas can be made up by fans surrounding the reapers or expanded upon in future DLC, you only get the one conclusion to something.
It probably is a hasty reassurance, something added at the last minute, but i’d take that over what we had before. It’s also at least a sign that Bioware values the opinions of its fans and tries not to just ignore their criticisms, something a lot of other EA owned franchises have done in the past.
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http://www.parishwhittaker.com DPW

We don’t have to debate about whether this will be the last of Shep: Bioware/EA is launching a DLC called Leviathan, allegedly on par with Lair of the Shadow Broker (in length at least).

So. The Mass Effect story is over. Will players want to fork out the $10 to play DLC that takes place before the end? Everyone’s different, but if it’s good (and LotSB was very much so), I’d say yes. Games get replayed, after all. Just because we know the ending doesn’t stop us.

Some hated the ME ending so much that perhaps for them the “shiny” is gone from the franchise, of course. But honestly, even if half of the players felt that way (and I suspect that’s an exaggeration), Bioware/EA would still have a customer base large enough to justify the DLC.

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