Commander Shepard’s long goodbye in Mass Effect 3 got a little longer today, with the release of its Extended Cut DLC. Lots of little changes — and a few big ones — lurk inside the bigger, fan-demanded finale for BioWare’s sci-fi action RPG.
Watch this painstakingly assembled split-screen comparison footage above to see where the Normandy gets more damage, the camera changes and who kicks back with a beer after the galaxy-saving’s done.
They glittered the turd instead of flushing to toilet.
the*
Proof that some people will just never be satisfied.
doubt his ever played the game
Why would this automatically be enough to satisfy someone who didn't like the ending? Most of this stuff was already implied or just clearing up misleading images, the rest was just patting the player on the back going 'nah, it's going to be ok, everything will be fine'.
If it was just a matter of a needing a happy spin and some clarity Mass Effect fans would have been blasting away at anyone who didn't like the ending for being too stupid to get it and too much of a crybaby to accept a harsh ending (look at Lost fans who stuck with it after the final season). The problems with the ending run way deeper than that even if the people complaining tend to get hung up nitpicking.
I can respect that BioWare went with an extended cut rather than an alternate ending, and I appreciate the effort, I really do, but neither of those things address any of the actual issues that caused the ending to ruin the series for a lot of fans.
Think of it this way, have you ever seen the alternate ending to Terminator 2? The really terrible happy ending where it's the future, Judgement Day didn't happen, and somehow John is a senator. If that was the end of the movie you'd say Terminator 2 was great until the last five minutes. If they released an extended cut of that, which explained how John and Sarah could live normal lives, that would make it longer not better. That's basically what they've done here.
Frankly, I was one of the people who was ok with the original ending, do I feel like the majority of complainers didn't "get it". I can appreciate some people get it and don't like it but the arguments for not liking it seem to pale in the face of the extended cut. It's not liking it and refusing to accept it. People will continue to complain. I am beyond caring.
As far as I'm concerned Bioware went above and beyond.
Some people obviously missed things like the gates not actually exploding like in The Arrival and the Fleet retreating (having to explain those has been driving me nuts), and there was a ton of confusion and nitpicking that could actually be explained quite rationally, but really the core of it, the part that's so frustrating to a lot of the fans, is the pseudo-spiritual crap piled in there.
That stuff is pretty hard to read wrong. The only way to not get it is to assume there's depth there and overthink it. It makes sense mechanically but it's got no relation to the story so far and that makes it very easy for a viewer to reject it.
Personally I feel the entire game was the ending. I wrapped things up with the Krogan, Geth, my friends, etc long before I ran down the hill. In that sense I'm satisfied and I enjoyed the game. It's just when it came time to wrap up my/Shepard's story they decided I needed to ascend out of nowhere and make a moral choice for the sake of making a moral choice. Up until that point all the choices I'd made in ME3 felt epic, then I get this one where the game pretty much breaks the 4th wall and asks 'do you want to see the paragon ending, the renegade ending or the neutral ending?'.
I'll accept that this is the end. I accepted the ending the first time I beat the game and wasn't demanding BioWare change it or anything. I just think both Mass Effect lore and the Mass Effect fans deserve better than the poorly written last fifteen minutes of the game.
I suppose there is some truth there. If they had said - this is what you did in the game, so this is the ONE ending you get - then maybe I would be able to accept the ending, but the whole 'you have enough stuffs here are three endings' is a glittering turd.
It's funny all I was thinking during the extended cut was 'This is exactly like the alternate ending of Terminator 2' and that's why I don't like the new cut ;)
That... was pretty good! My only complaint? The plaque should've had 'your' Shepard's first name, considering it's used in character creation. Just as a bookend.
A smiling Krogan will always make my day!
Ok i hated the original endinds but the extended cut has brought me back into biowares fold!
I liked it, faith restored. I also like how the relays aren't completely destroyed. It's a shame they left that last bit in, it always makes me gag.
even thou i havn't played MS3, i want my money back EA
well atleast they plugged most of the plot holes i still dont like it but now that it's not retarded anymore i can live with it
It still didn't address all the work and choices we made. It's a good re-make of the ending, and I even shed a manly tear for Shep.. but it still feels hollow and unfulfilled.
Your choices were addressed in the stuff before the ending, more commonly referred to as 'the rest of the game'.
Well that's a marked improvement at least.
Pros:
- Bioware is not completely deaf.
- Addresses most of the issues of the aftermath.
Cons:
- Still doesn't address the more serious issues with how the choices in the end even came to be. And how the whole thing is horribly disconnected with the rest of the series.
- Changes such as the relays pulsing and shutting down as opposed to exploding means they've at least admitted internally that the original made no sense given the lore of the setting. But they still won't publicly admit that they half-assed the original ending.
best ending ever for the DLC, it shows much more then the Original one. both are really good but personally i prefer the DLC one better
Clearly they rushed the release. If this had been the ending the whole time people would be less upset.