• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut is coming next week [Up: Out now, my sweet]

So my understanding is that these endings are simply a polished turd, rather than just a turd?

ME3 still not worth picking up because of it?
 
dentoomw said:
And am I the only one who kinda likes the Synthesis ending?
The whole "He gave his life so I could live" spiel I thought was very touching.
Click to expand...

I liked EDI narrating it, but the concept is just so ridiculous.

Control and Synthesis are just too weird for me to accept as things that could happen, so I'm stuck killing EDI and the geth...
 
Omikaru said:
So my understanding is that these endings are simply a polished turd, rather than just a turd?

ME3 still not worth picking up because of it?
Click to expand...

If the ending is all you care about, then you might want to skip it. The game and much of what happens if really good, but if your a person whose going to let questionable writing in the last 5-10 minutes bother you, then don't bother.
 
So far I like the fatalism of the reject ending. Everything else is terrible. The Krogan family holding the baby like in a bad diaper commercial sums up perfectly everything that's wrong with Bioware.
 
Omikaru said:
So my understanding is that these endings are simply a polished turd, rather than just a turd?

ME3 still not worth picking up because of it?
Click to expand...

They retconned some bad ideas, but the bigger flaws are still there. The ending still sucks, but not as much as before.
 
Gustav said:
So far I like the fatalism of the reject ending. Everything else is terrible. The Krogan family holding the baby like in a bad diaper commercial sums up perfectly everything that's wrong with Bioware.
Click to expand...

The one good thing about the reject ending is its in line with other choices made throughout the series. It plays to how my Shepard is; so I like it for that.

The others are just...fuck all to do with Shepard/the player.
 
Thinking on it... reject ending is the true ending. Sorry humanity. A shame there wasn't a way to win, but with extremely heavy casualties, but I'm alright with the next cycle handling it. Were the aliens at the end of the reject ending supposed to be Asari, or just some new race?
 
grimshawish said:
The one good thing about the reject ending is its in line with other choices made throughout the series. It plays to how my Shepard is; so I like it for that.

The others are just...fuck all to do with Shepard/the player.
Click to expand...

I agree with this. Fuck your Skittles, starchild.
 
I just finished it, and you know what? I'm okay with it. It's fine. I can live with this.

Now I just need that song they played during the firing cutscene.
 
BattleMonkey said:
If the ending is all you care about, then you might want to skip it. The game and much of what happens if really good, but if your a person whose going to let questionable writing in the last 5-10 minutes bother you, then don't bother.
Click to expand...

AB12 said:
They retconned some bad ideas, but the bigger flaws are still there. The ending still sucks, but not as much as before.
Click to expand...

Thanks, both. And yeah, the endings to story-driven games are crucially important to me. I think they leave a lasting impression on the game as a whole. So even if most of it is good, I think the last thing I see colours my opinion on the whole.

I'll be giving this one a miss.
 
AB12 said:
Watch the reject ending. For some lolz.
Click to expand...

Isn't there a new epilogue that goes with that one too? With a woman rather than Buzz Aldrin?

Anyway, after watching that one:

Reject>>>Control>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Destroy>>>>>>>>>>>>>Synthesis.

Reject is most in-line with how you should behave if your Shepard isn't evil, and also isn't a dumbass. They still don't give you a "perfect" option, but I guess them's the breaks. Control is about as close as it gets.

The mass relay retcon in every version is hilarious though, as it just shows how incompetent the writer(s) handling that part were.
 
Watched all the endings, but none of them fixed my issues with the game. Space magic is still unexplained (along with other plot holes), my choices throughout the series still has little to no consequences, and no love is given to the hanar, elcor and volus. The IT is still better than all the official endings, so I'll stick to that or my "everyone dies" run of ME2 as my personal ending of the series.
 
Wasn't expecting much... and I'm glad I didn't. If anything, I hope BioWare goes with Control as "canon" ending if they decide to continue the series, but my fascination with ME is done. These endings really didn't change anything and the whole effort was close to useless.
 
jonah777 said:
Wasn't expecting much... and I'm glad I didn't. If anything, I hope BioWare goes with Control as "canon" ending if they decide to continue the series, but my fascination with ME is done. These endings really didn't change anything and the whole effort was close to useless.
Click to expand...

I support the Control ending as canon only if the next game is a god game where you build the galaxy anew as Reaper Shep.
 
Just watched the Destroy ending on YT, nice try Bioware, if this was the original ending it wouldn't have sucked so hard. But the ending is still awfull, everytime i see space casper i want to vomit.
 
Arjen said:
Just watched the Destroy ending on YT, nice try Bioware, if this was the original ending it wouldn't have sucked so hard. But the ending is still awfull, everytime i see space casper i want to vomit.
Click to expand...

Ha yeah. I tried to watch these on YouTube, but when the kid spoke I couldnt take it and closed the video. Reading about them is good enough. The endings generally sound better but still pretty bad. At least shooting the kid does something now which is what I tried when I played it. I don't really care anymore.
 
I chose the Synthesis ending back then, because I didn't want to kill the Geth and Control seemed to risky (sounded to me if losing control over the Reapers wasn't a question of if, but when. I think I'm gonna choose Control this time anyway.
 
Should have went to download it from the time it went online - it took about a minute to move to 2%, can't remember the last time I saw something download that slow on XBL.
 
These seem to be the endings we would've gotten if EA had given them time to finish the game. Still stupid endings no matter how they're extrapolated on.

Now if only they could go back and redo the wannabe scripted shooter gameplay.
 
I didn't have a problem with the old endings, and i like this ones too. Every extended cut played roughly the same as i thought about them before, so there's nothing really new for me.
The one thing bumms me is that they retconned destruction of the relays. That was one of the best things in the old endings for me and it's dissapointing they changed it.
HadesGigas said:
I support the Control ending as canon only if the next game is a god game where you build the galaxy anew as Reaper Shep.
Click to expand...
More likely they will get rid of him, say that he help the galaxy rebuild itself and left, leaving species to live withouth his help.
Gustav said:
SThe Krogan family holding the baby like in a bad diaper commercial sums up perfectly everything that's wrong with Bioware.
Click to expand...
Oh come on, It's just a few seconds shot showing the player what happened because of his actions. Don't help Krogans if you are so butthurt about that.
CarbonatedFalcon said:
Reject is most in-line with how you should behave if your Shepard isn't evil, and also isn't a dumbass. They still don't give you a "perfect" option, but I guess them's the breaks. Control is about as close as it gets.
Click to expand...
I don't know what Shepard you've played the whole trilogy, but mine would definitely not sacrifice the whole fucking galaxy.
What's your 'perfect' option then?

EDIT: I saw this in the comment section on youtube:
"defeating the reapers through all your efforts. The cost should be high, as this isn't supposed to be the perfect decision, but in the end, we would have won. And we would still be here, stronger and more unified for what everyone sacrificed."
Yeah, that looks terrible and would be the ultimate Hollywood camp in my opinion...
 
ilnadmy said:
So is it worth buffing up my galactic readiness to 100% for the new endings? Do the endings change depending on your readiness?
Click to expand...

The same way they did before, I think - so partial destruction on earth if you're only partly ready, if you're not ready at all Destroy literally wipes everything out indiscriminately etcetera.
 
Confidence Man said:
These seem to be the endings we would've gotten if EA had given them time to finish the game. Still stupid endings no matter how they're extrapolated on.

Now if only they could go back and redo the wannabe scripted shooter gameplay.
Click to expand...

Go back and redo the series from all the way back to ME1? Since it's always been a scripted shooter.
 
I like how the new Synthesis ending has them just flying off the planet at the end, where in the old one it was implied they were stuck there.
 
volturnus said:
No, you watch it here and facepalm with us:
Destroy
Synthesis
Control
Refusal

Otherwise, yeah, you have to play it all over again.
Click to expand...


Thanks for posting this.

It's absolutely insane that this is considered an improvement over the original endings. It certainly shows how remarkably bankrupt the original endings are.

It's sad how much of a cautionary tale Bioware has become.

edit for - Oh my god...they gave us static art...and best of all is that they kept the Mass Effect 2 characters still in their outfits from the game. Jacob is still in his Cerberus uniform and the mercenary lounging on a chair in his combat armour, etc...
 
So, at this point it seems like:

  • Bioware simply lied that they weren’t changing the ending. It has, in fact, been changed (at least Destroy has). To take the ending at logical face value, the relays and Citadel suffer no more than cosmetic damage. They may have well have included Hackett saying “huh, looks like that paint is pretty dinged up, huh?”. This is fixed within a week to ten days, so rations don’t run out and food comes in (I know he says “eventually”, but it makes no logical sense for it to take more than ten days-ish without mass death). The damage to the relays therefore has absolutely no narrative point. At all.
  • How this repair works is another matter – the core of the Sol relay runs out aesthetically, so it should require a solar system’s worth of energy to replace, way beyond the technology level of the current residents of the galaxy. Space magic!
  • This means the Mass Effect Universe, as a setting, remains in play as long as Destroy is picked. Unlike before things will be more or less back to normal within a few months (except the Geth). There’ll be years of rebuilding damage to colonies etc, and to Earth, but the Galactic council exists, and you could have a new game set in the future of a reasonably Mass Effect-ish setting.

This is a good change, if clumsily done.

However…

  • You still kill all the Geth. For no logical reason, since they’re not Reaper constructs, and Bioware themselves can’t seem to decide exactly what Destroy is actually supposed to destroy. This, thematically, still blows.
  • While Indoctrination Theory isn’t explicitly denied, loads of evidence for it is removed or changed, so it appears extremely clear that it is not the authorial intent. Starchild having Harbingers voice in the refusal ending will add something to those claims, and does make me think twice about control still, but really… So much evidence is taken out.
  • There are still stacks of plotholes. Why the Reapers don’t turn all the relays off after taking the Citadel is ignored. It still seems that everyone on the Citadel dies. Still doesn’t seem to be any logic over what Destroy does and doesn’t destroy. Is EDI dead? She’s not there in Destroy, but by the same token Joker doesn’t really seem to give a toss and she has no name on the memorial wall.
  • The stargazer scene is either just as bad or worse and still comes off like a Worther’s Original advert.
  • Harbinger, as a villain, is still set up for two games and then completely discarded.
  • Rejecting the Starchild seems to have been put in as an insult to players, and certainly a complete misunderstanding of how some people had wanted a very low EMS score to result in you losing against the Reapers, thus demonstrating it at least did something.
  • Your love interest is shipped out with some amazingly clunky dialogue. No real conclusion of any love or character arcs really happens.
  • Pacing is thrown off. Lots of time is now spent over things of no consequence, while virtually no time is taken over important stuff or character development/resolution.
  • The space magic of synthesis appears unchanged, though at least you can completely ignore it by not picking it. It’s unquestionably presented as the “good” ending, even though makes absolutely no sense and is morally horrible. Well, okay, Control is also presented as a good ending too. Probably the best. But really, really? You actually do just control the Reapers and it’s all legit after the last two hours of the game???
  • The jungle sequence crash… how do they even know Shepherd or Anderson are dead afterwards? Why don’t they die when the ME field collapses, even though this has been clearly established by codex? What’s the narrative point when they fix up the ship and leave again a few days later, other than Bioware saying “we paid to render that scene, dammit!”
  • Pictures rather than rendered content seems amazingly lazy.
Mostly…

  • As an ending narrative, the thing really does suck. The logical and thematic consistencies with the Star Child are, if anything, even worse – basically he just killed many civilisations because he was mental. His character motivations make no sense, but, hey! He’s mental.
  • Very little actually happens. Your actions with EMS still play next to no part in the end. Priority: Earth is still so dull.
  • Things like dinging up the relays happen in great detail and then clumsy PowerPoint slides tell you it looked worse than it was and there were no consequences, so why show it in the first place?
  • Meanwhile killing an entire species isn’t addressed, nor in any way justified. The poor Geth don’t even get to argue their case or make a noble sacrifice. Or even die on screen.
  • We get to see very little, but are just told stuff. It’s a visual medium, show, don’t tell.

In summary, the changes save the Mass Effect universe as a setting, but at the cost of making Mass Effect 3’s narrative and storytelling even worse by removing any plausible chance something clever was going on and making the character motivations and plot resolution as dumb as a bag of spanners, as well as just having clumsy pacing. It still forces choices for the future that make no thematic sense for the rest of the games in the series.

I am still baffled at how this takes up 1.9 Gigs. Heck, even most of the jpegs at the end are the same with different filters.
 
bigdaddygamebot said:
Thanks for posting this.

It's absolutely insane that this is considered an improvement over the original endings. It certainly shows how remarkably bankrupt the original endings are.

It's sad how much of a cautionary tale Bioware has become.
Click to expand...

They also took some of the concepts that we had discussed in the various spoiler threads
like the new species finding Liara's warning
and yet still found a way to make them shitty and not fleshed out at all.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition
RTTP  2
92
743
Ellis replied
Ninja Gaiden 4 DLC is out now!
29
253
NeverYouMind replied
Skate Style announcement trailer. “next gen skateboarding game.” Demo out now.
1
110
Myths replied
Mass Effect Caleston DLC prototype uncovered after 19 years with a look at the cut side mission that became Bring Down the Sky
Retro Trailer 
5
134
TheUnsunghero26 replied
Bioware Reconfirms Next Mass Effect Game Still in Development - "Committed to telling more stories"
2 3
104
959
Memati187 replied
Top Bottom