ME3 Ending Fix Coming This Summer

How many of you think the new ending will make things better? Screw things up worse than they are now? Make no difference at all.

BioWare, a Label of Electronic Arts Inc. announced Mass Effect™ 3: Extended Cut, a downloadable content pack that will expand upon the events at the end of the critically acclaimed Action RPG. Through additional cinematic sequences and epilogue scenes, the Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut will give fans seeking further clarity to the ending of Mass Effect 3 deeper insights into how their personal journey concludes. Coming this summer, the Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut will be available for download on the Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and PC for no extra charge*.

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No extra charge...good.

Also, unless they somehow go full-retard, I think the new ending's gotta be better than the current one.

The current ending leaves a sour taste, but feels like consistent storytelling over the whole series. I can't see it being much better.

dj_spanmaster said:

The current ending leaves a sour taste, but feels like consistent storytelling over the whole series. I can't see it being much better.

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It is not consistent at all. In fact, the current ending is the exact opposite of consistent. It even goes beyond that. It is contradictory, ignores pre-established Canon and not only contains, but creates plot holes.

Warning: Contains Spoilers
For a non-comprehensive but decent overview of some of the problems, see here. Or the Spoiler thread in the games forum.

it will probably be even worse to highlight that they already got people's money and whatever they shit out next time, it won't hurt sales anyway.

I agree the current ending does leave a sour taste. But I kind of like the Indoctrination theory that is floating around and with that mindset explains the ending. I just hope if this theory is true they flush it out a bit more.

I wonder if this has anything to do with the consumerist article yesterday nominating EA as a company far worse than B of A and AT&T?

temujin987 said:

it will probably be even worse to highlight that they already got people's money and whatever they shit out next time, it won't hurt sales anyway.

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The fact that they're giving it away for free really shocks me. I'll admit it right here; I was wrong. I said they'd charge for it and they're not doing that, so good for you BioWare.

Loudspeaker said:

I wonder if this has anything to do with the consumerist article yesterday nominating EA as a company far worse than B of A and AT&T?

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I was thinking the same thing, TBH.

Forgive me for asking such a seemingly dumb question, but don't we play games to have fun? When did we start becoming angry when a game's storyline isn't getting wrapped up the way we want it, or expect it, to?

What's stranger still is that people seem to want Bioware to modify the game's ending. When George Lucas decides to modify one his films, changing one of the lines, a sound effect or adding superfluous CG creatures, there's outcry. People almost unanimously hate the idea.

Seems to me that either people see the game as a serious art piece (in which the storyline is integral to the artistry) or they don't. For those that do, the George Lucas-like post-release manipulation is something they should be against. For those who see the game as a form of fun entertainment, why do they care so greatly about the ending?

Imagine a Star Wars movie where the Death Star wipes out the alliance fleet, Solo's assault team dies, and Luke becomes a new Sith. Fans would be pretty mad too.

The ending isn't EAs only problem, though it is inconsistent with the rest of the series. EA has Origin, EA pulled all their good games off Steam while proclaiming to want to give choices to consumers for online platforms, EA has Day 1 DLC that was on the disk and edited out in an obvious money grab, EA overworks its employees. My guess is that list is just the start of all that's wrong with EA.

wonderfield said:

Forgive me for asking such a seemingly dumb question, but don't we play games to have fun? When did we start becoming angry when a game's storyline isn't getting wrapped up the way we want it, or expect it, to?

What's stranger still is that people seem to want Bioware to modify the game's ending. When George Lucas decides to modify one his films, changing one of the lines, a sound effect or adding superfluous CG creatures, there's outcry. People almost unanimously hate the idea.

Seems to me that either people see the game as a serious art piece (in which the storyline is integral to the artistry) or they don't. For those that do, the George Lucas-like post-release manipulation is something they should be against. For those who see the game as a form of fun entertainment, why do they care so greatly about the ending?

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Mass Effect is a story driven game. It is a fun game to play, because you are supposed to be attached to the characters you meet and care about the outcome's of the various plot lines.

People are upset because they let BioWare take them on a ride they cared about, then BioWare essentially flipped the boat and said "Screw this ride!"

The only thing I don't like about this is that it pushes us towards "Games are not an art." I don't recall anyone ever convincing a book author to change the ending and mail everyone a new copy for free.

All they are going to do is somehow explain the 3 color endings to us using cut scenes.

Their little panel at PAX is shaping up to be something that will end up on the evening news based on the EA/BW forums once this news got around.

I dont want an "explanation" of the shit they gave us. I'd like a real ending that doesn't need 4 whiteboards, 18 different colored markers, and for me to be high on crystal meth to "understand" it. By saying they'll "explain" it to us they make it sound like we're too stupid to see their vision. I can see just fine, and I see tons of shit.

EA/BW can go F themselves as far as I'm concerned.

night_2004 said:

Imagine a Star Wars movie where the Death Star wipes out the alliance fleet, Solo's assault team dies, and Luke becomes a new Sith. Fans would be pretty mad too.

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No. That's not it.

Imagine Star Wars where Luke is heading down the Death Star for the last attempt with the torpedo, he lines up, turns off his targeting computer, uses the force and . . . Captain Decker merges with V'Ger, creating a new form of life, saving the earth.

THAT"S what the ending is like.

I haven't played Mass Effect 3... soo.... will play it when prices go down

This is why we'll never see Half-Life 3. Gabe knows no matter what there is no ending that will make people happy. It's better to have Gordon be forgotten than have him end in a whimper.

killerbobjr said:

No. That's not it.

Imagine Star Wars where Luke is heading down the Death Star for the last attempt with the torpedo, he lines up, turns off his targeting computer, uses the force and . . . Captain Decker merges with V'Ger, creating a new form of life, saving the earth.

THAT"S what the ending is like.

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LOL. Indeed.

Kinsaras said:

This is why we'll never see Half-Life 3. Gabe knows no matter what there is no ending that will make people happy. It's better to have Gordon be forgotten than have him end in a whimper.

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All they need is to have an epic boss battle and then a conclusive ending. ME3 didn't provide any of that in any way, shape, or form.

The current ending is a fucking abomination. It's one of the worst endings I've seen to anything ever. So I don't see how this could make it any worse. And thankfully it's free.

Let me be clear. I loved the game. That is, I loved the game until the ending. After the elevator to the fork in the road the game just stank. And in all honesty that ruined the whole game for me. It destroyed any desire I had to replay the game. I tried to replay it, but then the realization set in that the end of the game was still going to be just as bad. Nothing I did in the game would change that.

So for me I do not think that adding new content will change anything. They would have to rewrite the ending for my opinion to change. I do not think that the new content will do anything to make the game's ending feel less rushed, just more of a "to be continued" instead of "shit, that's it?". And the worst part is, since it is DLC, it will still function in the same crappy way that DLC has functioned on ME 2, where it yells at me if it cannot connect with the server saying I cannot play that content.

Absolutely not going to pay them extra for an ending to the game that should have been included with the game to begin with. Maybe the golden poo should go to Bioware instead.

/notbuyingME3 (but might have if they didn't screw it up! I bought 1 and 2.)

I missed the part that that was just going to be additional ending cinematics. Fuck that, that is not enough.

dandragonrage said:

Absolutely not going to pay them extra for an ending to the game that should have been included with the game to begin with. Maybe the golden poo should go to Bioware instead.

/notbuyingME3 (but might have if they didn't screw it up! I bought 1 and 2.)

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Uh...it's free.

MavericK96 said:

I missed the part that that was just going to be additional ending cinematics. Fuck that, that is not enough.

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It's free and will add more explanation. I think I'm in the minority, but I think that's all it really needs. I didn't expect them to totally rewrite the whole ending.

I still don't think it's THAT bad. "The worst ending to anything ever" Really? I've seen much, much worse endings to many, many things. Battlestar Gallactica comes to mind. Now there was a shit, wft did I just watch ending.

Fix Me said:

It's free and will add more explanation. I think I'm in the minority, but I think that's all it really needs. I didn't expect them to totally rewrite the whole ending.

I still don't think it's THAT bad. "The worst ending to anything ever" Really? I've seen much, much worse endings to many, many things. Battlestar Gallactica comes to mind. Now there was a shit, wft did I just watch ending.

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I totally disagree. I've watched the entirety of BSG twice and the ending was not NEARLY as bad as ME3. It was meh in some ways, yes, but it didn't take a complete dump on the canon.

wonderfield said:

Forgive me for asking such a seemingly dumb question, but don't we play games to have fun? When did we start becoming angry when a game's storyline isn't getting wrapped up the way we want it, or expect it, to?

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Kinda shows you haven't heard the ending. *spoiler, from what I've read, I ain't buyin this piece* You get to the final descision after saving your friends and making alliances where you meet some ghost kid for the first time who reveals the whole reapers attacking every 40,000 years is a cycle he intentionally started. Your choices are destroy one group, destroy another group, destroy niether(?) BUT any of the choices blows the Mass Gates that permits interstellar space travel AND the solar system they are in killing billions of sentient beings.

You die, but some of the freinds that were WITH YOU are magically teleported to some remote planet while the allied fleets are now stuck in Sol system, some of which can't even eat human food from a destroyed earth, and are doomed to die also.

It wasn't an ENDING, it was a cop out, like Bobby Ewing stepping out of the shower and telling you the whole game was a dream you had as a reaction to bad sushi.

Its only free for a limited time and probably only being done due to the consumerist "award" for being the worst company in America.

People need to have been really upset over the ME3 ending and general DLC nickel and dime-ing to beat out Bank of America as the representative for how singularly awful a company can be.

NKDietrich said:

The only thing I don't like about this is that it pushes us towards "Games are not an art." I don't recall anyone ever convincing a book author to change the ending and mail everyone a new copy for free.

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please wikipedia Arthur Conan Doyle

also they are rewriting the newest ME book because of inconsistencies with established lore

Not a "new" ending; just expanded to offer more closure. The main things people hated about the endings will not be changed.

ShadowSoldier89 said:

please wikipedia Arthur Conan Doyle

also they are rewriting the newest ME book because of inconsistencies with established lore

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It's also not uncommon for authors to go back and re-edit books that get republished. Something does not have to stay a constant to be art.

Honestly given the implications of the ending, if it's not a total rewrite it will either confirm the indoctrination theory or confirm that what we've already seen is to be taken at face value. The latter will just make us feel worse as it will crush all hope of deeper meaning and a brighter future as a result. It will confirm the horrible fates of Shepard and the crew of the Normandy. It will most likely invalidate the entire journey and kill replay value in all three because your choices ultimately won't matter. The galaxy as it stands with the way the third game ends really isn't worth saving. One could argue that it is worse off than it would have been had the Reapers just been left to do what they do. At least the Mass Relays and star systems would be intact.

Even if the relays blow up more gently as a result of the Crucibal, you've got tons of races stranded near a ravaged Earth in which there probably isn't enough food to sustain the Human, Krogan, Batarian and Salarian populations. The Turians and the Quarians can't eat the food on Earth and it is likely that things they can eat wouldn't be supported by Earth's ecosystem. Eventually this will probably lead to the genophage free Krogan killing and eating everyone, then killing and blowing up themselves. It's possible the Turians and Quarians could make their way toward Palaven which can support the Turians and probably the Quarians after a time, but still. It may take them 100 years to reach it using standard FTL drives. Though if anyone can get them there it would be the Quarains who were all part of the migrant fleet before hand anyway.

Essentially Shepard made a decision presented by the creator of the Reapers which takes the galaxy united by Shepard and fractures it more than ever. Not just socially, by pitting races into a battle for survival and competition for limited resources, but also geographically by making travel great distances in short periods of time impossible.

If it confirms indoctrination then it will simply prove that they didn't give us a real ending. I doubt they'll do anything which cops to that so obviously. This will of course prove that either they are going to release additional content or kill off Shepard and prep for a Mass Effect 4 where this game left off.

Implications.............unpleasant.

They've been talking about Mass Effect 4 for awhile. ME3 was just the end of Shepard's story.

The current ending feels dissatisfying when considering the ultimate ends are weeded down so much - the tragedy of attempting (relatively) free-form exploration a la Create-Your-Own-Adventure where the ending of a trilogy has to somehow work out for future franchise expansion.

Essentially, the writers were caught in this dilemma: how to give the perception that the player's choices ultimately transform the resulting end [] WITHOUT committing the studio/developer to numerous, largely distinct development paths [].

SPOILERS FOLLOW, BUT CONSIDERING THAT THIS IS A DISCUSSION OF ENDINGS, IS THAT REALLY A PROBLEM? (JUST IN CASE)

For example, let's consider the outcome of the player's decisions regarding the genophage:

Boiled down to its essentials, you cure or do not cure the genophage. Based upon this decision, the trajectory of the lore/franchise universe could potentially create some fundamental problems for future installments as the fate of the krogan alone (barring some deus ex machina where the cure doesn't work/new genophage-like mechanims/other random reason WHY YOUR DECISION DIDN'T ACTUALLY MATTER ) creates some unique long-term issues (over-population leading to aggressive expansionism/mass starvation). Even if the krogan do settle down under the influence of their fairer (well, actually, maybe the same-looking) sex, you're left with the consequences of their natural increase (I don't know if there is a krogan Planned Parenthood - methinks not) which, given the calculations that EDI provides, mean trouble in the long run. How that is fleshed out is one possibility and that's before even considering the alternative choice - murdering in cold blood your best cold-blooded friend.

It's hard to say where things will go from here - giving more closure in the form of an extended, more conclusive epilogue will certainly assuage the hurt feelings coming out of the player/customer base, but as previously stated, would commit the writers to divergent outcomes, perhaps worse yet, establishing a 'canon' outcome, nullifying again the decisions made that do not fit into this outcome (the ultimate betrayal, no?), or pushing them toward a prequel reboot (which could work - the fact that they name-dropped the Inusannon and gave you a more in-depth look at the Protheans this time around could signal such intent - but the issue of how to fit it in cleanly is almost as problematic as divergent lore).

I am reassured by their decision - whether simply a face-saving (hah, facecodes) move or a sign of actual contrition, it will be interesting to see how they resolve this fundamental issue... without having to pay more for it.

Yes its free for only a limited time.....2 years. After that I'm sure it'll be standard issue with any copy of ME3. Not a big issue.

Im glass they're doing this and I'm confident this will fix a lot of the problems. These are the guys that gave us 3 pure masterpieces of games so I'm gonna have a little faith that they can clean up the ending.

It still wont be good enough. You've got one of the greatest gaming franchises ever and because they botched the last 1% of the game, they're the focus of evil in the modern world. Gamers are never satisfied and are the biggest bunch of crybabies in the world. Most if not all other developers would've told us to fuck off (Crytek) with out complaints. BioWare didn't and are coming out with something extra to address our complaints. That's pretty cool in my book. I'm sure Ill be one of the only ones that'll think so though.

I don't have plans to revisit this game to find out.

This isn't going to make things better or worse, it's staying the same. They aren't changing anything, they're merely fleshing out the cinematics to show exactly what happened to everyone. Everything that was bad about the ending is still going to be bad. People that didn't care about whether the ending was good or bad won't even notice the difference, people that care about story will still realize nothing makes sense.

I can't believe some people. 99% of the series was awesome but you can never go back to it? Really? Have gamers become such drama queens?

It's like those people I talk to about the Lord of the Rings movies. All the talk about is how gay Frodo and Sam looked at each other at the end. Ummmm, there was about 12 hours of movie before that people!?