Appeasing the Masses – The Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut

Refusing to scrap the entire ending of the game, Bioware instead decided to simply flesh out everything that already existed and attempt to make it less confusing. In this department I believe they definitely succeeded. Now players can ask the child “Catalyst” what exactly the hell is going on about the situation, even if many of the answers don’t help much. Just the fact that Shepard now realizes absurdness of what the kid is saying helps tremendously.

Originally I opted for the “Red” ending, my thought process being that Shepard fought all this way to destroy the reapers and by God was he going to see it through. After watching all three endings I see Bioware understood the complaints. Each ending now has an epilogue that further explains what actually happened and how the civilizations of the universe will rebuild, with or without the help of the Reapers.  The red ending still contains Shepard under rubble gasping for breath, which is sure to continue to ruffle some feathers. Personally I think the addition to be unnecessary, but the developers are obviously committed to keeping it there.

The biggest addition that I personally wasn’t expected was the choice of a fourth option. Rather than just destroy, control, or synthesis, players can opt to reject Bioware’s reality and substitute their own by refusing any of the three options. Shepard dies, the races we’ve all grown to know and love are wiped out, but there is still a shred of hope. The time capsule created by Liara documenting the war with the Reapers is buried, waiting to be found by the next generation and arming them with more knowledge on how to emerge victorious where their predecessors did not. I’m glad that the time capsule is used here, being one of the more memorable scenes in the main portion of the game.

Mass Effect 3 Refusal Ending

One curious change is the crash landing of the Normandy. Bioware made it a little more coherent as to why the Normandy darts off and leaves Earth which is one of the main parts of the ending that fans complained about.  Speculation was that the crew of the Normandy would rebuild civilization on the lush tropical planet they landed on. Why else would the game end with three crew members staring into the horizon of the jungle planet? Bioware apparently decided that part could use tossing and added a scene that shows the Normandy taking off to rejoin the galaxy. It is an interesting decision, but if that’s the case I don’t know why Bioware kept the crash landing at all.

By far my favorite addition to all three endings is also the simplest. It has nothing to do with the still convoluted “Catalyst” or the synthetics destroy organics so synthetics won’t destroy organics garbage. It is simply a moment of remembrance. The surviving crew of the Normandy lined up in front of the Memorial on the Normandy adding Shepard’s name to the wall of those who gave the ultimate sacrifice.

Overall I find the extended cut much better than the original ending. While it doesn’t fix weak writing or the silly and confusing purpose of the Reapers, it does eliminate some of the inconsistencies of the original ending, answers some questions and even adds a very heart felt scene to the trilogy’s conclusion. Some fans will still hate it, but I think many will find that their minds and fandom can rest easy now.