So I finally finished Mass Effect 3 the other day with the “best” possible ending. I knew going in that there was a huge internet backlash against the ending, but didn’t know the details of the complaints. After finishing the game, I had to admit that I wasn’t exactly raging against the machine. Sure, I was a little disappointed at the Deus Ex Machina aspects of the ending, but when one of the key plot drivers in the game is already a Deus Ex Machina, it didn’t come out of left field. Maybe I’m just a jaded video game player who expects all game endings to be either short and/or unfulfilled. Frankly, it’s more about the journey than the destination for me in playing games, and I felt that’s especially true in the case of the Mass Effect Trilogy.
That being said, once I started down the rabbit hole (spoilers of the game in the thread) of reading about the complaints people had about the ending, I began to get more and more indignant alongside them. (plus some lulz with internet memeing!) Their arguments made logical sense to me and, hell, even the BBB felt that Bioware was guilty of “false advertising!”
After a few days to distance myself from the game, I ultimately did not feel outraged enough to continue fretting about what might have been a better ending to a video game trilogy. I bought and read Geoff Keighley’s very interesting behind the scenes “Final Hours of Mass Effect 3” iPad piece and it became pretty apparent that Bioware was crunched for time in order to make a ship date.
Bioware’s announcement last week of an “extended cut” piece of DLC essentially confirmed that the ending was a bit threadbare, probably due to time constraints. I’ll check it out whenever it comes out, but without any illusions that it will be particularly life-changing or anything of the sort. I had a great run with the crew of the Normandy as Commander Shepard and will probably remember the interactions I had with my crewmates and the richest extraterrestrial history this side of Star Wars more than anything else.
Why are you releasing the Extended Cut DLC?
Though we remain committed and are proud of the artistic choices we made in the main game, we are aware that there are some fans who would like more closure to Mass Effect 3. The goal of the DLC is not to provide a new ending to the game, rather to offer fans additional context and answers to the end of Commander Shepard’s story.