I’m Commander Shepherd and I Approve of This (Extended) Ending

We said that Mass Effect 3 was an awesome game, and that was true. Then we said it had an absolutely shite ending, and that was true too. Thankfully for us though, Bioware listened to the VAST OUTPOURING of anger and sadness from the fans and gave to us (at no charge), an EXTENDED CUT.

Spoiler-free?

It was good. But WHY COULDN’T THEY HAVE JUST GIVEN US THIS ENDING TO BEGIN WITH?

More spoilers under the cut:

The original ending for Mass Effect 3 was really a piece of garbage. It seemed as if all our efforts were for naught when Shepherd was railroaded into a 3-option multiple choice question. Not only that, we didn’t see what happened to the characters and the races that we saved along the way. And that only served to put all the huge gaping plotholes in stark relief.

Where the hell did Admiral Anderson come from?
Why do our teammates suddenly appear on the Normandy when they were last seen on Earth?
Why would Joker run away and leave Shepherd behind?
Why are we stuck with ONLY 3 options?
Even if we have 3 options, considering all the relays exploded, doesn’t this mean the end of Galactic Civilization as we know it, regardless?
And if there was that huge explosion all throughout the universe, why didn’t the Normandy get destroyed?
And why do they crashland on a random tropical planet? Is it Purgatory, ala LOST?

That’s a lot of holes to plug and questions to answer, and the fan outburst was incredible. In fact, it was so bad that the best fan explanation was the Indoctrination theory. Which means it was just a dream. Luckily, it was an outburst that Bioware took to heart because over the next few months it was working on an extended cut that would (hopefully) answer the questions and leave the fans satisfied. And luckily, they (mostly) succeeded.

The extended cut starts you off just before you assault the Cerberus base on your final push to rid the Galaxy of the Reaper menace, and between there, London and the Citadel. With it, they explain most of the gaping plotholes (but leave a few smaller ones in their wake); Anderson follows you in to the last mission, and your team mates are injured, with Joker making the pickup and retreating. We also have a [refuse to do anything] option for people who don’t want to be shoehorned into options, and a beefier dialogue with the catalyst that explains things more. But most importantly, we have a MUCH better wrap up of what happens post choice. Granted they’re just voiceovers over still art, but at least that tells us the universe moves on without Shepherd, and not ‘mass relays explode, everyone dies’. Here’s the endings if you can’t be bothered to run through everything again (although I feel you should).

Destruction
Control
Synthesis
Refusal

So I’m happy. Not ecstatic (the Indoctrination Theory being proven right would have been mindblowing), and honestly almost any change from the old ending would have been a step up, but I’m glad they managed to fix most of the errors and given me the closure that I needed. Now all of the endings are actually pretty good, and I think overall Mass Effect 3 swings back into the win category again.

I just wish Bioware had this ending to begin with. It would’ve been so awesome with this ending right at the beginning, rather than all this long drawn out drama online for like 3-4 months….

…Unless that was their plan all along…