For months, players have been debating the controversial conclusion to the Commander Shephard Mass Effect trilogy. Despite a mostly positive critical response (read our Mass Effect 3 review), over the days and weeks following the game’s release the fan community expressed significant disappointment over the, arguably underwhelming and convoluted, endings options – which left the fate of key characters up in the air and failed to show how the player’s choices actually impacted the final story beats.
In response, BioWare announced the Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut DLC – which, according to the developer, would be a non-playable add-on that addressed a number of fan complaints by offering greater insight into the impact of Shephard’s final encounter with the Catalyst as well as what happens to a number of fan-favorite characters. However, given that executive producer Casey Hudson has already stated that the Extended Cut won’t satisfy everyone, is it actually worth replaying the final three hours of Mass Effect 3 (with only minor pre-catalyst tweaks) just to see their personalized outcome or would gamers be better off just watching all the endings online?
As previously covered in our article, What Mass Effect 3′s New Endings Actually Changed, the Extended Cut DLC does add a number of new cutscenes (not to mention a hidden “fourth choice”) that flesh out certain plot holes in the launch build – resulting in a set of endings that would have been significantly less controversial the first time around. That said, since players are required to replay the final three hours of the game (starting with the attack on the Cerberus base – assuming you don’t have a manuel “Priority Earth” save) in order to see all of the new content, some gamers may feel that seeing their final customized ending may not be worth the time invested.
The majority of the attention was clearly spent adding story filler that connects the previously convoluted non-Shepard scenes – so anyone hoping for a lot of post-gameplay exposition showing the effects of the player’s various decisions or the individual fates of fan-favorite characters may still be somewhat underwhelmed. In general, choice-related story beats are pretty hit and miss – especially romances. Depending on party member choices as well as romanced characters, players could be presented with an emotional mid-battle exchange, reflective post-Catalyst cutscene, or little more than a static image of their beloved safe and sound during the epilogue. The Mass Effect series has always been about choice, so it’s okay that players must live with the consequences of their actions – but, even in the Extended Cut, it’s hard to escape the feeling that the outcomes of some decisions weren’t given as much attention as others.
As mentioned, the non-Shepard story filler definitely fleshes out the cinematic finale segments and adds a ton of much needed context for a number of scenes that didn’t make any sense in the original version. As a result, while not every supporting character is featured and not every question is answered, the actual plot progression of the galactic resistance as well as the Normandy crew is much easier to follow this round – and even addresses future events that are far-removed from the core Catalyst aftermath. As a result, there’s a much greater sense of Shepard’s impact on the future – not to mention the people he or she fought alongside.
The Catalyst choices and aftermath are significantly more impactful this round – as Shepard’s fate is spelled out very clearly in each of the (now) four choices. New dialogue and contextual visuals have been added to help clarify the effect of each choice – before the final decision is actually made. Additionally, following the standard color-swap cutscene, the Extended Cut also adds-in further on-the-ground as well as off-planet effects of Shepard’s choice – not to mention a three-to-four minute epilogue that actually details, as mentioned, the Commander’s fate as well as the state of the galaxy months later. Elements of the various epilogue sequences are underwhelming (such as motion comic-like slides that are only slightly tweaked for each choice) but, overall, the four core ending experiences are interesting – and serve as fitting (and surprisingly nuanced) conclusions to each of the available choices.
Complicating matters, the Extended Cut gameplay is causing problems for a large percentage of players. A number of errors and glitches have set off a new round of fan outrage including game freezes, extended mid-battle loading, and (worst of all) install failures - failures that, in a few cases, weren’t even discovered until players complete the game (only to be greeted by the original endings). Few of the errors result in full on crashes but it’s certainly unnerving to wait on a black screen for forty five seconds while reloading a checkpoint.
Ultimately, the Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut content could have probably prevented a lot of the post-launch controversy had it been attached to the release build. It offers a significantly more satisfying conclusion for Mass Effect fans. However, in terms of replaying the game in order to experience the content first hand, some gamers will no doubt feel as if the Extended Cut is too little, too late. There are some fun (and challenging) moments in the final two missions but replaying some of the less successful sequences (such as the Kai Leng boss fight) can be pretty tedious. Additionally, there are very few pre-Catalyst story tweaks (though there are a few worthwhile ones) – so it’s hard to directly recommend that gamers take the time to play the Extended Cut sequence if they’re not, at the very least, somewhat interested in revisiting previously seen territory. That said, for die-hard completionists or players who want to see their own customized ending (not to mention anyone who just enjoys Mass Effect combat), the Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut definitely ends the trilogy on a much more satisfying note.
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The Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut is available now on PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.
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I enjoy them for what they were. Since I didn’t like the entire premise of the endings and this is just ADD-ONS, not changes, I was never gonna be over the moon. That being said, I think if they’d included all of this when the game first came out, the outcry wouldn’t have been as huge. Mostly because two of the biggest issues – the Normandy being stuck on that jungle planet and the relays being totally destroyed – were retconned out. It was good for what it was, basically. I really liked all the character slides – you get to see things like Tuchanka if you cured the genophage and if you didn’t, you get to see what Mordin does if he’s still alive, etc. It felt more like an ending, even if I wasn’t crazy about the choices.
Right there with ya
As with so many other fans of the Mass Effect franchise, I have been in love with it since day one. I was also very disappointed in the visualization of the original endings for ME3. Although by far, not nearly as much as some appeared to be. Alot of the outrage was just downright ridiculous. That being said I did find myself profoundly disappointed with many of the same issues as everyone else and was worried that the new DLC would just not be worth it. I am pleased to say that on the one new playthrough I have done so far I am more than happy with the closure they added and the new scenes do wonders to clarify some things. But bottom line is everyone will never be happy because at the end of the day, you just never want Mass Effect to end. So leave Bioware alone so they can come up with new Mass Effect, in all its possible genres so the universe may continue and not get bogged down and abandoned for being more trouble than they want……cause darn it I want more lol
Downloaded it but can’t play it since BioWare won’t stop checking my downloaded content.
I have heard some people are having issues like that but I have never had that issue at all so I don’t know what that could be. Might just be your particular internet connection or console. I would think something like that if it was bioware’s fault would be the same for everybody
No other game has this problem. This wasn’t a problem until some time after I beat them game and now.
I wish GamRant did their research before writing this, all you have to do is hit “restart mission” in Load Games and it takes you to the end
Xanatos1138,
When you do this, where does it start your character?
Matt
The research was done while playing the game from the Cerberus Base. Your “restart mission” would only work if you have a “Priority Earth” save. Simply hitting restart mission (following an original Mass Effect 3 game clear) starts you at the foot of the beam – there is extra content during the run to the beam (one of the better extra scenes actually) that you would miss.
Did they add a part where Shepard says, “Hey reapers, if you could always give us a paradise nirvana of beautifulness, why didn’t you just do that in the first place?”
I found the content barely watchable as presented on You Tube, having to play 3 hours to receive those extended endings would be just awful.
I am happy for one thing, this has successfully brought to a close my interest in Mass Effect.
If I want poor sci-fi writing I’ll go watch Star Wars.
At least Star Wars isn’t pretending to be smart.
How was the Kai Leng fight not satisfying for you guys??
Meh. I didn’t care enough about him to want to kill him in the first place.
Besides the fact that it was a gimmicky mess?
I’ve had the hardest time loading some of my previous saves, and all of them are right near the end of the game. I’ve had to fight tooth and nail just to load a game, and I dang sure couldn’t install the game. It freezes at 19% every time
I feel I would have been satisfied had the DLC been in the original cut, but I would still have been a little annoyed at the use of comic slides as opposed to in game footage or cut scenes. I also feel like some of the explanations didn’t feel quite true or right. I don’t know if I would have felt the same way had I played the dlc ending first instead of the extended ending. In any case I am recommending to everyone I know that has not played to the original ending to play the DLC ending first. It is a far cry less traumatic and alot more satisfying.
It made a terrible ending into a ok ending. Sadly as long as the god child is still in play it will never be a great ending compared to mass effect 1 and 2 but they are endings I can let slide.
I watched them on youtube.