Mass Effect 3 (PC/360/PS3)

1 - Money

Why do any developers release expansion packs, add-ons, DLC etc.?
They have a price tag, and people will pay it.
With the fanbase Mass Effect has, any future downloads surely promise to be some of the most hotly anticipated content on the market.

2 - See 1

3 - See 2

Plenty of developers do it, would you also say that GTA IV should have been delayed until the "Episodes" DLC were completed? How about Fallout, Oblivion etc.

Hell, even Mass Effect 2's "proper" ending (Arrival) was a £5 download.

I'm not saying I like this strategy as a consumer, but business is business - if it sells, sell it.

"shows that people clearly don't enjoy these types of things."
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Personally I thought the ending to The Sopranos was one of the best structured I've seen - I won't say much more about it in case you want to watch it at some point, but too many people are so eager to jump the gun and have a whinge rather than attempt to see the bigger picture and what the ending truly means or symbolises.
 
BioWare said:
An official press release went out today announcing how we are re-prioritizing the Mass Effect 3 post release content schedule to provide a more fleshed out experience for our fans. For many of you the “Extended Cut” will help answer some questions and give closure to this chapter of the Mass Effect story. Oh and it’s at no cost to you – the fan.

Here is a mini FAQ to help you understand what the Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut is and isn’t:
What can fans expect from the Extended Cut DLC?

For fans who want more closure in Mass Effect 3, the DLC will offer extended scenes that provide additional context and deeper insight to the conclusion of Commander Shepard’s journey.

Are there going to be more/different endings or ending DLCs in the future?

No. BioWare strongly believes in the team’s artistic vision for the end of this arc of the Mass Effect franchise. The extended cut DLC will expand on the existing endings, but no further ending DLC is planned.

What is BioWare adding to the ending with the Extended Cut DLC?

BioWare will expanding on the ending to Mass Effect 3 by creating additional cinematics and epilogue scenes to the existing ending sequences. The goal of these new scenes is to provide additional clarity and closure to Mass Effect 3.

When will the Extended Cut DLC be available?

Currently the Extended Cut DLC is planned for this summer, no specific date has been announced at this point.

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.

So there you have it. Are we proud of the game we made and the team that made it? Hell yes. Are we going to change the ending of the game? No. Do we appreciate the passion and listen to the feedback delivered to us by our fans? Very much so and we are responding.

Summer is coming…
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Source:
http://blog.bioware.com/2012/04/05/mass-effect-3-extended-cut/
 
So one of the main things you complain about is the ending not giving enough answers, BioWare promise us free DLC to explain stuff in a bit more detail, and you still complain?

Mass Effect has been one of the better single-player experiences of this generation, with it's story being far better written than the vast majority (if not all) of sci-fi shooters. I find it pretty sad that people (not just here) who don't understand or appreciate the last 20 minutes of the game are almost dismissing the rest of the series/story as irrelevant/meaningless.
 
I complained about not being given enough answers?

You mean I mentioned how I'd have liked to have seen The Geth actually doing something rather than never once seeing or hearing about them?

Let's assume this new dialogue will mention things like that. At best it will be Shepard asking 'what happened to...' and the star child saying 'oh they died, or 'oh they did this'. It still won't do what they had claimed the ending would be like and feature differences based on your choices made throughout the 3 games. It still won't explain the inconsistent cut scenes during the end like how someone who was dead a second ago steps out of the Normandy. Once you've picked a few extra dialogue choices, We're still given that poor generic contradicting cut scene to end the series.

For me, it's hardly worth bothering with.


I've no idea what it being free has to do with anything? I should be grateful they botched the ending and failed to execute their plans properly ("lots of speculation for everyone") and now have to fix (some of) it by giving a small fix away for free?

The fact of the matter is they should have got the ending right the first time. There are no excuses for that. The way the lead writer and game designer locked themselves away and came to the conclusions that the BEST possible way to end the game regardless of what the other writers thought (because why do anything less than the best right?) was to give gamers 'lots of speculation' and end it the way they did.

But yet... there is no speculation. Your ending is determined by a basic choice, It's either A,B or if you're good C, and nothing else so pick one and move along to your next game. The only theory gamers are speculating about is indoctrination. So you either buy into that... or you just sort of have nothing else to buy in to. That's not the good kind of open ending where you have multiple theories to talk about.


You have to give it to them for that though, not only a failure to deliver an ending that fans are happy with, but also failing at trying to give the fans "lots of speculation". What was it you said... you were glad they had the balls to do that.
I don't really think it took balls to screw the game up this badly. It took ignorance to ignore the rest of the writers ideas, and arrogance to think their idea was the best and was near perfection.


You feel sad that fans now look back and think that the choices they made, the stories they created... have become almost pointless. I can't talk for other people but regardless their reasons for thinking that.... it be the way the ending failed to incorporate any of their choices, the way it failed to show what happened to people, the way it contradicted itself numerous times...
If they have come away from the ending feeling it ruined the game for them. Then that's is a mission failed in my book. Not something to be applauded. You can't put the finger of blame onto the fans.


...who don't understand...
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It's not that people don't understand the ending or that you understand it better than anyone else. The indoctrination/hallucination theory is just that, a theory. It's fan fiction. If a developer can't explain how their story is to be interpreted within their own game or much less by stating it themselves when asked about it, then it's clear that they don't have anything planned for that. Especially when it's supposed to be the end of a trilogy which begs for resolution.

The purpose of the ending is obviously, to any human with a functional mind, not to answer anything or resolve anything.
There's nothing anyone can do to defend that. If you want to choose to believe in this theory that people choose to believe so they can feel better about the game, that's fine.
But don't act like you're higher up on some level of understanding that everyone else doesn't get and that's why the ending is good for you.




I 'complained' (saying that I won't bother is complaining?) or rather said I won't bother with the dlc, because what they're giving us is just fluff. It's not going to blend the decisions you or I made during the 3 games into the ending scenes like they had stated the game would originally.

A few extra chat choices with some random chatter about why and who and where. I didn't need any of that. The story they gave us doesn't need any of that. The issue I had was with the way they handled the end, a standard generic cut scene and a rambling ai with contradictions.

The game fails to deliver what I had expected. Not because I'm some sort of idiot who expects the moon on a stick and gaming perfection. But because prior to release they had stated various things like how the game would have; "16 different endings" and "choices dating back to the first game would give you dramatically different endings to other gamers"...
:FAIL:

If the ending we had all got just been 1 of a possible say 3 or 4 or whatever endings. Then that would have been amazing. One gamer might have got the high five feel good ending, another sees the universe destroyed and the reapers actually prevailed, another gets the indoctrination ending and another gets an ending where you end up getting killed by the illusive man and he saves the universe and in turn enslaves them all.

Like how in Heavy Rain, if certain people died or you failed at certain tasks... the ending you receive could be drastically different to another gamers. It was based on your game, your story, your actions. Basically like they had claimed Mass Effect 3 would end. This free dlc... also fails to deliver on those promises though.


I think that I'm well within my rights to complain about being misled originally and then being vocal about not wanting to bother with their DLC that fails to fix the game.
 
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I agree with a lot of what you say Rad.... One thing that annoyed me at the end was:

how they emphasise your fleet size.... Yet it makes no difference what so ever at the end. Basically incentivised me to do more side missions.... Only to not have any impact later on.
 
Exactly. I'm not saying the game is pointless and crap just because of how I feel about the ending. Just that if you look at how your actions affected the scenes during the closing mission on the 2nd game and how that doesn't happen here... It really stands out and feels out of place. It feels rushed and generic.
And because of how it's done it stops me wanting to go back and experience it all again because the end is the same regardless. With heavy rain i went back right away to change my actions to see what effect it had and it was loads of fun. On dragon age origins, i spent hours doung side quests to make the final battle more positive and the ending was well wirth it as i got to see how my actions affected the battle both positive and negative.

Here, If I neglect everything I still get the same exact end as if I had the greatest army possible. Your choices just become arbitary. The end doesn't feel like it got the same care and attention as the rest of the games did.
 
From Eurogamer

BioWare has announced the Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut, a free download for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 that addresses the controversial ending of the game.

It provides "additional cinematic sequences and epilogue scenes" to the ending, and launches this summer.

The Extended Cut is designed to give players "seeking further clarity to the ending of Mass Effect 3 deeper insights into how their personal journey concludes", BioWare said.

BioWare boss Ray Muzyka commented: "We are all incredibly proud of Mass Effect 3 and the work done by Casey Hudson and team.

"Since launch, we have had time to listen to the feedback from our most passionate fans and we are responding. With the Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut we think we have struck a good balance in delivering the answers players are looking for while maintaining the team's artistic vision for the end of this story arc in the Mass Effect universe."

Executive producer Casey Hudson added: "We have reprioritized our post-launch development efforts to provide the fans who want more closure with even more context and clarity to the ending of the game, in a way that will feel more personalized for each player."

The Extended Cut DLC is free up to 12th April 2014, when the offer expires.
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UPDATE: BioWare has published its Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut FAQ, and in it confirmed that no new endings will be added to the game.

"BioWare strongly believes in the team's artistic vision for the end of this arc of the Mass Effect franchise," the studio said. "The extended cut DLC will expand on the existing endings, but no further ending DLC is planned."

What it will do is expand on the ending "by creating additional cinematics and epilogue scenes to the existing ending sequences". "The goal of these new scenes is to provide additional clarity and closure to Mass Effect 3," BioWare explained.
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Mass Effect 3's Extended Cut will expand the game's endings with "a sense of personalisation" specific to your playthrough.

Saved your favourite characters? Killed everyone? BioWare suggests you'll be offered more chances to see the consequences of your actions on the game's finale.

"We wanted to give the players a sense of personalisation with the endings," producer Mike Gamble revealed during the Mass Effect 3 panel at PAX East. "Many people mentioned that some of the choices they made in the game are not necessarily reflected in the ending scenes. We're definitely going to focus on things like that.

"We want to make sure that when you see the ending of Mass Effect, you now have the information and context to be satisfied."

BioWare is still targeting the "generic summer" launch window previously announced for the free expansion, but said the add-on will offer a decent amount of content. "It's more than just a few cinematic scenes," Gamble added.

"We're currently building it right now, our cinematics team is on it. Our writers are heavily involved. It's coming together."

Gamble reiterated BioWare's previous stance that the new content would not "re-imagine" the current ending or add a new one. So why wasn't the Extended Cut part of the game already?

"The dev team stands by what was released in the core product, and we're very proud of it," Gamble concluded. "It was important though for us to listen to the community, and a lot of that feedback didn't come until the game came out. Once we were listening we decided to include the extended cut. It wasn't in the game because we didn't know there was such a huge demand for it, to be honest with you."
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Well well well.... it's still not quite "the decisions you make completely shape your experience" or give us "radically different ending scenarios." But it's better than what this appeared to be before... just a few new narrative options.

I did laugh/roll my eyes at the last comment about how they "didn't know there was such a huge demand for" closure and explanations. That kinda contradicts most of the content of the 3 games as they all explain a lot of the stories you have in random chat, side missions, codex entries and dlc. Quite why they'd suddenly turn around 180 and 'assume' that none of the fans playing the game would give a shit about any of the characters and want to see how their actions pay off is beyond me. Either they're completely out of touch with the fans... or they're just talking crap now.


My guess is, having already been delayed once before... they still hadn't managed to get the radically different endings finished. One for example was a boss fight against the illusive man! So they just rushed together the most complete ending and hoped the fans would just lap it up.
 
As I previously stated, I feel it's pointless answering your posts point by point as your way of thinking is so different to mine.

I suppose I can only be thankful for the fact that people's brains work in different ways and like different things, because this sort of ending where you have to use your imagination to theorise and almost make up "fan fiction" is much more intriguing and entertaining for me than a completely logical and conclusive ending.

Logic can take you from A to B, but imagination can take you anywhere.
-Albert Einstein.

Fair enough if you don't like the ending, nobody is saying you must enjoy it, but just don't go saying objectively it's sub-par and shoddy from BioWare.
 
I'm very late to this game but I've finally got around to it.

One thing, if anyone's interested anymore, is that character levelling in the single player game seems crazily easy. The previous two games were a lot harder to acquire new abilities, but this time round, pretty much from the very start of the game, I had enough skill points per character to max out at least one skill tree completely. What's that all about? Is it because I imported my save-game? That doesn't make sense because I've already completed the first two and so am pretty competent of the game already, so to start you off with a more developed set of skills seems to be counter productive.

Anyone else find this?
 
I believe it was the same with Mass Effect 2, earning some levels by importing a character.
 
Just finished the game, and does anyone know that this ending is possible!

That there is a fourth ending? I chose the synthesis (extended) ending which I found to be quite a moving bit of storytelling, but I found out that if you turn and try and shoot the hologram he flips out and says the cycle will continue ...

YouTube - Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut Ending: Refusal (version 2 Shooting the Star Child)

A nice touch by Bioware!

As for the ending, the indoctrination theory is interesting but I might just take the synthesis ending at face vaue seeing as I liked it so much!
 
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