Extended Cut DLC Post-Mortem

The Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut DLC hit June 26 and... well, that’s about it. After three months of (I assume) playing paddleball and exchanges of, “We should do something,” and, “Should we do something?” BioWare unveiled its free director’s cut endings.

 

…So, was it worth the wait?

 

The answer depends on what you were expecting from Extended Cut. If you wanted a completely different ending, you’re out of luck—also, BioWare confirmed months ago that it wasn’t happening, so what do you expect? If you hoped for something that would explain how your Shepard’s choices affected galactic civilization, well, even then you won’t get what you wanted.

 

 

In its (admittedly halfhearted) defense, Extended Cut answers a few key questions regarding Mass Effect 3’s disjointed ending cutscenes. Wondering why Shepard’s squadmates disappeared in the climactic charge near the end? Why Joker jumped away? What happened to the fleets around Earth? Well, you get your answers to those questions and a few more. And that’s good.

 

But the bigger questions, like what becomes of virtually every civilization and how your Shepard’s choices affected interstellar politics? You’re outta luck, kiddo. Without spoiling anything, the updated endings just add a monologue by one of three characters, describing the result of Shepard’s final choice.

 

Yes, once again, only Shepard’s final choice really matters. Remember those promises of providing closure and showing what happened as a result of Shepard’s other choices? Making the endings more personal? Well, there’s variation in the endings, sure—you might see some different still images of characters—but they’re essentially the same thing with a cutscene for your flavor of choice.

 

It might sound like I’m about to rant about how BioWare should never have made it, but I consider Extended Cut to be a marked improvement. I still don’t like Space Magic. I still find the Indoctrination Theory more compelling, but I respect BioWare’s decision (despite some vehement disagreement) to keep the ending it wrote.

 

At the end of the day, I don’t own Mass Effect. Nobody but BioWare does, much as we might disagree with the decisions it’s made. However, I would like to talk about one thing that particularly upset me: The new “Refusal” ending.

 

If you’re not looking for spoilers, you might want to look away now, my lovelies.

 

 

So, BioWare added a fourth ending option, where Shepard can tell the Starchild-Spacebaby-Thing to get bent. The AI responds about as well as you can imagine, and it decides to wipe out all intelligent life in the galaxy—the cycle remains unbroken. We’re then treated to a recording of Liara T’soni explaining to future generations that their efforts failed and everyone ultimately died.

 

I get the impression that, somewhere at BioWare, someone thought it would be adorable to be cheeky about it and leave this little gem for us. The implication is that, if we didn’t like their endings, why don’t we just pick this new one that kills everyone off instead? That’s cute. Passive aggression toward the fans who, obnoxious and entitled as many of them may be, supported your products and company for years.

 

The Refusal ending is obviously a sore spot for me, as somebody who's stuck up for BioWare more than once. Am I taking it wrong? Maybe, but it's hard to look at it any other way—Had it existed from the start, that would have been fine, but adding it to the game reeks of some kind of smug satisfaction at extending a metaphorical middle finger.

 

The additions to the existing endings are fine. While they’re perhaps unnecessary (or should have been there in the first place), there’s been no damage done. But again, your mileage will vary.