Fans win: Mass Effect 3 ending to be explained further

The massive wave of fan outrage towards Bioware’s conclusion to its widely popular Mass Effect series seems likely to be soothed soon. The company has launched a new ‘Extended Cut’, downloadable free of charge, which will include some additional ending cinematics that provide additional explanation and closure

These will also be constructed to reflect the major choices a player has made throughout the three games.
Here’s a quick rundown of what this means. (Spoilers follow)

The Good
Fortunately Bioware seems to have a good handle on what the outrage was actually about: the problem was not that the Mass Effect ending wasn’t ‘happy’ enough, but that it was abrupt, lacked closure, and that there was actually only just one ending with some cheaply implemented differences rather than the multiple endings Bioware initially advertised.

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They have now rightly focused on the most crucial shortcoming of the ending, the closure aspect. From what it seems right now, the new content will likely spend some time elaborating the fate of the galaxy, Shepard’s team, and Shepard himself/ herself. We can also look forward to getting a clearer idea about what exactly it meant to destroy, control, or synthesise with the Reapers.

This will also probably be the death-knell for the ‘Indoctrination theory’ suggested by several fans - that the final moments of the game are a hallucination caused by Reaper mind control.

Maybe I’m horribly wrong and the indoctrination theorists read the ‘clues’ left in the ending perfectly, but it’s far more likely that it was just a bunch of disappointed fans reading into the ambiguities of a poor ending and coming up with an explanation which Bioware did not intend to imply, but which was, ironically, more appealing than Bioware’s own conclusion.

And finally, Bioware isn’t charging for this DLC. Of course, common sense dictates that they shouldn’t charge to fix something so obviously flawed, but in this age of heartless corporate greed, one must be thankful for even these small niceties. Bioware could have shrugged and said ‘we’ve already got your money’ and closed the issue, and enough people would have still bought their next game. Instead, they’ve maintained their strong history of valuing their customers, and should be commended for this.

[caption id=“attachment_272308” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“The ending will be extended but not changed: Masseffect.com”]  [/caption]

The Bad
Bioware had maintained that the ending itself won’t be changed, only added to. This means that the ghost-boy and his explanations remain as they are. Over the last few weeks, the net has been buzzing with gamers pointing out a legion of plot holes in Bioware’s ending. Most of these are merely nitpicking, but some are actually pretty convincing arguments that explain how the figure of the ghost boy, the answers he gives, and even the choices he provides don’t make any sense.

It’s entirely possible that Bioware can lay all these doubts to rest, but it’s equally likely that many of these plot holes cannot be removed by a simple elaboration of the ending instead of a major revision. We might get a greatly improved conclusion, but it’ll still contain the same weak elements that the original ending did: A supreme villain suddenly introduced right at the end, an unconvincing explanation for the galactic cycles… basically everything that happens after Shepard enters the Citadel.

Players who wished for a happier ending will definitely be disappointed, but that’s okay, because sometimes good stories need to evoke sadness and disappointment in order to be more powerful.
All this speculation will be rendered null in a couple of months, when Bioware releases the extended cut (the exact release date is not known). Will it be merely a partial improvement of an inherently flawed conclusion? Or will Bioware magically turn the tables and give us an ending worth raving about?

The Partially- Related
On a side note, Bioware is also releasing the Mass Effect 3 multiplayer DLC pack, Resurgence, on April 10/ 11 (depending on region).

This adds some new characters to multiplayer, along with new weapons as well as two new maps. The great thing about it is that unlike most DLCs today, it’s free. Players can pay to acquire weapons instantly, but these can also be obtained by non-paying players, though it takes longer. I think it’s a pretty good way for EA and Bioware to go about the whole DLC business. Best to enjoy it before they start bombarding you with overpriced single-player DLCs again.