Mass Effect 3: The Extended Cut

Yeah it's about time I did this. You may remember from my original post a while back about the ending to Mass Effect 3 and how I was indifferent to it; it wasn't the best ending in the world but it wasn't as bad as everyone made it out to be. But I was still going to get download the extended cut, just to see if they really do improve the ending. And boy do they.

First of all, plot holes are answered. And, some of it was what I said in the other post, kind of, like Joker came along and extracted the crew members who were with Shepard when he charges at the teleporter. Now this is the first new cutscene I believe we come across. Now, if you brought along a romance option, you do get a pretty tear-jerking scene in which Shepard bids farewell, otherwise it's a heavily wounded crew member who doesn't want to leave the battle but has no choice.

Shepard is then blasted by Harbinger and we get the whole stumbling through the Citadel, debating with the Illusive Man, and then meeting the Catalyst. Again, we get a new cutscene where Hackett receives word that someone has reached the Citadel (Presumably Anderson since Shepard doesn't really have a communicator on him. To the ship I mean, he at least has short wave radio). Now, the scene with the Catalyst has been improved beyond belief. The Catalyst's purpose and origin has been made clearer, and again, it was what I thought. That the Catalyst was an A.I designed by some ancient race to determine the solution to chaos. Although the Catalyst claims that it's creators also designed the Reapers, said race (Reluctantly) also became the first true Reaper, again, presumably Harbinger.

The three main options are clearly explained, so it allows us to decide better on which ending we'd prefer. Now, I painstakingly went through all four endings. Yes, I went through unskippable scenes four times, rather than look on Youtube, just so I can get a more personal feel. What? Oh yeah, I said four. Before going over the endings, the thing which appears in all four endings  have, in which when the Crucible activates, Hackett orders the fleets to retreat, explaining why Joker was inbetween warps when the Crucible...rays hit it. Not only does this scene show how Joker was forced to leave the battlefield, it also shows that the fleets are NOT stranded around Earth.

The fourth ending I'll go over now. Essentially, you now have the option to NOT activate the Crucible, with Shepard saying that humanity and the other species will fight the war their way, rather than accept one of the three options that are 'forced' upon the player. This is despite the fact that the Reapers have pretty much decimated the united fleets, outnumber the civilisations of the galaxy and outgun them. So, of course, the galaxy is doomed, and the aftermath is of one of Liara's capsules being activated. Let's be honest, it's a great addition, to give us something so radically different from the other choices. Then right at the end, we get a different Stargazer telling us about Shepard and how the capsules warned them about the Reaper threat. Sure, the two figures are humanoid, but you can see slight differences in their dark appearances. Again, this is a nice addition.

Now, I'll go over the endings just quickly. Like I said, you still have the same options; destroy, control, and synthesis. With the exception of destroy, the mass relays are not destroyed, solving the problem that destroying a relay wipes out a system. Well, okay, the relays are severely damaged, especially the Sol relay, but they're fixable.

The main thing I love about the extended cut, is that we have an aftermath. We get to see what happens to the other characters after the Reaper War. Depending on which ending you get, you either get Hackett (Destroy), Shepard (Control), EDI (Synthesis), or Liara (Refused). Hackett comments on how the united galaxy must work together to rebuild what was lost, EDI comments on how the Reapers now serve the new Synthetic race, Liara warns future civilisations about the Reapers, and Shepard tells us how he has evolved beyond humanity, becoming the controller of the Reapers and saying he is now the guardian of the galaxy with his army of Reapers.

And that's the huge improvement for me, seeing how everyone recovers; Kasumi hugs a hologram of her former love (In the synthesis ending anyway, in the others she's sitting and looking at the datapad), EDI learns what it is to be alive, the Reapers help rebuild the planets they destroyed and the damaged relays, Hell, Wrex becomes a father! The aftermath segments really did make the ending for me. In the destroy ending, we see the surviving ships from the unity fleet, EXCEPT the Destiny Ascension. It appears the flagship of the Council had fallen in the battle against the Reapers.

Okay, bottom line is, the extended cut not only fixes any and all problems the original ending had, but it improves it, it gives us the ending which the conclusion to the Mass Effect trilogy deserves. Of course, the question now is: "Why wasn't it the ending in the first place?". The game was delayed for several months at one point, why wasn't the extended cut the original ending in the first place? I think delaying it again would've been alright if we got the extended cut ending.

So should you download the extended cut? Of course you should! It clears up everything! It clarifies all the little problems, it explains the Catalyst's objective, it gives a fourth (And darker) ending! And if you still have problems with the ending, GO MAKE YOUR OWN GAME.