April 5th, 2012 
Kamran Draeger
When I first read the announcement that Mass Effect 3 would receive an “Extended Cut” of the ending, my scepticism arose. After reading into the content of said DLC, I was simply appalled by the audacity BioWare had to come forth with such a press release. Simply put, I find it to be an insult to the intelligence of the fans.
Right off the bat when reading the listed FAQs, it becomes apparent that anyone who clung to the indoctrination theory can completely forget it. Players will not receive anymore gameplay, but simply extended cuts of the final cinematics, so that fans can receive “additional context”.
Now I was under the impression that everybody who hated the ending, did so because they understood what was going on and thought it was filled with plotholes. BioWare on the other hand insists that players simply still can’t comprehend the team’s “artistic vision”.
“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 FAQs point out. Didn’t original attempts to sooth the masses claim that what was planned for Mass Effect 3 post ending content, was planned all along and that they weren’t caving in to the pressure they were put under?
Besides the fact that it feels like if BioWare is telling us to be quiet so that they can explain in further detail what they really meant, the entire nature of the Extended Cut DLC appears to be a PR move to make sure everybody will forget about the uprising. They are trying to tell us that a few extended cutscenes should take them until the Summer to develop, by doing so the mass media is left thinking that BioWare is listening to the fans, so any further complaints seem unreasonable, and by the time the DLC finally hits, hopefully nobody will care anymore.
So in summary, they are telling us that we still simply don’t understand what happened at the end, that releasing the extended cinematics, which they had prepared all along, will take over 3 months and that by the end of the summer, we will hopefully all have forgotten about why we were even mad in the first place.
I personally feel offended that BioWare keeps throwing the words “artistic integrity” or “vision” at gamers, as if they were grand architects of an idea beyond our comprehension. They may believe that the issue fans have with Mass Effect 3 is coming to an end, but I believe they’re far away from that.
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I’m not sure if this is horrible of hilarious. Really? You’re insulted? So many of the complainers threw out accusations about Bioware and EA intentionally screwing them over or about reviewers being paid off. But YOU are insulted, because they gave you what you asked for using wording you didn’t like?
In the past I’ve said that I’m ok with people complaining; I just didn’t like the way some of them were doing it. NOW I’m saying I’m tired of any and all complaining. You know what? You are entitled. Bioware is putting weeks of work into something they’re giving you for FREE, and you’re insulted?
You don’t always get what you want. You have the right to complain if you’re unhappy, but if someone makes a good faith effort to help you and you brush it off, do you know what that makes you? It makes you an asshole. People are whining and complaining because things aren’t exactly what they wanted, and they think it’s OK. There’s a difference between expressing disappointment and being entitled. To me, everyone who complains about this DLC has crossed that line. It’s no longer about pressuring a company to respond to gamers’ complaints; now it’s just people bitching and moaning for no good reason.
So do what you will with this comment. Refuse to post it, reply to it with ad hominem attacks, or hack the website to get my email address and send me death threats for daring to challenge you. This is my position. You have the right to bitch about the game, and I have the right to bitch about you.
Wow, really well said. I don’t think game developers are artists. Nor do I think that they have much in the way of integrity. The whole point of the choice system in Mass Effect was to give you tools to control the story yourself. Who is Shepperd? The player decides. As the games progressed, less emphasis was given to that aspect of the game and Shepperd just became some run-and-gunner spouting out one liners. In that way, I think the ending was an appropriate culmination of a great idea, slowly dumbed down and turned into a money making franchise.
well they deserve it.
they either stfu and accept the crappy ending or pay for the game with better ending!
these fans and publishers will be the death of the gaming industry
So wait…how soon do you think they could churn out new PLAYABLE content? A couple of weeks? It would take a couple of MONTHS just to track down all the voice actors and get them booked and recorded. Plus hire a full game design staff to design, animate, program, etc. And let me guess this is all supposed to be free right? The biggest rub for me in the game was that Harbinger was barely used and we don’t know what happened to all the comrades. As far as the ending impacting my life…umm…not so much…they also left the door wide open for a continuation of the series…be patient….and if it never comes, then enjoy the epic trilogy for what it was. Ever feel like the fan response is an insult to everyone who busted their hump making this series of games? No…of course not…wah wah wah…me me me…there there little one…here’s your dlc pacifier.
What? A game developer refusing to admit it screwed up? You don’t say… Look, I played mass effect 3 right through in 3 days, and after finishing the game at 3:30 in the morning, it looked like a half decent ending… Then I went back and looked at it once I woke up properly after work. ‘space magic’ doesn’t begin to cover the problems and potholes this ending left… To be told that I’m too stupid to comprehend the brilliance of the ending is nothing short of insulting… We were told the crucible used dark energy for something, for destroy this makes sense, for control… Stretching the imagination… Yeah, I can roll with that…. Maybe if the energy is a transmission… But as a matter rearranger that precise? Nah… Sorry, lost me. Add in the space-brat, Anderson’s arrival in the room, and a dozen other logic failures?? Nah, I comprehend just fine. Someone rushed the story on the ending, and screwed it big time.
If bioware had apologized for the potholes, promised to fix it for $10, and said ‘you gonna have to wait 3-6 months for us to do it, I’d have leapt for joy! Instead, I’m sitting here feeling insulted and trying to decide if I will ever touch another bioware game… Mass effect 1 and 2 had me clock up over 100 hours each… My sister has probably doubled that… For the game to have ended so badly, and left such a bad taste in my mouth, I will probably steer clear of bioware games from now on (not a threat, just a statement of how I feel), as any company that can remain convinced this kind of ending is ‘good’ with ‘lots of speculation for everyone’ needs to sack it’s writers and start over. They wrote a coherent, consistent story throughout mass effect 3, the ending feels like they decided to have a 3-choice dialog in the last 5 minutes to keep costs down. Given how fast mass effect 3 prices are dropping already, we can see how wise that was. Good way to make money ain’t it?