Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut [Spoilers]

[Shadow6]

Spoiler

• Your squadmates are injured on the beam run and the Normandy evacs them, instead of the magic teleport. (For some reason Harbinger doesn't just shoot the Normandy.)
• The Starchild explains a bit more about each of the endings.
• The Normandy is ordered to withdraw by Hackett, despite Joker wanting to go back for Shepard. It still gets hit by the energy wave but doesn't crash and Joker isn't panicked as he flies away.
• The Relays aren't destroyed, only 'overloaded' (the rotating part breaks apart, but the rest is still intact).
• A narration plays over a slideshow of various images showing the aftermath. Destroy is narrated by Hackett, Synthesis by EDI, Control by ReaperGod!Shepard.
• The Normandy still lands on the garden world (for some reason), this time entirely intact. Your crew puts your name up on the Normandy memorial wall. It then takes off.

Both the 'inadvertent genocide' conclusion and indoctrination theory seem fairly thoroughly debunked.

Videos for each:

• Destroy
• Control
• Synthesis
• Refusal

Haven't played it myself yet (not that I'm particularly keen on replaying an hour or more just to get the same content with maybe ten minutes of new content). Thoughts?

[Darksider]

So your readiness score has no effect on the refusal ending whatsoever, and it always ends with you loosing the war? Why did they even bother to add it?

[The Grim Squeaker]

Is there any point in replaying the whole Asari homeworld/Cerberus base sequence, or just London/Earth mission?
(I have a save for both points, and heardthat the changes affect the Cerberus base+).

Overall, what you're describing sounds...really lame. And unchanged.

[Shadow6]

From what I've watched/read:

So your readiness score has no effect on the refusal ending whatsoever, and it always ends with you loosing the war? Why did they even bother to add it?

Yep, no effect at all. I suspect they added it because they needed some way for Shepard to not play along in order to sate all the players frustrated by the enforced choice.

Here's the Refusal ending with the 'Stargazer' epilogue (unspecified female as opposed to Buzz Aldrin). Apparently the next cycle successfully defends against the Reapers.

Is there any point in replaying the whole Asari homeworld/Cerberus base sequence, or just London/Earth mission?
(I have a save for both points, and heardthat the changes affect the Cerberus base+).

Overall, what you're describing sounds...really lame. And unchanged.

The official FAQ says to start playing from the Cerberus base assault, but I think that is only because that's the save created once you finish the game and hence the one most people have. As far as I can tell, the only new/changed content occurs from meeting the Starchild onwards.

It doesn't fix much, no. The endings are a bit more distinguished by their slideshows and the more drastic plotholes/unintended consequences in the ending are mitigated, but the Starchild logic still makes no sense.
Spoiler

The Reapers now embody each of their component races. Husks regain sapience. The Quarians and Geth get together, the Krogan build lots of fancy architecture and everyone has glowy green circuitry. Transcendence et cetera.

Spoiler

[Darksider]

I wonder if they'll make another new ending if people keep bitching.

[Shadow6]

As far as I can tell, the only new/changed content occurs from meeting the Starchild onwards.

Scratch that, I forgot about the Normandy pickup scene on the run to the beam.

[Serafina]

So we still have the whole "synthetics would ultimately destroy organics, so i created snythetics to destroy organics"-logic, as well as the whole pointless differentiation between organic and synthetic intelligence along an admission that it makes no difference?

Yeah, i would keep bitching if i gave a damn.

[Losonti Tokash]

Talking with the starchild makes it pretty clear that wasn't the intent and that the Reapers are flawed. You can ask what happened to their creators and he says they were turned into the first "true" reaper.

"They objected."

[Zac Naloen]

In Refusal the child says "So Be It" in Harbingers voice, seems a bizarre choice

[Covenant]

As a gamer who has followed this avidly but never once enjoyed playing an ME game (and never did 2 or 3 at all), I'm going to say that the endings now are a lot more interesting and should be more satisfying.

If people are looking for a solution where Shep tells the Starchild to fuck off and then ALSO kills everything AND survives to hang out with his buddies... they may be disappointed--a little. But the thing is, the Destroy ending is now that ending. Instead of pushing a red button you pull out your gun and just blow the Catalyst to pieces, and if you're able to get the "last breath" ending then we can assume that Shep survives on the damaged but not destroyed Citadel, is picked up, and after the Normandy finishes repairs and starts to head back (with people repairing the mass relays) at the same time it will only be a matter of time before people are sitting on the beach and profiting grandly from their memoirs.

Previously, the Reapers were a solution to the chaos of synthetic rebellion, with a magic space kid in a doodad waiting to provide you with an off switch whenever you found a way to get to him, none of which made sense and the kill to save you from being killed concept was for shit in the most obvious way.

Now, what I got from listening to the 4 endings is that the Reaper plan was botched from the get-go, possibly an idea created by a crazy person, and that it wasn't just synthetics, but the stagnation of large civilizations that will eventually create massive super nasty shit that destroys the chance for new life and new chances to arise. Personally they should have changed the description from "solution to chaos" to "solution to stagnation and destruction" since that's what it was.

Which is a godawful strange idea but a plausible one. Old civilizations are harvested, uploaded, and safely turned into virtual libraries of culture, science and identity housed within an immortal Reaper shell. In their place, new civilizations will rise up, no species will create Berserker Von Neumann devices that will destroy everyone for good, and life continues as usual. It's a bad solution, but from an incredibly simplistic viewpoint (which the Catalyst/Crucible starchild AI has) it seems entirely reasonable. The fact that nobody ever really seemed to think it was a grand idea in the first place is a nice touch.

Also, the extended description of what happens with each solution (and why this is a good thing to do) is nice. Destroying the Reapers is possible, but the Starchild asserts that the cycle will continue. Who knows if it would, you can write your own ending. Control is excellent--the expanded dialogue makes it clear that your solution basically turns the Reapers into a hugely advantageous ally to all life, and that their motivations should keep everyone in good form. Hard to have an unstoppable AI rebellion with Reaper-backed surgical strikes taking out synthetic forces, eh? The combo-meal ending is kinda dumb still--how do all these people get magical wiring in them so fast? Woulda' preferred if it wasn't a result of a big green boom but whatevs, the narration makes it a pretty upbeat ending.

Refusal is also nice. Sure, the IDEAL thing would have made it so the highest readiness would have allowed you to actually beat them, but with Control being the way it is now, there's almost no point. Capturing an unstoppable, immortal armada of civilization encyclopedia ultra dreadnoughts sounds like a fair trade for Shep's physical life. Hell, you can even think of the Reapergod Shep as the player's kid even if you don't want to think of them as yourself.

All in all, the unintended consequences situation of blowing up the mass relays, stranding everyone on Earth to starve and die, and the really asshole move of having your allies abandon you got patched up. Is it the best ending ever? No, but if I had been playing the game I would have felt satisfied by the option to have A) Heroic Death and Liberty of Choice for All, B) Glorious Apotheosis into Space's Protector, or C) Strange Kind Of Everyone Wins Solution, or the last and hilarious option of D) wherein you prove the Starchild is full of shit and that a subsequent cycle reads all your log files, duct-tapes up the Citadel, and never suffers another reaper invasion ever. And/or kills the Reapers themselves.

Way better. No longer forced to suck down 3 options without the option to rebel, and the 3 solutions are all meaningful resolutions that preserve the feeling of sacrifice.

[bilateralrope]

What effect does the readiness rating have on each ending ?

[Losonti Tokash]

Same as before, you just need 3100 ems for all the endings instead of over 5000.

[Anacronian]

Played all the endings and am i the only one with the sense that BIOWARE is still pushing Synthesis as the "best" ending even though it is morally depraved as fuck?

Also Harbinger not blasting the Normandy is just..well silly.

Also Marauder Shields was renamed to Marauder Health - which is funny as hell.

[Darksider]

How is the synthesis ending "morally depraved?"

It's the only one that successfully preserves EDI and the Geth without outright enslaving the reapers.

[OmegaChief]

I think it's something to do with re-writing the very fabric of every sentient being in the galaxy without thier permission that is the somewhat morally dubious portion of that ending.

[Anacronian]

I think it's something to do with re-writing the very fabric of every sentient being in the galaxy without thier permission that is the somewhat morally dubious portion of that ending.

Not only rewriting "every sentient being in the galaxy" but rewriting every fucking form of life in the galaxy turning everything into constructs made by Shepard.

It's usually the sort of actions reserved to the very top echelons of the depraved comic book villains club.

[Zinegata]

The "Reject" ending even has Shep explaining how it's immoral for him to choose for the whole Galaxy., and that he/she stands for the freedom of people to choose their own destiny.

I like this ending, and Bioware trying to make it the troll ending (people are already making jokes that it was Mac Walters who was the VA who said "SO BE IT") just confirms me never wanting to buy a Casey Hudson or Mac Walters game again :p.

Moreover, Synthesis does pretty stupid hand-waving and how being synthesized apparently eradicates all conflict in the galaxy. It's really a stupid ending with so many plot holes and bad moral implications that the constant attempts to sell it as the best ending leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

Personally, the best "proper" ending (i.e. Not Reject) is Control. Shep becomes an apparently benevolent God who watches over everyone.

[Zinegata]

So we still have the whole "synthetics would ultimately destroy organics, so i created snythetics to destroy organics"-logic, as well as the whole pointless differentiation between organic and synthetic intelligence along an admission that it makes no difference?

Yeah, i would keep bitching if i gave a damn.

From what I've read, this is actually addressed somewhat in some of the dialogue choices. The Star Child implies that this wasn't the original intent of the creator of the Reapers. And the original creators got OMNOMed for their trouble when the Reapers went haywire.

Sounds like they read what Pezook wrote in the last thread and stole it shamelessly .

[Skywalker_T-65]

It sucks that I don't have Live...whenever I actually get around to getting ME3 I'll be stuck with the old endings...stupid cheap parents...

[Zinegata]

It sucks that I don't have Live...whenever I actually get around to getting ME3 I'll be stuck with the old endings...stupid cheap parents...

I just You Tube'd them. The DLC is pretty huge and I didn't want to bother DLing the 2GB file.

[Covenant]

I also feel that Control is the best ending, and that the Synthesis is a pretty objectionable one. I wouldn't say it's as bad as letting everyone die, but I dislike the idea of essentially 'harvesting' everyone at once but replacing gooification with permanent, involuntary hybridization. I find it somewhat unnerving how everyone has glowing eyes, for example. It also seems to make so little sense, and I'd rather not let the deranged, malfunctioning AI monster god rewrite everyone's DNA somehow with synthetic elements when it's own primary directive seems to be beyond it's comprehension anyway. Why does having glowy matrix faces keep everyone from fighting or AIs from rebelling? No sense!

That's why I like control. At least then they're your heavy hitters and benevolent superweapons.

[Broken]

I am so sorry my words made you kill yourself Saren way back in ME1, you were clearly right all along. If I had listened to you I would never have stood before this little space-Hitler who has wiped out countless species for ages with his three morally repugnant choices.

1) to mindrape an entire civilization into absolute obedience

2) to destroy these monsters at the cost of genociding an allied race

3) to forcibly alter the destiny of EVERY living thing in the galaxy by rewriting their genetic code (which somehow prevents synthetic/organic conflict despite genes not working that way, but hey what's that extra bit space magic on top of the rewriting itself)


Refusal may or may not be a screw you by bioware, but it is still the best choice running, even if you could make an argument for destroy. Control and synthesis are too horrible to take seriously for any sort of heroic Shepard.

That's my off-the-cuff response to the EC. I have only watched some YT videos since I haven't had time to play the endings myself.

[Anacronian]

Well in my destruction ending (ems 3700)was changed from "All Reapers, Geth and artificial life will die" to "All reapers will die and the rest of the artificial life will be affected but it can be repaired" so i really don't seen any down side to wiping out those damn dirty reapers.

[Darksider]

I haven't seen that on youtube yet. Is it an addition to Hackett's ending monologue or something?

[Grumman]

1) to mindrape an entire civilization into absolute obedience

I don't share your squeamishness on this point. If they have self-determination to remove, simply putting a bullet to each and every one of them does so just as harshly as assuming control, and you are still only doing so because they wish to murder trillions of innocent people. Through their actions they have forfeited the right to go about their business unhindered, just like any other serial killer.

Besides, if it really bothers you so much you could just make your first order "Fly into the sun".