Extended Cut Feelings, Extended
Now that I've had some time to process it, I am expanding on how I felt about the Extended Cut for Mass Effect 3.
Firstly, about the original ending: I was not unhappy with the original ending. I didn't think it was good, nor did I really like it, but it certainly doesn't merit the outrage people were giving. I disliked the Star Child stuff because I dislike deus ex machina. It's lazy writing. There is no other reason for it; it's done when the writer is backed into a corner through laying a poor foundation for the story and cannot think of a solution other than to have a powerful force come in and magically solve everything. Yes, it sucks huge monkey balls to have to rework most to all of your story in order to get a real ending, but that's part of the writing process.
The Star Child in and of itself wasn't bad. It was the implementation. If he was a crucial part to the story, he should have been foreshadowed, or even outright included, throughout the story. Imagine how things could have changed and unfurled had he revealed himself dramatically to Shepard shortly after the reapers land on Earth, or at the end of Mass Effect 2, or at any other point prior to the halfway point of ME3. How much more pressing and dramatic a story would it have made to know there was a single entity we could confront? How much more desperate would things have been knowing just how incredibly powerful the enemy was, far beyond our imaginings? This is a force that controls the most destructive, powerful and evil force the galaxy has ever seen. Revealing him earlier would have made the stakes even higher. Imagine the added dimension of having some forces simply give up because even Shepard can't convince them to have hope! Having him step in at the end is just lazy and weak, full of missed chances for storytelling. Even so, I was not overly bothered by him. In fact, that was my only real issue with the ending as a whole: poor implementation. It wasn't the ideas, it wasn't the mythos; it was lazy implementation of ideas that were not bad in and of themselves.
I didn't mind the little to no difference between the immediate cut scenes after Shepard chooses an ending. (The so-called "skittles.") Those cut scenes showed the results of literal minutes after the choice. Of course they wouldn't be different! The reapers are either destroyed or forced to leave--there's really only one way for them to do that in the first ten minutes after your choice. The mistake there was not showing what happened after they left/fell apart.
What I did mind about the ending was how it raised more question than it answered. Even beyond the Star Child, there are questions. Why is Joker so bent on getting the hell outta dodge? Where is the Normandy? Why are my teammates, who had been right behind me on the charge to the beam, suddenly on this decidedly not-Earth planet? What happened after I made my choice? Not just to Shepard and my love interest and other teammates--what happened to the galaxy? What were the consequences, good and bad, of my choice? Does Shepard live? Is a happy ending possible at all?
That's all I wanted from the EC: answers to what was going on with the Normandy and its passengers, and a happy ending with my love interest. A happy ending, as far as I define it, would be one were Shepard non-ambiguously lives, the majority of my companions and named characters live, the galaxy has resolved the reaper threat for good and will be at peace for at least the foreseeable future, and one where Shepard retires to glory and happiness with the chosen love interest.
I got one of these two things. I did not get the one that was more important to me. Hence, my disappointment.
I didn't expect much from the EC. Honestly, if someone expected a complete re-do of the game from the beam onward, that person has no concept of the time, energy and money it would take to do that, not to mention the logistical nightmare of getting it to everyone. The EC was 1.85 gigabytes; the XBox has a download limit of 2 gigabytes. A large number of ME players use the XBox. They would be shit out of luck if Bioware had been able to invest the massive amounts of resources into remaking just half an hour of the game.
I did not expect expansion of the ME2 romances, despite kind of wanting it. I expected they would fix the issue of only getting Liara in your flashback if you didn't romance your Virmire Survivor. They did, and that was nice to see. My Shepard romanced Kaidan/Thane/Kaidan, and as much as I love the romance with Kaidan, I will always be a Thanemancer in my heart. I squealed with a mixture of happiness and angst upon seeing him in the flashback. I make no apologies for this. I am a fangirl. Deal with it.
It was good to understand what happened with Joker and the Normandy, and why Kaidan and Vega (my two most-used teammates) were suddenly on not-Earth. The goodbye scene of them getting back onto the Normandy was lovely. Kaidan looked like a kicked puppy and I was horribly sad to see it. (Facial animation was really good in this game, but I think they outdid themselves with Kaidan more than anyone, with Liara as a close second.) But it wasn't enough. In fact, I would trade that scene for one with Shepard after the crucible and Star Child, even one that was shorter and without dialogue. (I picture Shepard taking the LI's hand as they gaze into something peaceful and happy, like London rebuilding or construction on the Citadel.)
I wanted a conclusive ending to Shepard's story. I didn't get it.
The breathing scene means nothing. In fact, I'm more inclined to believe it's a death rattle, as some on the Internet have postulated. I expected it to be hard, even harder than brokering peace between the geth and quarian. I'm okay with that; I would even say I like how hard that would be. I will take having to make that terrible choice between destroying the geth and EDI if it means I could keep Shepard alive. I always choose the Dark Ritual in Dragon Age, never even thought twice about it. I will sacrifice an awful lot if I get to keep my character alive and happy. I can live with guilt, if I get a chance to live.
I don't give two shits about talking to the Star Child. He doesn't tell you anything new, really. That was a waste of resources that could have gone to getting an ending. The extension of the choices, with their narrations and slideshows that changed based on your decisions, was great. But more than I wanted an expansion and explanation, I wanted an ending.
Bioware, I am disappoint.
Are you disappoint, too?
Firstly, about the original ending: I was not unhappy with the original ending. I didn't think it was good, nor did I really like it, but it certainly doesn't merit the outrage people were giving. I disliked the Star Child stuff because I dislike deus ex machina. It's lazy writing. There is no other reason for it; it's done when the writer is backed into a corner through laying a poor foundation for the story and cannot think of a solution other than to have a powerful force come in and magically solve everything. Yes, it sucks huge monkey balls to have to rework most to all of your story in order to get a real ending, but that's part of the writing process.
The Star Child in and of itself wasn't bad. It was the implementation. If he was a crucial part to the story, he should have been foreshadowed, or even outright included, throughout the story. Imagine how things could have changed and unfurled had he revealed himself dramatically to Shepard shortly after the reapers land on Earth, or at the end of Mass Effect 2, or at any other point prior to the halfway point of ME3. How much more pressing and dramatic a story would it have made to know there was a single entity we could confront? How much more desperate would things have been knowing just how incredibly powerful the enemy was, far beyond our imaginings? This is a force that controls the most destructive, powerful and evil force the galaxy has ever seen. Revealing him earlier would have made the stakes even higher. Imagine the added dimension of having some forces simply give up because even Shepard can't convince them to have hope! Having him step in at the end is just lazy and weak, full of missed chances for storytelling. Even so, I was not overly bothered by him. In fact, that was my only real issue with the ending as a whole: poor implementation. It wasn't the ideas, it wasn't the mythos; it was lazy implementation of ideas that were not bad in and of themselves.
I didn't mind the little to no difference between the immediate cut scenes after Shepard chooses an ending. (The so-called "skittles.") Those cut scenes showed the results of literal minutes after the choice. Of course they wouldn't be different! The reapers are either destroyed or forced to leave--there's really only one way for them to do that in the first ten minutes after your choice. The mistake there was not showing what happened after they left/fell apart.
What I did mind about the ending was how it raised more question than it answered. Even beyond the Star Child, there are questions. Why is Joker so bent on getting the hell outta dodge? Where is the Normandy? Why are my teammates, who had been right behind me on the charge to the beam, suddenly on this decidedly not-Earth planet? What happened after I made my choice? Not just to Shepard and my love interest and other teammates--what happened to the galaxy? What were the consequences, good and bad, of my choice? Does Shepard live? Is a happy ending possible at all?
That's all I wanted from the EC: answers to what was going on with the Normandy and its passengers, and a happy ending with my love interest. A happy ending, as far as I define it, would be one were Shepard non-ambiguously lives, the majority of my companions and named characters live, the galaxy has resolved the reaper threat for good and will be at peace for at least the foreseeable future, and one where Shepard retires to glory and happiness with the chosen love interest.
I got one of these two things. I did not get the one that was more important to me. Hence, my disappointment.
I didn't expect much from the EC. Honestly, if someone expected a complete re-do of the game from the beam onward, that person has no concept of the time, energy and money it would take to do that, not to mention the logistical nightmare of getting it to everyone. The EC was 1.85 gigabytes; the XBox has a download limit of 2 gigabytes. A large number of ME players use the XBox. They would be shit out of luck if Bioware had been able to invest the massive amounts of resources into remaking just half an hour of the game.
I did not expect expansion of the ME2 romances, despite kind of wanting it. I expected they would fix the issue of only getting Liara in your flashback if you didn't romance your Virmire Survivor. They did, and that was nice to see. My Shepard romanced Kaidan/Thane/Kaidan, and as much as I love the romance with Kaidan, I will always be a Thanemancer in my heart. I squealed with a mixture of happiness and angst upon seeing him in the flashback. I make no apologies for this. I am a fangirl. Deal with it.
It was good to understand what happened with Joker and the Normandy, and why Kaidan and Vega (my two most-used teammates) were suddenly on not-Earth. The goodbye scene of them getting back onto the Normandy was lovely. Kaidan looked like a kicked puppy and I was horribly sad to see it. (Facial animation was really good in this game, but I think they outdid themselves with Kaidan more than anyone, with Liara as a close second.) But it wasn't enough. In fact, I would trade that scene for one with Shepard after the crucible and Star Child, even one that was shorter and without dialogue. (I picture Shepard taking the LI's hand as they gaze into something peaceful and happy, like London rebuilding or construction on the Citadel.)
I wanted a conclusive ending to Shepard's story. I didn't get it.
The breathing scene means nothing. In fact, I'm more inclined to believe it's a death rattle, as some on the Internet have postulated. I expected it to be hard, even harder than brokering peace between the geth and quarian. I'm okay with that; I would even say I like how hard that would be. I will take having to make that terrible choice between destroying the geth and EDI if it means I could keep Shepard alive. I always choose the Dark Ritual in Dragon Age, never even thought twice about it. I will sacrifice an awful lot if I get to keep my character alive and happy. I can live with guilt, if I get a chance to live.
I don't give two shits about talking to the Star Child. He doesn't tell you anything new, really. That was a waste of resources that could have gone to getting an ending. The extension of the choices, with their narrations and slideshows that changed based on your decisions, was great. But more than I wanted an expansion and explanation, I wanted an ending.
Bioware, I am disappoint.
Are you disappoint, too?