Lots of great pics and thoughts being shared here, it's a pleasure to see
So I finished the Extended Cut a few days ago with my canon femShep, Lia and it’s taken me awhile to really decide what I think about it. Let me start by saying that I think it’s great that BioWare actually went and revised something which was completely incoherent and nonsensical, adding in additional character scenes and music and then releasing it for free. Most developers would simply have let the ending the game released with stand, regardless of the poor state it was in. Kudos to BioWare for acknowledging that the execution of those final moments of ME3 was completely unworthy of the series and indeed the company’s standards. Warning, plenty of personal opinion and analysis ahead.
However:The Extended Cut ultimately changed very little for me, and I’ve been wrangling my brain to try and figure out why. As I just said, the presentation is better and playing the game does not feel like it’s utterly pointless now. And yet…I still find myself wondering if I’m ever going to really pick any other choice than the one I picked the first time, no matter which Shepard I play through with.
The reason for this is, of course: The Catalyst/StarBrat/StarChild/StarKid, which unfortunately remains largely unaltered, in spite of how its mere presence begins to undermine a lot of the lore that went before. Having the Catalyst as this seemingly always-aware entity on the Citadel does make the entire Reaper agenda in ME1 seem pointless, since it could have just activated the Citadel Relay itself when Sovereign realized the Protheans had rigged the Keepers.
That aside – BioWare did a better job of establishing what the Catalyst is this time around, but in doing so they manage to completely torpedo everything they’d built up regarding the Reapers. Far from being these powerful, incomprehensible alien beings that we’ve been exposed to in Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, they are now simply reduced to drones, mindlessly doing the bidding of the Catalyst. Talk about deflating a villain. The Catalyst itself is also revealed to basically be just an AI that’s gone rogue or wasn’t programmed with enough empathy by its creators, hence it turned them into Harbinger, the first Reaper when it deemed it “optimal”. But the “problem” it’s trying to solve is as flimsy and Meta as ever – the hypothetical inevitable conflict between organics and synthetics, represented to the player as the conflict between the Quarians and the Geth, and potentially ended with peaceful reconciliation and acceptance facilitated by Shepard (this was what happened in my game). The Catalyst’s agenda is revealed as circular and flawed, basically it’s stuck in an infinite loop carrying out a programming that has long since ceased to be relevant. And yet, BioWare still doesn’t seem to want to take the logical step from there, which is to reject the Catalyst (more on the “Reject” ending in a bit) it’s logic, and then using the combined resources of the galaxy to blast the Reapers into oblivion.
Which brings us to the three choices - I say three choices because the fourth one is a false choice which is definitely not given the treatment it would warrant.
Control, Destroy and Synthesis remain largely unchanged in their nature, but come with better explanations this time around. This is good, however I still immediately ran into what I consider “The Wall of Logic” when I went up the Magic Space Elevator ™.
The Wall of Logic is basically me being faced with the undeniable fact that we have two games in this series which argues directly against two of the three options. The entire story of the Illusive Man in ME2 and ME3 is designed to show the fallacy of Control as yet another Reaper trap, it’s reinforced countless times throughout those games, starting at the Collector Base in ME2 when he’s all too eager to get his hands on the tech there and again on Thessia where the Prothean VI *specifically* mentions that in their time they had their own version of Cerberus, saying the exact same things, who were indoctrinated. There is nothing in the story that indicates that Control would be a more viable option for Shepard, other than the writers trying to make the player feel “special” by having the Catalyst offer the choice and telling the player how awesome their Shepard is and that naturally *they* can take control. It’s just not convincing within the context of the story.
Likewise, Synthesis makes me run headfirst into the Wall of Logic as well because this whole agenda of melding and combining organics and machine is of course…Saren’s agenda. And just as with TIM, Saren was indoctrinated, making Synthesis decidedly a Reaper agenda, and ME3 makes it clear that this is the Catalyst’s preferred result, and since it’s now established that the Catalyst controls the Reapers, it’s also the Reapers’ preferred result. This again, makes it something to not choose, since it fits the design of a genocidal, insane AI construct. And of course it’s still enforcing this huge change on everyone in the galaxy without any real idea of whether or not it will actually bring peace or if it’s just the Catalyst wanting its science project to succeed.
So for me that leaves Destroy – using the Deus Ex Machina and Space Magic of the Crucible to do what we set out to do ever since Sovereign showed up – Destroy the Reapers. I will be honest, I feel like it was a complete cop-out on the part of BioWare to just attach the death of all other synthetics to Destroy, simply because it seems cheap: “Oh you want to do what you spent the whole series preparing for? HAHA, it will take your friends! *twirls mustache*” is basically what I felt when I saw that little caveat. Destroy all Reaper technology, since the Crucible was allegedly built to destroy the Reapers, sure, but ALL synthetics? Really, BioWare? That being said, I’ve head-canoned my way out of that pickle, since it’s specifically said in Admiral Hackett’s VO that all that was lost can be rebuilt, so I simply extend that to EDI and the Geth. And I would have picked Destroy if it had been the Asari or Turians, because it's a sacrifice worth making to end the Reapers.And destroying them is the only way to absolutely guarantee the Reapers are stopped, due to the aforementioned uncertainties regarding Control and Synthesis.
So ultimately, Lia Shepard picked herself up and prepared to go out along with the Catalyst and the Reapers
But wait, DJ – didn’t you say you’d mention the fourth ending?!?Oh right…that…
Refusal could have been great, truly magnificent but the implementation instead comes across as BioWare stomping their feet and causing a stink for people who DARE refuse their Deus Ex Machina – no matter how weak the writing surrounding the Crucible is to begin with. Refusal always ending in failure has quickly shot to the top of my list of “Things that could have been great in Mass Effect 3” because THIS is where all the war assets should have come in to play – THIS is where you should see every race pull together, potentially with Shepard alerting the fleet that the Catalyst is the Reaper Master Control and telling Hacket to blow up the Crucible and the Citadel along with it. Shepard gets a heroic sacrifice, and the races of the galaxy get to live on without compromising with evil. But it was not to be, much to my great disappointment.
So all in all the Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut was a mixed experience for me. It made the presentation of certain elements better, but the weaknesses, inconsistencies and plot holes regarding theme and lore were sadly completely untouched. ME3 released with a poor, nonsensical ending. The Extended Cut makes a lot more sense but is still a poorly conceived ending, in dire need of an editor.
/$0.02
Modifié par Delerius_Jedi, 05 juillet 2012 - 09:12 .
Coming soon is a FemShep Snowboard cover and it looks totally awesome!! :happy:
![=]](https://lvlt.forum.bioware.com/public/style_emoticons/default/sideways.png)
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Here's another batch from Eden Prime!
