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Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut Free DLC Announced
Will BioWare change the ending to Mass Effect 3? No. Will they address the ending with “additional cinematic sequences and epilogue scenes”? Yes, yes they will.
Today, the EA-owned developer announced the Extended Cut DLC, a free add-on that will give fans “further clarity to the ending of Mass Effect 3” and “deeper insights into how their personal journey concludes.” The DLC will be released sometime this summer and will be available for free—until April 2014 (two years from now, for those who are bad at math), at which point the free offer will expire. So if you plan on picking up a used copy of ME3 make sure you do it before then.
Said BioWare cofounder and general manager Ray Muzyka on the DLC in the press release published today:
“We are all incredibly proud of Mass Effect 3 and the work done by [Mass Effect Executive Producer] Casey Hudson and team. Since launch, we have had time to listen to the feedback from our most passionate fans and we are responding. With the Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut we think we have struck a good balance in delivering the answers players are looking for while maintaining the team’s artistic vision for the end of this story arc in the Mass Effect universe.
Added Hudson:
“We have reprioritized our post-launch development efforts to provide the fans who want more closure with even more context and clarity to the ending of the game, in a way that will feel more personalized for each player.”
Translation: “We were going to release this anyway, but now we’re releasing it sooner because you guys sent us cupcakes and signed petitions. You’re welcome.”
So, does this still technically count as a “victory” for the Retake Mass Effect movement? I mean, it’s pretty clear at this point that BioWare isn’t doing anything they wouldn’t have done anyway…just doing it earlier than they’d planned. Though maybe the DLC was planned to be paid, and now it’s free. So in that way, maybe the fan movement managed to at least save everyone a few bucks.
Anyway, is this still even a thing? Have people moved on to hating Assassin’s Creed III or BioShock Infinite or something? I can’t keep up with all the hate.
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Bad idea probably. This could kill the indoctrination theory. Which is MY ending.
The indoctrination theory was stupid to begin with. No, Bioware never had any sub-text or multi-layer psychological concept for the end. They just wanted a finished product. No indoctrination. None at all.
I don’t think anyone “won” by having Bioware announce this. If they release the whole cut-scene thing we were hoping for from the start of the first game, great! If they’re just giving us some DLC that was going to be release anyway… Great! Did the pissy fans who acted liek psychos get what they wanted? Yeah…
People will still be mad at the ending, because people actually WEREN’T mad at the ending. They’d have to redo the entire game to address why people are upset.
1+
I thought the game was really good. Sure there was a few gripes I had with it, but 95% of the game was amazing. Then the ending…
I just love how Bioware decided to make a game based on characters and the mysteries were secondary, and decided to end the game with zero character resolution.
i really hope they use the indoctranation idea, but if this ending works and makes of everything ill be happy, i can accept a unhappy ending if it makes it work eventhough i want a hapy one.
“Anyway, is this still even a thing? Have people moved on to hating Assassin’s Creed III or BioShock Infinite or something? I can’t keep up with all the hate.”
and here I thought this was unique to mass effect 3, you know fans uniting in a collective argument about how we are tired of being shafted all the time. Its jokes like that get people riled up. All biowares doing is trying to dissolve the collective community so the bad PR stops basically we are fighting a war for consumerism and losing. At this rate we wont even have legal couns…… oh they took that away too damn.
The drums are firing… The soldiers are marching… I’ve lost more children then I’ve raised… We watched entire cities burned to the ground… We raise our arms and hold our schlongs high, knowing that we may never see the dawn of day… I see it in the eyes of all ME3 fans… Most don’t even know why they’re fighting anymore… But a single beacon of hope can save the blood shed… All it takes is a single flame to ignite rebellion… We will hunt down all the Bioware employees… We will behead them… And we shall display their heads on spears so that all may know our wrath… PSYCHO FANS UNITE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
JK I’m glad we got the announcement. And Bioware was a gentlemen and scholar for responding so adamantly. Looking forward to the summer. :)
I was fine with the ending… (don’t hurt me)
Stay right there… I need to get my bow…
I am very excited and hopeful, I thought the ending was fine until I watched all “16″ endings and what I would call the Dragon Age II approach to the ending
lol, already planned on releasing it anyways……. -_-
Oh here I fixed that translation for you guys.
Translation: “We were going to release this anyway, but now we’re releasing it sooner because you guys sent us cupcakes and signed petitions. We were going to release it during holiday season and make you pay for it (because EA told us to), but You’re welcome. Now you shouldn’t hate us anymore, right?”
I am alright with this because with the DLC they will further explain the ending.
And maybe find out if Shepard really dies.
WHAT!? We will need to buy it!? ufff….-.-”
no because it will take more than a few added cutscenes to wash the sour taste of that stupid deus ex machhina ending out my mouth.
Did I read that right? I sure hope I didn’t.
It sounds like all they are doing is adding some extra cutscenes to show what will happen afterward(ie: how EDI and joker get it on now that they’re on a backwater planet). To me, it sounds like they won’t actually be addressing the problem.
Also, that bit about the ending as it stands being the ‘ending they envisioned scares me. If this is the quality that bioware is now producing, the game industry is indeed facing dark times.
you have read it correctly this is the clarification dlc that bioware partially aluded too, this means that the indoc theory has been thrown under the bus and you must take the endings at face value, whats worse is it doesn’t seem like their really going to do much and bioware liked the endings as is. Meaning we are srewed, sure its free till 2014 but I don’t know, personally I don’t know whats more of a slap in the face, the ending we got or that bioware blatantly went against what the fans were asking, why do I feel like bioware is treating us like 2 year olds, they tell us they want us to participate in giving them suggestions for the game for two years, then they tell us after the ending fiasco that they are listening to our 600 pages worth of suggestions and criticisms and now they are giving us shit to eat because they feel they are placating us….. well you know what bioware shit will never be tasty.
Thats nice and all, but how about you send out that patch fixing the “gamertag to origin” freezing crap. You have addressed it and stated the the start of april, but i still cannot play…. Sucks.
Its been a few weeks since ive been able to play… still dont know the ending
won’t spoil it for you all I have to say is it destroys the franchise literally. The last really good game bioware put out was mass effect 1 and that was completed by the original bioware team and published by microsoft studios before EA bought bioware..
Inside Gaming really seems to hate Mass Effect fans. First all harshness towards fans who criticized the novel, now this “now stop whining” tag in the picture. Being a newsletter by gamers for gamers, you’d think they’d be a bit less assholey about the whole thing. Be supportive of the huge fanbase that agree’s with the ending being garbage and deserving to be changed. Since this DLC doesn’t actually change the crappy endings, shouldn’t the tag be “Don’t Give Up Yet” instead of basically telling them all to shut up. We haven’t won yet. We likely never will, but that’s never been a good excuse to not at least try. No amount of glitter or polish is going to make that ending make anymore sense. We wanted closure, sure, but the biggest complaint was always the sheer amount of plotholes and bullshit that is the ending. It’s a damn God child with space magic for fuck’s sake.
We don’t hate Mass Effect fans, but Jesus Christ some of you guys need some perspective.
If you bought something, and you don’t like it, don’t buy it again in the future. Caveat emptor – let the buyer beware. That’s the guiding principle of the free market. You make it sound like you’re fighting for some righteous cause. You’re not.
It’s a video game with a shitty ending. I hated it too, but I’m an adult. Sometimes you don’t get what you pay for. That’s life. Instead of throwing a tantrum, learn your lesson and move on.
Our role at Inside Gaming isn’t to tell everyone they’re right all the time. It’s to give our perspective as people that have played a lot of video games and know the ins and outs of the industry. In this case, a lot of us feel that the reaction to Mass Effect is a little overblown and silly.
Isn’t your role to be a news blog? Well, from my understanding, news isn’t supposed to have bias. From all of these posts, you come off as having a holier-than-thou mantra, and come off as very biased and a bit dickish.
I don’t feel that the reaction was overblown or silly. You hate online passes, don’t you? So does everyone else, but instead of making a stand, everyone rode out the wave and hoped it wasn’t her to stay. look how wrong we were. Now a good majority of major publishers utilize online passes.
Now let’s apply that to the situation to Mass Effect 3. The game wasn’t bad, in fact, the first 30ish or so hours I put into it were VERY well spent, it was those last 10-20 minutes that ticked me off. It wasn’t bad across the scale, just the ending. That means something’s got to be up. There is little chance that the writers for such an amazing series could just take a mind crap and write like some shitty fan-fiction writer who wanted to do a cross-over with Gurren Lagann.
No, the general consensus is that this wasn’t the actual ending(much like Final Fantasy XIII-2), and that paid dlc would reveal what really happened, which has pretty much been proven(dlc leaks, the fact that they’re making a huge deal of this upcoming dlc being free, etc).
If we hadn’t held the line, EA would continue butt-fucking us and milking the Bio-cow for all it was worth, and like with the online passes, other companies would follow suit. We as consumers have to make a stand and tell these producers “Hey, cut that shit out.” which is pretty much impossible to do with a quiet boycott. Awareness has to be raised, or other like-minded individuals won’t stand up for what they believe in, as they won’t know that others think as they do.
AWW SNAPE LAWRANCE JUST GOT BURNED
Oye there’s a lot to address in what you’re saying. First off your tone is worrisome — “If we hadn’t held the line?” You’re talking about a video game, not a world war.
If you sense some conspiracy with Mass Effect 3′s ending, don’t buy Bioware’s next game. Or any game from EA for that matter. (Also, that doesn’t give you the license to pirate every game they make from now on to try and stick it to them).
You know why they do this? Because it works. Gamers will whine and moan but they still turn over and pay for it. And you know what else? They should do it. From a business perspective, if you can make money, you absolutely should 100% of the time.
I have a problem with the mentality that you have no choice. You’re writing as though EA and Bioware have you captive, and it’s wrong of them to manipulate you. You have free will, exercise it.
I use hold the line because it is the motto the Retake ME3 uses(which is a quote from Captain Kirrahe in ME1). It just so happened to fit the perspective I was trying to explain.
Most of the points you made were already addressed in the post. Of course you should try to make money, and if you can do it. The point of Retake ME3 is to show them that if they pull this crap, they WON’T make money.
“Gamers will whine and moan.” Of course. Someone that is displeased with a product will want reconciliation. Something wrong with your food at a restaurant? You request it to be fixed. A product you bought faulty or broken, through no fault of your own? You take it back. The thing is, through your posts, your criticizing those who are doing exactly what you want them to do. Exercise their power as a consumer.
“they still turn over and pay for it.” That would be the silent majority. Let’s use CoD as an example. Many people dislike it, and make a large deal out of it. That is what you hear on the internet. What you won’t hear is the bigger number of people that like the franchise because that isn’t as interesting to read about, and won’t result in as many hits on a blog. I don’t recall a recent article on IGD that brings people praising a game to light(aside from maybe operation crowbar). It doesn’t happen for the simple reason that controversy sells.
But I’m getting off topic. My point is that things can be largely criticized and still receive huge blockbuster numbers because each of those figures is a different demographic. The people that are loud and don’t like it don’t buy it. Those that do, do buy it. It’s not the same group, and shouldn’t be treated as such.
I am indeed writing as though I have a choice. I am simply pointing out the fallacies that your posts bring with them.
Lawrence,
This guy’s a self-entitled douche. I didn’t like the ending either, but I’m not about to start cutting my wrists. The fans were the ones that betrayed Bioware, not the other way around. Sending the devs creepy cupcakes, screwing around with clinic fund raising, and acting like psychos in general isn’t how a true fan should respond to a game. A true fan would just make an opinion, maybe share it in a constructive way, and then move on. For f***’s sake, the fans actually made up some indoctrination theory just to cope with the ending… Ehh….
Mugenite
APPARENTLY we hit the cap for nested replies. That might be a blog first.
Anyhoo I thought the game was crap. If I could go back in time and not buy it, I totally wouldn’t. Just so you guys don’t think I’m arguing in favor of the game or anything.
As far as us supporting gamer culture, I’ve personally done tons of posts about indie games, kickstarters, and other cultural projects like GameCenter CX and cool finds on YouTube. I just happen to think that tons of gamers saying “FIX THIS SHIT BECAUSE WE’RE MAD” isn’t particularly constructive or noteworthy.
Case in point: the boycotts of Modern Warfare 2 because Infinity Ward said there’d be no dedicated server. We didn’t take up the mantle on behalf of the community because we thought that reaction was silly. We think that demanding Bioware make a separate ending is also silly, albeit for different reasons.
It’s not that we don’t like the community. We’re PART of that community. Hell, I totally get being upset with Mass Effect 3. I ranted about it to Billy and Adam for a few days straight. I think the difference is how we respond to that feeling and put it into action.
To put it in restaurant terms, they’re not beholden to you to refund your purchase if you don’t like your meal. Most restaurants DO, but that doesn’t mean you can expect that behavior… especially if you eat the entire meal then demand a refund. That’s why I flipped my copy of Mass Effect 3 as quickly as possible on the used market; I wanted to get a partial refund and be on my way.
There’s nothing wrong with liking games and loving the setting they immerse you in. I feel like it crosses the line though when fans feel like developers owe them exactly what they want.
your right but I think your not fully understanding why people are getting really upset, and to understand that you need to take whats happening outside of mass effect 3.
1) Capcom deciding to lop off the ending to asura’s wrath and sell it to the community later, Not only did they do that but they advertised it, meaning that in the trailer for the Asura’s wrath dlc it states in bold orange letters ” the true ending to asura’s wrath” that means that capcom sold their fans an unfinished game and that has actual legal precedent, but are capcom fans staying quiet no they are screaming tho not as loudly as ME fans.
2) Bioware’s written promises to get people to buy the game, since the quotes are well known I don’t need to spout them off here, but they symbolize a written promise by the developers themselves that the game would not end with an ABC ending and that each ending to the game was wildly different, that wasn’t the case and long time fans feel especially betrayed because for a while bioware was actually asking fans for input to help refine the game(if I remember correctly). The worst part about the ending that really angered me and many others was how the ending of the third game made the first game’s story impossible and the second games story nonexistent, It was basically a big FU to fans who played the first game and the second game, basically telling you that everything bioware did was to get you to spend money on them and they aren’t going to honor stories contained in those two games, the biggest throw out was why sovereign needed to dock with the citadel in the first place and why did they need to send a signal to the keepers when all they could do was send a message to the catalyst and say “start the invasion” to activate the citadel relay?
3) EA”s response to their stock holders saying that the reason people were boycotting mass effect was because they were antigay, I don’t need to explain why that was an insult to fans.
4) The final nail in the coffin was how they handled everything, first they ask fans to provide constructive criticism and many did, out of 600 pages i’d say 350 were constructive criticisms about how the games ending destroyed the franchise and the flow of the final game. During this time they pretty much ignored their fans and refused to even acknowledge the growing number of disheartened fans and questions, when people feel they are being ignored it boils the blood.Then releasing the extended cut dlc announcement which based on their press release goes against every thing the fans have been asking, right before the Pax panel and then lastly telling their fans that they had no clue that there would be this type of backlash and to try and diffuse the situation decided on free multiplayer dlc which was going to be free anyways.
.
5) The media telling all fans who were protesting that they were all whiny babies and didn’t have any grounds to complain( you start telling people they can’t complain that a product is unfinished or destroys itself in the process and blood starts to boil)
6) Fans realizing that they have no recourse at all through EA, you see EA followed in sony’s footsteps and told fans that they are not allowed to participate in clase action lawsuits or in any legal action at all, its right in their terms of service section 20, it means that we cannot hold bioware accountable, and make them at least answer us instead of ignoring us, unless through arbitration and we all know how flawed that is. But thats a whole nother can of worms, still waiting for some lawyer to point out how that contract is illegal for the corporation to do. How can a contract be enforced if is prevents one party from being able to hold the company liable for fulfilling that contract. Before you say its not a contract anything that has to be enfored through the courts is a contract and EA still reserves the right to sue the user if they deem him at fault but we can’t do that do them but I digress like I said thats whole nother can of worms.
So the only way to get an actual response from bioware other than the typical wait till more people play the game response is to scream loud enough so that somebody comes over to see what all of the fuss is about.
Truthfully my personal opinion is that bioware did this on purpose to get the community so riled up that the community boycotts EA as a whole thus shifting the market and opening up a place for independent companies to operate again.
At least that’s my hope otherwise they did this so EA could micro transaction the hell out of their customers because battlefield 3 did not kill COD like their were hoping it would.
Once again i’m not discounting what you’ve said i’m only trying to put it into context as to why a base majority of fans are disheartened and angry, there are several children who have grown angry and cursed bioware, but the ones who came up with the protests are exercising their right to protest, to get bioware to take notice of the community..
Cool. I might have made IGD history(at least on the blog). I think that deserves some kind of medal( I kid, I kid).
To put it in restaurant terms again, if you get a crappy meal, and get terrible customer service in response, what does the customer do? They tell everyone they know that “Hey, these guys are bad, don’t go to them.” That is the basic concept behind Retake ME3, tell BiowarEA(spelling intentional) that if this is how they treat fans of about 5 years, they won’t be greeted by bright eyed, happy customers ready to take it up the back again.
I don’t think it’s crossing the line, per say. The OVER-EXTREME fans might be crossing the line, but the majority of us just want good customer service, and not to be left in the dumpster like we’re trash or something.
Ring,
Soulprovider and I pretty much broke that record over the mass effect ending a few articles back… Blood was shed… Humanities were lost… Hearts were stolen… Lol
Anyway, your right that we have the right to get our money’s worth. However, now we’re talking about entertainment in general. I have even voiced my frustration on the matter of ME3′s ending. However, I would never expect Bioware to do anything about it because they decided for themselves what they wanted to ship. They made the conscious decision to ship ME3, probably short of being complete, like Halo 2. I won’t ever buy any Bioware DLC or game ever again because of this. However, I would never encourage others to do the same just because I felt soar about it. I’ll see what happens with DA3 and determine if they’re actually losing their spice or if they’re actually trying to get back on track with the fans.
Live long and prosper,
Mugenite
Wait, what?!? Shepard dies??? Thanks for ruining it for me :P To be honest, im still working my way through ME2, so i havnt played ME3 yet. I just have far too many games to play at the moment. Might have to pick up a copy before 2014 though :P
If you actually didn’t beat ME3, then don’t worry. In fact, I’d put off ME3 until the new Extended Cut arrives. Him dying is actually a very, very small detail about the ending, which was so cleverly addressed by Bioware…… Just make sure you don’t romance Tali…. She’s mine…. Seriously… >:(
They can leave the ending the same for all I care, I didn’t really think the ending was that bad (BUT I can understand why people will see it that way) as long as this DLC fills in the gaps and plotholes, I will be content