The Extended Cut is out!



What are you waiting for? Go play it!

As I said in my previous post, I am currently replaying through all 3 games and have just started on Mass Effect 3 a few days ago. I want to wait until I reach the end to enjoy the Extended Cut's additions. This means this blog will not be updated with all the new information from the EC until that point. And since I have 2 children that may be about a week away.

However I was unable to resist finding out what the general feeling was towards the EC. It seems that so far the majority of people feel it is better than what we had, but not what they had hoped for.

And before it was even released Bioware community manager Jessica Merizan announced that the EC will neither confirm or deny the Indoctrination Theory. She also said the EC did not change how she felt about it and that she enjoys it as much as the literal interpretation. For whatever that is worth.

In my opinion the fact the EC does not go to any length to confirm IT is an admission that Bioware either never intended it, or always intended it to be a possible interpretation to be left open to speculation. In the same vein as the "is Deckard a Replicant?" question in Blade Runner.

One thing is for sure, the EC will give us a lot of new things to ponder and speculate on. And if nothing else Bioware should be congratulated on giving us a series that is so good that we want to spend so much time speculating on the ending. Even if we feel the literal version of it is badly written if intended as such.

Another thing that is for sure, this blog is going to need some massive revisions! Once I have completed the EC I will  move all previous evidence to a Pre-Extended Cut archive. And rewrite the whole thing with the EC in mind. I will then start adding all the new speculation and other relevant items for discussion.

Despite how I feel about the endings of Mass Effect 3 in a literal interpretation, it remains my favorite game in the series and the Mass Effect series remains my favorite video game series as a whole.

The fact that fans of the series are so dedicated to expressing how they feel about the endings and to spending so much time analyzing them speaks to how passionate a fan base Mass Effect inspires.

It is for this among other reasons that I strongly consider Mass Effect to be the most important game series of all time. And I will continue to enjoy it immensely, regardless of how the EC turns out.

5 comments:

  1. If I were you I would go through that EC with the mindset that the IT really IS what happened, therefore you will manage to enjoy it.
    At the end it doesn't matter if Bioware supports the IT or not, as long as they don't throw something in that denies it firmly the IT is The Word ;

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  2. Hello. I´m from Portugal, I don´t speech well English so sorry for the errors I will say next. When I finish the Mass Effect series I was disappointed, I love the games 1 and 2 were amazing, but the end of the 3 kill me. I thought I will never play the series again but then I found this web page and I found the logical of IT. Not ever for a minute I doubt about his logical, was amazing and perfect for the facts in the game. But now I see a problem on her, the new extended final is not bad, in fact if I see this final the first time I probably (even if I steel not like it) will accepted, but after I discover IT I simply can’t, my expectations was too high. Because of that I just want to say to the mass effect developers thank you for the best game (the trilogy as one) I ever played and feel, and thank you all (the people who think and support the It for give me the best final (obviously one fight remain…Harbinger) I could ever imagine. It was not accepted by who is in charge, but I embraced with all my heart. Don’t miss understand me I’m happy that many people like the new ending and I wish I could fill the same but I can´t. Thank you again… Thank you in Portuguese. Obrigado pessoal, do fundo do coração…

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    1. Thank you. I feel the same way. The Extended Cut is much better than what we had, but not as good as the Indoctrination Theory. However I am not convinced that Bioware did not intend IT to be a legitimate interpretation, even if it's not the only acceptable interpretation in their minds. I will be revising the site to reflect the EC over the next week and continue to add from there.

      While I ma comfortable with the EC endings and find Destroy very satisfying, IT is still a better ending. And as you say, even if Bioware didn't intend it or never acknowledge it, we ca still consider it our interpretation of the end of Mass Effect. It just fits too perfectly.

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  3. Did you notice the new Indoctrination clues?

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    1. Yea there are quite few.
      Harbinger says something like "Serve Us" before hitting you with the beam.
      Stra brat's repear voice when choosing refuse.

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