Well it is official, Bioware caved. Coming this summer, everyone who cried out against the ending Mass Effect 3 will get what they wanted. Coming in the form of “additional cinematic sequences and epilogue scenes” the new ending will hopefully please rabid fans. Thankfully there was no mention if the “improved” ending would actually change anything, just that it would explain more.
“We are all incredibly proud of Mass Effect 3 and the work done by Casey Hudson and team,” said Dr. Ray Muzyka, Co-Founder of BioWare and General Manager of EA’s BioWare Label. “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.”
Seems as though gamers really can change things. Now if only people would get as angry about intrusive DRM or game prices. While it is tough to support winy gamers getting their way it is nice to see that some companies listen. Bioware cares about it’s minority of fans who cried out against the ending and are working to change that for them and release it for free. Who knows what this means for games in the future but for now it is nice to see that some companies actually listen to their fans, for better or for worse.
I don’t understand this at all. People don’t complain when movies or books have bad endings, why are they so upset about this? That is the ending that BioWare created and they should have just accepted it and moved on.
The fact that BioWare even considered changing the ending is sad. They should have stuck to their guns and kept it how it was and how it is supposed to be.
What do you mean people don’t complain when movies or books have bad endings! Did you forget about Star Wars already? They still haven’t stopped complaining about that one.
That said, I don’t think that BioWare owes it to anyone to retcon the ending or anything. Ultimately it’s their work, and if they want to have Commander Shepherd save the galaxy with the ultimate Care Bear Stare, then so be it. (Good Luck Bear is the best ending.) Strapping extra stuff onto it after the fact kind of seems like a waste of time, frankly.
Still, I think it’ll be interesting to see how the whole thing shakes out in the end.
Sorry, I meant that they don’t complain to the same scale. I have never heard of someone demanding a movie producer to re-release a movie with a different ending.
Ha, fair enough. It does kind of seem naively optimistic that they would expect something like that. I think there might also be the perception that it’s easier to change a video game, what with all the constant patching and DLC that there is.
At the same time, the reaction people have had does speak to how much they love Mass Effect. When other games turn out to be crap, people tend to just say, “Oh well,” and move on.
The biggest difference is that Mass Effect fans are clamoring for more story while Star Wars fans are begging Lucas to stop giving them more story.
I feel like calling it a “vocal minority” is an oversimplification of the issue. Granted, less than 50% of people who played the game spoke out, but the fact that so many did is indicative of the widespread dissatisfaction.
What made the Mass Effect games so great was the story; without it, they’re pretty generic 3rd person shooters. The whole series is building up to a massive showdown, but the ending you get it like socks on Christmas morning.