Mass Effect 3 Redux – Spoilers!

I finally managed to find the time to play the new Mass Effect 3 Extended cut that was released into the wild on June 26^th. I really enjoyed the sense of closure the Extended Cut provided and give Bioware a bloody and bruised Alliance thumbs up on the new cut! My first play through of Mass Effect 3 was completed as a man possessed and I blasted my way through it way too fast. My readiness rating was low but since this was the only finished career I had to go with I used this Shep career to play the Extended Cut.

As I did in the first play through I picked the destroy ending which pretty much wiped out most everything including my Shepard character. Ash and Liara were crushed by a troop vehicle and were killed attacking the citadel beam. My Shepard was male and the romance was with Ash. I actually did not romance any character in ME2 – just fighting – back to my quarters – see Ashley’s picture on the desk – fight some more – remain true. It was tough to see her die that way in ME3! Liara was always a favorite of mine too. To see them both die at once with arms outstretched for me to help them was brutal to say the least. A lot of people flipped out on the first ending – I did not so much. I was one of those that actually liked it at first. I was in a dark mood for some reason when I finished the first time and I was served up a dark ending to complement my mood. However, after reading all the fan reaction I agreed with many of the fan complaints. The previous ending was indeed lacking in closure and there were plot holes and inconsistencies that needed to be addressed.

With the destroy option and a low readiness rating the ending wasn’t really that different than the original ending after the destruct option is triggered. After losing both Ash and Liara my Shep was in no mood to synthesize with organics and he was certainly not going to let the reapers live after spending 3 long campaigns dedicated to their annihilation.

To get more of a flavor of the different endings I also played the control ending and it was a tad creepy to say the least. Listening to Commander Shepard speaking with a reaper accent was cool but made my skin crawl. Even though Shepard’s end dialogue was well written and actually made sense to me it seemed unholy coming from the soldier that was willing to lose everything to take the reapers down. There was closure however.

My Shep was a loyal alliance soldier – a gentleman – loyal in love and loyal to his squad mates and the mission. Anderson telling Shep that he was proud of him right before Anderson died filled me with pride and sadness (even as I type these words). Since this Shep character’s career had a low Effective Military Strength the synthesize end was not even an option. In my first play through I had to pick between Tali or Legion surviving the mission on Rannoch. At first I picked Legion and I was emotionally crushed. This was the only time I replayed the game to change an outcome in the trilogy. I just could not keep playing with Tali’s blood on my hands. It was as if I decided to let the toaster live instead of a living breathing crew mate. This incident forced me to the realization that no matter how cool a synthetic is (sorry EDI and Legion) that if forced to choose between organic life and synthetic life I must choose organic life. I know that with a better prepared character I could have managed to let them both live but for me this was not to be. I have not played the synthesis option yet with the Extended Cut but will soon in my second play through where I will pay more attention to the Military readiness rating and enter the end game with a fully prepared character. Who knows – perhaps in my second play through of ME3 I will choose the synthesis option? Even if the synthesis option was available to me when playing the Extended Cut the first time I would not have choose synthesis. My gut tells me that it would be out of character for Shep to pick this option because the mission has always been to kill the Reapers – no quarter given – none expected.

In final analysis I think Bioware did a great job fixing the ending of the Mass Effect 3 with the free Extended Cut. I have a feeling of closure now and the trilogy now feels whole. Of course you cannot please everyone and there are still fans grumbling about the new endings provided by the EC. Even without the new endings, even if no closure was provided by the Extended Cut, I still would be a huge fan of the Mass Effect Trilogy. To me the game is a work of art and the trilogy is the best set of games ever released. I remember typing all the programming code into the RAM of my Commodore Vic 20 just so I could play a basic asteroids type shooting game! I have played countless games since then and not one game has pulled me into it emotionally like the Mass Effect Universe managed to accomplish. I heard a player comment that they were going to shelve the game and try to forget the whole experience after the first endings were released. Not this Commander Shepard! I have started over in ME1 and ME3. Since I played through ME3 too fast the first time I am now taking my time and fully absorbing the all-encompassing Mass Effect Experience! After finishing my second play through of ME1 and ME3 I plan to start again in Mass Effect 1 and play all the way through as a Fem Shep on the insanity level!

For now: “I have to go. . . .”