Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut Release

The Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut is available today for download, says the Bioware Blog.

I was so looking forward to this game and was so disappointed by the crappy ending. After the controversy and Bioware's defense of their crappy ending, I lost all faith in them. However, I have to give them one last chance. And this is their last chance.

In truth, I have little faith that this downloadable content will save the series. They have been referring to it as an extended cut, something explain the ending. A good story should not need to be explained. I still do not understand how anyone with above 80 IQ can look at that ending and not see that it is crap. They would have done better to just admit they screwed up and fix it. I would rather wait six months for a proper ending then a rushed explanation of a crappy ending.

We shall see what they have done.

Update: Downloading the content now. I am afraid to look at the boards while I wait.

An Open Response to Dr. Ray Muzyka

The following is a response to this letter by Dr Ray Muzyka to Mass Effect 3 players.

To Dr Ray Muzyka, from a Mass Effect 3 fan

Thank you for taking the time to respond to the Mass Effect fan base regarding this controversy. You have every right to be proud of the work you and your company has done in the past. BioWare is a company that produces high quality games and has an excellent team behind it. I am sure most of the fans, even the ones presently criticizing Mass Effect would agree. I have been following the controversy regarding the ending of Mass Effect 3, and most of the criticism seems to stem from the last ten to fifteen minutes of the game. It is a testament to you and your company that you have released so many quality games over the years.

However, your comments do not address the key points brought forth by your critics, specifically the final ending of this trilogy. The final sequence seems to break some conventions of good storytelling. I would like to note a few examples:

Mass Effect 3 Ending Controversy - SPOILERS

It has been less than 2 weeks since the release of Mass Effect 3, a fan favourite series where you play the hero, Command Sheppard, out to save the galaxy from the threat of extinction by intelligent machines called Reapers. The Mass Effect series is notable for allowing players the maximum choice ever seen in this type of game. The choices players made in the first two Mass Effect games carry over to Mass Effect 3 and affect the story. 

Or at least this is what players were led to believe.

Are there alternative endings depending on what you do in the game?

It's not so much that there is a fixed set of alternative endings, but all of your choices really determine how things end up in the universe. So, how you approach the end-game, for every player, you're going to have a different set of results in terms of who is alive and who is dead, and which civilisations survived and which ones were wiped out.

Facebook, twitter and the ME3 Bioware Forums have been boiling with fan dissatisfaction regarding the ending of Mass Effect 3, billed as the end of the series. There are reports that a fan has lodged a complaint to the FTC. A Bioware forum poll has 91% wanting an ending change.

Do the critics have a point? Here are a few from the "sucks" side:

Article - 5 Reasons The Fans Are Right
Angry Joe Video - 10 Reasons We Hate Mass Effect 3's Ending 

And a don't be a whiner counter opinion from IGN.

Like or hate the ending, there are huge plot holes in the last 10 minutes of the game. I mean big ones. 

Even as I was playing the ending sequence, I suspected that it was all a dream. The lack of logic, especially from the "starchild" was too obvious to miss. In fact, this would be an awesome false ending, assuming that the present ending was an indoctrination attempt and only by choosing the "red" or destroy option, you would be allowed to actually carry on the fight to the Reapers. This is being called the indoctrination theory on the forums and is the only way I can see to explain the huge plot holes and logical inconsistencies in the statements by the "starchild". 

Here is an excellent discussion of the Indoctrination Theory. 
Update: And this Indoctrination Theory video is even better. 
Update: Angry Joe has an Indoctrination Theory video as well. This is also good and has some aspects about indoc theory that I missed.

The only thing that makes this ending make sense is that Bioware set up this false ending and there is still a piece of the game, the real ending, that they will release as DLC. I am not sure why they would do this. There was a large outcry with the release day DLC From Ashes, I cannot imagine why they would take out the ending for the game and release it later, unless it was the biggest joke played on gamers ever, or someone lost a bet. 

The only other assumption is that the writers really suck that bad. But the writing for ME 1 &2 is good, arguably some of the best in video games. ME3 writing is also good throughout the game, until the final 10 minutes. I greatly enjoyed ME 3 The writers did a great job of building up the tension towards the ending. I wasn't sure how it was going to end but, as Sheppard, I was ready to make the ultimate sacrifice, for the good of the galaxy. 

I wasn't prepared for what I got. This tweet sums it up.

Is there more in store? Check out this tweet.

Or this rumour that came out a few days ago. Treat this with a big grain of salt.

Mass Effect 3 Release Day

The big day is finally here! 

Strap on the adult diaper and send the kids to Grandma, 'cause their gonna be neglected.

Mass Effect 3 is copying into the XBox HD right now (since the dog knocked over the XBox and ruined a disk, I copy all my games to the HD).

I have been looking forward to this game for some time now. So far all the previews seem to support the hype. In a way, I am a bit sad, as this is probably the end of this storyline, even if they seem to have plans for the Mass Effect Universe.

Look for my Mass Effect 3 review in the days to come.

Mass Effect 3 Countdown

Less than a week before the release of Mass Effect 3. There is a lot of anticipation for this game, I hope it doesn't disappoint.

Good things are being said so far. Here are two reviews/previews so far.

SEVER SPOILERS WARNING

Summary of a German Magazine Review
PC Gamer Preview for Mass Effect 3

Update: 

Mass Effect 3 Preview from Gaming Nexus - Minimal spoilers in this one, but it does list the planets you will be visiting.

Another update: Launch Trailer just released

Mass Effect 3 Updates and Demo

I promised myself that I would not download the demo for Mass Effect 3. I am anticipating a great ending to the series and did not want to spoil the story. I lasted about 8 hours.

This post will give you some information about the demo and updates about Mass Effect 3. No spoilers will be in this post, but links to information off of this blog may contain spoilers. I will warn you in the link so you can decide if you want that information.

Firstly, the demo: it contains two levels of the game.The first level is very basic, teaching you some of the controls (but by no means all of them). If you watched the Fall of Earth trailer, the first level of the demo will not provide significant spoilers. There are a few character revels, but this info has been previously released through the Voice Cast Revel video. If you are really jonesing for a fix of Mass Effect, playing this level will not ruin the game.

Mass Effect 3 Updates

It is one month until the release of Mass Effect 3. It is still on track for its March 6th release date, and there should be no changes to the date as it is rumoured that Mass Effect 3 was slated for a Christmas 2011 release, but it was delayed due to the release of that other Bioware game, Star Wars: The Old Republic.

A demo, which is rumoured to include the first level/mission, is set for release on 14 February.

This article talks about the first 90 minutes of the game. It sounds as if the writer was able to play the demo. Warning: Spoiler Alert. She gives away some interesting bits of storyline.

Here is a video interview with some of the voice cast of Mass Effect 3. No spoilers (unless knowing who the cast is is a spoiler.) I have yet to see one of these which includes the guy who voices the male Shepard. Is he really ugly or something?

Some video of the multiplayer portion of ME3.

What is in the future for Mass Effect? Bioware suggests it might be a good idea to keep your saved games.

Update: Anyone who downloads and runs the demo of Kingdoms of  Amalur: Reckoning, will receive a set of armour for Mass Effect 3. If you finish the demo, you will also get a weapon (I cannot confirm this, as I have not finished the demo). This is for the XBox 360 version, I am not sure about the PC and PS3.

Mass Effect 3 Beta Leak

As you may have heard, elements of Mass Effect 3 were leaked last week through the XBox Live. It seems that users with access to the XBox Live Dashboard beta (set to be released next week and mentioned here) got access to a 1.8GB download. This was to be an internal only beta to Microsoft, but someone released it to XBL.

It appears the game will have 3 main types or styles of play: Action Mode, Story Mode and RPG Mode.

Action Mode emphasizes combat over story, using automatic replies to move things along. Story Mode is the opposite, with fully conversation options and low combat difficulty. RPG Mode is full conversation options with normal combat difficult. You are still able to select such things a combat difficulty. 

This seems to be a short cut way to get into the action with presets. I am not sure why you would want to play Action Mode (it's an RPG, if you just wan the combat, go to Battlefield 3 or Modern Warfare). There are some who think Bioware is trying to make the game more accessible to the Modern Warfare crowd. As long as they don't dumb the game down to try to get this group, I don't see that the hard core fans will be affected.


From the article:

“We want to stress that these features are still in the early stages of development and will receive considerable iteration and refinement,” he said. “These modes are designed to give players an even finer degree of control over their game experience than ever before. Whether it be someone who finds the combat difficult but wants to experience the amazing story, someone who wants to focus on the action and combat game play, or fans who want the rich, story-driven RPG Mass Effect experience they’ve come to love – Mass Effect 3 will support all of these options.

The beta was supposedly devoid of sound, animation and textures, but from these screenshots, it seems to look great, even without textures. Note that at the above link, there is some links to YouTube video, but these links have been taken down.

Some may feel some of the images are spoilers, but they all seem to revolve around combat against the Reapers on Earth, something you should already be aware of if you watched the trailers on the Mass Effect site. 

More Mass Effect: Interview with Mass Effect 3 Producer Jesse Houston

Update: It seems some story documents were also leaked yesterday. I am not following up on this, as screen shots are one thing, but I don't want to know any more about the storyline.