So the "fixed" Mass Effect 3 ending is due out today (thread contains spoilers)

[yllus]

Has anyone downloaded it? What are your thoughts? I'll check this thread again only after having rewatched it.

 

[BD2003]

It's really just an extension of the original ending. The tone or content hasn't changed - it just moves at a far slower pace now that they explicitly lay out the things you could have worked out on your own if you paid close attention, gave it some thought, and used your imagination. Those are things that games usually don't ask of their audience, and now no one is forced into it. And this is generally what the ending should have been in the first place, because there was nothing in the entire series leading to those final moments that gave any indication you'd need to interpret the ending.

Want to know in excruciating detail how the normandy got where it was in the final moments, because you thought that was a major plot hole and not some irrelevant little detail? Now you know.

They generally did a fine job with it, although its not going to satisfy everyone.

 

[Gooberlx2]

BD is spot on. It's explanation and detail, no fundamental changes in plot or mood. Personally, I'm satisfied, but I was never seriously bent out of shape about the original ending.

It does show further importance of your decisions in ME3 itself (EMS, genophage, chosen ending, geth vs quarians, etc...), and gives some added resolution as to your friends' fates.

I think the one minor (but substantial from a closure standpoint) plot change from the original is the possible extraction of your injured crew during the rush. This is something I appreciated because originally the scenarios where one of those crew emerged from the crashed Normandy seemed more like a bug than implication of their actual survival.

 

[BD2003]

BD is spot on. It's explanation and detail, no fundamental changes in plot or mood. Personally, I'm satisfied, but I was never seriously bent out of shape about the original ending.

It does show further importance of your decisions in ME3 itself (EMS, genophage, chosen ending, geth vs quarians, etc...), and gives some added resolution as to your friends' fates.

I think the one minor (but substantial from a closure standpoint) plot change from the original is the possible extraction of your injured crew during the rush. This is something I appreciated because originally the scenarios where one of those crew emerged from the crashed Normandy seemed more like a bug than implication of their actual survival.

Right. The original ending (and really, the entire series) held slavishly to the idea that you were playing from Shepards perspective - if he/she didn't see it, neither did you. But ME3 was building up to a point where shep was merely a cog in a huge machine, and even if he/she played the most important role of all, there was so much going on that deserved your attention.

So when you see the normandy run away and end up on another planet, and people that were presumably dead emerge, it's def a bit of a shocker. The answer to how that happened was for you to piece together, and it didn't really require a supernatural explanation or crackpot theory like IT....nor was it a plot hole. How did the Normandy get away? It retreated, obviously. How did your crew survive? The normandy picked them up, obviously. So obvious were these things, that the writers assumed this didn't need to be dwelt upon. Now, the entire end sequence proceeds at an absolutely glacial pace, so I see a lot of the wisdom in that.

Still, parts like the extended conversation with the star child should never have been cut, not only because there was really brilliant writing there, but too many people were confused by the lack of explanation. The epilogue is also a nice touch. Overall it's def an improvement.

 

[Sonikku]

Does it explain how Anderson got to the beam and how he seems to get "ahead" of shep in the citadel?

 

[Gooberlx2]

Does it explain how Anderson got to the beam and how he seems to get "ahead" of shep in the citadel?

In a word, yes.

Spoiler

They change the dialogue so it's clear he followed you in. Simple enough, works for me.