So, the Mass Effect 3 "extended cut" DLC amending the old endings came out today.
It's a free add-on and I'm pretty sure it provides an auto-save right near the end of the game for those who may not have a file at the appropriate point—I was positive that I didn't, but when I booted the game up, there it was. It could be my imagination, but I'm guessing the developers included this save as part of the DLC to avoid further outcry.
ANYWAY…
Back when the game first came out, I was one of the apparent minority who felt like the original endings were satisfactory. They were rushed and could have been polished up a bit, but the overall content and direction of what we got was just fine in my book.
(For the record, I'm looking at the "synthesis" ending as the likely canon, and that was the ending I chose.)
After watching this new ending content, I think it adds pretty much everything that the people complaining wanted (except the goddamn unicorns and rainbows) yet still stays true to the original concepts. Exposition is expanded, a few new scenes are inserted in places to help clarify the storytelling, and there is an additional wrapup at the end which leaves absolutely no doubt as to the status of each character. There's also a new, fourth ending for people who weren't satisfied with the original three.
I do think these new endings are better than the originals, and I've got no problem with them. I was also quite gratified to see that many of the theories I floated in the Gamecritics After Dark podcast theorizing what BioWare omitted turned out to be entirely correct… not to toot to get my own horn or anything, but I nailed this one. ; D
Props to Bio for doing their best to make their fans happy even if some of the hue and cry around the ending was a little INSANELY/RIDICULOUSLY/ABSURDLY over the top.
So even though they're still not forgiven for Dragon Age 2, can we all just get along now?
Speaking of fans making noise, the following Tweet from Tekken director Katsuhiro Harada (@Harada_Tekken) made the rounds today, and I felt like it was a perfect fit to go along with this stuff about Mass Effect 3. I think it speaks for itself, so I will simply repost the text here:
I have something I want to say to the people who spam me with requests to "switch back (or Bring back) to the voice actors used previously".
I believe that, before whining and complaining about everything, you need practice at taking a step back and analyzing things objectively. And also at being an adult.
First, the voice you were listening to was 16 years ago, during the PlayStation period. The current generation of consoles are totally different in how they play back sound; both software-wise, and the internal circuitry.
The playback program is different, as well as the sound effects added; reverb and 5.1 are examples of this. The compression rate, as well as the sound rate, is different today. Are you playing games on the same TV you used 16 years ago? What about your speakers? Headphones? They are all the same as 16 years ago? I wonder if it will sound like the same voice as 16 years ago, even with that data..
Also, you are assuming the voice actors themselves can reproduce the voice the recorded 16 years ago? Many voice actors decline work because their voice has changed since the original role, some have even retired. Sometimes they won't accept, even if we ask.The recording studio and the equipment they use is also different. With all of this in mind, you still thing it is possible to recreate these voices?
Some might say "just pay them to reuse the voice data". But, often the voice actors decline this, or their agency declines.
For example, Brian's laugh is the actual data from Tekken 3. As fans have requested, we've kept using the original, adapting the data recorded 16 years ago to be used on the PS2, and then PS3. Even so, some people said it is a different voice in Tekken 6 than the original.
It can't be helped they might think that. As explained above, even though the master data is the same, all of the equipment used in adapting it has completely changed. That said, it isn't a good idea to try to recreate the older recording environment because then the data sounds heavily compressed, with noise. More than that, it would sound out of place next to the voice data of the newer characters.
WHAT? You say some of the voices sound like they haven't changed at all?
I guess you didn't notice that the development team has re-recorded them, but made efforts for it to sound as close as possible to the original. And you probably didn't even notice.
Do you know that all of the voice work for a character is not always done by just one voice actor? Using Brian as an example, the laugh you guys love so much uses the original data from Tekken 3, but the short kiai voice uses a different voice actor, and the "come on!" voice also uses a different voice actor. A lot of other characters also use different voice actors for the spoken lines and for the shouts.
I did the voice work for Marshal and Forest for 15 years.However, I can no longer produce that voice after Tekken 5, so we had a different voice actor for Tekken 6.
The Tekken series has continued for 17 years. The development environment, as well as the environment in which you all play games, has changed.
There are so many characters, and we can't keep using the same voice actors every time, for a variety of reasons.
I have even complied to the requests of you all spamming me to "bring back characters" from previous installments. You often say, "let's show the dev team how sincere we are by buying 2 copies if they bring back character X", but did you really go through with it? Expecting you to at least pre-order the game, I was met with more spam, after you apparently didn't notice that Jun and Michelle actually return.
I still have some characters left to be revealed that comply with some of your requests, even "bringing back" several others. Even so, none of them are paid DLC. I will continue to sincerely comply with fan requests. However, I can't continue to engage the negative ones that, without knowing what you are talking about, or even thinking about what you are saying, blindly repeat "bring back, bring back, bring back…"
After this lengthy explanation, I will be quite surprised if there are still people who still don't get it.
Thanks for understanding or not understanding. Whatever.
You, Mr. Harada, are my hero.
Transformers fan. MOTU stan. Black Lives Matter, pro-LGBTQIA. Anti-fascist.
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I wonder if the real porblem with the ME ending was that there was one at all. After 70+ hours of pretty successful immersive gaming and investment, I doubt there was any way it could be drawn to a close that wouldn’t be in some way dissatisfying.
The root of the epic worldwide tantrum is possibly just the fact that people didn’t want to go home. In a round-about way, it could be a tribute to the game’s success.
Enjoyed Sparky Clarkson’s articles on the launch endings, so would love to hear from him again on these DLC endings.
It’s amazing to see the huge disconnect between reviewer and user when it comes to the ME3 endings. Most reviewers seem to like it, while most users hate it. As for the extended endings…I’m still in the camp that they’re terrible. While they are slightly better, it’s not hard to be better than the original endings. Plus, the new ending to the game directly insults people that complained about the ending in the most passive-aggressive way I have ever seen. And one of the things I’m tired of is people claiming that we hate the endings because they’re not rainbow… Read more »
It’s been a while, so I’m happy that I can agree with you about something again: The new endings are indeed better. This should come aa no surprise to anybody, however – there was simply no way they could have been worse.
I’ll leave it at that, however – I find no point in discussing the subject anymore.