I'd say the extended endings are about 50% better. They're not all the way where I would have liked them but there's some improvement. I'm just gonna run down my thoughts on the good and bad in no organized fashion.
What's better? We get a peek at the future with the citadel repaired and positioned above earth with London apparently the new capitol of the universe. It's nice to see that the damage can and will be repaired and that the galaxy that we unified will remain unified. It's also nice to see that everyone isn't stranded in orbit above the earth, starving to death. Those are good things. How everyone manages to get home from the rendezvous point when the relays are destroyed and apparently zip around the universe at will still is a mystery that annoys me, but that is a minor quibble. I'm just happy to see that the galactic community remains a community. Speaking of the rendezvous point, in the least Joker has a reason for leaving the battle however contrived.
I also like that the slides shown before Shepard's choice unfold reflect the player's decisions a little better. Destroying the Reapers shows me Anderson, my deceased friend who's will was being carried out, EDI who would die thanks to the action, and Miranda who was my character's love interest. Much better than the old bottled slides from before. I used to wonder "Why would Liara flash before my character's eyes and not his love interest?" Seemed a middle finger to the ME2 characters.
I have mixed emotions on a lot of other things. I liked that they made some attempt to justify why my teammates are suddenly back on the Normandy. In my case my best bud Garrus got some heartfelt extra dialogue and wanted to say good bye about as much as I did. But if the Normandy can just slip in and out right under Harbinger's nose why don't they just take me to the beam? It seems like they could probably get me there in one piece. If anything I have to wonder why they don't help with Harbinger? The Normandy has to have more firepower and maneuverability than anything left in Hammer.
I wish the Mass effect 2 characters got more dialogue. I get to see slides of the ME2 characters, but they don't tell me a lot. Miranda staring at a sunrise is no kind of epilogue, it tells me nothing. Sure it's nice to know they're alive but I want to know what happens to them. For that matter if you choose the destroy option and have the ridiculous amount of war resources and readiness required to ensure Shepard's survival you still get NO information on what becomes of Shepard. In every other ending it's clear what happened to Shepard, he's died. The control ending paints a clear picture of what's become of him. All you're left with if he lives is half a breath and a hundred questions, the same as before. And what happened to everyone on the citadel? Would it have been too much to commit to an epilogue? I guess it's impossible to actually give me answers or a fulfilling sense of victory. Speaking of both, why not a slideshow that gives me some specifics on what happened to the people and places I'd come to know in the course of the series? It's not like bioware hasn't done this sort of thing before.
The endings were fleshed out a little more, but for me there's still nothing but mystery. Bioware will probably hide behind the old "you can't please everyone" line, but that's no comfort for me. They didn't even try for me. And what's more as little as the slides give us for mass effect 2 characters, there's still nothing about what becomes of the Mass Effect 3 characters. Other than the fact they're all still hanging out on the same ship together, about to put my name on the Normandy memorial when they make an ambiguous face and look up to the sky.
There's no showdown with Harbinger still, and while I appreciate the extra explanations and learning the Catalyst's origins as an AI gone mad his logic is still retarded. There's no telling him his logic is flawed or that his solutions are unnecessary as organics and AI's have already made peace (provided that you know, you made peace). I do kind of appreciate that you can lose now, but losing because you pass on the bullshit options provided to you leaves me with a sour taste in my mouth. While Shepard seems to have grown a spine and gotten a little more clever he still doesn't ask the first question that pops into my mind. The whole things stinks of lazy, bad writing and a hamhanded forced exercise in Hegelian Dialectics. Just what are those? Allow Caesar of Fallout New Vegas to explain it to you in
this video. Strap in and prepare for a LOL when the magic word hits you.
Destruction vs Control- Synthesis.
Organics vs Synthetics- Synthesis.
I can't reject the mediation because that breaks the formula. I am therefore forced to commit to the process ONLY and for the SOLE purpose of creating a sublation. In this case, the form of the universe Bioware wishes to use for it's next game, which by funneling my outcomes and denying me specifics looks a bit like everyone else's.
I think the experience of dragon age II is responsible for Mass effect 3's ending more than anything else. Bioware had a direction they wanted to go in, but left the options too open in dragon age one and ended up upsetting a lot of people when their choices became invalidated in the sequel. So what did they do this time? Upset us now to pave the way for their sequel. I just hope somewhere in the details of that sequel I get the closure I wanted for the first story but I doubt it. There will probably never be a wedding or a medal ceremony or anything of the like. They'll probably jump the story a hundred years into the future and I'll never get to see my favorite characters happy for the sake of creating a cash cow. But if my Shepard lives, then damn it just let me know what happened to him afterwards. Since the vast majority of endings kill him off though, It seems unlikely I'll ever know.
