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Posted on July 6, 2012, Phil Hornshaw Mass Effect 3′s Ending DLC Restores Some Fans’ Trust

WARNING: Spoilers herein.

For background, Game Front recommends “Mass Effect 3 Ending: The Game Front Primer”, the Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut DLC Review, “Mass Effect Extended Edition: Putting Lipstick on a Frog?”, “Mass Effect 3 Refusal Ending: ‘Artistic Integrity’ Achieved”, “Mass Effect 3 Ending-Hatred: Five Reasons the Fans are Right” and its follow-up, “Mass Effect 3 Ending Post-Mortem: Fans Are Still Right”.

The negative fan response to Mass Effect 3′s ending was truly a remarkable thing, giving rise to community action of all kinds. Fans wrote alternate endings, made YouTube videos and started comic strips and creative endeavors that have become extremely popular in the wake of the conclusion of BioWare’s flagship series. Some members of the BioWare Social Network forums even started a charity fundraiser “protest” that earned more than $80,000 for the Penny Arcade-founded charity Child’s Play.

All of it was geared at making something better of the endings that BioWare shipped with Mass Effect 3, which many felt were either broken or incomplete. The result of all that fan outcry was the Extended Cut DLC, a free extension of the endings that added promised “context and closure” to the endings. For the most part, it seems as though those additions have been well-received.

Among some of the more vocal or active members of the Mass Effect fan community, feelings are mixed but generally more positive than they’ve been in a long time. Among a few members of the Retake Mass Effect movement, the loosely organized fan group that originally advocated for new endings, it seems many people are satisfied with what BioWare has made available to them — if they’re still not exactly happy with the way Mass Effect 3 concluded.

“I found the new endings palatable and well done enough to let my rage die down and enjoy the game again,” said Cameron Fullerton, one of the members of the Retake Mass Effect Child’s Play fundraiser. “The series as a whole is playable once more. The endings explain enough that I am not left depressed. It is the bittersweet ending we were promised to begin with. Not simply bitter.”

Differing opinions are available just about anywhere, however. The BioWare Social Network, the developer’s official forums, were filled with fans discussing the finer points of the Extended Cut in the days after its release, and the general vibe of the situation was fairly positive. Discussions still exist, defining plot holes and questioning some of the additions or choices in the ending as a whole, but for many players, the closure the endings now provide is enough to at least remind them of what they liked about Mass Effect.

But of course, dissent exists and many players were disappointed by the fact that BioWare didn’t do more to remove the elements of the ending that felt rushed or added at the last minute. A quick perusal of the BioWare Social Network thread on the Extended Cut reveals some of these arguments, and there’s an extended discussion on the Retake Mass Effect Facebook page of similar composition. But much like what’s discussed in Game Front’s Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut DLC Review and “Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut: Putting Lipstick on a Frog?“, it seems that many players got at least the important parts of what they wanted from BioWare’s additional ending content.