Why did Bioware write the pre-Extended Cut ending for Mass Effect 3 the way they did?

[PoolCleaningRobot]

Here's a quote from Casey Hudson

?I didn?t want the game to be forgettable, and even right down to the sort of polarizing reaction that the ends have had with people?debating what the endings mean and what?s going to happen next, and what situation are the characters left in,? he said.

?That to me is part of what?s exciting about this story. There has always been a little bit of mystery there and a little bit of interpretation, and it?s a story that people can talk about after the fact.?

http://www.vg247.com/2012/03/14/mass-effect-3-director-stands-by-ending-promises-single-player-dlc/

Going off that it seems like the original ending was his plan all along and wasn't due to time constraints or budget

Hmmm seems legit, although if that was his intention, he seemed to mix up "little bit of mystery" with copious amounts of what the fuckery...

This. This always bugged the hell out of me. Why in fucks sake did Casey Hudson think he needed to make the ending "open ended" and "mysterious" to make it memorable. Nobody was going to forget the ending a game like mass effect (the player's unique ending). Millions of people loved it and were waiting for their ending. The multiple endings were the reason to play it. Mass effect wasn't about the journey, it was about the destination and seeing what your decisions created. Mass effect is a one of a kind game and there hasn't been many games like it so for him to think that it needed a mystery ending to be special baffles me

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

They realized they were way over their heads in making all the choices we made really matter and instead just said, "Fuck it, this isn't happening. You know what we need? Green beams that make organics into part-machines. That'll get people talking."

Though I still maintain that the remaining 99% of the game is awesome. But still, some of the results of choices we made were soooooo freaking disappointingly tiny (like Mass Effect 2's end-game choice. What the actual fuck?).

I know. How about the option to

Spoiler

give it to the Council? "I got proof, guys."

Well two things with that. One, indoctrination would be really risky. Two, what if EDI/Miranda sent a copy of the IFF to the Illusive Man? Then he has a way there, by the time Council sends someone to verify it, Cerberus probably will have changed the IFF somehow (Who knows), take what they could and blow the place up, or just place a bunch of ships ready to blast Council ships the moment they get close. So yeah, logically it wouldn't be a good idea unless you want indoctrinated folks.

Spoiler

Cerberus doesn't have the resources to straight up fight the Council. And Miranda and EDI are squarely on your side. And I'd like to see Cerberus ships navigate that jump with a Core. It makes sense as an option.

ME3 showed that they have quite alot of resources. There's also the fact that the Omega 4 Relay is in the Terminus Systems, a system that (Established in ME 1) hates the Council. Sending a fleet to takeover the Station would cause a war with the Terminus Systems, Cerberus isn't a Council Group so Terminus wouldn't care at all if their fleets passed through.

Spoiler

They hit the Council with a fast, disorienting strike, they did not have a straight up fight. They would lose (Cerberus magically gaining more resources as the series went on is one of my biggest pet peeve plot holes). And the Council could send someone with Shepard into the Relay to confirm that he has evidence for realz this time. Then it would be a matter of sending a small recovery/research team. I'm not addressing indoctrination possibilities because this is about whether alerting the Council is a viable choice.

 

[Olas]

You're not even approaching how stupid the mass effect ending was, it'd have to something along the lines of a mysterious character that has never even had the barest hint at appears out of no where and yammers on about how bowser is actually the good guy, and that this cycle of kidnapping was put in place to stop the princess getting kidnapped, and then instead of the traditional saving of the princess, there are three pits of lava, green, blue and red, and you have to jump into the one of the pits of lava, and after you do this no matter which pit was jumped into the lava would engulf the mushroom kingdom and destroy it but luigi and the other characters were riding away in a balloon and crashed in some random place, and to make it worse lugi is with the princess and they do the seen that joker and (insert love interest here) did at the end of mass effect 3, implying that after all your hard work luigi got with the girl.

that my friend is the stupidity of the original mass effect ending.

Actually that that just IS the Mass Effect 3 ending. It kinda defeats the point of making an analogy if you change every detail of the other example to be exactly the same as the first.

 

[ServebotFrank]

They realized they were way over their heads in making all the choices we made really matter and instead just said, "Fuck it, this isn't happening. You know what we need? Green beams that make organics into part-machines. That'll get people talking."

Though I still maintain that the remaining 99% of the game is awesome. But still, some of the results of choices we made were soooooo freaking disappointingly tiny (like Mass Effect 2's end-game choice. What the actual fuck?).

I know. How about the option to

Spoiler

give it to the Council? "I got proof, guys."

Well two things with that. One, indoctrination would be really risky. Two, what if EDI/Miranda sent a copy of the IFF to the Illusive Man? Then he has a way there, by the time Council sends someone to verify it, Cerberus probably will have changed the IFF somehow (Who knows), take what they could and blow the place up, or just place a bunch of ships ready to blast Council ships the moment they get close. So yeah, logically it wouldn't be a good idea unless you want indoctrinated folks.

Spoiler

Cerberus doesn't have the resources to straight up fight the Council. And Miranda and EDI are squarely on your side. And I'd like to see Cerberus ships navigate that jump with a Core. It makes sense as an option.

ME3 showed that they have quite alot of resources. There's also the fact that the Omega 4 Relay is in the Terminus Systems, a system that (Established in ME 1) hates the Council. Sending a fleet to takeover the Station would cause a war with the Terminus Systems, Cerberus isn't a Council Group so Terminus wouldn't care at all if their fleets passed through.

Spoiler

They hit the Council with a fast, disorienting strike, they did not have a straight up fight. They would lose (Cerberus magically gaining more resources as the series went on is one of my biggest pet peeve plot holes). And the Council could send someone with Shepard into the Relay to confirm that he has evidence for realz this time. Then it would be a matter of sending a small recovery/research team. I'm not addressing indoctrination possibilities because this is about whether alerting the Council is a viable choice.

Well if Cerberus has people in the Base (Which they would, I say Miranda might've sent it since it wouldn't be betraying Shepard, she didn't quit Cerberus until after the Suicide Mission) then a research team would be slaughtered; same with the Normandy. Cerberus would probably be watching the Relay and sound alerts if the Normandy was spotted going in.

 

[Ravinoff]

This is exactly what I was thinking! For some reason, everything past Tuchunka just doesn't feel...right - felt a bit hollow. The Thessia mission wasn't that emotional. I played the game twice and still couldn't see why everyone (including my Renegade Shepard) was so disappointed over losing the planet. There are multiple planets that have been already lost to the Reapers - the homeworlds of the Elcor, Batarians, and the Hanar to name a few, yet no one gives a rat's ass about them as much as Thessia.

Although, I have to admit, the ending mission was pretty cool. It is still the worst of the three, but that last stand while you prime the missiles as that song comes up got my heart pumping pretty good.

I'm thinking it might be the fact that the batarians, elcor and hanar are, in order: assholes, overgrown comic relief and floating space jellyfish. It's kind of difficult to sympathize with any of them, especially given how little background you get on them. The asari, on the other hand, are a species of all-female blue bisexuals. See the difference?

OT: I will maintain that the canon endings suck, and substitute my own that isn't awful.

 

[MakerofMysteries]

Before I say anything else, I will say that, on the whole, I liked Mass Effect 3.
I liked the little lines of random banter and dialogue scattered throughout the galaxy; everybody's little problems and worries. It made the galaxy seem alive, like something worth fighting for. The Turian guard and the (orphaned) teenage girl. The batarian and the frenchman from Lyons. The Asari mistress and the soldier's wife. The poetic Krogan and his Blue Rose of Illium. That was what ultimately made Mass Effect 3 good. You wanted to fight for the lost.
And that is why the ending enraged me.
It wasn't about the people or even the Galaxy you knew and fought for; as soon as that goddamned starchild appeared, the ending was botched. Let Shepard sit (possibly dying) beside Anderson, gaze out at Earth as the Crucible fires and kills the Reapers, then roll the credits with the 16 fucking different endings.
Mass Effect has never really been about defeating the Reapers - it's always been about the characters, Shepard's companions. Ultimately, that is what any Bioware game revolves around, what makes it memorable, and clearly, this was something that the meatheads who made the ending (and I refuse to say endingS) didn't understand.
I love Mordin, and of course I wailed like a baby when he died, which was in stark contrast to the swelling pride I felt when Wrex told me that, here on after, the word 'Shepard' would mean hero to all the Krogans.
I even felt sad when Thane, with whom I'd never had a deep emotional connection, was cut down by Kai Leng, a character that IMO was clearly shoehorned in but even so worked as a minor antagonist due to that murder.
I laughed at Tali's emergency straw induction port.
I was genuinely emotionally affected when Garrus and I went up on top of the Presidium and had a marksman competition; it made me feel nostalgic, since he'd been with me throughout all three games.
Liara's gesture of writing Shepard's name in the stars was wonderfully sweet, and perhaps that would have been a better ending; that Shepard ultimately fails and the Reapers complete their harvest. Then, thousands of years later, the new races ruling the Galaxy learn of the Commander, all he did and the companions he travelled with. Thusly, being better prepared, these new beings defeat the Reapers - all thanks to the Commander and his allies.
Yes, that would have been better.

 

[Rooster Cogburn]

Mass Effect 2 made it clear to me that any attempt at good writing had been abandoned. It was obvious even before the intro credits rolled. I have never understood why more people didn't complain.

More people didn't complain because the gameplay was very solid, right down to level design. Yes, it was a TPS and not an RPG, but it was still good. Also, while the plot was weak, the character interactions were strong, so I wasn't going to get all pissy about what was ultimately an enjoyable experience.

That makes sense. I thought the first Mass Effect was a good game that showed a lot of promise, and I was disappointed they didn't build on that. The music alone in Mass Effect sent shivers up my spine and helped establish a great tone. I wanted RPG and eerie high-science-fiction, but instead I got third person shooter and generic action scenes. Nothing wrong with those things, but we're not exactly starving for them around here. We're starving for high production value RPGs with eerie science fiction. I didn't think much of the characters, either, but maybe I didn't give them a chance. My eyes were already rolling like bowling balls by the time I got to know them.

 

[darlarosa]

The problem with the original ending to me was the contradiction of their own universal rules. The fact that stranding Krogan, Turians, Humans, Quarians, and Asari....not to mention batarians, vorcha, and volus on alien worlds was...a BAD idea. Basically they would be cut off from the foods they naturally eat and would have VERY small populations scattered out over everywhere.
I had no problem with the kid or Shep dying. The former just needed more build up, but I can accept that as being the first truly innocent person Shepherd sees killed, that and this person basically telling her that she will fail. That and after rewatching the opening and seeing Shep watching the kid from her room on Earth...I assumed she had taken to watching him as a form of entertainment under house arrest basically. Narratively Shep dying made perfect sense to me

Overall the original ending and even the extended cut had a lot of...issues. Anderson suddenly calling Shep "child" then the complete ignoring of the Geth Quarian treaty I managed to get...eh

I think the extended cut allowed Bioware to fix the issues they set up for themselves. Showing the mass relays remaining intact, and also showing how these choices that they called important panned out. It also explained the problem with everyone being back on the Normandy and it flying off...cause that did not make too much sense to me to be perfectly honest.

Eh at this point we can talk about it but not much will change. Everyone's formed their opinions by now...

 

[Atmos Duality]

I'd guess pressure from EA to make deadlines.

If that isn't the real reason, I'll eat my hat.
It's EA's proven way of sinking projects and companies.

It's what killed Ultima 8 and 9, and it's what killed Hellgate: London (well, combined with the developers wanting to do too much on top of that, but EA was the one who slashed their development time by a full year just to meet a half-hearted gimmick sale by launching on Halloween).

 

[Rack]

Though I still maintain that the remaining 99% of the game is awesome.

Kai Leng.

On topic, they were plainly in over their heads just making crap up as they went along. They'd been pretty much getting away with writing of this quality or worse since the start of Mass Effect 2 so it perhaps shouldn't be so surprising they felt they could get away with it again here. The only thing is people were actually paying attention during the ending.

 

[sunsetspawn]

Mass Effect 2 made it clear to me that any attempt at good writing had been abandoned. It was obvious even before the intro credits rolled. I have never understood why more people didn't complain.

More people didn't complain because the gameplay was very solid, right down to level design. Yes, it was a TPS and not an RPG, but it was still good. Also, while the plot was weak, the character interactions were strong, so I wasn't going to get all pissy about what was ultimately an enjoyable experience.

That makes sense. I thought the first Mass Effect was a good game that showed a lot of promise, and I was disappointed they didn't build on that. The music alone in Mass Effect sent shivers up my spine and helped establish a great tone. I wanted RPG and eerie high-science-fiction, but instead I got third person shooter and generic action scenes. Nothing wrong with those things, but we're not exactly starving for them around here. We're starving for high production value RPGs with eerie science fiction. I didn't think much of the characters, either, but maybe I didn't give them a chance. My eyes were already rolling like bowling balls by the time I got to know them.

Don't get me wrong: I LOVE the first Mass Effect. It was the highscifi thing that got me hooked, and then I ended up loving the characters afterwards. The music, the atmosphere, the artistic style, the mystery, the SIZE: all of these things contributed to an overwhelming experience. Every set piece was meant to provoke a mood. The Citadel was mysterious and intriguing, the planets were majestic, the main missions had depth, grandeur, and most importantly, hubs. Mass Effect was the heir to KOTOR, to me.

I was somewhat disappointed that ME2 didn't continue the genius of the first one, but like I said, it was solid. ME2 made it clear that they hadn't thought past the end of the first one.

 

[firstarioch]

Yes Mass effect 1 was the best story-wise and more coherent than the other 2. It had to be as they didnt know whether it will catch on, so it had to have beginning middle and an end.
Mass Effect 2 was amazing as well but not for the story, but character interaction as many people said here before me. I found the story a bit bland almost like the were making it up as they go along and there is no script here.

Mass Effect 3 also great game , the drama , Ashely romance extremely touching and best in the whole game but than again it feels like they are just making it up as they go along.
However after reading an interview with Karpyshyn on Eurogamer few days ago I realised that that is precisely how they made part 2 and 3. He said that because of that many writers ,ideas etc they just go along as it comes.
This is I think the weakest link in this game and why the story was not carried forward and why the ending is an ego trip of a lead writer.

Basically Karpyshyn was lead in ME1 and kept it all together and made sure that all of it made sense. Then his involvement lessens and lessens to the point where in ME3 Hudson is in charge. He, like a petulent child or someone who just got that lead power in part 3 decided that he alone and only he knows best .
Hence we get a patchy story and endings which make me cringe every time P play them .
I just ignore them and pretend that they do not exist really and in my head IT is present.
Never in a million years I thought that this game will have such an anti-climatic ending.
Really MR Hudson your arrogance almost killed this company.

Coming back to play Leviathan I rediscovered love for this universe again.
I strongly advise everyone to play it as it will bring the love back not for ME3 not for the ending but for the Universe and characters.