One of the goals for the Extended Cut, as part of addressing player feedback, was to provide more time with the love interest, and more opportunity for players to say goodbye to them and provide additional moments of connection between them. We did this in several ways:

• Shepard can now actually say goodbye to the love interest when they are split up at the conduit run.


• When Shepard sees flashbacks of important characters during the final decision, the flashbacks are now variable based on your playthrough – so your love interest can appear as one of the flashbacks, providing another moment of reflection between Shepard and that character.


• A memorial scene was added, partly to show a close bond between Shepard and the love interest. The scene is variable, and if Shepard has a love interest in a given playthrough, it will be that character who places Shepard’s name on the memorial wall.


• You may notice that in the “Shepard lives” ending, the love interest hesitates to place Shepard’s name on the wall, and instead looks up as though deep in thought. This is meant to suggest that the love interest is not ready to believe Shepard is dead, and the final scene reveals they are correct. As the Normandy lifts off, there is hope that the love interest and Shepard will again be together.

This was posted on the Bioware boards in the thread: Hate the Extended Cut - SPOILERS

That's only one possible outcome and should not come as a surprise to anyone.

Was there anyone who thought he just died after that gasp?

Conrad Verner lives? Fuck yeah!

Unless there's a sequel that takes that ending as the canon ending, it's not really official in terms of continued storyline.

We knew this from the tiny scene even before the Extended Cut came out.

It is fitting for the avatar of whoever in BioWare that posted that to be off the most bland, detestable antagonist I've experienced in recent memory. I don't even remember his name because he is not worth remembering; I shanked him with the omnitool, anyway. It seems that with the ME3 ending and developments regarding the EC, people now have a similar image of BioWare except that they are unable to shank BioWare with an omnitool.

I actually don't share that view, though; I am not upset with BioWare at all and found the ending acceptable even without the EC. I can see a lot of people vilifying them like that, however.

It's interesting that the canon ending they chose was a little incompatible with the "best" possible outcome in terms of resolving other conflicts in the universe. For example, my Shepard went out of the way to resolve the crisis between the Geth and Quarians so that everyone wins; it would be incredibly awkward for my Shepard to destroy all synthetic life which presumably includes the Geth after he went so far to let them coexist with the Quarians, so would that no longer be canon?

But it was confirmed loooong before the Extended Cut. From multiple Bioware employee's twitter accounts, and the strategy guide that lists him as alive in the destruction ending with a high enough EMS. Not to mention the giant "gasp" at the end.

What? my love interest died in Rannoch she noded me at that flashback and I cried, the end. Also yeah that was implied in the old Destroy ending I don't know why this is a surprise to you , not like it matters for future games Shepard would be dead by then.

Oh yeah, big surprise.

@EquitasInvictus said:

It's interesting that the canon ending they chose was a little incompatible with the "best" possible outcome in terms of resolving other conflicts in the universe. For example, my Shepard went out of the way to resolve the crisis between the Geth and Quarians so that everyone wins; it would be incredibly awkward for my Shepard to destroy all synthetic life which presumably includes the Geth after he went so far to let them coexist with the Quarians, so would that no longer be canon?

Who said anything about a canon ending?

They should have just removed the breath scene.

Or maybe they will give us more dlc/games.

@EquitasInvictus said:

It is fitting for the avatar of whoever in BioWare that posted that to be off the most bland, detestable antagonist I've experienced in recent memory. I don't even remember his name because he is not worth remembering; I shanked him with the omnitool, anyway. It seems that with the ME3 ending and developments regarding the EC, people now have a similar image of BioWare except that they are unable to shank BioWare with an omnitool.

I actually don't share that view, though; I am not upset with BioWare at all and found the ending acceptable even without the EC. I can see a lot of people vilifying them like that, however.

It's interesting that the canon ending they chose was a little incompatible with the "best" possible outcome in terms of resolving other conflicts in the universe. For example, my Shepard went out of the way to resolve the crisis between the Geth and Quarians so that everyone wins; it would be incredibly awkward for my Shepard to destroy all synthetic life which presumably includes the Geth after he went so far to let them coexist with the Quarians, so would that no longer be canon?

Who's saying that's the canon ending? the next game on the series will jump foward thousands of years , they set up that stuff with the Stargazer, people will know the legend of The Shepard but the details will be vague( lost in time) because Shepard is user created with many different stories tied to him/her does circumventing the issue of making any story outcome canon.

@TheHT: Good point, for some reason I was reading into the statement as if they were going to use that ending as a basis for future content in the universe. I guess we won't actually know what would be considered canon until said future content happens and if that future content actually takes place after the ME3 ending.

EDIT: @AngelN7: Has it been confirmed that whatever comes next for the universe will actually be a sequel with that setting?

Although I can't imagine that anybody cares enough to cause a fuss, just wanted to point out that it's obvious whose name goes into that blank.

Hold the motherfucking phone 
 
Shepard lives in the ending named "Shepard lives"?!

@Jack268: Nah they meant his parents if you picked the spacer origin.

@TheHT said:

Was there anyone who thought he just died after that gasp?

Yup. Typically creative professionals insert completely meaningless content at crucial points in their story, like, say, the after credits stinger.

I think when I first played Mass Effect, I knew at the ending of ME3 - Shepard would be alive.

Only idiots seriously kill off a well-known hero.

I don't like that the ugly chice of killing the Geth and EDI is the one that leads to Shepard surviving.

@EquitasInvictus: We don't know yet, they can either go back in time (wich would be lame) or go foward using the premise set by the Stargazer, since the universe delt with the main conflict of the series the Reapers in all of the endings (they're either render usless , destroyed , or fought and defeated by a future generation using the information Liara provided of the war against them) , at least that's what I hope if the next game is set in the same timeframe as the first 3 games then it would be some kind of spin-off rather than a new trilogy/series.

I don't really care at this point, cause between the original endings, and these new endings... and how badly handled Shepard is in all of them, I just want to see the "official" way the ME universe pans out for the inevitable spin-offs, or at least a comic or two.

@AngelN7: That makes sense. Hopefully they still have it in them to continue the universe despite the fallout (hm, interesting unintended pun there considering FO3's ending) of the conclusion.

But yeah, the thread title could have been worded better, I think the "it's official" bit was what gave me the idea that "Shepard Lives" was supposed to be canon.

I don't think a franchise has ever lost my interest quite so rapidly before.

@AndrewB said:

@TheHT said:

Was there anyone who thought he just died after that gasp?

Yup. Typically creative professionals insert completely meaningless content at crucial points in their story, like, say, the after credits stinger.

The after credits scene isn't a crucial point in a story, and the "Shepard Lives" clip was before the credits (i.e. a part of the ending). Stargazer was the after credits scene.

All that aside though, you genuinely thought that the clip of Shepard gasping for breath, had it continued for a few more minutes, would just show Shepard die? I suppose that shouldn't be surprising. Of the millions who played Mass Effect 3, surely at least one thought that clip was just a deception.

@TheHT: *cant tell if serious or...*

I know sarcasm sucks on the internet, but I try to make it as obvious as possible when I'm using it. But I did forget that the gasp was before the credits; though it was the last thing that played before them.

@AndrewB said:

@TheHT: *cant tell if serious or...*

I know sarcasm sucks on the internet, but I try to make it as obvious as possible when I'm using it. But I did forget that the gasp was before the credits; though it was the last thing that played before them.

Ohhh, sorry. Between trolls and actual idiots, sarcasm can have a rough time on the internet.

@SeanFoster said:

I don't like that the ugly chice of killing the Geth and EDI is the one that leads to Shepard surviving.

It's war man you have to make sacrifices if you want to "win" sometimes you have to make them just to survive , I thought they were gonna go for the save humans or save aliens for the final choice more in line with the Renegade/Paragon thing , Organics or Synthetics is more momentous in that regard.

When I played the extended cut I saw the Destroy ending is the one that most players would be satisfied with. It has all the parts for a "happy ending", other than you know, genocide of the geth and Edi. But you need to compartmentalize that away, who cares about that as long as the player gets what they want! Its a very interesting thing to think about, similar to what was done in Fable 2. You can choose to sacrifice for the greater good of many innocents or you can choose to be selfish and get a "better" ending for yourself.