When Mass Effect 3 was released way back in March 2012, it arrived with what has gone down in video game history as one of the worst endings, ever. It was short, took away most decisions that the player made throughout the entire Mass Effect trilogy, and left the surviving crew of the Normandy stranded on a deserted planet for no particular reason.
Fan outcry was so bad that it actually led to complaints to both the Better Business Bureau and Federal Trade Commission to see if Mass Effect 3's let-down ending warranted a criminal charge.
A month later, BioWare announced the Extended Cut DLC would fix the ending and be a free download to everyone. Arriving in June, the Extended Cut lengthened the ending, added some player choice depending on their actions throughout the series, and gave an actual epilogue for your merry band of galactic misfits.
It wasn't quite the ending that fans wanted, but almost everyone agreed the Extended Cut was an improvement.
Except for one modder by the name of beccatoria. For whatever reason, they've restored Mass Effect 3's original ending for Mass Effect Legendary Edition thanks to the Unextended Cut mod.
"Restores the original 2012 release ending," reads Unextended Cut's description over on NexusMods. "That's right, get your RGB endings RIGHT HERE!"
While the mod by default gives you the crappy March 2012 ending, we'll give beccatoria credit for at least adding some additional functionality to add bits and pieces of the Extended Cut to make your preferred ending. This includes adding back portions of the Beam Run, adding conversation options to your final encounter with The Illusive Man, and other things like radio chatter.
Why restore something that was universally reviled? "I dunno, I actually like [the original endings] more," responds beccatoria. But also, they fancy themself a historian. "I figure from a historical perspective, it's interesting to archive this in an accessible format.”
If you’ve never seen the original Mass Effect 3 ending, you can download this mod and install it to Mass Effect Legendary Edition using the Me3Tweaks Mod Manager. But be warned, you’re really not doing yourself any favors.