I was so defensive, trusting with blind faith, that it was simply a vocal minority that hates on anything good...because that's what people always do (and often times my opinion differs). But nope. I admit, I was entirely wrong, and even that crazy member that ranted and raved like a lunatic actually ended up having valid points on this forum. The ending is ridiculous. The game is really, really good. And then in the last 10 minutes, you feel like you've been punched in the face repeatedly, drenched in gasoline, and set on fire. I didn't want rainbows and butterflies. I wanted an ending that gives true choice, which bioware always said was the pinnacle of the mass effect experience. What I got, was something entirely different. The ending wasn't mass effect. There wasn't choice. Everything ended up more or less the same, especially with the destruction of the mass effect relays, regardless of decisions made, which was my biggest gripe of all. There is a lot good with this game, but the ending makes you feel like 'alright, who cares'. This is the first bioware game I'm not even going to do a replay on. I just don't see the point. I know how it ends, and it ends with nothing concluded. I don't care about whether shephard lives or dies, I care about the journey meaning something.

@TheHumanDove: I agree, all three of the choices presented are worse then choosing to do nothing at all. I'd be more content to just sit there and bleed out then participate in any of the endings... all of which are worse then being slowly destroyed over a few hundred years. Destroying the Mass Relays? Even if that doesnt wipe out the whole system like in Arrival, everyone will be stranded in whatever system they are in, probably without food and resources...

Just finished the game, and got to say I loved it. And I went into ME3 with a lot of scepticism, I had the horrors of Dragon Age 2 breathing down my neck, making me very uneasy about this game, but I don't think it could have ended in much of a better way really. I don't care if the endings might be similar (I only did one of them), but for me I thought the journey, story and the charactes etc came together in the end in a way that I rarely ever see in a video game these days. Good to Bioware for making an ending that seems to set a definitive 'The End' to the series (although, I'm sure EA will try and make them pump out prequels). There were things I did not think were as good as ME2 and overall I probably would say that ME2 is the best, but man, I was pretty much blown away by the ending which in today's landscape of games is a rare occurrence.

@PolygonSlayer: Agree

I'm not totally happy with the ending. But I thought it was okay for what it was. I was more "forgiving" to the ending because

a) there was no way it was gonna live up to my expectation/hypes

b) at least they wrapped the story to the end

I would rather have ME series to come to an end than a half baked "it ended but it didn't end" type of ending

@nohthink: I'm curious as to how things were wrapped up. When did it explain why Joker was using a mass relay? Also when did it explain how the crew members you were with on earth were magically on the Normandy? Sure the entire universe if totally messed up and is basically back to the stone age, but I don't know if that's exactly wrapping up the story.

Obviously it wasn't going to live up to everyone's expectations, but they could have put a little more thought into how the last few moments of that game played out.

I love the game. I hate that ending.

There are like three million threads about this already.

I kind of feel good for @LordXavierBritish ,considering all the hate people were throwing at him for not liking the next game in their favourite franchise. 

Overall, I partially agree with the OP. I also went in with skepticism, but the more I played, the more the game impressed me. I think if it weren't for that ending, I would say it's as good, if not better than its predecessors. I also agree with PolygonSlayer; everything comes together very nicely in one of the last scenes in London. I don't think there has been a game where I cared more about the characters and universe than ME. For me personally, I guess I wish it ended with a little more resolve so characters could reflect a little on the Reaper victory. An ending where my Shepard lives out the rest of his life with Liara or something would have been nice. Otherwise, I really loved ME3 quite a bit.

I'm with you. I was so ready (before I hit the ending of course) to carry on the tradition and start a new (imported) playthrough as soon as I finished the previous. But Dat Ass ending... nothing mattered, nothing made any sense. I then lied down on my bed remembering all of my time with the franchise, remembering all of the fantastic moments I experienced throughout the series (including some from ME3), listening to some pieces of the soundtrack (Vigil's theme in particular)... and then putting it up against where it's all lead to, it was soul-crushing.

@drac96: Well... When I said "things were wrapped up," I meant more like Shepard going around and basically saying good bye to everyone.

It was pretty obvious that Shepard was gonna die. They didn't really hide that. In a way, the whole game was basically, "cherish the last moment with your crews," which was fine for me.

Rather than a definitive ending, the developers took a route of good bye journeys and solving political issues, which is something long time ME fans wanted. People were mad at ME2 for for pretty much getting rid of all the space politics(I was one of them). Even though most of them were, "Hey! Look who's here?" type of moments, I was happy to see familiar faces and solve genophase or other galactic problems.

I knew there was no way I could be satisfied with the game. I just let the developers to decide whatever it thought the end game should be rather than what "I" wanted. I don't agree with them and I wanted to be better but I knew the limits. It's not like I'm in their office and writing the stories for them.

Yes, it is a disappointment and we all hoped it would be different but there are only so many trilogies that manage to end well anyway.

Somehow, they managed to create a certain emotional attachment between Shepard and his/her crews at the end, and I took that as an "ok" ending. (The moment with Liara was amazing)

I'm not saying it was a good satisfying ending. How can it be? But at the same time, I think it is unfair to expect the developers to completely 100 percent satisfy us, because that is rare. NOT impossible but rare.

@Brodehouse said:

I love the game. I hate that ending.

I know man it was so goddamn good until that last half hour. Jesus did they ever shit the bed with that.

I was fine with the endings... It was the way they were presented that sucked. Like all pretty much the same.

@Abyssfull: I feel you on not having the drive to start a new play through. I beat ME 2 three times and went out of my way to S-rank it. I even had the desire to start my renegade femshep three quarters through ME 3. But after everything came to a close, I had no desire to go back.