Having put nearly 300 hours into all 3 of these games...have to say that overall, this was one of the best RPG's I have EVER played. Amazing story, characters that I came to actually care for and about. There were many scenes where I sat here cheering and fist pumping after something VERY cool happened. ME3 actually had more of these than the previous 2 and for all of the game, I wanted to see this masterpiece end spectacularly. However, for me, the last 10 minutes of the game...just about took all the wind out of my sails. The ending was PURE WTF!?!?!?!!?!?! I don't know what the decision on this was, or even why it happened...but EA/Bioware created ending that I believe Bioware on their own would not have made. I may be wrong here, but the more I think about it, the endings sucked.
ME was/is a series in which the player is given choices, some trivial, some HARD, but you ALWAYS felt that your choices mattered. In the first 2 games, this was VERY TRUE. Every choice you made had a consequence...some small and some HUGE! Some of these were the driving force to me playing the first 2 adventures all the way through with 4 different characters...and it is because of these choices I have chosen to run my very 1st ME character through the 2nd game again, so that I can change what happened in the 3rd game. I have even created a 5th character to run through all 3 just for some of the other choices. This series is also about HOPE! Hope that if you struggle, if you continue to fight, to NEVER give up, to ALWAYS HOPE, to LIVE NOW...you will win out.
This game is a 10/10 for 99% of the time...the ending was a 2/10. On a small level I can see what they were doing...but those last 10 minutes...just plain SUCKED...there is no other way to say it. The ending to me felt rushed...it felt like someone had something they thought was cool, and got it tested only by fanboys of that decision maker. The ending failed and failed BADLY! For a series filled with choice and consequence to develop an ending that throws away ALL OF WHAT CAME PREVIOUSLY just felt wrong. The ending threw away every choice that you made previously and made almost everything you did in the game matter not.
I know that life is not all about happy endings, it can be about sacrifice, and it can be about tragedy...but the ending stole away HOPE...
Even Shepard's last words...seemed to plead this case, only to be ignored.
I am also disappointed in the romances...most of the romances in this game are with characters that you have already had romances with. Yet it felt as if you had to re-romance them again to feel as if the you HAD a relationship. Now I don't need sex in a game, but if you are going to have it and you are having romances, where is the romance language between the 2 that have this type of relationship. A character that I had been true with, throughout the first 2 games, actually asked me (AGAIN) on where she stood. I HAD to choose her again...then we didn't get busy until the end of the game (AGAIN?) WTF!?!?!?!?!?!?! I had already romanced her for the first 2 games, and I have to wait until nearly the end of the game to be able to spend any couple time with her again? It is like the main character forgot where the relationship stood...some of the characters I can understand this mechanic, but for some of the others, it just doesn't make ANY sense.
Now, having said all this, I have to say that it won't stop me from finishing my play-throughs with my other characters...but I am dissatisfied with how they ended this.
Though there is a slim glimmer of hope.
DO NOT CLICK THIS LINK IF YOU HAVE YET TO PLAY AS IT IS A BIT SPOILER-LIKE Now keep in mind all of the image may be faked...but I hope not...