Ok, I'm bored and I feel like being wordy and semi-coherent.
I really liked ME3! Sure the ending was kind of a let down. I don't know what's worse color palette swapping out the endings and using the same set pieces with minor tweaks, or just the semi-cheese factor. I really wish that Bioware had just ended it for me. I had some big DX:HR flashbacks...the only difference being that it took me 30 minutes each time to see the different ending. I also don't know what was worse the slow walk in ME3 or button mashing Snake through the microwave relay in MGS4. Oh, ummm, SPOILERS! I did like the additional kill ending scene though. Mostly I just didn't enjoy the J-C archetype that they tried to cap it off with. Don't get me wrong, the archetypes used elsewhere of playing God, redemption and atonement are great (see Mordin, Thane, Tali), but it was just...meh. Very spoon-fed.
I did love the controls in this game though. A definite step forward. And I loved the ability to have a crazy variety of weapons, mods, armor, etc. The weapons looked cool, sounded amazing and the impacts looked amazing. Nothing like a grenade or Carnage impact. Gooooooo! My one gripe would be the warp blocking. I had a ton of Overload in my team, but only Liara could Warp. That blew. I guess ME2 spoiled me in that one aspect. You had a serious bevy of options on crew members. And speaking of crew, I wish they just made James a Krogan...I mean, that's essentially what he is, right? I didn't mind FPJ, I felt like he did a better job than whoever voiced Kaidan. And Kaidan! Just when I would start to like the guy, he'd say something stupid like "it's just this...war...it's so....war-like...you know". Spoiler alert, Canadians are tards in the future too.
But seriously, I didn't enjoy my crew as much this time around. I mostly mained my two techs and Liara.
The DLC was really well-done and I'm glad I got it. Javik added such a different perspective to the game and I can't imagine not having him on board. It's too bad I had to pay for him, but I got Chobot for free, is there any way I could make that trade? I want to roll a ManShep just so I can sleep with her and then kick her off my ship. And why couldn't Zaeed come aboard instead of sitting his rear in D2? That would have improved the game phenomenally.
But mostly, I really loved the story and the pacing. I never felt rushed in ME2, I never felt like it was imperative that I skip going on the side quests and just get down to the nitty-gritty. Not the same here. Your decisions may not have had a huge impact on the end scene, but they definitely impacted the moment and the end battle. A ton of the storylines were impactful and I felt like they touched each character from past games well. There were a couple of great tearjerker moments. It was hard to say goodbye to the series, harder to say good bye to my crew. I look forward to the DLC ending fix.
The way I look at it, they had to close a series and that sucks no matter what. Especially when you have an acclaimed product. I remember how I felt when HPotter ended or Scrubs even. The bar is set pretty high, there's a ton of lines to tie off, and as a writer you have to answer questions that need answering and decide which ones to just leave to speculation. That's a hard job and I'm not envious of the task.
That being said, playing a hardline Renegade was hard. I felt like Pandora, releasing monster after monster praying that I would find Hope at the bottom of the box. Good game.