Mass Effect 3 had a lot of problems, and things that infuriated me, but since you are asking specifically about the ending let us discuss that in parts. This includes the final mission and the various things that led to the RGB choices. [b]1. The Victory Fleet and landfall on Earth[/b] A great deal of us had some rather high expectations for the final battle/s that would take place on Earth and in orbit. And to a degree we got. A nice looking Star Wars-ish battle in space before the drop to the surface. However, the only groups represented here are humans, Turians, Asari, and if you got them, Geth, and Quarians. Even in the battle sequences following the start you mostly see humans, and a couple aliens here and there. Sure you could see the Krogans in the camps but you never got to see them in full action. After the Suicide Mission in ME2, we expected to see various different elements affect on the final mission. Like how the upgrades you made or didn't make could get squad members killed, or the same thing when you chose party members for specific roles once you board the Collector Station. And how their loyalty factored in as well. So naturally after the build up we expected to see things like mercenary ships ramping Reapers, determined to win no matter the cost, Rachni swarms getting their revenge by swarming the hulls of those that soured their songs, and hordes of Krogan warriors smashing into the Reaper soldiers ranks, outnumbered 3:1, fighting for the future of their species with berserker fury. Instead we are left with mostly human soldiers and no interesting set pieces beyond that brief space battle. [b]2. The cameo that insulted a great villain, and Marauder Shields.[/b] After running through corridors, and surviving a horde mode sequence, it's time for the final assault. As you move to charge we see an old friend; Harbinger. Now playing through ME2 and the Arrival DLC, you see that the leader of the Reaper forces is an incredibly old, and possibly the first Reaper, reaper called Harbinger. And by the end of the DLC, you are ready. The Illusive Man (and we'll get to him later) may have his human centric schemes, but Harbinger is the one who is bringing the hammer of the Reapers once again to bear against the galaxy. He is the one you know you are going to have your final showdown with, and you want it. So here he is, standing between you and your goal. Do you engage him conversation? A final discourse between the two leaders of the greatest forces the galaxy has ever seen, and a fight for the right to decide the fate of all sentient forms of life? No. Not a word is spoken, and you run. Run for the portal and then get knocked on your ass. Next thing you see is Harby flying away, because after the enemy launches an attack on the one point that will decide the course of the war, you always assume they are done and leave. Denied the boss fight you wanted, you limp along to the portal, and to the true boss of the game, Marauder Shields. Or is he? In truth he was a gentle and courageous soul that wanted nothing more than to shield you from what was to come, he wanted to protect you. But he died, in vain, as Shepherd, still confused as to why his mortal enemy let him live, stumbles into the portal, and into the horror Shields thought to protect him from. [b]3. Illusive no more.[/b] Even if he wasn't labeled the main antagonist, the Illusive Man was a great character. He acts, seemingly, out of his devotion to his species. Even if he has to bleed people, human or otherwise, he professes to wanting help mankind, even if it means bleeding himself. He knew that Shepherd didn't like him or his methods, but when Shepherd fell, he moved mountains to bring him/her back. Provide Shep with a new ship, crew, even reach out to some of the old crew to get familiar faces back. He didn't hide the he was using Shepherd, and letting Shepherd use him, because in the end they both wanted the same thing; the Reapers stopped. So depending on whether you gave back to him at the end of ME2 or told him to stuff off, you knew he was going to be a major player in the final conclusion. However you probably didn't expect them to break him. A once proud, meticulous, and brilliant man turned into a slavering madman and killed in a conversation with a button prompt. Instead of an uneasy alliance with the Victory Fleet forces, a betrayal, and a rush to use the Citadel to not only destroy the Reapers, but put mankind on the galactic throne, so to speak. A battle between wills, a running fight to the controls as the fate of the galaxy is being fought around them. Not as a puppet to a villain that you see once and talk to never. While he sent his generic asian cyber ninja to plot armor his way through you and your allies, he was been built up to his masterstroke, but instead we had a [i]him[/i] become a generic madman. [b]4. The God Child.[/b] Oh how can I adequately describe my feelings over this character? Confusion? Anger? Despair? Disbelief? Something like all four. No warning, no foreshadowing, no reason, and no payoff. That is what characterizes the God Child. How or why they thought he was a necessary addition is beyond me. Rather than letting Shepherd pull the trigger as it were, or maybe configure the output in a different way, they decided to give us a literal Deus Ex Machina. He shatters the mystery of the Reapers by telling you he made them. For what purpose did he design grotesque metal-organic monstrosities, composed of ground up whole species? Because of circular logic. He reasons that war between organics and synthetics (a theme not focused on heavily since the first game, where it later became about diverse groups coming together and overcoming the odds) is always an inevitability that he'd kill them off before they could make synthetics. Not to create a powerful group that could police the two groups, flaunting destruction by overwhelming firepower to whoever violated peace, but by killing the people he wanted to protect, and use their paste to make more death machines. Not only did reuniting the Quarians and Geth dispute this, you couldn't argue him otherwise. He figuratively plugs his ears, and repeatedly tells you to pick a color, that leads to an ending ripped from the original Deus Ex. [b]5. Where my homies at?[/b] Then you are treated to perhaps the greatest insult of it all. As the colored death spreads, either blasting Repears, enslaving them, or turning everyone against their will into freak organic-synthetic hybrids (because diversity is bad and different people can't get along), you can see something even more horrific happening. If you had played the Arrival DLC, you know what happens when a Mass Relay is destroyed; it wipes out the solar system it was in. So after the initial Sol Relay...relays the energy out into the network, it explodes. And then you see this happening through the whole galactic community. Congratulations, you out genocided Reapers. Remember those beloved characters you brought with you through thick and thin, that had fought tooth and nail beside you in the face of certain death? Did they stand their ground and die standing against the great enemy? Or even survive the encounter in with Count Cameo? Don't worry, they survived. And completely abandoned you. You see the Normandy, racing away from your favorite flavor of Fruit Rollup, through a Relay boost. But wait, how did Joker get the ship there so fast? Given that the Sol Relay is at the other end of the system he would have had to have...deserted. As you sit there in confusion as the implied cowardice, dereliction of duty, and effective mutiny of the crew, the Normandy is caught by the Jolly Rancher colored wave of doom and the screen goes black. You then see that the ship landed on a paradise looking world, wrecked but intact. As the airlock is forced open you see Joker stumble out followed by...Tali?! Why was my love interest on the Normandy as it left the Fleet, and Shepherd to their fates? Or even the better question is [i]how[/i]? Did Joker stop by to pick up my party before abandoning the field? Maybe teleporters? When did we get those? So now, Shepard is dead, your crew had left you and you made Hitler seem about as effective as a broken condom. What else could they throw at you at this point? [b]6. Story time, and give us more money.[/b] So here we are, dejected, confused, and infuriated, but at least it's over, right? The scene plays out under the beautiful night sky of a Deviantart poster's work (a recurring theme in ME3 it seems) as an old man talks with the child he kidnapped (No man calls a young boy "my sweet" unless he's a pedophile) about "The Shepherd", which makes it even clearer that you blasted everyone back into barbarity. Then the boy asks if there is another story about The Shephe- wait a minute, is that even a kid? No it looks like a...downscaled player model. It's not like they had a child model for even a silhouette. Well it must be over now. Wait, what's that text box say? [quote]You can continue Shepherd's story in more playthroughs and DLC![/quote] I'm done. Tldr: Go back and read it.