Mass Effect 3: Thoughts and Disappointments (Full of Spoilers) 
Anyway, I played the two Mass Effect games before and I loved them a lot. It's clear that the three games were planned right from the start and the segments were properly divided that even though you knew from the first game that there would be a sequel, it left you with a sense of completion and satisfaction, unlike other games that only leave cliffhangers without any value other than to sell the next product.
I played the previous games in two ways, as a good guy and as a bad guy. It's always been fun seeing how the hero interacted with the characters around him from both angles. In the first Mass Effect, I let a support character named Kaidan die (because I wanted Ashley to be the character's romantic partner). Hunting for the clues to figure out what's going on, finding out that Saren's actually being controlled by the Reaper, and building friendships with different species like Tali, Garrus, and crew was very interesting. As a good guy, I chose to let the Rachni creatures live. It was also a shock that the ship that Saren was riding on was the actual Reaper and it's alive! In the final battle against Saren, I saved the council because I thought everyone should get along together without just one race ruling over the others.
In Mass Effect 2, Shepard got blown up in space but was re-created by Cerberus. In the second game of the series, I continued being a good guy and befriended as many people as possible. Miranda also became my character's romance interest because Ashley ran away! The Collectors became the focus but there was still this sense of dread that any time, more Reapers would pop up, so it was a race against time to solve the mystery of the Collectors even if it meant helping the shady group of Cerberus headed by the Illusive Man. The game was still thrilling and very exciting, especially the final part where I had to bring all of my crew to destroy the Collector base. Fortunately, nobody important died. By the end of the game, it was already clear that all of the Reapers were on their way to eat everything. I still let Udina remain as the human councilor just because I thought Anderson would be good as a fighter.
Now comes Mass Effect 3. It started literally with a giant bang, with earth being invaded by Reapers in full force. Even the tutorial section was already intense as human forces start getting annihilated everywhere you look and the civilians and soldiers alike get turned into husks. I found it weird when I saw a kid running towards the building. Upon getting rid of the husks, I saw the kid inside a little duct. At this point, things got weird, the kid just disappeared after telling him that I'll save him. I thought my character was having hallucinations or was turning crazy.
As Shepard escapes, I see the little kid again ride one of the evacuation vehicles, but the Reaper blows them up. I already sensed that Shepard's going to have weird crap going on in his mind, probably out of guilt because "I let a child die!". As I boarded the ship, I started collecting all of my past crew in various parts of the galaxy. Too bad Miranda wasn't back as a playable character, but only appears from time to time dealing with her own daddy problems. That just meant that the little romance I played with her in Mass Effect 2 became almost worthless. I accidentally "romanced" Liara, that Asari crew member because I thought you could switch lovers at any moment. That's the first time I "cheated" on Miranda lol!
Finally, I was able to assemble a pretty good group from all species by solving all of their problems. I fixed the Genophage at the expense of Mordin's life (that weird Salarian scientist), so the Krogans (those reptile heads) and the Turians (locust heads) helped each other. I also let the Geth (synthetic flashlight heads) survive and convinced the Quarians (the space suit people) to help each other. I also did all side quests and managed to get the support of even the little merchant aliens and the snuffolofugus aliens. Because of the DLC, I also got Javic the last Prothean in my crew.
My military power by the end was at 6000 plus (3000 plus effective) and the power bar was full green, and according to available information, this is what you need in order to get the best endings. The Galactic Readiness, which you could only raise through multiplayer, remained at 50%. Although they say the Galactic Readiness only makes getting the good endings easier, I still wonder if it has any effect on the cutscenes you'll get in the game.
Anyway, it seems that the Illusive Man was already under the control of the Reapers, he just didn't know it. Kai Leng, his new best agent, was definitely "indoctrinated" and that's why they were competing with Shepard's group in the hunt for the Catalyst, the final part that's needed to complete the super weapon called Crucible, which should destroy the Reapers according to Prothean records. After Shepard invades Cerberus' base, we find out from the Prothean artifact which they stole that the Citadel itself (the place where ambassadors from all species hold office) is the Catalyst! Shepard beats the hell out of Kai Leng but they find out that Reapers have "kidnapped" the Citadel and brought it back down to Earth in order to protect it.
For the final battle, everyone headed back to Earth in a united effort to destroy the Reapers. Maybe the cutscene I got was thanks to my over 6000 military power (which game me around 3000 plus effective military power) and having found all of the extra artifacts and finishing all side quests. In the cutscene, ships from all species came in a massive group and rained lots of fire power on the Reapers in space. They even managed to kill one.
This is where my questions begin, why in the world didn't the Reapers just destroy the Citadel? Since the Illusive Man was under the Reaper's control, they also found out about the importance of the structure. If they just destroyed it in space, which they easily could have done at any time especially since everyone's away, then the Reapers would've easily won the war. No Citadel means no Crucible to destroy them!
Anyway after landing on Earth and fighting through an army of monsters, the last few moments of the game became even stranger. The Reaper guarding the Citadel blasted Shepard and friends with a laser beam and it seemed only Shepard survived (barely). After reaching the Citadel and following the path, Shepard finds Anderson unable to move because the Illusive Man seems to have also gained the power to control people. Shepard gets affected as well. Forced by his power, Shepard fires on Anderson. The Illusive Man then gets into a debate on why they could just control the Reapers, but as a good guy, I chose to tell him that he's actually under the Reaper's control now. He goes into a little weird confusion episode and tries to kill Anderson, so I made Shepard shoot him first. Anderson survives the shot and Shepard sits by him. Anderson tells Shepard that he's proud of him and he dozes off to death. Someone contacts Shepard and tells him that nothing's still happening, so Shepard tries to activate something on the control panel. Shepard falls.
Suddenly, Shepard gets taken to what seems like outer space. A little hologram of the kid that died in the first part of the game pops up! What the hell?! So he controls the Reapers?! Maybe it's just the form that the controller of the Reapers chose to make Shepard put his guard down. Anyway, since I still had a gun, I manually shot at the little kid. Too bad nothing seemed to happen.
Anyway, the kid tells Shepard that he/their race created the Reapers to save all organic life from having to experience betrayal from machines and synthetic creatures that they're bound to make whenever they develop the intelligence to create them. This is why the Reapers always attack the galaxy whenever the inhabitants get smart enough to create those things. The kid then tells Shepard that he has three choices. He could destroy the Reapers and all synthetic life like the Geth, he could unite all the DNA of the species to create a single type of organic life, or he could just control the Reapers by sending himself into all of them. I immediately thought "What a farked up decision to make!". I chose to destroy the Reapers.
Shepard slowly walked forward and went to the left platform. He then grabbed two little electrical pipes or whatever they were, and then he started sacrificing his life in order to destroy the Reapers and all synthetic life. A giant energy sphere expanded and every Reaper that got hit stopped attacking and retreated. It seems that the Reapers got shot out from one relay to another in a ping pong effect. Maybe that would've really destroyed them. Joker, the Normandy's pilot, tried to escape from the blast but they still got damaged by the energy. They crash landed into some kind of new earth planet somewhere. The End. Then after the credits, there's a child asking the an old man to tell him more stories about "The Shepard". THE END.
Personally, I just find the ending to a wonderful trilogy SO DISAPPOINTING. I don't care about how cliche this may sound, but I'd rather have the ending go this way: The Reaper controller appears in front of Shepard as a child and tells Shepard the previous choices. Shepard says "You can't tell us what to do anymore!" and then you can shoot the little Reaper child. Since he/it dies, the Reapers lose power and "die" while the entire collective forces that you gathered from every corner of the galaxy take the chance to really destroy all of the Reapers with their combined fire power. Shepard survives the ordeal, all species get along together, and everybody starts rebuilding their respective planets. As an extra scene after the credits, I would've loved to see Shepard and his romantic partner enjoying a somewhat rebuilt Earth.
Other disappointing things are the side quests. For example, I went all over the galaxy and got new stuff to help upgrade the Citadel. I got defensive turrets for them, jamming devices, and even helped create militia! After all those side quests for the Citadel and making it more powerful, we never get to see those upgrades in action!!! I was actually hoping that the final mission about retaking the Citadel would show me how those upgrades helped! I wanted to see monsters get ripped apart by the newly installed turrets! I wanted to see the civilian militia I raised fighting side by side with the soldiers as they protect their homes inside the Citadel! I wanted to see the cloned extinct "alien dinosaurs" from the fossil I found being used as mounts to battle monsters and Reapers! I wanted to see Miranda bombing the crap out of monsters with her new private crew! I wanted to see Samara leading the remaining Justicars and Asari forces take down an entire Reaper by using their energy to rip it apart! I wanted to see the Krogan army stomping on husks and other puny monsters! I wanted to see the Asari snipers (which I also found on some planet), sniping the crap out of those crazy banshees from afar and poking the red weak spot of the Reapers inside their mouth! I wanted to see the Salarians using their intelligence to kill a Reaper by shooting the Eiffel Tower into its mouth! I wanted to see the Geth providing lights in dark areas as they help Quarians kill more monsters in the tunnels!
There were so many ways that they could have made the ending more satisfying! I just feel that the ending (that I got) had a ton of wasted potential!. What's the point of doing all those side quests if all they did was add a little number to my military power? Instead of numbers, I wanted to see them in action! I wanted to see the results of my efforts play out before me, or at least see them in action as I fought my way through armies of monsters! The build-up in Mass Effect 3 was made in such a way that I expected really a lot in the end, only to be disappointed by what seemed like a badly made final part.
What would you have rather seen at the end?
BioWare should have introduced intense side quests that directly related to the conflict at hand and side quests that personally affected your crew (think loyalty missions). These side quests should have varied in pace, either through sneaky reconnaissance or being dropped directly in a warzone (to save a key personality or as a favor etc.). These side quests should have had the player actively invested instead of passively and impersonally scanning planets; eavesdropping on conversations; and doing....something....that was somehow related to the task at hand. Hell, BioWare could've have introduced a time limit (think Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask) that forced you to pick and choose a select number of side quests and main story quests, leaving the remaining side quests (and untouched story quests) for repeated playthroughs. 
