I loved Mass Effect 3! The only game I've ever bought twice (Wii U and then on PC). The only game I've ever bought all the DLC for. Phenomenal game, so much emotion, incredibly high stakes, great set pieces. Loved every second of it. The Citael DLC was pure gold and that alone is worth the price of admission.

Funny thing is on insanity I got past the marauder first time. But on my other plays through on lower difficulties it took a few tries every time. it must be because on insanity you are way more focussed on your shooting so by the end of the game the accuracy is pretty high.

jweinconn beat me to it: we radically disagree with what the narrative was saying until literally the final minute of a 200 hour story. We saw a lone person - a shepherd, if you will - guide an entire galaxy through danger, stop the bad guys, bring the good guys together, and just generally shape the galaxy as he/she saw fit. Shepher continuously encounters a string of "well that's just impossible to overcome" situations, and then overcomes them a few hours later.

I seriously can't think of a single thing your character sets out to do in which he/she fails.  The traitorous SPECTRE is made a fugitive, the surprise assault on the Citadel is repulsed, the "suicide mission" ends with exactly zero casualties, not one but two old galactic threats are rehabilitated and brought back into the fold, the space gypsies get to go back home, and alien species who hated each other since long before humans left their caves now gather around campfires and sing kumbayah. You literally take down a sentient space cruiser that's older than any known species in the galaxy, by yourself, on foot. If your character had a catchphrase and a training montage the whole thing would fit right in with every 80's Hollywood action out there.

Then a six year old in a hoodie tells you you can't win, and you just say "okay" and (literally) die. At least they were kind enough to add in the fourth ending afterwards where you can tell the kid to go to hell, even if the developers decide not playing ball means all your toys get taken away until someone else comes along who will stick to the script, thank you very much. It is no joke or exagerration to say that the endings were originally color-coded versions of each other: youtube videos of all three endings playing simultaneously attest to that. The lead developer swears up and down that the choices made by players over the past three games would matter, and that the endings would not be "A, B, or  C." That, clearly, never came to fruition.

To bring this back to the original topic, it's not a bad game. In fact, I really, genuinely enjoyed it. I'd say it's quite a good game, especially if you've played the previous games in the series and imported your save file. But it definitely failed to stick the landing, which naturally left a sour taste in a lot of mouths. Add to that how the developers misled folks into thinking things would wrap in a manner which they definitively did not, and that's where much of the hate comes from.

I liked Mass Effect 1 and 3 but dislike ME 2 (felt really dumbed down, only good thing from that game was Miranda's butt).

I ended up cheating on her for ashley in ME3. She was far more interesting.

First of all. No one says it's a bad game. It takes the best aspects of 1 and 2 and combines them. Many consider it to be the best in the series and people just don't like the ending. Fair enough. There were about 4 or 5 different endings that were planned but were scrapped due to time constraint. EA wouldn't give them more time and believe it or not. A majority of the staff at Bioware state that they were a little inefficient with their time at some points and blame themselves more the EA. Where EA gets blamed is with some changes to make Mass Effect 2 more action based. Which they stepped back on with Mass Effect 3. And again with Dragon Age 2. Bioware intended that Dragon Age 2 to be a spin off game but EA said the game would not sell if it wasn't a main titled entry and forced it upon Bioware. One of the founding fathers actually got up and stated "This is bullshit", took his pay check, extra pay, and left to form his new studio which can be found here for those who are interested. I had the honor to meet Trent himself.

As for Mass Effect 3. Well the ending isn't so bad when you think about it. I talked to about 2 people from Bioware regarding it. Both who were involved with the games. Due to time constraints Mac Walters and Casey Hudson went behind closed doors and wrote the ending in a day. The only person that knows the meaning behind the ending is them, and that is the way it always will be. The staff are aware of very little but do know know some basic things.

1) The game is YOUR journey and there is no right or wrong answer. Your choice, your story.

2) If people really want to know. Bioware considers the "Synthesis" ending to be the canon ending. The reason for this is because it is the ONLY ending that ties up the theme that spanned all 3 games. The entire point of the series was about organics vs synthetics. To find peace in the galaxy. This is the ending they consider canon because it is the core essence of the game itself.
The destroy ending ultimately stems from minor points of 2 and 3 and is actually there for the "basic gamer" to make a simple and easy to understand choice. Very basic.
The control ending stems from the 3rd game and The Illusive Man's character (Jack Harper) and is essentially seeing things from his point of view. To agree with Cerberus.
Of course there is the rejection ending which is very cool.

I will state this right now. The Indoctrination theory is not true. The reason there is so much evidence to point this out is because it was being built up and planned but scrapped due to time constraints. Again it is NOT true. There was also an ending planned regarding Dark Matter. In addition, the original intention was to have The Illusive Man as the final boss fight. He would mutate into some weird Reaper creature. The concept are regarding this has been released. You can see it here.

My sources: Bioware

Can I ask (if you know the answer to this)? Did sheapard actually live after you finished the game (if you got the right ending, which I did). There's someone who quickly breath's in, and then it cuts out. Will sheapard see some sort of appearance in andromina, or was that simply a last poke at fans?

This I never asked, nor do I know for sure or have an answer. What I do know is that the directors cut ending made it clear that Shepard is dead. You kind of see him/her die in the endings. Especially the synthetic one (he/she became one with the force? lol I'm just kidding there). I am speculating that, that little scene may have been part of the "indoctrination" thing or it was poke like you said. I don't want to make any claims because I don't know. But I do think that what ever it was. It isn't really significant, which is unfortunate. However, from my understanding. You can only see this scene in the destroy ending. So you cannot claim that you got the right ending. As there is no right or wrong but the Synthesis ending is considered to be the best ending (right in Biowares eyes).

As for Shepard in Andromeda. Bioware has gone public in stating that it is a new chapter as if was a new universe. It will still feel like Mass Effect and it may or may not have links to the first game. They stated that Shepard would have no relations in the new game. That being said, that was a year ago and could have changed, as does everything in game development. I have heard rumors that the N7 logo may have been removed completely from the game, as it wouldn't have made sense.

As for the rumors about the player being a "path finder" and creating new settlements for humanity. This is likely true. I DO know that they are going for a more human story this time around. It's possible that humans got there on a colony ship. Some familiar races will return, as we all know the Krogan will be back. It is also rumored that they are now and intelligent space faring race. It will very much still be a Mass Effect game. It will attract both new and old fans, it may not please all of the older fans but hopefully it will :)

I just hated the overall negative tone of the game. I mean i get it that it was dire times, but the constant reiteration of how desperate the situation was, especially when the last hour of the game was talking to everyone and they said it all again was just a bit much.

It was a magnificent ending to one of the greatest game series ever. It never reached the heights of the second installment, but it was up there. I never found the ending dissapointing, I thought it was neccessary to have a less open ended finale to the series.