Break it up into segments like TV shows having good and bad seasons or story arcs.

"best ending"

It's not what you say but how you say it.

I felt the same way.

"I think people are upset because it's not the ending THEY want."

What has it done that no other game has done? You don't explain why it deserves to be a landmark game. Simply calling it amazing with no reasoning as to why, and saying everyone that disagrees is insane, doesn't actually make it so.

It's not like Western development has really improved. I know you didn't say it but I'm sure there are people out there that think something getting popular means it's getting better. It's only in FPS that has seen "improvement" and that's because of PC developers going consoles. The gameplay itself really hasn't…

"If you go to the store to buy granola and accidentally buy horse shit, getting six boxes for free is not extra value."

I don't understand why developers and writers don't team up and make indie RPGs. I don't know anything about development but would it be any more difficult to program a SNES-era RPG than it would be for yet another physics-based puzzle game?

Maybe that's the case in the cesspool they call the Bioware forums but on the rest of the Internet it's entire acceptable to be mad at multiple things at the same time.

"It's lazy and unprofessional, but nothing to get upset over."

It's shoddy and lazy. Also consider how big a moment it is for some players that "romanced" Tali. Beyond that, this is the first and only picture available depicting what one of the major races in the story looks like. It's probably been a bigger mystery with more interest than how the Reapers would actually be…

"how important Mass Effect has become as a science fiction medium"

Western developers still haven't been able to create a combat system that is both fun and doesn't involve guns. Hell, even in third-person shooters I still prefer the combat in Vanquish. And cover-based shooting was already in a game by Namco before Gears of War made it super popular.

These days you're not allowed to "own it" even if you do pay money for it.

We've had mobile artillery before in BF1942. But then again shelling was more difficult then simply clicking on a map.

The Shadows weren't about exterminating or enslaving all sentient life in the galaxy.

"...so, yeah. There are robots that exist to kill people so they don't invent robots that will kill people."

"they should be looking at it as a small, gaming PC"

We already have companies that build desktops. We also have laptops that do the exact same thing. It's already a tight fit with 3 consoles, don't need a 4th. With how much influence Steam has they could work together with established businesses, hardware and software, but instead they're going to be like Microsoft.