Definitely agree with you, I liked playing it, and I'm still playing it with all my other playthroughs. Probably have about 90 hours on it. The combat is
fantastic, but that's what I would expect comparing it to the previous games, just because of the new technology and advancements that come with time. Didn't disappoint in that category.
The story though, I'm just happy they came out with an extended ending. Still not exactly what I wanted, but it's definitely better. I think after putting 300+ hours into the series, my Shepard deserves to live dammit! That's why I think in the end I did enjoy ME1&ME2 more than this final game. I got to continue helping the galaxy with it's problems even after completing the main goal the game had to offer.
Also, more than the combat and action, I'm more into the relationships of the different species and people I'm able to talk to aboard the Normandy or Citidel. So from the political aspect of the game, I definitely enjoyed the quantity of people I could converse with. The thing I thought it really lacked in though was the
quality of which you could converse with people. There were a few like Garrus, Joker, and EDI who you could talk to a lot aboard the Normandy with. But others like Liara, Kaiden, and Ashley, I found them saying the same thing over and over like "not at this time", "commander", etc, more times than not.
Going into the romance a little bit, I was disapointed with the Ashley/Kaiden relationship, especially if you were faithful with them all throughout the three games. I guess in ME1 it felt like you could talk with the two 24/7. Find details into their life, how they felt on particular things, stuff like that. You could in ME3 as well, but not to the degree I would've liked, and not to the degree in ME1, in my opinion. I thought the quality of the relationship could have been upped, and added to. And for those girls who romanced Jacob in ME2, and expected something special in ME3? I'm sorry, hahahha. Suckers. But I won't get into that.
Overall, good game, I'm definitely still enjoying it. But, in my opinion, it somewhat lacked that awe-striking, amazing plot like in Mass Effect 1.