Finally got my act together to play this game, i have completed the previous games 3 times each. But one thing that always kills the mood for me in mass effect 2 is how your paragon/renegade stats indirectly affect the ending of the game.

And I would like to know if the third game has a system like this as well (or other arbitrary points/tasks/whatever) that affect the ending???

Depends on what you count as the ending. If you mean the last scene, no, they don't. (the only thing that does is the war assets) But there are several instances where your decisions and paragon/renegade levels will determine what options are available to you.

Part of the original controversy is that the claim how "every choice matters" was a big lie. It didn't matter what you did in any of the other games. Instead it only mattered which ramp you walked up.

WARNING SPOILERS!!!!

I terms of Mass Effect 2 it was the notion that you had to "grind" out either paragon or renegade points to keep all of your teammates loyal (i.e not die in a cutscene).

@rambostyrer: No. They rep system is a combined one now (Paragon and Renegade points add up to a total, which is taken into consideration during persuasion checks) and it's fairly easy to maximize it.

It doesn't affect the ending, too. One ending has a slightly different voice over, if I remember.

One of the last decisions you make has some paragon/renegade options, but it doesn't affect a ton.

ok thanks guys!

Really hated how you (if you wanted all team members to be loyal before the suicide mission) had to reduce all choices and dialogue options to be a hunt for either paragon or renegade points.

Although there isn't "farming", you might not like how this ends up because the last section renders everything down to a choice between 3 doors which range from annoying to baffling to strange. The "Extended Cut" might fix that up for you but it is still reduced down to push the stick left, right or up.