I appreciated the ending. I think the story led up to it well enough. It fits both the genre and the series. It was dramatic. Good enough for me.
Besides, the thing I kinda liked best about the older fallout games was how you could almost beat the game without firing a gun if you chose to be a more intelligent, eloquent character. There was a little more forced combat in Fallout 3, I think, than I wanted (even though I very much expected it, and despite that there were some situations from which you could go in and get out without lifting a finger. Sneaking in Fallout 3 is really hard though). And a big boss battle would've confirmed the matter-over-mind situation that I didn't really care about.