I agree to an extent. But at the end of the day, as much as Ted talked about Tracy, we knew that besides her there was only one person he ever loved deeply and that was Robin. We also knew that they didn't work out primarily because they never wanted the same things out of life. Robin, in the present, was never going to be able to give Ted what he wanted, which was a family. And vice versa, because what Robin wanted was a career and someone that wanted the same things as her (Barney). But people change, and Barney and Robin ultimately grew apart (much like Ted/Robin)...

For TR - when they did get together, they both just wanted companionship at this point in time, their dreams didn't have to be tied up in each other anymore. So to me, it's a real ending because it's the only way TR would have ever worked. And I think the writing acknowledges that.

It's weird to me that people are suggesting Ted didn't learn anything...of course he did. The old Ted would've been telling the story of Ted/Tracy to his kids. Instead, he tells the story of Robin, who is part of his future. He learned not to live in his stories or dwell on the past, and to always move forward. He let go of Robin to find Tracy, and he lets go of Tracy for another shot at happiness with Robin.

So I do think it actually worked for what the show became. It's the viewers that are romanticizing the Ted/Robin ending imo as some destiny thing when the writing just shows that Ted got a life with Tracy that he always wanted and it's a life he never could've gotten with Robin. It was just bittersweet in the end, and led him down a different path that coincided with Robin's.