This has been my biggest gap between updates in part because I have been busy with other things but also because the game has gotten pretty routine. Although I like the overall story and character development, there is not a lot to play between the posts of the giant Eikon battles. Most regular battles are trivial; use an AOE skill then pick everything off one by one. The regular enemies do not attack much. The stronger ones with stagger meters are a little more fun to battle but they are also predictable since they are copies of the weaker versions. The boss fights are still pretty fun and I liked all the bosses in Twinside.

Something I appreciate a lot is the attention to character development and relationships in the questline. I don't think I've played a game where I was more interested in the story aspect of quests than the gameplay or rewards. I liked getting to know the hideout inhabitants more and also developing the alliances with people in each nation. I just wish there was less backtracking and more new areas to explore during the quests, or new enemy types, or some minigame, or something to break the monotony of the run through field, hack and slash that is 90% of this game.

As for the storyline, the tragic end to the imperials was well done. Reuniting with Joshua was epic. Annabella's scheming, her horror, and demise were satisfying. Everything with Dion was great. Even Ultima is a compelling villain in that mysterious creeper way. My biggest gripe though is that this game is making it hard to root for our cause. It seems every time we smash a mothercrystal it just leads to more hardship. I wish it showed some upside to what we are doing. Clive is just doing this based on Cid's theory, which has clearly not been proven out yet due to how much everyone suffers when there is no more magic.

Speaking of magic, I hate how generic magic is in this game. Every element is just a different color of the shootie spell. Are there even elemental weaknesses? The boss enemies get cool versions of Firaga, Blizzaga, etc. which I wish I got. Kingdom Hearts is also an action game with magic and Sora at least had different effects for his spells. Disappointing.

I hope Leviathan shows up as some big reveal later on but I am not holding my breath. I notice that my skill wheel has only two Eikon spots left, which I assume are Odin and Shiva. Maybe Leviathan is around and I don't get Shiva since she is my ally, or they saved him for DLC, who knows.

Finally, the fight with Bahamut was epic as anticipated. Even the first part was pretty fun though I was thinking 'is this it?' But then Phoenix showed up and then we merged and fought in space and it was let's goooooo. Like Psy I am wondering how Odin can top this. I am suspecting the Odin battle will be less of a grand scale (because how do you beat space?) and more of an intense confrontation requiring concentration.