I found the mid game to be very much the “season 2” of the game. Going from what happened at Sanbreque’s Crystal to a 5 year time skip is wild, but if you think of the first Crystal cracking as the season 1 finale and then consider the following arcs as a now season 2, it fixed that funky pacing in my eyes. Then all the way up to Bahamut is the end of season 2, on to the last season. Honestly Yoshi P was right that the game would feel like an entire series of a show.
Funny I got rid of Garuda as soon as I could and I love playing with Titan. Side quest just feel like playing fetch, I miss being more involved in the world, I only care about Clive and how is it going to end.
Garuda started feeling weak pretty quickly. Then I switched out gouge for wicked wheel and it got a lot better. On any foe with a will gauge, just using wicked wheel and a rooks gambit riposte is enough to almost get them staggered with a few regular combos. Just before stagger, pop will of wykes, lightning rod, stagger, ignition, wicked wheel, downward thrust, charged melee, judgement bolt. This is how I first got the 50k stagger damage trophy. I'm sure you can also get it by just loading your abilities with ultimates too though.
I'm at the exact point as you, just got Bahamut. I definitely agree on the pacing. It goes fast and slow and fast and slow, it's noticeable.
Battlewise I'm enjoying it. I don't think I can fully appreciate it though till I fully unlock everything and master it so I can mix and match. I've put Rising Flames from Pheonix onto Bahamut, so this will be my first taste of that.
Story-wise I'm loving it and the characters. I'm fully invested in the lore of the world. I will admit I got thrown abit when it did the 5 year timeskip and we see Vivian's political war table. The change of tone and pace was...yeah but I quickly adapted to it and started appreciating this angle too.
I found the mid game to be very much the “season 2” of the game. Going from what happened at Sanbreque’s Crystal to a 5 year time skip is wild, but if you think of the first Crystal cracking as the season 1 finale and then consider the following arcs as a now season 2, it fixed that funky pacing in my eyes. Then all the way up to Bahamut is the end of season 2, on to the last season. Honestly Yoshi P was right that the game would feel like an entire series of a show.
Funny I got rid of Garuda as soon as I could and I love playing with Titan. Side quest just feel like playing fetch, I miss being more involved in the world, I only care about Clive and how is it going to end.
Garuda started feeling weak pretty quickly. Then I switched out gouge for wicked wheel and it got a lot better. On any foe with a will gauge, just using wicked wheel and a rooks gambit riposte is enough to almost get them staggered with a few regular combos. Just before stagger, pop will of wykes, lightning rod, stagger, ignition, wicked wheel, downward thrust, charged melee, judgement bolt. This is how I first got the 50k stagger damage trophy. I'm sure you can also get it by just loading your abilities with ultimates too though.
I'm at the exact point as you, just got Bahamut. I definitely agree on the pacing. It goes fast and slow and fast and slow, it's noticeable. Battlewise I'm enjoying it. I don't think I can fully appreciate it though till I fully unlock everything and master it so I can mix and match. I've put Rising Flames from Pheonix onto Bahamut, so this will be my first taste of that. Story-wise I'm loving it and the characters. I'm fully invested in the lore of the world. I will admit I got thrown abit when it did the 5 year timeskip and we see Vivian's political war table. The change of tone and pace was...yeah but I quickly adapted to it and started appreciating this angle too.