Like all modern Final Fantasy games, the third act is shit. I do think they had something in the first 30 hours of the game - I really enjoyed how initially the stakes are less about killing a god and more focused on the fact that Valisthea is apparently just a shithole where 2/3 countries are okay with the enslavement of Bearers while also either worshiping or being led by their Dominants (Empire & Dhalmekia). Honestly I think the core mistake of the story lies in the fact they felt a need to explain 'WHY' Eikons are.

They could've just focused on the mother-crystals causing the blight & had the central story focus be the clashes between the dominants via international politics/war and the utter destruction that causes as Clive and crew go about destroying the mother-crystals/freeing bearers (and ultimately saving the continent/world) but I feel like someone decided mid-way through that it'd be cooler if that just was all made meaningless by re-imagining the Ascians from FFXIV as a single entity. Which is ultimately (pun intended)...okay at best but honestly it kept annoying me every time I'd catch glimpses of the sort of story/world they kinda gave up in favor of making the last act of the game so boring.

Jill apparently spends 5 full ass years being the sole Dominant at the Hideaway who is able to prime (because Ifrit won't answer Clive for...reasons? maybe this gets explained in the final quest I've yet to do, but as far as I can tell, this is never really explained) and the story kinda hints that this is causing the Curse to affect her but never actually comes out & says it. She freezes a path across the ocean for Clive without much real issue after being sidelined after their first encounter with Odin and then just...lets Clive take her Eikon? I was so mad at this (and the accompanying literal 30 second "wow Clive you suck for doing that to Jill. actually ok I forgive you" fight between Joshua and Clive over this a quest later) that I literally put the game down until last night.

Jote is introduced in a really bad-ass way when Joshua & her are captured by Benedikta, taking that stab to the shoulder and being like "holy shit milord please don't prime she's baiting you" - especially since this is very early on when the game hasn't really done much other than show that every time Dominants do their things, the average person suffers. Jote then proceeds to spend the rest of the game being relegated to basically Joshua's shy side-piece who serves only to remind the player that Joshua is still really frail physically, is eventually just hidden in the hospital area of the Hideaway for the last act of the game because after it is revealed she is actually part of a previously unmentioned secret spy organization devoted to the Phoenix that apparently they came up with very late into development when someone thought to ask "hey where did these characters first meet anyways".

The Hideaway in general is just full of characters who deserved way more emphasis and story-beats than Ultima does. You get introduced to Oscar - the nephew of Rodney Murdoch who trained Clive to be a Shield - who wants to become a Guardian of the Flame and wants to follow Clive around to learn from him. This happens sometime after Eastpool, where Rodney's wife Hanna was living until Clive & gang bring a story-led massacre party to town, is wiped out. There's a whole side-quest where you bring Bearers to Eastpool and convince them to rebuild and live in Eastpool. The quest even mentions Oscar and that maybe he'd like to go back to Eastpool to help contribute to the re-building effort of the town his Uncle & Aunt loved. Cool. You go back to the Hideaway and Oscar is just still standing in front of your room. Every line for the rest of the game "Wow I can go back to Eastpool and rebuild?? very kind of you". Which just leaves me wondering, was a significant portion of this character's content cut for whatever reason?

Tarja's entire character is focused around being the Hideaway's doctor and also the person who removes the Bearer's brands. A side-quest you do for another physiker at the Hideaway is focused around this, about how Brand removal is quite dangerous and can even kill patients. Both Tarja and the quest-giver mention that they'll keep searching for better ways though and that basically being scarred is still better than being branded. Both the concept and topic of Brands are never really explored in depth though. The quest tells you that there is indeed a poison in the Brand that will kill the Bearer if they disobey their masters. Does not explain how Clive was able to run around for sometime after being Branded and literally killing his squad.

I feel like the main reason that the story really just feels unfinished/disjointed in places is because the game is less of an RPG and more of an action game. 95% of the Treasure Chests in the game give you materials for 'crafting'. I literally have like over 2000 Sharp Fangs and like 800 Meteorites at this point. You'd think the frequency at which they're given to you would mean I'd be using them a bunch, compared to like...potions. I don't even think you need Sharp Fangs for any equipment beyond the first 10 hours of the game. Not to mention the equipment/attributes themselves are just stupid. Oh wow, a piece of equipment that reduces the cooldown of an Eikon's move that I never use by 3.0s? Oh wow, I just unlocked a new crafting recipe at the blacksmith for a new belt that gives me an additional 5 stagger? If you master 3 Eikons' ultimate abilities (I use Flames of Rebirth, Judgement Strike, and Gigaflare), you can basically peel through bosses and enemies just by staggering them once and then using all three abilities in a row. Why would I need an additional 15 stagger?

Basically every Eikon ability after Bahamut's is useless. The fact you can only assign 3 Eikons at a time and you're forced to spend like 10,000 skill-points on each ability before you can swap it to another Eikon is supremely annoying. Tbh though, the combat doesn't really ever ask much of you so I guess there's no real point in the abilities besides deciding which of the Eikons aesthetic you like the most (and it is Ifrit, Odin, and Shiva for me ultimately. Bahamut's Megaflare ability is trash and at least Shiva/Odin have somewhat useful abilities bound to Circle).

Anyways 6/10 Final Fantasy. I sincerely wish they'd return to their roots a bit more for the next main-line game but unfortunately we will probably never get a true turn-based mainline game again where 90% of the dev focus is on the other parts of the game rather than making flashy combat spectacles (which admittedly, have been the best part of 16, but still, there are so many times I get hype for a real-time cutscene in the middle of a boss fight).