2.3, and the terrible imbalance of the Hunt.

Get the pitchforks ready when I say this, but I really feel like the Zodiac Saga's Nexus step was a slick way for SE to fix the imbalance they encouraged with the almost-too-good Hunt rewards, and get people running instances again. Hell, you could get just about everything but Atma from hunts back then.

Also, Ramuh aside, it was a low-tide for the story, especially when weighed again all that came after it.