I thought it was pretty convenient that after we get back from Elpis, our biggest obstacle is merely convincing The Forum / prepping the Aetherburner. I realize it was necessary, but that second dip in Labyrinthos drags even harder than the Hummingways (though funnily enough they become involved in it, too).

Nothing within that point of the story is related to Final Days or Blasphemy phenomena, other than, "Oh hey, we know the root cause, so now we gotta rig up this spaceship!" Idk, it just felt like there was very little tension.

Aitiascope was interesting, by the Hydaelyn trial and associated cutscenes were pretty ehhh... and almost invoked another plot hole ( She fights us exclusively with aether, there's no mention of us using Dynamis against her, so it's kind of a head scratcher as to why her test really mattered much at all, other than killing her to get her out of the way and throw down her run away plan).