i'm fine with how zodiark being a weakling. he was not only sundered but he was also being controlled by fandaniel, aka a dude who WANTED TO DIE. it'd make sense if he just couldn't use zodiark's full power simply because of this desire, even if it were subconsciously influencing him

my issue is how garlemald was great until your body is hijacked. whatever you have to say about "in from the cold" aside, it just had no point; no relevance. in fact the NPCs are just like "lmao that was wack o well" and continue on as if nothing happened and it's never mentioned again.

imo the only reason shadowbringers felt like it had a more cohesive storyline is because even in the areas that were 90% filler (fairies...) you still had one primary goal, aka "defeat the lightwardens". so even if the area sucked and had no relevance to the overall story you at least had a motivation to return darkness/night to the area.