Ultima weapon, good combo strategies, as well as interesting boss marks to kill. Yeah this is Clive at his absolute best and surpasses all things 16 has to offer.
ability setup I was able to gather using my eye balls if anyone is interested: wicked wheel + Diamond dust on garuda windup + judgement bolt on bahamut lightening rod and gigaflare on odin
the same goes for flames of rebirth. also if you use dancing steel and position the lightning rod to where you can hit both it and the enemy at the same time, you can charge the zan gauge to level 5 without needing the +25% charm
Ya Will of the Wykes as well is generally used to melt the stagger bars along with Lightning Rod. If used during stagger it's also used to quickly get the 1.5x bonus
Absolutely beautiful executions. The damage of those staggers were insane. I wonder though why you weren't using limit break? Does it decrease dps somehow?
I usually only use limit break as a last option for when I need to get out of a tough situation although I should really use it more often since you can get it back pretty quickly.
@@kaiber0390 that's why personally I use it every single stagger break and save everything but my fastest recharging abilities for It as well . 90% of the time it is back before the next stagger or forced cutscene.
Probably because the normal LB combo heals them and they don’t get staggered when hit, so in order to prove that at no point did they get any damage easily, they just forego LB entirely.
Wait do you hold down the attack button then switch to do the Zantetsuken attack? I’ve been doing it the other way around and it’s kinda clunky. I just got the power, so that’s some good tech to know.
You can use negative edge on almost all moves / abilities in the game. So, yes, you can hold the button down prior to the eikon switch.. You can even do this for sword / magic bursts.. (Even works on multiple buttons - ie hold down square and triangle while in a different animation (ie eikon super) and then release one at a time to get the charged attacks. Once you get this down it makes the combat even more fluid. The battle mechanics in this game are quite in depth for those that want to get more out of it.
@@Thelhawk2 yeah.. you’ll know you have done it right when Clive performs the zan straight away instead of having the silly single sword swing and then the zan. You simply need to wait for the switch to Odin (which is less than a second) and then release. You can hold for longer if you want - otherwise the timing is straight forward.
Barnabas is just flashy - the majority of his moves are extremely telegraphed. I don’t think it will be difficult for someone familiar with the move set. Imo - the first form of Ultima would be the most difficult because the timing on some of his moves (ie the lasers / fire sword) takes some getting used to.
@@jaysea838 the only struggle i had with barnabas was his windows to attack is so limited and he has so much health that i deal no damage & Stagger not to mention Zantetsuken charge which i died once to cuz i just couldn't put enough damage
Two play throughs has me at level 97. For the second run I didn’t fight a single battle that wasn’t scripted.. I simply used the EXP accessory.. So realistically, you could be level 100 long before the second end game if you spent a bit of time on battles.
lightning rod + dancing steel is a great combo also. if you position the rod correctly to hit it and the enemy at the same time you’ll do extra dmg and it will build the zan gauge to level 5 without the need of a charm boost
I killed level 88 Atlas when I was level 68. I tried to go after level 93 Svarog when I was level 76, but that didn't work out so well for me. I loved these hunts. The only thing I didn't like about them was that there weren't more of them. I wish they were infinite like the Orc Captains in the Middle Earth games or the Mercenaries in Assassin's Creed Odyssey.
@@inverser361 Thanks for pointing this out, here I was thinking it must charge off of other eikon abilities just assigned on the odin bar. This would be cooler, it's kinda lame having to prep it off-camera but I also can't deny the epic finish.
im confused lol how come i can not use megaflare , wings of light, army of darkness, etc.... on my new game plus final fantasy mode? am i doing something wrong?
I love this! Learned a new nasty stagger combo. I'm curious however, why wait to do Electric Rod in the middle of combo (usually before diamond dust or Giga Flare) and not do it right after the aerial slam after Wicked Wheel? Is this due to the duration of Electric Rod not lasting the whole time? From what I understand it's not so much used for damage as it is to quickly raise the stagger to 1.5x more quickly. Keep the vids coming!
Does the game difficulty scale with each NG+ like in souls? Or is it limited to only FF-mode difficulty no matter how many times you beat it? Game is good and fun, but NG+ FF-mode is not challenging enough imo.
I wonder if square will nerf the lightning orb or change how the properties work.. it’s fun but absolutely broken. To be fair, you don’t really abuse it here which is nice to see. Nice work!
it’s very unlikely to get patched as OP and cheesy mechanics like that usually don’t get nerfed in single player games since it isn’t harming anyone else’s enjoyment. it seems to work just as it was intended to based on it’s description, i’m sure the devs tested how it interacted with the other abilities during play testing. i think the best thing to do is keep it as is and leave it up to the player to use it, abuse it, or not touch it at all
@@YoshiPasta okay… but we’re talking about a main title final fantasy entry that is single player. there’s no need to patch anything except for game breaking bugs because it’s not a multiplayer game
I wish Svarog wasn't killable that early considering he is the hardest Mark I killed him in 1 try at level 34 and now that I have beat the Behemoth King I can see he was highest rewarded Mark
You hold level 5 forever, doesn't matter if you travel areas or anything. So, as long as you build it up at any point before hand, you've got it ready.
You can charge zantetsuken with just attacking with Odins blade on, but yeah I was wondering about it too. He must then bring it before hand. Cool preparation before a hunt.
I'm just curious on how u land zand automatically at level 5 ik im probably dumb for asking this I'm just wondering bc I'll see how u use titans ability just before it and see it's already at 5 is there like a mechanic that levels the bar up when not used on Odin?
Hey man, just FYI, Megaflare charges even faster when you’re standing perfectly still. Just letting you know because I saw a lot of unnecessary movement in the Svarog fight. Other than that, amazing work.
Great video my guy Some tips btw start the stagger phase with diamond dust it gives 1.50x instantly and try to use dancing steel with the 50% accessory for extra meters on zen After you go use mega flare + diamond dust use lvl 5 zen it will make your mega flare do a shower above the target and the. Dancing steel and another lvl 5 zen and you will have enough time for everything else My highest damage so far is 861k trying to find if i con guy higher..
If you don’t already - throw out the lightning orb into the boss before lightning steel and you’ll likely get to 1mil. If you have space, throw orb into boss + activate wykes + dancing steel and watch the insane multiplier. (You can also drop the DS accessory by doing this as your guaranteed a level 5 if done right) so you can equip something else to up the damage.
@@nateboogiez9999 Pull of darkness (name of the accessory) in new game + can be upgraded to 50%.. he went into the battle with a level 5 zan beforehand. You can store it for as long as you want.
@@jaysea838 ty for the reply. do u think theres a better way to build the lvl 5 zen? is it possbile to have dancing steel on another eikon to build the zen?
@@nateboogiez9999 you can have any of Odins ability on any eikon and it will build Zan. Mind you, you need Odin equipped as an Eikon to actually use the zan so you’re best just to keep it on him. (Unless you have a specific setup). The easiest way to build zan (not counting the accessory of course) is with Ramuhs lightning orb ability. Launch an orb beside an enemy and then do dancing blade - pretty much a guaranteed level 5. You can even go into a fight with a level 5 and then do the above method and you’ll get 2x level 5 zans. On action mode, the lightning orb pretty much breaks the game. I should make a video about this as this question / method gets asked a lot. More than happy to help!
That's insane dude. What's even more insane is that this isn't even Ultima's true vessel....if that dude ever shows up...what POWER DOES HE WIEEEEELD?!
Once you max everything out and finish new game plus play a new ng+ with that save and it is amazing your op but it gradually gets better and you can get out some crazy numbers
Somehow it feels disconnected. Despite the flashy sequences, it’s more MMO feel rather than Immersive SinglePlayer Action Adventure. Anyone can relate to what I mean? Just a set of tools, powers that are pre rendered and just plays on the screen when you activate them. It’s not interacting with the environment or the enemy physically in any meaningful way. Just stacking numbers to drain HP.
He is scheming..he is not human he is supreme of supreme BOW DoWn...KNEEL ... I lowly being bow down to the supreme of supreme .absolute entity.... This lowly slaves greet my MASTER
I’m not trying to sound like a dick, but this game could’ve been a lot better. there’s no combos. all the fighting is super repetitive. You’re hitting square, dodging, eikons repeat. Like im not asking for mortal combat level combos. Like god of war or any game with a basic light/heavy attack with shirt basic combos. This game is square square square. Maybe a lunge or down slash. That’s it. none of the armor and weapons have anything special about them except basic strength and defense. Nothing was challenging to get. Everyone has the same gear depending where you are in the game. This game is very very graphically pleasing and story is good. Combat was lackluster
Did you do blackthorn sidequests ? Eloise , charon, otto, theodore, and other important chars? They have good story beside thinking the game has boring sidequests
@@studivan I love the game, and it's my GoTY so far, but I agree with OP that the game didn't feel particularly difficult. Action mode, no game journalist rings, only died twice, both during S-Rank hunts. Once you get used to precision dodging it doesn't really matter what combination of skills you have, it's hard to lose. Near the end some bosses started using mechanics that couldn't just be precision dodged and actually forced you to think about your whole kit, but that was few and far in between. Going to start Final Fantasy mode NG+ soon, hopefully that provides more of a challenge. Also agreed that the sidequests are only boring if you're exclusively looking for interesting fights. The storybuilding in them is incredibly and I genuinely found myself caring for the side characters and areas we've helped out on our journey to beat the final boss.
Ultima weapon, good combo strategies, as well as interesting boss marks to kill. Yeah this is Clive at his absolute best and surpasses all things 16 has to offer.
I love how they end the fight with Zantetsuken. Every. Single. Time. So good.
*judgment cut end
Clive is Vergil
Thanks for petting the dawg :D
Always!
Do you prefer quality or performance mode
ability setup I was able to gather using my eye balls if anyone is interested:
wicked wheel + Diamond dust on garuda
windup + judgement bolt on bahamut
lightening rod and gigaflare on odin
for anyone who has played ff 16 and saw this video, this man deserves a like and a share
I'm just impressed how you manage to perfectly time the parry every time.
yes this. super impressive
It’s actually not that hard tbh.
I'm surprised Svarog wasn't scaled to be level 100 itself.
Makes me wish there was a NG+ exclusive hunt that was level 100.
He shouldve been scaled to level 100
yeah I was kinda expecting something like a lvl100 Omega Weapon or something along those lines (it would even fit the lore as a Fallen weapon)
omega weapon dlc? :)
@@milesprado3916 yeah thats what im thinking, would make for a good dlc hunt, maybe some other ff favs too
Because there was a Final Fantasy x Monster Hunter crossover, Svarog reminded of the Elder Dragon Safi'jiva. Especially it's erupting ground laser.
Gigaflare sets off the Lightning Rod every tick? That’s insane!
the same goes for flames of rebirth. also if you use dancing steel and position the lightning rod to where you can hit both it and the enemy at the same time, you can charge the zan gauge to level 5 without needing the +25% charm
Ya Will of the Wykes as well is generally used to melt the stagger bars along with Lightning Rod. If used during stagger it's also used to quickly get the 1.5x bonus
The stagger damage feels closer to Eikon levels of damage.
Absolutely beautiful executions. The damage of those staggers were insane. I wonder though why you weren't using limit break? Does it decrease dps somehow?
The opposite actually . It boosts damage by 10% for all abilities and makes them double hit as well I'm pretty sure
He's just showing off.
I usually only use limit break as a last option for when I need to get out of a tough situation although I should really use it more often since you can get it back pretty quickly.
@@kaiber0390 that's why personally I use it every single stagger break and save everything but my fastest recharging abilities for It as well . 90% of the time it is back before the next stagger or forced cutscene.
Probably because the normal LB combo heals them and they don’t get staggered when hit, so in order to prove that at no point did they get any damage easily, they just forego LB entirely.
Svarog is literally just Safi'jiiva from Monster Hunter, he even has a laser too lol
I like how you hit over 500k without even limit breaking once lol
Wait do you hold down the attack button then switch to do the Zantetsuken attack? I’ve been doing it the other way around and it’s kinda clunky. I just got the power, so that’s some good tech to know.
You can use negative edge on almost all moves / abilities in the game. So, yes, you can hold the button down prior to the eikon switch.. You can even do this for sword / magic bursts.. (Even works on multiple buttons - ie hold down square and triangle while in a different animation (ie eikon super) and then release one at a time to get the charged attacks. Once you get this down it makes the combat even more fluid. The battle mechanics in this game are quite in depth for those that want to get more out of it.
this is good to know...about to start my own NG+ run
@@jaysea838so would it be holding Square, Switch to Odin, press Circle let go or square to release zantetsuken?
@@Thelhawk2 yeah.. you’ll know you have done it right when Clive performs the zan straight away instead of having the silly single sword swing and then the zan. You simply need to wait for the switch to Odin (which is less than a second) and then release. You can hold for longer if you want - otherwise the timing is straight forward.
Baranabas and Final Boss Next? Curious to see how god players like you play against them
Eventually
Barnabas is just flashy - the majority of his moves are extremely telegraphed. I don’t think it will be difficult for someone familiar with the move set. Imo - the first form of Ultima would be the most difficult because the timing on some of his moves (ie the lasers / fire sword) takes some getting used to.
@@jaysea838 the only struggle i had with barnabas was his windows to attack is so limited and he has so much health that i deal no damage & Stagger not to mention Zantetsuken charge which i died once to cuz i just couldn't put enough damage
1:42 dude just did Judgement Cut End.
nice gameplay bro🔥 but how long did it take you to max level?
Two play throughs has me at level 97. For the second run I didn’t fight a single battle that wasn’t scripted.. I simply used the EXP accessory.. So realistically, you could be level 100 long before the second end game if you spent a bit of time on battles.
That’s a good boy, Torgal.
Just got through Bahamut and istg from now on imma use that lightning rod + gigaflare combo that shit was insane
lightning rod + dancing steel is a great combo also. if you position the rod correctly to hit it and the enemy at the same time you’ll do extra dmg and it will build the zan gauge to level 5 without the need of a charm boost
@@BlayF13he just said he just beat bahamut he isn't even particularly close to odin
@@azrael5493 yes but odin is featured in the gameplay, just sharing another useful combo he could use eventually
Wow….an explanation on why you picked everything would be cool but that was epic.
By any chance can u make a video uploading your save file so I along with others can use it with save wizard
How do you accumulate level 5 of odin's zantetsuken without using his power?
He probably hit some mobs beforehand
Yeah how? Please explain no used odin skill at all?
You can charge it before the fight. It stays at level 5 until you use it.
With fights like these, hopefully we can see them bringing back Final Fantasy explorers.
Great video! You have the accessories in the description - please could you also list your ability setup 😊
how many times did you practice those parries (deaths/restart battle) on atlas ? good shit.
Is there any way to rechallenge hunt marks? These were some of the most fun that I had with the game and I'd love to master the fights
I killed level 88 Atlas when I was level 68. I tried to go after level 93 Svarog when I was level 76, but that didn't work out so well for me. I loved these hunts. The only thing I didn't like about them was that there weren't more of them. I wish they were infinite like the Orc Captains in the Middle Earth games or the Mercenaries in Assassin's Creed Odyssey.
Devil may cry vergil judgement cut awesome 5:40
How do you time the parry? Godlike dude.
Svarog reminds me of Safi jiiva from Monster hunter world
9:04 Lol Svarog reminds me of Smaug from The Hobbit 😂
Does he get Zan with the non-odin abilities or does he fight the monster to get it to level 5 just before fighting these bosses?
God tier performance from my man.💯👌🏼🔥
how are you charging level 5 zantetsuken without ever using an ability for odin like dancing steel, etc?
He charges it up before the fight
@@inverser361 ah, i see. i didnt know if there was some tech i didnt know about. thank you
@@inverser361 Thanks for pointing this out, here I was thinking it must charge off of other eikon abilities just assigned on the odin bar. This would be cooler, it's kinda lame having to prep it off-camera but I also can't deny the epic finish.
@@thebeattsyou can charge with Odins other abilities in the other Ekion spots.
Just finished the game, I was waiting for something like this, but holy shit, so soon ? People don't cease to amaze me.
What accessories are u using?
im confused lol how come i can not use megaflare , wings of light, army of darkness, etc.... on my new game plus final fantasy mode? am i doing something wrong?
I love this! Learned a new nasty stagger combo. I'm curious however, why wait to do Electric Rod in the middle of combo (usually before diamond dust or Giga Flare) and not do it right after the aerial slam after Wicked Wheel? Is this due to the duration of Electric Rod not lasting the whole time? From what I understand it's not so much used for damage as it is to quickly raise the stagger to 1.5x more quickly. Keep the vids coming!
Lightning rod only lasts for a certain number of hits iirc and seems to be sued after the multiplier hits max
Does the game difficulty scale with each NG+ like in souls? Or is it limited to only FF-mode difficulty no matter how many times you beat it? Game is good and fun, but NG+ FF-mode is not challenging enough imo.
I wonder if square will nerf the lightning orb or change how the properties work.. it’s fun but absolutely broken. To be fair, you don’t really abuse it here which is nice to see. Nice work!
it’s very unlikely to get patched as OP and cheesy mechanics like that usually don’t get nerfed in single player games since it isn’t harming anyone else’s enjoyment. it seems to work just as it was intended to based on it’s description, i’m sure the devs tested how it interacted with the other abilities during play testing. i think the best thing to do is keep it as is and leave it up to the player to use it, abuse it, or not touch it at all
@@BlayF13SoP for the most part was a PvE with online multiplayer and abilities & classes got nerfs within patches
@@YoshiPasta okay… but we’re talking about a main title final fantasy entry that is single player. there’s no need to patch anything except for game breaking bugs because it’s not a multiplayer game
@@BlayF13 Fair enough
BROTHER IN CHRIST that damage!! Gear?
I wish Svarog wasn't killable that early considering he is the hardest Mark I killed him in 1 try at level 34 and now that I have beat the Behemoth King I can see he was highest rewarded Mark
is he entering every boss fight with a fully charge zentetsuken ?
How are you charging the Zantesuken to Level 5 without using any of the Odin skills or Arms of Darkness?
Zantetsuken charge carries over between battles. You can build it up on random mobs first.
You hold level 5 forever, doesn't matter if you travel areas or anything. So, as long as you build it up at any point before hand, you've got it ready.
Nice gameplay. Torgal is best boi.
I'm lvl 40 in the regular game and have defeated all the bosses thus far except for Svarog. Glad you whipped his ass for me😂
Holy cow, your stagger combo is broken
watching this guy play makes me realize how bad I am at FF16 lmao
How are u able to build up odins meter gauge without using abilities to get to lvl5 can you share this detail?
See a lot of Devil My Cry but this game is still A1
Svarog reminds me of Safi'jiiva from Monster Hunter : World Iceborn.
How do you have a lvl 5 zan without using any Odin abilities?
He brings it into the fight before hand
You can charge zantetsuken with just attacking with Odins blade on, but yeah I was wondering about it too. He must then bring it before hand. Cool preparation before a hunt.
Ya know……Clive may have surpassed Mr. Cloud Strife himself.
That last boss looks pretty same as Safi'jiiva from MHW 😮
How you had your zantetsuken at level 5 but you wasn’t using it?
He had it saved pre battle. U can save ur zan from a previous battle.
How are you using more than the 3 eikons?
If you level them up all the way you can use their abilities on any eikon
I'm just curious on how u land zand automatically at level 5 ik im probably dumb for asking this I'm just wondering bc I'll see how u use titans ability just before it and see it's already at 5 is there like a mechanic that levels the bar up when not used on Odin?
You can level up the bar on like trash mobs. It keeps its charge until you use it
this is peak FF16 performance
You know if look at it from up close svarog looks like safi jiva
500k combos are insane
how odins meter fill up?
The background music isnt as good as "find the flame" but i cant play it over the song here, nice gameplay tho
Seperti biasa Sang Dewa Gamer 1juta Sub + Tahun ini Bos
Badass finishers
Should of limit breaked right when they stagger, probably would of done well over 600k
Fucking cool holy shit I love FF16.
It's like watching a devil may cry character.
Holy HELL you’re a good player 😮 I still get my butt kicked with the ring that gives you precise dodging 😅 This was seriously impressive
Why u Zantetsuken so fast lv 5???
Build one up in a previous battle.
You can carry it over.
Hey man, just FYI, Megaflare charges even faster when you’re standing perfectly still. Just letting you know because I saw a lot of unnecessary movement in the Svarog fight. Other than that, amazing work.
ultimaniac next!
Great video my guy
Some tips btw start the stagger phase with diamond dust it gives 1.50x instantly and try to use dancing steel with the 50% accessory for extra meters on zen
After you go use mega flare + diamond dust use lvl 5 zen it will make your mega flare do a shower above the target and the. Dancing steel and another lvl 5 zen and you will have enough time for everything else
My highest damage so far is 861k trying to find if i con guy higher..
If you don’t already - throw out the lightning orb into the boss before lightning steel and you’ll likely get to 1mil. If you have space, throw orb into boss + activate wykes + dancing steel and watch the insane multiplier. (You can also drop the DS accessory by doing this as your guaranteed a level 5 if done right) so you can equip something else to up the damage.
what accessory are u talking about with the 50%? and also how did this guy charge his zen to lvl 5 without usin odin abilities?
@@nateboogiez9999 Pull of darkness (name of the accessory) in new game + can be upgraded to 50%.. he went into the battle with a level 5 zan beforehand. You can store it for as long as you want.
@@jaysea838 ty for the reply. do u think theres a better way to build the lvl 5 zen? is it possbile to have dancing steel on another eikon to build the zen?
@@nateboogiez9999 you can have any of Odins ability on any eikon and it will build Zan. Mind you, you need Odin equipped as an Eikon to actually use the zan so you’re best just to keep it on him. (Unless you have a specific setup). The easiest way to build zan (not counting the accessory of course) is with Ramuhs lightning orb ability. Launch an orb beside an enemy and then do dancing blade - pretty much a guaranteed level 5. You can even go into a fight with a level 5 and then do the above method and you’ll get 2x level 5 zans. On action mode, the lightning orb pretty much breaks the game. I should make a video about this as this question / method gets asked a lot. More than happy to help!
Imagine CLIVE having NOCTIS warp strike...
Phoenix shift is better than warp strike
So the only eikon that is not used is Fire.
Oh this is bliss
It is just like one of my Japanese anime... you know, those isekai....
"Devil my Fantasy xvi"
Pet the Dog! 🐕
This reminds me of devil may cry, some of the moves look the same
That's insane dude. What's even more insane is that this isn't even Ultima's true vessel....if that dude ever shows up...what POWER DOES HE WIEEEEELD?!
Once you max everything out and finish new game plus play a new ng+ with that save and it is amazing your op but it gradually gets better and you can get out some crazy numbers
Only 5 S ranked bosses
The electric ball would of killed him quicker trust me good gameplay
Lol I use the dame 6 habilities to beat the bosses
Somehow it feels disconnected. Despite the flashy sequences, it’s more MMO feel rather than Immersive SinglePlayer Action Adventure. Anyone can relate to what I mean?
Just a set of tools, powers that are pre rendered and just plays on the screen when you activate them.
It’s not interacting with the environment or the enemy physically in any meaningful way. Just stacking numbers to drain HP.
Great video. Amazing game I love it. But we a dlc or an update of secret hardcore bosses this one's are to easy
So this is devil may cry..
T as jauche elle arrive a 5 toute seule😂
He is scheming..he is not human he is supreme of supreme BOW DoWn...KNEEL ... I lowly being bow down to the supreme of supreme .absolute entity.... This lowly slaves greet my MASTER
bro I cant see a thing
charging lvl 5 zen before fights? that's kinda lame 😔...
Why does every boss look so weak?
Are they this easy to kill??....
Doesn't look to be amy challenge what so ever!
I’m not trying to sound like a dick, but this game could’ve been a lot better. there’s no combos. all the fighting is super repetitive. You’re hitting square, dodging, eikons repeat. Like im not asking for mortal combat level combos. Like god of war or any game with a basic light/heavy attack with shirt basic combos. This game is square square square. Maybe a lunge or down slash. That’s it. none of the armor and weapons have anything special about them except basic strength and defense. Nothing was challenging to get. Everyone has the same gear depending where you are in the game. This game is very very graphically pleasing and story is good. Combat was lackluster
I beat svarog at level 37 dying only about 3-4 times.
God this game is easy.
It’s really it’s only weakness apart from boring siquests
Did you do blackthorn sidequests ? Eloise , charon, otto, theodore, and other important chars?
They have good story beside thinking the game has boring sidequests
If you think the game is too easy, you need to get a job..
@@studivan I love the game, and it's my GoTY so far, but I agree with OP that the game didn't feel particularly difficult. Action mode, no game journalist rings, only died twice, both during S-Rank hunts. Once you get used to precision dodging it doesn't really matter what combination of skills you have, it's hard to lose. Near the end some bosses started using mechanics that couldn't just be precision dodged and actually forced you to think about your whole kit, but that was few and far in between. Going to start Final Fantasy mode NG+ soon, hopefully that provides more of a challenge.
Also agreed that the sidequests are only boring if you're exclusively looking for interesting fights. The storybuilding in them is incredibly and I genuinely found myself caring for the side characters and areas we've helped out on our journey to beat the final boss.
If you want the extreme difficulty try the ultimania arcade mode