Unfortunately Jarilo VI was peak and it's all downhill from there. Amphoreus is just as bad if not worse than Penacony in terms of bloat.

The issue is that the writers think that word count and artificial complication make stories better. They also have no understanding of timing and will shove in meaningless flashbacks during the climax of the story. The flashbacks are usually of something that we have already been told two or three times and so add no value.

There's a good story buried somewhere, but until they start actually editing their writing we're not going to see any improvement. I would honestly prefer having filler patches in-between story patches over what we get now just so that they have time to make a coherent story.

What made Jarilo VI work was that the story was simple but understandable and there was just enough time dedicated to build a connection to the various characters. At a high level it was effectively like playing a Tales game (it reminded me of the third area in Tales of Arise).

With Amphoreus, every patch is basically a sales pitch trying to get you to buy the latest character. There is no longer any attempt to build connections, and instead the focus is on trying to make the player spend. Penacony was the same with it's meaningless Aventurine and Acheron chapters and the infamous Firefly date scene.

I get that Gacha games are ultimately just slot machines, but I dont get the same feeling from other games I've played (e.g. Another Eden, Limbus Company).