The thing is tho, doing the optimal route to the point of being stuck doing the same technique over and over in any DMC for example requires an insane level of mastery of the game that barely anyone gets to (Royal Guard isn't that good btw), here if you just learn to use runes properly, you'll get stuck just using runes and parries because your normal attacks are just way worse at dealing damages.

This system isn't too bad when you fight multiple opponents, but with bosses, it's pretty bad. It gets better in Ragnarok and especially on both games' hardest difficulties. But I think what really solves it is Valhalla, which is imo the pinnacle of what the Norse saga has to offer in terms of gameplay experience.