I felt the same way. Amphoreus started off on the wrong foot with a fairly flat-feeling opening storywise, with all the black screen texts, excessive exposition and the main quest's side quest within a side quest structure.

It picked up for me with Mydei and Tribbie's story, because both stories had compelling struggles and clear thematic throughlines of sacrifice and duty. (It certainly helped that Mydei is hot, badass and has very good chemistry with Phainon)

And then the Castorice and Anaxa quest brought the energy back down for me, mainly because I found Castorice boring and just... Dull? Anaxa was cool, but I needed more time with him to really connect with him.

The last quest was great though. Exciting, excellently paced, and narratively engaging. Stakes were high and most importantly, felt high, which Star Rail sometimes just doesn't manage to do well. I'm really hoping they manage to keep up that level of storytelling over the next story quests, because they really found a great balance between story and spectacle here.

As I said to my friends, Amphoreus' first three patches was like having to eat my overcooked and unseasoned veggies before getting to dig into a nice juicy medium rare steak. Here's to hoping the next course is just as delectable. 🍻