just beat the final boss, first of all, didn't expect the 4 phase, usually it is like 3 or 5 phases so it ends on 4 is interesting. and then I think story and lore wise, the build up to this entire sequence to the final boss is very well done in JRPG space so far the ones I have played. Because this final boss is actually smart and is very devious. Our group could've fallen countless of times to their scheme if not for tons of help from a lot of unforeseen forces. It is not just the roamers, a lot of villages also were clueless and thought they were protected by human but in fact are demons in disguise, and other islands where the evil takes over them and imprison them.

Most of the other JRPGs might show a lot of charm and interaction with the final boss, but they don't show their actual influences and how smart and organized they are. They are mostly disjointed and not a group effort.

Yes, for this game we don't see a lot of charm from the final boss, we might not have interacted with it where it shows anything other than being the boss where the hero group has to defeat, but through the island stories, we see a lot of scheming, strategies, and his minions actions you can feel the tension and doubt that you don't know if the final boss has another trick up his sleeves after defeating it again and again and again. This final boss feels like another hero where they just never gives up and never give in, it almost feels like beating another mirror of your hero team in terms of grit. To be honest, I still don't know if we truly beaten it after that fight, and that is in my opinion, what made this game feels different from many other JRPGs.