Oh, not my man Jared
I get what they're trying to do, but it was so awkwardly and poorly done that I found it laughable. I know this guy is some sort of butler and has ties to the Amicitia family, but I can't help but feel that the writers of the game wanted me to feel angered and fired up to avenge his death when in reality I'm quite indifferent: you don't get to interact with him beyond some very short and lacking in content scenes. I liked what I saw of him, and an affable old man's death is always sad, but well...
Which is why I find hilarious that his death is given almost as much of an emotional punch than Regis'. And much, much, much more than Clarus'! I mean, you only get to (briefly) see the guy in that, again, awkward cutscene sequence from KG (if I hadn't seen the movie, I wouldn't really know who he is until later, and even then...) and the only mention he gets (so far) is yet another awkward exchange between Noctis and Gladio. He (or Iris, especially her) doesn't even seem to care too much about his father's passing, which is incredibly weird.
I understand that the Amicitia family has one priority over all, which is protecting the Royal Family (shown as Gladio says about his old man only doing his job). But it still doesn't feel right at all. Maybe I'm alone when it comes to this.
And the Lestallum invasion could have been done much better even if it was still off-screen. There's no sense of urgency whatsoever.
Another weird scene was Ravus meeting the guys (btw, haven't met Aranea yet; is it later?). The whole Ardyn thing is so bizarre: I get what they're going for (and really enjoy the character), but it still feels half-cooked and unimportant when, in reality, being casually helped by the guy in charge of betraying your father (directing him to his death), persecuting you with an army of robots and conquering your country should be far from normal: it's just... there.
EDIT: Oh, and that weird dream sequence: the music didn't really suit the Omen sequence at all. Let's see if this thing has some sort of relevance in the future.