Yeah, the pacing was kinda weird. They wanted to redeem some of the villains but this results in the those scarier villains being defeated leaving the weird normal humans as endgame.But I did, at launch... and beat it :O)
I do have to admit the game loses steam FAST 3/4 into it. I beat it out of inertia but the final boss of VC1 was way cooler and just overall the last missions in VC1 were consistently great, while VC4's were the worst in the game. Which is a shame really - I liked it.
I liked Captainless Squad for giving adventures to some of the less used members but the in-game squad missions already satisfied that feeling.
Squad 7 DLC is almost purely fanservice as the units are just ok.
The Valkyria DLC is alright if you like Selveria and Crymaria but I'm not a fan of the maps attached to them, which serve mostly as showcases for how awesome the Valkyria units are. ... also not a fan of the characters but if you are, it's got a bunch of scenes.