I mean, I hate Thantos too. I know we were never going to get a simple story and a simple ending, it just isn't going to happen with Nomura at the helm. I just wish he'd let character arcs end instead of the constant "but before they were X they were..."
I just can't stop drawing the comparisons to Disney, because they're there by design. MX didn't need to be a 5D chess master... we could've just picked up his story in 3 without the additional baggage. The juxtaposition will always feel off, and it just doesn't have to be.
Sometimes I wonder if the games people keep calling spin-offs would be better if they actually were. Imagine if DDD didn't feature anyone we already know and was a completely separate story with its own new protagonist.
There was no more story to tell after 2, though. Everything was kinda already wrapped up but people wanted a trilogy.