HiE - looking for feedback

So a while back I asked readers what their favorite aspect of HiE was. There were some interesting responses given.

Now though I'm thinking about a different route. What does everyone believe to be some of the weakest aspects of this long project?

Comments

[ArtichokeLust]

The only thing I don't like is when I have something to do and only want to procrastinate a little, but the chapters are too long so I end up procrastinating too much... But that's my problem, not yours.

If I look at any individual aspect, then it seems decent: the grammar is decent, the characterization is good, the pace is perfect for an immersive story, and the cliffhangers--despite being annoying sometimes--keep me reading this every week. However, the plot seems kind of random. It's like if me and my friends were playing a storytelling game and didn't want it to end, so when we reached what we thought was the end, we did a 'but wait, there's more!' thing, and then we did it again, and again, and then tried to cover it with some overarching theme...

It's strange, this is one of the only stories where I don't really know what's going on, or what it's really about, but it still keeps me coming back.

[RanmaChaos]

I think the weakest part of the story is how long it's taking to get to the reveal of the Big Bad(if there even is one).

[TheObserver]

I can only think of one weak aspect of your story. The time I have to wait between updates. I love this story plz keep it up

[Dirty Bit]

I can't really spot much of a weak aspect, really. Everyone's in character, the exposition, while lengthy at times, covers the needed details, and you do well on twists and cliffhangers.

The only weak aspect I can mention is the lack of Discord, but I believe that you have your reasons for that

[Azrael Chiaroscuro]

I feel like the exposition constantly revisits particular points to the point of redundancy, like ulquiorra's constant thoughts about the pointlessness of friendship. I understand that that's really important, but at the same time every time it comes up it becomes a multi paragraph internal monologue about why it's pointless for the same reasons stated in the last monologue about it.

The characters are sometimes ooc but that's all good, most of the time it's done tastefully. twilight's rant at celestia being the major exception in my opinion. that one ended up shifting off topic in a very weird way. no problem with the content per se, but serious non sequitur.

That's all I can really think of.

[Zaralann]

'Santa-Barbara'-syndrome. There was an Episode where all the Character sat at the dinner table to eat at the BEGINNING of the Episode, and for the whole Episode they didn't even TOUCHED the food.
Your story has everything to become one of the best on this site, but some of the Chapters kind of lack a... purpose, for the lack of a better word. Yes, characters talk, they think, but other than that, nothing! The plot-line of the chapter just nervously potters around, constantly checking its watch before going 'Well, the quota for the Chapter is done.' and then it just ends, cuts to black. The characters have achieved nothing, learned nothing, and will now jump into a big black hole and return to nothing.
The fight with the Dragon was awesome, as was the battle with Celestia, and for some time there was actual 'walking forward' done, but the the plot kind of stumbled and fell down. And for some reason stopped moving.