Honestly, it was probably the narrative that kept me going through it. Yeah, near the end there does start to become an element of trying to collect all the best loot but ultimately there isn't really anything satisfying about the gameplay. Quite the opposite, really, as most of the time it starts to just turn into annoyingly trying to hurry up and take down a bunch of damage sponges so you can move on to the next group of damage sponges. Some of the bosses were kind of fun, but again the second half of the game just does everything it can to wear you down. My strategy for the final boss ended up being getting to a level where it's first form couldn't really hurt me and then just filling my inventory with healing items for the second form and wailing on it until it died, with no regard for trying to avoid counter attacks.
Probably not the answer you were hoping for, I realize, but I did want to be honest despite my love for the game as a whole.