Hehe, yes indeed. It is a very brutal animation. Ardo looked very nasty and ill-intentioned with a two handed sword going all out with the hammer strike.
I actually liked feint too and used that almost as often as mighty blow.

I might have had the choice to access Ignisphaero at an earlier point as you mention, but lacked the adventuring points for it. But in any case it seemed fair enough for the point from where I did obtain it.