What drags these large scale fights it the AI sometimes taking ages for the turn (there could also be an option to speed up animations, btw). Having no larger scale battle/s whatsoever would take some of the epicness, in particular if some of the more epic battle tunes are playing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMXiYs-wi3A 
Spoiler, you can also save during a fight.
