Elipso was stupid. The set up to X's death was stupid. It was not highly enjoyable, it's like beating up a guy in a coma.
Nobody said beating a sleeping guy up was ep
ic. Considering Elpis wholly expected X to be revived any time soon, Elpis' purpose never was to kill the empty shell of X, it was all about the release of Dark Elf. That X was to be destroyed that way was an unfortunate side effect.
What's ep
ic here is the immense shock of such a disgraceful act to the hero X actually having succeeded despite Zero's action to stop it. That feeling of failure and that feeling of disgust that fills you. Elpis gaining immense power by the Dark Elf, driven mad by it, his words are like a twisted form of those spoken centuries ago by that girl of Zero's lost memories who died. The very fact that you hate Elpis then and there is actually the point, everything is set up to let you fight him with your emotions heightened for the kill. For all the gruesome things Copy-X and Dr. Vile did, it was very hard to feel that.
All the same, Elpis is a sad character, having witnessed the horrid nature of Neo Arcadia firsthand, he is driven by a desire to save all Repliroids and his care for Ciel, the only human that protected Repliroids. He is a person that could have been a hero but drowned himself in power after an over the top lesson in humiliation. His actions then and there are his own and all the same not his own. We are to hate him and at the same time we know we shouldn't hate him because the cause is Dark Elf.
When it comes to the vital plot element that is Dark Elf, his corruption shows the immense power of the force that nearly destroyed the world. His salvation shows us the divine good that is the Mother Elf, for she was even touched by the last words of a man we were all made to hate. Without those points clearly established, the climax of the ZERO-series would be far less amazing than it was.