I agree it took him too long to show up in the ‘14 version. But the style of the monster was much better in ‘14 than in ‘98.
The 2014 design was much closer to the original 1950s movie but the reason he looked like that in the 1950s movie so they could fit in a human actor in a bulky rubber suit and have him walk around and turn corners.
The 1998 design was closer to a giant prehistoric mutated lizard, which is what Godzilla is supposed to be according to his origin story.