The thing about not having a real antagonist is spot on. Every one they bring up that has the true potential to be one, they just kill off IMMEDIATELY (and you do it). While satisfying to kill the person you begin to hate, they leave absolutely not room for you to seethe and truly build up a disliking of an evil character. Lahabrea is annoying, but he was never truly someone you hated. There was potential with Nabriales, but he basically shows up, kills moenbryda and you build up some dislike for him, but he's immediately gone once you begin to hate him. So nothing there. Every ascian they introduce basically dies in a short time frame after you met them and you can hardly even hate them before they fall.

All of the Garlean's I basically just see as stupid. The emperor was just obsessive and there was no true build up of hate between the WoL and him. All of the generals are now complete jokes to beat (and not like they were very hard at the time either). Nero has some decent character development, but they do the opposite and make you sort of like him rather than hate him during the crystal tower raids.

When that guy betrayed the crystal braves, i didn't "hate" him, I was just like, "why the F did we make this group in the first place?" They did a whole lot of nothing and them bam, implosion.

The Warrior of Darkness group, I basically just see them as annoyances as well. Yes, they've attacked you a few times. But they've done nothing else really. Do you know how many things attack me?! I don't really care anymore. Yes, their creepy smiles well.... creep me out, but that isn't what makes an antagonist.

Thordan was a decent potential. You do grow to hate him (mostly because he's reminiscent of a racist grandpa who still believes hitler is the best thing since slice bread), but alas, he's also dead already. And the person that killed Haurchefant had SOOOOOOOO much potential to be an amazing antagonist as nearly everyone in the game was moved by Haurchefant and I'm pretty sure everyone experienced some onion ninjas sneaking around their house whenever they encountered that scene. Like, I was LOOKING to friggin kill that guy after that scene. But alas, I don't even get the chance to just simply fight him 1 on 1. He's just part of the thordan possy. You also have Nidhogg, whom "dies" god knows how many times (seriously?! what is he, a cat?!). Hopefully he's actually dead now and in kitty heaven.

Now, I'm perfectly fine with the antagonist dying. Heck, that's awesome. But when they only exist as an antagonist for a very short amount of time (or you constantly think they're dead!!) it's hard to continue hating them. Especially when they've really barely done anything to piss you off.

And as the OP pointed out, SE seems to like to rush the idea of anger or friendship in general. I don't actually feel any fear, hate or w/e when encountering boss enemies. I just feel annoyed that I'm on yet another errand run for the Eorzean people and not a single F'in one of them is there helping me (lazy bums). Though, I do like the 3 generals, but that's because they've actually shown them to be bada$$es at some point. Raubahn chopping lalafels in half (that in itself is enough to get me to love him), the maelstorm admiral shooting the ever living crap out of that sahagin (however you spell it) and the seedseer... well, she hasn't done anything particularly cool to say. I just like how she's the only leader who's like, "i want to bring peace and prosperity to the land" and all the other generals are like, "yea, let's conquer that shiz. No ragrets!"

But I don't feel "close" to any of them. Not really. More so, I feel like their slave, not their savior. Who sends their savior to go halfway across the world to go "talk" to someone "for" them and then upon getting there, they fricking message you via a headset (couldn't of friggin used that before huh minfillia?!) and then decide they should all meet up together where we started... yea. F you guys. I didn't just save you from a giant rock demon so I could run back and forth for 20 minutes to talk about how incompetent you all are for letting it happen 3 times each.

Alphinaud and Estinien's little bromance came out of no-where. Like, the new patch came out and he was all like, "nuuu I can't live without him! Screw saving Eorzea, I'll just risk my and everyone else's life for him even though we barely talked and he for the most part was an absolute ass throughout the entirety of us trying to make "peace" with the dragons. Seriously... it was basically like:
WoL: We're here to make peace with you dragons
Dragon: We're still angry that you killed one of us
Estinien: I'll jam this spear in your eye!
Alphinaud: omg, you're so funny Estinien! Please have my babies.

I find a majority of the protagonists annoying rather than compelling. They're just sooo..... helpless for the most part. Haurchefant was a fantastic breath of fresh air. He was likable in just about every sense. If only SE could make 20 more of him, then maybe the Eorzea could actually achieve something on their own every once in a blue moon.