I'm fine with the direction the Empire is going. Having them go from pseudo-Nazis to straight Nazis is a pretty natural evolution and underscores that the Empire needs to be stopped, whether due to the designs of its Ascian architect or the end goal of its reigning Emperor. Nothing good will come of the Empire, and that's something the developers have been trying to impress on players since 2.0 (at least; from what I've read 1.x was even less positive in its portrayal of Imperial jingoism).

"Freedom through Technology" is the motto of the Garlond Ironworks, and was adopted by Cid upon leaving the Empire precisely because the Empire uses technology to oppress others. It's brought up by Nero during the Omega storyline because Cid is holding himself back out of shame and guilt over what happened with the Lunar Transmitter and Dalamud, and is intended to snap Cid out of his funk and get him doing what needs to be done. (Nero's got this very tsundere-bromance-rivalry thing going on with Cid... it's kind of funny, to be honest.)

Fordola never really cared for the Empire or its mission. To her, the military was a way to try and get some self-governance back into the hands of the Ala Mhigans as well as a means to exact revenge on some of the more unruly Ala Mhigans who stoned her father (a defector to the Empire) to death. Her dialogue after Castrum Abania should make it abundantly clear that Fordola has no love for the Empire.

Gaius believes in the Imperial mission of stopping eikon summons, but has long since realized that the methods set forth by the Imperial government simply don't work. That's why he went rogue with the Ultima Weapon, as he believed it to be a means of permanently dealing with eikons. He now knows he was simply duped into playing the Ascians' tune - and that they're working in the shadows behind the Empire. He intends to burn them out of the Empire and defy their aims - a true patriot.

Quote Originally Posted by Zohar_Lahar View Post
The problem was their "noble conquest" kept causing the very thing they were trying to prevent: eikon summoning. Even Gaius screwed this up. As such, Garlean Empire finally made sense to me with the Solus reveal; because now they aren't just horribly incompetent warmongers, but a vulnerable people who were manipulated by a demagogue with ulterior motives and hidden agenda.
Exactly. Exactly.

The Garlean mission statement doesn't hold up under scrutiny. Even before the reveal of Ascians being behind the Empire, if you look at it critically it doesn't make sense. "Prevent eikon summons which are carried out due to our efforts to prevent eikon summons which are carried out due to our efforts... blah blah blah ad infinitum." Even the assertion that the Burn was a result of eikon summons doesn't make a lot of sense - the Empire never encountered one beforehand, and summons were a lot less common back then... so how would have Solus known the Burn was the result of summons and not something else?