Can we get choices that really matter and have a effect?

[Lersayil]

Remember kids! It's not genocide if you don't think of them as living people.

Only half joking though. From the perspective of the person acting, it actually isn't.

I find both extremes of this argument equally (slightly)... disturbing? Wanting to join the villains of the story is dellusional and edgy. From the heroes point of view, there is no logical or sane reason to do so.

On the other side of the coin, liberally throwing around labels such as good and evil, outright dismissing the villains as genocidial maniacs (...ok it might apply to Nidhogg) in a story clearly aiming for some moral relativist tones, is naive, self righteous and ignores most of the nuance behind the scenario.

ON topic: OP, you are looking for an entirely different kind of game. MMOs in general aren't great for story telling. FFXIV uses the JRPG formula, which traditionally focuses more on telling a linear story written around a core theme or moral message. If you are looking for an experience akin to tabletop gaming, there are better games to go for. No need to try and twist other, wholly different types of games to your taste.

[linay]

On the other side of the coin, liberally throwing around labels such as good and evil, outright dismissing the villains as genocidial maniacs (...ok it might apply to Nidhogg) in a story clearly aiming for some moral relativist tones, is naive, self righteous and ignores most of the nuance behind the scenario.

While I feel that certain labels may not be necessary in some situations, an attempt at a nuance can become largely irrelevant when there are two choices in the end: stop what the antagonist is trying to do or not.

If what the antagonist is doing must be stopped, then the action is evil from the perspective of the protagonist regardless if the protagonist can understand why the antagonist is doing it and can even be tempted to do it given similar circumstances, and if the antagonist is not meant to be evil or is meant to be morally redeemed, then they must be made to see the error of their ways even if they still lose/die in the end. Nuance can be irrelevant here, and can even distract from or even undermine the reason why the antagonist must be stopped in the first place if handled incorrectly.

I also disagree with moral relativism and wouldn't want the protagonist to have that worldview. I do think it's completely valid to have the protagonist seek to question and clarify their moral worldview, but the end goal should still be to have moral convictions. That's different from moral relativism and I don't think it's naive or necessarily self-righteous to have moral convictions even if not everyone agrees with you.