Quote Originally Posted by Antoine_Lenheim View Post
Right, I think it was convenient for the writers to destroy Garlemald because development of the story around the Garlean Empire and its people as a whole is sorely lacking. I suppose they did put the Ascians in the forefront permanently as the main enemy in ShB, when they made it so that the Empire was formed by an Ascian and the one pulling the strings, which was shoddy writing and makes me think they just wanted to sweep the Garlean Empire under the rug.

Despite the Garlemald disappointment I think the rest of EW ties up the story well and the subsequent zones somewhat make up for it.
Garlemald Empire being a puppet state for the villains is par the course for Final Fantasy.