Endwalker was "meh" (for reasons other than technical issues)

[DoH]

The garlean thing was clearly showing the propoganda that want on in garlemald, which is a real thing that happens in countries IRL

Perhaps on the part of the legatus, but what really irked me was (as I stated above) the fact that Alphinaud was too stupid to offer any sort of retort. He just clenches his fist and is unable to explain how the Garlean invasion of Eorzea is different from us providing supplies.

Endwalker is plagued with the same problem as Stormblood; trying to tie up too many storylines in too little time and trying to do too many things at the same time.

They could've cut out a bunch of the "filler" quests where you just waste time walking around (especially those that I mentioned above) and the pacing wouldn't have been half as bad as it was. There was no reason to limit your character's mobility in Endwalker when they have generally not done so in the MSQ in recent expansions.

Stormblood was generally bad for different reasons, in my opinion. In Stormblood, you basically had to to do the exact same storyline twice. Oh no! Doma is in trouble. It needs to be liberated from some baddies who are led by an evil female character who is a native of the area turned bad (Yotsuyu). But wait! Ala Mhigo is also in trouble. It too needs to be liberated from some baddies who are led by an evil female character who is a native of the area turned bad (Fordola).

[IdowhatIwant]

Perhaps on the part of the legatus, but what really irked me was (as I stated above) the fact that Alphinaud was too stupid to offer any sort of retort. He just clenches his fist and is unable to explain how the Garlean invasion of Eorzea is different from us providing supplies..

Can't have an FF expansion with out a clenched fist.

[KatsuraJun]

Perhaps on the part of the legatus, but what really irked me was (as I stated above) the fact that Alphinaud was too stupid to offer any sort of retort. He just clenches his fist and is unable to explain how the Garlean invasion of Eorzea is different from us providing supplies.

Alphinaud's lack of a retort made perfect sense, because the Legatus' statement poked a hole in Alphinaud's statement that "they simply wanted peace."

Let me explain from the beginning here.

The Legatus, and by extension, the more traditionalist aspects of Garlemald see the world as a zero-sum game where there will always be a loser and winner, or in other words: a subjugator and a slave. This is primarily colored by the history of the nation, and is why Quintus is so adamant on refusing assistance ー he does not want to be indebted precisely because that would be becoming the slave, and it's not only an ego thing that drives this decision; to become the slave would mean to be indebted to the magic wielding nations with Garlemald's people at their mercy once again, and to them, death would be a better alternative to the humiliation they already suffered once in the past. The reason he believes this is so, is because in his view, as long as there are differences between people, there will always be conflict. Remember Varis? Remember what his goal was? To literally physically unite all the peoples of the shards again into what they once were: a single master race, and usher in an age of lasting peace. That should form the basis of what Garlemald sees as the intrinsic flaw of the world: that people are different, and thus we fight. This is why Quintus can't trust your aid. He simply does not believe there aren't someone's strings attached to it.

Alphinaud, of course, argues that they're here for peacekeeping and disaster aid purposes. That all they truly ever wanted was peace between their peoples. This is where Quintus' statement comes in. No, he does not literally think that Eorzea should have just given up and surrendered to Garlemald. The reason he says that is a counter to Alphinaud's assertion that their highest priority was to create peace between Garlemald and Eorzea ー because, of course, the fastest way to ending the conflict is to submit as the slave and assimilate with Garlemald. But Eorzea didn't give up, because there are things more important than peace to us, like our values, cultures, morals, identity, etc. And for Garleans, the same is true: these are the very differences that would spawn wars, and to reiterate, the very reason he sees the world as a zero-sum game where conflict is inevitable, and why he rejects your aid. And Alphinaud is speechless because Quintus is right, on that front at least; peace is not our top priority, and there are things worth fighting and dying for that rank above peace. It's just that Alphinaud believes that differences can be resolved without conflict, whereas Quintus believes that it's all theatre because in the end, someone must win and someone must lose.

In the end, it's not words that show that Quintus' ideology is wrong, it's his fate: the final reward of Garlemald's destructive belief system is a lonely death, in the cold and freezing wastes as you cling to your pride with the barrel of a gun against your head. And the thing that proves the truth of Alphinaud's words is his actions ー that he never resorted to force or threats and genuinely wished for reconciliation with the Garlean population, which is why you have characters like Jullus.

[hydralus]

Alphinaud's lack of a retort made perfect sense, because the Legatus' statement poked a hole in Alphinaud's statement that "they simply wanted peace."

It absolutely did not. He went into a non-sequitur on his personal beliefs which had nothing to do with the actual history of their conquest or how they supposedly offered 'prosperity'. Alphinaud is supposed to be a master debater from a nation of scholars and getting shut up by such a stupid argument is absolute cringe storytelling. I don't think the writers even know how to write a smart character. You can't keep fanboying how smart and talented Alphinaud is and then keep having him fail so God damn always and resort to stupid anime schlock like 'the power of hope and friendship'.

[Dogempire]

It absolutely did not. He went into a non-sequitur on his personal beliefs which had nothing to do with the actual history of their conquest or how they supposedly offered 'prosperity'. Alphinaud is supposed to be a master debater from a nation of scholars and getting shut up by such a stupid argument is absolute cringe storytelling. I don't think the writers even know how to write a smart character. You can't keep fanboying how smart and talented Alphinaud is and then keep having him fail so God damn always and resort to stupid anime schlock like 'the power of hope and friendship'.

Maybe it's because no matter how intelligent you are, someone can pose a question that makes you question your beliefs? Maybe you can't come up with all the answers right on the spot no matter how intelligent you are if you meet the right person to question your motives?

To me it makes more sense that the question stumped him initially, only for him to come up with an answer later after thinking on it

You can be an intelligent person but still admit that you don't know all the answers, heck admitting you don't know all the answers is essential to developing a more rounded worldview

[KatsuraJun]

It absolutely did not. He went into a non-sequitur on his personal beliefs which had nothing to do with the actual history of their conquest or how they supposedly offered 'prosperity'. Alphinaud is supposed to be a master debater from a nation of scholars and getting shut up by such a stupid argument is absolute cringe storytelling. I don't think the writers even know how to write a smart character. You can't keep fanboying how smart and talented Alphinaud is and then keep having him fail so God damn always and resort to stupid anime schlock like 'the power of hope and friendship'.

He went into his personal beliefs precisely because it is a matter of personal belief.

The core disagreement between him and Quintus was simply this: given that humans will naturally come into conflict because of their differences in values, that as established by Quintus holds greater value to them than peace (if peace was your greatest desire, why not surrender?), is there any hope of real resolution, or can you boil down every human interaction to a zero-sum game where one party stands to lose from the exchange? In the end, all Alphinaud can do is affirm his belief in the ability for humans to cooperate ー ergo, the power of friendship/hope/whathaveyou.

It's precisely because he is a good orator that he doesn't launch into the trap of calling out Garlemald about their conquests, because you saw how well *that* went with Varis, no? lol. In the end, it's action which proves the truth of Alphinaud's worldview, which is why he set out to prove their good intentions through action and not words with characters like Jullus. Whereas, the one whose worldview led to self-destruction is Quintus.