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

[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.