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

[Powercow]

Again, though, Alphinaud was stumped by the legates’ question of why didn’t you accept peace when the Garleans offered it - how is what the Eorzean alliance doing any different than what Garlemald tried to do?

Well, let’s see. Sure, the Garleans may have been persecuted a long time ago; as a result of that, and to compensate for their inability to use magic, they came up with magitech… which they eventually used to basically pull a Nazi Germany and invade the rest of Eorzea, killing those of different faiths (i.e., the beast tribes). As I mentioned above, we literally had the WoL there and could’ve subjugated them then and there if that is what our plan was. Alphinaud being unable to raise any of the law counter arguments to the legatus was weak.

Do you think Alphinaud should have brought up that they had the definitive upper hand in these negotiations?

What you might think he sounds like: "If we wanted to invade and use violence, we could have, and the fact we haven't is testament to our intentions."

What the Legatus will hear: "If we wanted to, the Warrior of Light here could kill you, your guards, and every man, woman, and child in a ten mile radius without breaking a sweat. Now, do what we say before we unchain this savage monster on you all."

Your average Garlean citizen is, as Alphinaud learned earlier when three malnourished men stabbed him behind the shed so a defenseless woman can drag her sick sister across monster-infested frozen wastelands just to get some physical distance from us, pretty untrusting of Eorzeans. What do you think a Legatus -- especially the one who was fanatically serving the Empire after the Emperor's demise -- would think?

[KatsuraJun]

Do you think Alphinaud should have brought up that they had the definitive upper hand in these negotiations?

What you might think he sounds like: "If we wanted to invade and use violence, we could have, and the fact we haven't is testament to our intentions."

What the Legatus will hear: "If we wanted to, the Warrior of Light here could kill you, your guards, and every man, woman, and child in a ten mile radius without breaking a sweat. Now, do what we say before we unchain this savage monster on you all."

Your average Garlean citizen is, as Alphinaud learned earlier when three malnourished men stabbed him behind the shed so a defenseless woman can drag her sick sister across monster-infested frozen wastelands just to get some physical distance from us, pretty untrusting of Eorzeans. What do you think a Legatus -- especially the one who was fanatically serving the Empire after the Emperor's demise -- would think?

It's amazing how many people think that Alphinaud should have just said the equivalent of "But GARLEMALD BAD!" and think that would accomplish literally anything in that situation.

You might as well just force them into compliance and kill the resistors if that's how you want to go about it. Yes, Garlemald is a messed up empire. No, if you're trying to actually fix things and coexist, that's not a great approach, especially when the reason they're a nation-building state going around slapping other nations is because other nation-building states did it to them first. You can list off their crimes all day, and they'll just do the same back to you, and in the end, someone's going to have to be beaten into submission, which is exactly what they're trying to avoid.

Literally, this approach was attempted only last expac with Varis and people with goldfish memories apparently forgot how that diplomatic meeting went.