What's the point with that quite lackluster story in Endwalker?

[Conundrum]

• The mighty Zodiark, which has been build up as this mighty(evil) entity over several expansions, turns out to be nothing but filler trash for the first Endwalker trial
• The true cause of the Final Days is a pet-project from an ancient which goes mad after observing countless dead world and possibly causing the death of several world by projecting negative emotions unto them, and is thus dead-set on bringing despair to every world, upon which said ancient goes mad and is now letting her run her course to test humanity if they can withstand/fight despair
• Venat, who hasn't had her memory wiped + still remembers you from being in Elpis, quite apparently doesn't lift a finger to learn about Dynamis herself or to mobilize the other ancients to end Meteion then and there, and instead chooses to turn herself into Hydaelyn, sunder the world and the inhabitants, thereby forcing them to live with and face despair and gambling that their resilience against despair might be enough to face Meteion one day

Really?
This is the best SQ could do in terms of story after ShB?

Yeah, I was completely unimpressed with the EW story.

But it was packed with tons of emotional manipulation that made people cry, therefore everyone claims it was awesome.

[EmpyreanHelios]

Yeah, I was completely unimpressed with the EW story.

But it was packed with tons of emotional manipulation that made people cry, therefore everyone claims it was awesome.

The thing is I cried during ARR, I cried during HW, SB, and ShB. EndWalker? No. Not one tear was shed. Who or what, was I supposed to cry for? The girl in the green dress who's quest was super annoying to do? Hermes who cared about soulless beasts, but suddenly went "everyone should just die."

Surprisingly, I came really close to crying for the Elephant guy carrying the baby through the forest while fighting his own fears and getting cornered by the beasts. Really close there. If only there was more moments like that and the pacing was done better.

[Conundrum]

The thing is I cried during ARR, I cried during HW, SB, and ShB. EndWalker? No. Not one tear was shed. Who or what, was I supposed to cry for? The girl in the green dress who's quest was super annoying to do? Hermes who cared about soulless beasts, but suddenly went "everyone should just die."

Surprisingly, I came really close to crying for the Elephant guy carrying the baby through the forest while fighting his own fears and getting cornered by the beasts. Really close there. If only there was more moments like that and the pacing was done better.

The single biggest one that comes to mind is "Voices from the past". Lets have some ghosts play soundbites of dead characters that people loved.

[dapperfaffer]

The thing is I cried during ARR, I cried during HW, SB, and ShB. EndWalker? No. Not one tear was shed. Who or what, was I supposed to cry for? The girl in the green dress who's quest was super annoying to do? Hermes who cared about soulless beasts, but suddenly went "everyone should just die."

Surprisingly, I came really close to crying for the Elephant guy carrying the baby through the forest while fighting his own fears and getting cornered by the beasts. Really close there. If only there was more moments like that and the pacing was done better.

Hermes point was to hold mankind to the same indifference of suffering and death that it appeared to portray for the creations made. If mankind wishes to live it should do so without suffering for that is the ideal and value used to destroy these things I make.

[Lauront]

Hermes point was to hold mankind to the same indifference of suffering and death that it appeared to portray for the creations made. If mankind wishes to live it should do so without suffering for that is the ideal and value used to destroy these things I make.

But he's not even correct on that point. They weren't indifferent about it - we see that in sidequests in Elpis. His problem was that they applied a standard at all, i.e. permitting creations to persist only when they contributed to the betterment of the star. We see this with the lykaones, where he wishes them to live even if they were detrimental to the star's ecological balance. These are just arcane constructs in the end (even more abundantly clear with the sprites, where he discussed their impetus to exist), which might get a soul if they satisfy the star's criteria for doing so, and even then it'd just upgrade them to the equivalent of animals or monsters. Beings the sundered kill without a second thought, much as they send their own arcane constructs, like egi, to die for them. Moreover, he also had a problem with his mentor's decision to return to the star. None of what he said is going to stop us from going on hunt trains to reap souls to fuel our next relic, for example... His real beef was that existence itself ultimately entailed death. In the end, that entire line of thinking is discarded by Venat who is only concerned about answering his question for the purpose of surviving to drive back Meteion. He is little more than your typical pathological "empath" with a sadistic streak.