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

[Theodric]

Ultimately the Sundered would not accept just needing to be wiped out for X, Y or Z reason so it doesn't make much sense for the Unsundered to be expected to do the same. Luckily we're free to draw whatever conclusions we so wish about whether a particular character is a 'hero' or 'villain'. To me, Venat is very much the latter regardless of her supposed intent.

Elsewhere, the game bends over backwards to insist that even the most sympathetic of goals is unworthy of stifling someone's free will and freedom to choose so it's pretty bizarre and convenient that such 'rules' are discarded in Venat's case.

A big deal was also made about how it was supposedly some unforgivable sin for Mitron to try and force Gaia to become Lohgrif. With that in mind, it does not make much sense for Venat to not be judged more harshly for non-consensually altering the minds, bodies and souls of not only every man, woman and child within the Ancient world but all plant and animal life as well.

[Tibowmew]

It has pacing issues, sure.

But to address some of the points here to the best of my understanding.

Zodiark was still sundered, so he wasn't as powerful as he was on his original summoning prior to his sundering. The only thing that happened was the seal on him was broken. This shattering only broke his imprisonment. He was powerful, but not nearly as powerful as how the unsundered know him to be. This point is also a little bit weird, because the argument could just be made of "why didn't they just do this then to break his seal, instead of the rejoining escapades" - and I think the key difference here is that Fandaniel wasn't concerned with the methods, just the result, to which his methods could have potentially prevented bringing back / restoring the mankind that they knew.

I'd have liked it if there was more on the causality of the final days as opposed to it being a projection of emotions on the celestial currents (as I understand it).

We still don't know the length of time between Meteion leaving the planet and when the final days started to hit the planet(?), not only that Emet-Selch had openly admitted that their methods would not have carried mankind so far. The ancients weren't concerned with solving the fundamental cause of it as they were with just delaying the inevitable and feeding Zodiark to resurrect the sacrificed. Plus, I am pretty sure that the ancients didn't have the ability to manipulate/manifest dynamis given how dense their own aether is, and to my knowledge it is the abundance of aether which drowns out dynamis. The ancients were so crippled by their own despair that even trying to fight against dynamis or manifest it would have been nigh on futile.

At least this is the perspective I have on the story, and I think with her actions, and the 'reasoning' for them is precisely why she's ultimately a well developed character.

Just wanted to add that even had Venat wanted to solve the Dynamis problem, there wouldn't really have been much she could do anyway. She, being an ancient, would have had too much aether to impact it or be impacted by it. She would have needed help from the leader on the dynamis field, which was Hermes himself, and had the potential of starting the whole thing over again and/or making it worse. That's how I took it anyway. And because she didn't have any real knowledge on the subject, there wasn't really any knowledge she could pass to us in the first place.

[Tibowmew]

It was one of their own who understood it, so how does it follow that they couldn't? Knowledge of it is elusive (seemingly even across the stars Meteion encountered), but the only reason it is lost is due to Kairos and Venat keeping it all a secret. Even the sundered could not understand it until the events in Elpis help confirm some theories on the matter, i.e. knowledge derived from an ancient.

As to manipulating it, they could not easily do so by default, but they had 1) familiars they could devise to do so, like Meteion, if something similar was devised without the design flaws (and it's an open question whether a prayer-filled construct like a primal could do it, as Elidibus did seem to surge with power due to prayer when transformed into the WoL primal form) and 2) areas like Ktisis Hyperboreia, which had aetheric suppression fields that could potentially allow for the the power be honed. Amongst other workarounds they may have devised, given the chance. Hell, they could even sunder a few of their own, since it only took 8 or so to ultimately defeat Endsinger in spite of her swallowing several worlds' worth of despair... plenty of options, but since they were never given a chance due to the time travel mess being used to explain it all and act as a constraint, so Venat did not share any of it, and all that was never considered. Zodiark, even sundered, could act as a shield for at least the past 12k years, if not more, so they had the time to figure out a plan - many plans, even.

On Zodiark and how she presented him and his minions (a minion being someone carrying out the will of their master), she is referring to them as evil and she is referring to them as darkness. See e.g. here, and here she is referring to Zodiark as the darkness. It is not difficult to see that there is indeed an insinuation being formed here that he was evil - according to her phony recollection of events, anyway.

While it's true that an ancient was the one who discovered dynamis, that doesn't necessarily follow that Venat herself could do it. Hermes was a scientist who worked so closely with testing and creation magicks, while Venat was more of a traveller and a fighter. And despite many other ancient scientists working in the same environments as Hermes, none of them discovered dynamis either. Rememer that the reason he was drawn to it was because he was different and his thought processes led him to despair which was the only thing that seemed to change the Elpis flower's color, a rare way of interacting with dynamis. Expecting that Venat, who has no scientific background at all, would be able to discover what only one person in the life of the world (at that point) had discovered, is pretty unreasonable.

[Rulakir]

Hermes isn't attributed with bringing up dynamis to the Convocation. He also wasn't the only scholar of it. We don't know when he discovered the Final Days were manifesting in areas with stagnant currents either. How much of the world had been ravaged before he did? This could've all been preventable had Venat shared what she knew.

Venat/Hydaelyn became more bloody, damaged and tired as time went one.

I was more annoyed than moved by Venat's pity walk through the ages. She knew what would happen and didn't do anything differently, it's that old saying you made your bed now lie in it. No sympathy.

She doesn't even know about ultima Thule aside from its coordinate. If not for meteion attacking us first and causing thancred to turn into soul, we probably died the first step at ultima thule since it's inhospitable.

This. I feel like people don't realize how close the WoL came to not defeating her. The fact that it was still reliant on Zenos showing up as Shinryu is mind boggling. The amount of variables it took for that to happen are astronomical. Venat's long game not only completely failed in the 8UC timeline, but came close to it in the WoL's timeline. Yet we're supposed to believe that she made the right decision.

[SieyaM]

I am definitely a little disappointed in the conclusion of the Hydaelyn and Zodiark story arc. I really thought this expansion we would learn more about Hydaelyn's hold on us and just how tempered we may or may not have been and how many of our actions and choices have been ours or were because of Her subtle control. I thought the themes would have been more about predetermination and freedom and finding our selves when we can't be sure if our actions really are our own or if we are doing what a higher power has willed us to do.

[Divinemights]

From what I see right now, recent WoW refuges are expecting typical story flow like WoW: a big bad evil dude, someone important dies, an epic battle against this evil dude.
They will be disappointed.
For normal FF franchise players, this is an epic story telling.

Those who expecting wow style of lack in-depth character growth will never like Endwalker, that is just how it is

[KizuyaKatogami]

From what I see right now, recent WoW refuges are expecting typical story flow like WoW: a big bad evil dude, someone important dies, an epic battle against this evil dude.
They will be disappointed.
For normal FF franchise players, this is an epic story telling.

Those who expecting wow style of lack in-depth character growth will never like Endwalker, that is just how it is

I've played every game in the ff series excluding 11. I would consider myself a normal ff franchise player, this isnt anywhere close to an epic story telling for me. I grew up with the ff games where there were severe consequences and stakes for the characters.Tellah dying in 4. Galuf in 5.The world ending in 6. Avalance dying in 7 along with you know who.Type 0 literally opening with mass death to show the consequences of war same with 12. All these games showed that not everything goes right for the heroes or the main cast. They too have to deal with struggles,consequences, losing and what have you. This is something 14 has lacked for awhile now. While they go and try to preach about themes of loss, or suffering, that all feels rather shallow when it just hasnt applied to the main cast for quite awhile. They survive and prosper through the power of plot armor or plot convenience so it all feels fake and forced.

[Divinemights]

I've played every game in the ff series excluding 11. I would consider myself a normal ff franchise player, this isnt anywhere close to an epic story telling for me. I grew up with the ff games where there were severe consequences and stakes for the characters.Tellah dying in 4. Galuf in 5.The world ending in 6. Avalance dying in 7 along with you know who.Type 0 literally opening with mass death to show the consequences of war same with 12. All these games showed that not everything goes right for the heroes or the main cast. They too have to deal with struggles,consequences, losing and what have you. This is something 14 has lacked for awhile now. While they go and try to preach about themes of loss, or suffering, that all feels rather shallow when it just hasnt applied to the main cast for quite awhile. They survive and prosper through the power of plot armor or plot convenience so it all feels fake and forced.

Yet, it is FF1 and FF3 path the FF legacy where no one important dies.
FF7R is also attempting to break what FF7 has done.
Again, you don't need to artificial death to tell an epic story.
People already fed up with such style of story telling, Last of US 2 ring the bell?
Is golf death really that necessary?

[Theodric]

From what I see right now, recent WoW refuges are expecting typical story flow like WoW: a big bad evil dude, someone important dies, an epic battle against this evil dude.

I'm not entirely convinced that such a theory holds, given that a number of posters commenting within this thread and others have a join date that suggests that they are, in fact, not just riding the recent tide of 'refugees' from WoW.

I don't think many people are arguing in favour of black and white morality, either - but more so actual stakes for the protagonists and lasting consequences.

For normal FF franchise players, this is an epic story telling.

I disagree. I'd attribute the storytelling in previous expansions to be in line with previous Final Fantasy games, though the franchise has never really shied away from meaningful consequences. Both the early and more recent games have examples of major characters dying, settlements being wiped off the map and so on - whilst not limiting such things almost exclusively to the antagonists.

Those who expecting wow style of lack in-depth character growth will never like Endwalker, that is just how it is

Such is subjective, I believe. WoW's storytelling had many flaws but many of the characters felt distinct to me at the height of their respective story arcs. The Scions, meanwhile, strike me as very bland. They don't often express much agency of their own and often exist in the present day to fawn over the player character.

[Rokke]

FF7R is also attempting to break what FF7 has done.

You say this like its a good thing