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

[EaraGrace]

I am discounting it because it has a huge problem in it: 25% of the ancients remained at the time and the plan then was to sacrifice the new life, not that 25% or so. That 25% was sundered in the process. So even if I were to be charitable here and assume that their plan was to redirect all that soul aether to the sacrificed inside Zodiark, it'd imply a change in plan in and of itself. If not? Then we can no longer rely on that source to inform the what of what was being sacrificed. All we know is that 1) it included entities bearing souls (animals at a minimum) and 2) which Venat's faction thought may suffice to inherit the star (could range anywhere from a familiar of reasonable intelligence to ancients.)

See I think we’re actually fairly close to an understanding. I just think the criterion you laid out makes the third sacrifice an abhorrent act of selfishness born out of an attempt to hide from pain, a sign both of the Ancients inability to see life beyond their own as being deserving of true moral consideration and of their refusal to accept the inevitable of suffering in the world. The former is a moral failing, the second would lead to extinction.

If Venat had told them the truth beforehand, they might not have even needed to summon Zodiark or sacrifice anyone, so i’m a bit confused on your logic here. Also, how did they give in to despair by summoning Zodiark? He was a solution. One that even we relied upon for thousands upon thousands of years. By that logic we gave into despair by summoning primals to fuel the ship, or ironworks gave in to despair by being willing to sacrifice an entire timeline aka billions of lives.

The first sentence is literally refuted by an entire voiced cutscene, the second the following voiced cutscene after it. If you want to have those answers then you may wish to go back and watch the cutscenes at the end of our time in Elpis again.