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

[Lauront]

I think the error here is to fixate too much on their concrete social structure. This is largely driven by choices they made given what type of being they were - nigh immortal, in possession of the natural ability to create durable aetheric entities and altruistic in their inclinations for the most part. It's an error I would say to claim that they had no self-expression - they had plenty of it, in the form of expressing their thoughts and feelings, e.g. in plays, through their creations or via debates. What they limited was comparatively minimal: differences in clothing, and they obscured their facial features.

But that is only one way to examine it by. You can also look at it through the lens Rulakir or Theodric mentioned, i.e. inflicting radical change on their society and uprooting it at its core to achieve some ideological goal. I myself lean towards conservative/libertarian views (and that would entail upholding/preserving certain values over a status quo per se), and even so I see very little approximating any kind of individualism I care for in Venat. It reminds me more of the "romantic" revolutionary impulses of some Enlightenment scholars, who I have very little liking for, as well as some far more gruesome movements that post-dated that. Funnily enough in video games, I often prefer societal structures such as monarchy or aristocracy, and I love empires, but things do get dull if everything is the same, and with the ancients their blend of a technocratic society with traits of 7's ancients is simply a natural and very beautiful fit, focused on intellectual advancement. Also, being someone who enjoys ancient races such as elves reclaiming/retaining their position in the world, I can't say I care for the "move on" angle, either. There is simply little I can consider worth condoning in how she screwed over her own people, whatever the (forced) logic.