I'm definitely in that 80%. I didn't like Hermes at all and I consider Fandaniel the worst, most irritating antagonist in the series. According to discussions on social media I am exactly the type of person who should've understood and sympathized with him too.

I think that the character as was depicted in the game isn't exactly what they had in mind. Ishikawa and Yoshi-P speak of him as being objective/impartial, which based on what we saw of him seems like an odd take. I assume because they're directly involved with the story they know context and nuance that may not have translated well into the game. His character is widely attributed with having mental illness that drove his actions, for example, which they don't address.

I don't know what to make of the character comparison given that their motivations were different, but supposedly this isn't the first time Yoshi-P's been surprised by player reactions to a character or storyline. I also think "mistake" is a bizarre way to describe unleashing something that was Hell bent on destroying all life in the universe too.