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

[Brinne]

I think what it comes down to, for me, is that I really can't buy that the aspects of Endwalker that cross into "oh god what is this?" territory stem from anything actually fundamentally based in cultural expression or exploring themes. Again, I think the bulk of FFXIV and its messaging actually stands starkly at odds with the Venat Strangeness, which is part of what adds to the Titanic-levels of uncomfortable dissonance.

It's not really about culture, and it's not even about themes. Goal number one was to make you like Hydaelyn. It's that simple and that crass. Earlier plot points they established, while winging it with no real plan in mind, made it so that Hydaelyn destroyed the world and the Ancient society that the audience ended up way more in love with and sympathetic to than most of the team had expected. So if you need to be made to like Hydaelyn after that, well, she NEEDS to have a "good reason" to have killed all of those people. What would be a "good reason" to kill the Ancients? Well... we established they were good people with a good society, so what if they were... too good? And what if being too good... was bad!?

So in the end, the route they hit upon to make Hydaelyn sympathetic and worthy of your support was making it so the Ancients were "bad" for being "too good," and thus we end up with "suffering good, bettering societal conditions bad, bam, Hydaelyn justified. Now look at how hard it was for her to kill all those people."

I honestly think, at this point, it's that simple - and it bears out with the sort of baffled "look we were kinda just winging this, okay?" tone the writers have taken when pressed further about the story. I would not say "theme" in the sense EW tried to pursue was a strong point - or even seemed to be a primary concern - for FFXIV up until Shadowbringers, which seems to have been largely Ishikawa's individual effort that largely slipped under Yoshida's notice, given his confusion to its reception.

EDIT:

They literally went out of their way to show that the denizens of Elpis treated most of their creations tenderly and with respect and affection. Like... why? Why undercut the points you're trying to make so much? Why undercut it at every turn? They were inches away from nailing it completely if they just chose not to include a few lines of dialogue or change the portrayal of certain characters just a little bit.

I just remember how, even in the midst of Hermes's angry rants, he still mentions that the Ancients go out of their way to make it quick and painless for the creations they put down. He's just still upset that they have to die to begin with. You'd think this would be the setup for an FFIX-ish theme where the antagonist learns to cope with and accept death, and that argument could have been made if Venat hadn't essentially taken his side, lmao.

The FFX talk is also interesting, especially when you consider FFX was voted as the most beloved Final Fantasy game of all time in Japan.