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

[SpectrePhantasia]

Thus, they had to try to make the Ancients "bad...but not TOO bad" which results in the complete dumpster fire that was the Elpis storyline.

I think you pretty much hit the nail on the head with it there, and I said something similar earlier. The Ancients were essentially rewritten to be something entirely different than how they were previously presented, to fit their EW theming of "Go humanity!" This was completely ignorant of the fact that making it that way turns a great deal of what made Shadowbringers a narrative with depth into something far lesser. I think this is a textbook example of how a bad ending can tarnish even the great writing that came before it.

Also, I know it was a while ago, but since I didn't see your direct comment on my last post until now I will say: I respect that desire to not have the "God" of a particular world be wrong or have some fundamental misunderstanding about the people they watch over, at least once. I will agree that JRPG's love to pull that "Man should govern their own fate" stuff, and while I personally enjoy it a good deal, (call it the Persona fan in me) I can see how that would try someone's patience in repeated occurrences. However, I feel that any hope of that being a reasonable conclusion to come to was removed in Shadowbringers, when we learn that Hydaelyn is a primal; not at god. Venat is just another person, no more predisposed to making the "right" choice than anyone else. I think that once that bombshell was dropped, the most fitting and narratively sincere thing to do would be to convey that she is, in essence, no more ascended in thought or ideals than any of her brethren.