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

[Ixon]

I think it's absolutely possible that what you outlined in your hypothetical could have come to pass. For all their good qualities, the Ancients are characterized as a people with remarkably little curiosity about places that aren't Etheirys, so there is a very real risk that when confronted with the idea that Meteion is singing doom towards them that they will focus their efforts on surrounding the planet with noise dampening panels and the rest of the universe can, uh...do the best they can, I guess?

On the other hand, since Etheirys was always the target and the other planets got caught in the crossfire, it makes sense to first secure the safety of Etheirys before debating over what to do about the Problem of Meteion. I do think the Ancients would feel enough responsibility to want to confront the issue--if only because the threat could potentially become powerful enough to overcome their defenses--but also because of what we see in Amaurot. Even when the Sound was "other people's problems", the idea that they wouldn't send what assistance they had was just an idle debate in the halls of rhetoric, not a course of action taken seriously by either of the participants in the debate.

Finally, the biggest issue is that the scenario you outlined is only a hypothetical because Venat didn't do what you suggested. If things had played out the way you outlined, I think a lot of us in the thread would have been a lot less angry with Venat. We would have gotten the feeling that she worked early and fast to try to save her people, only choosing to Sunder when it appeared that all hope was truly lost. It's an entirely different matter to come in and berate people for not properly facing a despair they weren't allowed to prepare for.

This is where I feel they could have dedicated more time to it, instead of just a small bit in a cut scene, to solidify that it had to be the choice. For the game to move forward, Etheirys HAD to be sundered, Zodiark and Hydaelyn HAD to exist, and it had to work with the new threat they wanted to push. This is why I hope we get a little more this expansion in whatever form they want to give it to aid in the narrative. We'll see.

[CrownySuccubus]

This is where I feel they could have dedicated more time to it, instead of just a small bit in a cut scene, to solidify that it had to be the choice. For the game to move forward, Etheirys HAD to be sundered, Zodiark and Hydaelyn HAD to exist, and it had to work with the new threat they wanted to push. This is why I hope we get a little more this expansion in whatever form they want to give it to aid in the narrative. We'll see.

Just wanna say that making the argument “This needed to happen for there to be a story” is like admitting that the story only happened due to contrivance.

Just leaving this here.