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

[Brinne]

Personally speaking, the idea of an entire expansion and over two years of content dedicated to Garlemald - especially as a follow-up to Shadowbringers and after so many Chronicles dedicated to them - mostly just makes me feel incredibly tired. I do think Yoshida made the right call under the circumstances, and think Garlemald's role in the story overall, including their downfall, was handled very well. But hey, their fans have a right to be their fans. If I went Full Self-Indulgence, Final Fantasy XIV basically would have turned into Ancient Fantasy XIV after 5.0, and my personal ideal dream version of 6.0 would probably also be deeply disliked by a lot of people, so.

In regards to "fixing" EW, the lowest effort, and probably most plausible version, is literally to just let go of the need to make us like Venat. Let us question her, cut or heavily alter the montage, allow those with the right to hate her and be angry with her to hate her and be angry with her, and call it a day. This would correlate with making some of the more questionable, broader themes go down easier, too. EW would still be messy, but not significantly moreso than any of the other expansions I've enjoyed.

There's more high-effort versions I've spitballed about with friends for fun (including the tinfoil-effort version of "what if Hermes and Hydaelyn WERE written as the same character?") but it mostly has to deal with individual characterizations and arcs for the Scions and such, and allowing the Ancients to have their AU if we're going to the past, moreso than a complete overhaul. Obviously, Zenos stays exactly the same! <_<

As I've said, I've loved this game for almost ten years, and I want to keep loving it. I'm looking for any reason to keep doing so without struggling with the weird dissonance. At this point, I might throw my hands up and actually take the joke option of "Venat is never spoken of again and the Ancients-are-saved AU is established in a Lodestone side story." There are multiple facets to my psychological downfall in regards to EW, I tell you.