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

[Theodric]

At any rate, I'm not particularly interested in seeing the thread be dragged off course every few pages. Nor am I going to stand for weird gaslighting aimed at those who like Garlemald or the Ascians. Which - as has been pointed out many times throughout the thread - has been a problem for near enough a decade within this game's community.

Also, Merlwyb was encased in heavy plot armour and allowed to stick around and change her ways. A luxury most antagonists are not afforded and a large part of the reason why the likes of the Scions are considered to be boring by many. Having more antagonists change course would be appreciated - and easily put them in line with the likes of Beatrix, Seifer, Rufus, Golbez and various other antagonist characters who opposed the self proclaimed 'good guys' yet didn't end up being unceremoniously killed off without the opportunity to walk a different path.

Even then, it's debatable as to how horrid Merlwyb's supposed crimes even were. Pretty much every nation in existence in both the real world and Etheirys is built on conquest and land acquisition. Often due to necessity at that.

[CrownySuccubus]

Nor am I going to stand for weird gaslighting aimed at those who like Garlemald or the Ascians. Which - as has been pointed out many times throughout the thread - has been a problem for near enough a decade within this game's community.

Not what "gaslighting" means, but okay.

Also, Merlwyb was encased in heavy plot armour and allowed to stick around and change her ways.

If they did that with the Garleans, that would have been fine. I have no problem with villains redeeming themselves. I actually really like post-ARR Gaius as a character, even though I still think he was a horrible person.

[Theodric]

Not what "gaslighting" means, but okay.

Given that both myself and others posting within this thread have dealt with weird personal attacks and death threats for expressing fondness for both the Ascian and Garlemald story over the years that we've played this game, I'm actually well aware of what gaslighting consists of.

I'm referring to comments such as this:

Nothing is wrong with "liking" Garlemald per se, but you and Aveyond both do have a pretty strong romanticization of the country and its militarism that goes well beyond just a "villains are cool" viewpoint.

A deliberate attempt to attribute something deeper than what is actually there to justify standing upon a podium to lecture everybody about complex ideological issues. You do you, though not everybody posting here wants to drag such issues into everything. They just want to appreciate a cool story at the end of the day.

I'd even argue that it's not even relevant to the thread itself, which is primarily about the actual and perceived issues with Endwalker's story. Policing people's personal tastes and preferences does not serve to make for a healthy discussion.

[CrownySuccubus]

Given that both myself and others posting within this thread have dealt with weird personal attacks and death threats for expressing fondness for both the Ascian and Garlemald story over the years that we've played this game, I'm actually well aware of what gaslighting consists of.

I'm referring to comments such as this:

So you DON'T know what gaslighting is.

Gaslighting is the attempt to make someone doubt their own memory or mental faculties through deception.

What I did was make an observation. It's a fact that you romanticize the country. You proceeded to defend them by doing just that: romanticizing their actions as non-villainous. So you basically proved what I claimed to be correct.

I repeat: you can feel free to like what you like. But others are also free to not agree with your reasons.

[Xirean]

So you DON'T know what gaslighting is.

Gaslighting is the attempt to make someone doubt their own memory or mental faculties through deception.

What I did was make an observation. It's a fact that you romanticize the country. You proceeded to defend them by doing just that: romanticizing their actions as non-villainous. So you basically proved what I claimed to be correct.

I repeat: you can feel free to like what you like. But others are also free to not agree with your reasons.

This is not the point of this thread. Please drop the subject.

[CrownySuccubus]

This is not the point of this thread. Please drop the subject.

If someone replies to me or posts something about what I did or didn't say, I'm going to answer.

That besides, we are talking about the fate of Garlemald, which is directly about the plot of Endwalker.