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

[Rulakir]

Because at the time, we were talking about the tone of the games, not the themes.

Oh, I don't need nor am I particularly interested in "dark and depressing", at least not outside of where it's appropriate. I just want a diverse cast of characters who aren't clad in impenetrable plot armor. I've seen several of us EW critics say that HW is the level of what we'd like. Given that we've already had that within FFXIV it doesn't seem too much to ask.