What is going on with Square Enix and the 14 team?

[Theodric]

Good to know your social circle is painfully small.

It's not and I think that's a rather weird conclusion to draw about someone you know nothing about...though it's clear that there's no reasoning with your ilk and you're clearly not here for an actual discussion so I'll bid you a good evening.

I wish you the best of luck working through whatever the OP's presence has induced within you.

How is the EW story controversial outside of this forum's echo chamber of people who wanted evil Hydaelyn?

I think that's a rather disingenuous take, especially since it's not hard to go and read through pre-Endwalker speculation threads to see that those who are 'against' Hydaelyn only ever wanted her to be presented as a morally grey figure and be called out for the atrocities she committed in the same way as how the Ascians were blamed for the atrocities that they committed.

Many of us don't just go 'OOH MOMMY' when we see a pretty female character get away with genocide, though. We just like logical consistency and the 'tHeMeS' of the story to be applied fairly across the board. I rather suspect that you're deliberately ignoring that the biggest criticism thread of the forum has a number of disillusioned Venat fans speaking out as well. Though in case you are acting in good faith, the thread in question was linked twice within this very thread...so maybe read the concerns raised before grabbing the wrong end of the stick?