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

[CrownySuccubus]

Got into a discussion in that thread about how every character's agency is ruined with the time loop as 'nobody could do anything differently' in order for the WoL to journey to Elpis. Then in an unrelated thread I saw someone quote Ardbert's "we did everything right" line and I thought, yeah, he did exactly what he was meant to do.

I genuinely don't understand what's satisfying about time loops and I've seen plenty of people say they prefer them to AUs. Near as I can tell, the one in EW completely undermined the agency of every major character in the foundation of the lore that establishes the world as we know it. Now that I think about it, had they gone the full Greek tragedy route similar to Oedipus where in trying to avoid an outcome it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, that might've made me like/sympathize with Venat. Instead, she chooses to follow the roadmap to the future the WoL gave her for nonsensical reasons.

The "romance" of time loops is sense of "destiny". Things had to happen this way, because the cosmic order needs them to happen this way, and you have a role in it.

A lot of people enjoy the idea that destiny shapes their lives. Societies like the Norse, Hindus, and some portions of Greco-Roman antiquity found comfort in the idea that your life was given meaning by whatever fate you were given. Free will is much more appealing to most people these days, but there's still lots of people who like to believe in things like "God's plan" and whatnot.

In fiction, the narrative irony and setup > payoff arc of time loops are also appealing. It works in a similar vein to things like foreshadowing and Chekhov's Guns. I'm reminded of movies like the first Terminator, where part of the intrigue was learning how much of the future was destined to happen. For example, the scene where Sarah asks about her future son, and Kyle tells her that John "is about [his] height with [her] eyes" hits different after you learn that Kyle himself is John's father.