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

[not_ya_wify]

and by his very nature G'raha is the biggest thematic walking contradiction in the entire universe

Also, can we talk about how inconsistent time travel works?

When G'raha travels in time he creates a separate timeline and is able to change the past.

However, when the WoL travels back in time (using the same method documented by G'raha in the Crystal Tower), we get a continuous timeline in which the actions we take were predestined and it is impossible to change the outcome.

This was probably the biggest let down for me and Elpis was an emotional rollercoaster that kept playing with my wish to save the ancients then brutally tearing it away again. After Shadowbringers, I wanted nothing more than to save the ancients but I knew that wouldn't be possible because rejoining the star would mean our starter cities (and every other locale) would stop existing which cannot happen in an MMO. Then when I heard the WoL is traveling back in time, I thought "OMG! Are we getting a separate timeline where we get to save EVERYONE?" And I thought that was an ingenious solution to the problem. But then Elidibus said "you cannot change the past" and utter disappointment hit me. Well why the fuck not? It's not like the echo where I'm just visiting memories. I'm actually going there, so why shouldn't I be able to save them? Then I get there as a ghost and I think "oh that's why.... I see what Elidibus meant." But then Emet-Selch and Hythlodaeus come by and they can see me and give me a body and I think "OMG SAVING THE ANCIENTS IS BACK ON THE TABLE!" But for some reason there are no dialogue options to spill the tea and that's infuriating because the very first thing I would do is hug Emet-Selch and ugly cry and tell him about all that happened. So, I think "oh great, now the writing is forcing me to not do anything even though I totally could." Then Venat comes and forces us to spill the tea and I think "oh thank God! I AM changing everything after all." Then Hermes goes fucking ballistic and wipes people's memories (how convenient that's how I'm unable to change anything which Elidibus who had no idea of anything beforehand told me I couldn't do). But Venat somehow saves our memory and I think "Great! All I have to do is convince Emet-Selch of what just happened there." But Venat goes "nah, people will just panic if you tell them and Emet-Selch would totally put behind Hermes behind bars which in my personal super unbiased opinion is like not a good idea." WoL: "let me stay and help you."
Venat: "nah, I got this. Trust me bro."

I'm not usually one to get angry over video games but I was on Discord with an FC member and I screamed at her "YOU STUPID FUCKING BITCH I HATE YOU YOU RUINED EVERYTHING YOU INCOMPETENT BITCH." After that my FC member yelled at me for ruining the story for him and we later talked about it and apologized but it's been awkward ever since.

[Rulakir]

This was probably the biggest let down for me and Elpis was an emotional rollercoaster that kept playing with my wish to save the ancients then brutally tearing it away again.

Same. I was expecting an AU coming off of ShB and, despite what Elidibus said, both Venat and Hythlodaeus state while we cannot change our own future we may yet be able to change theirs. I don't have to tell you to imagine my disappointment because you experienced it. As soon as Hermes whipped out Kairos, the fury I felt. Then watching Emet & Hyth have their memories wiped I just started sobbing. I was/am so angry. Not even at Hermes, but at the writers.

I still had some measure of hope for Venat because by telling her about the future we'd given her the opportunity for a redo. Surely she would do things differently knowing how they turned out, but nope! She rattles off her nonsensical list as to why she's going to do everything the same and then I'm subjected to the atrocious cutscene people praise of her pity walk through the ages after she decides to genocide her race. Spare me.

I would say I emotionally tapped out of EW at that point but, no, they had to twist the knife by bringing Emet & Hyth back in Ultima Thule and again I sobbed with fury at the writers for doing this to my two favorite characters. I saw someone on Reddit comment that EW was cathartic. I have no idea how. Anyone who was a fan of the Ancients the story couldn't have gone any worse than it did. I will perpetually feel unfulfilled because of this ridiculous time loop.