Would Endwalker have been better if we never visited Elpis at all?

[Xirean]

The OP asked if we felt Elpis was necessary and in the narrative that was told, the connection with Meteion that we met and connected with by way of Elpis was necessary. She was part of the hivemind of the Meteia but we help her start to remember the part that is our Meteion. The Dead Ends felt a lot less like she was trying to convince us and more that she was trying to convince herself. And then after we broke her free from the hivemind Endsinger, that connection with us helped her understand what hope was and release it into the universe.

If we had come to that point as a stranger instead of a friend, she would have reacted much differently.

Eh, throw in some echo vision we give her that we saw of Hermes. Honestly a random stranger pulling out the Elpis flowers at the end would have a bit more WTF factor to it imo. Either way, I'm not concerned about Meteion; I'm concerned about bad time loops, genocide justification and being denied seeing a really cool Primal fight.