Who knew the 6.15 Omega Quests… (Spoilers)

[tokinokanatae]

If Venat was not taking the best option, then the story no longer functions as intended. It is no longer people making different but valid and internally justifiable moral decisions, and frankly, I don't even know what the story IS anymore if not that. So you can't throw 'she had better options' without significant proof that said better options existed, not just to overcome the story's own evidence and testimonies, but also to provide an alternative definition for what this story is.

What an absolutely bizarre thing to say. The game has never hypothesized that Venat's way was the only/best way, only that she thought it was the best way, in the same way that Emet-Selch thought that only the Ancients had the temperament and fortitude to take stewardship over the star. (Hint: both of them were wrong.) It's like you're saying the only math equation that comes out to the answer "4" is "8/2=", when Emet-Selch's equation might be "2+2=", etc, etc.

When people are upset at Venat's actions, they're upset that there is no indication that she tried to explore other avenues. For example, we have proof both in the game and out of it that we're not the first person Emet-Selch has attempted to trust and find another way with. Likewise, even Hermes was attempting to mitigate his anguish over dispersing creations with guidelines and tests to see if their flaws were really immutable.

The kindest thing this set of quests did was clarify whether or not Venat was misleading her followers. It seems very likely at this point she wasn't. (I really have to laugh, though. Sundering is so "imprecise and difficult" it can leave holes for specific people to escape and create simulations of real people that only have the memories Venat approves of?)

It seems to me your objection is less, "the story would make no sense" and more "Venat would be no better or worse than Hermes and Emet-Selch," but that's already clear from these side quests. The reason her plan worked wasn't because it was a good plan or the best plan, it was because after she set the process in motion, countless people other than her made it work. It was a miracle that she had very little direct hand in.