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

[Lauront]

Endwalker also smacks the player over the head with how much Venat loves you, throws in a time loop to make it seem like Venat's actions had to happen that way, has the fan faves all bend over backwards - sometimes in ways that don't fit them - to reinforce this, underplays the Sundering by not really showing it in game and uses the Plenty as a caricature to give the veneer of plausibility to Venat's fears (which would only potentially materialise if her people did not change, made worse by the fact that they did not get the information they needed or the chance to decide for themselves on this), and more besides. Because of the scale of the act EW was trying to justify, and all the foregoing narrative gaslighting, it's much harder to ignore or gloss over it, but yeah, if you don't look too hard at what's going on, you may think what Venat did was necessary and not that big a deal. Show that Nier crossover scene, maybe the debates that took place in Ere our curtain falls, and throw in some nuanced discussion over it as with the Omega quest line, and we might have seen a different impression being formed by those who pay less close attention to the lore. Either way, yes, the SB story on closer analysis does seem to have involved an awful lot of plot convenience for the protagonists.

[Brinne]

Well, like I said, even if I squinted hard at these elements at the time, and can talk about them if prompted, it's not like I felt the need to throw a fit or post on the official forums or anything because of them, either. I mostly rolled my eyes and moved on, besides some private discussions purely for fun (some of us are weirdoes who actively enjoy dissecting writing elements that do and don't work for us.) I can rail on Hien all day, but Hydaelyn is obviously on another level, and fundamentally, Hien amounts to an arc character that I can mostly ignore in the bigger picture - Hydaelyn's actions form the foundational lore for this entire story and world, and had a direct, devastating impact on the storylines and characters that truly resonated with me.

But I think it's true you can sort of identify a similar emotional thread in terms of someone who generally enjoys an expansion, but isn't that invested in the plot specifically - and for whom pointing out the issues doesn't change their overall feelings that much, even if they acknowledge what you're saying.