Is the WoL actually good though?

[Theodric]

Your "both sides" argument here is exactly the sort of example I'm talking about. There's no "both-siding" the example of the Garleans and the Eorzean Alliance in this case. The Garleans are unambiguously the aggressor party here. Their ancestors/founders once had sympathetic motives, sure, but the Empire by the time of FFXIV is a nation of militaristic conquerors. Once again, this is a PERFECT example of why I'll hard pass on advocating for absolute moral greyness. Because you end up trying to conflate everybody into being "equally valid" even when it isn't the case.

You're free to buy into the idea that territorial disputes are not incredibly complex. Much of the world - both in-game and outside of it - was built on just that. Territorial conflicts. There's plenty of nuance to it, though.

At the end of the day it's just a video game and we're talking about fictional nations. I'm here to be entertained, not use the game as a soapbox for my personal beliefs.

As it happens, I find a race forced to do horrid things due to external manipulation and an innate inability to manipulate aether decidedly more sympathetic and interesting than a bunch of self proclaimed 'heroes' who are not only brought back to life when they die but are actively empowered and given all sorts of advantages that other, desperate people in the setting are denied.

Nobody is suggesting that you have to think or feel the same way. Which is the merit to the compromise of allowing players to come to their own conclusions about specific characters and events.