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

[Theodric]

I wouldn't say his sadness was "self-indulgent". Grief is very much a thing that can mess people up. It never goes away, it stays with you for life. Causes you to be irrational. And as we saw from Elpis, most if not almost all ancients do not grieve. For all we know, Hermes was the first ancient to actually feel grief. And when everyone around you dismisses that grief out of hand time and again, it broken him down to his very soul. Yes, I agree what he did wasn't the right thing, but he wasn't in his right mind either.

The side quests in Elpis reveal that Hermes was far from the only Ancient to experience grief. I get the impression a lot of people are simply projecting their own experiences onto Hermes when to me he's one of the most laughable attempts at showcasing mental health issues and something as complex as depression and despair in a video game to date.

[Sarkany]

The side quests in Elpis reveal that Hermes was far from the only Ancient to experience grief. I get the impression a lot of people are simply projecting their own experiences onto Hermes when to me he's one of the most laughable attempts at showcasing mental health issues and something as complex as depression and despair in a video game to date.

Well, if people are finding him relatable, I think that would tend to indicate they got something right. Everyone's experience of depression is different. (I do think I recognized a lot of the absolutely wild depression-philosophy he was getting into in Ktisis Hyperboreia - I recognize that it's completely nuts, but it felt very similar to some of the rabbit holes I've gone into.) He does seem to be the only person who reacts as strongly as he does to the "necessity" of putting down animals that aren't meeting their performance metrics. Other people were experiencing grief, but was anyone else driven to the same level of despair over insufficiently successful animals? I don't think so. Emet has the whole monologue about how the Sundered are so worthless compared to him that our deaths are morally meaningless, and we can talk and express feelings - I really don't see any of the Ancients feeling more strongly than that about literal animals.

[Cach]

The side quests in Elpis reveal that Hermes was far from the only Ancient to experience grief. I get the impression a lot of people are simply projecting their own experiences onto Hermes when to me he's one of the most laughable attempts at showcasing mental health issues and something as complex as depression and despair in a video game to date.

All things "final enemy" related felt rushed specially for a multi-expansion plot.
But to be fair, the moment time travel was introduced again I pretty much checked out and couldn't help being snarky at every single revelation.