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

[Brinne]

Especially given that they basically see the WOL as just a "more complicated" version of the petaloudai, it gives a very "They could do this to you, next" vibe.

Lol, this echoes almost exactly a conversation I had with tokinokanatae about "what the hell went wrong with Elpis," when she pointed out that the expectation was probably that the player would be uncomfortable and find Elpis "scary" because they should identify with the creations, right? And thus have the question of "oh no, would they just casually unmake me to make a robe because I'm not perfect!?" hanging over their heads and troubling them the whole time they're exploring the area.

Of course, this didn't work out in practice for a number of reasons in both writing and presentation. As I've mentioned before, both Amaurot in Shadowbringers AND Elpis in Endwalker had the exact opposite effect for me - because the Ancients were so clearly human with human idiosyncrasies, but lived in a world they had crafted that didn't have true malice, I felt incredibly safe and comforted in their world, and seeing Ancients be stubborn and frustrated and sometimes at a loss without anything like the Final Days pressing down on them made me think "they'd definitely have room for someone as stubborn and frustrating and confused as I often am! This is great! I want to be here, where I can be myself AND also be safe and surrounded by well-meaning people I can trust!"