Quote Originally Posted by MikkoAkure View Post

If that were the case, why does the official promotional material for the game say things like "rise up with the people of Eorzea and the Far East, and cast down the curs of Garlemald!", "Using the calamitous arrival of the Seventh Umbral Era to sinister advantage", "He regards friend and foe alike with contempt, and tales of his brutality against both have spread far and wide."?
I think that quote is specifically about Zenos, though the wording is confusing. Anyway, it is true that the Garlean Empire and Military as a organizing political force is fairly unambigously treated as a villianous force by the narrative.

Yoshi-P's quote about both sides of a given conflict having value is not a license for us to turn around and go, "yeah, I guess the genocidal, fascist empire trying to take over has a good point about might making right."

I feel like people are not distinguishing between the Garlean Empire, a fairly unambious evil, which was literally built by an ancient wizard to cause as much destruction and chaos in the world as possible - and the Garlean people, some of the first victims of that Empire.