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

[Dzonathan]

based, server name checks out

Not sure if you agree with me or not.

[Aneshda]

Well I couldn't have said it better @Teraq.
Endwalker was the worst disappointment, it gave me a bad depression.
We killed the last Ancients and some random Enemies in the name of Venat.
Yoshi destroyed Garlemald behind the scenes because it was too close to a Stormblood 2.0 Story.
Why do I have this bad feeling that the next Expansion will be a Story about Dragons again, just with a new name for Heavensward 2.0?
At this point I'm not even sure if I would buy the next Expansion.
There are no more „good" Enemies left. And I don't care about „Tribes" or the Scions. I can even say I hate the twins, Alphinaud's clenched fists in every damn scene.
Y'shtola ... at each ending tells things we already knew and let us standing there like a dumb idiot.
G'raha Tia, if I have to promise him in every Scene I'll take him on my next adventure I swear I'll get rid of that bastard there's a cliff somewhere high enough for him.
They even ruined Estinien. I want a Scion that contradicts, questions us and not a Fighting Machine that says yes and amen to everything. And Zero ... get rid of her. I don't want to hear in every Scene how much she hates Zenos.
Gimme my Zenos back, even if so many thinks he was dull ... he was far better as every Scion.

[Teraq]

Why do I have this bad feeling that the next Expansion will be a Story about Dragons again, just with a new name for Heavensward 2.0?
At this point I'm not even sure if I would buy the next Expansion.

I have no idea what 7.0 will be about, but right now I'm finding it very hard to care. Unless the expansion setup manages to be riveting stuff… and given that the story has gotten rid of the two factions I cared the most about, I'm having a hard time imagining it will. I found the Scions okay in Shadowbringers, but Endwalker somehow managed to make them feel flatter than ever. I almost liked Zero Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Ravenway in 6.2, but it feels like they burned through her entire character development in two patches flat, and even as someone who doesn't care very much for Zenos the constant negativity against this dead man feels a little tired. Man, back when they teased that his reaper avatar (cool design too) might play a role, I hadn't quite imagined it would be this fanfic OC.

As for the Four Fiends… I'm usually a fan of villain group dynamics, but they were done pretty dirty by lack of proper screen time. And by proper screen time, I mean not just showing them to us via their Zoom videoconference avatars before properly appearing for all of one or two scenes before dying. It felt far too impersonal and rushed. This MSQ is basically a trial side story, and I feel like the previous one had a far more memorable villain so far, even without voice acting. Burn out the bad!

And speaking of gloriously dastardly bad guys that haven't even been voiced (yet?) yet still manage to have more presence than anything in 6.x, the one thing I have left to look forward to is Pandaemonium.
I can hardly wait to see how Endwalker will give me one final middle finger by desecrating my favorite character! Will we tell him nothing about the Final Days/Hermes/Meteion/Venat and let him become the Heart of Zodiark and suffer for twelve thousand years for nothing? Or will we tell him everything and watch as he decides to become the Heart of Zodiark and suffer for twelve thousand years for nothing because Mommy(*) is always right, and he is such a good, precious boy he will do the right thing and strive towards the time loop too?
All I can hope for right now is for the other narcissistic Ancient mother to deliver the goods and free me from this story with one final evil cackle.

(*) Literally. I've seen this theory float around – based on literally nothing but the two of them having blue eyes and white-silver-ish hair – and it is so completely, absolutely cursed for multiple reasons, it can only be true.

Not sure if you agree with me or not.

(I do!)

Venat was against sacrifice of lesser races

Though here I must add: that was the Shadowbringers version of Venat's motivation. In other words, what Emet interpreted her stance as, given that she seemingly told the Convocation nothing of her actual motivation: her fear of her people becoming like this distant alien race, given two whole lines of context from Meteion's report. It wasn't the sacrifice of lesser races she was against, but rather the use of Zodiark at all in order to go back to their way of life, which she believed would eventually lead them down the same path as the Nibirun – as hinted at by her dismayed look after hearing those two lines from Meteion's report, her sincerely wanting to answer Hermes's sophomoric preoccupations and stand equal to the "fairness" of his "test" (which there is so much wrong about, I believe multiple posts have been written in this thread about this particular pile-up of logical fallacies), and the game overall pretending Hermes has any sort of point at all when he brings up how everyone will just commit suicide once the world has been made perfect, as Emet the Ancient traditionalist stands there with his mouth agape like damn how could I ever refute such an unassailable, iron-clad argument…

Look. I know the Shadowbringers version of her motivation actually sounded far more relatable and compelling. I know. I liked it better too. But that's Endwalker for ya!

Venat placed her hopes in lesser races, WoL (6 times rejoined, therefore closer to Ascians than mortals) fulfilled her hopes, not lesser races.

I dunno man.

From where I'm standing Venat is full of shite and she "won" only because my WoLie couldn't scream foul on her hippie ass.

I really like putting it into perspective that way: you were her protégé.e, her mentee, and you presumably trusted and respected her like every other Ancient did (except perhaps for Lahabrea, as shown in one Pandaemonium line – god bless you Heph, though I suppose you are no stranger to narcissists after all, eh)… only for her to wipe away your memories and identity and indirectly kill you. She is now grooming your reincarnations to become her perfect weapon so you may eventually murder your lover very very very good friend, who tragically recognized you before dying, as well as your also-friend and little brother figure who looked up to you (who tragically never recognized you before dying). She let them become lonely, genocidal villains over the course of 12,000 years just to be cogs in her grand master plan. But hey… it's fine, because right at the end of Elpis she told you she would try her best to avert all that, right? Only… well… we only have her word on this, and she sure has a bad track record on truths and lies.
Oh, and your other best friend? Yeah, he sacrificed himself to stop the Final Days she apparently only half-heartedly tried to avert, and he was stuck in purgatory for 12,000 years as a result, dreaming of freedom along with everyone else stuck inside Zodiark.

Meanwhile, the dialogue options after the Mothercrystal trial be like:
> You're a queen, Hydaelyn!
> Thank you so much for committing genocide on our behalf, Venat! What a woman you are!

[Boblawblah]

I think someone needs some love from momma Venat

[Teraq]

Ah, I do love me some Ancient narc queens…

[BaconBits]

I think someone needs some love from momma Venat

Cease.

[AwesomeJr44]

I think someone needs some love from momma Venat

Does her love happen to involve her nuking me, my people, and my planet from orbit?

[Atelier-Bagur]

Does her love happen to involve her nuking me, my people, and my planet from orbit?

Her love involves yeeting you out of FFXIV with the lopporits to find a new MMO-er I mean star

[AwesomeJr44]

Her love involves yeeting you out of FFXIV with the lopporits to find a new MMO-er I mean star

I mean, that does sound pretty in character for her. Just kill/remove anyone who doesn't worship the ground she walks on.

[Atelier-Bagur]

I mean, that does sound pretty in character for her. Just kill/remove anyone who doesn't worship the ground she walks on.

Oh yes, this was the true message of this game all along. It was about religion!