Endwalker is the most controversial expansion

[Absimiliard]

"Because Emperor Solus said it was a bad idea and banned it, and we do NOT disobey Emperor Solus."

Indeed, but you'd think someone would've said something once Solus greenlit again it later on. Midas and Nael were already lost causes at that point, but like... c'mon. One-off colony drop vs. laser that somehow does more damage than a colony drop and can be reused.

But I digress. Should probably get back on topic at this point.

Setting the Garleans aside entirely, I feel Endwalker's message may not have been well received by all. I know what they intended to convey, but many (myself included) did not see what it was they had hoped. To me, the message misses the mark. Rather than telling us to be compassionate and allow others to grieve however they wish -- or to grieve however we wish, for those of us that find ourselves in that situation -- it seems, at least to me, to convey that we should regard those individuals with derision, or in the case of being the one grieving, build a bridge and get over it. I got much the same message out of it regarding dealing with traumatized victims/trauma. Expecting people to move on and pick themselves back up eventually is not unreasonable, but everyone has to do so at their own pace. You can't just expect people who've been victimized and violated on a fundamental level bounce back instantly, or for that matter to maintain their rationality. It takes time.

Depicting the seeking of perfection as something bad also struck the wrong chord with me. Perfection is an unattainable goal, but seeking it is a perfectly reasonable route to becoming a better, more well-rounded individual. The key lies in moderation; you must seek it while also understanding you can never reach it and thus avoid being consumed by it. To myself and presumably at least some others, depicting the pursuit of perfection in a negative light is not much different from telling someone to just give up. Seeking to progress as a society was also cast in a rather negative light, which is another thing I did not like. To me, there is absolutely nothing wrong with a society wanting to eliminate as many hardships as possible through whatever means are available to them, so long as they're not trampling on the free will of their people or others.

I also felt Zodiark was completely wasted. We had all these years of building hype for him, but he turned out to be nothing more than near-mindless beast who got hijacked by Great Value™ Kefka and subsequently killed off without any long term consequences despite his having manipulated the world's aether flow so extensively up until his destruction. Beyond that, I was left puzzled by the fact they spent so much of ShB trying to set Hydaelyn and Zodiark up with the whole shades of grey thing only to toss that out the window in EW.