I wasn't too bothered by Elpis on my playthrough of Endwalker. I guess I went in expecting it to be like visiting Zeal in Chrono Trigger-we would see the cause of their fall but ultimately be unable to do anything about it. I did find the memory wipe scene to be weird and contrived at the time.

After reading all the endless discussions on it I can see why people were uncomfortable with it. I think a lot of the ideas brought up like making Venat get memory wiped and the sundering be unintentional would make it less awkward. Perhaps SE thought if they went that direction it would make Venat too innocent when they wanted the conflict to be grey.