We also know - as per the lore clarification Q&A released shortly after Endwalker - that Venat deliberately spared Emet-Selch and banked on him surviving as part of her plan. The Ascians were very much controlled opposition for Venat and she had prior knowledge as to what they would do in order to restore their loved ones.

Therefore, she is at least indirectly responsible for all of the blood upon their hands as well as the Ascians themselves being directly responsible.

If she was making a genuine effort to save the Ancients then she would never have withheld key information relating to the true cause behind the Final Days and she certainly would not have resorted to actively sabotaging their efforts to come up with solutions on their own.

Indeed, with every new scrap of information that is revealed it seems more and more likely that she always intended to resort to the Sundering and her feigned concerns towards the Ancients were simply a convenient excuse to get them out of the way through a cruel act of genocide complete with racial replacement and eugenics for good measure.

Unfortunately for the writers, not everybody falls for the 'bRAvE lItTlE SpArK' act because not everybody even self inserts into the story in the first place and even in cases where they do, their priority isn't necessarily seeking to imagine themselves working to please 'cRyStAl MoMmY'.

Which, I believe is a key point behind the disagreement. Some of us are discussing the story from the perspective in relation to how everything fits together and impacts the various characters and societies. Others are just flinging their hands up and automatically siding with the game's point of view characters and throwing anything and everything at the wall in order to come up with an excuse as to why the Ancients 'needed' to be wiped out. Sometimes as something to be cheered on, other times as a 'grim necessity'. Failing that, you then have certain posters who will fully imagine the Rejoinings as an act of genocide but pretend as if they don't see the equivalent, through the Sundering, as being the same thing. Convenient, that!

The funny - and rather sad - thing is that if Venat were actually properly criticised and held accountable for her actions then she'd be a lot more popular amongst those who take issue with her. Instead by having all her brutality hand waved and dismissed it just led to many an eye roll instead.

The game is exceedingly preachy at times and a lot of people stomached that on the basis of hoping for some consistency. Instead we get a story that ends up trying to pretend as if the character responsible for a horrific act of genocide 'tried her best' even as she sabotaged, lied to and betrayed her own people.

It doesn't work like that, I'm afraid. Still, with any luck the story will handle its characters with more dignity across the board moving forward. It certainly seems to be eager to embrace something of lesser stakes as of the upcoming expansion.