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

[kyyninen_kirahvi]

That would've been an interesting twist if Hydaelyn actually turned out to be the villain, lol. I was actually expecting it to be a hostile alien civilization from a distant planet when Meteion became possessed at Elpis. As cliche as that sounds, to me, that or Hydaelyn being a traitor would've been a heck of a lot more interesting than bird girl being able to use sadness and despair to kill people.

Considering the WoL is partly to blame for the time loop, it wouldn't have been far fetched for Hydelyn to snap and blame us and/or herself for the fall of the ancients. Did Venat cause everything to pass because we told her what was going to happen or did she do everything of her own will? My problem with the time travel was that it was so under used as a plot point that it mostly only served as fan service. The Fandaniel bit could have brought more Hermes to the present but was mostly used as a reincarnation ghost story.

[Swordsman]

My problem with the time travel was that it was so under used as a plot point that it mostly only served as fan service.

Without a doubt fan service had a huge part to do with it. Emet Selch is one of the franchise's most popular characters, and it doesn't surprise me at all that SE sought a way to give him more screen time.