I should elaborate:

By 'grit' I'm referring to the fact that Eorzea is a very dangerous, unpleasant place for people to live. There's the inequality in both wealth and social status to consider, supposed xenophobia and racism (something played down significantly from 1.0 - 2.0 and beyond), various horrible monsters prowling the wilds, necromancy, slavery, banditry, the risk of invasion/conquest, the Calamity and it's aftermath, political intrigue, hypocrisy of world leaders, Primals/Eikons being summoned repeatedly, Tempering and...the list goes on.