Endwalker was "meh" (for reasons other than technical issues)

[hydralus]

Alphinaud's lack of a retort made perfect sense, because the Legatus' statement poked a hole in Alphinaud's statement that "they simply wanted peace."

It absolutely did not. He went into a non-sequitur on his personal beliefs which had nothing to do with the actual history of their conquest or how they supposedly offered 'prosperity'. Alphinaud is supposed to be a master debater from a nation of scholars and getting shut up by such a stupid argument is absolute cringe storytelling. I don't think the writers even know how to write a smart character. You can't keep fanboying how smart and talented Alphinaud is and then keep having him fail so God damn always and resort to stupid anime schlock like 'the power of hope and friendship'.