Endwalker's message (spoilers!)

[Yencat]

Based on the scene we're shown, she spouted platitudes while their star was dying - an approach Alphinaud and Alisaie learnt did not go down well in Garlemald. What she categorically did not do is reveal anything that went down in Elpis.

I don't think the scene we're shown is supposed to be a literal account of how it went down, after all she's casually strolling through the streets looking pained while everything around them collapses and everyone is running away in fear, and Hythlodaeus casually waves goodbye and walks away as he's off to be sacrificed to Zodiark that very instant.

They definitely could've made it more clear we're watching an abridged version of the events though, but we can infer as much. It all still feels kind of flimsy though.

For a mercy, we're rid of her all/most of them now anyway.

Amen to that.

It didn't wrap up as neatly as I'd hoped, but I guess at least it's wrapped up.

[Kyrj]

The MSQ was nice but the more I looked at it the more I noticed the rather large flaws of it. Zenos wants to fight us, Fandango wants to get to Zodiark, Zenos can apparently destroy the seals by himself but they opt for these stupid towers (and before anyone mentions it, yes I fully believe Zenos could destroy all the seals by himself. It's Zenos, the guy is one more poorly written power up away from basically becoming God), why didn't Fandango just tell Zenos "hey you destroy these seals and I can assure you that your crush will come running to fight you!". It just feels like they wasted patches and a third of a expac for these towers just to go "Welp, guess we'll do it ourselves".

[GrizzlyTank]

The MSQ was nice but the more I looked at it the more I noticed the rather large flaws of it. Zenos wants to fight us, Fandango wants to get to Zodiark, Zenos can apparently destroy the seals by himself but they opt for these stupid towers (and before anyone mentions it, yes I fully believe Zenos could destroy all the seals by himself. It's Zenos, the guy is one more poorly written power up away from basically becoming God), why didn't Fandango just tell Zenos "hey you destroy these seals and I can assure you that your crush will come running to fight you!". It just feels like they wasted patches and a third of a expac for these towers just to go "Welp, guess we'll do it ourselves".

Maybe the zeals were a lot sturdier before 5 of them got blown up.

[KizuyaKatogami]

I'll be honest that felt like every excuse every abusive parent tells someone.

Oh my child I beat you so you suffer so you will be brainwashed into my ways and be happy with the fucked up state of the world and just accept things blinding no matter how screwed up the world gets.

Or in my personal case:

Aunt: beats

your going to suffer so you don't go to hell because I "care"

legitly those lines show how fucked up society's adults are in general

Yep, and then the fact they try and paint her as a hero in the end…hits too close to home.

[Theodric]

Each to their own, I guess. I don't really fault people for venting a little about something they invest in and enjoy.

Besides, criticising one aspect of the game doesn't mean someone hates it across the board.

[MoofiaBossVal]

Being a cute girl and shedding alligator tears will get you off the hook for wiping out almost the entire universe and crusading against the last world in existence. Yes I know dynamis and emotional reaction and stuff, but come on, she had tens of thousands of years to think about this.

[Vahlnir]

Being a cute girl and shedding alligator tears will get you off the hook for wiping out almost the entire universe and crusading against the last world in existence. Yes I know dynamis and emotional reaction and stuff, but come on, she had tens of thousands of years to think about this.

She wasn't really let off the hook though. She wasn't just one entity either, she was part of a collective hivemind, more or less. And only one of them came to realize that they might have made a mistake or two along the way. Said collective died after we beat them, so...there's that too. No one was really let off the hook here. Being able to sympathize with the villain (at least somewhat) didn't get in the way of delivering retribution.

[KizuyaKatogami]

Did you even watch the cutscenes? Venat DID talk to the other Ancients. Their response was to suicide into Zodiark.

Their plan was also to hide inside Zodiark long enough for him to fix things and then literally decimate every living thing in order to have their own utopia.

I'd have shot them all too. To bury their heads in the sand waiting for someone else to fix their mess and then genocide a planet all for their own arrogance? Yeah, I'm with Venat on this one lol

Did YOU even watch the cutscenes? They weren’t going to decimate every living thing. They sacrificed once to stop the final days. Once to bring life back to the planet. And then they were going to do a 3rd sacrifice with a portion of the new life that sprouted to bring back their loved ones. Where are you getting decimating every living thing. Also no she didn’t talk to Emet or Hythlo after the mind wipe. She kept it a secret from them and then decided instead of telling them and trying to have hope they could win, she went behind their backs and shattered the world. What arrogance btw? The final days wasn’t their own doing lmao.

[Sylve]

What arrogance btw? The final days wasn’t their own doing lmao.

... Final Days were not their own doing? Really?

just 8n case, I'll spoiler block this.
- what caused the Final Days? Meteion.
- what was Meteion? A creation of Hermes, an Ancient.
- why did Meteion trigger the Final Days? Because she was empath drowning in the negative emotions of every sentient species she came across while asking (As Emet puts it) a flawed question.

Hermes, an Ancient who could never understand who condone the lack compassion his fellow Ancients had for the lives of their creations, not only triggered the Final Days but also wiped the memories of the people who could prevented it.
Hermes is literally responsible for the deaths of entire planets through his creation of Meteion.

Zodiark was never the final solution. He was a literal bandaid fix.
Y'shtola tells us why when she witnesses the first transformation.
Zodiark created a shield of Aether around the planet.
Meteion was eroding that shield.

The message of the expansion was the solution the Ancients never even bothered to try.
Had they the resolve to not let fear and despair rule them, The Final Days would have never happened.

The first sacrifice was to form Zodiark and create the barrier between them and Meteion.
The second one we see when Venat confronts the group of Ancients who ignore her pleas and instead of working to make the planet better, suicide into Zodiark so he can "bring perfection back"

Their goal from the start was to stop the Final Days and them sacrifice whatever life arose in the meantime to bring back the Ancients.
Literally opting to genocide life to have their own vision of utopia.
Only they never needed to die in the first place. If the people of today had the resolve to halt their transformations brought on by falling I to despair, so too could the Ancients have done.
But they chose sacrifice and more death for their own arrogant vision of perfection.

They absolutely brought the Final Days upon themselves.