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

[Kozh]

The Garleans have long been the only significant source of strife on the Three Great Continents outside of civil wars like those in pre-occupation Ala Mhigo, so unless there's some closet military power hiding in Ilsabard and waiting to make their presence known, I have trouble thinking of who/what else could realistically serve as the antagonist for an Ilsbard expansion barring the introduction of some new supernatural threat as a consequence of Endwalker's events changing the natural order.

Maybe they could use some resistance extrimist for the new "antagonist"? Or perhaps since Garlemald is no more, the nations/regions start going into civil war to seize due to lack of common enemy. Personally I don't really need a super military power as our next enemy.

And your idea about the new supernatural threat is good too.

[Theodric]

If nothing else, the escalating tensions in the real world could very well have caused the writers to grow weary of writing 'war stories'.

[Rulakir]

I'm tired of being a war mascot. It worked in HW mostly because Ishgard didn't really need us, but it quickly became tiresome in SB where we had to be a part of two different liberations who seemingly couldn't do anything without us. It went from being glad to share to battlefield to we need you to lead the charge to give people hope. I think it also doesn't work because, at least IMO, Ishgard was the only place that felt like home. Battling on behalf of Ala Mhigo and Doma felt out of place and like it really wasn't our problem to solve. It's a big reason SB fell flat for me.

[aveyond-dreams]

I'm tired of being a war mascot. It worked in HW mostly because Ishgard didn't really need us, but it quickly became tiresome in SB where we had to be a part of two different liberations who seemingly couldn't do anything without us. It went from being glad to share to battlefield to we need you to lead the charge to give people hope. I think it also doesn't work because, at least IMO, Ishgard was the only place that felt like home. Battling on behalf of Ala Mhigo and Doma felt out of place and like it really wasn't our problem to solve. It's a big reason SB fell flat for me.

Agreed with the above post, Ishgard did a lot to welcome and warm us to its cause over the course of Heavensward but Stormblood felt like we were just Lyse's wardog. There are better ways to write war stories, not all of them require the WoL being the incarnation of the people's hope necessarily. In Heavensward we largely did our own thing instead of tagging along with resistance groups, opting instead to go rogue and do things our own way.

FFIX was similar in this regard in terms of following a path that steered clear of Stormblood's writing style, while we participated in many conflicts and key battles (Burmecia, Clerya, etc) we weren't there performing the tiresome duty as "the hero" we were caught up in the situation and felt for the communities impacted by them due to them being more fleshed out.

In absence of the threat of war, or any other supernatural forces stirring in the background all we'd be left with is the fanfiction-level writing that we experienced in several parts of Endwalker that I would prefer to not see resurface. Sitting around the campfire with Ysayle and Estinien was more impactful than eating takeout with the twins and G'raha.

As for villains-I would have preferred if Yotsuyu was the dominant main antagonist in Stormblood as opposed to Zenos. I am not interested in hearing any more arguments about how he was a "foil" to us or represented our reflection in any way. He was fundamentally uninteresting with his only redeeming qualities being that he was more attractive than Lyse or Y'shtola, and that I actually liked putting up with him more than I could stand Hermes.

[NanaWiloh]

Maybe they could use some resistance extrimist for the new "antagonist"? Or perhaps since Garlemald is no more, the nations/regions start going into civil war to seize due to lack of common enemy. Personally I don't really need a super military power as our next enemy.

And your idea about the new supernatural threat is good too.

I would personally would not mind a inter dimensional villain. One who cant be beaten with aether or sheer brute force. A villian we have start at rock bottom with. Learn about them like we did with the ascians.

[Puksi]

I saw this plot already in naruto shippuden.

Amaurot was budget Rapture from Bioshock, Pandaemonium brought us Discount Dracula from Castlevania, why wouldn't they toss in a little Naruto while they're at it.

Joking aside, they handle topics like these horribly, and I hope they either switch to topics they can handle or hire a new ethics team. They tried to make a "hero" of Emet-Selch, they tried to make a "hero" of Venat, our Allied city-states are atrocious, and they're trying to make a "hero" of a woman who took a child hostage and caused that child's death, to say nothing of killing her own people for personal gain. Giving my character no choice in these things, making me a yes-man to them, even, is a disconnect that has really taken the enjoyment out of recent expansions. And it really makes it easy to spot those holes in the narrative we're apparently supposed to ignore.

[Theodric]

I'd settle for simply being given the agency to have my character react either positively, neutrally or negatively to any major event. The problem for me isn't that the likes of Emet are portrayed as a 'hero' to their own people, because they very much are. It's all a matter of perspective and asking 'who benefits'.

Venat would ordinarily receive the same treatment from me except the writing basically made her motivations very strange, time travel was introduced and seemingly every bit of important lore and event so far in the setting was adjusted retroactively to actually be some grand plan. A friend of mine pointed out that the universe itself seemed to suddenly adjust in order to make her look good. Which is very much how I see it as well.

At the end of the day, neither the Unsundered or the Sundered really benefitted from Venat's actions. The former were wiped out against their will and the latter were manipulated and set up to suffer atrocities but it was all arguably pointless because it was the Warrior of Light who defeated Meteion. Not the Sundered. A being that is so powerful and defies every rule that he might as well be Unsundered given that with the right convenient power boosts he can go head to head with them already.

[KageTokage]

I feel like they could've made Venat's motivations a much easier pill to swallow if she had simply gotten her memories wiped as well, so everything she did was strictly with knowledge of the now, not of what was to come.

Alternatively, they may have been able to present Elpis as an untouched relic of the Ancient world (Which is what almost everyone seemed to think it was when it was initially shown in pre-release material) to avoid the time travel entirely, though it doubtless would've made for a less intriguing zone if we were learning of the past strictly through records and perhaps Echo visions.

[Garnix]

The problem with Venat is the massive plot hole. We do not yet know what happened between Elpis and the Final Days.

[Ryaz]

The problem with Venat is the massive plot hole. We do not yet know what happened between Elpis and the Final Days.

I'd like to believe she did everything she could to stop them, but failed to do so, leading to her feeling like she had no choice but to become Hydalaen's heart. It's not within her character to just sit around doing nothing.

I'm still hoping we get some info to fill in those missing parts