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

[KizuyaKatogami]

Aren't the parties responsible for that in Uldah also considered villains? Likewise Limsa and likewise Doma? (In fact, Doma's situation was directly caused by the Garleans on that front.) Nanamo's entire story arc is about trying to reclaim her political power from those parties, and the Admiral likewise is trying to correct the injustices of her predecessors.

So yes, we have several similar groups of villains.

Except they’re still in power…with us doing nothing to them. I mean, it was the current person in power who sent us to go slaughter Kobolds in the first place lol. The devs themselves have stated the story isn’t black and white. They’ve even given us some good Garean army officials like Regula, so not everyone is corrupt or “evil” if you want to call it that. If we’re going to start saying “well ackshually this was caused by x.” Then i guess the discussion ends with the garleans only turned out the way they did because people decided to invade them, steal their land, and tried to drive them to extinction.

[CrownySuccubus]

Except they’re still in power…with us doing nothing to them. I mean, it was the current person in power who sent us to go slaughter Kobolds in the first place lol.

She also then offered to let those same Kobolds kill her for what she did to them. I don't think the Admiral is blameless, but the game still acknowledges what she did as villainy.

If you want an expansion where we take her down for her villainy, by all means. Same with Garlemald.

The devs themselves have stated the story isn’t black and white. They’ve even given us some good Garean army officials like Regula, so not everyone is corrupt or “evil” if you want to call it that. If we’re going to start saying “well ackshually this was caused by x.” Then i guess the discussion ends with the garleans only turned out the way they did because people decided to invade them, steal their land, and tried to drive them to extinction.

Sure, there is individual gray within the Garleans, but the Garlean Empire itself is very much NOT gray. A government =/= its people. Saying that the Garlean Empire (and its military) were villains is not saying that each individual Garlean person was evil. For example, there were good people in Eulmore, but that didn't change the fact that Vauthry needed to be taken down. If Garlemald had survived and a more benevolent leader taken the throne, fine. But, even BEFORE the Telopheroi appeared, the Garlean military destroyed their own country based on its own prevalent philosophy of might makes right.