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

[Lauront]

Shhh, you're doing that thing they didn't want you to do and actually paying attention and looking too much at the story. This writing team can't remember what they wrote two scenes previously, so you're supposed to just wave away the constant contradictions and nod and smile.

At least they're forced to admit that part of why Hermes went researching other worlds with a positive outcome in mind is because the ancient world itself was a paradise and that shaped his outlook of what to expect. So much for the "um it's a dystopia ackshually, sweetie" copium I keep seeing people try to force as an interpretation of their world. Although they also make it clear that they're not naively so, since Emet-Selch himself sees the issues with Meteion as a construct, and a lot of their social traditions appear to be born out of a desire to avoid a repeat of a darker past... almost all of the writers' answers seem to be bending over backwards and arm-twisting existing lore to vindicate Venat and, to a lesser degree, Hermes. It has made me lose some respect for them.