I suppose it remains to be seen how they respond to the reception to Endwalker. That they felt obligated to take the unprecedented step of creating a 'clarification' Live Letter to address the story suggests to me that there is a lot of mixed reactions across the board. It's hard to see on a surface level due to how much gatekeeping the community itself likes to partake in, though the cracks are beginning to show across the board in a way that cannot be stifled as easily as in the past.

I do hope that they manage to turn things around and create something that satisfies a broader audience. The one sided fanservice and consequences only existing for the antagonists is wearing pretty thin. I'm the type to enjoy darker stories, though only when there's consistency. Introducing characters without plot armour who are sympathetic and forced to do bad things in order to survive only to be blamed for not rolling over and dying is just...childish. It's also far removed from some of the commentary put out there in interviews about 'no good, no evil' and 'it's all a matter of perspective'.