Whatever it is, hopefully it results in some actual lasting consequences for the protagonists and not just mostly things that come at the expense of the antagonists and large swathes of throwaway civilians.

I think back to Fandaniel's towers as an excellent example. If the game wants to preach at length about learning to move on then maybe it's time to lean into that. Have G'raha run through with an enemy's blade. Alisae torn apart by an oversized monster to punish her overconfidence. Just examples, though it's getting tiresome to be stuck with the same faces we've seen for almost a decade at this point. They're not afraid to kill off extremely popular characters such as Emet-Selch so there's really no reason for them to justify cladding the Scions in perpetual plot armour.

Unless, of course, they're straight up lying in interviews whenever they bring up that the story isn't a matter of 'good' or 'evil' but merely a matter of clashing perspectives?

One of the main reasons I bothered investing in FFXIV in the first place was due to how its worldbuilding and tone was serious and consistent back in the days of ARR and HW. The losses were balanced - but it no longer feels that way to me.