Quote Originally Posted by Millybonk View Post
  • The mighty Zodiark, which has been build up as this mighty(evil) entity over several expansions, turns out to be nothing but filler trash for the first Endwalker trial
  • The true cause of the Final Days is a pet-project from an ancient which goes mad after observing countless dead world and possibly causing the death of several world by projecting negative emotions unto them, and is thus dead-set on bringing despair to every world, upon which said ancient goes mad and is now letting her run her course to test humanity if they can withstand/fight despair
  • Venat, who hasn't had her memory wiped + still remembers you from being in Elpis, quite apparently doesn't lift a finger to learn about Dynamis herself or to mobilize the other ancients to end Meteion then and there, and instead chooses to turn herself into Hydaelyn, sunder the world and the inhabitants, thereby forcing them to live with and face despair and gambling that their resilience against despair might be enough to face Meteion one day

Really?
This is the best SQ could do in terms of story after ShB?
I'll address the last one, because I think you're making a gross simplification here: Venat is an Unsundered Ancient, and a powerful one at that. She has an interest in dynamis but isn't capable of wielding it in meaningful fashion. The Sundering was a way to create entities that could.

Why?

Well remember what Emet Selch said in Shadowbringers. How he asked how sundered man would react to the REAL end of the world, truly the end of the world and not just a fake one like the Calamities. There's a different perspective there. Part of the point of the Sundering was to make suffering commonplace. To make loss commonplace. So when the Final Days *did* come about, it didn't just completely fold society like a pretzel.

That's something that's shown, but not explicitly stated in EW Main. The Final Days *broke* The Ancients. They were willing to make sacrifice after self destructive sacrifice to bring back their ideal world rather than push forward and make something new from the ashes. A progressive society had become a regressive one nigh overnight. This is anathema for an Ancient.

I'll address Zodiark too, tbh, because that's a fair point. I would have much preferred a story where the end of main was the start of the Final Days, and post was Thavnair 2 to Ultima Thule. I think that would have been more satisfying and given the void arc a more dedicated plotline down the road. I'm not sure how they zone all that out, though.