I wonder if it's a result of the game originally being made as a live service title. It feels like the writers are shackled at almost every given point

Impossible to skip the op as well. Crazy ass banger

Same game that brought Heavensward, Stormblood and Shadowbringers. Guess they forgot about the whole fighting against different forms of oppression and inequality thing. Hell, Hermes' character in Endwalker was about the failings of an apathetic society to those that need help the most.