> We’re introduced to problems that we have literally solved before, like aether imbalan🎉ces and energy shortages, but our hard-earned knowledge and experience are hedged by contrived plot points to force the story fꦅorward.

THIS, right here, is my biggest complaint; right alongside the overused "NPC Antagonist Refuses to Listen to Offers of Help" trope. I mean, I get it, getting sidetracked by Evil Kin♔g Dad's plot probably did the most to shoot that option out of the water. But solving universe-shattering crises are what the WoL does while checking their mail and seeing if their retainers got back from a mission, possibly after baking a cake, getting wool from island sheep, and making a new set of armor.