What kind of villain do you want to see in the game?

I like two types of villains; the uncomfortably sympathetic, or the absolute psychopaths. FFXIV's done both and done both well.

The idea of a force of nature that cannot be talked down or change course would be nice, though. It's time we had experienced a world calamity in motion. Even the flood of light had been paused by the time we got to the first.

Conversely, return to the political tension that was the norm pre-ShB. What mess is Meracydia actually in? Or maybe another shard is at war within itself.

I want that kind of conflict.

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Originally Posted by All_Nonsense

Personally I'd like it if they brought back the Ascians after attempting to replicate Shadowbringers and failing. I think that would be the best way for the devs to show that they're not out of touch and actually care about how the players perceive their "story as a selling point" game. Trying new things is risky and we have bottom lines to pad after all. More ascians please, that'll save the story

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Yeah it's risky to try new things, but also using the main villian over and over and over between each expansion gets boring, it also tell the fanbase that the devs are running out of ideas for new villains.

I would say i would face a character like Seymour Guado form Final Fantasy X. He was a villain that everyone love to hate. So i hope that they will bring that kind of villain as the next big bad for the expansion. Or maybe a god like being as Bhunivelze or beings like the Fal'Cie from 13. Something otherworldly would be perfect for the next arc of 14.

A villain that does not get resurrected 5 minutes after we dispose him off.
No more annoying anime tropes either.
And everything Alice_Rivers said.

My favorite villain in the franchise is Kefka. Although Seymour and Kefka share many similarities, I’m more drawn to Kefka’s pure nihilistic desire to destroy the world.

But honestly I’d much rather the villain not be just another rehash of the old Final Fantasy end bosses. I prefer human or at least once-human bad guys. I like villains that are relatable. The only type of villain that I despise is the omnipotent, omniscient & omnipresent god-like figure.

I think they've made plenty of good villains. I just would like our allies to have tension again.

We used to have Estinien, Alphinaud and Iceheart not getting along. They weren't really friends. They were just tolerating eachother because they were doing the same task for different reasons and motivations, and had completely different ideas of how they were going to solve it. Then we had Urianger betraying us a bunch.

Now they all just nod their head at eachother. Their best attempt at "tension" now is Thancred and Urianger helping Koana instead of Wuk Lamat, but it was all in the spirit of friendly competition, and we very quickly just put it all aside. In fairness, it's impossible to have the scions oppose us in that sort of way because they know we have defeated gods, garlean emperors, lightwardens, voidsent, ancients, despair itself, and beings full of souls. But newer characters can do it because they don't have that context about us, or they can do it in a less direct way, such as Tataru getting upset that we borrowed the stapler, or one of the scions being upset at our plan of action and going it alone with their idea of how it should be solved, culminating in a big argument where we finally make up.

To an extent, them thanking us is ok a bit, but it's basically our job. It's like showering a postman with thanks for posting each person's letter. It's literally their job and what they chose to do as a career. If Warrior of Light didn't want to save the world repeatedly, they'd go to Costa Del Sol and stay there, or get into real estate with an old contact called Lolorito.

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Originally Posted by BokoToloko

Teledji, Yuyuhase, Asahi and Ilberd

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To an extent, most of them had genuine motivations too. Teledji wanted Ul'dah to be better but just went about it in a very evil way, Asahi was the loyal type and that was only helped by him being saved/spared by Zenos, and Ilberd genuinely wanted to save Ala Mhigo but went about it in a knowingly destructive way. I don't remember about Yuyuhase, but they obviously were being paid a better wage by Teledji. In a way, this makes them all have a motivation and not just be pure evil for the sake of it. I think the most pure evil for the sake of it we've got has been Zenos since he hyperfocused on the feelings and fulfilment he gets dueling people.

That said, it was easy to hate Teledji, Yuyuhase, Asahi and Ilberd because, despite having genuine motivations that were misunderstood by some, their way of going about it / addressing their frustrations was clearly wrong and there wasn't any doubt about it. It was so over the line that it was reasonable to hate them and they even welcomed that hate and mocked it, since it was part of their plans.

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Originally Posted by Exmo

A villain who was previously an ally.

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This is a really good answer. It would take some good character writing to pull it off, but if they can get back to some of the things they were able to achieve in HW (like Ysayle's arc) it would be fabulous.

I just hope we don't get fed more trope-y slop like we got with bored teenager Calyx. Whatever they do with the antagonist in future, I hope it's not plucked from the anime villain handbook again.

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Originally Posted by Jeeqbit

I think they've made plenty of good villains. I just would like our allies to have tension again.

We used to have Estinien, Alphinaud and Iceheart not getting along. They weren't really friends. They were just tolerating eachother because they were doing the same task for different reasons and motivations, and had completely different ideas of how they were going to solve it. Then we had Urianger betraying us a bunch.

Now they all just nod their head at eachother. Their best attempt at "tension" now is Thancred and Urianger helping Koana instead of Wuk Lamat, but it was all in the spirit of friendly competition, and we very quickly just put it all aside.

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I had really high hopes for this plot, but it was a huge disappointment. There were times I wanted to switch sides and help Koana too.

This is what I would like to see as well. More internal conflict.
That's why I'm drawn to villains who feel human. They're not inherently bad, they just have a different perspective, or have motivations or goals that we might not understand.

I don't care if a character is a villain or not. That's not the point.

I just want characters that feel well written. ;3

I'll say this - one thing I liked about Calyx was that he was a complete unknown. He came from no-where and his method of dealing with the Warrior of light involved methods we've rarely seen used before - I mean, he basically sniper-shot the Warrior of Light with an attack that would probably have been fatal if the power output had been greater and despite not being someone we'd ever face in direct combat, threw some pretty effective obstacles in the Warrior of Light's path. In fact I'd argue that without Sphene's motivational speech

Necron

might have actually been undefeatable.

We need more like that. Not exactly the same - but it was a refreshing departure from the norm.

And I have to say, I am tired of the 'enemy lurking in the shadows, manipulating events' trope the writers seem to enjoy.