Lets talk about villains

Zenos doesn't get points for beating someone 10 levels under him. That's like us gettign a level up for beating an ant at level one when we're 70. Sorry.. I just really lack anything but lame haterd of him. And not because of anything he did.. but cause he was a waste of space.

Redolent Rose.

How he got put in charge of Fashion-anything is the biggest crime against all of Eorzea.

Him being our guildmaster as fledgling WVRs made the reveal so much more heart-wrenching. Ugh!

I'm probably the rare person that actually likes all of the antagonists so far, because all of them have actually moved the story in rather interesting ways.

Personality-wise, it's a total crapshoot. Like I don't like Zenos' personality, but I recognize his role in the story is to basically have the world at large react to just how awful he is. Having meaningful character interactions without insulting the player's intelligence by assuming we have the memory span of a goldfish is key to creating a world that feels alive.

(As an aside, I recently bought FFXII a few days ago, and that game's writing just made me appreciate both FFXII and FFXIV even more.)

My favorite villain is a dead villain. Heroes for life!

Baelsar first and Zenos second, obviously each for very, very different reasons. Though I've probably come up with considerable amount of head-canon, none of which I cannot strictly prove, to make either make more sense.

I want to like the Ascians, especially as the clearly defined villains of the game, but they've really started to look like punch-clock villains, used when we really need to sell something "for the evils". Aside from their ability to come and go from physical planes as they please, and apparently influence/possess others, they don't seem much of a match for us yet. We beat Lahabrea twice, Nabriales put up more of a fight and we beat him too, hell, we smoked one with our first Deathflare (/wink SMNs). The Ascians have a long way to go to prove themselves an actual threat to us. Til then, they're just the boogeymen we put the screws to every so often.

That actually made me think a bit on the direction Stormblood has taken with more "human" conflicts. I like that the opposition is more on a mortal level, and in the case of the 4 Lords, it's not simply "WoL vs Primal" again. This sets a stage for more complexity, more drama. Sure, Fordola's faceplanted on the moral event horizon a few times, but even if her intentions are good, her methods and understanding aren't. Yotsuyu was a woman twisted by years of pain and suffering, and we (the audience) saw that mask break when she broke down and started crying in Doma Castle. That wasn't an attempt at garnering sympathy, that was the cold facade of the Imperial Viceroy shattering and turning her back into the scared and hurt girl she was behind the mask, frustrated that it would "end" for her like that. And again, that a vicious battle maniac like Zenos would look at us as if we were his only friend who ever understood him really makes me question myself as the WoL. Hell, even the actual primals summoned so far (except Shinryu) weren't inherently evil. Susano just wanted to party. Lakshmi offered us her bosom bliss (if by a tempered lobotomy).

I think it's nice that the roles among the villains aren't so one-dimensional this time.

I never got to play 1.x at all, but from ARR and onwards I've liked pretty much all of the antagonists for one reason or another. I do have to say that hands-down, Heavensward had my favorite ones, Nidhogg in particular being very compelling. Thordan and the Heavens Ward were also pretty good, if a bit cliché with the whole "corrupt religious order" trope. And Regula, the WoD, and the Griffin had some really memorable impacts on the story as well.