Tired of Zenos (spoilers)

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Originally Posted by MrPresident

Zenos literally has no character beyond “hehehehe I really wanna kill WoL” I really can’t believe that all these expansions and villains and story arcs we’ve gone through that he’s the big bad they decided to end it all with.

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I kind of get the feeling Fandaniel is the main villain of the expansion as opposed to Zenos. He is the one who approached Zenos, not the other way around, and everything Zenos is doing is based on the advice and information Fandaniel gave him. Fandaniel has also been the one giving orders to the Garlean military in regards to the towers.

Plus Fandaniel is dressing and acting like an evil version of the Crystal Exarch while building his own big magitek tower to bring destruction to a world as opposed to saving one.

I don't mind Zenos at all, you can't have every villain being like Emet and you need some variety. For me Zenos is just written into the wrong spot. His type of character really isn't suited to being the main villain and center of the entire plot for 2 expansions running. He'd be great as a side villain who's a bit of an untamable beast on his own agenda that even the Ascians are wary of, but still separate to the whole main Zodiark plot.

He hasn't really done much interesting in a while now. He's just sitting around, waiting and preparing for next expansion, instead of out on the Hunt and causing a bit of chaos.

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Originally Posted by Liam_Harper

I don't mind Zenos at all, you can't have every villain being like Emet and you need some variety. For me Zenos is just written into the wrong spot. His type of character really isn't suited to being the main villain and center of the entire plot for 2 expansions running. He'd be great as a side villain who's a bit of an untamable beast on his own agenda that even the Ascians are wary of, but still separate to the whole main Zodiark plot.

He hasn't really done much interesting in a while now. He's just sitting around, waiting and preparing for next expansion, instead of out on the Hunt and causing a bit of chaos.

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Yeah. I feel he was in the wrong spot for SB too. It'd have been one thing if he had like, Grynewaht's role. A recurring 'rival' but one taken more seriously than Grynewaht was, persuing us throughout the expansion. But I found that putting him in the role of the commander of the garlean forces against the resistance, a conflict that BORES him and he has no interest in, was a misstep. Feels like Fordola was really the only villain in SB that actually had any investment in that struggle, Zenos was just bored and wanting his fight with us and Yotsuyu just wanted to make domans suffer. Stormblood could have really used a more prominant main villain that was actually invested in the war, believed Garlemald was in the right etc.

Just going off what people are saying with the depth of Emet, of course not every villain needs to have some sort of sympathetic or funny moment, but I still feel there is an element missing to give Zenos something interesting.

He's just like "yawwwwnnn,, I'mm sooooo BoooRRrreEEeedd - Oh Hey WoL I love you to death".

Take an example of a non-funny sympathetic villain like Sauron (lord of the rings)- they don't try to make him funny, or sympathetic, yet he's still a cool villain. The gravitas / presence was wonderful. Meanwhile Zenos on screen like an OP bored teen. You've others like Sheev (Star Wars). Obviously Darth Vader ends up being sympathetic but he was cool before he gained sympathy.

I know my wording makes it sound like I think he's the worst thing ever or I loathe him, so I want to walk it back a little and be like "he's okay", but I really feel like even if you weren't trying to make a Emet, Joker, Vaan, Pagan Min, Loki, whatever jokey or sympathetic villain mix, Zenos is still not a 'great' villain, imo. Which you don't need if they're not the primary villain, but.. it appears he is (for multiple expansions now lol).

Wanting to say that while you don't have to go sympathetic or funny to be a good villain, I just don't think Zenos is a great villain regardless.

Yeah. Kefka, many incarnations of the Joker, Palpatine, and more aren't relatable or redeemable but they're still interesting villains. Zenos doesn't need relatable motives but he does need something that for me and many others, he just lacks.

Fandaniel is starting to grow on me a bit, but will have to see what 6.0 does with him.

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Originally Posted by Shougun

Just going off what people are saying with the depth of Emet, of course not every villain needs to have some sort of sympathetic or funny moment, but I still feel there is an element missing to give Zenos something interesting.

He's just like "yawwwwnnn,, I'mm sooooo BoooRRrreEEeedd - Oh Hey WoL I love you to death".

Take an example of a non-funny sympathetic villain like Sauron (lord of the rings)- they don't try to make him funny, or sympathetic, yet he's still a cool villain. The gravitas / presence was wonderful. Meanwhile Zenos on screen like an OP bored teen. You've others like Sheev (Star Wars). Obviously Darth Vader ends up being sympathetic but he was cool before he gained sympathy.

I know my wording makes it sound like I think he's the worst thing ever or I loathe him, so I want to walk it back a little and be like "he's okay", but I really feel like even if you weren't trying to make a Emet, Joker, Vaan, Pagan Min, Loki, whatever jokey or sympathetic villain mix, Zenos is still not a 'great' villain, imo. Which you don't need if they're not the primary villain, but.. it appears he is (for multiple expansions now lol).

Wanting to say that while you don't have to go sympathetic or funny to be a good villain, I just don't think Zenos is a great villain regardless.

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He lacks an understandable motive for his actions.

We were given that information for the other villains (even if delayed for 3 expansions in the case of the Ascians). We may not agreed with their goals but at least we understood why they did what they did.

Being bored isn't really a motive for doing terrible things.

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Originally Posted by Jojoya

He lacks an understandable motive for his actions.

We were given that information for the other villains (even if delayed for 3 expansions in the case of the Ascians). We may not agreed with their goals but at least we understood why they did what they did.

Being bored isn't really a motive for doing terrible things.

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Indeed lol.

WoL: Why, why do you persist!!!

Zenos: I lurv u

/facedesk

:p

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Originally Posted by Jojoya

He lacks an understandable motive for his actions.

We were given that information for the other villains (even if delayed for 3 expansions in the case of the Ascians). We may not agreed with their goals but at least we understood why they did what they did.

Being bored isn't really a motive for doing terrible things.

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What's hard to understand about his motives?

He's a powerful being who does not feel engaged unless he's fighting the WoL. He's the one character that any MMORPG player (especially FFXIV player) who complain about content drought or content being stale or too easy should be able to understand.

He's bored because he's not currently fighting the WoL. He's on his preparation stage. He's that player that's letting his FC member (Fandaniel) do all the requirements for him to get to that hard difficulty fight.

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Originally Posted by linayar

What's hard to understand about his motives?

He's a powerful being who does not feel engaged unless he's fighting the WoL. He's the one character that any MMORPG player (especially FFXIV player) who complain about content drought or content being stale or too easy should be able to understand.

He's bored because he's not currently fighting the WoL. He's on his preparation stage. He's that player that's letting his FC member (Fandaniel) do all the requirements for him to get to that hard difficulty fight.

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He's the what-if scenario of the PC but with no oversight and freedom from to narrative, turns out it's a pretty boring existence where all you do is farm glam from content, sit in your large FC house and complain there's nothing to do while one of your FC mates keeps trying to get you to stop brooding in your private chamber long enough to prep for the next tier, while you lament the one time you felt alive when you got into a 1v1 in frontlines with this one guy and it was awesome, but then the match ended and you haven't been able to track them down since.

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Originally Posted by BlitzAceRush

He's the what-if scenario of the PC but with no oversight and freedom from to narrative, turns out it's a pretty boring existence where all you do is farm glam from content, sit in your large FC house and complain there's nothing to do while one of your FC mates keeps trying to get you to stop brooding in your private chamber long enough to prep for the next tier, while you lament the one time you felt alive when you got into a 1v1 in frontlines with this one guy and it was awesome, but then the match ended and you haven't been able to track them down since.

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This person seems to get it. /thumbsup