Is it weird that I like Zenos as a villain?

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Originally Posted by ChaoticCrimson

I like his English voice...[snip]

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Indeed, and that is one of the several elements that captures the true essence of his character. To be honest, his voice acting in all the languages were very well done.

The English accent used by his voice actor (Luke Allen-Gale) is called the "Received Pronunciation"...also called the "RP" accent. Some people also call it "Queen's English" -- in reference to the Queen of England but there is a very subtle, almost unnnoticable difference. All in all, the RP accent is a very posh, deliberate, precise and clipped manner of English speaking... in the old days, it was --and still is in certain circles-- the traditionally aristocratic style of English speech.

Since we are on the subject of a character in a game, I shall give similar examples of other characters in games who speak with (or close to) the RP accent... off the topp of my head, Vayne Solidor of FFXII, Prince Maximillian of Valkyrie Chronicles... and if you haven't played those games, just think of Jeremy Iron's voice as Scar in Lion King.

I've mentioned this a few times on the forums and I'll say it again... Zenos is fourth generation imperial royalty and as such, his eloquence is not just required; its very likely demanded of him.

I think zenos was ok, I really love the empire and all his characters with Gaius and Regula on top, but who really surprised me is Varis, the first time I see him I hate it a lot when he spit on Solus coffin, That lack of respect for the empire founder, like well yeah he is supposed to be the bad guy but c'mon , and thend this last pacth come out and see all the truth make that scene and all varis scenes take another meaning I really love that surpass zenos for me and put it close to Gaius, I can't wait to see what comes next.

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Originally Posted by shao32

I think zenos was ok, I really love the empire and all his characters with Gaius and Regula on top, but who really surprised me is Varis, the first time I see him I hate it a lot when he spit on Solus coffin, That lack of respect for the empire founder, like well yeah he is supposed to be the bad guy but c'mon , and thend this last pacth come out and see all the truth make that scene and all varis scenes take another meaning I really love that surpass zenos for me and put it close to Gaius, I can't wait to see what comes next.

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Ahhhh... I believe that was his Uncle Titus' coffin he was spitting on. That was another aspect of the MSQ that generated a lot of debates and discussions back then... that's a heck of a story that needs to be told in 5.0. I'm very eager to delve into all the royal intrigues of House Galvus when the expansion arrives.

Varis is a military man, having already earned great respect and standing amoung the Garlean legions even before he attained High Legatus. He'd have to be cold and calculating to hold an empire together... plus I'm certain he didn't take too kindly with his uncle wasting his time, troops and resources during the War of Succession.

Not to mention, the chap did put a hit out on Varis' heir... even if he disliked his son, it's the principle of the gesture that mattered.

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Originally Posted by Ramesses

Ahhhh... I believe that was his Uncle Titus' coffin he was spitting on. That was another aspect of the MSQ that generated a lot of debates and discussions back then... that's a heck of a story that needs to be told in 5.0. I'm very eager to delve into all the royal intrigues of House Galvus when the expansion arrives.

Varis is a military man, having already earned great respect and standing amoung the Garlean legions even before he attained High Legatus. He'd have to be cold and calculating to hold an empire together... plus I'm certain he didn't take too kindly with his uncle wasting his time, troops and resources during the War of Succession.

Not to mention, the chap did put a hit out on Varis' heir... even if he disliked his son, it's the principle of the gesture that mattered.

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Oh really? It would be nice if they give some details of who is that coffin, but rewatching the scene can be right is his uncle except it's mean to be Solus when he take the throne, still I love how varis is evolving as we know more about him.

I like zeros. He is the only villain that we lose against in single armed combat.

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Originally Posted by Derio

I like zeros. He is the only villain that we lose against in single armed combat.

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Is that all it takes to be impressive?

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Originally Posted by Edax

Is that all it takes to be impressive?

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In a game where characters make poor decisions almost all the time and some lack any sort of personality...yes, yes it is.

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Originally Posted by Derio

I like zeros. He is the only villain that we lose against in single armed combat.

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Yes, exactly... this is one of the reasons I admire his character as a villain.

And as I said on this thread a few pages back, I thoroughly liked it that he trashed us twice to embarrassing levels... because we had reached the point in the Hero or Heroine's Journey (a type of stage in narrative) whereby we needed to evolve yet again. Since 1.0, we have been sent on adventure missions, fetch quests, dungeon crawls and even had to face super weird oysters in Sastasha or Shopshae... and we always win.

As with many things in life, if there are no real challenges then there won't be any evolution to surpass one's limits... and it was time for the WoL to either evolve or digress into dull complacency. Zenos provided that necessary challenge that gave the WoL the necessary wake up call to evolve.

Zenos is a thug bored with life because he is strong and everyone else is not. Yawn. He may have served a purpose in the WoL's growth, but that hardly makes him interesting.

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Originally Posted by Camiie

Zenos is a thug bored with life because he is strong and everyone else is not. Yawn. He may have served a purpose in the WoL's growth, but that hardly makes him interesting.

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Yeah, reminds me of a certain villian from Bleach that stopping being interesting the moment he uttered this line:
https://static.comicvine.com/uploads...4384558-17.jpg
Strength and power contests are the most shallow aspects of conflict in writing. And in Japanese stories, there's always somebody with more power in the next story arc, often to the point of absurdity as these villains almost never worked for it. They just have extreme power because "I'm the next villain". Of course, just handing out supreme power to your villians is the laziest way to manufacture a conflict.

Is Zenos a part of the core themes of Stormblood? What even is the message of Stormblood? Does Zenos even tie into the story of the Warrior of Light, or is he just yet another thug that needs a thrashing? Zenos is acting like a caricature of a MMORPG player, but what is the story trying to say about that? Is SE suggesting we're all psychopaths?

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...GshEw81AMb7zr9

Yikes.....I didn't expect this thread to go on as long as it did xD

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Originally Posted by Edax

Is that all it takes to be impressive?

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I can understand why you don't like him

But I don't know why you seem very offended when others do

I'm not saying you're not allowed to have an opinion......just chill down when not everyone shares it will ya

It's like going around to everyone who likes Pineapple on Pizza and question them thoroughly on why and then keep constantly telling them how "bad" their taste are

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Originally Posted by MetalSnakeXI1

a useless character?Dude that's an entire patch of MSQ quests dedicated to that "useless" character and his friends in Heavensward and that wasn't even the last time Elidibus appeared in Heavensward either,after that he gives the eyes of Nidhogg to Illberd whom then would use to FREAKIN SUMMON SHINRYU THROUGH A RITUAL.

There is no way you missed ALL of this without buying scenario skips or pressing skip through every cutscene

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Originally Posted by MetalSnakeXI1

Ummm...you do realize that they appeared AFTER the end of the dragonsong war so yes they have nothing to do with it BECAUSE IT'S ALREADY OVER.

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Originally Posted by MetalSnakeXI1

Sorry for the shouting.....I just got aggrevated

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Originally Posted by MetalSnakeXI1

I'm not saying you're not allowed to have an opinion......just chill down when not everyone shares it will ya

It's like going around to everyone who likes Pineapple on Pizza and question them thoroughly on why and then keep constantly telling them how "bad" their taste are

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I'm not saying you're not allowed to have an opinion......just chill down when not everyone shares it will ya

It's like going around to everyone who likes Pineapple on Pizza and question them thoroughly on why and then keep constantly telling them how "bad" their taste are

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Originally Posted by Edax

I'm not saying you're not allowed to have an opinion......just chill down when not everyone shares it will ya

It's like going around to everyone who likes Pineapple on Pizza and question them thoroughly on why and then keep constantly telling them how "bad" their taste are

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Welp.....I bite my tongue on that then...

My apologies.I was having a bad day during that

Zenos started off "meh" for me but was definitely one of my favourites. It does come down to preferences though, which is the nice thing in a game like FF where there's a range of personalities among the characters that appeal to different people. We all get a few npc's we think are brilliant and a few we dislike. I like that.

There's something basic about Zenos that you can almost relate to. He just wants to fight. He's about the Hunt. He wants a strong opponent, a challenge, the weak are just in his way. He's not about "for the Empire" or the "greater good" or some plan to reshape the world and rule it righteously or to save the world for the light.

As the Warrior of Light we supposedly have tons of standard rpg ideals and justice and friends and responsibility we're fighting for. But there's that part of you that wants to fight. That base instinct to seek a really strong opponent for the thrill of the battle.

What I didn't like about Zenos was how he gradually got weaker throughout the storyline for the sake of the story. Our power level didn't really increase drastically from 61-70, yet Zenos goes from completely unbeatable, to us standing our ground for a bit 1 on 1, to wrecking him in a dungeon, then wrecking his Shinryu form. That was a bit anti-climatic. But still a good character.

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Originally Posted by Liam_Harper

Zenos started off "meh" for me but was definitely one of my favourites. It does come down to preferences though, which is the nice thing in a game like FF where there's a range of personalities among the characters that appeal to different people. We all get a few npc's we think are brilliant and a few we dislike. I like that.

There's something basic about Zenos that you can almost relate to. He just wants to fight. He's about the Hunt. He wants a strong opponent, a challenge, the weak are just in his way. He's not about "for the Empire" or the "greater good" or some plan to reshape the world and rule it righteously or to save the world for the light.

As the Warrior of Light we supposedly have tons of standard rpg ideals and justice and friends and responsibility we're fighting for. But there's that part of you that wants to fight. That base instinct to seek a really strong opponent for the thrill of the battle.

What I didn't like about Zenos was how he gradually got weaker throughout the storyline for the sake of the story. Our power level didn't really increase drastically from 61-70, yet Zenos goes from completely unbeatable, to us standing our ground for a bit 1 on 1, to wrecking him in a dungeon, then wrecking his Shinryu form. That was a bit anti-climatic. But still a good character.

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For the dungeon I was a bit more disappointed with the boss fight's music.Cuz I personally hoped it would use his/nael's theme(wrath of the white raven was it called?) rather than the generic dungeon boss theme

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Originally Posted by ShinShimon

Zenos is why everybody should be playing with Japanese voices. Whoever was in charge of the English VA work did a horrible job.

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Um, the English VA for Zenos got nominated for Best Male Vocal Performance In A Video Game from last year's BTVA (Behind the Voice Actors) awards. XD
Even though he didn't win, that nomination shows that he played his part very well.

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Originally Posted by Liam_Harper

Zenos started off "meh" for me but was definitely one of my favourites. It does come down to preferences though, which is the nice thing in a game like FF where there's a range of personalities among the characters that appeal to different people. We all get a few npc's we think are brilliant and a few we dislike. I like that.

There's something basic about Zenos that you can almost relate to. He just wants to fight. He's about the Hunt. He wants a strong opponent, a challenge, the weak are just in his way. He's not about "for the Empire" or the "greater good" or some plan to reshape the world and rule it righteously or to save the world for the light.

As the Warrior of Light we supposedly have tons of standard rpg ideals and justice and friends and responsibility we're fighting for. But there's that part of you that wants to fight. That base instinct to seek a really strong opponent for the thrill of the battle.

What I didn't like about Zenos was how he gradually got weaker throughout the storyline for the sake of the story. Our power level didn't really increase drastically from 61-70, yet Zenos goes from completely unbeatable, to us standing our ground for a bit 1 on 1, to wrecking him in a dungeon, then wrecking his Shinryu form. That was a bit anti-climatic. But still a good character.

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Yeah that part slightly offed me because although I understand that 61-70 is supposed to represent our "growth", there wasn't really a depicted passage of time to show the WoL undergoing some form of training to match Zeno's power by the time you get to face him in the dgn.

I forgive it ofc because of pretty much everything else that was going on but it's always one of those little things that nudge you in the back of your head.

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Originally Posted by SenorPatty

Yeah that part slightly offed me because although I understand that 61-70 is supposed to represent our "growth", there wasn't really a depicted passage of time to show the WoL undergoing some form of training to match Zeno's power by the time you get to face him in the dgn.

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We fought two different wars and bested two extra Primals. The former, more importantly, is something we as a character have never done before in any constellation. Even fighting off the Empire at the end of ARR wasn't anywhere near what we've done in SB. In-game it's probably been weeks if not months, more than enough time for Hydaelyn's Champion to beef up.
As the WoD were mentioned before, you can also always claim that Hydaelyn's been draining Light from the First and channeling that extra power to you. And for total conspiracy theories, there's always the "The WoL is an Eikon" in that we feed on the faith people put in us much like actual Primals. And we've noticeably expanded our believer-base during this expansion as well as brought together all the past ones when we went to liberate Ala Mhigo, a short while before taking on Shinryu.

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Originally Posted by BillyKaplan

We fought two different wars and bested two extra Primals. The former, more importantly, is something we as a character have never done before in any constellation. Even fighting off the Empire at the end of ARR wasn't anywhere near what we've done in SB. In-game it's probably been weeks if not months, more than enough time for Hydaelyn's Champion to beef up.
As the WoD were mentioned before, you can also always claim that Hydaelyn's been draining Light from the First and channeling that extra power to you. And for total conspiracy theories, there's always the "The WoL is an Eikon" in that we feed on the faith people put in us much like actual Primals. And we've noticeably expanded our believer-base during this expansion as well as brought together all the past ones when we went to liberate Ala Mhigo, a short while before taking on Shinryu.

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This is a pretty decent and sensible explanation.

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Originally Posted by DreamAngel-Ren

Um, the English VA for Zenos got nominated for Best Male Vocal Performance In A Video Game from last year's BTVA (Behind the Voice Actors) awards. XD
Even though he didn't win, that nomination shows that he played his part very well.

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Awards mean nothing, though maybe they would if the Japanese voice actor had won instead. He made an absolutely amazing performance. Whereas I have to try not to laugh at Anglo-Zenos...

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Originally Posted by ShinShimon

Awards mean nothing, though maybe they would if the Japanese voice actor had won instead. He made an absolutely amazing performance. Whereas I have to try not to laugh at Anglo-Zenos...

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Saying an award doesn't matter because your choice wasn't picked is kind of eyebrow raising. Either the award matters or it doesn't, regardless.

Also I just watched a comparison cutscene and frankly they sound pretty even in terms of delivery. Though the Japanese voice actor is chewing far more scenery. Really I get criticisms of the dub pre-3.0 studio change, but through Heavensward and Stormblood the quality has been rather exceptional - barring a few instances like Hien forgetting his accent at random times. 2.0 you could make a serious case for watching the Japanese audio track, and I even did at certain points. Now? Frankly I see them as pretty even in terms of quality. There's some god awful voices in both tracks, and ones that shine, but overall the quality is fairly consistent.

Not at all. I like him as a villain too.

Many in my FC like him too. Personal, I find him average and I don't mind that much about him.

But, I played far too many RPG with that kind of boss to actualy being hyped by another long-haired katana/sword wielder. But at least he have charisma and the story put enough mystery in it to make it intriging.