Tribute to Zenos

Here's a tribute to Zenos Yae Galvus... our friend, our enemy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzgCb19qKUo

(FFXIV Music Video) Coheed and Cambria "Deranged" ft. Zenos Yae Galvus

Thank you for the thumbs ups and views! ^_^

Crazy good song choice, super fitting! Was an enjoyable watch and listen, thanks!

I am really have difficult time to see why people like this tsudare character and all he has done in Endwalker is "Please notice me Senpai"

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Originally Posted by Divinemights

I am really have difficult time to see why people like this tsudare character and all he has done in Endwalker is "Please notice me Senpai"

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I have a difficult time understanding your need to bash a character in a thread that someone has created as tribute to them.

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Originally Posted by Reap00

I have a difficult time understanding your need to bash a character in a thread that someone has created as tribute to them.

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While I agree that Zenos is a very boring character to me personally. It's a tribute thread that the op started. Let them have fun with it.

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Originally Posted by Reap00

I have a difficult time understanding your need to bash a character in a thread that someone has created as tribute to them.

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Cause said character got no redeeming qualities.

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Originally Posted by GrizzlyTank

Cause said character got no redeeming qualities.

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He has a very punchable face. If that's not a redeemable quality for a vapid character like Zenos, I don't know what is.

Zenos was the worst villian ever. Sooooo boring and uninspiring, yet they dragged him out over 3 expacs! In the end he is/was utterly forgettable. Time to move on.

to the people hating on a tribute thread: no one cares, go away.

anyways, great video OP! <3

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Originally Posted by SenorPatty

He has a very punchable face. If that's not a redeemable quality for a vapid character like Zenos, I don't know what is.

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nah, he doesn't. projection much?

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Originally Posted by Divinemights

I am really have difficult time to see why people like this tsudare character and all he has done in Endwalker is "Please notice me Senpai"

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Imo Zenos was a direct reflection of the WoL from the Garleans side and without the surrounding relationships to mold him into what the WoL is ( a super warrior who shows up to save the day, from their pov you're a super weapon that shows up and annihilates all of them and their friends just like Zenos ).
It's pretty obvious that's what the devs were going for when you look at him from Asahi's and the other Garlean soldiers pov in Stormblood and the whole body-swap sequence, he's like a perversion of us.
If you actually paid attention in the story you'll know that the WoL isn't exactly innocent when it comes to pretty blindly slaughtering people en masse or just based on the word of someone, we're pretty blood thirsty ourselves ( especially when it comes to beast races or anything we see as '' evil '' ) .
Makes perfect sense as a nemesis but people treated him like '' the main villain '' which I think was a mistake.

I think he fit really well in this expansion especially as a nihilistic nemesis which is the same but also the direct opposite of the WoL.
As someone that enjoys challenges in games I think he was partly also meant to be a reflection of the player ( people who do Savage, Extremes and Ultimates at least ), which also plays into the WoL as a thrill seeker.
Zenos is basically us and the WoL at our core without all of the surrounding stuff like connections to others and restraint.
Don't most people basically play games to fight and to kill? There's a reason why violence is the overwhelmingly most popular gameplay style that basically everything revolves around.
He's just a more raw and honest reflection of that part of us in the setting and also us as players of games.
We pretend to be all civilized but we still indulge in violence for entertainment and have with real violence historically too and tbh probably would today if more extreme violence was legal too.

Zenos's presence and role in the story makes a whole lot of sense with his character he's basically a story skipper who gives zero shits and just wants to fight you.
The Ancients were always what the overarching story revolved around it was never about him.
And tbh Zenos still had more depth as a character than most video games villains did, just because he didn't have soap opera storyline meant to make us sadge about him doesn't mean that there was nothing to his character.
He was a very reasonable and predictable villain that couldn't be reasoned with, but he was reasonable and was fully aware of what he was doing and unapologetic about it.
In a game full of liars he was probably one of the most honest character lol.

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Originally Posted by Kolsykol

Imo Zenos was a direct reflection of the WoL from the Garleans side and without the surrounding relationships to mold him into what the WoL is ( a super warrior who shows up to save the day, from their pov you're a super weapon that shows up and annihilates all of them and their friends just like Zenos ).
It's pretty obvious that's what the devs were going for when you look at him from Asahi's and the other Garlean soldiers pov in Stormblood and the whole body-swap sequence, he's like a perversion of us.
If you actually paid attention in the story you'll know that the WoL isn't exactly innocent when it comes to pretty blindly slaughtering people en masse or just based on the word of someone, we're pretty blood thirsty ourselves ( especially when it comes to beast races or anything we see as '' evil '' ) .
Makes perfect sense as a nemesis but people treated him like '' the main villain '' which I think was a mistake.

I think he fit really well in this expansion especially as a nihilistic nemesis which is the same but also the direct opposite of the WoL.
As someone that enjoys challenges in games I think he was partly also meant to be a reflection of the player ( people who do Savage, Extremes and Ultimates at least ), which also plays into the WoL as a thrill seeker.
Zenos is basically us and the WoL at our core without all of the surrounding stuff like connections to others and restraint.
Don't most people basically play games to fight and to kill? There's a reason why violence is the overwhelmingly most popular gameplay style that basically everything revolves around.
He's just a more raw and honest reflection of that part of us in the setting and also us as players of games.
We pretend to be all civilized but we still indulge in violence for entertainment and have with real violence historically too and tbh probably would today if more extreme violence was legal too.

Zenos's presence and role in the story makes a whole lot of sense with his character he's basically a story skipper who gives zero shits and just wants to fight you.
The Ancients were always what the overarching story revolved around it was never about him.
And tbh Zenos still had more depth as a character than most video games villains did, just because he didn't have soap opera storyline meant to make us sadge about him doesn't mean that there was nothing to his character.
He was a very reasonable and predictable villain that couldn't be reasoned with, but he was reasonable and was fully aware of what he was doing and unapologetic about it.
In a game full of liars he was probably one of the most honest character lol.

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^This.

How bout we NOT piss on someones tribute thread.

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Originally Posted by Kolsykol

Imo Zenos was a direct reflection of the WoL from the Garleans side and without the surrounding relationships to mold him into what the WoL is ( a super warrior who shows up to save the day, from their pov you're a super weapon that shows up and annihilates all of them and their friends just like Zenos ).
It's pretty obvious that's what the devs were going for when you look at him from Asahi's and the other Garlean soldiers pov in Stormblood and the whole body-swap sequence, he's like a perversion of us.
If you actually paid attention in the story you'll know that the WoL isn't exactly innocent when it comes to pretty blindly slaughtering people en masse or just based on the word of someone, we're pretty blood thirsty ourselves ( especially when it comes to beast races or anything we see as '' evil '' ) .
Makes perfect sense as a nemesis but people treated him like '' the main villain '' which I think was a mistake.

I think he fit really well in this expansion especially as a nihilistic nemesis which is the same but also the direct opposite of the WoL.
As someone that enjoys challenges in games I think he was partly also meant to be a reflection of the player ( people who do Savage, Extremes and Ultimates at least ), which also plays into the WoL as a thrill seeker.
Zenos is basically us and the WoL at our core without all of the surrounding stuff like connections to others and restraint.
Don't most people basically play games to fight and to kill? There's a reason why violence is the overwhelmingly most popular gameplay style that basically everything revolves around.
He's just a more raw and honest reflection of that part of us in the setting and also us as players of games.
We pretend to be all civilized but we still indulge in violence for entertainment and have with real violence historically too and tbh probably would today if more extreme violence was legal too.

Zenos's presence and role in the story makes a whole lot of sense with his character he's basically a story skipper who gives zero shits and just wants to fight you.
The Ancients were always what the overarching story revolved around it was never about him.
And tbh Zenos still had more depth as a character than most video games villains did, just because he didn't have soap opera storyline meant to make us sadge about him doesn't mean that there was nothing to his character.
He was a very reasonable and predictable villain that couldn't be reasoned with, but he was reasonable and was fully aware of what he was doing and unapologetic about it.
In a game full of liars he was probably one of the most honest character lol.

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Thank you for the explanation, also it is not my attention to trash this thread. I literally was not seeing why people likes him

It's awesome seeing the controversy of characters - friend or fiend - for each to decide. Thank you all for watching and discussing!

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Originally Posted by Kolsykol

Imo Zenos was a direct reflection of the WoL from the Garleans side and without the surrounding relationships to mold him into what the WoL is ( a super warrior who shows up to save the day, from their pov you're a super weapon that shows up and annihilates all of them and their friends just like Zenos ).
It's pretty obvious that's what the devs were going for when you look at him from Asahi's and the other Garlean soldiers pov in Stormblood and the whole body-swap sequence, he's like a perversion of us.
If you actually paid attention in the story you'll know that the WoL isn't exactly innocent when it comes to pretty blindly slaughtering people en masse or just based on the word of someone, we're pretty blood thirsty ourselves ( especially when it comes to beast races or anything we see as '' evil '' ) .
Makes perfect sense as a nemesis but people treated him like '' the main villain '' which I think was a mistake.

I think he fit really well in this expansion especially as a nihilistic nemesis which is the same but also the direct opposite of the WoL.
As someone that enjoys challenges in games I think he was partly also meant to be a reflection of the player ( people who do Savage, Extremes and Ultimates at least ), which also plays into the WoL as a thrill seeker.
Zenos is basically us and the WoL at our core without all of the surrounding stuff like connections to others and restraint.
Don't most people basically play games to fight and to kill? There's a reason why violence is the overwhelmingly most popular gameplay style that basically everything revolves around.
He's just a more raw and honest reflection of that part of us in the setting and also us as players of games.
We pretend to be all civilized but we still indulge in violence for entertainment and have with real violence historically too and tbh probably would today if more extreme violence was legal too.

Zenos's presence and role in the story makes a whole lot of sense with his character he's basically a story skipper who gives zero shits and just wants to fight you.
The Ancients were always what the overarching story revolved around it was never about him.
And tbh Zenos still had more depth as a character than most video games villains did, just because he didn't have soap opera storyline meant to make us sadge about him doesn't mean that there was nothing to his character.
He was a very reasonable and predictable villain that couldn't be reasoned with, but he was reasonable and was fully aware of what he was doing and unapologetic about it.
In a game full of liars he was probably one of the most honest character lol.

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Some great insights! I do believe you hit a lot of the "between the lines" that SE was throwing into the story. Which is why I chose a song that was meant for Batman and Joker - very similar relationship comparison.

Everyone has their perspective, it's all good. Like some people might actually like Krile or Asahi BUAHAHA!
Personally I really enjoyed the interactions with Zenos :P

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Originally Posted by Divinemights

I am really have difficult time to see why people like this tsudare character and all he has done in Endwalker is "Please notice me Senpai"

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There are a few reasons to like him, me personally he is the only character in the main cast that has actual consequences to his actions, so far.

Everyone else just gets a free pass.

@ Kolsykol - You are epic. Agree 100%
That's why I thought the song choice was amazingly fitting and well done with the subtle nuances portrayed through the lyrics

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Originally Posted by Divinemights

Thank you for the explanation, also it is not my attention to trash this thread. I literally was not seeing why people likes him

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Yeah I am sure everyone has characters like that.

I will say tho that I'd probably like him a bit less if his voice acting wasn't so great, I just really liked hearing his voice actor speak too.
His performance in Stormblood before he controls Shinryu is probably my favorite performance in the game.

I dunno if anyone else got this impression too but he reminds me a ton of Craig Parker.
He doesn't always play villains but he has one of my favorite '' villain voices '' and I was convinced for a while he was voiced by him but he's not.

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Originally Posted by Faust1105

Some great insights! I do believe you hit a lot of the "between the lines" that SE was throwing into the story. Which is why I chose a song that was meant for Batman and Joker - very similar relationship comparison.

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Coincidently enough, Zenos in EW really reminded me of Joker from Lego Batman, which was an exaggeration of the version of the Joker that stands as Batman's opposite (not the only version of the Joker btw). The theme of 'I exist because you exist' is very strongly played with these villains.

I always understood where the hate for Zenos was coming from, which only made it more saddening that people basically wanted for him to be something that he wasn't. Something else interesting to point out about Zenos, is that thus far he is the only villain in FFXIV who accomplished his end goal (post 7th calamity).

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Originally Posted by Gemina

he is the only villain in FFXIV who accomplished his end goal (post 7th calamity).

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Since his goal was to go out with a bang, that was always going to happen in the end. If every villain became such a mustache-twirler, they'd all get what they were after.

On that note, if Zenos comes back, he needs to come back with waxed mustache.

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Originally Posted by Gemina

Coincidently enough, Zenos in EW really reminded me of Joker from Lego Batman, which was an exaggeration of the version of the Joker that stands as Batman's opposite (not the only version of the Joker btw). The theme of 'I exist because you exist' is very strongly played with these villains.

I always understood where the hate for Zenos was coming from, which only made it more saddening that people basically wanted for him to be something that he wasn't. Something else interesting to point out about Zenos, is that thus far he is the only villain in FFXIV who accomplished his end goal (post 7th calamity).

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I thought it was great when he respected the fact that you didn't want to fight him, I can't think of another villain doing that lol.
And he did it twice.

He didn't just want to fight you he wanted you to want to fight him too.

Edit: Obviously he wanted to egg you on in bad ways, but still.
He wasn't just out simply to kill you.

That was a really nicely put together music video

All Hail Zenos our everlasting rival :)

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Originally Posted by deadman1204

Zenos was the worst villian ever. Sooooo boring and uninspiring, yet they dragged him out over 3 expacs! In the end he is/was utterly forgettable. Time to move on.

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He is not a villain. He mirrors a majority of the FF14 players. :)



Cheers

Love Coheed. Perfect choice IMO.

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Originally Posted by Velovictus83

Everyone has their perspective, it's all good. Like some people might actually like Krile or Asahi BUAHAHA!
Personally I really enjoyed the interactions with Zenos :P

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Asahi is pretty much the only major character in the game that I've never heard anyone say they like, funny enough.

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Originally Posted by Kolsykol

I thought it was great when he respected the fact that you didn't want to fight him, I can't think of another villain doing that lol.
And he did it twice.

He didn't just want to fight you he wanted you to want to fight him too.

Edit: Obviously he wanted to egg you on in bad ways, but still.
He wasn't just out simply to kill you.

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Agree. The fight and challenge is his main goal hence if he knew his opponent would probably not give their 200% effort to the fight then it would be useless for him haha

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Originally Posted by CrunchyMilk

Love Coheed. Perfect choice IMO.

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Great to see other Coheed fans out there! ^_^

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Originally Posted by Kolsykol

Imo Zenos was a direct reflection of the WoL from the Garleans side and without the surrounding relationships to mold him into what the WoL is ( a super warrior who shows up to save the day, from their pov you're a super weapon that shows up and annihilates all of them and their friends just like Zenos ).
It's pretty obvious that's what the devs were going for when you look at him from Asahi's and the other Garlean soldiers pov in Stormblood and the whole body-swap sequence, he's like a perversion of us.
If you actually paid attention in the story you'll know that the WoL isn't exactly innocent when it comes to pretty blindly slaughtering people en masse or just based on the word of someone, we're pretty blood thirsty ourselves ( especially when it comes to beast races or anything we see as '' evil '' ) .

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That's a good point to make. I know SE wants to keep RP options open and such, but I think people forget that our WoL isn't our original character to build from the ground up. The WoL in the story does have personality traits established by the writers and developers. And one of those personality traits is we can be pretty bloodthirsty sometimes when something is pitted against us. We leave a trail of bodies, too. They just disappear when we're in our dungeons or the overland and there aren't cutscenes with us surrounded by them.

had a friend who when they were going through stormblood and didn't know anything about zenos or aulus and called them "dollar general hojo and sephiroth" during the resonant cutscene.

privileged guy works for big evil country/government, has experimental procedure(s) done to him, tries to become god, kills the president(or in this case, emperor). if they hadn't added additional character development in EW i probably would've agreed with calling zenos that.

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Originally Posted by Denji

had a friend who when they were going through stormblood and didn't know anything about zenos or aulus and called them "dollar general hojo and sephiroth" during the resonant cutscene.

privileged guy works for big evil country/government, has experimental procedure(s) done to him, tries to become god, kills the president(or in this case, emperor). if they hadn't added additional character development in EW i probably would've agreed with calling zenos that.

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Okay I am losing it at dollar general hojo

Damn so many party poopers

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Originally Posted by TaleraRistain

That's a good point to make. I know SE wants to keep RP options open and such, but I think people forget that our WoL isn't our original character to build from the ground up. The WoL in the story does have personality traits established by the writers and developers. And one of those personality traits is we can be pretty bloodthirsty sometimes when something is pitted against us. We leave a trail of bodies, too. They just disappear when we're in our dungeons or the overland and there aren't cutscenes with us surrounded by them.

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Haha, very good point XD It's a shame we dont have those cutscenes! =O

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Originally Posted by Faust1105

Haha, very good point XD It's a shame we dont have those cutscenes! =O

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We couldn't keep our squeaky clean image if we did.

It's like my other favorite series, Assassin's Creed. The bodies don't disappear there (unless I toss them in hay or with certain skills). And I am acting for the right reasons. These are bad people who need to be stopped. But it's impossible to deny that I'm a murderhobo with the trail of bodies I leave behind.

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Originally Posted by TaleraRistain

That's a good point to make. I know SE wants to keep RP options open and such, but I think people forget that our WoL isn't our original character to build from the ground up. The WoL in the story does have personality traits established by the writers and developers. And one of those personality traits is we can be pretty bloodthirsty sometimes when something is pitted against us. We leave a trail of bodies, too. They just disappear when we're in our dungeons or the overland and there aren't cutscenes with us surrounded by them.

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Yeah, it's easy to see how scary we are from the pov of those who aren't on our side ( doesn't mean they're evil either ).
I mean, there's a dungeon where we're told to go and kill a mine full of slaves early on and we kinda just go and massacre beast tribe people just because we're told to.

The WoL is good at heart but I also think that it's pretty clear that we're also very quick to do some pretty heinous stuff.
The faction leaders aren't exactly guilt-free either but we still consider them good people and do what they say without questioning it a lot of the bad stuff they've done is stuff we've been the enablers of.
Our characters are basically adrenaline junkies who over time have become more responsible due to the people around us.
Zenos was just a lot more self-aware about it and unapologetic he didn't need a reason while it could be argued that a lot of the '' adventures '' we've had have just been excuses to kill people who don't necessarily deserve it and in some cases have done no wrong.

Edit: Kinda reminds me a little of in Mass Effect how people glorified certain Renegade options like punching an annoying reporter in the face in public and generally just abusing the Spectre status.
People are totally fine with it and still consider Sheperd a good person.
Unless he's full Renegade I guess but I think most would still consider him good in the grand scheme of things.

I thought it was cool that Zenos was a lot more honest about it there were just no excuses or dumb attempts at rationalizing it which we ultimately do all the time in games and often in real life even.
A lot of people condone violence irl just out of spite for even rather minor things.

Yes. We kill people and slay gods left and right a la Kratos style. But we aren't Kratos, so it's not that serious. We aren't heinous either and we aren't actively looking to spill blood. We're just looking for a good fight, which Zenos provided 5 times.

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Originally Posted by Denji

dollar general hojo

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Ha! Success!

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Originally Posted by Kolsykol

snip

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Then Zenos gives that speech about agreeing with reasons to Jullus and we're just in the background like

https://imgur.com/gallery/uVJDXyM

Okay apparently I can't remember how to do pictures but that's supposed to be the side eye meme

https://imgur.com/gallery/uVJDXyM