So, Zenos is more powerful than Ascians and Nidhogg?

[Ryaz]

This stressed me out this fight lol
I had to ask my FC (very quickly) if I was supposed to die as it had been about 10minutes maybe more, and he was on 98%hp lol
I did t want to die tho and have to redo it so kept trying to survive but felt the game was forcing me to "die" to advance to a cutscene. A mechanic i not long ago encpuntered in Type-0.

Yeah. I've never been a fan of the invincible villain type thing, though I understand the need for story purposes. I remember playing Star Ocean 2 and losing to Dias over and over, thinking I was doing something wrong. So I eventually used a gameshark to make my stats ridiculously high- and the game made him invincible to compensate. That's when I realized you were supposed to lose. My biggest issue with that game, though, is that you never get a second chance to prove that you've grown stronger (at least playing as Claude) so you' ll always be the dude that lost to the ex-boyfriend. Lol.

[Derio]

Honestly Zenos was a breath of fresh air for me. Finally a villain who is worth fighting, who I actually can call a villain. And I hope the final fight with him proves to be a very interesting one.

[Jandor]

He is stronger than all those other enemies combined because he trains with his Katana every single day, this superior weapon can cut clean through steel because it is folded over a thousand times, and is vastly superior to any other weapon on Eorzea.

[BluexBird]

The player being the main part of the show is the whole reason I like the story better than WoW's story.

Eh, some people prefer being the main hero, others like WoW's style where you're just there helping. Personally I find both styles to be fun. But I seriously don't understand people who make a big deal out of it. "You're actually THE HERO that saved the world!" Oh yeah? What about the other players playing the game? It just doesn't make any sense. It's a lot more realistic to be part of the fight. If you ACTUALLY want to be the hero, go play Skyrim or The Witcher 3.

We didn't bring anyone with us to Kugane (except the main story characters) so how can we bring people to fight Susano?

If you actually read the dialogue properly, you would have noticed that the first thing that happens when we wake up Susano, is that everyone buggers off while telling you to "get your group of friends" to bring him down. And yes, this happens in L I T E R A L L Y every single non-instance fight - no exceptions. Just read the dialogue. Hell, even read the description on the Duty Finder! Sometimes it even gets mentioned there that you're not about to do it alone.

Anyways, as for why you get your ass busted by Zenos the first few times, some people have mentioned it already but:

1. He's stronger than you. Yeah sure, "levels aren't canon" and all that, but he's still stronger when you first meet, and throughout your adventures in Othard you manage to strengthen up a bit.
2. You're fighting him alone. And as I mentioned earlier, you usually don't end up fighting main villains one on one.

On top of those two things, consider that there might be an indirect implication that he is receiving some form of external assistance or power boost. It is not yet clear if this is the case or not, but if you look at the past encounters you've had with Garleans, you can clearly tell that something isn't quite right with Zenos.

[Sylvina]

He is stronger than all those other enemies combined because he trains with his Katana every single day, this superior weapon can cut clean through steel because it is folded over a thousand times, and is vastly superior to any other weapon on Eorzea.

This is a fallacy. Katanas were made from inferior steel and were folded a thousand times becuase it reinforced the metal. A Katana is no better than a regular sword.

[Minako_Nightsong]

I can slay Nidhogg, Ultima, and Titan with a few spells at 62 yet the Antelope in the Fringes still kill me so technically........the mighty Antelope is the greatest threat to Eorzea.

[Godofhealing]

I think its good it shows the warrior of light is not invisible I mean for real we were smacking people around like they were flies its about time we lost a fight.

[Alynn]

You click/read at your own risk and peril. *SPOILERS*.

I actually had no idea about this, but I asked the same question before. I could be completely wrong about this because I can't remember the nitty gritty, but the Garleans don't have a natural affinity for magicks the way people of Eorzea do, hence why we have people like Scholars and Summoners while they have magitek robots and what not. The reason why you get your ass handed to Zenos is because while you are the WoL and you've got superior combat ability to most other people, Zenos is physically stronger than anything/everything you've faced before. Every time you've fought a primal, you've had some sort of magick/Hydelyn backing you up. When you're fighting Zenos, you're literally fighting him in hand-to-hand combat. I know this sounds weird, but its easier to think of it in that sense. There's only so far you as the WoL with the Blessing of Light can take you, and I suppose physical strength doesn't apply there.

[Aylis]

I just know I was kind of pissed at how easily Zenos dealt with me after I've (canonically) gone against dragons, immortals, and gods. Yet I was nothing to this Garlean.

In terms of story telling this is the mark of the perfect antagonist. One that makes you mad to the point you're seeing red, gnashing your teeth and ready to flip a table over what they just did to you in the story. It makes them rememberable to the player. Primals and such are largely forgotten for the reason we simply show up, beat them up and call it a day like its routine and nothing more. A story where you're basically immortal, nothing no matter how big and powerful poses a threat and even God's are swatted away like flies is a story that gets boring.

[Ghastly]

My guess is an Ascian took over his body like they did with Thancred in 2.0. Going forward into 5.0 I hope they don't do this revival of the same villain again. I know it has its appeal but it can get stale if it's used every time.