Zenos would make a cool Sith Lord

[DreamAngel-Ren]

Zenos is a psychotic monster which is why I consider him my favorite villain in FFXIV by far. I like a villain who can really send me running, Zenos fits the bill. His bloodthirsty nature sends shivers down my spine; I was actually shaking when I had to fight him the second time because I was thinking the man was going to kill me even if we have plot armor (HE JUST DOESN'T CARE! @_@).

While Gaius, Regulas, Thordan, etc. thinking they gonna win with their devious plans, we all know what happens to them in the end.

Zenos on the other hand, it's going to take awhile, so we better keep both eyes open and watch our backs..

[Remilia_Nightfall]

You misspelled Alphinaud.

HAHAHAHA

/thread

[ElazulHP]

Zenos is too "cartoony" of a villain and doesn't actually feel like a real person to me. Giaus on the other hand felt very "alive" and I could understand his motivations. Though anyone is probably better than Kylo Ren at this point in the current abomination of a Star Wars trilogy :/

[Lium]

Zenos is too "cartoony" of a villain and doesn't actually feel like a real person to me. Giaus on the other hand felt very "alive" and I could understand his motivations. Though anyone is probably better than Kylo Ren at this point in the current abomination of a Star Wars trilogy :/

Remind me what Gaius stood for again? That's not snark. I only remember him being manipulated by Lahabrea before getting wiped out quite handily by the WoL (us). I never once feared him.

[Coratanni]

Zenos is too "cartoony" of a villain and doesn't actually feel like a real person to me. Giaus on the other hand felt very "alive" and I could understand his motivations. Though anyone is probably better than Kylo Ren at this point in the current abomination of a Star Wars trilogy :/

What has come out the last three years isnt Star Wars. I refuse to acknowledge it.

[DreamAngel-Ren]

Remind me what Gaius stood for again? That's not snark. I only remember him being manipulated by Lahabrea before getting wiped out quite handily by the WoL (us). I never once feared him.

To my understanding, Gaius was all like, "The people of Eorzea are a bunch of idiots praising these so called "gods" (Yup, the Garleans are atheists). Eikons are dangerous and must be exterminated and we the Garlean Empire shall stop them (more like control them) and survive (take over Eorzea).."

Same @Lium, Gaius didn't scare me one bit.

[basketofseals]

Remind me what Gaius stood for again? That's not snark. I only remember him being manipulated by Lahabrea before getting wiped out quite handily by the WoL (us). I never once feared him.

He stood for the betterment of human-kind above all else. If you were to take an unethical and purely objective viewpoint, he's not wrong. Garlean totality would propel the world at large forward at a breakneck pace. Their machinery alone would allow for optimization or resources, transportation, medicine, and science. The extermination of the beast tribes and their primals would protect citizens from internal threats(it doesn't get much more threatening than a mind-control wave). Even should the Garlean Empire collapse or fall into civil war, those countries would still be in a much better place due to the infrastructure that would be put into place.

Of course this is also glossing over genocide, purposeful erasure of cultures, general war horrors, and the Garleans just being general evil dudes.

Also it was pretty natural not to fear him. His entire Legion essentially got dumped by the Empire for their failure of Silvertear Falls, and that's not discounting all of them that died during Project Meteor.

[Zojha]

Same @Lium, Gaius didn't scare me one bit.

Truth be told, the only villains I can find remotely scary are those that realize that going after the guy with plot armor out his rear is futile and instead go for the NPCs. And even there, with the Scions being our closest associates, there's a high likelihood they'll threaten someone that was on 'my' hit list as well.

Zenos felt a lot like bland fanservice for the guys who wanted to have the WoL taken down a notch to me. I don't quite get the appeal. But I think I have to get the Zenos appeal as much as the Lyse appeal - Namely not at all, since I'm not the target audience.

[Sapphire_Dianta]

He stood for the betterment of human-kind above all else. -snip-

Also don't forget that sidequest chain in Stormblood! The Empire was developing bioweapons to exterminate the Eorzean population, and Gaius nixed the entire project because he was against the idea of mass genocide. And let's not forget that one of his top men was a Roegadyn, something unheard of amongst the mostly-racist Garleans.

[Lium]

Of course this is also glossing over genocide, purposeful erasure of cultures, general war horrors, and the Garleans just being general evil dudes.

It's all slowly starting to come back to me. But this right here is the main issue. Regardless of Gaius' intentions, it doesn't change the fact that he is part of an empire that seeks mass ethnic cleansing. Plus, he was being manipulated by an Ascian.

Also, and this is just personal tastes on my part, I don't like villains who are trying to make the world better by cleansing it. That's boring to me and very cliche. I much prefer villains who are just sick and twisted. Villains who can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Villains that just want to watch the world burn. For no other reason than for the sake of the burning.