[Spoilers] I'm getting sick of shonen manga power-ups each arc

[Frizze]

I suspect the game just isn't set up to remember who you were with so they can be slotted into scenes when they're not there.

It most definitely is not. The game doesnt even "remember" you to slot you into scenes. If you go back and watch any old scene using the Unending Journey, itll show you as you are currently equipped and dressed regardless of what class or glamour you were using the first time through.

[Silverquick]

Just played through it myself...

Yeah its just Dumb as hell. It isn't even believable in the context of the story they're trying to tell. This general is supposedly given up on even attempting to fight them anymore because its inevitable humanity will be defeated.

YET... if he really was that strong and as strong as he was portrayed in that fight... there's no way in hell he'd have the need to give up because he could go do it all himself. It would be pointless for the Corrupted Light to even try. Even if they were only dissipated he's far too strong to ever be beaten by any of them.

It was so totally unbelievable I was just going... really now? Seriously?

And that doesn't even get into the question of... well is he THAT strong he could just whollop Zenos too? Because that's how Strong he was.

I bet the answer is no.... so how in the hell can he just whollop the guy who beat Zenos.

This doesn't even remotely fit even into the storyline they've been telling at this point. It makes the entire thing just seem sooo fake.

EDIT: And this doesn't even take into account stripping away player power and completely demeaning a the entire character you've written up to this point about the "Warrior of Light" archetype.

[Khalithar]

That wouldn't be 'defying conventions' since that's exactly what the Warrior of Light does in the vast majority of confrontations.

Not really. With Zenos and the Eulmore general who was so boring I don't even remember his name. We get stomped by them repeatedly until finally being strong enough to finish them off later. It's happened twice so far. Next time, make the big rival character one that can't defeat us but isn't comic relief.

[Bright-Flower]

I don't mind there being characters that can beat us, but I feel Fordola was better handled in her final fight than Zenos and Ran'jit.

I don't mind that Zenos beat us. I don't mind that he beat us twice. I mind that he beat us twice effortlessly and then we're able to fight him at the end for no apparent reason other than 'lol level 70' and 'it's the climax so now you can fight the villain for realsies.' If we MUST have villains curbstomp us, at least tie how we defeat them later into the story somehow. With Fordola's psychic fake echo powers we used a device to disorient her for example. With Zenos and Ran'jit it just feels lazy and cheap that one moment they kick our butts and later when the script says we need to win they're beaten.

Don't just make it a numbers game of vague 'power levels.' Make how we prepare for the rematch to face these foes part of the story. More 'how do we overcome this ability' and less 'gain levels so you can hit harder.'

[Berethos]

YET... if he really was that strong and as strong as he was portrayed in that fight... there's no way in hell he'd have the need to give up because he could go do it all himself. It would be pointless for the Corrupted Light to even try. Even if they were only dissipated he's far too strong to ever be beaten by any of them.

I assume you're talking about Ran'jit (not sure what Gaius has to do with him, since they are on completely separate worlds) since you're talking about fighting the Lightwardens and causing them to dissipate and all...

He was almost certainly not the only one that had the strength to defeat the Lightwardens...but that wasn't the issue with fighting them. Remember Titania? They were a powerful pixie, counted as their leader and empowered by the other fae, and one that defeated a Lightwarden...and was corrupted in doing so.

So what do you think would happen with Ran'jit if he went around defeating them? The same thing that happened to Titania.

[Silverquick]

I assume you're talking about Ran'jit (not sure what Gaius has to do with him, since they are on completely separate worlds) since you're talking about fighting the Lightwardens and causing them to dissipate and all...

He was almost certainly not the only one that had the strength to defeat the Lightwardens...but that wasn't the issue with fighting them. Remember Titania? They were a powerful pixie, counted as their leader and empowered by the other fae, and one that defeated a Lightwarden...and was corrupted in doing so. So what do you think would happen with Ran'jit if he went around defeating them? The same thing that happened to Titania.

Well that WOULD work...
...if not for the fact JUST a few minutes prior to that.... when we defeated one in the story there is a long time before they disperse their light, so Ranjit had ample time to get away. In the beginning I'm sure they didn't know that (Titania), but they'd obviously learned after that as the they tell you they'd killed them before but they only dissipate and reform in time.

So again totally makes no sense.

I brought up Gaius because supposedly he was this uber powered being that could wipe the floor with you... so magically and mystically he's the same "uber" bad guy... that defeats you in the same cheezeball way.

Ranjit is completely not believeable in the context of the story they are trying to tell, and just makes the whole segment cheezy as hell.

EDIT: Mean to say ZENOS not Gaius

[ObsidianFire]

We only ever fight Gaius at one point in the story though, and when we do, we defeat him for good. He serves a very different narrative function then Ranjit does.

The first time we run into him, he has his super-weapon with him that just gobbled up the three primals we killed. We're just by ourselves with Alphinaud and Cid, neither of whom are good in a fight. In addition, Gaius is holding a lot of the Scions captive at that point in time. We have no back-up, so we retreat without fighting him.

The next time we run into him, we've got the three Grand Companies backing us up and quite a few other adventurers too. We also defeat him twice in a row. Once when it's just us verses him and again when he's in control of his super-weapon. He also looses a lot differently then... just about about anyone who looses against us. He's almost proud he lost against someone who actually proved they deserved to win and basically gives us his last words of advice which... turn out to be surprisingly good descriptions of what happens later on.

And then he ends up doing what we do (hunting Ascians) in a location we have a hard time getting to that he is much more familiar with.

[Alleo]

The fun thing with Gaius. In one of the job quest we fight someone that is said to be even stronger than him and we defeat him solo.

Its just a bit annoying how different the "power levels" are..A good rival could have been Ardbert as a WoD but instead we defeat them quite fast and afterwards they are on our side again. A rival that is there for a longer time and that grows with us (and we see the growth) and that we either later truly defeat or maybe only tie with them makes it imo interesting.

A guy that comes out of nowhere that just stomps us (and then the instanced battle cant be lost until that certain point happens..) and then soon after that we stomp him is not fun imo. Zenos might have also been a rival if we knew about him a bit before Stormblood and if they gave him at least a bit more development. But no he was meant to be the true evil character with no real complexity to him (such a character can be interesting for one story line..but not for longer) that now has overstayed his welcome. He gets power ups even worse than us (being outside his body suddenly makes him even more like an Ascian?) and seems to be built as the big bad at the end..not a great rival at all..just someone that will either get away through some plot means or that will somehow become even stronger than us until we again defeat him..

[Frizze]

If we MUST have villains curbstomp us, at least tie how we defeat them later into the story somehow. With Fordola's psychic fake echo powers we used a device to disorient her for example. With Zenos and Ran'jit it just feels lazy and cheap that one moment they kick our butts and later when the script says we need to win they're beaten.

Don't just make it a numbers game of vague 'power levels.' Make how we prepare for the rematch to face these foes part of the story. More 'how do we overcome this ability' and less 'gain levels so you can hit harder.'

So Zenos is a special case. He is presented as basically living for a good fight, and he decides we might get strong enough to give him one. Our first fight we do just enough damage to him to intrigue him. The second fight we show that we're still improving. So we storm the gates of Ala Mhigo Castle with an army and a group of fellow adventurers, and he decides to show us his new trick. He fuses with a primal to fight us. Now this next part isnt really explained well in the game, but theres a theory as to why this was a very bad idea for him. Against a general, our power of the Echo gives us a little ability to dodge attacks and not much more(being immune to tempering doesnt matter for this fight). But against a primal we can also use the Blessing of Light, which makes us much more powerful and deadly.

[Elladie]

I don't mind there being characters that can beat us, but I feel Fordola was better handled in her final fight than Zenos and Ran'jit.

I don't mind that Zenos beat us. I don't mind that he beat us twice. I mind that he beat us twice effortlessly and then we're able to fight him at the end for no apparent reason other than 'lol level 70' and 'it's the climax so now you can fight the villain for realsies.' If we MUST have villains curbstomp us, at least tie how we defeat them later into the story somehow. With Fordola's psychic fake echo powers we used a device to disorient her for example. With Zenos and Ran'jit it just feels lazy and cheap that one moment they kick our butts and later when the script says we need to win they're beaten.

Don't just make it a numbers game of vague 'power levels.' Make how we prepare for the rematch to face these foes part of the story. More 'how do we overcome this ability' and less 'gain levels so you can hit harder.'

We were able to beat Zenos at the end of 3.0 because he was daft enough to merge with a primal. Stomping primals is what we do