where is our "Sephiroth"?

[Wadoka]

I find it funny that we put Sephiroth so high up on the totem pole for FF villians...

He. Killed. Aeris.

No one cares about his plans to become a God through world desolation. That's petty crime, happens all the time. A real yawnfest.

But he killed Aeris Gainsborough.

That was the first time I can recall, any developer, anywhere, had the guts and the utter gall to kill a pivotal and beloved character in such a shocking, unpredictable and unanticipated manner.

I replayed the game through six retries, multiple save points, anything I could think of, to try to come up with a path where the Masamune blade never spilled Cetra blood. I knew it had to be my fault, I'd done something wrong, missed a branch, talked to the wrong people...

The shock has never really went away, just scabbed over.

[NoloeTazier]

Technically Cloud killed her when he pushed her into the water and drowned her.

[MilesSaintboroguh]

I dunno, I'd think I want my villains to be more complicated and refined than Sephiroth.

[Xerali]

Do we really need a "big bad?" Frankly, I've been much more pleased with the subtle tones present throughout the 2.1, 2.2, and 2.3 content. Instead of a clear, identifiable "big bad" looming over Eorzea (which we do have, somewhat, in the form of Zodiark/Ascians), we have several threats that bear tertiary links, slowly closing in around us.

That some elements of them remain unseen (their actions, less so) has been good for building tension in the story. When more is revealed to us, it's going to be pretty satisfying.

[Ramesses]

To the OP... Nael was hands down our Sephiroth for 1.0... I thoroughly loved his chatcater and he was actually a brilliantly written charcater. If you want the whole detailed lore regarding him, you can read the fan-written lore that was actually officially approved by the Devs. HERE

Now for 2.0, several of us expected our "Sephiroth-like" villian to be Gaius, especially since there was an intricate (and dangerous) yet delicate conversation that Nael and Van had prior in 1.0 (refer to the quest "Two Vans are better than one" HERE.

Not to mention that Gaius was heavily featured in the pre-launch trailers... and this generated a LOT of excitment because many of us had loved Gaius since the ORIGINAL 1.0 storyline HERE.

That particular CS which showed him taking on four of the Circle of Knowing was actually legendary in those days; and what helped inspire most people to finish the story even though the game had several issues. By the way, his voice acting was also done to perfection there... and not the crappy forced voice he had in 2.0.... but that's just me.

So now as we head into 3.0, the problem now becomes how to develop a new villian that we all will love to hate... especially since the last two candidates for that position are sadly no more.

Shame really... because I was actually rooting heavily for Gaius to become the new Garlean Emperor so as to generate a whole new slew of lore, quests, missions and villianous excitement for the future. Heck, at some point prior to 2.0 launch, I even joked to my friends that Gaius might actually be an older version of our Hyur Warrior of Light NPC who goes back in time, joins the Garlean empire and rises the ranks to become the Black Wolf.

Ahhh well... guess we shall find out if we get a new wicked villian (or villianess?) in Patch 2.4

[Jinrya-Geki]

Do we really need a "big bad?" Frankly, I've been much more pleased with the subtle tones present throughout the 2.1, 2.2, and 2.3 content. Instead of a clear, identifiable "big bad" looming over Eorzea (which we do have, somewhat, in the form of Zodiark/Ascians), we have several threats that bear tertiary links, slowly closing in around us.

That some elements of them remain unseen (their actions, less so) has been good for building tension in the story. When more is revealed to us, it's going to be pretty satisfying.

I think a needs a main focus enemy. Not 15 nobodies that just randomly show up each patch. You need a big villain, without it there's no dread. You have nothing to worry about. Which is what this game is doing currently.

What's the incentive to help these dumb Eorzeans?

[Haprimac]

To the OP... Nael was hands down our Sephiroth for 1.0... I thoroughly loved his chatcater and he was actually a brilliantly written charcater.

This is going to be nitpicking, and I must admit I never played 1.0, but isn't Nael female, at least according to Coil turn 9?

By the way, his voice acting was also done to perfection there... and not the crappy forced voice he had in 2.0.... but that's just me.

You should try with french audio, his voice is still pretty badass there (even though I don't even understand french).

[Sholah]

This is going to be nitpicking, and I must admit I never played 1.0, but isn't Nael female, at least according to Coil turn 9?

Careful with those spoilers.
Here are some more!
Nael deus Darnus actually refers to Nael van Darnus as male. Deus Darnus is a piece of Van Darnus that Bahamut brought back from the brink of the void and reformed with his own added touches. So apparently Bahamut would rather have a female avatar than a male one.

[Saikou]

Technically Cloud killed her when he pushed her into the water and drowned her.

But that's just a theory... A Game Theory.

[Rex]

before bash me, it's more where is our "kefka"? where is our "edea"?

it's more about, who is our big boss enemy that we are looking to stop. i know you will say the ascien or zordiark, but i feel they are way too much invisible and we can't really put a name on the Ascien, most of them did appear 1-2 times in some Cut scene and since that... nothing.

in the V1 it was Nael and the empire, in the 2.0 it was gaius and lahabrea... but since that, nothing really charismatic for make us remember them name. i feel FF14 lack a really charismatic bad guys actually, we are fighting the primordial but it seems soo much... empty. if we had a bad guy, we will have he feeling of continuity between quest line from the different big patch, but there it's..."the ascien" as a group not as a person.

what do you feel about this part?

Well in 1.0 it was Nael Van Darnus (who in a way...basically won the fight).

The next enemy is in the works...if you've been following all the story.