Quote Originally Posted by Nezerius View Post
I still don't think these plot armor fights make Zenos all that interesting, since it felt more like the game telling me that I'm not high enough level to take him on.
Sadly this is how it sort of comes across.

What changes between our first two fights and the one where we can actually fight him at 70? We leveled up.

This sort of thing might work in a RPG where the villain beats up the freshly minted hero at the start but by the end, the hero has grown strong enough to contend with them through the whole game. If say, we first fought Zenos at level 15. But the WOL has been through all of ARR and HW by the time SB comes around, so for me the idea that 'we just got stronger during our travels' in the shorter time of SB's msq just isn't enough to sell that idea to me. Especially when the same thing happens with Shinryu once Zenos possessse Shinryu. Massive threat our friend has to give his life to stall and we risk unleashign Omega to stop it rather than fight it ourselves? Ends up as just another primal boss fight. Even Fordola got a plot explanation for us foiling her new echo powers with that trinket from Uriangr. NOthing here. If you want to be charitable you can make up explanations like 'Shinryu was in a heavily weakened state' but the game doesn't actually say that.

Then they repeat the whole thing with Ran'jit. First time you fight him, he's out of your league. Second time seems evenly matched but then you're interrupted and he gets stunned. Third time, you're able to just kill him. What changes? Nothing, except you leveled up to get bigger numbers.

I don't mind that Zenos defeats us. I don't mind that there are npcs, even just regular humanoids, more powerful than the Warrior of Light in single combat. But if you're going to introduce them like that, maybe actually work 'how' we overcome them into the story, or some sort of training at the very least, into the msq. Not just sending us off for a few more levels of adventuring, which we have dozens of now, and then rely on that to fill the gap.