[ENDWALKER SPOILER!] On Zenos

[Crushnight]

Sorry I have to give one last comment but I have never been a fan of

"give the spoiled brat his bottle" which is exactly what happens with Zenos

[WhiteArchmage]

Sorry I have to give one last comment but I have never been a fan of

"give the spoiled brat his bottle" which is exactly what happens with Zenos

That was my thing with him.

I wanted to have the option to not fight him, ever. Let him get eaten by something bigger, let him be unfought. Heck, if we must fight him let us swat him aside like a fly and deny him his "glorious battle" he wanted. I would have even been down with a "power of friendship" talk with him as we embrace him and send him off to the Lifestream. Almost anything except making him the final boss, which he even stole the role by a technicality! (I'd really consider him a post-final boss, much like how the Final Boss of ARR is Ultima Weapon and Lahabrea comes afterwards just for some narrative importance as he's near impossible to lose against)

Basically, I feel Ishikawa didn't even want to deal with him but they'd hyped him up too much already that they just had to shoehorn him in somewhere

[Roda]

That was my thing with him.

I wanted to have the option to not fight him, ever. Let him get eaten by something bigger, let him be unfought. Heck, if we must fight him let us swat him aside like a fly and deny him his "glorious battle" he wanted. I would have even been down with a "power of friendship" talk with him as we embrace him and send him off to the Lifestream. Almost anything except making him the final boss, which he even stole the role by a technicality! (I'd really consider him a post-final boss, much like how the Final Boss of ARR is Ultima Weapon and Lahabrea comes afterwards just for some narrative importance as he's near impossible to lose against)

Basically, I feel Ishikawa didn't even want to deal with him but they'd hyped him up too much already that they just had to shoehorn him in somewhere

I'm of the same mind

I think his entire sequence could've been saved if we had the option to just peace out. Have the teleport button drop down BEFORE the fight, right after his little speech, and let us choose if we want to give into his projection, or for us to deny his only defining character trait. And by god, even if his fight would be the most fun and interesting fight mechanically in the game, I wouldn't do it, just because him not getting his stupid wish is just that much more satisfying, narratively.

Honestly, it's disappointing, because I do tend to like pest/rival characters. But that role is NOT one for the main antagonist of an epic story. They're a sometimes snack. If he just showed up from time to time to have a blast fighting, and that's it, that'd be fine. Just don't waste my time showing me just how BORED he is ALL THE TIME. You know what they say... "if you're bored then you're boring."

[KageTokage]

I really hope they're still hiding a proper explanation for why he was having unusually clear dreams of the Final Days, because it was the only thing that was keeping me very interested in him...though if that requires bringing him back again, then no thanks.

[KageTokage]

Safety spoilers

I feel like we were forced to kill him because there was no guarantees he wouldn't start pulling more stunts to get our attention again if we chose to ignore him. Though even if he did get what he wanted in the end, if it made him come to a painful realization of how utterly empty his existence was compared to ours, that could arguably be considered more cathartic then simply denying him that truth. The fact that he even put any thought into Alisaie's words and asks whether your own existence satisfies you makes me feel like he did finally make that realization despite his answer being left vague.

I was never really expecting him to get much development past a true understanding of what makes us tick, and that final solo fight to close off the story felt like the best way they could've handled it.

[Platypusamus]

I know this is a bit older but thank you! You have put into words what I've been trying to explain to people about why I feel crestfallen at the end of EW.

[kyzy]

Formerly deleted post with the spoilers on, lol. I'm such a noob at forum posting, sorry!

The end fight was satisfying fight wise, but story wise? If they bring him back again I'm going to be angry, but at the same time I want him to come back. I want to know more about his story, I wanted him to be moulded into a sort of anti-hero or companion foil for OUR character, sometimes helping us just for the sake of growing stronger.

Zenos's issues clearly stem from his childhood (and the lack of any attention or love he got), it would have been so cool to see that change over time as Alisae's words got reinforced and he stopped being alone, if only for the sake of fighting us, but overtime that got warped into a genuine want for something else besides killing. I love the scions, but with an ensemble cast it's hard to give everyone enough time to really shine.

Did we really need half of the moon rabbit nonsense, or the parts where the characters tell you to just do idle things because theres nothing else to do, when that time could have been spent developing the characters that needed it...?

This expac was strange, weirdly written, and I'm disappointed in it. It was a notch down from the other expacs, in my personal opinion, but then again I love character driven stories the most so I am bias.

[Miracle_Diva]

I'm one of now six people who likes Zenos. I did enjoy the final fight, enjoyed that we finally have Our fight and not another "savior"/WoL-on-Call stuff.

Also, I'll take him anytime over brainwashing and absolutely ??? bunnies part

[Cherishes]

+1 I've felt nothing for Zenos since Stormblood days and felt dread in every cutscene with him because I had to sit through it for plot if unwillingly - I would skip them if I could. But I'm here for the story, unfortunately.

Zenos being put down by multiple characters was good. The EW ending was great, but I tuned out before, during and after the fight he wanted and somehow my character wanted but I didn't want. I felt very thrown out of the story and lost my sense of immersion.

Also the punching... cutscene just felt off (and a callback to the Stormblood trailer? you leave the wol and lyse's relationship out of this.) and I overall disliked the entire arc where Zenos chased after us.

Please don't bring him back. I'm so tired of him.