What's the point with that quite lackluster story in Endwalker?

[aveyond-dreams]

He had a backstory. A very cool one that perfectly explains his behavior and motivations, at that.

It was just in side content.

All of it.

Admittedly, I would have been able to enjoy Zenos more in Stormblood aside from his 1 scene with Yotsuyu had they bothered to show us the events of one of his short stories in game. Instead I found it some years later after someone had posted it to the Final Fantasy Wiki. Sure would have made for better entertainment than suffering through the early stages of Gyr Abania with Lyse.

However, it would do little to solve the later problems with his character, which completely exhausted my patience with him. I do not want the villain of an mmorpg to be a foil to me. That cannot work when the character is entirely your creation like the WoL, whose personality is up to us to determine. Villains need to have their own distinct personalities and goals that go beyond "seeking the ultimate fight" or whatever it was Zenos wanted.