Quote Originally Posted by Kohashi View Post
I personally loved Zenos. Unapologetically evil, simple, without a sob story, and straight to the point. For me, it was a breath of fresh air in between all that drama/trauma dumping that msq was doing.
Same - I thought he was a fantastic character.

A villain with relatable motives/an extremely good reason to be the way that they are is definitely not a bad villain, but I feel some have started to lean on that trope a little too heavily. So when a bad guy with "simpler" motivations comes along, he catches hate.

I personally enjoyed Zeno's exactly because he's simple and, frankly, relatable. The Warrior of Light fought beasts, Gods, dragons, and pretty much the entire imperial army. The only time we've ever faced any sort of challenge or hardship, its been indirectly from people threatening those around us. We were basically untouchable - a gun to bring to any swordfight. I suspect most players were feeling pretty invincible by the point in the game immediately prior to Zenos, which was likely by design.

And then, without warning, Zenos appears and absolutely wipes the floor with us reminding us, both in-game and meta, that we're not invincible and there IS someone better out there.

And I honestly enjoyed how his story played out, particularly when we finally fight him in Ultima Thule - because in my view, he was right about us when he identified our 'Adventurer' roots. and recognised that we were heroes through circumstance and a need to do the right thing, rather than choice.