FFXIII-2 Your thoughts on Caius Ballad

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Well I am almost at the end of FFXIII-2 and it does take a while for his character to be fleshed out a bit, but on a whole I find him a very bad ass and likeable villain. He combines Knowledge with sorrow and comes across complex and compelling.

I think his goal is the most ambitious of all FF villains to date, but I can't explain due to it being a spoiler to people who haven't got far yet.

His character design is something of a mix bag but yet pulls of a convincing menace that i've only seen in that of Sepheroith.

So what does everyone else think of Caius Ballad.....love or hate?!
 
I think it's fair to say that, compared to other villains in the Final Fantasy universe, Caius isn't inherently bad. The ONLY reason he is the villain is because his view opposes yours, and his view is not world domination or anything like that, but really, just to fulfill his duty. You can't call him evil. I like it this way too. It sets him apart from all the rest.

My favorite thing about him is that he an Kain (FF4) have the same voice actor.
 
I really like Caius' character. MAJOR SPOILERS
He isn't evil. He's just lost Yuel, his friend of sorts, time and time again. He's seen a young girl whom he's meant to protect die a countless number of times. I can empathise with him wanting to protect her and erase the history of her deaths. I can't really empathise with the destroying the world bit, but I suppose his purpose to protect Yuel was like a Focus of sorts, something he couldn't avoid.

I certainly prefer him to Sephiroth, Ultemicia, Seymour and Bathandelus, who all had entirely warped perceptions of the world. They had no human reason for their immoral actions, bar madness...
 
Caius really reminds me of Sephiroth in a couple of ways. His overall attitude for one.
These lines in the opening :
Lightning: So you want to destroy everything?
Cauis: Oblivion is the fate of all things.
The fact that what he wanted to do He had such a wrong perception of things and hated everything because of it. I do think he was a bit mad like Sephiroth One of the best villains. Noel saw the truth while Cauis was blinded to it.
 
I really like Caius' character. MAJOR SPOILERS
He isn't evil. He's just lost Yuel, his friend of sorts, time and time again. He's seen a young girl whom he's meant to protect die a countless number of times. I can empathise with him wanting to protect her and erase the history of her deaths. I can't really empathise with the destroying the world bit, but I suppose his purpose to protect Yuel was like a Focus of sorts, something he couldn't avoid.

I certainly prefer him to Sephiroth, Ultemicia, Seymour and Bathandelus, who all had entirely warped perceptions of the world. They had no human reason for their immoral actions, bar madness...

I can agree with you on this, he's more than just a bad guy. He has many layers to him, not saying Sephiroth didn't but to an overall feeling, Caius felt the more developed and has a higher purpose than the other villains.

I just wish they made him appear more in the game or in fact make him harder to fight. But in my opinion he is up there at the top of the chain of best FF villains.
 
Gonna be completely honest here... I thought Caius was a kinda stupid villain lol. While I understand he's not the typical villain who says "lol im gonna blow up the world cause its fun!!11~@# herpderp," I feel like his "goal" was so unrealistic.

I mean he
wanted to "destroy" everything so that Yeul wouldn't have to keep dying. Why would he do that? How amazing would life be for Yeul in a world where there's no life or death, and everything is covered in darkness? I mean, does Yeul really look like the kind of girl who wants everyone to suffer just for her own benefit? >_>.

Also, I feel like he just got lucky that Noel and Serah were acting like idiots. They did exactly what they were warned numerous times not to do. That's why the ending didn't surprise me, I mean the game clearly spelled out what would happen if Noel killed Caius...
 
Well I haven't quite cracked the shell of Caius but he is ALOT more developed than previous FF Villians in the past.

I actually haven't seen a FF Villian this well done since.... 4 or 6 since their villians actually had some personality and/or a Backstory as to why they're hell bent on destroying everything.

from what I've seen of him so far I'm quite pleased, I always enjoy a chance to cross blades with him :D my only real complaint about him is he looks a little too much like Kain from dissidia ((aside from the helmet)) I suspect they used Kain's Character Model from Duodecim as a template for his current looks :O
 
Caius has become one of my favorite ff character. The voice, the clothes, a boss who isn't just a crazy egomaniac is all perfect. I hope we get to battle and capture him in the colosseum as dlc or something. Buttttttt what I'd really love to see is Lightning and Caius joining forces to take down some other inherent evil who is In caius path in FFXIII-3. (yes I actually like the fabula nova crystal series? I love all the characters and wanna ride this train till its in the ground!)
 
Gonna be completely honest here... I thought Caius was a kinda stupid villain lol. While I understand he's not the typical villain who says "lol im gonna blow up the world cause its fun!!11~@# herpderp," I feel like his "goal" was so unrealistic.

I mean he
wanted to "destroy" everything so that Yeul wouldn't have to keep dying. Why would he do that? How amazing would life be for Yeul in a world where there's no life or death, and everything is covered in darkness? I mean, does Yeul really look like the kind of girl who wants everyone to suffer just for her own benefit? >_>.

Also, I feel like he just got lucky that Noel and Serah were acting like idiots. They did exactly what they were warned numerous times not to do. That's why the ending didn't surprise me, I mean the game clearly spelled out what would happen if Noel killed Caius...


His goal may have been completely unrealistic and not well thought out, but because he was so consumed with that goal he was blinded by consequence. Only Noel was the one to let him see the light of his ways, this is what everyone here is talking about, he has such a well developed back story and is a well thought out character that you can excuse his major ambition just for the sake at how great he is at being a villain.
 
Gonna be completely honest here... I thought Caius was a kinda stupid villain lol. While I understand he's not the typical villain who says "lol im gonna blow up the world cause its fun!!11~@# herpderp," I feel like his "goal" was so unrealistic.

I mean he
wanted to "destroy" everything so that Yeul wouldn't have to keep dying. Why would he do that? How amazing would life be for Yeul in a world where there's no life or death, and everything is covered in darkness? I mean, does Yeul really look like the kind of girl who wants everyone to suffer just for her own benefit? >_>.

Also, I feel like he just got lucky that Noel and Serah were acting like idiots. They did exactly what they were warned numerous times not to do. That's why the ending didn't surprise me, I mean the game clearly spelled out what would happen if Noel killed Caius...

Is that even any better than "I'm going to destroy the world just for fun!" kind of goal?

The thing is:
(Caius spoilers)
You must put yourself in his shoes. He has seen countless Yeuls die, everytime in his hands. He's cursed to witness her death again and again for eternity. Cursed to emphatize with her suffering. But every Yeul has different personalities, so he kind of grow affectionate to many different people in one. It's like thousands of people dear to him die so tragically, because the world is so unfair to him.

What can he do? Simply finding a way to stop the reincarnation in the present time is not enough. Many Yeuls have ALREADY died in the past. The past Yeuls are still suffering. Therefore, the only way is to erase history so that the suffering of these Yeuls will be gone for good. And remember, it's not only ONE Yeul. It's probably hundreds or even thousands of different individuals in one body.

But I guess to each his own. For me, I really thought his goal is better than those crazy villains who want to destroy the world just because.

Not saying that these crazy villains aren't good though. Caius' goal is just more interesting to me.
 
Best FF badguy since Kuja ^_^ unlike those stereotypical villains, Caius is pretty human which makes him realistic, relatable and has a decent reason for his cause.

Also he's voice by Liam who is a suburb voice actor and it's nice to hear his voice again.
:)

While Kefka, Ex- Death and Emp. Paramecia are also good badguy's in the FF series ( not Sephiroth because *opinion* he's overrated ) they do fall into the stereotype, the world must fall just because. :hmmm:
 
Is that even any better than "I'm going to destroy the world just for fun!" kind of goal?

The thing is:
(Caius spoilers)
You must put yourself in his shoes. He has seen countless Yeuls die, everytime in his hands. He's cursed to witness her death again and again for eternity. Cursed to emphatize with her suffering. But every Yeul has different personalities, so he kind of grow affectionate to many different people in one. It's like thousands of people dear to him die so tragically, because the world is so unfair to him.

What can he do? Simply finding a way to stop the reincarnation in the present time is not enough. Many Yeuls have ALREADY died in the past. The past Yeuls are still suffering. Therefore, the only way is to erase history so that the suffering of these Yeuls will be gone for good. And remember, it's not only ONE Yeul. It's probably hundreds or even thousands of different individuals in one body.

But I guess to each his own. For me, I really thought his goal is better than those crazy villains who want to destroy the world just because.

Not saying that these crazy villains aren't good though. Caius' goal is just more interesting to me.
Actually, I was trying to say that not being a stereotypical "crazy" villain who wants to destroy everything for absolutely no reason is one of the good things about Caius xD.
 
For what was announced as the strongest villain in the FF series, I'm really disappointed at that. He could be, if not, the weakest villain in the entire series. I could defeat him easily. I remembered the exhaustion and frustration from trying to kill previous villains but in terms of strength, I was flat out disappointed.

However, I like his storyline. It feels much better to not have a villain to be one just because there needs to be one . Though I must say, the antagonist is usually a supporting role to the protagonist and he didn't really do justice. I felt like his decisions etc, Serah and Noel continued to journey through time.

Like for example, we know the Historia Crux map from the very beginning. Even if Caius stabs Serah and Noel, you could easily predict that something brings them back. So basically, there were no real surprises.
 
For what was announced as the strongest villain in the FF series, I'm really disappointed at that. He could be, if not, the weakest villain in the entire series. I could defeat him easily. I remembered the exhaustion and frustration from trying to kill previous villains but in terms of strength, I was flat out disappointed.

However, I like his storyline. It feels much better to not have a villain to be one just because there needs to be one . Though I must say, the antagonist is usually a supporting role to the protagonist and he didn't really do justice. I felt like his decisions etc, Serah and Noel continued to journey through time.

Like for example, we know the Historia Crux map from the very beginning. Even if Caius stabs Serah and Noel, you could easily predict that something brings them back. So basically, there were no real surprises.


While I do agree with the last 2 points you made, I believe I can clarify the first point for you. Caius was testing Noel and Sarah (mostly Noel) through out the game. He never used his full power against you because he knew it would kill you. If you put the DLC Caius when he fought lightning (which is canon) against Noel and Sarah they would lose without a doubt. Even a God tier Lightning couldn't defeat him and she is leagues ahead of Noel and Sarah. So I hope (years later) that this helps you understand why Caius was easy.
 
if you gave me a gun with 6 bullets in it and locked me in a room with Caius, Hitler and Donald Trump I would unload the entire clip into Caius' face.

I can't remember why I hate him but I just remember being very unsatisfied when I finished the game.
 
Like many people, I found his voice rather mesmerising.

He seemed an interesting enough character to me.

I wouldn’t really call him a true villain. You could empathise with him as he did what he did because he cared about someone rather than being a madman set on world domination. He wanted to protect the various incarnations of his friend (albeit at the expense of everything)…

He needed to be stopped, but with sadness and regret.
 
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