101 Things Square Enix Could Learn from Other Media

[Sephiroth]

I mean in a complete story where they stay dead. I don't trust SE not to revive what maybee was talking aboutSerah by the time they're done with the XIII trilogy.

Well, Auron was gone forever. Jecht was good and died. Shuyin and Lenne could finally go. Cid Raines died. Someone who becomes a hero in Final Fantasy XIII-3 Lightning Returns dies forever, Reks died, Rasler died, Noah (Gabranth) died, they are all good people (some earlier, some later). And all important characters who died die in a world where the existence of afterlife is proven.

3. Lord of the Rings: Having a Super Bad Guy that actually is the Super Bad Guy in the plot is a good thing. He might not even need a huge 'angle' other than "I want to take over the world and enslave everyone." Simple can work really well if it's done right. But Sauron was cool because from the start, you knew he was the Big Evil in the story. There was not some Secret Hidden Final Boss You Didn't Expect.

Actually I was always disappointed by Sauron and that he didn't even appear until I thought about how he is the Ring (you could say his Horcrux, that was the book Tom Riddle read to find out about them, ha, ha, ha) as well so his influence is badass.