Vayne was a slightly better villain than Seymour, but still not great. Mind you, it is less convoluted than "the-baddie-is-an-all-powerful-sorceress-from-the-future-who-has-posessed-the-body-of-different-sorceresses-to-free-a-sorceress-trapped-in-space" situation in VIII (my second fave Final Fantasy BTW)
And as for Ashe and breathing, I concur!!