Kefka, Sephiroth: eat your heart out!

[Fynn]

Ardyn is hands down one of the best villains the franchise has ever had. First there’s the fact that he’s not only one of the most cruel and sadistic villains in the franchise, but at the same time he’s intensely charismatic and somehow he also has an incredibly sympathetic backstory that miraculously doesn’t take away from his devilishness. He also kind of destroys the world and gets what he wants even when Noctis saves the day. Plus, his voice is just brilliant and thanks to the marvelous Darin De Paul, every scene with Ardyn in it was an absolute great.

So I’m personally super happy that after several entries with main villains that were either very bland, very annoying or just plain OP Villain Sues, we finally got someone who can stand head to head with villains of the past. Well done, SE!

[Wolf Kanno]

I agree he's one of the better villains to come out of the franchise in awhile. He still has a bit of a story breaker power issue that recent villains in the franchise have been gaining. I feel he only annoys me less than Caius because Ardyn does actually get taken out for his efforts.

[Christmas]

He is only good in the later versions which more of his backstory is explored.

[Del Murder]

Ardyn was good. I liked that his motivation was very personal and he played the long con. I wish he got a bit more development as the game progressed rather than an info dump near the end, or that you didn't need to rely on add-ons and other media to find out more about him. As FF villains go, I agree he's in the top 5, but that's not saying much as this series has things like clouds of evil for villains.