Well, yeah, most villians do want to become all-powerful and stuff.

Yeah, Leblanc isn't that great of a villian. I don't think X-2 was a well thought out game, but now's not the time for that..

Yeah, It's probably a throw-back to the older FFs. (Hero saves the princess and what-not.) I guess some might think that's cliched, but I never really think of those things :P