The short story literally tells us he finds no joy in combat.
It’s a means to a connection because he read in a book once that it might offer him connection and feeling once.
It even tells us he goes as far as to pray for this. A crown prince of a nation where prayer and gods are taught to be something to be feared and purged. Prays. For a connection to something in this world because everything else in his life severed that connection and left him alone. The childhood beaten out of him by his teen years.
An anhedonic, abused teenager clung for 12 years to something that might make him feel *something* and all people say is “lolol combatsexual”.
I could quote so much of The Hunt Begins to back this up but I only need one line. From the opening.
“From the beginning, Zenos was alone”
Getting mad at the Wuk minion is funny as hell when there is an Athena minion.
Like, just throw her in your 13+ pages of minions you dont use or dont do the event.
And I’m so glad Final Fantasy leaned into this VA and voice direction for FFXVI.
If Final Fantasy XVII doesn’t continue this trend, I’ll appreciate what we had here because it was BRILLIANT.
Just one in the myriad of goated scenes this game produced.