Zoral Ja is just weaker Zenos, literally and character wise, he's overly emotional, insecure, unbending, pointlessly hateful and short-sighted.
Zenos is calm, deliberate, sure of his position over his father and thinks nothing of cutting him down, he's fully capable, single handily of enforcing his will and desire.
Imagine introducing a weaker copy to a previous villain, literally too, he isn't even close as physically strong even post enhancement.
I'll counter and say a better parallel to Zoraal Ja is Vauthry. A narcissistic lordling told from birth he was special and destined to rule, wants to bend the entire world to his will, uses a paper-thin justification of benevolence to disguise his god complex (remember how Zoraal Ja he wanted to teach the people of Tural the hardships of war or some shit and then it never came up again?) and ends up becoming physically warped by his obsession into the miniboss before the real final boss of the expac (Emet Selch and Sphene) reveal themselves to be evil.
The difference is that Vauthry was allowed to be openly shallow and hateable from his introduction, and we were allowed to lean into him and the Eulmore that created him being transparently immoral, whereas we have almost no explanation for what made Zoraal Ja so fixated on power despite a healthy environment and loving father (so dedicated he would personally track down his adopted daughter in the jungle, yet not dedicated enough to tell his trueborn son to stop being such a faggot, not even showing an attempt).
Also, the fact that Vauthry is so nakedly evil makes him more threatening despite being played as a morbidly obese baby, because he's got a genuine conviction in his god complex and is doing such grotesque things like ordering a man to hack his own arm off for entertainment, and mind-controlling his people by feeding them ground-up light-infused zombie flesh, that his narcissism, backed up by the sin-eaters who have already destroyed most of the world, is completely unpredictable and scary.
Zoraal Ja, who on the other hand is set up as the main villain with no bigger threat behind him like Emet Selch was for Vauthry, just acts like he's throwing a temper tantrum for attention. And instead of the sin-eaters, he's backed up by... remote control drones. Who kill 2 people before they're stopped by cowboys with nerf guns.
I find the handwaving of how Gulool Ja Ja forged his "le peaceful empire" to be very funny. It's such shoddy worldbuilding in a world that I already felt like edged on the veneer of plausible and fantastical, and often handwaved a lot of things. (Like why is Eorzea still made up of city states? And how the fuck does Ishgard even survive buried under perpetual snow for like five years? Etc etc.)
But the way Tural was laid out takes the cake. It's akin to a childish scribble set against the competent crayon drawings of prior FFXIV worldbuilding.
You ever notice how they said Bakool Ja Ja got his place in the trials to become Dawnservant by winning a fighting tournament? The only candidates for the nation's future ruler are the former warrior-king's adopted children, two of whom are trained primarily as warriors themselves, and the nation's best fighter. I guess there's no way for a Hanuhanu or a Pelupelu to become the Dawnservant because they wouldn't have a chance in hell beating a lizard or hroth in single combat. For all the talk of peace, it sure seems like the number one requirement for becoming the ruler of Tural is being able to beat people to a pulp.
