Grefter is correct.
1. When all is said and done, it's easy to sympathise with the badguy.
Considering all the shit that happened to Orstead, I'd turn evil too.
2. Not his "underlings" though, they're mostly just dicks.
The various bosses from the other storylines.
3. The "underlings" in question don't really work for the badguy so much as are just controlled by him.
4. Nor do they ever actually interact with the badguy, except very indirectly. Or perhaps unusually directly, depending on your point of view.
They never meet Orstead, be he can use the statues to control them in his final chapter. So you can play AS the final bosses. Both indirect, as they never meet him, but very direct as you gain direct control of them.
5. Amusingly enough, the heroes don't interact with eachother until near the end of the game.
Getting obvious by this point.
6. Only 1 out of 6 PCs knows what a battery is.
Cube recruitment. Only Akira knows it's a battery, the item is just "iron box" or "???" or something else to every other char.
Go for it Snow.