Were they in the wrong?

At first it was to abuse their powers since they were dying and just wanted to have fun. They mistakenly believed if SEES succeeded in their goals, it would eliminate the Dark Hour, so they opposed SEES. Once it became clear that SEES had only helped awaken Nyx, Strega built a cut around Nyx just to feel like they were involved in some way but they really aren't. They're just a nuisance in the end.

kek, p3fags really will defend anything

STREGA really does feel out of place. Like you could remove them from the plot and the only thing that you need to alter is Junpei's persona evolution and Shinji dying even though he's already dying anyway so you could just accelerate that.

The Strega team was so fucking shit and generic, only saving grace is the Nyx fight.

Nyx basically saved the end of the game, strega arc was boring as fuck and out of place (incluiding jumpei's retarded girlfriend)

It's a recurring thing in Persona games that the human, persona-using rival character is always a loser who doesn't amount to much in the end.

God damn, give that poor guy some food.

If there were a proper boss fight against all three of them at once that was actually challenging they'd be so much more memorable.

Are they the worst persona villains?

Which is fair, not everyone can be the protagonists but the plot really doesn't need Strega to move along. The full moon shadows push the first 2/3rds of the game and then the last third suddenly jumps to Ikutsuki/Nyx/The Fall of which Strega has no need to be involved.

Shit like this is why persona 3 characters are less rememorable than the p4 cast and the cabbage man

They are there for thematic reasons. Not everything is plot, and certainly not in Persona 3.

Thematically, Takaya's nihilist philosophy and desire to see the world die with him is meant to be the opposite of the protagonist, who uses the time he has before death to build social relationships.

Yeah I'm not sold on having to devote time to nobodies that no-one cares about to help express the themes of the importance of not falling into nihilism when all seems lost and the importance of overcoming those obstacles to live your best life.
Your thematic villains fail the moment no-one cares about them no matter how well they represent your antithesis.

FES exists

I see where you're coming from, but I think the story would feel a lot emptier not having any antagonists with actual dialogue until Ikutsuki.

i thought they were going to be more important. The chairman too. Nyx Avatar and Protag's sacrifice distract from the flaws in the plot.

They were all absolute fucking shit and them they're just gone, thank god for Nyx.

Ikutsuki is a far worse villain in my opinion. He could be removed from the story even more cleanly.

There's enough of the themes in the social links.

It would feel emptier but Strega basically adds nothing anyway. Can you realistically remember anything memorable they've said. You'd be trading in a slightly empty feeling in return for a tighter-written Full Moon event.