Your favorite RPG villain?

[Krantos]

Saren from Mass effect. For me the quality of an villain isn't how evil or hateful they are.

It's how sympathetic they are.

I could understand Saren's motives. In fact, some part of me even wondered if he had the right idea. What if defying the reapers really was the wrong thing?

THAT's what makes a great villain. When they can make you question your own motives and decisions. That makes them believable. I never really enjoy your typical 'Villain.' Usually, they're just some generically power-hungry or psychotic killer. The ones that have motivations that normal people could sympathize with are much more interesting because they add more depth to the story.

 

[arbitterm]

I won't spoil it, but my favorite is the main villain in Jade Empire. To get to what you think is the end only to realize the true bad guy was pulling the strings the whole time and your journey is only half over, it was amazing the first time I played it and it still is.

 

[CellShaded]

Reaver. ._. From Fable 2/3. Something about him is just amazing to me. Maybe it's the fact he was voiced by Stephen Fry.

 

[Wilco86]

Western RPG: The Master from Fallout.
JRPG: "The Culprit" from Persona 4.

 

[rohansoldier]

I vote Saren. As someone else said, he made Mass Effect the game it was.

He was almost a tragic villain, doing the evil things he did for the good of all races.

As much as I loved ME2, Harbinger just wasn't as strong as villain.

Here is hoping ME3 has as strong a bad guy to round out the trilogy in style.

 

[ElectroJosh]

Agreed, Irenicus is a proper villain. He's intelligent, effective, somewhat sympathetic and always one step ahead of you. He was always calm, cool and collected, always in control. You were literally no more than an annoyance to him, a small step in his greater plan. Not to mention he had some great lines and voice actor did some good work. Throughout the game he always felt like a real threat.

He was less calm at the tree but in his defense, you did survive being de-souled, fighting two or three dragons, and hordes of mooks he threw at you. Also there was that thing in the Underdark.... and you did just interrupt his nigh Ascension to godhood so yeah the " ELVEN JESUS CHRIST! WHAT IN THE NINE HELLS OF BAATOR AND THE SIX HUNDRED AND SIXTY SIX LAYERS OF THE ABYSS DOES IT TAKE TO KILL YOUR HALF BRED GODLING ASS!?" thing was kind of warranted. It also took him the whole game to finally lose his cool for a moment.[/quote]

Interesting observation.

Anyway I am going to piss some people off with this (which is why I will enjoy writing it):

I last played BG2 two years ago and FF6 earlier this year. Growing up in the 90s I felt that Kefka was a fantastic villain - one of my favourites. If this question was posed last year I would have considered putting him as number one. But playing it again recently I found him a bit cheesey and cartoony. Irenicus, on the other hand, stayed as potent an enemy as when I first remembered.

 

[Neocavo]

Arthas and Illidan

 

[mrhappy1489]

Spoiler: Jade Empire spoilers inside

Sun Li from "Jade Empire". There is a REASON why this guy is called the Glorious Strategist, and does he ever earn it.

This, this, and totally this!! Seriously, this ************ planned for nearly everything! I think Saren from the original Mass Effect comes in a close second though.

Argh thank god there are people in this world who enjoyed this epic game. Undeniably one of the most underrated(From the point of view that I don't ever remember hearing about it from anyone) games ever and a true bioware gem. Also, he is one of the best villains ever and because I cannot think of any better at present my next pick is Darth Malak, a top contender if you ask me, followed closely by the archdemon, literally an entity of pure evil.

 

[Blunderboy]

Irenicus from Baldur's Gate 2. Not only did he turn out to be a fairly sympathetic character once you begin to realize his motivations later in the game, but he genuinely gets shit done. Seriously, this isn't some pushover villain that stands in the background and monologues only to turn into a complete wimp once it's time to throw down, no, he's not only fully capable of kicking ass but does so multiple times throughout the game making him feel like a genuine threat.

Spoiler: He's the creepy torturer guy near the end...

This. A thousand times.
To be a good villain, you have to be at least able to understand their point of view. People that are just stupidly evil for the sake of it are not interesting to me.
I'll also add my vote to Sun Li.

 

[Zero47]

Kuja from FFIX, for nostalgic reasons mostly.

Because I was so young at the time I completely bought his character as being
legit (although toony) and at the time he looked cool, not queer.

 

[Veylon]

I'd have to go with Lavos from Chrono Trigger. This spiny monster really embodies alien nature: it's implacable, inscrutable, faceless, and uncommunicative. Yet, it's motivations and actions are entirely understandable once known. It destroys the world, but not out of some desire for conquest, revenge, or a philosophical viewpoint, but merely as a side effect of it's own life cycle.

 

[Vegetunks9000]

Sephiroth!!!!!!! all the friggin' way!!!!

 

[Spawny0908]

Spoiler: Jade Empire spoilers inside

Sun Li from "Jade Empire". There is a REASON why this guy is called the Glorious Strategist, and does he ever earn it.

I second this vote! When you look up diabolical in the dictionary his picture is next to the definition!!

 

[Mad1Cow]

Garland...that guy is a boss, both literally and metaphorically.

SO much better than Ganondorf at the very least...

 

[Catfood220]

Lord Yggdrasil from Tales of Symphonia is one of my favourite RPG bosses ever. The reason being is that he is not just the usual "mwahahahah I'm evil" bosses, but in fact an incredibly tragic character that you end up feeling sorry for rather than hating, the fact that you don't meet him until about halfway throught the game and don't learn anything about him until further on is a pretty impressive feat of writing, for a videogame anyway.

He is a legend, a hero that however many years ago brought peace to the land, however he has been driven pretty mad by the poor treatment of his race (half elves) and the death of his sister and the one thing that he wants is to bring his sister back from the dead. He is willing to do anything and as we find out in the early stages of the game, his methods are pretty extreme, you have every right to hate this guy for what he has done to Colette and to pretty much everyone else. However, towards the end of the game, when he has finally has what he wants, his sister reincarnated inside of Colette, she rejects him, disgusted by the horror and the suffering that he has inflicted on the people. In the end, he is a broken pathetic being, one that you feel sympathy for rather than any hatred or fear for. Beating him at the end is an act of compassion, you are putting him out of his misery rather than simply beating him to save the world.

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

Irenicus from Baldur's Gate 2. Not only did he turn out to be a fairly sympathetic character once you begin to realize his motivations later in the game, but he genuinely gets shit done. Seriously, this isn't some pushover villain that stands in the background and monologues only to turn into a complete wimp once it's time to throw down, no, he's not only fully capable of kicking ass but does so multiple times throughout the game making him feel like a genuine threat.

Spoiler: He's the creepy torturer guy near the end...

Great shout. Ya gotta love arch-villains whose motivations are, when viewed in a certain light, perfectly understandable. For that reason, I gotta pick Dagoth Ur:

Spoiler: Do I really have to spoiler a game that is nearly ten years old? Yeah I do, because if you haven't played Morrowind you need to...

The whole Tribunal vs Ashlander account adds an interesting twist into the main quest; do you accept the Tribunal account that Dagoth Ur went mad with power and tried to steal the Heart, or do you accept the Ashlander accounts that Ur was loyal to the Nerevarine and was betrayed by a power-hungry Tribunal?

We need more moral ambiguity. There's nowhere near enough of it in games these days.

 

[rohansoldier]

I'm gonna have to go with Saren from Mass Effect. He made Mass Effect as strong a game as it was with his antagonistic presence. The sequel's story was a lot weaker without an antagonist like Saren.

I liked Saren as a villian but I didn't like how under utilized he was in the game. After he discovers Sheppard ativated the beacon, he goes into a dangerous rage and vows to her/him. Then he sends several hired goons to kill you on the way to the bar and then nothing else from him at all until you get to Virmire then fight him one last time on Citadel.

I see your point on this but I guess they didn't want to over use him whilst also allowing the player to see the extent of his schemes and the influence of the reavers.

It also allows the other characters like benezia to have some screen time.

 

[Vern]

I'm going to have to go with Kefka as well. He's just... batshit. Completely batshit. The fact that Final Fantasy 3(Goddamnit 6) is the best Final Fantasy helps.

 

[RuralGamer]

I'm going to go with Darth Malak from the first KotOR.

Bitchin' theme song too.

Possibly this guys as well; he was actually hard in a good way as well, as opposed to inconsistently difficult (Nihlus in KOTOR 2; some times he'd destroy me and others he'd go down in less than a minute), hilariously easy (Sion in KOTOR 2; Force Crush chain lock every time I was evil and he'd never get a hit in) and ridiculously hard (Traya and her floating lightsaber fan club from KOTOR 2).

He's an asshole as well, so that always makes a good villain as well; "oh well, this search for this specific Jedi is taking too long; destroy the entire planet she's on!"
One of the few final boss fights I really wanted to go back and play. I liked how he was a balance between Force and lightsaber combat, which actually made him more difficult to overpower.

 

[Haagrum]

Jon Irenicus from Baldur's Gate 2. In most RPGs I am motivated by the watching the plot unfold and/or powering up my character. In Baldur's Gate 2 my primary motivation was to make sure Irenicus died. That makes him a great villain in my mind. Besides the main villain in one of the greatest RPGs of all time should get some respect.

+1 for this. Seriously, I never wanted to beat down any RPG villain as much as Irenicus. What made it worse was that he was seemingly always two steps ahead, no matter what you did - he would get what he wanted, no matter what he had to do to achieve it, and that was that. Even on the one occasion where you pulled something he didn't see coming (arguably there are two), he pulled himself together in a heartbeat and got on with the job.

Spoiler

Even dying doesn't stop him, and neither does being trapped in limbo with your soul being his only chance of escape and survival. He did unspeakable things just to rip out your soul and he's hanging onto it come hell or high water.

Also, the Turian Councillor from Mass Effect. That bastard...