What's your favorite RPG villian?

Hmmm. Short list, in no particular order.

The Dark Savant (Wizardry series). Mainly because of the twist to who he was.

The Master (Fallout). Mainly because his views, while skewed at times, were fairly "down to earth", and understandable from a certain point of view.

Shodan (System Shock series). Definetely. If a Shadowrun CRPG is ever made, i expect that the AI's in it will be on the same level, or better.

Kerghan (Arcanum). While not having that much of an impact, he certainly had quite valid reasons for his decisions. Joining him or killing him were equally valid, as were his views.

Transcendant One (Planescape: Torment). The tree-branched despot of mortality and immortality. Very good concept (then again, the game itself has a very good concept).

On that console thing... Sephiroth was "meh" at best. With his army of clones and a head under his arm, and that gothic angsty appearance didn't really cut it for me. Stabbing Aeris wasn't really that awe inspiring. People have been dying in FF games well before her, and for reasons as noble as hers.

And don't get me started on Kefka. That clown outfit, makeup and histerical giggle was unbearable The only "good" thing he had going for him were the rare moments where he actually showed cruelty and actual power, something most other FF villains try and fail. Then again, Ex-Death had achieved almost the same in FF5.

 

Eh. I didn't really find the Masters motivations to be all that reasonable. And transforming into a giant fleshy bag loses reasonableness points automatically. He was appropriate to the setting in a lot of ways, but not what I'd consider a good and reasonable villain.

Though admittedly, part of my problem is the concept of villain, which usually leads to cheesy over the top things. Its like someone deciding to go out and be evil. Most 'villains' have reasons and motivations that make sense to them, and they don't think of themselves that way. Its more a matter of conflicting interests than someone being evil or villanous.

 

Awesome. Already at two pages and a good read. Thanks for all the input people. I guess this was kind of important to me since I knew I had found a place where constructive criticism and well thought out choices would definitely come into play. Everyone of you have made valid points about the villians you chose. Guess I was just biased over Kefka since he was the first rpg villian I truly was able to get into. I didn't get into alot of the RPGs mentioned here until after I already had a SNES and had played a few RPGs on it.

Role-Player: Yes, the clown outfit, makeup, and hysterical giggle did get obnoxious. But that was all too show just how nutso Kefka really was. He was not sane by any stretch of the word and all that just went to show it. The guy had extreme power, a cruel cruel heart, and was totally off his rocker. I just wish they would have put a bit more into his character then they did.

 

Arronax and Kerghan, probably. I liked Iranicus's voice.
The Master.
I liked the Satanist towns in Darklands. Fun stuff.
The Wanderer was pretty creepy, but I wish his figure could have been more human. I need to play that again.
Maybe something from Prince of Persia if you can count that.
I disliked The Transcendant One. I dont know why, I just felt like the ending was a bit of a let down.
I loved Charnel.
Mafia. I liked Mafia alot.

 

Mafia was a very cool game

 

Yes, it was. I personally liked it better than GTA3 simply because I've always loved the time period and have been eagerly awaiting a decent game that took advantage of it. These so called 'G's nowadays just don't compare to the original gangsters from back then. And driving those old cars around was a hoot!

Hehe. I remember the Satanists towns. Sure was fun stuff.

Damn you.... now I want to play Darklands again.

 

"we shall be as the gods, knowing good from evil" right?

 

Wow. You really do know how to make a guy pull old games outta mothballs and reinstall them.

You know, I would have to say that there hasn't really been too many RPGs that could match up to the replayability and content of Darklands. They do exist, but they are few and far between. I've recommended the game to quite a few friends and they just shy away because of the outdated graphics. I finally convinced one of my more hardcore gamer friends to give it a try and he got hooked. He couldn't believe the amount of depth involved in character development and interaction.

To anyone reading this that has not played this wonderful wonderful game, I highly recommend you find yourself a copy and do so. Graphics may be outdated, but so what? And it has some beautiful art throughout it. Especially when you are within a city.

Truly a labor of love that was based off an actual PnP game popular over in Germany at the time. Nice stuff.

 

Darklands was the first computer game I ever bought, but it took me about 5 years to understand it. Great game.

Does anyone know the exact quote?

 

The Transcendent One takes the cake. Pure brilliance. I find unoriginal villians very dull, and there are myriads of them out there...especially on le console RPGs.

 

Mafia is still one of my favourite PC games. The ambience, the attention to detail, the characters... excellent. And dont get me started on the cars! Mafia's cars had weight, you felt like you were driving for real, not like with GTA's cars which felt extremely paper-thin after Mafia.

 

Definitely. Everything was done right in Mafia. Even the bosses were done to perfection. You know what the game reminds me of? Goodfellas. The Cast: Don Salieri (paul Sorvino), Tommy (Ray (cant spell his name)) Paulie (Joe Pesci) Sam (Robert DeNiro). What you guys think? Any similarities?

 

Ray Liotta. Technically it felt more like I was playing in the world of The Untouchables. And, yes Role-Player, the cars were definitely done much better. GTA3 is a fun game, but after awhile it lost it's appeal to me. Mafia however, I can see me playing three years from now and still enjoying it. Too bad the sales didn't do too good. I really hope they make a sequel.

 

Luca Blight from Suikoden 2 is a pretty memorable one for me. He does get a little 2-dimentional as time goes on, but early on he gives you great motivation to keep playing the game, just so you can kick his ass. I'm sure anyone who has played it remembers the 'squeal, pig' scene.

 

Hmmmmm. I'm inclined to name the Master as the most memorable of all.

Of Torment "villains," I think Trias takes the spot from the Transcendent One. There is just something great about a fallen angel who tricks a high-ranking devil into doing good deeds and then plots to use an army of fiends to scale Mount Celestia to cleanse it of the corruption he feels has overtaken his superiors...

 

OMG! Sephiroth had, liek, teh kewl3st hair d00d!

But I did think he was a good bad guy. FFVII was one of the first RPG's I played and I think the first villain always leaves an impression. I loved the way he gradually became more and more insane the more he learnt about his inheritance. Of course, he was a little OTT, but Final Fantasy games always are.

I also quite like Irenicus. He was a sterling example of a classic villain. He doesn't see himself as evil, operates entirely under his own morality, has a penchant for spouting pop-philisophically tinged rants which actually make sense on some level and so on.

Having said that, I've never met a computer villain that I've actually cared about beating.

 

Personally, I think Irenicus was a terrible villain, with a very good voice. No arch-nemesis with self respect should be beaten three times before calling it quits.

The Master was a very memorable villain, and I think the Unity was a very well picked adversary, considering some of the inspiration for the game.

Planescape: Torment had some of the most memorable characters in a computer game though, and my favorite is without a doubt Ravel, even though she's not a villain in the traditional computer game sense.

 

What about our own characters in both Fallout games, we've made'em do some nasty shit...

 

The Wizard of Yendor, in Nethack. I admire his persistence.

 

Why does everyone like his voice acting? I thought it was not very well done at all. I cringed whenever he spoke.
At least it wasn't as bad as that bloody "Coooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!" thief guy. What was he, a were-pigeon?

Yes, she was brilliant. And definitely a villain, though not the ultimate bad guy. Are we just talking about the big boss bad guys here, or do any villains count?

 

You guys know Clancy Brown, he played Rhombus, the Kergan, and was the crazy prison guard in Shawshank Redemption? I just found out that he's the voice of Mr. Krabs from Spongebob Squarepants. How awesome is that? I also think Michael Ironside should do more video game acting, even if he aint the bad guy. His voice is awesome.

 

The Guardian - I always loathed that guy with a passion. Not many game villians make you feel its personal I'd say?

The Master and theTrandescendant one both had motivations I could understand, which made them believable. Pretty important for immersion - the WTF-feeling isn't what a villain should strive for.

How come there's never been a party member that's proven to be the archvillain? Now that'd be a plot turner if I ever saw one.

 

Why do people like David Warner? Go check his resume on IMDb. His performance in BG2 was pretty good given the script they handed him. Of course, he was Gorkon, Jack the Ripper, Morpheus, and the MCP. Really, he's up there with Alan Rickman and Malcolm MacDowell in the pantheon of great British villains. Nothing quite as cool as Hans Gruber or the Metatron, but some consistently fine work.

 

He's done his share of good guys too though. Alot of people like him because he has that calm cool voice that works just as well for the evil scheming mage as it does for the good and wizened wizard. He's mostly a character and voice actor though. He's had some major roles, but alot more bit parts. I've always been fond of him. He even did an episode of Babylon 5 during it's first season, which is my fave television show ever.

 

Vice city had quite a lot of characters that would qualifie as villain, and the voice acting was exeptionnal, starring Ray Liotta.

Otherwise, what about queen Deidranna Reitman, from Jagged Alliance 2, as we progressed thru the game she would beat the crap outta her right hand man, whose face was progressively being covered with scraches, hematomes, black eyes and so on.

Also, Clovis in the Blade Runner game was nice, he displayed pretty well the lack of empathy, what the replicants are all about.