70 replies to this topic

[Mon Dez]

Through the years of Final Fantasy I have seen a small array of villains which consisted of overly serious villains that had one goal...destroy the world
except Kefka who was just insane. Of course in other RPG games like Persona where the villains either destroy the world or control it under one rule aka Hitler (Persona 2) then you have villains who are just plain idiots and have nothing better to do than mess things up (Team Rocket).

I want to know your villain archetype in your RPG and to what makes him/her unique to the RPG Maker world. You can have more than one, but
I want to see what kinds of villains that people have come up with in their RPG games.

Name: Raj
Age: 21
Title: General of Madness
Class: Mad Mage
Weapon: Death's Scythe
Bio: One of the three generals of the Gerod Empire that harbors the title after the sanity of the insane.
Opted to experiment to create beings that surpass humans on every level, he has manage to create
an army of abominations that know only one objective: To eliminate and reproduce. Wielding one of the
scythes stolen from death, his main attacks consists of variety of poisons and attribute reducing spells
that would hinder enemies greatly.

Name: Loganus
Age: 32
Title: General of Rage
Class: Beserker
Weapons: Sword of the Hero, Death's Scythe
Bio: One of the three generals of the Gerod Empire that harbors the title after constant induced rage
and anger. Stories of his unequaled might would induce a fear so great in any man that he would flee
before he got a taste of battle. As soon as he appears on the battle field, the skies turn read and the
earth would tremble at his every step. Loganus has no reasoning nor emotion which makes him deadly
in combat. Loganus wields a sword stolen from an ancient hero and one of the scythes stolen from death.
His main attacks consist of physical attacks, but each turn his rage increases his attack and speed making
him a deadly enemy.

[Indinera]

I've made several games so obviously a lot of different villains but some games didn't have any (Dreamscape) and others had/have a "villain" who appears as such mostly through the eyes of the heroine rather than being evil per se (Lord Dragon in Millennium).

Edited by Indinera, 08 June 2012 - 06:34 PM.

[DEADS0NG]

I generally have trouble making "interesting" villains, or villains that stand out. The primary villain in my current project has literally no motivation other than complete control over the world, through supreme power. Mind you, he is being corrupted through an evil artifact, but I still wouldn't consider that overly unique.

I'd almost say making a unique villain is more difficult than making a unique hero, which in itself is still hard.

Edited by DEADS0NG, 09 June 2012 - 02:13 AM.

[Essenceivis]

The way I develop my villians is by my story. So for example. My story is written out, I then find out where my villian can come in, and try and "abstruct" a certain part of it.

Think of it like trying to find a flaw in your story, and then having the villian try to exploit that.

[Aureon]

I think the most interesting villains aren't the kind that gather around a table, glasses raised, and toasting "to evil!" but instead are complex individuals who think they are doing the right thing, even though doing so impacts other people negatively and the villain either is ignorant of this fact, or just doesn't care. In my writing, I generally avoid the traditional Final Fantasy type villains because they do tend to be one dimensional. The only main villain I can think of in a Final Fantasy game that did have an interesting motivation (although it was not explored very well) was Final Fantasy IV's Zemus who was [SPOILER ALERT] getting his bad guy on in order to cleanse the world of humanity to give the Lunarian people a place to resettle after their planet had been destroyed [/SPOILER ALERT]. One of my main villains in the story I am developing for a game actually is modeled pretty much after this archetype, but much less powerful (he's a human military commander instead of a interstellar space demon) and the backstory is more fleshed out as a guy trying to do the right thing for his people, but royally screwing over a separate group of people and just not giving a crap. Same thing for my other primary villain, who is a wizard who tried to "help" his people by basically being a complete dicktator over them (for their own good, of course) and when they tossed him out on his ass, he vowed revenge and used forbidden magic to dish it out. Again, a guy doing what he thinks is right, suffers a perceived betrayal, and demands his brand of "justice," ignorantly unaware that he was in the wrong in the first place.

On one hand, it is easy to understand their motivations and they are more human than a magitek infused clown or an evil nihilistic tree bent on the destruction of existence. It makes them somewhat sympathetic until the aforementioned general is using spaceships to bomb peasant villages for no reason other than to make room for colonists or a sorcerer who commands hordes of undead to rip innocent folk to pieces because they refused to be grateful for his "leadership." Then you know that humanizing backstory or not, these mfs have got to go.

Edited by Aureon, 09 June 2012 - 05:19 AM.

[Chaos17]

My problem with my villains is there always a reason for them to go berserk. You can't hate them because their choice is something you will have probably made.
I wish to be able one day to make a villain who has a lot of Charisma, like Gilgamesh in Fate stay Zero.
He is so awesome but so evil at the same time, I can't stop to admire him, since he is King of heores no wonder I like him to be a villain.

[Paladin-Cleric of Awesome]

I have a thing for villians. So it is hard for me to write them as more than one dimensional simply because if I start giving them a backstory they end up becoming the one I'm rooting for because yes their evil, but they can be redeemed.

i'm big on the whole redeeming yhing to the point where I literally cannot stop myself from writing it.

[RavenTDA]

The thing about an evil villain there's always just something fun to loving to hate someone. That's why there's base villains that are just plain evil or bad. If your story is light I always find that's a fun villain to pick but even in more complicated stories there is a place for them such as Darkspawn in Dragon Age.

Normally I like the misunderstood villain but there are cases where you can over develop the villain to the point where they begin to overshadow the main protagonist. Then you're in a bit of trouble. An example I can think of off the top of my head is the anime Speed Grapher. They were good with developing all their characters but when they got around to exploring the story behind the villains... they were so DEEP it made you confused as to who you wanted to "win". It's not really such a good mistake to make... not the worst but it can put you in a bit of a spot if you don't want your players to sympathize with the villain OVER the hero.

In video games my favorite villains are usually a mix of the two I stated above. Misunderstood evil or So evil you gotta beat the crap out of them. In general, my favorite villain type is the seductive baddy. Where you're not sure if the hero and villain want to tumble in the hay or kill each other (prime example: Aeon Flux). I also like baddies turned good but then they aren't really the villain or at least the main villain

What I usually write about is very dependent on what story I'm making at the time. I think I've written about almost every type... just never really finished anything. They all have their purposes and I don't think one is the better over the other... just mostly find what fits best in the atmosphere and story.

[Xeon]

I have a real hard on for anti-heros, subjectivity, and morally gray themes. A person who chose to make a couple decisions one way or another could travel the path of either the anti-hero or the villain. Even then, it might not be clear to everyone if they are really a villain or not (some might see him as a terrorist, others might see him as a revolutionary). I like the idea of making "villains" have human motivations.

Even more so, I like the idea of abandoning the restrictive storytelling label of "villain" altogether. Don't force a character to be a certain way because they're suppose to be artificially evil.

[Thalzon]

I've been wanting to make a game, and I do have a plot and villain worked out. The main villain is an artificial intelligence created through centuries of gathering and processing historical data from artificial humans. It was created as a databank in the first place because humans contacted a space-faring machine that is part of a massive technological singularity. Part of humanity's stipulation for joining the singularity was to learn as much as possible of their home planet, so that they'd be useful to the whole when they joined. Thus began a centuries-long effort of learning.

However, the artificial intelligence (named Sol) grew ever more impatient and selfish as time went on, and resorts to destructive means to avoid any new knowledge from coming into existence as it learns. It comes to loathe the planet is views as a prison and longs to join the singularity. Ultimately, the singularity denounces Sol's efforts as selfish and short-sighted, and denies it from joining up with them. Naturally Sol gets pissed and resolves to blow up the world once it figures out its own way to travel through space.

Sol covers a few tropes...

[Aureon]

Has anyone actually had their main character become a villain without even realising it? I've been thinking about how easy it would be to mislead a hero into questing bravely against the people s/he probably should be helping without even knowing it.

[Probotector 200X]

Well, in my stories, the main antagonist usually isn't really a VILLAIN. I just don't really like creating characters that are genuinely EVIL. At least, not important ones...I don't know, I just don't like making evil people powerful, because to me, evil and power don't really go together. Evil and delusions of power, sure, but not true power!

So...usually, since the main antagonist doesn't want to destroy the world, or stuff like that, you don't really try to KILL them. And since they aren't really evil, they tend to sort of reform and possibly become friends with you. I just love that type of story. And it leaves fun room for potential sequels, like the former main antagonist being your ally in the sequel!

Well, that's the idea anyway. Never finished a game so I've never done anything like this. I don't always go for that of course. I do occasionally dip into the "ancient demon that's unleashed and wants to destroy the world" thing sometimes, or the "power-hungry maniac that unleashes the ancient evil power to conquer the world" thing too. Oh, and sometimes, the main antagonist would be an evil bastard if they SUCCEEDED, but since you stop them before they do any damage, they actually never really hurt anyone!

Ooh! And the antagonist can just be someone or something that's in your way! Like, maybe the "final boss" is the Champion of a Tournament, and the protagonist's goal from the beginning has been to win the tournament! Maybe the Champion is super duper nice...but they are still the main antagonist, the final obstacle in your goal! (Errrr...that sounds like Pokémon! lol)

[Chaos17]

Has anyone actually had their main character become a villain without even realising it? I've been thinking about how easy it would be to mislead a hero into questing bravely against the people s/he probably should be helping without even knowing it.

Yeah, everytime my story is begining to be long, my hero is becoming darker and darker to the point that he become evil XD
Well, I can't blame him though.

[Espon]

Last game I made doesn't really have a villain. There's still sort of an antagonist and events leading up to a final boss, but the story isn't about some heroes setting out to save the world from some madman.

Current game I'm working on does have a villain and group of baddies. She's sort of twisted from a lot of emotional and psychological issues she suffers from, and the dark shadow that's consuming her and warping her perspective of things isn't helping either. Her minions are aware of this and are trying to help, they're just going about it the wrong way...hence where you and the heroes step in.

[Ravenith]

All my projects are set in the same setting, and while the main antagonists vary, the greater evil is always the same; the Former Aldra Emperor Zeric, an Aether-Lich with god complex issues.
His occasional pawns (the games' main antagonists) include (ordered as in the setting's timeline):

Logram, a charismatic cultist, leader of the Aurora Atra, which means "Black Dawn".
Kael, a Spellsword prodigy which happens to be the first game's protagonist.
Vladislaus Vargas, a scheming nationalist genius of science.

[Kaelan]

Through the years of Final Fantasy I have seen a small array of villains which consisted of overly serious villains that had one goal...destroy the world
except Kefka who was just insane. Of course in other RPG games like Persona where the villains either destroy the world or control it under one rule aka Hitler (Persona 2) then you have villains who are just plain idiots and have nothing better to do than mess things up (Team Rocket).

I'm not sure which Final Fantasies you've been playing, that hasn't been the goal of a major villian since like...maybe FF4 or 5. I think people have a misconception that older RPGs had plain and simple storylines and characters because last time they played it they were 13 or 14 and just weren't paying that much attention.

I know at least for myself, I've noticed a huge deal more details in the plots of several older games which I never payed attention to that closely when I was younger. It's a shame when people don't realize this, as some PS1-to-early-PS2 era games had actually had pretty good stories (FF7, Breath of Fire 5, Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, Xenogears, etc.).

[Ravenith]

I'm not sure which Final Fantasies you've been playing, that hasn't been the goal of a major villian since like...maybe FF4 or 5. I think people have a misconception that older RPGs had plain and simple storylines and characters because last time they played it they were 13 or 14 and just weren't paying that much attention.

I know at least for myself, I've noticed a huge deal more details in the plots of several older games which I never payed attention to that closely when I was younger. It's a shame when people don't realize this, as some PS1-to-early-PS2 era games had actually had pretty good stories (FF7, Breath of Fire 5, Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain, Xenogears, etc.).

Couldn't have put it better.

And I have to mention the most stunning villain of them all, for me at least. Jon Irenicus from Baldur's Gate 2. Utterly evil, brutally efficient, yet with a background to match that of Bram Stoker's Dracula...

[Mon Dez]

I played all of the Final Fantasy Series with the exception of III and IX, many of the villains usually have one ordeal and they have the need to destroy the world except probably Kuja, Garland, Seymour, Kefka, and I don't really know what to make sense on Ultimecia's part except the control over time. Garland from FFI wanted to destroy the world, Exdeath wanted to send everything to the void, Sephiroth has mental issues, Necros was just random and of course there's Caius who wants to save Yule, but still has that same concept of sending everything into oblivion.

Don't get me wrong, but the villains do sorta have a reason to accomplish their goals, its just all of them were completely off their rocker. XD

[Andynator]

I like it to have villains, which are on the right side.

A Villain can be evil more because of his actions, than of his motives. Like the idealistic, but cold-hearted freedom fighter. A Hero for his henchmen, a man who fights for the poor people. But also is forced to became cruelly and brutal in order to have a chance against the overwhelming power of the "good" guys.

I think, it is important, that the player could understand the motives of the bad guy. Maybe he should agree more with the Villain, than he does with the heros. The story can put the player in the position of the "good guys", but also show up, that sympathie has nothing to do with moral. Let the player "be the Hero", but act on the "wrong side" may be an interesting contruction of an epic Hero-Quest.

[Kaelan]

I played all of the Final Fantasy Series with the exception of III and IX, many of the villains usually have one ordeal and they have the need to destroy the world

Uh, yeah..that's just not the case.

Spoiler

- Sephiroth wanted to get rid of the humans, as they were living at the expense the planet rather than with it. He didn't want to destroy the world, he wanted the world to belong to the ancients again. He didn't have any mental issues. The point of the meteor was to get rid of the humans and heal the world from all they had done to it (because the lifestream would come up to the surface) in one move.

- Ultimecia wanted to become a god and exist everywhere in time. This is probably the closest to what you mentioned. She still didn't really care about destroying anything, she was just obsessed with power.

- Kuja was just jealous of Garland's power. Everything he did was to try to overthrow Garland. That's the only thing he cared about during the entire story.

- Sin was just a mindless animal. It didn't have any particular will or goal. It was basically just Yu Yevon's frankenstein monster gone out of control (because he couldn't handle it when he created it). Its original purpose was to protect Zanarkand.

- XI had several villains, so I won't go into those. Hopefully I won't have to point out that Alexander's main purpose didn't have anything to do
with destroying any worlds (to name one example)

- XII was a grab for political power. Vayne wanted to be a new Dynast King, to bring history back into the hands of men rather than letting the Occuria manipulate everything from behind the scenes. Ashe didn't think there should be another Dynast King.

- And idk what happened in 13, I never cared enough to finish it.

Like I said, you probably weren't paying that close attention to the various storylines if it's been a while since you've played them. No villians since the very early (4~5?) Final Fantasies were "Hi guys, I'm evil, wanna blow up the world?". They all had reasons behind what they did.

Edited by Kaelan, 12 June 2012 - 05:08 PM.