Favorite Villain? (other than Kuja)

[Forsaken Lover]

FFIX had the best antagonist cast out of any Final Fantasy i've played. Each one is given decent depth and motivation and I like that about them.

So which out of this cast of bad guys and girls did you like the most?

[Freya]

I LOVED the black waltz. I thought they were awesome baddies.

[Darth Cid]

I loved to hate Zorn & Thorn. They are the guys who directing extracted eidolons and they had a rude manner about it.

[Kyros]

Kuja was stupid so I dont need the title to tell me to not pick him.

I'd go with the black waltzes I guess though they werent around for very long =/

[LunarWeaver]

Garnet's depression that causes her to lose concentration in battle was my favorite villain. It was funny to see her try so hard and fail.

[Bolivar]

Garland, without a doubt!

It's the same Garland from FFI, all the FF's are connected, it's all one continuous story FTW!!!

Black Waltz's come close, they were amazing.

[Darth Cid]

Garland, without a doubt!

It's the same Garland from FFI, all the FF's are connected, it's all one continuous story FTW!!!

Black Waltz's come close, they were amazing.

I think FFI, FFIII, FFIX all happen on the same planet but that's it.

[NeoCracker]

Easily Black Waltz #3. His FMV's were among the most thrilling of game, and he possessed a powerful atmosphere whenever he made an appearance, even though it was very short lived. :(

[Christmas]

Yan? :(

[Depression Moon]

Yan? :(

Who?

[Christmas]

:(

[Kyros]

thought her name was Yani, whatever she had like 1-2 lines and got beat up only to leave the game =/

[NeoCracker]

I think she's talking about the super powerful monsters you can fight close to end game on that one Island, not Yani. :p

[Rantz]

Yani's name, for the record, is Lani.

[Black Magic Shopkeeper]

This may sound really weird, but...

I adore Necron.
You don't need to know why.

[Omni-Odin]

Garland, without a doubt!

It's the same Garland from FFI, all the FF's are connected, it's all one continuous story FTW!!!

Black Waltz's come close, they were amazing.

I think FFI, FFIII, FFIX all happen on the same planet but that's it.

I'd agree, but I also believe XII is a part of the same world in the future.

[Forsaken Lover]

FFXII's world is called Ivalice and the only games i shares a world with is FFTactics.

FFIX's world if you'll remember is Gaia.

And the only FFs that share a world/universe is FFVII and X (sma euniverse, different planet) and as I said, FFT and XII (same planet).

Garland in FFIX has nothing in common with FF1 Garland.

And Kuja was the best villain in the entire Final Fantasy series so yes, I had to tell everyone not to pick him.

[NeoCracker]

Yani's name, for the record, is Lani.

...I swear someone edited my post to say Yani.

:shifty:

[Kyros]

And Kuja was the best villain in the entire Final Fantasy series so yes, I had to tell everyone not to pick him.

O.o I'm confused, have you only played 1 FF?

[Forsaken Lover]

Nope. I've played 6 FFs and I know a decent bit about each of the other installments I haven't played. Benefit of being on several FF forums for years.

So yes I can safely say Kuja's excellent characterization, motivation and development place him above any other Final Fantasy antagonist.

[Darth Cid]

No, I can be considered an FFIX fanboy sometimes but no. Kuja is not the best villain in the series. Maybe Kefka is for leaving the entire world in ruin? Or perhaps the Manteus (or whatever the emperor of Palamecia's name is), he had great originality with the big airship bombing everything and luring the party into a fight with a behemoth, and what about the Cyclone?

[Forsaken Lover]

Kefka was not original in the slightest. He's a crazy evil bastard who wants to be a god... You don't get much more paper thin than that.

The Emperor bombed everything and lured the characters into a fight? Oh dear. Kuja manipulated it so a city was nuked and another one was partly swallowed and used the heroes to hand him the power to rule over existence.

[Kyros]

Yu Yevon caused more damage than Kuja so by that logic why isnt he your favorite?

Anyway, I also liked...I really cant think of a lot of villains a cared for in this one after the black waltzes which were really short lived =/

[Forsaken Lover]

My liking for Kuja has nothing to do with how much he destroyed.

[charliepanayi]

My liking for Kuja has nothing to do with how much he destroyed.

You can't blame people for making that assumption when your previous post mentioned how much destruction Kuja caused.

Anyway, I care little for destruction and who has the best motives - I like Kuja and Kefka best because they get the best lines out of any of the villains.

And to answer the thread question - the somewhat menacing Black Waltz 3

[Forsaken Lover]

You can't blame people for making that assumption when your previous post mentioned how much destruction Kuja caused.

I was responding to Death Cid's comment in praising what other villains did. I pointed out things Kuja did that were like what he listed, only better. It doesn't reflect why I like Kuja in the least.

[The Man]

Kefka was not original in the slightest. He's a crazy evil bastard who wants to be a god... You don't get much more paper thin than that.First of all, no one claimed Kefka was "original." Secondly, that's exactly why he's such a great villain; he provides the perfect foil for the characters who question everything. Kefka has absolutely no motivation except to cause others suffering. This just highlights the contrast with the other characters, who work through great emotional traumas and undergo immense personal growth in their attempts to save the world.

Not to take anything away from Kuja, who's also a great villain. But to claim Kefka is an ineffective antagonist because he's not fleshed out with motivations is just stupid.

As for antagonists, my personal favourite was Beatrix when she was against the party. Of course that didn't last for very long. After that I'd probably have to go with either Garland or the Black Waltzes, though Zorn and Thorn were great comic relief.

[eestlinc]

Kuja is great. He has style, plus he's sympathetic, which is more than you can say for Kefka. Let's not start insulting people over their preference in video game villains.

I kinda like Brahne for some reason.

[The Man]

It's fine to prefer Kuja to Kefka - I actually agree with everything you said. I just think it's stupid to write Kefka off as an ineffective antagonist because he's "unoriginal" or doesn't have much character depth - the same standards would make Iago an uneffective antagonist. Maybe "stupid" was a bit of a harsh word to use. Eh.

[Rantz]

Brahne was great as an antagonist.

[Depression Moon]

For true villains in this game I would go for Zorn and Thorn. Iwas going to put Brahne but I don't feel like she was an actual villain in the game with what Kuja said and Branhe's last words.

[Darth Cid]

Yeah, Brahne wasn't really a villain, it felt like it when she was trying to kill Dagger but she finds herself again when she's dying.

[arcanedude34]

Kuja's my favorite in the series, but besides him, I quite liked the Black Waltzes and Zorn and Thorn.

[Rantz]

Brahne was a villain for most of the two first discs. Maybe not looking at the bigger picture, but that's kind of irrelevant, don't you think?

[arcanedude34]

Yeah, Brahne wasn't really a villain, it felt like it when she was trying to kill Dagger but she finds herself again when she's dying.

Would you consider Golbez a villain? I would, stupid plot device or not. Erego Brahne is a villain.

[Wolf Kanno]

Garland and the Black Waltz's are the best villains besides Kuja. ;)

Don't really consider Lani a villain, Brahne is a pawn, and Zorn and Thorn or more annoying than menacing...

[Forsaken Lover]

I'm glad some other people appreciated Garland. I loved how his introduction was handled and then his characterization when you get to Terra. Very well done.

[Darth Cid]

Garland was cool, too bad you can break his boss fight.

[Rad Bromance]

I liked that girl in red with the big axe type weapon. :)

[Skyblade]

Garland, without a doubt!

It's the same Garland from FFI, all the FF's are connected, it's all one continuous story FTW!!!

Black Waltz's come close, they were amazing.

I think FFI, FFIII, FFIX all happen on the same planet but that's it.

I'd agree, but I also believe XII is a part of the same world in the future.

From what I remember of FFIX's Garland, you could indeed argue that all the FFs are one continuous story. He drives his world to consume all others, but he acts through deception and manipulation of other entities (in this case, Kuja, Zidane, and their "sister").

What if, in the past, he tried to consume other worlds, prompting entities on them along their path to madness and world wide destruction? That only the failures of his past agents, Emperor Mateus, Kefka, Sephiorth, and the others, drove his world so close to its end that he attempts to take action himself and with his own creations in FFIX. A lot of the FF villains share some rather curious similarities. Kefka and Sephrioth, for example, start out as strong but otherwise normal entities that absolutely snap and go power-mad. What if there was an unseen director from the shadows whispering to them, goading them along their path to madness? Then there is the Cloud of Darkness and Exdeath, the more primal villains obsessed with returning their worlds to the void (and, lest we forget, Exdeath's tie to the tree of the sealed evil...).

[Vermachtnis]

Lani, she was hot.

[The Man]

Lani was pretty awesome. She needed a lot more screen time; I felt like her character didn't get anywhere near the development it should have. Actually my only big complaint with FFIX is how many promising characters didn't get as much development as they should have - Amarant and Freya are other good examples.

[charliepanayi]

If they had devoted enough time to developing each playable character (as well as some NPCs like Lani) to satisfy everyone the game would have been about three times as long! I think FFIX is one of the best in the series for giving its characters screen time and at least some sort of a character arc, no matter how small.

[Vermachtnis]

Ruby is another one I think needed more screen time. Love that accent. Poor girl.

[Darth Cid]

Every time she spoke since I saw some Spongebob, the only voice in my mind was Sandy Squirrel's.

[The Man]

If they had devoted enough time to developing each playable character (as well as some NPCs like Lani) to satisfy everyone the game would have been about three times as long! I think FFIX is one of the best in the series for giving its characters screen time and at least some sort of a character arc, no matter how small.

Don't know about anyone else, but I personally wouldn't have minded three times as much FFIX. I was pretty disappointed that the game was over when I got to the ending.

[Moon Rabbits]

http://static.gamesradar.com/images/mb/GamesRadar/us/Features/2008/07/Anti%20Babes/queen-brahne_naked--article_image.jpg

ftw.

[The Man]

DO NOT WANT

[Quindiana Jones]

I think the Terrans were the best villains. And I do consider them villains. An almighty race that simply devours other worlds to keep themselves alive? That's pure freaking evil. Plus, they're the background evil. The masters tweaking the strings. They're Blofeld before he was given a face. Just a menacing voice that promises bad stuff. They wrote their history to seem as though they were just innocent people who made a mistake and just want to live OH WHY WON'T YOU HELP US LIVE ZIDANE?! but to that I say BAH!

They are the best villains.

[qwertysaur]

Moon Rabbits, why does that picture exist :whimper:

I have to say Garland as well :p

[eestlinc]

that picture is so foul I put it in spoiler tags.

I agree that ff9 was so full of cool ideas and characters that it needed to be much longer, except it couldn't be much longer. Lani and Beatrix would have made a good spinoff twosome.

[Moon Rabbits]

that picture is so foul I put it in spoiler tags.



I'm going to fight the power.

Please don't. -Rantz

[Darth Cid]

I think the Terrans were the best villains. And I do consider them villains. An almighty race that simply devours other worlds to keep themselves alive? That's pure freaking evil. Plus, they're the background evil. The masters tweaking the strings. They're Blofeld before he was given a face. Just a menacing voice that promises bad stuff. They wrote their history to seem as though they were just innocent people who made a mistake and just want to live OH WHY WON'T YOU HELP US LIVE ZIDANE?! but to that I say BAH!

They are the best villains.

Never thought of it like that. And we never got closure as to whether or not Mikoto would eventually take her place as Angel of Death.

[Quindiana Jones]

She does. After Zidane and Garnet get back together, she ploughs the Invincible into their face and shoots lasers out of every orifice, decimating the Gaian population.

It's hidden well, but it's totally in the last cutscene.

[Darth Cid]

Do you have a clip?

[Quindiana Jones]

Not on me, but I have some concept art for the cutscene if you want?

[Darth Cid]

As long as it's random sketching.

[PeneloRatsbane]

what about the good General? arguably she's an enemy near the start of the game

[Darth Cid]

Most. Random. Personality. Ever. She's so unstoppable until she joins your party.

[the_sandman]

Kuja was the best villain! He destroyed a WHOLE planet....and a half if you count the havoc and destruction in Gaia. I mean, Kuja destroyed Cleyra, Burmecia, and Lindblum using someone else. The only kingdom he destroyed on his own and easily (despite the legendary Alexander) was Alexandria. Kuja is powerful AND cunning. He's not like a Sephiroth, who just walks around and start going on his random killing spree and failing to destroy a single planet.

As for my favorite villain in IX other than Kuja would be Zorn and Thorn.

[Darth Cid]

The only kingdom he destroyed on his own and easily (despite the legendary Alexander) was Alexandria.

Actually, that was Garland. Kuja wanted to take control of Alexander with the Invincible but he didn't know Garland was in the Invincible, it was Garland that used the Invincible to level Alexandria, Kuja's current intention was just getting control of Alexander and I'm sure he would have used Alexander to destroy Alexandria shortly after, but Garland interceded and took the glory from the field.