I need to know who you guys think the greatest RPG villains of all time are

[Pike]

I've been trying to decide for myself and I'm having a hard time choosing just a few. There are so many great villains out there. Who are some of your faves and why?

[Spuuky]

Gary

[Clo]

I like Jenova as a villain. A Thing-like alien from outerspace? Smurf yeah.

[Fynn]

Lavos did it first and Lavos did it better :p

I think Xenogears had some amazing villains, honestly. Ramsus, Grahf, Krelian, Miang - pick whomever and you won't be disappointed.

And then you can't help but love some of the FF villains - Golbez was cool due to that thing by the end which kinda turned everything on its head, Exdeath was deliciously hammy, and then people like Kefka and Kuja are just way too fun yet reprehensible at the same time.

Nyarlathotep from the Persona series is also pretty friggin' great, if you ask me, to the point that many fans are actually looking for traces of his presence in the new games. Other than that, though, SMT doesn't really have memorable villains. There are a lot of villains, but aside from YHWH, there isn't really one central villain in the games, and YHWH may be the most evil villain in RPG history, but he's not exactly the most developed character, more relying on his connection to the real world and expectations people have of him.

Pillars of Eternity had a pretty weak villain, IMO, but Baldur's Gate had Sarevok, who was cool. Although, technically, I didn't really care much for him either until the expansion to II when he made a heel-face turn.

And I love Fawful from Bowser's Inside Story. A freaky green dude that just keeps talking in hilariously broken English is all kinds of fun.

[Pumpkin]

I agree with Golbez. Gave me the feels.

Also Albedo

[Skyblade]

Lavos did it first and Lavos did it better :p

Yep.

Definitely Lavos.

[Del Murder]

I like Kefka because he's The Joker, and he actually succeeds (for a while).

[Mirage]

the reapers

[Vermachtnis]

Marche

[Fynn]

Marche

Don't :stare:

[Bright Shield]

Hmm... hard to narrow it down.




Lavos did it first and Lavos did it better :p

Yep.

Definitely Lavos.

Pretty much.

[Clo]

Not badmouthing Lavos because I love that villain too, but why do so many people like Lavos? It doesn't really do much. Just lurks in the ground and then BOOM. No drama, no dialogue, nothing.

[Fynn]

Because having dialogue and drama would complete ruin how completely alien he is. Where'd he come from? What his goal? Why does he suck all those planets dry? We don't know because we can't communicate with him because he's just so alien!

[Del Murder]

Yeah but that's boring.

[Vermachtnis]

That's what Queen Zeal's role is.

[Pumpkin]

I mean I think it was executed pretty well for what it was, but it's not my type of villain personally

[I Took the Red Pill]

Luca Blight is one of my favorites. None of this pseudo-philosophizing cheesy garbage, just pure unbridled bloodlust and evil.

[Fynn]

I've not played the game, but I have to admit that does sound tedious. I mean, it can work and can be executed well, but the description sounds a bit like a deus ex villain.

Then play it and say that again.

Like Verma mentioned, there's far more to the story and how the creature influence life on earth and how many characters try to utilize it. As Pumpkin mentions, it's all in the execution. So please play the game before you make an assumption. I only said why I personally like it. I said nothing concrete about Lavos so there really is nothing for you to base your opinion on.

[Formalhaut]

So please play the game before you make an assumption. I only said why I personally like it. I said nothing concrete about Lavos so there really is nothing for you to base your opinion on.

Fine. I rescind my hypothesis. I was only making a simple opinion based on a description. I never said at any point that my opinion superseded yours in any way.

:colbert:

[Del Murder]

Luca Blight is one of my favorites. None of this pseudo-philosophizing cheesy garbage, just pure unbridled bloodlust and evil.
Luca is up there with Kefka, he loses a peg for me because you defeat him about 2/3 into the game. However, the effort to beat him is epic.

My favorite villians are the Joker types, the charasmatic maniacs who simply want to see the world burn (Kefka, Luca), but I also like the Magneto-type anti-villains who may just have different perspectives than the hero and use more extreme methods to achieve their goals, but aren't inherently evil (Delita, Magus). The villains I don't care for are the ones who are just pure forces of evil without much personality or motivation (Zemus, Necron). Those bore me, but I will say of those Lavos did it best.

[Wolf Kanno]

Lavos' appeal is his Lovecraftian nature. He's a giant literal space flea who is going to end the world because it eats planets for breakfast, and his mere presence on the planet has changed the very fate of all life on the planet for better or for worse, and he's not even doing anything except what he naturally does. It's not really a surprise that Jenova took so much inspiration from him as well while combining it with a Lovecraftian aesthetic.

I'll come back to this one. I have one character I would love to talk about but he doesn't neatly fit into the "villain category" hell I can't even really say he's an "antagonist" either.

[Fynn]

Adding some more to Lavos, it's interesting that while he is a literal giant space flee from nowhere, he's not the trope. So, unlike Zemus, Cloud of Darkness or Necron, he does not show up at the very end without any sort of motivation. His overwhelming, Eldritch presence is built up throughout the entire game and we get to see the extent of the horror resulting from him just existing. He becomes even more of a cosmic horror in Chrono Cross.

Sometimes, antagonists just don't need to be people. Sometimes they're just cosmic, incomprehensible beasts that don't really want to kill you - you're just an insignificant obstacle on their natural path of life. The scariest part? There's way more of them than just one, so you may have saved your world, but tons of other worlds are pretty much doomed.

[Forsaken Lover]

The only good villain from Chrono Trigger was Magus.

He was also the best hero.

[Ayen]

Lavos and Kefka for me easily for all the reasons already mentioned in this thread.

[Forsaken Lover]

jDA0_gdTqWA

Magus even has an infinitely better villain theme than Lavos.

If only our foolishly foolish heroes hadn't stopped him, Magus would have summoned and killed Lavos and everything would have been saved.

Except Cyrus. Fuck Cyrus.

[Fynn]

Idk, World Revolution is pretty friggin' amazing.

Also, Magus would totally have been murdered by Lavos had the party not interrupted him, as evidenced by that later scene in Zeal

[blackmage_nuke]

Conceptually probably Lavos but character developmentwise probably Asriel Dreemurr, maybe Sans is a better villain, I don't know and I'll never know because I won't play genocide

[Fynn]

Conceptually probably Lavos but character developmentwise probably Asriel Dreemurr, maybe Sans is a better villain, I don't know and I'll never know because I won't play genocide

Pretty sure Sans on genocide isn't the villain, just your main antagonist. You're the villain there.