Favorite Xeno Villains?

[Forsaken Lover]

Much can be said about Xenogears and Xenosaga, and not all of it very flattering. Nevertheless, one thing most people seem to like is the ensemble cast of bad guys. They come in all shapes and flavors, some sympathetic and some not. Some badass fighters while others are clever manipulators.
The question is - who is your favorite of any Xeno game?
Grahf?
Id?
Krelian?
Margulis?
Albedo?
Yuriev?

For me it's a tough call between Grahf and Dmitri.
The thing is, these two are actually quite similar. The theme of Xenogears was Grief and the theme of Xenosaga was Fear. You could argue each villain (and the heroes) relate to these themes of course but I feel Grahf and Yuriev best represent them. Grahf, as a part of The Contact, has experienced more grief than just about anyone. Over 9,000 years of having the love of his life die horribly in front of him while he could do nothing about it.... He's witnessed numerous wars, genocide, the hope being sucked from the entire population of the world... After enduring all this across the aeons he simply says smurf it and decides to help end the cycle of grief. Euthanize the Universe.

Yuriev meanwhile embodies Fear because of his contact with U-DO. Fear is literally the thing that guides every step he takes across the entire series. It was fear and fear alone that nearly allowed him to win and become the most powerful being in existence. The problem was...well, the game put it better than I can. "In order to conquer his fear, he chooses to absorb that fear and become that fear himself." In spite of all his great triumphs and manipulations, you could really argue that Yuriev just kept falling and getting more and more pitiable. Anotehr quote that comes to mind to describe him is Fatman's quote from MGS2: "I am the greatest humanity has to offer - and the lowest."

In order to "defeat" these timeless banes of humanity, Grahf and Dmitri both embarked on extreme and destructive paths to "salvation." That's a huge reason I love them so much.


But that's me. How about you all?

[Pumpkin]

Albedo. I just love his story

[Vyk]

The first big robot you have a conversation with in Xenoblade. Xorn I think his name was. Holy crap that encounter drove me almost as much as the first attack on your home town where you initially swear vengeance against the entire robot race. But the conversations Xorn has with your characters is ridiculous. An obvious sadistic psychopath. And then in the end he has a sort of heart to heart with your team. He doesn't have a change of heart or anything. Just basically expressing his surprise and sadness over not getting to eat people anymore. It's a crazy and intense conversation and makes you really glad to be able to rid the world of him..

[Pumpkin]

Ugh that first boss fight with Xorn was brutal. I haaaated it

[metagloria]

Grahf, Albedo and Wilhelm.

[Fynn]

I was always a big Miang fan and I think she gets very overlooked by the game's fanbase. Also, Zanza is pretty smurfin' insane.

[NeoCracker]

I do like Grahf, but ID was the standout villain of Xenogears for me.

For Saga? Albedo, Dmitri, and Wilhelm. Easy.

[Wolf Kanno]

Pretty much every major antagonist in Xenogears was pretty awesome. Id, Grahf, Krelian, and Miang all set industry standards on being well written villains you could both sympathize with and still hate them for what they do.

In Saga, I would give this to Albedo and Dimitri. The URTV storyline was easily the best developed and written part of Xenosaga.

Xenoblade is a bit tricky, it has some good villains in it but they all kind of pale behind the ones established from previous Xeno titles. Zanza was an interesting villain conceptually but he lacked the depth and well rounded natures of characters like Krelian and Dimitri.

[Forsaken Lover]

Hey WK, I was reading some of the Xenotensei stuff and it's funny you mention Zanza not being as good as Yuriev. A.C., the writer, really hates Xenoblade and during the Episode III article where it gets to Yuriev he mentions a lot of people liken Zanza to Dmitri. I've never played Xenoblade but A.C. says more or less what you say - Yuriev has a ton more depth to him than Zanza, in spite of the comparisons.

[Wolf Kanno]

Hey WK, I was reading some of the Xenotensei stuff and it's funny you mention Zanza not being as good as Yuriev. A.C., the writer, really hates Xenoblade and during the Episode III article where it gets to Yuriev he mentions a lot of people liken Zanza to Dmitri. I've never played Xenoblade but A.C. says more or less what you say - Yuriev has a ton more depth to him than Zanza, in spite of the comparisons.

To be fair to Zanza, he had one game to be developed as a compelling figure whereas as Yuriev had four games and I believe a web series to be fully fleshed out. Zanza might have stood out more if the game spent a bit more time to expand his character but frankly Takahashi admitted that story was a low priority in Xenoblade's development since he was trying to break away from his design choices in the actual Xeno titles.

Zanza is a still a good villain and I would argue beats the pants off any FF villain from the last two consoles generations in being an interesting and distasteful figure but here we're comparing to the other Xeno villains and frankly there is a very short list of gaming villains who could compete in my mind against that roster of antagonists. Zanza is a good villain, we just know that Monolith Soft is capable of better is all.