Announcing the RPGamer Villain-Off

Alex Fuller · May 2016

Previously RPGamer held a Battle Royale to determine which game's combat system came out on top. We're revisiting the idea and letting twenty-four villains duke it out between themselves this time, hopefully giving their games' heroes a bit of a rest.

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First vote starts on Wednesday May 4, 2016.

Cassandra Ramos · May 2016

I very much like the wide variety of villains chosen. I'm especially glad to see N there, heh.

Powerlord · May 2016

I'm surprised that Handsome Jack made it in seeing as how he's an FPS villain not an RPG villain.

Also, while it's nice that Ghaleon made it in... I thought Zophar would win over Ghaleon for the Lunar villain.

smacd · May 2016

deleted.

Wheels · May 2016

Powerlord wrote: »

I'm surprised that Handsome Jack made it in seeing as how he's an FPS villain not an RPG villain.

Also, while it's nice that Ghaleon made it in... I thought Zophar would win over Ghaleon for the Lunar villain.

Borderlands is an RPG without question. Not an even an edge case.

Macstorm · May 2016

smacd wrote: »

I'm slightly disappointed that the single entry from Dragon Quest is Dhoulmagus. He's not the main antagonist 8, and ultimately feels a little too similar to Kefka. I would have really liked to see Psaro as the DQ representative.

I voted for Psaro!

Powerlord wrote: »

Also, while it's nice that Ghaleon made it in... I thought Zophar would win over Ghaleon for the Lunar villain.

Zophar is super boring. Ghaleon is the best!

Nekobasu · May 2016

Macstorm wrote: »

Zophar is super boring. Ghaleon is the best!

Not Ghaleon, dear Macstorm: Magic Emperor Ghaleon!

Adriaan den Ouden · May 2016

Of my 10 nominations, 7 of them are in the final list. 8 if you count Sin, since I had his real name on my list.

I know my villains, apparently.

TheAnimeMan · May 2016

Lezard Velath is in it .... oh we know who I'm rooting for. I love that bastard so much.

watcher · May 2016

Truly, this is the only situation where one can root for Kefka to win and not be an evil SOB.

bulmasan · May 2016

I'd have Maximillian rather than Selvaria as the main villain in Valkyria Chronicles.

scorpio_7 · May 2016

I like my villains to be outright crazy to the point that their objectives are non-sensical. Crazy psychopaths who care nothing about life and want to just outright annihilate everything are the best villains in my opinion.

So my Number 1 would definitely be Kefka.

7thCircle · May 2016

smacd wrote: »

I'm slightly disappointed that the single entry from Dragon Quest is Dhoulmagus. He's not the main antagonist 8, and ultimately feels a little too similar to Kefka. I would have really liked to see Psaro as the DQ representative, as he's a lot more fleshed out as a villain and appears in several games. Even the Dragonlord would be a more interesting choice IMHO, especially as he actually gives you the option to join him as a legitimate choice. I guess that since DQ8 was the most popular DQ in the west (I believe), he might have the most recognition though.

On the other hand, super stoked that Kefka is there and not the obvious boring choice. Though with Kuja, Sin and Delita, there seems to be a bit of FF over-representation on the list. Think I could have come up with a few other more interesting choices than more FF. Albedo from Xenosaga would have been a great choice compared to nearly non-entities like Kuja and Sin, for instance.

But minor griping aside, I hope L-block wins.

My favorite villains are generally the most memorable ones. I had Dhoulmagus on my list because he was the most memorable villain from the GC/PS2 era, standing out amid dull or absent competition. My list had Ravel from Planescape: Torment and House from New Vegas for similar reasons. They weren't the primary antagonists or the most evil people in their games, but they stuck with me longer than TTO and Cesar and were more intriguing.

I also don't think much of Kuja or Sin as the best villains in their games, much less all Final Fantasy games not starring Kefka, much less all RPGs.

Scion · May 2016

7thCircle wrote: »

smacd wrote: »

I'm slightly disappointed that the single entry from Dragon Quest is Dhoulmagus. He's not the main antagonist 8, and ultimately feels a little too similar to Kefka. I would have really liked to see Psaro as the DQ representative, as he's a lot more fleshed out as a villain and appears in several games. Even the Dragonlord would be a more interesting choice IMHO, especially as he actually gives you the option to join him as a legitimate choice. I guess that since DQ8 was the most popular DQ in the west (I believe), he might have the most recognition though.

On the other hand, super stoked that Kefka is there and not the obvious boring choice. Though with Kuja, Sin and Delita, there seems to be a bit of FF over-representation on the list. Think I could have come up with a few other more interesting choices than more FF. Albedo from Xenosaga would have been a great choice compared to nearly non-entities like Kuja and Sin, for instance.

But minor griping aside, I hope L-block wins.

My favorite villains are generally the most memorable ones. I had Dhoulmagus on my list because he was the most memorable villain from the GC/PS2 era, standing out amid dull or absent competition. My list had Ravel from Planescape: Torment and House from New Vegas for similar reasons. They weren't the primary antagonists or the most evil people in their games, but they stuck with me longer than TTO and Cesar and were more intriguing.

I also don't think much of Kuja or Sin as the best villains in their games, much less all Final Fantasy games not starring Kefka, much less all RPGs.

I was back and forth between TTO and Ravel before finally falling on TTO's side, though I will say I never even considered doubling up villains from the same game and I was struggling to fill out the last few...

TheAnimeMan · May 2016

Well if you notice the list is not all main villains, it's just villains in general. Like Lezard Velath, who is a complete moo, isn't the main villain of VP1, that's Loki, but he is the villain of VPII

Nekobasu · May 2016

Don't blame me. I voted for Ultros.

Adriaan den Ouden · May 2016

My favorite villains tend to be ones that aren't necessarily evil, but hopelessly misguided. Yggdrasil is my top pick in this competition because he's a fallen hero who lost his way when his sister died. IMO the best villains are the ones who have clear and almost sensible motivations.

7thCircle wrote: »

My favorite villains are generally the most memorable ones. I had Dhoulmagus on my list because he was the most memorable villain from the GC/PS2 era, standing out amid dull or absent competition. My list had Ravel from Planescape: Torment and House from New Vegas for similar reasons. They weren't the primary antagonists or the most evil people in their games, but they stuck with me longer than TTO and Cesar and were more intriguing.

I also don't think much of Kuja or Sin as the best villains in their games, much less all Final Fantasy games not starring Kefka, much less all RPGs.

Not sure if a lot of people voted for Sin, or if they voted for

Spoiler:

Jecht

. I voted for the latter on my list.

Cassandra Ramos · May 2016

I oddly like both misguided well-intentioned extremists and incomprehensible monsters, or creatures that are more forces than they are beings. Yggdrasil and N are some of my favorite of the former, while Giygas and Dark Falz and Raem are the latter.

Then there's Raem, which isn't exactly a cosmic horror, but can be considered a dark god of sorts. I'm fascinated the notion that he had the world in his hands for centuries, maybe even millennia. Raem's definietly one of the most successful villains in a video game ever.

DarkRPGMaster · May 2016

A little too much Final Fantasy there IMO. I agree with smacd that Albedo would have been a great villain to be put on the list. Another worthy villain that could have been added to the list...General Baal from Grandia. This is a good list regardless, and the voting shall be great.

Alex Fuller · May 2016

omegabyte wrote: »

Not sure if a lot of people voted for Sin, or if they voted for

Spoiler:

Jecht
. I voted for the latter on my list.

Mixture of both so merged into one entry using the less spoilery name.

Was pleasantly surprised about the large mixture of nominations, as stated elsewhere there were over one hundred different nominations, with the most nominated only getting on 1/3 of the top-ten forms.

Anna Marie Privitere · May 2016

Too much? Seriously, there's four FF villains. Considering the series has 30+ games not counting corollary series like Chocobo games, it's not surprising it's fielding multiple baddies.

DarkRPGMaster · May 2016

Paws wrote: »

Too much? Seriously, there's four FF villains. Considering the series has 30+ games not counting corollary series like Chocobo games, it's not surprising it's fielding multiple baddies.

In a tournament with 24 nominees, that's 1/6 the field right there.

Anna Marie Privitere · May 2016

And? That's not a compelling rejoinder.

DarkRPGMaster · May 2016

I know, but with so many good RPG villains out there, it's essentially how people feel about 'clone characters' in fighting games. That's room somebody else could have taken. You know, the usual "Why didn't X get the spot" sort of thing.

TheAnimeMan · May 2016

Again LEZARD VELATH. I'm am the only one who completely understands his demented ways?

Nyx · May 2016

TheAnimeMan wrote: »

Again LEZARD VELATH. I'm am the only one who completely understands his demented ways?

You and me, man. He's one of my all time favourite video game characters. :)

DarkRPGMaster · May 2016

Nyx wrote: »

TheAnimeMan wrote: »

Again LEZARD VELATH. I'm am the only one who completely understands his demented ways?

You and me, man. He's one of my all time favourite video game characters. :)

He definitely deserved a place on this list. Definitely got the charisma, the plan, and the obsession.

TheAnimeMan · May 2016

DarkRPGMaster wrote: »

Nyx wrote: »

TheAnimeMan wrote: »

Again LEZARD VELATH. I'm am the only one who completely understands his demented ways?

You and me, man. He's one of my all time favourite video game characters. :)

He definitely deserved a place on this list. Definitely got the charisma, the plan, and the obsession.

and he's doing it for love(?)

smacd · May 2016

deleted.

hyperknees91 · May 2016

Personally my favorite villain is Fou-lu from Breath of Fire IV. But based on the list I would probably go with Delita due to them playing similar roles of being very human/sympathetic.

RealityChecked · May 2016

I want my villains to be there throughout the game, make me suffer, be one step ahead of me at every turn, and get destroyed in end. Sure, there's a place for villains you empathize with or that realize the error of their ways, but not at the top.

Lavos and Sin don't resonate with me...they really are just 'natural disasters' with no malice.

Ghaleon, Delita, and Yggdrasil are solid choices, but they are trying to do what they think is best for 'humanity' in their own twisted way.

Ganon has potential for overall body of work, but his different incarnations make him hard to pin down as an individual villain.

Then there's Kefka. It's a boring pick, and I wish he was less 'clown-like' and a bit scarier, but he checks the boxes. At least from the 24 candidates, he's my choice (of the ones I've played).

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Announcing the RPGamer Villain-Off

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