[POLL] WHAT IS THE BEST KIND OF VILLAIN/ANTAGONIST?

Poll

Which do you prefer? A bada$$ villain you love or a villain you just simply hate and want to completely destroy? - Results

Bada$$ Villain!
9
17%
Villain you trully hate.
8
15%
Neither.
13
25%
Something in between.
22
42%

Posts

Pages: first prev 1234 last
author=7Soul
Some relevant Extra Credits episodes:
Big Bad I
Big Bad II
Force-of-nature Villains

Those are actually very helpful.
KrimsonKatt
Gamedev by sunlight, magical girl by moonlight
3326
Neither, I personally prefer villains that are still obviously evil while also being at least a bit sympathetic or understandable. Also not a twist villain, I absolutely abhor those especially when it's handled badly. (see nearly every Disney movie released in the last decade) Villains that are evil just for the sake of it are usually super boring unless their evilness is played and hammed up to the absolute extreme. Judge Frolo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame (A disney movie back from when Disney was actually good) is a perfect example of a "so evil you love to hate" type of villain. His actions are so evil, so over the top, so absolutely revolting and shocking for the medium that it's PURE ESCASY when you see him fail in the most karmic way possible. Still my favorite Disney villain death by far.

But most villains that are evil for the sake of being evil completely fall flat due to not being over-the-top enough, like Garon from Fire Emblem Fates or literally any evil dragon guy from that series really. Then those villains just come across as boring and not interesting in the slightest. Their evil, but not evil enough to be able to supply their character on it's own.

The other type of villain that I like is the sympathetic villain, villains that are evil and do terrible things but have a somewhat valid justifaction for doing what they do. Magneto from X-Men is a perfect example of how to do a sympathetic villain, or someone like Fou-Lu from Breath of Fire IV, Berkut from FE Echoes, Lyon from FE Sacred Stones, and various others.

I would talk about my own villains in my own game, but that would go into spoilers for a game that isn't even out yet. But I will say this, in Chronicles Meteorfall Baron Ozma's backstory and personality has been massively reworked to make him a lot more sympathetic and tragic while still keeping him being blatantly evil.
For me, it's the Badass Villain.

The complete sleazebags that commit gratuitous atrocities throughout the game end up demoralizing me, more often than not. It's like, as long as I experience the medium, I live in hell and there is nothing I can do about it until the eleventh hour where I am finally allowed to just win. And by then, all I am left with is a pyrrhic victory where everything I loved and cherished is either dead or destroyed beyond repair.

Compare to the Badass Villain. Usually, if you don't want your villain to come across as pathetic, his evil has to be carried out with purpose. There is an intrigue going on in the shadows, where danger and adventure are intermarried. Defeating the Badass Villain requires you to man up and find a way. You *have* to find out that there is more to life than you currently know if you want to stand a chance.

Defeating the villain you hate is like stopping an hemorrhage. You just did it to survive and the damage is done because you couldn't do it right away.

Defeating the Badass villain requires you to become an even greater badass. You get to show everyone that there is another, better way to do things. You may even gain the respect of the Badass Villain and have him join your cause. (Movie example: Darth Vader Game example: Magus)
Pages: first prev 1234 last