Because I'm evil, that's why.

Villains are often the driving force in video games, giving our heroes someone to oppose - and us someone to inevitably defeat. In most story-driven titles, villains are often as complex and developed personalities as heroes, even going so far as to join your party...or originate from your party in the first place, as the case may be.

So, who is your favourite video game villain, and why? What makes a good antagonist, and what makes a bad (not in a good way) one? Have you ever been surprised by a villain in a game?

As a RTS fan, one name comes to mind instantly, Kane from the Command & Conquer series, mainly from the Tiberium timeline. He leads arguably one of the cooler factions in the series, the Brotherhood of Nod, and it's just amazing if you play the Nod campaign how he's always 2-3 steps ahead of EVERYONE else. This is most noticeable in C&C 3: Tiberium Wars and Kane's Wrath.

Spoilers

The first thing that came into mind was Kefka from FFVI (strictly FFVI). I haven't really considered having a favorite villain, but I guess this one takes the cake for making me picture Ronald McDonald as a villain years ago.

My favorite villain is Officer Tenpenny. Samuel L. Jackson also did a great job of voicing him.

LOL I had to do it.

But seriously... Star Wars wouldn't be Star Wars without Darth Vader.

A villain that's fun will always be one that takes my heart, honestly.

I usually cite Zero III from Zero Escape 2 as one of, if not my favorite video game villain. The only reason for this is, apart from his unapologetic nature and passive aggression, every single line from him exudes fun, and the voice actress hits it out of the fucking park in delivering that sentiment. It's rare that there's a character that I enjoy every single time they're on screen, and I mean actively enjoy not "I like this character, therefore, I generally like the scenes they're in," literally every time Zero III was on screen I was having a good time, and that's honestly the reason I was able to get into Virtue's Last Reward so easily and why it shot up to being my favorite game.

What makes a villain good? Believing they're not evil. Basically, villains who fight for their own sense of justice instead of outright believing they're the bad guys appeal to me.

Read: Egil from Xenoblade Chronicles
(Actually don't that has way too many spoilers)

Also Qada from Bravely Default because Qada is literally waifu.

Phosphophyllite said:

What makes a villain good? Believing they're not evil. Basically, villains who fight for their own sense of justice instead of outright believing they're the bad guys appeal to me.

Click to expand...

That's a good way to put it - I suppose that's why I liked Sephiroth but I never considered it that way. Crisis Core gave his character so much more meaning and depth, showing the cause behind his fall from hero to madness, and like you said, in his twisted sense of morality he still believes he's doing what's right.

I like villains who aren't villains just because they're villains, having an insight to their psyche and knowing what drives them makes villains a lot more interesting and memorable to me.