JRPGs where the main villain's motivation doesn't boil down to emo moping

[Dandres]

Maybe Legend of Dragoon?

Of the three main antagonists: One is being duped. He thinks the plan will create a utopia, doesn't realize it'll destroy the world first. The other is doing it because it was that world's creator god's plan, but he's also being brainwashed/possessed. And the third wants to usurp the creator god... I kinda forget if he wants to go through with the plan to destroy the world, or if he just wanted to be god for a power trip, or both.

But then they're still beaten with the power of friendship. Which I actually don't mind. I've always loved the focus on friendship and teamwork in some forms of Japanese media.

I was going to say Legend of Dragoon also. How about the Lufia series, I always preferred then the FF series. I do not remember the antagonists being emo.

 

[Vlado]

Obligatory Xenogears plug. Seriously, play it. Few games make you think as much.

 

[Objectable]

Xenoblade Chronicles

The main villain is God. Like, the actual creator of the universe. He was also some guy from Germany who accidentally blew up the universe to create the one you live in now.
And the one who was actually emo moping? HE WAS RIGHT THE ENTIRE TIME.

 

[GundamSentinel]

Final Fantasy XII: I introduce you to Vayne Solidor,who conquers the known world in an effort to obtain Nethicite,in order to fight the TRUE big bads,the Occuria,who are manipulating humankind through "Fate". End of the line,he's trying to save humanity; The only way he can get this done is by being the ruthless emperor of the world so he can secure enough Nethicite to deploy his plan to eliminate the Occuria.

And to think,we thought he was just another conquest-mad emperor.

Well, in the end he is a conquest-mad emperor, he just takes his conquest a bit farther than mere land (although it includes it). I don't believe for a second that Vayne's motives were in any way noble. He wanted to be the new Dynast King.

 

[Danbo Jambo]

Please tell me you're avatar is actually you mate?

A-yup, thank-ee kindly. Well, me from about five years ago, anyway. There was a big hubbub about internet anonymity and real names, and I was annoyed because my real name is common and therefore anonymous (e.g. if you google it you will find a lot of people, none of whom are me), while my nick is a reasonably good way to find me. So I slapped my picture on most of my Avatars and have left it there ever since.

Quality It's a top pic mate, gave me a good chuckle and retains an nice sense of bad-good cool all at the same time. I tip my hat back to good self *tipshat*

 

[Bizzaro Stormy]

Has anyone mentioned the Mobile Suit Saga? The villain is a genetically enhanced person who wants to destroy things and rebuild according to his preferences.

 

[RaikuFA]

Lavos from Chrono Trigger, as already mentioned, is a parasite that consumes worlds for sustenance, so I believe he counts.

Also; Giygas from EarthBound. He is the mindless embodiment of all evil with no real sense of his own actions or their effects, so I'd say he definitely counts as well.

The first Mother game he kinda was like what the TC dislikes. Not as big as say, Seymour but I believe Mother started the whole "friendship conquers all" trend.

But yeah, Kefka from FF6 is pretty much the Joker as a JRPG villan. Kagatsuchi is more "prove to me the world you want to create deserves to exist". Lavos is a giant space tick. Babel from Devil survivor 1 is all "I'M A LIVING SENTIENT COMPUTER SERVER."

 

[Lupine]

Persona 3 is my answer. Mostly because Nyx is the god of death; in his heart he wants to be your friend (spoiler: he even asks you to be friends). In fact if you could relieve him of his duty he would probably do just that, hang out with you and your friends as just another teen-preteen kid living a normal life.

Being a god of death though, he doesn't get to do that and honestly he feels sorry for you and everyone else in the world too because you do have to die and he does have to destroy your world, this is the nature of the world for him. Everything comes to an end and every life given is a life eventually taken away, he's just the grim reaper and while sure he feels remorse for the lives that have to end and would even like to get to know them Gaiman style...he is also an actual force of nature and a part of the natural cycle of the world.

The arcana reflect a life lived and he is death, death isn't emo in my opinion, if anything he just wants things to be as painless as possible and says as such.

Friendship is magic in this Persona though. But of course it makes sense in context; the last arcana is The World after all. And this of course represents the world going on and symbolic of death not being the end but rather it simply starting a new journey so that the cycle can begin again.

 

[moggett88]

I'm sure some would disagree, but Final Fantasy IX's Kuja fits the bill for me. He is on his way to conquering the world when he finds out that his soul is not built to last, and that he's gonna die pretty soon. His reaction is pretty much "well fine, but in that case everyone else dies too". Some people would call that emo, but it sure as hell isn't moping

 

[Angelowl]

I assume you still haven't played Final Fantasy VI then? Kefka, one of the best villains ever in gaming history. Was the guinea pig for the experiment for creating mage knights and something broke, he turned into a total psychopath that you just can't reason with. He overshadows all the other final fantasy villains by far, even Sephiroth. Not to mention he *spoiler* and has an awesome boss music track.

The recent Joker in the Dark Knight movies is very comparable and roughly equal in performance.

 

[go-10]

I'm gonna go with Dragon Quest VIII, not Dhoulmagus the other dude Lord Rhapthorne. His motives for wanting to take over the world is that he already took over the dark world so now he wants to take over the light world.

other than that I guess Yevon from FF X, he seems to be just a pissed of tick monster

 

[Cosmic Mind]

Suikoden 2: Luca. Blight.

Dude is a complete psycho and his backstory doesn't even remotely justify his actions

 

[hybridial]

Suikoden 2: Luca. Blight.

Dude is a complete psycho and his backstory doesn't even remotely justify his actions

It took far, far too long for anyone to mention Suikoden 2.

Yeah, Suikoden stories are generally war stories, they can involve some epic magical stuff but no one is out to destroy the world for personal reasons. Luca Blight in fact was just gleefully evil and psychotic. Though he had a bit of a messed up past and upbringing, he definitely wasn't sympathetic in the slightest, but he was powerful enough that you had to respect him as a foe.

 

[Black Reaper]

The heroes in Tales of Xillia 2 are basically fighting for a wish-granting device to save the world, so is the villain, but let's just say he wants to get a lot of power on top of the saving the world thing

 

[Auberon]

Seeing as Yahweh isn't really moping, I present second half of Persona 2. For all I know, Hitler isn't moping either.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Since Xenoblade was already mention, I guess maybe the other trio Wii games The Story was different (I kind of forgotten the plot).

I remember the antogonist was the leader of other race that got exiled by the humans and simply wanted revenge but his road of revenge almost lead to the destruction of their planet due to his abuse of this alien weapon thing?

As cliche in JPG, there was a "twist" that reveal to be another antagonist and his desire was the same as the first antagonist which is back up from his bad childhood (village got raided by bandit and this veteran hero turned out to be a badguy for letting it happeend).

 

[sketchesofpayne]

Mana Khemia
Disgaea
Shining Force EXA
Suikoden
Front Mission
Dragon Quest
Persona
Hexys Force

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

Good list. This is fun, summarizing villain motivations in a single line. I was just talking about Fire Emblem with someone when I remembered one of the older games and how the character arc for its main villain (that is, the imperious wretch responsible for the betrayal and murder of your entire first army including the main character) goes:

'I love this dear country of mine, more than anyone. It's the most beautiful kingdom in the world. It deserves a strong, worthy king, a king who isn't afraid to murder to do what's right! A king who isn't restrained by commoner rules and laws! A king who isn't afraid to team up with a sacrifical death cult to gain power! A king who isn't afraid to stab his friends in the back to take the throne! Wait... let me start over!'

Tales of Vesperia's boils down to global eco-terrorism, but since he's not human and looking to save the planet by killing all humans, I don't think it counts as moping.

Spoiler: And not a JRPG (though it is from Japan) but I simply cannot resist throwing in the best villain motivation delivered through song ever:

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

Double post, ignore

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

Well, I'm probably going to repeat some that have already been said...

The World Ends with You: It's...complicated. The main character starts off "emo", but kinda outgrows it over the course of the game, and the various villains are either power hungry, start off "emo" before changing, or are just trying to create a utopia in their eyes...Or they're just tricksters. It's a veritable mishmash of gambits and motivations.

Etrian Odyssey 3: The "optional overpowered secret final Eldritch horror boss that's actually behind everything" just wants to consume life because "that's what it does", and the monster subspecies it created just want to consume and control because that's all they know, and the one that started their race wants them to keep doing it. And then you get into the whole dual-faction story and how tragic it is (No seriously, it's freakin tragic if you do either of the two factions' final missions) unless you manage to find the third option near the end and just kill off the thing leading the monster subspecies. Best story in the series, hands down. Intrigue up the wazoo river, and lots and lots of tragedy.

Etrian Odyssey 4: Dude just wants to save his home kingdom from starvation and death, and has literally no qualms about committing genocide in order to do it. Optional secret boss is just a failsafe mechanism that went wrong.

Xenoblade: Can't exactly say without spoilers, but no, nothing to do with "Emo". Just pure unbridled arrogance.

Final Fantasy 4: Genocidal lunatic wants to wipe out existing civilization so that his own civilization can take over that land for themselves.

Persona 4: Can't say without spoilers, but no, no emo here. Again, it boils down to arrogance.

And there's also my own RPG that I made, where it's just a tyrannical queen who just wants to take over the continent she's on. Oh, and you work for her as she sends you on a near-suicidal assassination mission. (Don't wanna get flagged, so if you're curious and want a link, PM me)