Most Effective Video Game Villains?

[razor343]

Commander(?) Kia from Saint's Row The Third...She has the guts to kidnap Shaundi and threaten to blow her the hell up along with the whole damn island to ruin the Saints' reputation, WHILE your character is hell bent on destroying Killbane and the last chance to kill him happens to be at that exact moment. Sheesh.

As a bonus: (Beware Stephen King's: Cell spoilers)

Spoiler

The two assholes that kill Alice by throwing a brick at her head. It's great that the 'Raggedy Man' kills them later but that does not do them enough justice considering how much I hated them personally.

 

[The Great JT]

Kefka. Usurps the powers of the gods. That is why he is best Final Fantasy villain. Yes, even better than that momma's boy Sephiroth.

 

[RedDeadFred]

I'm gonna have to agree with you about Handsome Jack. At first I thought he was just funny and a big douche at the same time. Then he did two things that made me NEED to kill him. I still sort of felt sorry for him when I put the final bullet in his head though

 

[bullet_sandw1ch]

handsome jack, definitely. he's so charming i actually hope that he lives through the end of the game (have not made it to the end yet).

 

[MortarionX]

Most definitely Handsome Jack. He is the most fleshed out villain I have every played against. Anyone else notice that he was wearing a mask? Cuz I didn't until the end. Oh and the Illusive Man is second on my list

 

[Agayek]

How about you? What do you think was the most effective antagonist in a videogame and why?

My list of favorite antagonists is as follows:

1) Jon Irenicus (there's simply never going to be a better antagonist, ever)
2) Andrew Ryan
3) GLaDOS
4) Dr. Breen
5) Saren Arturius

Irenicus is there because he's Irenicus. His presence and plans drive the entire game, and he comes across as almost sympathetic, while still being utterly monstrous. The writing for/surrounding him is simply sublime and it's simply never going to be matched.

Andrew Ryan is there entirely because of his final scene. His death is one of the most impactful moments I've ever seen in a video game. It was utterly fantastic and catapulted Bioshock from being a fairly generic shooter with a philosophical agenda to one of the greats.

GLaDOS because she's just all around fun. Especially POTaDOS.

Dr Breen makes the list because I've never understood an antagonist so well before or since. He really is stuck in an incredibly bad situation and is doing the best he can to save lives, which makes the fight against him even more tragic. He's an interesting character.

And Saren's here because he defined ME1 for me. Every time he appears he steals the spotlight, and keeps it focused directly on him the entire time. I can actually see how Saren could have pulled off a similar move without a Reaper backing him. That sheer level of charisma is very rare in an antagonist, and it made the game that much better.

 

[Lugbzurg]

"There he is, the fun begins, my tricks and traps will see who wins!"
"It really does sound quite absurd, adventure of a bear and bird!"
"Tooty's fate is looking grim, it's because her brother's dim!"
"I'm still here, I watch you play, but I can't think of much to say!"
"Why do I talk all the time, it's really hard to make these rhyme!"

Oh, yeah... It's because of this stuff going on all the time, that you just really wanna take down Gruntilda in Banjo-Kazooie. For some of you, just think of GLaDOS as a rhyming witch. However, Gruntilda came nine years earlier.

 

[piinyouri]

Jack is definitely up there.

Decent writing, but it'd all been for naught if not for Dameon Clarkes stellar performance. (As well as most of the games voice acting cast)

Was really surprised when

Spoiler

you fight him at the end. I was very much expecting him to take off his mask after the first cake round, reveal himself to be
a) an alien
b) a robot
c) some kind of monster

and fall into the "Fools, now I shall show you the real me and my REAL powers! Mwahahaha!"
But no, he was convinced that he was in the right even till the end.
Great character.

 

[II2]

In no order:

Kefka - JRPG's answer to the Joker. DID get to watch the world burn. More a force of natural than a complete person with a healthy brain - sadistic, chaotic, arbitrary and utterly unpredictable.

Frank Fontaine - Best evil con man / schemer I've seen drawn in a game and perfect counter to...

Andrew Ryan - A man chooses. A slave obeys.

SHODAN - Insane machine goddess, of supreme intelligence, hostile intent and limitless ambition.

GlaDOS - The OTHER great female AI villain. This time with pitch perfect black humor.

Gunter Hermann - A lot of angles to his desire to not just kill, but BEST you and your bother, oddly sympathetic for a humorless kraut cyborg out for blood... In his own way he was as much a victim and pawn of the big bad's scheme as the antagonists, but was fighting with unwavering precision and loyalty for the leaders who already threw him under the bus.

Captain Walker - Sometimes the best villains are the ones who think the cause is just. Sometimes the best villain is YOU.

G Man - The mystery man. Supernatural puppet master. Who IS 'he', besides the unfathomable agent of mankind's greatest plight?

Dr. Breen - The middleman, the apologist, the smooth talker, the sell out, the rat. The kind of man everyone knows a plenty of, in person. Self rationalized self preservation in the name of the 'greater good'. The man who thinks 'the hard choice' is to give up the persecuted family hiding in the closet, so the invaders won't cause 'bigger' trouble or doubt one's loyalty.

Lavos - Alien monster sleeping inside the earth for millions of years only to awake and ruin the world? So it might have been right at home in Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, but the Chrono Trigger gives it a fresh take. The time travelling aspect of the story gave it a fresh new angle though, since you see, indeed, the aftermath of it's destructive INEVITABILITY, unless history can be changed.

---

That's all off the top of my head. Hope someone enjoy that...

 

[Samus Aran but a man]

That fucking Starchi- YEAH ANDREW RYAN OR SOMEONE

 

[jackinmydaniels]

Kenny from the Walking Dead, I think it stings most because he started out as a character I really liked, but then grew progressively more hostile to my Lee as the game went on. Finally getting to smack some sense into him on the train was something I enjoyed more than I probably should have.

 

[TaintedSaint]

Andrew Ryan BioShock

 

[Starbird]

Ah, this thread is making me want to play Baldur's Gate 2 again. I can't wait until the remakes .

I'm actually surprised to see that no one has mentioned The Boss from the MGS series. Say what you like about it being horribly overwritten and anime-esque overdramatic, but I've seldom been so emotionally invested in a fight before.

 

[The Madman]

SHODAN *is* System Shock. It's her snarky asides, dry humour, and constant barrage of threats and insults that drive System Shock 2 in its entirely. Much like people might say Glados is Portal, except that in SHODAN's case she's a legitimately terrifying character. And that voice...


Other than SHODAN I've got to agree with the chorus saying Jon Irenicus from Baldur's Gate 2. What a fantastic villain! Both sympathetic and completely and utterly deplorable and disgusting at the same time, that perfect balance.

 

[Spanics]

Larry's daughter ended up pissing me off more than he did

 

[Yassen]

I'd have to say Kreia in that her motivation is pretty unique and understandable when you realise what her race and culture is. There's also the fact that she's a villain that focuses on the subtle themes of motherhood and teachers. She's also a pathological liar, brilliant basterd and master manipulator, she even manages to inject some moral ambiguity into a universe which had always been about good vs evil.

 

[Robot Number V]

As a bonus: (Beware Stephen King's: Cell spoilers)

Spoiler

The two assholes that kill Alice by throwing a brick at her head. It's great that the 'Raggedy Man' kills them later but that does not do them enough justice considering how much I hated them personally.

Christ, FUCK those guys. Pretty much one of the saddest deaths ever, right there.

OT: I'm gonna say Saren. That guy was an asshole.

 

[Creator002]

Not a villain as such, but a character who incited the most rage: Larry, from the Walking Dead.

Yeah. That guy was a right prick.

Spoiler: Episode 2 Spoilers

I gave him food and the axe at the start of ep. 2 and he was still a prick. I was so pissed that I jumped at the chance to help Kenny smash his face in.

 

[KattieChampagne]

GlaDos, just GlaDos all the way. I adored her as much as I wanted to set her on fire. My very soul was smiling when she was stuck as a potato.

I did really like Handsome Jack as well. I can respect how firmly he stands by his beliefs even if I disagree with what he's doing.

Also the Illusive Man, though really I just wanted to blast him to oblivion with my Cain

 

[WouldYouKindly]

Yourself in Spec Ops: The Line. Seriously, the fuckedupness of this game made me feel like the bad guy without the awesome, I can turn these squishy mortals into funtime ragdolls factor. It's the only time I've ever wanted to stop playing a game for a reason either than I have to go to work or I'm bored of this game. The story, the character you have to play, just hammers you.

For a more traditional bad guy, I quite liked Saren. He seemed to sincerely believe in his cause, crazy as that was, but he wasn't beyond redemption and he was still quite capable.