charismatic villains

[Failion]

What I really hate is when the developers clearly have decided the enemy is clever and charismatic and cool and awesome.

 

You just know million miles before that whatevery you're doing is not going to catch him by surprise or work,

you'll just get some stupid ass cutscene where he'll give this awesome speech and then walk away.

Without you getting any chance whatsoever to stop him and then you're dropped down the hatch or something.

 

Repeat a couple a times. In the end battle he's shooting awesome death rays and has billion hit points and invulnerability.

You're fighting as a team, he's alone and you still have to chug down bucketfuls of potions and cheats before winning.

 

Because he's so cool and charismatic and the devs like him much better than you and your stupid weak character.

 

What I think be cool to see is someone like trist from planescape torment. Instead of being antisocial and deceptive. He is very forward tells you everything about himself and his ideology to the player. Tells you why you in the wrong. Asks you to help him. The game hints you that you can easily kill this guy and not go along with his goals. Or go under his mantle knowing full well that you agree with him and that he is also a predator and likely will betray you in the future.

[ravenshrike]

"cougar Russian chick"

 

yeah, I don't know if you're trolling or not but there's already a thread for villains.

Make that five... in serious need of merging.

 

Take it for what you will but Alpha protocol russian cougar chick is good example of point I'm trying to make. The infinity engine games have graphic limitations in character development. Hideo Kojima the developer of metal gear solid puts good use of cinematics, using the games graphic engine, in building his characters. Personally I'm hoping Obsidian make use of the technique with the game engine they are using that I believe shares flaws with the old infinity engine.

Sie is in her early 40's. Thornton is between 28 and 38 years old.

[LadyCrimson]

I definitely like villains that on the one hand, you want to strangle with your bare hands because under any smooth veneer they're sick and depraved and stand for things you're totally against, but on the other, you can sorta sympathize with them for some reason, so it's hard to mindlessly hate them. It's not just about forceful charisma of presence, but any potential backstory, how they became what they are, their reasons, maybe not all their goals/desires/results are actually "bad", etc.

[Ninjamestari]

There are countless interesting villain types; a charismatic leader like Kane from C&C, a brutal embodiment of power like Darth Vader, a manipulative mastermind like Moebius in Soul Reaver, a political schemer like LaCroix in VTM:Bloodlines, an enigmatic gentleman like Dracula, a brilliant lunatic like Joker from Batman, and the list could go on and on.

 

The important thing is that the Villain fits the world; VTM is all about scheming and backstabbing, power is a major theme in Star Wars and so on and so forth. Project eternity dabbles a lot in the realm of the metaphysical (I don't like this approach but it can be done), so a good villain has to fit that theme. So what we need is a mystical figure, an enigmatic fellow whose goals are not very obvious. Someone who talks in riddles and confuses the protagonist with difficult questions. Someone who is actively seeking the truth and meaning behind the world and definitely someone who has vast amounts of knowledge. To be a successful villain in a heavily metaphysical universe, the antagonist has to change the way the protagonist views and sees the world; open his eyes so to speak.

 

I don't think I even have to mention that the villain needs to have an otherworldly presence.

Edited November 14, 2012 by Ninjamestari

[Osvir]

What I really hate is when the developers clearly have decided the enemy is clever and charismatic and cool and awesome.

 

You just know million miles before that whatevery you're doing is not going to catch him by surprise or work,

you'll just get some stupid ass cutscene where he'll give this awesome speech and then walk away.

Without you getting any chance whatsoever to stop him and then you're dropped down the hatch or something.

 

Repeat a couple a times. In the end battle he's shooting awesome death rays and has billion hit points and invulnerability.

You're fighting as a team, he's alone and you still have to chug down bucketfuls of potions and cheats before winning.

 

Because he's so cool and charismatic and the devs like him much better than you and your stupid weak character.

 

This is pretty much Haitani in a nutshell, except the author let's us see the Hero at least try. I think these types of villains are awesome because they frustrate you, and the 3rd time you meet this villain you could even see the "Light" as you are sent into a fighting mode and get to attempt to fight this villain. You can't lose or win by the way, just an interactive story segment, the real part is giving you the illusion that you have a chance, giving you hope which is then snatched away from you and you get frustrated, you start to really dislike this mysterious villain with a deeper agenda.

 

You could run after this guy, attack him and he just teleports somewhere else and continues his speech without pausing, even looking away from your group and you try to hit him again but he just teleports again somewhere else. He could appear behind one of your characters, whisper some icy words and then appear somewhere else. An omnipresent figure that gets on your nerves, you know that one day you are going to face off against him and take him down, but leading up to that point he "needs" to have some sort of effect on you, making you love to hate him type of thing...

 

Haitani, as an example, believes that the Evol race stand higher than the human race. That they are Gods whilst humans are their minions that should pray to them (i.e. be dominated by them), Zetman (the protagonist) is also part of the Evol race but he is different (human ties). He was created to be a "Godslayer" in a sense, to destroy the Evol race. Haitani sees this as an opportunity to use Zetman for his own purpose, to destroy the current pacified leaders of Evol and take control.

 

He is a Loki-type character (from Mythology, not Marvel) and he is badass. Loki is a great enemy concept. The best thing about Haitani though, is that he is more of a Mid-Boss, he rebels against the Main Boss, fights against his own faction (kind of creating his own faction from within, mutiny, starting a coup to overthrow his own government and every government. He is a revolutionary, a visionary, a middle-man, he works for himself). Kind of like Tom Cruise in "Interview with a Vampire", you don't know if the Hero is going to take this fool down or not, or if he should, you just dislike this guy's arrogance. I like some loose, open, ends.

Edited November 14, 2012 by Osvir