The final wicket falls…
In the shadow of a miraculous and unexpected Ashes victory for England, Final Fantasy XV is garnished with the promise of the best villain ever, and Lusipurr and SiliconNooB pull out all the stops as they cover the Quincy, Massachusetts Flag Day Parade.
WolfeYep, it was me who said the father/son scene from the latest XV ‘trailer’ was creepy. It is. I know Japan is into shotacon, but I’d thank them to stick with heavy-chested boob fanservice.
Re: Villains. I can only think of two examples off the top of my head that stuck with me. Ghaelon, from Lunar and Lavos from Chrono Trigger. I was fairly young in both of those instances and they both left very strong impressions on me.
SavanteVillains: My <3 bad buy in gaming is Jon Irenicus from Baldur's Gate II. An amazing script for him, beautifully voiced acted by David Warner. Irenicus is a broken, literally soulless individual seeking to gain back his and his sisters "souls". Does this through revenge against his people as well as physically and mentally torturing your main char/npc throughout the game. The final battle(s) are quite satisfying putting a bloody end to Irenicus's reign of destruction, madness and total despair.
I also enjoyed Scarlet Briar from GW2. She reminded a lot of Kefka. Total destructive, hyper intelligent murderous clownish maniac. Another very well voiced character performed by Tara Strong.
KisakiProjectOh my god the Cricket talk never ends…
Lusipurr@Kisaki: Welcome to Lusipurr.com!
Lusipurr@Wolfe: Lavos is a little too dehumanised/amorphous for to engender feelings of hatred. It’s almost like a meteor or a wild beast, in that it has the destructive capacity of a natural disaster (albeit an organic disaster).
But Ghaleon is fantastic villain. His capture of Luna and the untoward fate which then befalls her combine together to make him a very satisfying boss fight. But I’d still say that Sephiroth is better! I struggle to think of anyone better than Sephiroth as a villain, though. He is so vile, so thoroughly reprehensible, and yet simultaneously humanised because of the misguided and tragic way that he came to exist (given that Sephiroth as he is seen is just Jenova, really…)
@Savante: David Warner is such a great actor and his voice is wonderfully recognisable. He’s played some great villains and heroes in his time and, although I’m not a fan of the gameplay of Baldur’s Gate II, I know that my wife adores it and that it is well received on the whole. Maybe she’ll get around to replaying it one day and then I’ll get to see Irenicus’ story.
The same thing above goes for Guild Wars 2. Although I think my wife has just about had it with that title, so I’m not likely to see her play any more of that.
This raises a question: what will become of all of these MMO ‘stories’ in future? I spoke on the podcast about Arthas in WC3 and WoW. At the end of WC3, that story remains unresolved and was not really ‘completed’ until the end of the Wrath of the Lich King expansion in WoW (the best WoW expansion, before things went downhill and casual-centric).
In the future, how will people access these game experiences? When WoW is shut down and people cannot progress through the Lich King expansion content, will it just be a matter of reading about stuff on a Wiki rather than actually playing it? I think something vital is lost through that process. In fact, I would argue that even now, with WotLK content not being current, something has been lost. Hmm.
Wolfe@Lusi: While I agree with the notion that Lavos essentially had no personality, it represented the notion of human existence being a fluke or worse, a side effect of an interstellar nightmare’s breeding process. That filled with disgust and rage. I wanted it dead.
Sephiroth, much like Final Fantasy VII as a whole, left me baffled. I wasn’t even sure -why- I was trying to kill him by the end, though I did enjoy delivering the final blow in that weird space between spaces finale.
I’m not sure if the poor translation was to blame, or the plot itself, but all the way up to the end of VII, I was utterly confused. The whole Zack segment just further confounded me. It wasn’t until years later that the internet explained it all, and even then I thought, “That was needlessly convoluted.” Either way, I couldn’t bring myself to hate something when the motivations of it completely escaped me.
Ghaleon will always be the JRPG villain for me. The fallen hero, twisted by his faithlessness in fellow man is still a favorite concept of mine, and Lunar is the first example I can think of portraying this in an RPG. Though I’m sure I’m missing some earlier examples.
LusipurrJust for fun…
-RADICAL DIME
-MADDER ALICE
A MAD RICE LID
-A DIM RICE LAD
-MID-RACE DIAL
CLAIM RAIDED
RICE MAIL DAD
I LICED ADAM
I AM DR. LACED
REC MAID LAID
-iCAL DRM IDEA
-DR. IDA MALICE
REAL CID MAID
-I CAME IRL DAD
I MADE A RL CID
MADE CID LAIR
REAL DIM ACID
LAME DAD IIRC
– LAME RAID CID
– LAMER DAD CID I
RAID CLAIMED
MILD ARID ACE
-MILD RAID ACE
A CID DAME IRL
I MADE RL ACID
LARD DAME ICI
LARD ICE MAID
-ICE LARD MAID
I CAME LARD ID
CAMEL RAID ID
I DID A MEL CAR
A LAMER CID ID
I LEAD A MR CID
I LED A CID RAM
I CLAD A DRM LIE
-CIA DREAM LID
A LARD MEDICI
-I’M RADICAL ED
I LAID A RED MC
DIAL A DR MICE
-I LAID A MR DEC
DIALED A CRIM
-DIAL-A-MEDIC(R)
WolfeGood lord you really DID have a list.
LusipurrI’ve got a tonne more!
LusipurrSome site upgrades:
We now have a REVIEW INDEX, which is accessible via the links panel on the right-hand side of the site.
Enjoy!
SiliconNooB@Lusi- You need to have someone review Qbert!
Lusipurr@SN: Apparently! It’s the only letter without a game hooked to it!
BupVaas from Farcry 3 has to be one of the best villains in game history. The script and the way his voice actor delivers his lines really makes you feel like you are dealing with a psychopath.
BupI thought of a few more (some may have spoilers for 30 year old games!):
Big Boss from Metal Gear: Only for the fact that he is your commanding officer the whole game and then at the end reveals himself to be the main antagonist of the game.
SHODAN from System Shock 2: I can still remember how creeped out I was at the opening cutscene of this game with SHODAN talking to you and random “computery” noises in the background. “Look at you, hacker…”
LeChuck from Monkey Island: The Monkey Island series is one of my favorite of all time. LeChuck in both his ghost and zombie forms always scared me a bit as a kid, but since the game was so funny I was able to look past that and play it.
Tom Nook from Animal Crossing. I don’t think I have to explain this entry. FUCK Tom Nook.
SiliconNooBSephiroth is great because he is an iconic character who I found immensely entertaining, but I really didn’t hate [or even dislike] him at all.
Seymour from FFX was far more unlikable, and I found it very satisfying to kill him, but he was nowhere near as cool or interesting.
Actually, the FFVII villain that I think I disliked the most was Hojo, because he had no reasonable excuse for being as awful as he was in his utter disregard for anyone not related to one of his science experiments.
SiliconNooBKreia from KOTOR2 was a really great villain just because of how sudden her betrayal was.
DiceAdmiral@Lusi WOW. Thanks for the list. I’m up to my neck in busy and am now behind in even listening to the podcast, much less trying to write an Info Blast. I’m looking forward to this one though. Mayhaps I’ll catch up soon.
Wolfe“I think you’re being optimistic. They shoot you.”
The defining quote from this episode.
