It's been great to be back with you all and basking in the glory of nerdom! Thanks for your continued support and it's been a joy for JQ & to be churning out articles you guys read.
Well, I am kinda big on the importance of good storylines, be it modern military or warhammer fantasy. It's definitely one thing I really long for, such as awesome storylines from Fallout or Baldur's Gate, or even the fluff in the army books of Warhammer.
An article on gamespot.com popped out recently talking about an essential core of storyline crafting: making great villains. Do take a look if you can...it makes some good points along the way and provides examples of well-constructed villains contrasted against stale ones worth forgetting. (side note: I don't agree on the author's summation on the Reapers from Mass Effect, at least in the first one they're really scary). The main point is that great villains help to intensify the story and ultimately present the hero with a real challenge...and add depth to the hero's character.
The Chaos Space Marines, my kind of "bad" guys.
The funny thing about warhammer and 40k is that you can play as the "bad" guys of that universe, Chaos, Orcs, Dark Elves etc. and one thing I love about playing the "bad" guy is that I can imagine some nice fluff to make genuine villains who had a cause against the "good" guys. We've got to be honest that the "good" guys have their own weaknesses and failings. The Empire is corrupt and the High Elves are vulnerable to insult (giving us the War of the Beard).
Who do you think has been an awesome/absolutely lousy villain? I'm just gonna open this topic up to everyone, feel free to share anything if you'd like.
If I can think of a good "bad" guy...my vote would be Arcturus Mengsk of Starcraft, cunning bastard who made you do all the dirty work (with quite some charm and charisma) and in the end take it all in his Terran Dominion. I remember being really enraged and yet amazed at how Blizzard pulled it off...made me swear that I'll kill him some day. Unfortunately I haven't played SC2 yet so I don't know what happens to him there.
Arcturus Mengsk, Grand and Esteemed Bastard of the Terran Dominion. Maybe an asshole, but he's sure a smart guy.
A lousy bad guy? I'd say General Greivious from the Star Wars prequels. He may look cool, have sweet lightsaber moves, and have a fearsome reputation...but in the movies he is unfortunately depicted as a coward and not much of a tactician (his droids kinda suck big time). Heck, I don't even get to see why the CIS (bad guy side) had a case against the Republic...we're just told they are "greedy" and not shown much else.
General Greivious, all lights and action but no substance.
My most favorite bad guy would be Cobra Commander.. Despite his shrilly voice, he always had the coolest outfit.. and that really made me jsut so attracted to the way he rolled as the villain of G I Joe.
ReplyDeleteAs for really crappy villain, The Mandarin, Iron Man's arch nemesis. My spite for the Mandarin is due to his non-relevance to Iron Man's technological suit and weaponry./ Perhaps, I just do not particularly like the mix and match of MYSTIC and Technology.
Best villain ever would be Col. Hans Landa from Inglorious Bastard.. Intellectual, Scary, intimidating and yet so regal. You can't dress up a villain like that.
ReplyDeleteWorse villain... Hmm.. cant think of any.
Wow.. Killers, I wanted to put Hans Landa as the greatest villain.. Damn..
ReplyDeleteBut yeah, Another really epic villain would have to be Hannibal Lector. The villainous or evil complexity of his mind is pretty darn intriguing. He is poised, intellectual and has an alluring factor despite the fact that he is a cannibalistic murderer.
Great Epic Villain Hero on Computer game would be Kane from The original C&C and also Diablo. Kane for the fact that he is so powerful, that a coalition of the world's global defense force has to stop him, and yet, he still puts up a very good fight with his Brotherhood of NOD forces.
And Diablo for the sheer fact that he is all evil and terrifying at the same time.
As for lousy villains, I can't really think of anything that really really sucked or was a completely useless villain of sorts.
My Favourite Villain would be the Overmind and Kerrigan. Well Kerrigan isn't really a villain. Betrayed by her own people, I wouldn't blame her for her anger and hatred for the Terran and everyone else. The whole "HIVE" mind characteristic is pretty darn interesting.
ReplyDeleteBiggest Baddest But Coolest villain is Russell Crowe acting as Ben Wade in 3:10 to Yuma Show. Technically, He is sort of an anti-hero.. but hey.. doesn't that count?
ReplyDeleteIt occurs to me that all of us can name our perfect villain or at he very least, name a great villain.
ReplyDeleteBut none can think of a horrid villain. Even now as I wreck my cranium to think of something, I am at a lost.
But went to google and I found this links with Top 20 crappiest villains. Quite interesting: http://www.heavy.com/comedy/2010/07/the-20-worst-supervillains/
I am with Killers on Hans Landa..
ReplyDeleteHe is wicked... A Great Villain that outshines even the Hero.
Awesome
Another lousy villain imo: Anakin Skywalker of the prequels (showing how much I don't like them).
ReplyDeleteWhen he's a Jedi, he's a whinny kid with puberty issues, and when he's Vader all he has are scornful looks under the shadow of his hood and has the emo-teenager thing going on. Ok, killing kids is evil, but it's on the cowardly side for me.
I really wished Anakin was really developed as an exemplary White Knight and then falling tragically to the dark side. Dang Lucas.
LMAO..
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree with you more. Reason why I didn't mention Anakin was because of Vader in Ep 4, 5 and 6 but if you isolate it to just the prequels.. YEah.. he sux big time.
DAMN LUCAS indeed.
I enjoyed reading your ppost
ReplyDelete