[-Kaine-]

Final Fantasy 6 is perhaps my favourite episode but... how the hell can a damn psycho clown have so many fans..!? I hate him so much..! And I can't stand seeing this guy nominated every damn time the conversation is about Final Fantasy..
News flash for Kefka: Spehiroth is ten better than you.. <.< Now now.. I'm not a fangirl.. but that's so true.. u.u

[rambus]

-Kaine-, on 12 September 2010 - 08:14 AM, said:

Final Fantasy 6 is perhaps my favourite episode but... how the hell can a damn psycho clown have so many fans..!? I hate him so much..! And I can't stand seeing this guy nominated every damn time the conversation is about Final Fantasy..
News flash for Kefka: Spehiroth is ten better than you.. <.< Now now.. I'm not a fangirl.. but that's so true.. u.u

[treelo]

Damn, you just got burned by Rambus. I think that's a KI first.

[Corrderio]

And this is different from FF7/Cloud/Sephiroth still winning best game/character contests?

[-Kaine-]

Actually f*ck Sephiroth and Cloud too then... u.u;
And rambus you can't do that.. it's like I'd tell that to myself.. and I wouldn't.. <.<

[Kobayashimaru]

Ultimecia wins for her evil plot being to enslave every person that ever existed anywhere ever.

Or ExDeath, just for his name and the fact that his dialogue was written by a cliche-slinging bucket of jizzum.

[Typo 5]

I've never understood Kefka's popularity myself, nor this "depth" that FFVI apparently has in its story. Last time I played it was about 12 years ago, just a kid then, but I figured I'd remembered the game well enough. I was tempted to play through it again recently just out of curiosity, but I started a new file in 8 instead.

Now that I think about it, there aren't really any impressive FF villains that I can think of, but like Koba before me, I would go against popular opinion and give Ultimecia some credit for at least being more than the typical FF-fare "I go mad for some (or no) reason and must now take over the world!" big bad.

[treelo]

I'm sure if his name was Catka you'd be a fanboy yourself.

[Typo 5]

treelo, on 12 September 2010 - 04:32 PM, said:

I'm sure if his name was Catka you'd be a fanboy yourself.

He'd have to have a pretty damn good new character catsprite to get me on board. You people worry Typo with your cat obsessions~

[treelo]

I still think I'm the prime candidate for Final Fantasy's best villain. I mean, what more could you want?

[Typo 5]

Treecat a villain? Maybe one of those recurring joke ones. We could keep feeding you milk to keep you quiet. ヾ(´･ω･｀)"

[Vigilous]

Quote

I still think I'm the prime candidate for Final Fantasy's best villain. I mean, what more could you want?

More asbestos. Clearly, you lack in that department. And maybe more fluoride poisonings.

[Rhayve]

treelo, on 12 September 2010 - 04:50 PM, said:

I still think I'm the prime candidate for Final Fantasy's best villain. I mean, what more could you want?

More carnage, please.

[pathwriter]

Kefka is a popular villain because he is entertaining and his motivations are largely ones of simple ambition for power. One can argue that the Magiciite experiments done to him drove him to madness and resulted in his desire for entropy and control, but that's barely touched upon in the game and it's likely ambition and lust for power would be part of the character of one of the Empire's top generals, even before putting on a jester's motley.

Contrast with Sephiroth, who has major mommy issues, or the mind-bogglingly confused and frankly irrelevant plot of FFVIII (it's a love story, the presence of Ultimecia and the other Sorceresses can be ignored easily). Contrast with the Chaos/Garland confusion of the original game, the constant "No, wait, this guy is responsible," of FFIV, or the petulant existential dread of Kuja. They're all weak and driven by weird motivations that make them all either impossible to understand (bad idea for a major character) or really intolerable. A villain doesn't need to be sympathetic, as Kefka certainly is not, but he does need to be comprehensible. Most of the villains of FFXI fit that trope, too. The villain of FFXII would be fine if they hadn't gone with the mystic demigod plot.

Basically, Square-Enix writes villains poorly. They don't even write very good heroes. Squall, Cloud, and Tidus are all whining bitches. Terra's proper name in the Japanese is Tina, which culturally means "generic female," sort of like calling a character Jane or Mary in English. Zidane was fairly tolerable, he was just a noble spirit, but his character development is rather shallow. Cecil is not a lot better, but he's a coherent hero. I personally like Vaan, but some complain that he shouldn't have been the main character since he's just a street urchin and the story is far more about Ashe's quest, though Ashe is a rather solid hero in her own right.

Actually, I'm kind of hard-pressed to think of a compelling hero in a video game. Most of the best ones are the totally absent ones, like the primaries of Portal, Bioshock, the original Final Fantasy, etc.

[MrReinhardt]

I read Basch was supposed to be the original lead for 12. My opion, it would've suited the game better.

[Keylime]

I personally happen to like FF tactics for PS1. No mention of those heros/villians.

[pathwriter]

I've never played the Tactics games, sorry.

[Typo 5]

SE writes weak villains - that, I can definitely agree with. Not that I'm all that hard to please since I don't expect video games to present me with gold standard story telling anyway.

pathwriter, on 12 September 2010 - 08:13 PM, said:

Kefka is a popular villain because he is entertaining and his motivations are largely ones of simple ambition for power. One can argue that the Magiciite experiments done to him drove him to madness and resulted in his desire for entropy and control, but that's barely touched upon in the game and it's likely ambition and lust for power would be part of the character of one of the Empire's top generals, even before putting on a jester's motley.

Contrast with Sephiroth, who has major mommy issues, or the mind-bogglingly confused and frankly irrelevant plot of FFVIII (it's a love story, the presence of Ultimecia and the other Sorceresses can be ignored easily).

I always gave Sephiroth the same excuse as Kefka: driven mad as a result of experiments carried out on him by Shinra, and the subsequent "realization" of what he is. Both villains are more than just human, believe they are above humans, and seek to persecute them out of hatred/resentment/whatever. Again, not stellar storytelling, but I always felt that FFVII did a better job of making a coherent villain than VI. If I could drag myself away from MMOland for a while I'd run through each of the old-school FFs again as a refresher.

Also, Vaan and Penelo. God forbid a JRPG feature an actual grown man in Basch as Lord and Savior, hero of the land. No, thanks to the usual Eastern preference we have 2 kids who really don't have a place in the story at all, tagging along and playing hero. Barf. Sometimes I feel cursed for being one of the few to actually still enjoy the slow pace and derivative (but addicting) battle systems of the typical JRPG...

This post has been edited by Typo 5: 12 September 2010 - 09:20 PM

[treelo]

Quote

Actually, I'm kind of hard-pressed to think of a compelling hero in a video game.

Harry Mason. That dude is a fucking champ.

[Wildstriker]

Gary fucking Oak is the best villain.