this post was submitted on 25 Jul 2025
42 points (92.0% liked)

Gaming

23709 readers
11 users here now

Sub for any gaming related content!

Rules:

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] ech@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 days ago

Hell, if philosophy is the driving factor for a good villain

...I didn't say it was? That's just Vaas' whole schtick - poorly understood philosophical quips that everyone eats up for some reason. Again, if all you need is a bad guy constantly needling you, then I suppose I see why you like Vaas. I just don't think that's enough to make him "museum worthy".

If we wanna get into what I think makes a top tier video game villain, I'd say the critical characteristics would be menace, intelligence, and capability. In short, they need to be an obvious threat that know what they're doing and are a challenge to best, both mentally and physically. To be honest, I can't think of all that many villains in video games that I would consider that good. GLaDOS fits for sure. I think the Kingslayer in The Witcher 2 is also quite good. Fumbled ending aside, Mass Effect had a good run of baddies as well - Saren, The Illusive Man/The Collectors, The Reapers. There might be more, but that's all I can think of atm.