Cool. I like that idea...

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official Necromancer of GameDev forums Game Writing section

quote:Original post by MatrixCubed
How about, you find out that the villain you slew in the original game, was really the -real- villain''s stunt double?

Ick. Seriously, no.

quote:Since you never wend back to before that time, the beginning would be the same. So in the end, there would be like five of you trying to stop the evil villain.

In Radioactive, starring John Belushi, when you go back in time, you replace your past self.

Mmmh ... and in Time Cop with Jean Claude Van Damme (it''s probably his best movie, so gimme a break here), the evil villain goes back in time to give himself tips on stock trading and investments so he can become filthy rich in the future.
He does meet a tragic end, though, because the same matter cant occupy the same space. Interesting idea, I thought.
And nice time travel paradoxes, a la Return to the Future.

But what about NOT time travelling, uh ?

My personal pet villain is, well, Lucifer. And any villain of his kind, which is really anyone who happened to be the leader of the camp that lost.
It''s really the old idea of "vae victis" (woe to the vanquished).
I particularly like the ambiguity that ensues. For instance, is Lucifer the original Prometheus, luring mankind towards knowledge to allow them to become free spirits (the whole idea of Free Will), or is he really an evil being that shattered our innocence and got us cast from Eden. We dont really know because he lost the war that erupted afterwards. And since the victor writes the history books, well... there you go.

Now dont get all religious on my ass, I am giving an example that I find relevant. Now I realise I am slightly off topic, but hey, maybe not. After all they say the greatest ruse of Satan was to make us believe he didnt exist.

Isnt that the perfect way of keeping a villain ?
Kaiser Sause style

Sancte Isidore ora pro nobis !

quote:Original post by ahw
But what about NOT time travelling, uh ?

Agreed.

quote:For instance, is Lucifer the original Prometheus, luring mankind towards knowledge to allow them to become free spirits (the whole idea of Free Will), or is he really an evil being that shattered our innocence and got us cast from Eden. We dont really know because he lost the war that erupted afterwards. And since the victor writes the history books, well... there you go.

I believe the quote goes, "Tis better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven." John Milton, Paradise Lost, circa 1300''s. This is why Satan''s domain (over one of the seven deadly sins) is "pride," and why he fell.

quote:Now dont get all religious on my ass, I am giving an example that I find relevant. Now I realise I am slightly off topic, but hey, maybe not. After all they say the greatest ruse of Satan was to make us believe he didnt exist.

Isnt that the perfect way of keeping a villain ?
Kaiser Sause style

In the words of "Verbal" Kint: "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn''t exist."

Wow, Orionx! You have a good knowledge of quotes! Anyway, I stand by my previous statement: It is best to have clues leading the player to believe the villain is dead and then surprise the player with the fact that he isn''t. And on the idea of another person replacing a defeated villain... I believe they did that in Final Fantasy II, although I haven''t completed it yet, I kind of looked at the strategy guide and saw... Oh, and by the way, I am refering to the Final Fantasy Origins version of FF2.

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official Necromancer of GameDev forums Game Writing section

orinonX : indeed, the saying appeared in Usual Suspects, which is why I mention Kaiser Sause. Although I had heard the expression before that movie.
As for the reigning in Hell rather than serving in heaven thing. Well, it can still be seen both ways : Lucifer was a free spirit and rather than stay a slave all his (immortal) life, decided to do something about it, paying the price as he went.
He can be portrayed as a hero struggling to bring change, or as a dangerous ideologist that tries to corrupt other people minds. Depending on whether you are the oppressed slave next door, or the rich owner, you will portray him as either.

So you could bring back the "villain" by having some sort of paradigm shift. Did anyone say Robin Hood ?

Anyway

Sancte Isidore ora pro nobis !

Whilst watching SD Gundam, I came up with an interesting. What if the villain was something like a virus or a program in a computer, which controls a ship or a robotics plant or something of the like. In whatever in he/she/it is in (for the sake of conversation, I''ll say a ship), an android is built with great power. One of it''s features is the ability to sharing its mind with that of the ship. With this, even when that android is destroyed, the villain still exists.

I was thinking, how much of the villains power would go into someone else if they were combined? For instance, if the arms, legs, and head was combined with some demon, how much power would the random demon gain?