[kupoartist]

Originally posted by Qjij_jijQ

What would you rather see...

- The Good guys running after the Bad guy throughout the game ;
- The Bad guy running after the Good guys throughout the game ;
- Have them not know about each other until the end ;
- Other...

toughie. My idea of a decent enemy is somthing that falls under "other", but possibly also under the first in a way. The enemy should be there all along. right under their noses, just so your feelings of hatred and surprise are genuine, and enough for you as the player to have actually wanted to fight with the enemy that one last time.

How to do this then... Either:
#1. The enemy is a member of your party for ages, you trust them, they lead you to place which are traps or result in "evil villany" type things happening, but you're still trusting of that person. Then they betray you trust, and pile the blame on you, making it seem that you're the villian. you'd hopefully want revenge.

#2. Much the same as 1, but The enemy is a part of the main character, or someone in the party (would work well as "the love interest" perhaps). You don't know that the enemy and your party member are one and the same, and neither do they...

#3. In some intangible form, the enemy is always there. perhaps a voice in your head, or a selection of audio-logs and survivors testimonies. You see the misery and destruction this person has caused, and you hate them for it. They taunt you, and tell you there is no hope. Yet you never see them until the very end of the game.

... I guess these have been done elsewhere before (#2 is a little Elena / Millenia from Grandia 2, and #3 is shamelessly lifted from System Shock 1 and 2.), but its not unlike FF to recycle ideas is it?

Edit: also, i'd like to say that I like the idea of a hero that everyone looks up to, that turns out to be a villian. Sephiroth was kind of like this, but you still had that feeling that he was bad from the first mentions of him, leaving very little to the imagination. Perhaps the ultimate bad guy would be a legendary hero, who joins you, manipulates you and then tries to take over the world while doing so.