I know we've had topics based on who you reckon is the best villain in Gaming History, but I'm not interested so much in this, I'm more curious as to how you personally judge that the villain you're facing is a good one or not. I'm interested in what elements you focus on?

For me, a good villain is one whose goals and asperations are so borderline that you could almost feel for them when things go wrong. They're not really evil, more they have a different view on how things should be to the hero. It isn't a definite good / evil divide, it's a blur.

An example of this would be Fou-Lu in BoF4. Throughout the story, you're not really given a strong reason why you should hate him as a villain. Indeed, you can fully understand why he has decided to do what he has done because of the blur of the line between good and evil, and when it comes to the final decision, you can appreciate both paths... It makes it an interesting twist.

Any other views?

I'm kind of the opposite... i think a likable villian is not a good thing.. because then he's not really a villian.

A good villian is something with an unusual character design. Like a spikey shelled turtle who breathes fire, or a mad scientist with white handlebar mustaches. Nobody forgets a villian with a good character design.

Also, killing a main protagonist 1/3 through the game is always a plus.

A villian that is psycho and not just has that state of mind, but he/she also needs to look like a villian. They should also have be really mean ass hell and like killing people or just hurting them.

Three words...

Smart, sexy misunderstood.

:)

Oh those poor dears. ;__;

If I can be arsed I may elaborate upon this.

I think the absolute worst thing that can happen to a villain is to have an easy last fight. The final fight in any game should make you pull out all the stops, and maybe you can't beat it the first time but villains like this are much better than those who are too easy.

He should always have a creepy aura surroundin em so that he scares the shit outta ya whenever u see him.. And he has to be hell bent in achieving his objective

Well, I can see either way. A misunderstood, sympathetic villian is good in that this person is likeable, even relatable, and trying to stop them can be an emotional journey. One that is sympathetic, admirable at times, with honor, those with rotten pasts, also do well for this villian.

However, villians that know no boundaries in evil, are also brilliant. One that takes absolute command the second there is a frame of them. Much like Sephiroth, simply seeing him with that music and his babblings are almost an evil trance. Also like Mr. Smith in The Matrix. Hearing him go "Mr. Anderson welcome back, we missed you..." was so creepy. Someone smart, creepy, threatening, strong, are some good traits of this type of villiant.

I add on.. the creepiness of Gollum's voice.. "Myyyy Preccciooussssss.." *shudders*

The greatest villain would be one based around Richard the Third, from the Shakespeare play of the same name.

Thats a villian you love to hate <3