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Who is your favorite villain in the Mass Effect Trilogy? [FULL SPOILERS INSIDE]
- Thread starter Deleted member 17184
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"WE'rE oN ANoTHeR pLAnE oF ExiSTencE MAAAAN"- Sovereign, basically.
The Reapers are just a bunch of losers and were the coolest when they were dead like the Derelict Reaper.
Uh, I always found Saren a laughable idiot. Spectres are supposed to be totally elite and super intelligent soldiers and the dude just comes across as either a bumbling fool or a puppet whenever he's on screen. Not exactly villain material.
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Kai Leng was supposed to be pathetic. Multiple characters call him out for it. Thane points out that since a dying drell got between him and his target, Leng is a shit assassin. Shepard points out at the cerberus base that all Leng does is run away when the tide turns against him, and all leng can say back is a petulant "shut up!"
Leng is not supposed to be cool. He's a petty, cringe edgelord who is so outclassed by the hero he gets killed in a quick time event. Saren and TIM have to be talked into offing themselves. The game has respect for them. Leng is a rabid dog you put down without looking.
Even the books (and not the bad one that was decanonized) point this out. You were never supposed to like him. He's not the Loghaine of the story. He's the Arl Howe.
The Shadow Broker (both within the main game and the DLC if we count it).
In the first game, the Broker was intriguingly enigmatic and threatening.
In the second game, I think they could have weaved Liara's story with how she and Feron came into conflict with the organization a little more elegantly, and expanded upon its takeover of the previous Broker a little better/in a less cliche way, but the general flow of the main story and the DLC's reveal of Yahgs was interesting.
I also kind of like that the Broker largely operated on its own terms separate from the main galaxy-ending antagonists (Reapers). The Shadow Broker and his goons offered a welcome reprieve from all the more dramatic villainy of the main story.
Honestly, I just loved the more 'day-to-day' beats of Shepard's crew taking on threats than the urgency of the main plot.
In the first game, the Broker was intriguingly enigmatic and threatening.
In the second game, I think they could have weaved Liara's story with how she and Feron came into conflict with the organization a little more elegantly, and expanded upon its takeover of the previous Broker a little better/in a less cliche way, but the general flow of the main story and the DLC's reveal of Yahgs was interesting.
I also kind of like that the Broker largely operated on its own terms separate from the main galaxy-ending antagonists (Reapers). The Shadow Broker and his goons offered a welcome reprieve from all the more dramatic villainy of the main story.
Honestly, I just loved the more 'day-to-day' beats of Shepard's crew taking on threats than the urgency of the main plot.
saren is sympathetic and somewhat three dimensional
the reapers and timmy are a joke
the real goat
the reapers and timmy are a joke
the real goat
TIM in ME2 is the best, sucked hard in ME3.
Harbinger was super entertaining in ME2 with his dumb childish shittalking, nonexistent in ME3.
Sovereign had one cool convo, he's fine.
Saren I just never cared for I dunno.
Kai Leng.....lmao.
Harbinger was super entertaining in ME2 with his dumb childish shittalking, nonexistent in ME3.
Sovereign had one cool convo, he's fine.
Saren I just never cared for I dunno.
Kai Leng.....lmao.
Because Saren is just a puppet. We don't even really know much of his own motivations or personality because everything he does is just what the Reapers want him to. That makes him a kind of boring character imo
TIM was the villain who "made sense" at first and gradually lost his mind to Reaper Indoctrination but there is still a point where you're intended to think this guy has just fallen hard from who he was.
Kai Leng's an asshole and you're supposed to hate him, but you're supposed to hate him because he's a formidable obstacle that you can never seem to beat, instead of being this gigantic failure who ruins every scene he's in by existing.
Kai Leng killing Thane and escaping from Shepard is supposed to establish him as a crafty fighter. Thessia casts him as the clear winner over Shepard and then taunting you later is supposed to motivate you into getting back at him. Finishing him is this big cathartic moment where you avenge your fallen comrade(s), but none of it lands and Kai Leng is just this phenomenally dumb and ill fitting character who only wins because depleting his health bar wrenches you from gameplay into the cutscene zone, where your actions no longer matter.
That sounds more like lame ass Harbinger than Sovereign.
Even Harby's voice is worse.
One of the biggest failures about Harbinger is that he is literally mute in ME3... Despite his presence in ME2 Arrival which launched only a year prior to ME3, he just becomes a silent antagonist that is spoken about and at the end is physically present but after all his yap in ME2 is now just a silent threat. It was just bizarre.
Sovereign was cool as shit in 2008 but the problem is that a motivation built up to be unfathomable to your puny human mind eventually getting explained as "Clippy is only technically doing what we told him to do" makes Sovereign's originally frightening speech about the true nature of the galaxy and what Shepard was up against into verbal posturing from a self absorbed bully.
Saren and The Illusive Man were both fantastic villains.
Clearly the Starchild is the most intimidating villain though. That kid had the power to destroy the entire franchise in a matter of fifteen minutes.
Clearly the Starchild is the most intimidating villain though. That kid had the power to destroy the entire franchise in a matter of fifteen minutes.
The Illusive Man is a complete dumbass and he's flat out atrocious as a character in ME3.
It's Saren with no competition.
It's Saren with no competition.
My renegade femshep.
Kei Leng isn't even cool in a parallel universe.
Kei Leng isn't even cool in a parallel universe.
"Stand amongst the ashes of a trillion dead souls, and ask the ghosts if honor matters. The silence is your answer."
This is why The Illusive Man is not a villain.
This is why The Illusive Man is not a villain.
Kai Leng because fuck you.
Where is evil Shepard clone? That's my favorite villain.
Literally having a conversation with a buddy about an evil Shepard clone and all of a sudden he was in Citadel DLC.
Where is evil Shepard clone? That's my favorite villain.
Literally having a conversation with a buddy about an evil Shepard clone and all of a sudden he was in Citadel DLC.
I mean he was intended to be a morally compromised force trying to outsmart a race of machine gods for the betterment of humanity that maybe didn't even care for his help. Even beyond ME3's infinite amount of resources and soldiers being whack it's made abundantly clear right from your first conversation that TIM's been indoctrinated, and you have to listen to him babble on about how he's totally got this the whole game until the very final confrontation is him realizing he's indoctrinated.
TIM's only not a villain in the sense that his grand attempt at taking advantage of a galactic war against an immortal, unstoppable force immediately falls flat, and he ends up looking like Homer did in that episode of the Simpsons where he's applying to work at the nuclear planet, and he's desperately trying to seem competent and in with the other applicants but ends up trapped in a broom closet.
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Speaking of Saren and villains like him....the next ME needs to be much more grounded, something like an action-mystery thriller or detective story. Saren was a more realistic and believable threat, it doesn't need to be galaxy spanning IMO.
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Harbinger has fewer votes than I expected so far. It's not my favorite, but I thought more people preferred it.
I'm not super shocked....but I'm sad that others don't love the goofy lines like assuming direct control.
I will always love the doofus.
The line is funny, but Harbinger feels almost as much of a dismantling of the Reaper's ability to scare us than the Catalyst.
We leave Mass Effect 1 with the knowledge that a single distracted Reaper will take the entire Citadel fleet to destroy. Harbinger, meanwhile, is someone who possesses a random enemy and starts talking about how awesome he is before immediately getting punked and running away screaming that he'll get you next time, Gadget, next time. His final line ("you have failed! We will find another way!") isn't even a cool declaration that the Reapers' victory is inevitable, he sounds like he's about to cry and desperately rationalizing why you didn't win.
Like being added by someone you beat in an online match as soon as the match ends.I am kind of coming around to him.
It was the email he sends after Thessia that's clinching it for me.
Someone thought this would genuinely incite the player into seeking vengeance against the new unstoppable villain. Someone thought this was a good idea.
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You're right and I absolutely will admit that you are.
However for some reason I found him adorably charming, in a way that I could kick his ass and he kept coming. Like sure it was clear he wasn't on the level of The Reaper's? I can also see why it could harm the series having a villain like him, but for whatever reason it worked and I found them fun.
You shut your mouth, he was a hero!
My choice is the serial killer in 2 that we release and we never hear from again.
I still think Harbinger is cool. I remember playing ME2 for the first time and just accepting what was at face value ie Harbinger just being the boss Collector controlling his dudes remotely. Then when it releases control at the end you realise it's a Reaper. That was cool. Harbinger having basically no presence in ME3 was maybe my biggest disappointment of that game.
Balak was the only good villain in the series, so him (Tela Vasir was great but I see her as an antagonist not a villain). Sovereign was decent, Saren was underdeveloped, TIM was the product of scattershot writing, and Harbinger and Kai Leng were.... yeah.
Saren is the only one that really works, his arc is comprehensible and fits neatly into the first game and the series' overall themes. Villains that feel like people are simply better than incomprehensible vague forces like the Reapers.
There's also a few minor antagonists that are interesting like the Shadow Broker.
I like this interpretation even though it's complete bullshit, the writers definitely wanted him to be cool and intimidating. But he sort of works as a pathetic villain by complete accident.
There's also a few minor antagonists that are interesting like the Shadow Broker.
I like this interpretation even though it's complete bullshit, the writers definitely wanted him to be cool and intimidating. But he sort of works as a pathetic villain by complete accident.
Nah, he was written to be cool in the Karpyshyn books. Not sympathetic, but cool. He was supposed to be the anti-Shepard. N7 discharge that is full renegade, mentally unstable, works alone, and hates all aliens. An individual as physically and combat proficient as Shepard but lacking any of his character and leadership abilities.
Basically, they took what Kai Leng was supposed to be and made that the antagonist of the Citadel DLC, who they just turn into your evil clone. That was what Leng's story should have been, that of a rival. Instead, he was turned into a joke mook of an enemy.
Saren for sure. He already had dubious morals, but could still be seen somewhat as an antihero until he was indoctrinated. My favorite voice acting though is easily Sovereign. Just always loved the way they sounded from the start.
Yeah, but they were mostly window dressing, and didn't even appear until two-thirds of the way through. Unless you count being used solely as a ship. Also, I can't look at a Reaper and not think of this:
Yeah, but they were mostly window dressing, and didn't even appear until two-thirds of the way through. Unless you count being used solely as a ship. Also, I can't look at a Reaper and not think of this:
