Final Villain Revealed, When?

[Draygone]

Okay, I'm wondering because in one game I want to create, you don't really find out who the villain is until something like 2/3 into the game. I recently (today) thought it might be better for him to show up closer to the middle.

BTW, when I say the villain reveals himself, I mean you meet him in the first time (as opposed to games like Super Mario RPG, where you learn of Smithy not too far in yet you don't meet Smithy until you fight him). And we're talking the final villain, not some other villain who you find out isn't the final villain because the first villain is either killed before the end of the game or turns out to be working for the final villain.

Each location in the story has it's advantages and disadvantages.

The beginning, without a prologue you wouldn't know much about the villain when you met him, but it would allow for more time to gain a love/hate relationship with the guy.

A little ways in, you might find out what the guy is like due to what you've heard so far, though usually most of the stuff at the beginning of the game is unrelated to the villain.

Halfway through, you should have a good idea who you're up against because of word of mouth and seeing the results of the villain's conquest, and you'd have an equal chance to get to know the villain personally.

Most of the way through, you'd be tired of hearing so much about him and wanting to finally meet him, but when you finally do meet him, you'd be far enough in the game for an awesome introduction (as it seems to be a general rule that the furthur you are into the game, the more awesome events can be).

Meeting him at the end means he gets almost no development (usually if he's at the end, you'd mostly be dealing with his lackeys along the way), and yet not knowing what you're up against could make the final battle a bit more interesting.

At least, those are my opinions on what effect the timing of the villain's appearance has on the story.

[The Smurf]

i voted for "into the second half", but in my game you know who the villain is and what he's trying to do about half into the first half. you NEVER see him until the very end tho.

however for most games i prefer being in the dark and then being surprised


-the smurf

[The Final Rune]

Since the true identy of my villian(s) doesn't get revealed until you progress through the game I make appearances quite common.

In my Gunslinger game, the hero crosses paths with the villian rather early in the game. Since at the time neither knows the role of the other there is no animosity between them. So they communicate and act as normal people toward each other.

I think keeping the identy of the main villian is great to the plot of a story.

I'd give more examples, but I'd hate to give away plot from my games.

[The Smurf]

yeah, don't do that!


-the smurf

[Deleted]

What Final Rune said was something I was going to say would be cool, if you met him earlier on but didn't know he was the antagonist.

I would say the start, little ways in, or about half-way through, because filling a whole entire half of the game with stupid crappy fluff stuff will suck (and if you don't believe me go play crappy FFX-2 where the damn stupid comic relief characters ARE the main antagonists for half of the game). Depending on your story you probably have the antagonist's plot being revealed gradually through his actions (while leaving questions unanswered) (whether off in a distant place or up close and personal to the player). In the case of having one antagonist whoe works for the main antagonist, I think it'd be better to have the first main antagonist somehow turn out to be the main antagonist (I'm not sure if that made sense).

edit: I voted 'Maybe halfway through'

[Dungeon Warden]

The main villian in my game will be met by the characters early in the game as a side story to looking for the crown. You don't know who the villian is until the end when you finally confront him, although you will hear many stories along the way (but only if you look for them) that will let you know what you are up against.

[Draygone]

Oh I can guarentee that the first half of the game wouldn't be fluff. Maybe a couple small spots, but even though you wouldn't meet the villain until so late, you'd have your hands full against those who follow the villain, along with some obvious secondary forces.

[The Smurf]

yeah, it wouldn't be fun if you didn't have to deal with the lackeys in the early stages.


-the smurf

[Dungeon Warden]

In my game (as anyone who's played the demo will know), there is no lackeys or villian at the begining. It is the trap laden dungeon who is the main adversary. You are trying to catch the robber who stold the crown but it is a while before you catch up to him.

[Deleted]

2/3 or so's fine. You probably hear stuff about him and learn about him before than so it's fine. Mine you meet him almost exactly 1/2 way through, and learn about him gradually before. As long as he doesn't just pop out of nowhere a long time into the game it's fine.

[Draygone]

Actually, he only half pops out of nowhere.