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[SantaC]

I am seeing this recurring phenomena especially in jrpgs. Villains proceed to kill countless people or other barbaric schemes. But when the villian him/herself is being bested by the protagonist, you are suddenly suppose to feel pity for him/her. The life is almost always spared.

I dont get this line of thought really and it annoys me that the devs are afraid to go all the way out.

 

[feynoob]

Stockholm syndrome.
Just like batman and joker relationship.

 

[KimDongHwan]

sorry to be the person to ask, but can you provide some examples to get more of the idea?

 

[BennyBlanco]

Anime trope. A tired one at that.

 

[Beastclaw Raider]

It's like this in pretty much all media and it's annoying as hell

 

[NecrosaroIII]

Only sympathetic villain in an RPG is Necrosaro from Dragon Warrior IV.

 

[Mister Wolf]

Most of the best villains are sympathetic figures who the protagonist can relate to but not justify their actions. Take Jin from Xenoblade 2. He had good reason to hate humanity for its treatment of Blades and attempted to uproot Amalthus from controlling the system. He was a terrorist committing evil deeds for a just cause.

 

[KàIRóS]

Only sympathetic villain in an RPG is Necrosaro from Dragon Warrior IV.

You need to play LIVE A LIVE my friend

Anime trope. A tired one at that.

Not really, I can think of a lot of western comics and other narratives doing it too, I mean Star Wars does it for example (Luke vs Darth Vader)

Personally I would argue the protagonist vs villain relationship would be much more boring if they just fought at the end "just cause" and end it there, zero drama and just some final fight would be pretty darn anti-climatic unless the villain is like some monster like in the Alien movies or something like that.

 

[NecrosaroIII]

You need to play LIVE A LIVE my friend

I have, but haven't completed it. Solid title.

 

[Werewolf Jones]

Not a game but DO NOT watch/read Demon Slayer if you hate that trope. Demons killed and eat humans by the hundreds then suddenly get a backstory as they are slain "I just wanted a gf...." it's fucking awful.

Not to say JRPG antagonists cannot be sympathised with.