10 Best RPG Villains Of All Time
2. Sephiroth - Final Fantasy VII
It wouldn't be fair to leave out Sephiroth, given that he's part of the vehicle that arguably revolutionised the attitudes to JRPG's to the Western audience.
Whilst it's obvious to all now who the primary antagonist of FFVII is, back in 1997, we didn't find this out until some ways in the game. Well, when your bit-part bad guy is rumoured dead some five years prior to the game's events, it would be fair to assume that he's not that powerful.
Of course, we should know better, and when he does surface with one of those classic "I hate all life and must become god" motivations, you know he means it.
To be fair, you'd be a bit annoyed if you found out you'd been experimented on your whole life. And then cloned, led to believe you were of an ancient race and infused with cells of an alien destructive force.
But top marks for his grand scheme though: damage the planet and inhabit the Lifestream as it tried to heal it, thus becoming god-like in the process.