A random thought just came to my mind.

In terms of being evil, not many things can surpass someone who becomes a traitor and screws the rest of the party (in a FF game that is).
So I thought: wouldn't it be cool (and original) if there would be a Final Fantasy game in the future (FFXIV? ) in which the main villian starts out as one of the main "good" characters, maybe even as one of your party members, and then right in the middle of the game betrays the good guys and becomes the main villian for the rest of the game?

Of course it wouldn't be so sudden, the developers would have to find the right amount between a shocking surprise that makes no sense, and too many clues that would make it obvious. that villian would have to come with a great character-development, so you could witness his\hers transition from good to evil without it being too obvious.

For example, imagine this:
Halfway through the game (or a little ealier) the party with the "true villian" finally goes to the final battle with the "main villian so far". by then the player isn't sure what to think of the true villian, is he going to betray us, does he just appear to be slightly too suspicious? and then, (preferably) in a shocking FMV the true villian suddenly joins the other villian (or even uses him to grow stronger, like Kefka), or realises something dark and mind-devestating about his\her past and makes the final shift from good to evil.

I guess I took it a little too far but I was suddenly inspired to write all this down... sorry
So does it sound like a good idea for a future FF game?

Its not a bad idea, if anything the FF games need villains that are not only evil because they are evil and have a better background other than "OMFG somebody did something really evil to me and now i shall take revenge destroying the world" or "My mommy told me to".

I think that having a scheming bastard as a villain would just be awesome. Somebody like what Delita was just, more evil. I think they should take the working in the shadows from Delita and the best damn villain ever in an RPG, motherfucking Miang from Xenogears, and try to work from there. The goal is to have an all around mean jerk, a dude or chick so bad that they wouldnt even fight the final battle and have the party destroy themselves or something, a perfect plan, until the hero has an epiphany and does something to turn it all around.


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FOR THE WIN!!!!!!!!!

u kno thats an awesome idea, but i think he should be like evil all the way through posing as a goodie until they find something he's been looking for and he holds them with magic and tells the main to hand it over and then he teleports, leaving a nasty monster behind, and i think that whatever you level him up to is his level in the end? and you must have him in party for the most part so he ends up gettin lvls?

Well I think we can leave it to the game developers to decide the actual details of the betrayal, as they have more issues to consider that we may not know of, and they're probably in their position for a reason
I'm not talking about the manner of which the betrayal actually happens, but rather about the idea of a good guy (or even a main playable character) who turns into the main villian.

I've come to think of it, and it seems the betrayal element has played a few small (and in most times insignificant) parts in some of the FF games.

- SPOILERS -

Although it is rather obvious that Seymour would function as a villian, I guess a few people were surprised by his betrayal. But in that case, it was too early, too obvious, and not important enough to become a central thing of the story.
In FF4 I always thought Kain would eventually be fought as a villian, thought I wasn't sure.
Kefka kind of betrayed (more like took an opportunity to achieve power) Ghesthal when he uses the statues in that scene on the floating continent. That's when you realise he's the true evil in the game (for me at least ).
Cait Sith... although he was kind of a traitor, he was never evil.
In FF8 Edea was the opposite of my idea I guess

But the element of a truly betrayed main character was never built up to be a main part of the story, and usually it isn't very difficult to foresee such cases where someone suddenly shifts from good to evil. Too bad.

Delita worked in that department, although one can't really concider him the evil. Or even an antagonist. He's a bit complex about everything. He's too much of a quadruple agent in everything. He helps Ramza out, even, because Ramza inadvetedly helps him out. He works for Ramza's brother, then he works for his enemy, then for the church, then for the enemy again, and then he becomes King. God knows who decides these things.

Miang was an unexpected main villain. It was a smooth transition. She just seemed like a minor character who was helping Ramsus out, until you found out that, she's, you know, the Mother of Manking [on Xenogear's planet].


I know Leon from FF2 was a bit weird too.
Kain was nothing than weak minded. He constantly got mind controled by Zeremous. I think, about four times, until the final time before going to the moon for the final dungeon.




Red Winged Seraph...
The whole time I was reading your post, all that floated through my mind was "Anakin, Anakin, Anakin". But... what was that game? One game, the main character turned out to be the traitor in the very end.
Anyhoo.

Denim, well Anakin isn't in a FF game, it's not really the same I think in a FF game, that kind of villian would have to be highly developed (in his\hers character-depth) to do such an act without it being too obvious or too sudden.

Indeed, if they did this in and FF game, it would either make it one of my favorite FF games, or I would hate it. They would have to do it very smoothly (such as Miang in Xenogears) and without making it obvious (chances are that they would beceause there would be the stupid people who wouldnt understand where this betrayel is coming from). I also think it would have to be a gradual change that is built up (such as Anakin but in a video game) but is so hard to do this without making it obvious. My idea is that they make it so the character starts out in agreement with the party, but tends to disagree more with what the party is doing more as the story goes on. They need to do something like when Aerith died in FFVII (sorry if that was obvious, because I had known about it from when I started playing the game so I dont really know if this was a huge change, but from what I have heard, it was) and the character just goes away, but becomes the main villain in the story. If that made any sense.