Okay. By now there have been so many ways that RPGs have displayed a main (plot-driving) conflict and/or villain that there are maybe only a finite number of scenarios that have not been explored, at least not in depth. The purpose of this thread is to find out if this statement is really that accurate by giving specific examples of the conflicts and/or villains (include name of conflicts/villains, game names, platform names, and your ideas). Try to use only what you have on your mind at the time (don't do a lot of searching), which is for the sake of brevity. You can relate to other posts and sources outside of this forum, but you must make sure that your post relates in some obvious way to the previous post (just take into consideration their aspects) on this thread to keep us on topic. You may go over previously discussed conflicts/villains or similar ones as long as you make reference (user name and date of post, on what thread and URL if from a different one) and have a clearly unique statement of how your statement is different or how it expands on the other person's statement. PASTE THIS LINE: Every tenth person to comment must list the names of the conflicts/villains of the last nine posts and their own current post in addition to a copy+paste of the previous list for ease of use and navigation (PASTE THIS LINE). Hopefully, as our discussion furthers and we become more familiar with each other we will be able to discuss some unique, entertaining, and feasible conflicts/villains to be used in future RPGs. Thank you for participating and your dedicated effort. PS. Check out my post and those of others on this site's thread, RPG hit points that aren't hits, for some interesting views on RPG battle mechanics.

If you want to formally male a list, you should put a template in the first post and give an example. Personally I'm a bit confused because IME most RPGs have multiple villains; also you often don't find out what the villain's actual goal was until the very end, most of the game's plot is spent figuring out who is doing what, defeating unrelated minibosses, and talking to NPCs with problems unrelated to the main conflict.

To answer your questions, focus only on the main conflict(s)/villain(s). As you said, "you often don't find out what the villain's actual goal was until the very end, most of the game's plot is spent figuring out who is doing what, defeating unrelated minibosses, and talking to NPCs with problems unrelated to the main conflict." The commenter should focus on games they have played through or are very familiar with, and the plot twist of finding out who the main villain(s) or conflict(s) is/are at the end should be considered as part of an in-game biography. How were the arch-villains/conflicts behind the scenes since the beginning of the game? Disregard all non-main story related NPCs, Minibosses, and sidequests. If any of these plot items do have some direct connection to the C/V (conflict/villain), then make them part of the C/V's in-game bio. For example, Twinblade of Fable would not fit in a bio of Jack of Blades because he has more of a connection to an aspect of the Hero's life and no real connection to Jack of Blades other than JoB's suggestion to look into Twinblade's camp for info on finding the Hero's sister. However, mentioning Golbez, Agahnim- Zant, and Leon (FF2) in the bios of Zemus, Ganon, and Emperor Palamecia, respectively, would be perfectly in context.

Anyway, here is the requested template using what I am sure almost everyone considers the fan-glutton of RPG villains (consider this post #1):

Sephiroth
Final Fantasy VII
Playstation I

Sephiroth is basically an incomplete model of Darth Vader. He begins life special in comparison to others. He becomes a hero in everyone's eyes, but he still has a darker, colder side that isolates him. He eventually becomes a villain, is majorly damaged (physically and mentally), becomes more powerful than ever before (ie., Darth Vader becomes the defacto commander in chief of Imperial military, Sephiroth gains power through the Life Stream), and is struck down in a final confrontation. However, Sephiroth never approaches the stage of redemption that Darth Vader approaches (the other major difference being that Darth Vader would be a detail in Darth Sidious' bio rather than possessing his own bio for the purposes of this discussion). Also, both possess an "ultimate weapon" that serves as a major coupon: Darth Vader with the Darkside of the Force (possibly the Death Star) and Sephiroth with Meteor. Basically, what Sephiroth shows us has been done is a hero to villain with a god complex type of villain. In order to create something unique, entertaining, and feasible in a future RPG we (the gaming community) must stray away from this theme-type or create a drastically different interpretation of this villain type without feeling ridiculous.

Every tenth person to comment must list the names of the conflicts/villains of the last nine posts and their own current post in addition to a copy+paste of the previous list for ease of use and navigation (PASTE THIS LINE).