History JerksAreWorseThanVillains / VideoGames

* The major antagonists in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' range from scumbags who receive audience love through [[LoveToHate heel hate]] or EvilIsCool, {{Tragic Villain}}s with compelling and sympathetic motives, or [[MemeticLoser simply not taken seriously by the player base]]. By contrast, the formal introduction of [[ObstructiveBureaucrat Fourchenault Leveilleur]] during the lead up to ''Endwalker'' left the community itching to kill him for [[HeadInTheSandManagement refusing to allow Sharlayan to aid the Eorzean Alliance]] for the upcoming [[EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Final Days]] and [[IHaveNoSon disowning his children Alphinaud and Alisaie]] for daring to speak out against him, all while saying [[FantasticRacism the "violent savages of Eorzea" had got to them]]. Evil arch wizards, and vengeful dragons are a bit out there for an audience to hate. An elitist and holier-than-thou politician who looks down on everyone including their own children? Not so much.

* The major antagonists in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' range from scumbags who receive audience love through [[LoveToHate heel hate]], or EvilIsCool, {{Tragic Villain}}s with compelling and sympathetic motives, or [[MemeticLoser simply not taken seriously by the player base]]. By contrast, [[ObstructiveBureaucrat Fourchenault Leveilleur]] left the community itching to kill him during the lead up to ''Endwalker'' for refusing to aid the Eorzean Alliance during the [[EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Final Days]] and [[IHaveNoSon disowning his children Alphinaud and Alisaie]] for daring to fight against it.

* In the story of ''[[VideoGame/NintendoWars Advance Wars: Days of Ruin]]'', the New Rubinelle Army, led by [[GeneralRipper Admiral Greyfield]], reignites the war between Rubinelle and Lazuria, with some help from the Intelligent Defense Systems company headed by Dr. Caulder. While Dr. Caulder is the larger BigBad of the story, being responsible for [[TheVirus the Creeper virus]] and manipulating both Rubinelle and Lazuria to wage war in pursuit of research and profits, Greyfield is very much the more heinous villain in terms of immediate action, being responsible for [[HeroKiller the deaths of two likeable COs]] and having little regard for the safety of his own troops. Caulder also gets points for [[KickTheSonOfABitch poisoning]] [[HateSink the Mayor]], an obstructive authority figure that acts as a frequent thorn in the early stages of the story.

** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance'': Makalov is actually a recruitable character, but he's a compulsive, unrepentant gambler that caused nothing but trouble for anyone he comes across (''especially his hardworking sister'') and only looks for ways to get rich and would scam others for his own leisure, an example of a super unrepentant {{Jerkass}}. The Tellius games (this and the [[VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn sequel]]) have many, many dark issues including racism or genocide, something that Makalov never mentions even while he's introduced being employed by slavers, and likewise, he's not at all confrontational, he'd rather just mind his own (sleazy) business. But it's his unrepentant {{Jerkass}} manners that rub people the wrong way (he's written in a manner so relatable that you can find people like him in real life) so much that sometimes they want him dead more than other villains that actually deserve the hatred against them.

** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance'': Makalov is actually a recruitable character, but he's a compulsive, unrepentant gambler that caused nothing but trouble for anyone he comes across (''especially his hardworking sister'') and only looks for ways to get rich and would scam others for his own leisure, an example of a super unrepentant {{Jerkass}}. The Tellius games (this and the [[VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn sequel]]) have many, many dark issues including racism or genocide, something that Makalov never mentions even while he's introduced being employed by slavers. But it's his unrepentant {{Jerkass}} manners that rub people the wrong way so much that sometimes they want him dead more than other villains that actually deserve the hatred against them.

** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade'': King Desmond of Bern isn't directly antagonistic toward your party, but his abusive and neglectful attitude toward his son Prince Zephiel make him even more hated than the actual antagonists of the game, Nergal and the Black Fang. To make things worse, [[spoiler:his continued mistreatment of Zephiel caused the prince to develop a HumansAreBastards mindset and start one of the biggest wars Elibe has ever seen, retroactively making Desmond responsible for the events of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade'']].

* ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'':
** Hiyoko Saionji is an [[{{Jerkass}} unpleasant bitch]] that, with one exception, likes to mock her classmates, especially [[ShrinkingViolet Mikan Tsumiki]]. However, she doesn't tend to do much ''more'' than throw childish insults at others. In fact, she is ''[[EveryoneHasStandards horrified]]'' [[EveryoneHasStandards at the idea of actually killing someone]] (though the way she voices this through mention of her dead classmates [[SpeakIllOfTheDead really doesn't tend to help her case]]). There also is [[FreudianExcuse a fairly harrowing reason]] for why she acts the way she does that's on par with many of the [[DarkAndTroubledPast most tragic backstories in the series]], and with the exception of Mikan and Kazuichi, her classmates tend to either ignore her insults or laugh at her antics. Judging from the way the fandom talks about her however, you'd believe that she is morally lower than any of the students who end up becoming murderers (though granted in [[DeadlyGame the circumstances of this series]] that part may be a little complicated to judge) and more detestable than even [[BigBad Mono]][[LaughablyEvil kuma]].
** A more... interesting example is that many fans are willing to forgive [[spoiler: Nagito Komaeda]] for ''orchestrating a murder'' while appearing to be friendly and polite, but not for [[spoiler: constantly insulting Hajime when he finds out that he is a student from the Reserve Course of Hope's Peak Academy and thus doesn't have a talent]].

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': In the Gen 1 and 2 ''Pokemon'' games, Team Rocket are the main villains, plotting to steal rare Pokemon, cutting off Slowpoke tails and serving them as food, and other heinous acts. But who gets all the vitriol from fans? Your rival Blue, or as he's known more colloquially, "[[Anime/{{Pokemon}} Gary Motherfucking Oak]]", whose greatest crime is...[[TookAShortcut getting to places before you do]] and telling you he'll "smell ya later!"

** Said Mayor is another example. He's an infurating control freak who repeatedly got in the way of the heroes' efforts and an all-around UngratefulBastard. But he's not a mass-murdering war criminal like Greyfield and Caulder. And yet, as noted in the above example, fans don't hesitate to cheer Caulder for murdering him.

** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'': In a game full of mass-murdering traitors, slavers, and war criminals, a character with one of the most vocal hatedoms is Queen Anora, because she can [[spoiler:throw the player under the carriage when authorites come to arrest them for trying to rescue her]], and [[spoiler:further betray the player at the Landsmeet if they refuse to support her bid for the throne]] at a critical moment. Her rudeness to the player is often treated as a far greater crime than the actual atrocities by the game's actual villains and antagonists.

* ''Franchise/FarCry'': The ''Far Cry'' franchise is known for its iconic and beloved villains. Among the most popular are Vaas Montenegro, a drug and human trafficking [[RuthlessModernPirates modern day pirate]]; Pagan Min, the brutal dictator of Kyrat who casually commits human rights abuses; and Joseph Seed, the charismatic leader of the Eden's Gate cult hellbent on converting everyone in Hope County to their cause in preparation of The Collapse. Meanwhile, Agent Willis Huntley is one of the least liked characters in the series due to his {{Jerkass}} tendencies, jingoism, and dislike of foreign cultures. While he's generally tolerated in ''VideoGame/FarCry3'' for helping Jason on his journey and being useful in fighting back against [[BigBad Hoyt Volker]], in ''VideoGame/FarCry4'' he's openly rude and racist to Ajay and [[spoiler:tricks him into killing CIA agents stationed in Kyrat, and then shoves him out of the plane to be captured by Yuma Lau's men.]] In ''VideoGame/FarCry5'' he makes the [[PlayerCharacter Deputy]] recover an embarrassing VHS tape but otherwise doesn't really help the resistance in fighting back against Eden's Gate at all.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'': While several other high ranking nobles orchestrating the events of the game and outed in the latter parts of the game and the demons behind the events are heinous, the character that the players and other characters hate with extreme guts that could surpass those character is Argath, who's encountered early in the game and perished in the climax of the first act, but he was such an extreme example of a [[AristocratsAreEvil classist]] {{Jerkass}} that he became the game and most likely franchise's definitive HateSink. The earlier encounter time and short screentime may have helped this case too.

** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade'': King Desmond wasn't directly antagonistic to your party. However, his attitude of being a petty, jealous father to his son Zephiel absolutely does not endear him to the players, which makes him even more hated than the actual antagonists being Nergal and the Black Fang. And to make it worse, [[spoiler:he never learned any epiphany and continued to do so until Zephiel snapped, killed him after a failed assassination attempt, and then turned into a MisanthropeSupreme that started a big, disastrous war based on how he thinks that HumansAreBastards because there are many people like his father, chronicled in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade''. Even if he was never fought against and he didn't plan to create such thing in the long run (he'd be just content if Zephiel is dead), Desmond single-handedly caused one of the biggest wars Elibe has ever seen, making him one of the most hated character in the game.]]
** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance'': Makalov is actually a recruitable character, but he's a compulsive, unrepentant gambler that caused nothing but trouble for anyone he comes across (''especially his hardworking sister'') and only looks for ways to get rich and would scam others for his own leisure, an example of a super unrepentant {{Jerkass}}. The Tellius games (this and the [[VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn sequel]]) has many, many dark issues including racism or genocide, something that Makalov never mentions even while he's introduced being employed by slavers. But it's his unrepentant {{Jerkass}} manners that rub people the wrong way so much that sometimes they want him dead more than other villains that actually deserve the hatred against them.
* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'': Averted with Ryder since for all his {{Jerkass}} moments, he still doesn't come off any worse than [[DirtyCop Tenpenny and Pulaski]] since all he's really done to CJ was make snide remarks about him, [[VitriolicBestBuds which isn't exactly uncommon with most friends]] ([[spoiler:the worst he's ever did was betray CJ, which wasn't even planned well]]). Played much straighter, however, with [[SpicyLatina Catalina]], who, unlike her appearance in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIII'', isn't even the antagonist of the game, yet is always berating CJ for making minor mistakes and [[MoodSwinger constantly switches from being an outright cunt who threatens to castrate CJ for his minor mistakes to getting back to falling in love with him]]. Really, she even makes the two aforementioned cops look more sympathetic in comparison.

* In the ''VideoGame/{{Killzone}}'' series, the Helghast are presented as the villains, given the series has a futuristic, intergalatic World War II like theme with the Helghast being the [[NazisByAnyOtherName Nazi like]] empire in that universe. However, the story throughout the games give a sympathetic spin on the Helghast in some parts, resulting in some fans RootingForTheEmpire. On the other hand, the most hated character in the series is an impulsive jerkass named Rico who fights for the I.S.A, whom represent the heroic Allies faction of the intergalactic war.

* ''VideoGame/Persona5Strikers'': The Jail Monarchs are much more sympathetic than most of the main baddies in the original ''VideoGame/Persona5'', and most people end up not being very upset at them. The Lock Keepers, on the other hand, is a completely different story in which they are portrayed as {{Jerkass}} characters that often cause the Jail Monarchs to become who they are in the first place.
* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': In the Gen 1 and 2 ''Pokemon'' games, Team Rocket are the main villains, plotting to steal rare Pokemon, cutting off Slowpoke tails and serving them as food, and other heinous acts. But who gets all the vitriol from fans? Your rival Blue, or as he's known more colloquially, "[[Anime/{{Pokemon}} Gary Motherfucking Oak]]", whose greatest crime is...getting to places before you do and telling you he'll "smell ya later!"

** Maximilian might be the BigBad, but him being an imperialistic warmonger who wants to conquer Europa and remake it in his image is not the reason why he garners so much hatred. Instead, it is his casual acts of [[IntentionalHeartbreaker emotional]] [[MasterofTheMixedMessage manipulation]] [[BadSamaritan and]] DomesticAbuse towards Selvaria that earn him the players ire. When asked about the most heinous deed Maximilian has done in-game, almost everyone will bring up [[spoiler: ordering Selvaria to [[YouHaveFailedMe use her Final Flame]]]] rather than anything to do with his conquests.

* ''VideoGame/WolfensteinIITheNewColossus'': While he's both a jerk ''and'' a villain, Rip Blazckowitz tends to be the most hated character by far, even more than ''Hitler himself'', who shows up in one scene but is clearly a [[DarkLordOnLifeSupport doddering dolt who's not all there]] and [[UrineTrouble pisses on the floor at once point.]] Rip is an AbusiveParent who [[DomesticAbuse beats his wife,]] [[VirtueIsWeakness calls B.J weak for being a decent and caring person,]] [[BadPeopleAbuseAnimals abuses the family dog,]] and then outright shoots it when he catches B.J [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain fraternizing with a black girl.]] As if this weren't enough, When B.J comes back later as an adult he finds that [[spoiler: Rip [[TheQuisling sold out his wife and the whole neighborhood to the Nazis]] just to [[DirtyCoward save his own worthless hide.]]]]

* ''VideoGame/Persona5Strikers'': The Jail Monarchs are much more sympathetic than most of the main baddies in the original ''VideoGame/Persona5'', and most people end up not being very upset at them. The Lock Keepers, on the other hand, is a completely different story in which they are portrayed as {{Jerkass}} characters that often cause the Jail Morachs to become who they are in the first place.

** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade'': King Desmond wasn't directly antagonistic to your party. However, his attitude of being a petty, jealous father to his son Zephiel absolutely does not endear him to the players, which makes him even more hated than the actual antagonists being Nergal and the Black Fang. And to make it worse, [[spoiler:he never learned any epiphany and continued to do so until Zephiel snapped, killed him after a failed assassination attempt, and then turned into a MisanthropeSupreme that started a big, disastrous war based on how he thinks that HumansAreBastards because there are many people like his father, chronicled in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade''. Even if he was never fought against, Desmond single-handedly caused one of the biggest wars Elibe has ever seen, making him one of the most hated character in the game.]]

** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'': The mysterious Elder One is the game's true villain: a self-aggrandizing megalomaniac who wants to [[GodhoodSeeker declare himself a god]] or [[SuicidalCosmicTemperTantrum destroy the world trying]]. Yet, [[spoiler:Corypheus]] doesn't spark nearly as much heated fan posts as a number of allied characters, particular [[BaseBreakingCharacter base-breaking]] companions [[IceQueen Vivienne]] and [[NeighborhoodFriendlyGangsters Sera]]. Some common points of contention are their tendencies to dismiss the plight of oppressed [[AntiMagicalFaction mages]] and [[EnslavedElves elves]], being rude to the player unless said player is lock-in-step with their opinions (though in different ways; Vivienne with [[PassiveAggressiveKombat razor-sharp politeness]], Sera with [[WomanChild yelling and name-calling]]), and the player being [[StaticCharacter unable to change their views on anything]]. This is probably not helped by many finding the game's villain to be an underwhelming GenericDoomsdayVillain, whereas the flaws exhibited by companions feel much more real and personal.

* There are few likeable villains in ''VideoGame/XenobladeChroniclesX''; the leadership of the Ganglion army usually gets the ArmchairMilitary treatment, with its members slowly appearing as bosses at an infrequent rate, and its leader, Luxxar, being the [[spoiler:penultimate]] boss, encountered by the heroes only once. While he's definitely evil to the core, being responsible for destroying the Earth in the intro after all, the lack of interaction gives the audience little to care about him at all. Other villains in the game tend to upstage the giant slug in sheer hatred:
** Goetia and Ryzz, as Luxxar's subordinates, get more screentime and interaction with the heroes, all of it unpleasant. Goetia is a SmugSnake full of arrogance and hubris whose interactions boil down to insulting humanity's slow progress in understanding the big picture. Ryzz is a PsychopathicManchild who likes hunting humans for kicks alone, and acts extremely bratty towards the heroes and to her associate Daghan. Both of these characters meet an anticlimactic end in a skell explosion. A lot of players wish their deaths could have been more brutal.
** Alex is an AbsoluteXenophobe who fulfills the role of the human who hates the idea of BLADE allying itself with xenos against the Ganglion, unwilling to tell the difference between them. He initially attempts blatant murder and bands together rogue [=BLADEs=] to kill friendly xenos and anyone who gets in his way. It culminates in him [[{{Hypocrite}} allying with the Ganglion]] to achieve his goals.
** The Blood Lobster is a CardCarryingVillain who plants bombs all over New Los Angeles in an attempt to make himself an arch enemy of the player character. [[spoiler:The true identity of this blatant terrorist is someone the player meets early in the game, with the idea of superheroes and justice, and somehow gets the idea of becoming a supervillain to invoke this]]. Said quest of defusing the bombs counts as ThatOneSidequest; there's around ''a hundred'' of the bombs, scattered all over the city.

* ''VideoGame/Persona5'' has enemies being taken on by the Phantom Thieves, which range from a corrupt yakuza crime lord to a corporate overlord to someone who wants to rule all of Japan with an iron fist. And yet, the most memorable and biggest HateSink in the game is the first villain, Suguru Kamoshida, a gym teacher and volleyball coach at the protagonist's high school that has nothing to do with TheConspiracy surrounding the overall plot. Kamoshida leaks Joker's criminal record to make him a pariah among the students, breaks Ryuji's leg and disbands the track team after Ryuji took a swing at him (despite egging Ryuji on to do it), and is forcing Ann to do sexual favors for him in order for Ann's friend Shiho to keep her spot on the volleyball team. When Shiho can't take it anymore, she's DrivenToSuicide by jumping off of the school's roof (though she survives). In spite of the other villains having much larger crimes and much more of an impact on the social order of Japan, it's Kamoshida who is typically thought of as the most loathsome antagonist in the game, and one of the most despised in the entire ''Persona'' series.

** Maximilian might be the BigBad, but him being an imperialistic warmonger who wants to conquer Europa and remake it in his image is not the reason why he garners so much hatred. Instead, it is his casual acts of [[IntentionalHeartbreaker emotional]] [[ManipulativeBastard manipulation]] [[MasterOfTheMixedMessage and]] DomesticAbuse towards Selvaria that earn him the players ire. When asked about the most heinous deed Maximilian has done in-game, almost everyone will bring up [[spoiler: ordering Selvaria to [[YouHaveFailedMe use her Final Flame]]]] rather than anything to do with his conquests.

** Maximilian might be the BigBad, but him being an imperialistic warmonger who wants to conquer Europa and remake it in his image is not the reason why he garners so much hatred. Instead, it is his casual acts of [[IntentionalHeartbreaker emotional]] [[MasterOfTheMixedMessage manipulation]] [[KickTheDog and]] DomesticAbuse towards Selvaria that earn him the players ire. When asked about the most heinous deed Maximilian has done in-game, almost everyone will bring up [[spoiler: ordering Selvaria to [[YouHaveFailedMe use her Final Flame]]]] rather than anything to do with his conquests.

** Maximilian might be the BigBad, but him being an imperialistic warmonger who wants to conquer Europa and remake it in his image is not the reason why he garners so much hatred. Instead, it is his casual acts of [[IntentionalHeartbreaker emotional]] [[MasterOfTheMixedMessage manipulation]] and DomesticAbuse towards Selvaria that earn him the players ire. When asked about the most heinous deed Maximilian has done in-game, almost everyone will bring up [[spoiler: ordering Selvaria to [[YouHaveFailedMe use her Final Flame]]]] rather than anything to do with his conquests.

** Maximilian might be the BigBad, but him being an imperialistic warmonger who wants to conquer Europa and remake it in his image is not the reason why he garners so much hatred. Instead, it is his casual acts of [[IntentionalHeartbreaker emotional]] [[MasterOfTheMixedMessage manipulation]] and DomesticAbuse towards Selvaria that earns him the players ire. When asked about the most heinous deed Maximilian has done in-game, almost everyone will bring up [[spoiler: ordering Selvaria to [[YouHaveFailedMe use her Final Flame]]]] rather than anything to do with his conquests.

* ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'': In Lostbelt 6, [[spoiler: while the majority of Faes were [[HateSink Hate Sinks]] extraordinary, they're not actually the ArcVillain of the Lostbelt. But their inherent cruel, backstabbing nature that has been implanted on them since their creation along with all the cruel things they do without any tinge of regret at the cost of many has made many players want them dead just as much as (or even more) they want other reputed HateSink ''villain'' like Beryl, or even bigger villains like the Alien God. They kinda got their wish in the end, though.]]

* ''VideoGame/Persona5'' has enemies being taken on by the Phantom Thieves, which range from a corrupt yakuza crime lord to a corporate overlord to someone who wants to rule all of Japan with an iron fist. And yet, the most memorable and biggest HateSink in the game is the first villain, Suguru Kamoshida, a gym teacher at the protagonist's high school. Kamoshida leaks Joker's criminal record to make him a pariah among the students, breaks Ryuji's leg and disbands the track team after Ryuji took a swing at him (despite egging Ryuji on to do it), and is forcing Ann to do sexual favors for him in order for Ann's friend Shiho to keep her spot on the volleyball team. When Shiho can't take it anymore, she's DrivenToSuicide by jumping off of the school's roof (though she survives). In spite of the other villains having much larger crimes and much more of an impact on the social order of Japan, it's Kamoshida who is typically thought of as the most loathsome antagonist in the game, and one of the most despised in the entire ''Persona'' series.

* ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder: In Lostbelt 6, [[spoiler: while the majority of Faes were [[HateSink Hate Sinks]] extraordinary, they're not actually the ArcVillain of the Lostbelt. But their inherent cruel, backstabbing nature that has been implanted on them since their creation along with all the cruel things they do without any tinge of regret at the cost of many has made many players want them dead just as much as (or even more) they want other reputed HateSink ''villain'' like Beryl, or even bigger villains like the Alien God. They kinda got their wish in the end, though.]]

* ''Franchise/FarCry'': The ''Far Cry'' franchise is known for it's iconic and beloved villains. Among the most popular are Vaas Montenegro, a drug and human trafficking modern day pirate; Pagan Min, the brutal dictator of Kyrat who casually commits human rights abuses; and Joseph Seed, the charismatic leader of the Eden's Gate cult hellbent on converting everyone in Hope County to their cause in preparation of The Collapse. Meanwhile, Agent Willis Huntley is one of the least liked characters in the series due to his {{Jerkass}} tendencies, jingoism, and dislike of foreign cultures. While he's generally tolerated in ''VideoGame/FarCry3'' for helping Jason on his journey and being useful in fighting back against [[BigBad Hoyt Volker]], in ''VideoGame/FarCry4'' he's openly rude and racist to Ajay and [[spoiler:tricks him into killing CIA agents stationed in Kyrat, and then shoves him out of the plane to be captured by Yuma Lau's men.]] In ''VideoGame/FarCry5'' he makes the [[PlayerCharacter Deputy]] recover an embarrassing VHS tape but otherwise doesn't really help the resistance in fighting back against Eden's Gate at all.