Imo the best FO villains in order are:

1) Frank Horrigan (FO2)
2) The master (FO1)
3) (Shared) Lanius + Benny (New Vegas - By Obsidian)

Just my opinion. Feel free to share your list. As for the discussion itself, I'm wondering if Bethesda will finally succeed in creating their first fleshed out villain. The villains in FO3 were imo really shallow and poorly written, as well as poorly implemented in a lacking story. Yes - Bethesda is more known for great world building, their writing was never strong. In fact - I'd say their strongest villains were in Morrowind.

My hope for FO4 will be that Bethesda finally manages to create a solid FO villain, one that can match Frank Horrigan or the others mentioned above. IMO a story/game is no better than the main villain. The main villain/villains is a very, very important narrative tool to get the character personally invested in the story. What do you think? Will Bethesda finally come up with a solid villain? How important do you consider the villain/s in the story personally?

meh for me the villains in 1 & 2 where quite flat, clear post-apoc takes on typical fantasy villains, now New Vegas, that had good "villains" because they all had a good grey-scale to them and ultimately where not really villains, just people in the way of your path.

Finally? They've only had one shot so far, if you don't count the Pitt or maaaybe Point Lookout.

What if you are your own main villain. O.o

Then they're competition that needs to be taken out regardless.

I love Ishmael Ashur. He looks bad,acts bad and all, but he said that he has no choice, and behind that slaver overlord mask, he is a caring family man. (Yet I don't literally buy his words that he will free the slaves after the Trog cure is researched)

But I agree with most people that FO:NV has better "evil" characters. Caesar wanted to "civilise" the wasteland in his own brand etc.

You do know that Bethesda didn't create The Master and Frank Horrigan, right? I believe it was Black Isle Studios that came up with them along with the rest of Fallout and Fallout 2.

The Pitts villain wasn't to bad.

Forget his name, he pretty much enslaved people to work in his steel mills but to produce resources to find a cure for the troggification. My memory is a bit foggy.

Moira Brown is the greatest villain in the entire series. Nobody has dedicated themselves more to the destruction of the protagonist.

And she did it with an innocent charm and a smile. The mark of true evil.

She does seem a wee bit too excited about the prospect of you almost dying of radiation poisoning and maiming yourself almost to death...

The scary thing is, she is the only FO3 character I've fell in love with O_O She is just so... Unique.

Fallout 4 will have a generic villain that would fit right in with the most bland and forgettable of big budget movies.

Not sure if that was directed at me? I know Bethesda didnt make F1+F2, and it was not implied in my post.

Hopefully, I think that we are going to see a far more imperialist Brotherhood which would be fun to see from Lyon's bunch - all the Enclave tech got to their heads or something.

The post was directed at you, yes. I figured I'd say that but I completely understand what you mean. Frank Horrigan was definitely a menacing guy! I believe he was an Enclave experiment to make a "super-soldier" although he worked for the secret service. The Master was creepy with his multi-personalities and how he looked like Grant in Slither (at the end).

I'll also mention that certain elements that Black Isle Studios had in mind for their Van Buren project were implemented into Fallout: New Vegas, like Caesar's Legion, but I think they now work for Obsidian? If not and the workers work for Bethesda, perhaps we could see another Frank Horrigan-esque character.

Benny holds a special place in my heart because despite shooting me in the head and being a bit of a power hungry [censored], as soon as I caught up with him at the tops I was dumb enough to let him talk his way out of the bullet I was going to put in his head and he actually convinced me to go and "talk" with him in the presidential suite only to be reminded how much of a snake he is.

That probably has to do more with my gullibleness more than anything but [censored], Benny is a charming [censored].

Bethesda actually can write, as seen with Morrowind and The Pitt. So maybe they'll get their act together this time.

I really hope so too!

Thing is... there are many awesome villains in the fallout universe. But IMO FO3 didnt have a single one of them. I dont know how much a good - well written (or well realized) villain means to everyone here. So just thought Id make this thread for that sake and if people believe Bethesda is capable of creating an awesome memorable villain.

Completely agree on Morrowind. Writing was at its peak during that time. Makes me wonder if the writers on MW moved on to other things.

Loved that too and totally fell for it

The reason I liked Benny so much as a villain is due to his devilish charm and unique personality. The base idea of the "stereotype" character Benny was, is not special in itself but it was so well written, voice acted and executed.

I think it's because Todd Howard wasn't the project director.

Look at Ishmael Ashur from The Pitt DLC of FO3. He's an exception!

And from TES series, we have that Dagoth Ur and the Tribunal from Morrowind.

Hmm how come? Does Todd Howard tend down-prioritize story and characters for gameplay?

"See that mountain? You can climb it!"

Yea, pretty much.