Words Of Wisdom said:
Final-Fan said:
--Backstory: the way I see it, he was just the Emporer's tool for the first part of the game. Your enemy was the Empire. It wasn't until later that we saw Kefka as the true nemesis, and by then he had all the "backstory" we needed in the parts of the game we'd already played.
--Motivation: I don't often quote movie trailers, but "some people just want to watch the world burn". Kefka was completely loony-tunes; does his goal really have to make sense to us, or does it just have to be internally consistent with who he is?
--Actions: Well, apparently he's a big fan of backstabbing. He likes to watch people die, and he likes to be the one who caused it. Especially if the death is painful. In his spare time he just likes to fuck with people. ("There's SAND on my boots!") He spends most of his on-screen time causing havoc, and he's not the type to conceal his amusement at it all.
--Ire level: If you don't care about any of the people Kefka wronged and murdered, well, I guess you just don't care about anyone in the whole damn game. Don't blame Kefka for not trying.
--Personality: Does the Joker in Batman have a personality? |
If by "all the backstory we needed" you mean none of it then yes I agree. In the beginning of the game, he's just a high ranking evil jerk who works for the Empire. In the second half of the game, you see even less of him than the first part except for where he kills Leo. No development at all really. The closest you'll find are the end of WoB and the death of Leo.
Again, the excuse that he's "just evil" is a poor one. When we're talking about random baddie number 52, "just evil" is fine because it's a speedbump in the story. When we're talking about the BBEG of the game, "just evil" doesn't cut it IMO.
His actions are amazingly predictable. Like I said: Appear, one-liner, evil action, maniacal laughter, disappear. Rinse and repeat.
I'm sorry, Kefka's greatest accomplishments in this area were Cyan's family (which only really gets hammered if you do the extra quests for Cyan) and Leo (who the game never really makes you care about anyway).
And yeah, the Joker in Batman has a personality. I watched the old Batman cartoons that showed how he became the Joker which made him a lot more interesting as a villain. Actually, until I saw those I had never liked him...
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The reason I put "backstory" into quotes is that it's not actually backstory, but by the time we see him as the game's primary baddie we have already seen a lot of him; we have that history of him, even if we don't know much from the time before the opening credits. He isn't as developed as Terra or Cyan or Relm or a lot of the other characters but there is development, or at least
advancement.
I get the feeling you won't be happy until you see an outline of how he got from (presumably) normal baby to fucking psycho. I actually misspoke earlier; when I played through the game it didn't seem to me that he started out as "completely loony tunes". It seemed to me that he started out as a power-hungry sadist, somewhat insane but not unable to function in society (given that the society gave him an outlet for his homicidal tendencies), progressing to more like the Joker, unable to contain his lust for carnage, and finally getting to live out his awful dreams with the powers of a god. Unless I'm misremembering (and you've replayed the game a lot more recently than I have) there's not ZERO character development.
By the way, what does BBEG mean? Sorry if you mentioned it earlier but I just skimmed all your posts in this thread and didn't spot it offhand.
One-liners? Are you sure you're not exaggerating? I remember extensive dialogue. He talks a lot about himself and his plans, even if it's pretty much monomaniacal rants about destroying people or things (and, eventually, about destroying
everyone and
everything).
I'm sorry, please make up your mind on whether optional quests are valid story elements. And didn't you say he is the one who is responsible for the World of Ruin? Every instance you see of suffering and hardship as a result of that planetary disaster (and almost all the places you run into are to some degree devastated) is a result of his actions.
Kefka has more character development
in the course of the game IMO than the Joker gets, although it's been a decade since I watched BTAS extensively and I never read the comics. Sure, we get more true
backstory on the Joker, detailing his past and "origin", but after he shows up as the Joker how much does he really change? At all?
By the way, here's some info on the subject of Kefka's pre-game life:
Born to unknown parentage, Kefka was abandoned at birth. Raised in an orphanage in Thamasa, Kefka was beaten severely by the orphanage head, and developed a taciturn personality. Eventually he left Thamasa for Vector.
Graduating at the top of his class from the imperial academy, Kefka became the apprentice of Cid del Norte Márquez, and underwent an infusion that gave him the ability to use magic. Though it had no immediate side effects, it lead to the gradual degeneration of Kefka's sanity.
At the age of 23, Kefka was appointed commander of the magitek knights. In the following years, he took an interest in the recently orphaned daughter of an Imperial soldier and a Tzen female aristocrat, Celes Chere. Kefka used his political pull to make sure that Celes was brought up a magitek knight. Kefka political ascension culminated when at age 31, he was appointed to the position of Imperial Prime Minister. Kefka's reign, however, would be short-lived. At a banquet celebrating the appointment of his protégé Celes Chere to Rear Admiral, Kefka cracked. The magitek infusion from years prior finally manifested itself.
Kefka showed marked change in behavior; once a shy, reserved man, Kefka began dressing in garish robes, wearing makeup, and playing with dolls; his once keen strategic mind deteriorated, and all that was left was a thirst for death and destruction. Kefka was promptly removed from military duty. Still feeling indebted to him for his years of service, and appreciating his loyalty, Gestahl appointed Kefka to the position of Court Mage.
http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Kefka_Palazzo
Don't ask me how much of that is revealed in the game itself, because I have almost no idea. But I believe we were informed that Magitek infusion was known to have side effects including insanity and that Kefka was a recipient of Magitek infusion.
Do you like Kefka more now that you know all about his past?
; - ) : - ) : - ( : - P : - D : - # ( c ) ( k ) ( y ) If anyone knows the shortcut for 
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