NightmareFarm

I think there should be a JRPG where there is a recurring merchant(like Oaka from Final Fantasy X) who is quite mysterious. At the end of the game, the merchant turns out to be the secret final boss and how powerful he is depends on how much currency you supplied him with throughout the game. Also some of his abilities and equipment depend on what stuff you sell to him. 

Yeah, he has very creepy and sinister mannerisms. I liked his design it looks very regal. His hair may have been weird but it also looks stylish imo. My only problem is his poorly written motive where people dying causes suffering so his solution is to just kill everyone so no one dies anymore. But on every other front he is a great antagonist. Come to think of it he's kind of like a proto-ardyn when it comes to his role in the plot. 

In recent memory I'd say Arthur Morgan's rivalry with Micah Bell in RDR2. Micah is one of those guys that I don't think anyone likes, and that's why he works so well as a villain. Another game that comes to mind is Bully, and the guy you have to go up against in that game. I forget what his name is, but he would play all sides, he was that kind of character. He kinda starts off as a friend, but manipulates things and goes against you (Billy Hopkins I think is the main character's name) near the middle to end. 
I'm having issues remembering others. Maybe Mario and Bowser, that's a classic rivalry. 😄 

Rivalries are very enjoyable in video games since they are recurring anti-heroes or villains who have a personal connection to the player. These recurring conflicts between two acquainted characters make for very interesting drama and keep you wanting to see how it resolves(like if the rival joins your side or you end up killing the rival). Which would you say are your favourite?
My list:
1 - Dante & Vergil(Devil May Cry)
2 - Yuri & Flynn(Tales of Vesperia)
3 -  Velvet & Artorius(Tales of Berseria)
4 - Naked Snake & The Boss(Metal Gear Solid 3)
5 - Cole & Kessler(inFAMOUS)
Honourable Mentions: Delsin & Augustine(inFAMOUS Second Son), Sora & Riku(Kingdom Hearts), Squall and Seifer(Final Fantasy VIII), Basch & Gabranth(Final Fantasy XII), Solid Snake & Liquid Snake(Metal Gear Solid)
 

I'll be completely honest, I am heavily biased by the fact that FFX was like the 5th game I played as a kid and my first JRPG so he had a huge impact on me when I played it without any previous villains as a point of reference. Especially when I learnt about the twist, that felt like some crazy shit. 
 
Moderator Edit: As it appears you accidently pasted @Crazycrab's post into your own, I cut that section out. I hope you don't mind.

Well number one is obviously Trevor Vs Foot...
 
 
Ha HA🤣!!
 
Ok seriously, my top 5 (in no particular order) would be:
 
Cloud Strife and Sephiroth (Final Fantasy 7):  I know this one is a bit obvious but I don't you cant include it.  It's personal, deep and the battles are undeniably epic.
 
Velvet and Artorius (Tales of Berseria):  With you on this one @NightmareFarm.  Deeply personal and compliments the motivations of both extremely well.  I really enjoyed the fact that in many aspects, Velvet is perceivably kind of more the villain of the piece with Artorius being calm and rational and Velvet being reckless and emotional.
 
Aloy and Sylens (Horizon Zero Dawn/Forbibben West):  This is very different from the typical "Hero Vs Villain" rivalry, it's almost more like student Vs Lecturer.  Aloy needs Sylens' knowledge and experience even she clashes with him constantly to the point where she cant stand him.  As for Sylens, Aloy may the only person who has ever truly challenged him intellectually and he needs that drive.  Even though neither would ever admit it, they need each other their is healthy respect there.
 
Solid Snake and Liquid Snake (Metal Gear Series):  They are two sides of the same coin yet maybe the only thing they truly have in common is that desire to break that bond.  So predictably sparks fly across multiple titles in the series and it's awesome!
 
Basch and Gabranth (Final Fantasy XII) (Yep, I'm staling another one from you @NightmareFarm):  I see a lot of similarities between these two and Soild and Liquid snake that I just mentioned.  Cut from the same cloth but when their homeland of Landis fell to the Arcadian empire they took vastly different approaches to deal with it after the fall.  Gabranth, seemingly putting the blame for Landis' fall on his brother joined the Empire.  Basch fled to Dalmasca swear fealty to Protect another Kingdom form Arcadia to restore his honour.  It's part of why, in my opinion, has one has of the best stories in the franchise.
 
 
To be honest, as much as I love Final Fantasy X I don't think Seymore was a particularly good villain, especially in hindsight.  His motivations made little sense, he was melodramatic, over the top and even kinda silly at times.

Abby and Ellie from The Last of Us part II needs a mention. Bothe driven buy such similar motives and emotions, but both led down a path by thier intend that costs them. The way the game develops empathy and conflict within the player in relation to the two characters is also very smart.

There's always something sinister about the character of Seymour Guado. Everything he does with his powers are linked to one evil or another nasty end. He's got a very weird hair design for my liking though. 

That's fair enough. For me it goes Seymour(gave me chills as a kid), Ardyn(god tier villain), Kuja then Sephiroth then all the other FF villains.

That too. I tend to think of Sephiroth more as a typical villain than Cloud's personal rival though.

They are being sued for their greed right now after all, Sony.

Don't listen to anyone who says stuff like that it's just weird gatekeeping crap

The answer is obvious now if it wasn't already before that republicans have now openly endorsed white supremacy. After the latest mass shooting in Buffalo, NY, where a white guy targeted blacks at a store, dressed in armor, and went on a shooting spree. He also had a racist manifesto and white supremacist belief of the Great Replacement Theory. 
So now we are at a crossroads where schools are being punished for the accusations of Critical Race Theory and widespread banning of books including math, termination for discussing racism, violence against school boards, and even proposals to jail librarians. On the other hand you have a major media outlet fox news, congress members and other politicians, and domestic terrorism that all promotes Great Replacement Theory. And even after the terrorist shooting in Buffalo, politicians and Fox are still pushing the Great Replacement Theory. Democrats are now proposing gun laws and domestic terrorism laws. Democrats are calling for republicans to denounce the terrorist act and the great replacement theory and they won't do it. Instead, they are amplifying it by republican politicians and by Fox news, more specifically by Tucker Carlson. 
Basically, republican whites ban awareness of history and racism in schools, while endorsing their own victimhood how they believe diversity is the elimination of whites and immigrants are meant to replace their vote. So in other words, ban immigration, ban every race related issue in schools, pass into law voting suppression and racist gerrymandering, then promote the Great Replacement Theory. I could easily say that the Replacement Theory is what whites are doing to minorities in this country. White nationalistic views are to build a wall at the border and stop immigration and deport any and all legal residents from any non European country. ICE, Immigration Customs Enforcement, is even in the news lately for their unchecked surveillance on Americans. The Great Replacement Theory has now suppressed voting rights targeting people of color, and republicans have put in their own partisan people to oversee elections who have previously tried to overthrow the last election. Republicans have used the Replacement Theory on minorities by drawing up racist gerrymandering districts to give districts of color less voting representation all across the U.S.
So that’s what I think about GRT and how its actually put into effect to harm people of color as well as the anti CRT laws. They both are used for the same purpose to promote white supremacy. There are no laws being passed that targets white people, but there are massive amounts of recent laws targeting people of color and the LGBTQ community. So that is the real replacement theory.
And republicans have embraced white supremacy.There isn't even a debate about it. White supremacists have infiltrated the republican party. 

They say they're sticking with cross gen(so not built for the ground up on PS5) games until 2024/2025 and now this. Sony have gotten WAY too complacent and someone needs to humble them. Ditto goes for Nintendo too.

DMC 5 and Elden Ring for me and I almost jumped on the Cyberpunk 2077 train as well.

Sony needs to make sure there are enough on shelves. The pandemic is over now, there is no excuse.

Only 2 or 3 at most if i'm casually playing an online game on the side. Any more than that and I lose focus. 

Yeah. And that. To me those 4 and Ardyn are what carried it for me. I would have probably stopped playing if it wasn't for their fun brotherly road trip dynamic. 
I think more JRPGs can take cues from this and have more games where the party only has about 4 characters since that's part of why their dynamic works well. 

IMO:
Kingdom Hearts 2, Final Fantasy X-2, Metal Gear Rising; Revengeance, Batman Arkham Knight.

I don't mean the "AI" we know now which is just a preset bot or CPU programmed with a set range of actions and responses. I mean AI that are able to think for themselves used for gaming purposes. AI being implemented in the future to enhance the gaming experience.
 
By this I mean AI in place of preset NPCs, AI dialogue, AI cities, AI used to determine how NPCs fight you, AI being used to give games dozens of story paths which differ greatly depending on what you do. The possibilities are endless. I think this would really bring games to life and console makers and devs alike should invest in this. 

Arc sys work is my fav because they make consistently top tier fighting games. I really like their deep air dasher combat stlye and anime visuals compared to other FGs which just feel bland in comparison. 
My least favourite is naughty dog because their games look very dull and I don't like the slow cinematic story heavy trend they set for modern gaming with Uncharted games and TLOU.

From the interview of PocketPair’s CEO, Takuro Mizobe, he suggested that the game would be ported to Switch when it's fully released. 

I don't mean the "AI" we know now which is just a preset bot or CPU programmed with a set range of actions and responses. I mean AI that are able to think for themselves used for gaming purposes. AI being implemented in the future to enhance the gaming experience.
 
By this I mean AI in place of preset NPCs, AI dialogue, AI cities, AI used to determine how NPCs fight you, AI being used to give games dozens of story paths which differ greatly depending on what you do. The possibilities are endless. I think this would really bring games to life and console makers and devs alike should invest in this. 

Dunno if there is a secret method to change the UI but if not  it would be nice if there were more themes like red, green, yellow, light blue, etc. Or if there was a custom build feature which let you choose two colours for your personal UI.

They spent a lot in manufacturing the portability function of the console and making the portable tablet as powerful as possible which drives the price up. They could spend even more to make the dock bump up its power to rival the current playstation and xbox but the price would be like $700 or so which is way too expensive, especially for nintendos standards since they like to keep their prices down.