SPOTLIGHT

The Spotlight series is a segment where I look at one particular character in gaming,  whether it's a Character, good or bad, Playable or Not playable, Main or Secondary,  and examine their deeds and what impact they had on me or gaming.  



Today's  Spotlight Character is:

Prince Luca Blight

from

Suikoden 2

    So Luca (or as he's lovingly referred to as, The Mad Prince) is part of the Royal Family of Highland.  He is a blood thirsty maniac and willing to murder and sacrifice anyone because he enjoys chaos.  He is also the heir to the Kingdom of Highland.  

    Now the source of his rage is really a tragic one.  When he was younger,  Luca was traveling in a Royal Caravan with his mother and father when they were attacked by bandits.  His father, the King, fled leaving them at the mercy of the ruffians.  His mother was raped repeatedly by the bandits,  which he was forced to watch.  Later, it is found out that the City of Muse (part of the City States of Jowston, Highlands enemy) hired these thugs to elimate the Royal Family.  After this incident,  his mother gave birth to his half sister Sara and died during child birth.  These things of course, contributed to shaping Luca into the monster he is (also having the last name Blight doesn't show much promise either).  

     Now fast forward to present,  Luca is the leader of Highlands Military after his father Agares steps down.  He decides to instigate another war to destroy the Jowston Alliance with the power of the Beast Rune (an all powerful and destructive relic).  Luca proceeds to slaughter the Unicorn Brigade (a small unit comprised of young teenagers),  Slays everyone in the town of Toto (except for a young girl),  and then crushes the local resistance movement.  

    After having his father assassinated,  Luca gains control of Highland and starts using the military to capture towns controlled by the Jowston Alliance and sacrificing people to the Beast Rune.  At one point,  he rounds up and sacrifices a 1/3rd of the population of the City of Muse.  

   It became clear that the remains of the Jowston alliance needed to stop Luca Blight for good.  They get word of a raid that he is planning to crush their resistance movement.  So they prepare to ambush him and take him out.  What proceeded here was, in my opinion, the most insane battle with a video game villain to ever occur.  

   You have to split into 3 parties of 6 team members, each led for one of your more high profile members.  After getting Luca into the woods the first party fights him, taking down his health just a little.  First group, led by Flik, fights Luca and some soldiers.  Then they get taken down and retreat (Luca gets 3 attacks per turn!!!).  Next up is the 2nd team,  led by Viktor, who fight Luca again (he's lost some health) and more soldiers.  They have to retreat,  then your main character comes in and fights Luca for the 3rd time (this time it's just him).  The first 2 battles you couldn't win,  this one you have to win.  Afterwards, Luca flees into the woods and you have to fight some more of his soldiers on the way to him.  He ends up near a tree at the edge of a cliff, injured but not down.   Then, some of your archers unload on him, hitting him 5 or 6 times.  At this point your character catches up to him.  Which Luca, riddled with arrows,  rushes your character for a one on one fight.  Now you only have to hit him once, but if he can kill you in two hits (which if he does you have to start all that over again).  After you hit him for the final time,  he slumps over on the tree.  Before dying,  he says one final thing to the player,  "It took hundreds to kill me,  but I killed humans by the thousands.  I am sublime!  I am the true face of evil!!!"  At this point,  I had to give a huge sigh.  This is one of the most exhausting battles in gaming history,  clocking in at 40 mins to an hour (Just to take out one person!!!).   It's also important to note that he is note the last boss,  this part takes place in the middle of the game.  

   So in conclusion,  I wanted to make my first Spotlight segment on who I thought was one of the biggest villains in gaming.  Yeah he might be viewed by some as a cliche maniac,  but he didn't seem to care.  

Here's a list of Quotes from Luca, taken from Suikoden Wikiquote:

- "DIE PIG!" - right before he stabs someone begging for their life

- "I don't care about breeding. A sword doesn't need a fine lineage,        it just needs to be sharp"

- "Fear is a stupid emotion..."

- "Let me tell you something.  There are weak men and strong men in this world.  The strong men take everything and the weak men die.  That's how the world was designed.  Now I will show you how it works, weaklings!!!"

- "HAHAHAHAHA you LITTLE punk.  Kid you've got balls I'll give you that.  Would you like me to remove your head from your shoulders with this blade?" - to Jowy

- "Riou, right here, right now, I am gonna separate your little puny head from your little puny body"

- "Just below the surface, I see the darkness inside you."

- "To end this war? That's a fairy tale... it's a foolish child's dream,  Even if you kill me and defeat Highland, you won't have peace! You'll have a defeated country screaming for our vengeance."

- "You can round up a million maggots to try to defeat me... but you'll still all just be maggots!"

- "I've chopped hundreds, thousands of necks.  I can do it with my eyes closed!"

- "It took hundreds to kill me, but I killed humans by the thousands. I am sublime!!! I am the true face of evil!!!"

Thanks everyone for reading and I hope you enjoyed this segment.