Why so sephie

[Toshiooh]

well I meet Sephiroth in Kingdom hearts 2 and I have to say that was a great dual. He was not a main villain so to speak but offered such a nice challenge that I really appreciate the fact he was there. That said, the fact that after beating him he was like "well only cloud can beat me *sigh*" made me feel slightly useless almost as if I was just substitute rival to cloud.

the alchemy between Cloud and Sephiroth seems artificial in KH, my theory is that Sephiroth is cloud's heartless and that would explain why Cloud is such a nobody... it makes sense in KH.

 

[Tenbob]

My take is a pretty simple one:

I don't think Sephiroth himself is a great villain, but the atmosphere he (And his actions) creates are what make a great villain. Remember in Nibelheim how he was reading through all of the books of the Shinra mansion as if possessed? That was in the flashback, but it wasn't the "insanity" itself that sells him as a villain (imo) it is the -atmosphere-. Remember the backing music of his insanity?

Now later in the game, you return to Nibelheim (5 years later) and in the same mansion it appears unchanged to what you see in the flashback, HOWEVER, the atmosphere dictated by the music and the apparent abandonment of the mansion just build on it and fill the place with Sephiroth's presence. The first time I returned there? I genuinely felt tension, expecting to meet Sephiroth and have to battle him at any moment.

Later in the game, it isn't Sephiroth's presence, but the presence of his act (Meteor) and the weight it bears on all of the people bearing witness to it and how various attempts continue to fail to prevent the act. Also, remember the post-meteor summoning music? That sets the theme behind the world again and makes it an oppressive presence (And you can't even SEE meteor outside of cutscenes/story dumps). If you've played LoZ: Majora's Mask, it's a similar concept there, there is evidently a villain behind it, but it is the act itself that has the presence and dictates the atmosphere.

As far as villains go, Sephiroth isn't bad, but nor is HE great. It is the acts and the -presence- he has that makes him memorable.

 

[A Weakgeek]

Hes a bishonen pretty boy, and its really kawaii and sexy to pair him up with Cloud to have hot sexy times.

Spoiler

 

[Canadamus Prime]

You know, I have no f*ing clue. I hate the guy. I hate him because he's a douche, but I hate him even more because he's a douche that everyone and their dog fawns over like he's Jesus or something. Esp. considering from what I recall, he wasn't all that impressive.

Now i preface this with i am not posting this to start a flame war. I would like your opinion on why sephiroth is well liked? (my opinion) I feel any character that does not fight at full strength and loses about five times now cannot be as powerful as they keep on saying he is.

You know it never occurred to me before but most of his supposed badassness is hearsay. Except for one fight with a dragon during a flashback the game never really shows you how badass Sephiroth is. Instead they just have Cloud and a bunch of other characters talk a whole lot about how badass he's supposed to be and we're expected to take their word for it.
Granted they fixed this somewhat with Advent Children and Crisis Core, but the bastard's popularity had already been cemented before they came along, so it still begs to question why the fu- fruit is this guy so popular when, in the original game, we actually see him in action he's pretty pathetic.

EDIT:
Disclaimer: No flaming intended

 

[Elementary - Dear Watson]

But he just looks so goddamn awesome... there is only one player that looks cooler, and that is Vincent! Then again, Vincent is also the best FF character through and through, The only one capable of being more awesome than Auron!

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

Ok I am not talking to the OP as much here but the people who have played played FF games(a lot) who should realise why Sephiroth is supposed to be good and yet have missed why is he is a good villain even if they do not like him.

I know I usually spoiler this stuff so even thought the game is old all plot points in here.

Spoiler

The parts that make Sephiroth a good villain is that he was a good man but went insane after finding out about his origins. He goes from being the perfect soldier to the perfect villain. He massacres a whole town another super soldier and then is stopped by a failed one but only be pure chance and force of will. However, through his own will he manages to avoid being absorbed back into the planet. Finally, he goes on over the next few years to orchestrate the downfall of the most powerful people in the world.

Oh and even though it was avoided he basically managed to force the planet to invoke one of its many apocalypse prevention scenarios.

He uses his own will through his genetics to control a spawn of Jenova to massacre many people and doing his bidding. While this not might show his power it shows how good of a manipulator and planner he was. Kefka was good because he was in your face fucked up insane like the Joker. That is what made him.

That is what sets him apart from some of the other villains. He manipulates and plans. Now given this I do accept that he does have his flaws as a character as do all villains and he is by no means a perfect one but he is not a bad one.

The problem with Sephiroth is his popularity and FF VIIs old popularity as I don't think it is fair to say it is "over rated" any more. Most people had too high expectations which brings him down. So this and the connotation of "emoness" of him and Cloud do ruin people's view of the game and characters. Despite that only Vincent is close to properly emoish in the games. Even then they all have fairly good reasons for being not 100% emotionally/mentally stable in FF VII.

 

[Crimson_Dragoon]

Honestly, I never felt that his "change to the dark side" was ever well justified or motivated from what we saw in the original game. Hell, I never really thought much of him as a character (villain or not) until Crisis Core, which did far more for making us understand and sympathize with him that FF7 ever did.

 

[Adam Goetz]

See I never had the problem of overhype for seven. I bought it the day it came out because I loved three on Snes. I am 24. I was happy for a 3d FF game. I would say I ruined the first game experience for my self, mainly I had an issue because of the meds I was taking at the time, I leveled up to level 70 before leaving Midgar. (I know it is hard to believe but my parents put me on Add meds when I didn't have add.) So I was walking around with an everything you can do I can do better mind set the first time around. So you see the snake on a pike, I just killed it. The guards die in one hit. I wanted to kill the fat ass. And the story was dull. I picked up my copy a few years ago, while I was in Iraq, and couldn't even make it to Red 13's home before putting it down for good.

I know I have not lost my love for the series (I still pick up 8, 9 and 10 all the time. If you have a problem with 8 please no flame war.) Here is a new question, Why did FFVII not stand the test of time? (Or did in your opinion.)


I would like to thank all the new posters, you are being very cool and helpful.

 

[Killertje]

See I never had the problem of overhype for seven. I bought it the day it came out because I loved three on Snes. I am 24. I was happy for a 3d FF game. I would say I ruined the first game experience for my self, mainly I had an issue because of the meds I was taking at the time, I leveled up to level 70 before leaving Midgar. (I know it is hard to believe but my parents put me on Add meds when I didn't have add.) So I was walking around with an everything you can do I can do better mind set the first time around. So you see the snake on a pike, I just killed it. The guards die in one hit. I wanted to kill the fat ass. And the story was dull. I picked up my copy a few years ago, while I was in Iraq, and couldn't even make it to Red 13's home before putting it down for good.

I know I have not lost my love for the series (I still pick up 8, 9 and 10 all the time. If you have a problem with 8 please no flame war.) Here is a new question, Why did FFVII not stand the test of time? (Or did in your opinion.)


I would like to thank all the new posters, you are being very cool and helpful.

Your first experience with the game probably ruined it for you. Seriously I think the first time I finished FF7 was at lvl 50 or so. The flashback in Kalm shows you how sephiroth does 3k damage per hit while you yourself do like 40. That snake is extremely hard if not impossible to kill the first time you get there if you play it normally (lvl 10-15 instead of 70). Also ADD medicine makes everything boring, so not the games fault

I used to play FF 7-9 at least once a year when I was younger and 7 was by far my favourite. Haven't touched them lately, but I still think 7 is the best FF ever (and everything after 10 should be killed with firaga). I played 7 and 8 on PC (640x480 ftw). Especially the battles look much better on PC than on the PS.

 

[Adam Goetz]

I found it fascinating during the add meds, without it was dull. And even at lvl 15 the game was not challenging me.

 

[Aeonknight]

I'd say Sephiroth was a better villian than kefka. Why? He was better developed and felt like he influenced the world around him/you a hell of a lot more.

The flashback sequence in Kalm was all the character development he needed. Even in the mock battle with the dragon (where Cloud was normally 1 shotted), Sephiroth proceeded to obliterate the mob with a rather large sword. You got to actually measure his strength relative to yours. And with that, he makes you feel weak. Couple that with actually getting to watch him driven to insanity by the research he does, he creates a very specific atmosphere.

Kefka? People say he destroyed the world. He didn't do shit but push some statues around. His backstory? "I'm crazy cuz I am." His effect on the world? prior to the world of ruin he was an absolute joke. He had a great personality though, which is his only redeeming factor. Also Dancing Mad.

 

[Adam Goetz]

Kefka was great because he was controlling the empire. you knew it from the second he walked into the game. He even poisoned a town of people for fun and killed their most powerful general on a lark. But @Aeonkight why IYO did 7 last.

IMO the battles were too simple, the characters cardboard cutouts, and for the first part of the game you are chasing a mad man with no real reason other than he is messing things up for the people we don't like lets get him.

The cardboard cut outs problem occurred to me at the golden saucer, Barret has a life changing mement with his best friend and has to kill him. Yet at red XIII's place he is back to normal Barret. He could start to change but he is stagnant. This goes for the rest of the cast as well. Cloud never has a true character change he is just the same lines over and over until he gets his story straight

 

[Canadamus Prime]

You know it never occurred to me before but most of his supposed badassness is hearsay. Except for one fight with a dragon during a flashback the game never really shows you how badass Sephiroth is. Instead they just have Cloud and a bunch of other characters talk a whole lot about how badass he's supposed to be and we're expected to take their word for it.

Again, not really. Before you ever meet Sephiroth, you've already broken out of jail only to find an entire tower of guards and soldiers slaughtered, and Jenova's entire headless carcass carried off singlehandedly. You've already ascended the Shinra tower, only to find the president has been murdered. You've already crossed the swamp, only to see the 100 foot snake guarding it nailed to a tree. The characters like to talk about how badass Sephiroth is, sure, but before you ever meet him, the game has made sure that you've seen with your own eyes just how destructive and unstoppable he is.

Ok first of all the Shinra soldiers were pathetic so that's hardly impressive. Secondly the Shinra President was a fat-ass, so that hardly means anything. Also if I really wanted to be nitpicky I could point out that the only evidence that Sephiroth had even been in the building was that his sword was stuck in the president's back, the same sword he shows up with later. How and when he got it back is anyone's guess. And about that snake, there was no indication that it was actually Sephiroth that killed it, we were all just supposed to assume it was. "OMG there's a giant snake on a spike! Sephiroth must have killed it. OMG there's some graffiti on a wall! Sephiroth must've done it. ¬_¬

 

[Adam Goetz]

I thought of them as Shinra rent-a-cops

 

[Fidelias]

I don't know whether Sephiroth is the most badass villain, but I did think he was cool.

I actually like him better in the prequel-ish FF7: Crisis Core. I think the game did an amazing job showing Sephiroth's descent into madness. While it didn't pull it off perfectly, it still did a better job then a LOT of other games. I actually felt sympathetic for the poor bastard. All this time he thought he was another human, and it turns out he's actually a full-fledged monster. That's enough to make anyone go insane.

Still, I think Revan is WAY more badass than he is, just saying.

 

[wintercoat]

Most final fantasty characters are total metrosexual wankers. Only character I really liked was Seifer. Everyone else is forgettable.

Edit: How could I forget Balthier and Fraan! Loved those guys too!

I see your Balthier and raise you one Auron.

 

[PotluckBrigand]

Kefka? People say he destroyed the world. He didn't do shit but push some statues around. His backstory? "I'm crazy cuz I am." His effect on the world? prior to the world of ruin he was an absolute joke. He had a great personality though, which is his only redeeming factor. Also Dancing Mad.

I've always kind of agreed with this. While I do LIKE Kefka for those reasons, his motivation always seemed to just be "I'M CRAZY!" which is not terribly interesting. FFVI is still an awesome game and the final showdown with Kefka is suitably epic, but I'd even call Kuja a more interesting antagonist than Kefka, and believe me I will not say that about a lot of characters.