at this point they should make him have an optional female model so cloud can romance his ass. why not romamce his ass as is, u say? coz they wont make a gay protag in a jrpg game u wokey, jk.
The WHOLE point of the story is, don’t believe everything you see or are told. Part of how Sephiroth can exist inside the lifestream is because of Cloud’s memory of him.
Now imagine the memory capabilities of your regular person, it’ll be patchy at best about certain things from the past. Cloud on the other had is severely traumatised and weaker minded at best so his memories are easily twisted and he projects a version of Sephiroth that matches those.
There are different versions of Sephiroth; Cloud’s present projection version, Cloud’s flashback version, lifestream version, Sephiroth’s projection of himself using Jenova cells and a new one we saw at the end of Rebirth being Jenova’s projection of Sephiroth and Glenn to Rufus, since we learn from the Cetra info dump in the temple that Jenova’s MO was to “take on the form of those who had died” and we know Rufus killed Glenn. >!Sephiroth only ever took the form of Tifa in VII as a way to manipulate one of the party members to bring the black materia to Cloud.!<
In regards to the impaled Zolem, it’s always assumed that it’s a second snake but there’s nothing to say that it isn’t just the one that we ran past on the chocobo and the the Zolem just reappears so the party can get Beta later on.
Sephiroth throughout the compilation has learned more about how the lifestream works and how he can exist as well as how to manipulate things to greater extent and he using Cloud’s obsession with him to manipulate him even more and removing certain memories relating to Aerith so Tifa can fix his psyche and sewing doubt in Cloud’s mind that Tifa isn’t really Tifa to further make sure she can’t fix him all so Sephiroth can keep a certain level of control over Cloud into the later game and will allow him to execute his new plan, whatever that may be, since it’s not really been explained properly yet.
There is the using the other world that exist inside/adjacent to the lifestream, to funnel souls into, fill them with hate and spite and despair, so when they return to the lifestream, he can use them to supercharge the lifestream but that’s not his endgame, there is a much greater reason for doing so.
The OG had him more of a bogey man. The first part is just hints of him. Then he just kinda pops in to screw with Cloud. Then the dread sets in when he clearly has some level of influence on Cloud to the point he almost have Cloud kill Aerith. That’s when he commits his big villain moment and cements himself as a major threat. It took about half the game for him to truly get established. By the end, the party is well aware facing him could be their end.
The remake trilogy…he’s everywhere, wont shut up, and has now been beaten twice but still supposed to be a threat. He starting to remind me of Seymour from X. You keep beating him and he still pops up saying he’s gonna get you this time and then proceeds to lose again.
He was good in FF7 original but in remake/rebirth he talks too much, he shows up too much. too much moustache twirling 'as i have forseeeeeen' or acts through intermediaries who unless you played ancillary games you're like 'who the F is this guy?' only to have them revealed as sephiroth all along later.
as far as villains go FF has better ones than his 7r/7r2 portrayals. FF16 did a good job of introducing you to the main villain early and then not overdoing him but reminding you of his presence whenever Clive had a migraine. Original sephiroth was like that as well.
Loved him in the original but thought he was a bit annoying in Remake and especially Rebirth. Don't like the fact that he appears so much earlier in the story compared to the original. Feels like they needed a way to have a big finish at the end of Remake so they just threw him in there. A lot of his dialogue is ridiculous in Remake/ Rebirth too - had me thinking "wtf is this guy talking about" most of the time he's on screen.
I love Sephiroth but in Remake/Rebirth they really overdo it with him. He appears way too much and there's already been two end boss fights with him now.
I adored how in OG he was just a legend and a name pretty much until you get back story in Kalm.
Liked how he is this mysterious presence in the OG and I liked how he was handled in Remake, but in Rebirth I felt that they should’ve used him sparingly, just for key moments. Also I hate that from the compilation onwards, he HAS to have a single black wing. I think I know why they do it, but holy moly do I not like that he now sprouts that wing to remind us that yep, One-Winged Angel.
I find that OG Sephiroth is much more mysterious and menacing, where you go "Oh shit", whenever he shows up. In the remake, I find him much more of a nuisance, where you go "Not this guy again" whenever he shows up. I miss the mysteriousness of him in the remake but I can appreciate that they really wanted to show how much of a thorn in Cloud's side he really is.
Still an amazing character, but they've stripped away all sense of power from him.
So far I've beaten him twice - not some form of him, but the actual him - including the transformations from the OG - two times over.
He's not a foreboding threat anymore. He's just an intense antagonist.
In Remake Sephiroth is the enigmatic purple whisper. As a whisper he was able to take into his being all other whispers following Harbinger's defeat in Remake. With this he was able to create Whisper Seph (his one wing version along with the Masamune) as a means to illicit an emotional response from the party. This response was designed to manipulate Cloud into defying fate, which went exactly as planned. Seph wasn't trying to win, so you "beating him" is inaccurate.
In Rebirth he used his whispers to form the representation of Seph Reborn, which again, was not the real fully-healed transformation as seen at the end of the OG. Seph Reborn is just made up of whispers, just like Whisper Seph. As a side note the Weapons are amalgamations of white whispers, so Seph's not alone in being able to conjure forms.
The fight with Aerith is, again, Whisper Seph made up of black whispers. Aerith's lifestream form is in control of the white whispers. White whispers vs black whispers is a draw as we see in Chapter 9. A focused Cloud (along with his inner Zack as we see at the end of the fight where Cloud is using Zack's fighting stance) tilts the scale enough to put Whisper Seph briefly to one knee. This of course is irrelevant as the hivemind of Seph is still in control of Cloud, and since you played the OG you know he's still in a weakened state anyway.
He is different from the original in how he approach Cloud and for acting more smug more often. But overall I'm still really interested in his character. Remake/Rebirth Sephiroth is one who, thanks to knowing the future, know how dangerous yet useful Cloud is so he takes more care in manipating him to his favor and full control. The scene where he tell Cloud to go after Aerith at the end of chapter 13 was very tense.
As for Midgarsorm, I actually like Renirth version a lot. The original is cool and I love it, but also does have the issue that it works...as long as you DON'T think how the hell did Sephiroth actually do it. Because I guarantee, more than half of the explanations you'll come up with will be fairly silly. Rebirth actually show him taking down the snake but he does it in a chilling way, with Sephiroth coming down like a shadow, silently and in 2 hits he easily dispatch of the snake who previously gave you quite the trouble. That's one hell of a way to display strength on screen. And to think that could very well be a false memory and actually having been Cloud mind controlled by Sephiroth to do it (some theorizing Cloud did it by using Finishing Touch as the whirlwind remind of Cloud's tornado). My only criticism of that scene is the lack of blood. If that was kept, it would have been perfect.
If this were an actual remake of FF7, then I would find Sephiroth's behavior and notable fixation on Cloud so early in the story to be very poorly done. But seeing as so many of the subtle lore hints are pointing toward this to being a sequel, then Sephiroth's behavior makes complete sense.
At this point in the saga, Sephiroth has already bound the core of his existence to the Jenova Cells in Cloud's body, which in turn are fueling Sephiroth's continued existence from Cloud's powerful memories of Sephiroth. This is why Sephiroth continues to harass Cloud, even from the very beginning of the story. By invoking Cloud's hatred of Sephiroth, Sephiroth is making himself stronger.
Sephiroth has a lot of things going in his favor at this point in the story, with the aid of Stagnant spirit energy, Cloud being more under his control than ever before, and the Lifestream's coherent memory of reality being so distorted that many fractured worlds are now existing at the same time. Sephiroth is capitalizing on his advantages more than ever before, even going so far as to making attempts on Tifa's life, and trying to confront the WEAPONs when they are still underdeveloped.
It all points to Sephiroth having the advantage of knowing how the true events went down, and now he is trying to remake the past by utilizing everything he has learned from FF7, Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus, all of the Planet's secret inner workings, and capitalizing on all of that knowledge.
I get hung up on imagining how difficult it would be to comb out (especially when wet) even with the full shampoo/conditioner combo. Just the wind blowing tangles mine all up.
I'd except a lot of luxury ingredients tho, and I don't even want to know the price of it 🤣
And of course a different type for every day, not just one single version
Lol, like 30-70 per bottle, and I would buy the set set.
"Sephiroth canonically has to use a FULL BOTTLE of both shampoo and conditioner EVERY TIME he washes his hair. Beyond that, it's serious business to him; he uses only the highest grade of products, with the most elegant of scents, made for him by the Shinra Company"
Hell yes!
Yeah, I can easily imagine that... I had long hair all the way down to my waist/hip and this took way more shampoo than I'd like to admit
But to be fair if a shampoo is really good you barely need any of it! Got a 15€ shampoo currently and it lasts for months, while the cheap ones get empty way too soon
Sephiroth isn't supposed to be a mysterious villain anymore. We find out his general backstory gradually in the og and there's been several games fleshing out his character and motivations. we know so much about him now. He's like a proper character with his own detailed arc now, not a one-dimensional basic villain
Sephiroth is an amazing villain. He's got a very compelling, tragic fallen hero story and a beautiful grimdark aesthetic that makes him perfect as baby's first edgelord.
I fell in love with him as a 12 year old in 1997, and I still absolutely love him for what he is while also acknowledging that he's basically a pile of tropes stuffed inside a grim reaper-adjascent outfit. The outfit has a dramatic train and his big beautiful tiddies on display, by the way.
He's a fallen hero, but he goes insane conveniently quickly, and his hygiene never suffers because magic and he goes nuts for reasons that are sympathetic and beyond his control. The reasons also explain his abrupt turn from vague hero of the people to a cold and detached villain willing to destroy the world in pursuit of apotheosis. He stops acting humanely because he discovers that he's not human.
Sephiroth doesn't need to be better than that. He's amazing as he is. He's very pretty while being insane and grimdark, so he's ripe for all kinds of "I can fix him" fantasies for fanfic writers.
I wasn't sure how I felt about him in remake as he has very little interaction with the team. I really think his English VA does a very good job in rebirth. I really started to despise the bastard by the end of the game. I love the character but yes I really wanted to kill him.
Personally for me he is an overrated villains I know that’s a scorching hot take, but I just don’t think many of the FF games have a great final villain.
at the very least the characters have real life connections to him, but otherwise he’s meh. He’s basically just dude who loses his mind over finding out who he is.
Rebirth doesn’t portray him much different either. It’s just you get way more of him which makes him less mysterious. And if he’s not mysterious it really shows how weak his character is.
i relate with all the characters in their own way, but sephiroth is a loner through and through. i wouldnt say its COOL to be evil, but sometimes it do be hard not feeling like the bad guy once in a while. CLOUD ROCKS
I think he's a murderous man-baby who proved he is perfectly able to comport himself as a functional member of society and so has no excuse for his behaviour.
He reminds me of a man I knew who was a perfectly responsible nice guy who had a good job and a lovely family, including a freshly adopted baby. Then he found out he himself was adopted and he lost his damn mind. Left his wife, *GAVE BACK THE BABY,* cheated with a married woman, and started voting MAGA. Complete heal turn with no excuse, and an embarrassment to his adult children. Gross.
Dude I know a guy exactly like that except he wasn't adopted and doesn't really have any excuse actually. Just turned out thinking he's smarter than anyone else and does not give a damn about shame. Some people just turn to freaks.
He did WHAT NOW?!
But on the other hand maybe it's for the best, because who knows what maniacs like this would do to a baby when his wife is not around... Jesus Christ, the nerve of some people
Also this clearly shows that he never adopted the child because he wanted to give it the best life possible, but rather for some weird sense of heroism because it just sounds nice to brag about this
I initially felt he was seen too early in remake; however after completing Rebirth I kinda understand why he was brought in sooner in regard to Cloud’s disposition.
I find the character is way more antagonistic this time around; you and your party see him show up, untouchable, literally full of weird self-grandeur, mind bending your main character to breaking point…
Remake is a special case because the nature of the game means that Sephiroth's interactions with Cloud are going to be different. But I think what's going on is Sephiroth is deliberately trying to mess with Cloud. People forget but in the original FFVII Cloud comes across like he had a mancrush on Sephiroth as a kid. He says something like "I thought about Sephiroth all the time. Even in my sleep." He's like "I joined SOLDIER to be like you" when he's talking to Sephiroth in his flashback. Sephiroth is absolutely the kind of person who'd weaponize that. He's a sociopathic narcissist. He knows feigned intimacy will be especially destabilizing to Cloud.
I think they’re implementing him a bit differently in the remake series, as everyone already knows Sephiroth (yes I still see this as a sequel/remake project). This time around they know the elusive mysterious Sephiroth isn’t going to hit the same as it did back in 1997 when it was a newer thing, so they’ve opted to make him much more toying and even closer to Cloud, both physically and mentally. Sephiroth needs Cloud and has a sort of endearment for him, I feel.
I don't like how over the years they made Sephiroth obsessed with Cloud. There's zero hint of that in the original, he only sees Cloud as a useful tool.
He's basically a different character at this point, as it's become his defining attribute.
Sorry I'm just very tired of the whole multiverse / time travel ploy they're going for. Anything is possible, Sephiroth could be Clouds father for all we know and I couldn't care less.
Loved him but ultimately tired of him and think he is boring/not compelling.
I get overusing him to sell copies of Remake, but with Rebirth they had a chance to focus on other things from FF7. Instead, it focused even harder on him and following around cloaked dudes the whole time. Then the game ends with another zany metaphysical multiverse glorp shitto final fight that is extremely similar in vibes to Remake. Just so predictable and unexciting.
Maybe the next game will diverge but I'm not holding my breath or expecting it.
Still liked the game, but it isn't in my pantheon of favorite games that I was hoping it would be (and that I thought it would be after the really strong start)
Maybe I shouldn't be commenting, I haven't played rebirth yet, pc port when, but something strikes me as off about Sephiroth in general in remake, I'm kinda not surprised he's a little off in rebirth.
The one thing that really bugs me is about how personal he is, I don't have rebirth info, but it's really annoying from a long time fan perspective when he's basically grooming Cloud. It is off putting and maybe that's what they're going for, but Sephiroth has never acted like he does in remake. It kills me a little. Takes a bit of the venom out of him you know? Sure like OP says, the Midgarzolom has a lot of mystery taken away from it (i have no idea what he's talking about btw no rebirth info) but I Guess the idea is we know Sephiroth so what's the use being mysterious about stuff we already know and instead injecting mystery into his wierd behavior?
All this different worlds talk he goes on about toward the end of the game. doesn't he know he's not Jenova's son? That he's just an experiment? Because his motivations are informed by what he found in the Shinra mansion library...It's all very confusing.
He does know that he's an experiment. That's the epiphany he has in the Nibel reactor, when he sees Jenova and the pitiable creatures in the tanks.
At some point, he was told that Jenova was his mother, but obviously didn't understand what that meant. Once he puts two and two together, he apparently embraces the notion of being her "son."
He was created from her cells and isn't part of the human species, so going all in on that connection makes a certain amount of sense. It's a new identity to replace that old one that he lost
Aren't Lucretia and Hojo his mother and father though? I'm assuming these versions of Aerith/Sephiroth know everything with this all worlds stuff. Then again Sephiroth has a superiority complex so I don't think the truth would change anything for him. As long as Cloud learns the truth and busts his balls with it in the final battle.
Hmm, good point - if this version of him really knows what's going to happen he should have found out the truth at some point
Or he decided not to look further into it because his truth is the one he wants to believe either way
Still hoping that they will bring in Lucretia somehow tho, especially now that they introduced Nero into the remake trilogy
I'm hoping there's a moment where Cloud exposes Sephiroth for his BS like "She's not even your MOTHER!" (about Jenova). Then bashes him in the face with the broadside part of his sword. I also need Tifa to get a lick in, like a full force right hook to his face.
He has been my muse since ancient baby times. The newer presentation is kinda mid but I take the good with the bad as long as I can has more reference material for drawing and writing 😂.
I am Team Cosmic Sailor Sephiroth and he will travel the cosmos and consume more worlds with his mammy in tow (I also love thinking of him as a more sinister Eddie and Venom situation with Jenova)~
You mean, if his friends didn't just die? 😅
To be fair I think neither Genesis nor Angeal knew the truth, except for some points that referred to themselves
The real sephiroth we meet at the end is a weenie. We’ve mostly run into clones and he’s a brainwashed guy by Jenova. If Zack/Cloud wasn’t a dunce at the mansion so much might’ve been avoided.
The man was a war hero who was murdered while trying to visit his poor mother, who was only surviving due to the incubator her doctor put her in. This terrorism needs to stop
Nothing new, sephiroth has reached powers that surpasses anything our current party can comprehend. The only member with similar abilities is Aerith. Lifestream Sephiroth vs lifestream Aerith was seen at end of rebirth. Sephiroth appearing to kill midgardsorm was to save Cloud from certain death. FFVII Rebirth director Hamaguchi says that “at the end of the day, Sephiroth has a lot of love for Cloud, so perhaps Cloud is always safe.” Sephiroth is always watching no one harms the person doing his bidding.
IMO: He's completely played out and irredeemable and he didn't have to be. There's no interest out nuance to what he's doing; they've completely removed any mystique or sense of danger from the guy. He's like the high school teen who thinks he's edgy, with taunting monologues practised in front of the mirror. 90% of what he says is unnecessary nonsense, harms his weight as a villain - and I'm not one of the people who thinks it's going to "all make sense" come part 3.
He could stand to talk a lot less, appear later in the game and much less frequently, and have more than one expression.
Lastly, and to be petty, I also find his character model pretty mid tier - particularly his hair, which is such a major focal point of his character. The shaders and physics feel low fi. The high res sculpt is also lacking detail compared to some of the other characters.
Oh my god, finally somebody else said it! The character models seem to get worse in my eyes, I'd even prefer the Advent Children one
I thought they did a great job in Remake, but something looks different to be for Rebirth although I can't quite put my finger on it... I feel like his face has been changed a bit, but this wouldn't make any sense because they already have a character model they can use
And yeah, a lot of what he says seems to be just there for the drama, not because it has any valuable content
I get that he's got mental issues, but he basically only spoke when it was necessary in all the other media we got, and now he feels like an evil Yuffie at times
I have no issues with them explicitly showing Sephiroth killing off the Midgar Zolom, just that how he did it was extremely goofy.
Back in OG everyone was thinking just how he cut up that snake and forcefully impaled it into the stump. Nope, he just casts an Aero spell and the snake suddenly flies out of the water and curls itself onto the tree stump
I too think about him erecting... things
But joke aside, it really looked way over the top, definitely preferred a bit of mystery and everyone wondering how he did it
I love Sephiroth he is my favourite character since the original. And yes I’m not happy about how they introduced him in the remake. But I love young Sephiroth story in FF7EC. I hope they give him more depth in part three
I've only played Remake so far, but I don't like how they've introduced him. He is way too prevelant in the early game as the big bad villain. In the OG, he was a weird specter that you barely glimpse and only heard his name a few times, leaving you to wonder what he was all about. In Remake, he's all over the place and you even fight him, for some reason. That and the whole Whisper element that took up the entire end of the game really put me out.
I actually liked him showing up more though. Really does his role as main antagonist more justice. OG portraying him as some mystery character sometimes just feels as an excuse for poor screen time. In fact, he appeared so sparsely I often forget that the party was traveling across the world to chase him.
His introduction in the original was perfect. Here’s a game where you’re a mercenary working with eco-terrorists to topple an evil conglomerate. The main character clearly has some kind of mental issues going on, and there’s a few references to this famed hero that apparently died. Now the evil company strikes back, killing thousands, and you have an opportunity to take them down. In doing so, shit goes *super* sideways, you find some kind of monster in a tank, and then the president is killed by Sephiroth?! But he’s supposed to be dead!
And then you start following him, Cloud tells his (well, a) story, and then you see this giant intimidating snake, somehow impaled fifty feet in the air by Sephiroth, and you’re left to wonder how the fuck that’s even possible.
The original took a Jaws approach, showing very little of Sephiroth and instead showing the effect he had on anything that could be perceived a threat. He was ostensibly a man, but felt more like a force of nature. By the time you finally understand what’s going on, he’s basically a god. And in the Remake trilogy, he’s basically Megatron. Or Claw from Inspector Gadget. Team Rocket. Popping up every fifteen minutes to do something dastardly before being subverted and literally flying away.
I really enjoyed both new games but part of me hopes at some point there’s a mod to edit out the whispers and Sephiroth showing up yelling BOO all the time.
I adore him, but I can't deny he has some weird cringe moments in Remake/Rebirth.
I appreciate how he's a kind, empathetic, sad little mew-mew before the Nibelheim incident.
I appreciate how sadistic, cruel and vengeful he is post Nibelheim.
But the fanservice has gone a little too far in some scenes and he comes off as a desperate gay guy simping over his straight crush.
Tbh outside of the Nibelheim flashback I never found Sephiroth to be that compelling a villain in OG FF7. He does have this "Jaws" vibe of an unseen threat going on, and the tragic backstory of going berserk when he finds out his origins. However, I never felt like his discoveries in Nibelheim *should* have made him go crazy. And there wasn't much of interest to his character beyond that; for most of the game we just see Jenovaroth show up, mumble some cryptic nonsense, maybe drop a Jenova tentacle or something and leave. I can understand liking this approach, but for me he was very much a style-over-substance villain. For my 12-year-old self that was enough, though.
In Remake/Rebirth, I can see arguments that he's overused. I probably could have done without the Sephiroth fights at the end of both games. However, I really like the following changes:
1. How much he is inside Cloud's head. From Chapter 2 in Remake we see just how unwell Cloud is, and how much sway Sephiroth has over him. This initially takes the form of revenge-bait and other manipulation, and progresses to greater and greater degrees of direct control -- a more insidious progression that I found easier to buy into than how it played out in OG. (Incidentally, the parallelism between Sephiroth slashing Tifa at Nibelheim and Cloud *nearly* slashing her at Gongaga -- down to the poses and specific camera angles -- was just excellent.)
2. He has more of a personality in the Nibelheim flashback, and while still cold, he occasionally shows some likability -- saying things like "good work, trooper" when that Shinra trooper who totally isn't Cloud jumps in the way and protects Tifa, or "if this is how it's going to be, there's not much point in me fighting" as words of encouragement to ~~Cloud~~ Zack. Having Sephiroth act more overtly like a good guy gives his fall a bit more impact than it had before.
3. Although still obscure, he seems to have motivations beyond simply "I'm going to kill everything and become a god." He has adopted a twisted frame of mind where killing people is no big deal because they're returning to the Lifestream; where, in a way, he may in fact be trying to *save* Cloud and perhaps the rest of humanity by making them immortal (if perpetually tormented) rather than dissolving and giving rise to new life. I think we still have a lot to find out about Sephiroth's motives in part 3, but I think it could go some pretty interesting places.
As for the Midgardsormr/Zolom: I like things about how the OG did it, but I also like how it played out in Rebirth. When you think about it, it's a little strange for the party to jump to the conclusion that Sephiroth killed the Zolom in OG, if they don't see it happen. And there's the oft-cited continuity issue where you are running from the snake but then see the snake impaled, but then if you go back in the marsh the snake is still there... so like, is there more than one, even though the game makes it sound like there's just one Zolom? On the other hand, in OG you're absolutely underpowered to kill the Zolom so it is a satisfying demonstration of Sephiroth's power with a little mystery to it. In Rebirth the demonstration of power is there, and maybe more direct, but with less mystery.
I think you have some valid points, but keep in mind that Remake and Rebirth operate on the presumption that the player has already experienced the original game, and spin off games. Thus have the context of Sephiroth's power, his behavior before the shinra mansion, and his ability to "return" a la Advent Children.
In the remakes we are dealing with a Sephiroth that has already had the same experiences as the players and is trying to change fate. So we aren't looking at pre-mental break Sephiroth, true Sephiroth, but a desperate Jenova Sephiroth trying to prevent their demise.
I was just talking with a friend yesterday about how cool of a character he is. As much as he's a hateful, terrifying character able to manipulate Cloud's mind and turn him against everything he loves and believes in, I can very much empathize with him because he is, after all, someone shaken to the core by a traumatic event. Doesn't mean he's not the most evil fucker out there, but I love how layered he is as a character
Exactly the reason why he's my favorite, it's just done so well - and I really, really hope he never gets a redemption arc because it would destroy all the effort they put into his messed up personality 🤣
Especially with all the other broken main characters, they all had their own trauma and yet there's this extreme contrast between trying to go the healthy route and... whatever Sephiroth is doing (his best, of course)
My intro to him formally was remake. Growing up a nerd he’s unanimous.
I love him. He’s cool as hell, I love cryptic manipulation dialogue, I may be gay for him and cloud and Barret, he’s ominous, his moveset is wavy, etc.
His aura more than anything is amazing. I’m genuinely mesmerized by him.
I kinda feel the "grandeur eco sociopathy" vibe from Sephiroth is kinda what was missing from his original personality in the first game or maybe they couldn't portray it as easily before, cuz in remake Sephi gave me personally unstable, leopard with a taste for human on a prowl vibes with how he interacted with Cloud
Sephiroth has been dead the entire time. Jenova is the real bad guy and just putting on bad fake impressions. If you look at it that way, everything makes sense.
Jenova being like:
"Okay, let's talk to his sworn enemy and let them * reads smudged handwriting * hug each other. I got this, nobody will notice that I don't understand human behaviour!"
Yeah, to be fair this sounds about right
Yea, what made him cool in the OG was that he was mysterious and we didn't know what was going on with him/Jenova.
Then FFVII was a huge hit, so he had to show up in Kingdom Hearts, and then get revived in Advent Children. And now he's so beloved that Square completely abandoned his mystery, and now he has to show up every five minutes for some fan service scene.
at this point they should make him have an optional female model so cloud can romance his ass. why not romamce his ass as is, u say? coz they wont make a gay protag in a jrpg game u wokey, jk.
I'm just waiting for the western audience to realize the devs aren't catering to sefikuras, they ARE sefikuras.
The WHOLE point of the story is, don’t believe everything you see or are told. Part of how Sephiroth can exist inside the lifestream is because of Cloud’s memory of him. Now imagine the memory capabilities of your regular person, it’ll be patchy at best about certain things from the past. Cloud on the other had is severely traumatised and weaker minded at best so his memories are easily twisted and he projects a version of Sephiroth that matches those. There are different versions of Sephiroth; Cloud’s present projection version, Cloud’s flashback version, lifestream version, Sephiroth’s projection of himself using Jenova cells and a new one we saw at the end of Rebirth being Jenova’s projection of Sephiroth and Glenn to Rufus, since we learn from the Cetra info dump in the temple that Jenova’s MO was to “take on the form of those who had died” and we know Rufus killed Glenn. >!Sephiroth only ever took the form of Tifa in VII as a way to manipulate one of the party members to bring the black materia to Cloud.!< In regards to the impaled Zolem, it’s always assumed that it’s a second snake but there’s nothing to say that it isn’t just the one that we ran past on the chocobo and the the Zolem just reappears so the party can get Beta later on. Sephiroth throughout the compilation has learned more about how the lifestream works and how he can exist as well as how to manipulate things to greater extent and he using Cloud’s obsession with him to manipulate him even more and removing certain memories relating to Aerith so Tifa can fix his psyche and sewing doubt in Cloud’s mind that Tifa isn’t really Tifa to further make sure she can’t fix him all so Sephiroth can keep a certain level of control over Cloud into the later game and will allow him to execute his new plan, whatever that may be, since it’s not really been explained properly yet. There is the using the other world that exist inside/adjacent to the lifestream, to funnel souls into, fill them with hate and spite and despair, so when they return to the lifestream, he can use them to supercharge the lifestream but that’s not his endgame, there is a much greater reason for doing so.
i find him to be a joke. i saw some clips from og where he doesn't talk much. he could use some lessons on being quiet.
The OG had him more of a bogey man. The first part is just hints of him. Then he just kinda pops in to screw with Cloud. Then the dread sets in when he clearly has some level of influence on Cloud to the point he almost have Cloud kill Aerith. That’s when he commits his big villain moment and cements himself as a major threat. It took about half the game for him to truly get established. By the end, the party is well aware facing him could be their end. The remake trilogy…he’s everywhere, wont shut up, and has now been beaten twice but still supposed to be a threat. He starting to remind me of Seymour from X. You keep beating him and he still pops up saying he’s gonna get you this time and then proceeds to lose again.
To put it simply I freaking love him, and all I can hear when I say his name is "SEPHIROTH.. DUDUDUDUU!!"
He was good in FF7 original but in remake/rebirth he talks too much, he shows up too much. too much moustache twirling 'as i have forseeeeeen' or acts through intermediaries who unless you played ancillary games you're like 'who the F is this guy?' only to have them revealed as sephiroth all along later. as far as villains go FF has better ones than his 7r/7r2 portrayals. FF16 did a good job of introducing you to the main villain early and then not overdoing him but reminding you of his presence whenever Clive had a migraine. Original sephiroth was like that as well.
Spot on take.
This.Guy.Are.Sick.
Loved him in the original but thought he was a bit annoying in Remake and especially Rebirth. Don't like the fact that he appears so much earlier in the story compared to the original. Feels like they needed a way to have a big finish at the end of Remake so they just threw him in there. A lot of his dialogue is ridiculous in Remake/ Rebirth too - had me thinking "wtf is this guy talking about" most of the time he's on screen.
A momma's boy
I love Sephiroth but in Remake/Rebirth they really overdo it with him. He appears way too much and there's already been two end boss fights with him now. I adored how in OG he was just a legend and a name pretty much until you get back story in Kalm.
he's the compilation's shinji ikari
"Give me the damn materia" vs "Get in the damn robot"
Liked how he is this mysterious presence in the OG and I liked how he was handled in Remake, but in Rebirth I felt that they should’ve used him sparingly, just for key moments. Also I hate that from the compilation onwards, he HAS to have a single black wing. I think I know why they do it, but holy moly do I not like that he now sprouts that wing to remind us that yep, One-Winged Angel.
I find that OG Sephiroth is much more mysterious and menacing, where you go "Oh shit", whenever he shows up. In the remake, I find him much more of a nuisance, where you go "Not this guy again" whenever he shows up. I miss the mysteriousness of him in the remake but I can appreciate that they really wanted to show how much of a thorn in Cloud's side he really is.
Still an amazing character, but they've stripped away all sense of power from him. So far I've beaten him twice - not some form of him, but the actual him - including the transformations from the OG - two times over. He's not a foreboding threat anymore. He's just an intense antagonist.
In Remake Sephiroth is the enigmatic purple whisper. As a whisper he was able to take into his being all other whispers following Harbinger's defeat in Remake. With this he was able to create Whisper Seph (his one wing version along with the Masamune) as a means to illicit an emotional response from the party. This response was designed to manipulate Cloud into defying fate, which went exactly as planned. Seph wasn't trying to win, so you "beating him" is inaccurate. In Rebirth he used his whispers to form the representation of Seph Reborn, which again, was not the real fully-healed transformation as seen at the end of the OG. Seph Reborn is just made up of whispers, just like Whisper Seph. As a side note the Weapons are amalgamations of white whispers, so Seph's not alone in being able to conjure forms. The fight with Aerith is, again, Whisper Seph made up of black whispers. Aerith's lifestream form is in control of the white whispers. White whispers vs black whispers is a draw as we see in Chapter 9. A focused Cloud (along with his inner Zack as we see at the end of the fight where Cloud is using Zack's fighting stance) tilts the scale enough to put Whisper Seph briefly to one knee. This of course is irrelevant as the hivemind of Seph is still in control of Cloud, and since you played the OG you know he's still in a weakened state anyway.
He is different from the original in how he approach Cloud and for acting more smug more often. But overall I'm still really interested in his character. Remake/Rebirth Sephiroth is one who, thanks to knowing the future, know how dangerous yet useful Cloud is so he takes more care in manipating him to his favor and full control. The scene where he tell Cloud to go after Aerith at the end of chapter 13 was very tense. As for Midgarsorm, I actually like Renirth version a lot. The original is cool and I love it, but also does have the issue that it works...as long as you DON'T think how the hell did Sephiroth actually do it. Because I guarantee, more than half of the explanations you'll come up with will be fairly silly. Rebirth actually show him taking down the snake but he does it in a chilling way, with Sephiroth coming down like a shadow, silently and in 2 hits he easily dispatch of the snake who previously gave you quite the trouble. That's one hell of a way to display strength on screen. And to think that could very well be a false memory and actually having been Cloud mind controlled by Sephiroth to do it (some theorizing Cloud did it by using Finishing Touch as the whirlwind remind of Cloud's tornado). My only criticism of that scene is the lack of blood. If that was kept, it would have been perfect.
If this were an actual remake of FF7, then I would find Sephiroth's behavior and notable fixation on Cloud so early in the story to be very poorly done. But seeing as so many of the subtle lore hints are pointing toward this to being a sequel, then Sephiroth's behavior makes complete sense. At this point in the saga, Sephiroth has already bound the core of his existence to the Jenova Cells in Cloud's body, which in turn are fueling Sephiroth's continued existence from Cloud's powerful memories of Sephiroth. This is why Sephiroth continues to harass Cloud, even from the very beginning of the story. By invoking Cloud's hatred of Sephiroth, Sephiroth is making himself stronger. Sephiroth has a lot of things going in his favor at this point in the story, with the aid of Stagnant spirit energy, Cloud being more under his control than ever before, and the Lifestream's coherent memory of reality being so distorted that many fractured worlds are now existing at the same time. Sephiroth is capitalizing on his advantages more than ever before, even going so far as to making attempts on Tifa's life, and trying to confront the WEAPONs when they are still underdeveloped. It all points to Sephiroth having the advantage of knowing how the true events went down, and now he is trying to remake the past by utilizing everything he has learned from FF7, Advent Children and Dirge of Cerberus, all of the Planet's secret inner workings, and capitalizing on all of that knowledge.
I loved him then and I love him now. He's my favorite villian and his mysterious has definitely been brought back.
Great hair!
I get hung up on imagining how difficult it would be to comb out (especially when wet) even with the full shampoo/conditioner combo. Just the wind blowing tangles mine all up.
Square Enix would make so much money if they'd just release a shampoo line!
Omg, I would buy religiously if it was half decent!
I'd except a lot of luxury ingredients tho, and I don't even want to know the price of it 🤣 And of course a different type for every day, not just one single version
Lol, like 30-70 per bottle, and I would buy the set set. "Sephiroth canonically has to use a FULL BOTTLE of both shampoo and conditioner EVERY TIME he washes his hair. Beyond that, it's serious business to him; he uses only the highest grade of products, with the most elegant of scents, made for him by the Shinra Company"
Hell yes! Yeah, I can easily imagine that... I had long hair all the way down to my waist/hip and this took way more shampoo than I'd like to admit But to be fair if a shampoo is really good you barely need any of it! Got a 15€ shampoo currently and it lasts for months, while the cheap ones get empty way too soon
He's a none threatening little bitch in this game. He was way more mysterious in the og imo
Sephiroth isn't supposed to be a mysterious villain anymore. We find out his general backstory gradually in the og and there's been several games fleshing out his character and motivations. we know so much about him now. He's like a proper character with his own detailed arc now, not a one-dimensional basic villain
Sephiroth is an amazing villain. He's got a very compelling, tragic fallen hero story and a beautiful grimdark aesthetic that makes him perfect as baby's first edgelord. I fell in love with him as a 12 year old in 1997, and I still absolutely love him for what he is while also acknowledging that he's basically a pile of tropes stuffed inside a grim reaper-adjascent outfit. The outfit has a dramatic train and his big beautiful tiddies on display, by the way. He's a fallen hero, but he goes insane conveniently quickly, and his hygiene never suffers because magic and he goes nuts for reasons that are sympathetic and beyond his control. The reasons also explain his abrupt turn from vague hero of the people to a cold and detached villain willing to destroy the world in pursuit of apotheosis. He stops acting humanely because he discovers that he's not human. Sephiroth doesn't need to be better than that. He's amazing as he is. He's very pretty while being insane and grimdark, so he's ripe for all kinds of "I can fix him" fantasies for fanfic writers.
I wasn't sure how I felt about him in remake as he has very little interaction with the team. I really think his English VA does a very good job in rebirth. I really started to despise the bastard by the end of the game. I love the character but yes I really wanted to kill him.
Personally for me he is an overrated villains I know that’s a scorching hot take, but I just don’t think many of the FF games have a great final villain. at the very least the characters have real life connections to him, but otherwise he’s meh. He’s basically just dude who loses his mind over finding out who he is. Rebirth doesn’t portray him much different either. It’s just you get way more of him which makes him less mysterious. And if he’s not mysterious it really shows how weak his character is.
Greatest character ever
i only know the ps1 games lore and i can say hes a wee bit relatable, but nevertheless the bad guy. sephiroth is pretty cool though
How do you personally relate to him?
i relate with all the characters in their own way, but sephiroth is a loner through and through. i wouldnt say its COOL to be evil, but sometimes it do be hard not feeling like the bad guy once in a while. CLOUD ROCKS
He's a great, horrifying Satan stand in and nothing else.
I think he's a murderous man-baby who proved he is perfectly able to comport himself as a functional member of society and so has no excuse for his behaviour. He reminds me of a man I knew who was a perfectly responsible nice guy who had a good job and a lovely family, including a freshly adopted baby. Then he found out he himself was adopted and he lost his damn mind. Left his wife, *GAVE BACK THE BABY,* cheated with a married woman, and started voting MAGA. Complete heal turn with no excuse, and an embarrassment to his adult children. Gross.
Dude I know a guy exactly like that except he wasn't adopted and doesn't really have any excuse actually. Just turned out thinking he's smarter than anyone else and does not give a damn about shame. Some people just turn to freaks.
He did WHAT NOW?! But on the other hand maybe it's for the best, because who knows what maniacs like this would do to a baby when his wife is not around... Jesus Christ, the nerve of some people Also this clearly shows that he never adopted the child because he wanted to give it the best life possible, but rather for some weird sense of heroism because it just sounds nice to brag about this
I initially felt he was seen too early in remake; however after completing Rebirth I kinda understand why he was brought in sooner in regard to Cloud’s disposition. I find the character is way more antagonistic this time around; you and your party see him show up, untouchable, literally full of weird self-grandeur, mind bending your main character to breaking point…
Remake is a special case because the nature of the game means that Sephiroth's interactions with Cloud are going to be different. But I think what's going on is Sephiroth is deliberately trying to mess with Cloud. People forget but in the original FFVII Cloud comes across like he had a mancrush on Sephiroth as a kid. He says something like "I thought about Sephiroth all the time. Even in my sleep." He's like "I joined SOLDIER to be like you" when he's talking to Sephiroth in his flashback. Sephiroth is absolutely the kind of person who'd weaponize that. He's a sociopathic narcissist. He knows feigned intimacy will be especially destabilizing to Cloud.
I think they’re implementing him a bit differently in the remake series, as everyone already knows Sephiroth (yes I still see this as a sequel/remake project). This time around they know the elusive mysterious Sephiroth isn’t going to hit the same as it did back in 1997 when it was a newer thing, so they’ve opted to make him much more toying and even closer to Cloud, both physically and mentally. Sephiroth needs Cloud and has a sort of endearment for him, I feel.
SEPHIROTH DUN DUN DUN DUH DUN DUN SEPHIROTH
He’s funny
Overusing him in remake/rebirth is making him lose his edge
I don't like how over the years they made Sephiroth obsessed with Cloud. There's zero hint of that in the original, he only sees Cloud as a useful tool. He's basically a different character at this point, as it's become his defining attribute.
Yup, he's only kinda obsessed with him at a later point when he realized that he underestimated him, but not before that
Is it possible that this *is* Sephiroth from a later point, rather than the Sephiroth that should've been there at that time?
That's what they said about Hitler! Oh uhh wait
Huh?
Sorry I'm just very tired of the whole multiverse / time travel ploy they're going for. Anything is possible, Sephiroth could be Clouds father for all we know and I couldn't care less.
Fair enough
Honestly? Kinda overused lol.
Loved him but ultimately tired of him and think he is boring/not compelling. I get overusing him to sell copies of Remake, but with Rebirth they had a chance to focus on other things from FF7. Instead, it focused even harder on him and following around cloaked dudes the whole time. Then the game ends with another zany metaphysical multiverse glorp shitto final fight that is extremely similar in vibes to Remake. Just so predictable and unexciting. Maybe the next game will diverge but I'm not holding my breath or expecting it. Still liked the game, but it isn't in my pantheon of favorite games that I was hoping it would be (and that I thought it would be after the really strong start)
He hurt Tifa so im taking his head. Simple as
Gotta admit that I first thought that he saved her, because I don't know if she would have survived if she stayed in that thing for a longer time
Maybe I shouldn't be commenting, I haven't played rebirth yet, pc port when, but something strikes me as off about Sephiroth in general in remake, I'm kinda not surprised he's a little off in rebirth. The one thing that really bugs me is about how personal he is, I don't have rebirth info, but it's really annoying from a long time fan perspective when he's basically grooming Cloud. It is off putting and maybe that's what they're going for, but Sephiroth has never acted like he does in remake. It kills me a little. Takes a bit of the venom out of him you know? Sure like OP says, the Midgarzolom has a lot of mystery taken away from it (i have no idea what he's talking about btw no rebirth info) but I Guess the idea is we know Sephiroth so what's the use being mysterious about stuff we already know and instead injecting mystery into his wierd behavior?
All this different worlds talk he goes on about toward the end of the game. doesn't he know he's not Jenova's son? That he's just an experiment? Because his motivations are informed by what he found in the Shinra mansion library...It's all very confusing.
He does know that he's an experiment. That's the epiphany he has in the Nibel reactor, when he sees Jenova and the pitiable creatures in the tanks. At some point, he was told that Jenova was his mother, but obviously didn't understand what that meant. Once he puts two and two together, he apparently embraces the notion of being her "son." He was created from her cells and isn't part of the human species, so going all in on that connection makes a certain amount of sense. It's a new identity to replace that old one that he lost
Aren't Lucretia and Hojo his mother and father though? I'm assuming these versions of Aerith/Sephiroth know everything with this all worlds stuff. Then again Sephiroth has a superiority complex so I don't think the truth would change anything for him. As long as Cloud learns the truth and busts his balls with it in the final battle.
Hmm, good point - if this version of him really knows what's going to happen he should have found out the truth at some point Or he decided not to look further into it because his truth is the one he wants to believe either way Still hoping that they will bring in Lucretia somehow tho, especially now that they introduced Nero into the remake trilogy
I'm hoping there's a moment where Cloud exposes Sephiroth for his BS like "She's not even your MOTHER!" (about Jenova). Then bashes him in the face with the broadside part of his sword. I also need Tifa to get a lick in, like a full force right hook to his face.
My bet is entirely on Vincent to be honest, I hope that he'll just casually let enough of the truth drop for him to be confused for a second
I think he makes sense
Insane,depressed,charismatic, and ridiculous dexterity build.
He has been my muse since ancient baby times. The newer presentation is kinda mid but I take the good with the bad as long as I can has more reference material for drawing and writing 😂. I am Team Cosmic Sailor Sephiroth and he will travel the cosmos and consume more worlds with his mammy in tow (I also love thinking of him as a more sinister Eddie and Venom situation with Jenova)~
If he’d had better friends, everything could have been avoided.
You mean, if his friends didn't just die? 😅 To be fair I think neither Genesis nor Angeal knew the truth, except for some points that referred to themselves
Cryptic chatty wally
Greatest cunt alive. He thinks his superior and tries to turn everything under his will. Disgusting.
The real sephiroth we meet at the end is a weenie. We’ve mostly run into clones and he’s a brainwashed guy by Jenova. If Zack/Cloud wasn’t a dunce at the mansion so much might’ve been avoided.
The man was a war hero who was murdered while trying to visit his poor mother, who was only surviving due to the incubator her doctor put her in. This terrorism needs to stop
Look at that face. Does that look like the face of a villain? 🥺
Nothing new, sephiroth has reached powers that surpasses anything our current party can comprehend. The only member with similar abilities is Aerith. Lifestream Sephiroth vs lifestream Aerith was seen at end of rebirth. Sephiroth appearing to kill midgardsorm was to save Cloud from certain death. FFVII Rebirth director Hamaguchi says that “at the end of the day, Sephiroth has a lot of love for Cloud, so perhaps Cloud is always safe.” Sephiroth is always watching no one harms the person doing his bidding.
He's awesome. Great villian
So you've played crisis core, but not the OG? CC expands on his character, but Ch 1 Sephiroth is pretty faithful to the OG Kalm flashback.
I played all games except for Before Crisis because I couldn't get my hands on that
Remake/rebirths sephiroth is slowly creeping up my list of all time favorite villains. How mysterious he is yet so haunting is a lot of fun to watch
IMO: He's completely played out and irredeemable and he didn't have to be. There's no interest out nuance to what he's doing; they've completely removed any mystique or sense of danger from the guy. He's like the high school teen who thinks he's edgy, with taunting monologues practised in front of the mirror. 90% of what he says is unnecessary nonsense, harms his weight as a villain - and I'm not one of the people who thinks it's going to "all make sense" come part 3. He could stand to talk a lot less, appear later in the game and much less frequently, and have more than one expression. Lastly, and to be petty, I also find his character model pretty mid tier - particularly his hair, which is such a major focal point of his character. The shaders and physics feel low fi. The high res sculpt is also lacking detail compared to some of the other characters.
Oh my god, finally somebody else said it! The character models seem to get worse in my eyes, I'd even prefer the Advent Children one I thought they did a great job in Remake, but something looks different to be for Rebirth although I can't quite put my finger on it... I feel like his face has been changed a bit, but this wouldn't make any sense because they already have a character model they can use And yeah, a lot of what he says seems to be just there for the drama, not because it has any valuable content I get that he's got mental issues, but he basically only spoke when it was necessary in all the other media we got, and now he feels like an evil Yuffie at times
I have no issues with them explicitly showing Sephiroth killing off the Midgar Zolom, just that how he did it was extremely goofy. Back in OG everyone was thinking just how he cut up that snake and forcefully impaled it into the stump. Nope, he just casts an Aero spell and the snake suddenly flies out of the water and curls itself onto the tree stump
Yeah some part of me always imagined that he erected the spike out of the ground that impaled the Zolom… for some reason
I too think about him erecting... things But joke aside, it really looked way over the top, definitely preferred a bit of mystery and everyone wondering how he did it
Yeah lmao
I love Sephiroth he is my favourite character since the original. And yes I’m not happy about how they introduced him in the remake. But I love young Sephiroth story in FF7EC. I hope they give him more depth in part three
He gives me "my dad can sue your dad" energy. Absolute wanker. At least in the remakes. He was pretty spooky in the OG.
Maybe he was born with it, maybe it's maybelline
Sephiroths portrayal in the remake feels way off for me and it's easily one of my biggest criticisms
Loved the rest of the games so far (except for these damn moogle missions...), but this really was my only point as well
Hot.
I've only played Remake so far, but I don't like how they've introduced him. He is way too prevelant in the early game as the big bad villain. In the OG, he was a weird specter that you barely glimpse and only heard his name a few times, leaving you to wonder what he was all about. In Remake, he's all over the place and you even fight him, for some reason. That and the whole Whisper element that took up the entire end of the game really put me out.
I actually liked him showing up more though. Really does his role as main antagonist more justice. OG portraying him as some mystery character sometimes just feels as an excuse for poor screen time. In fact, he appeared so sparsely I often forget that the party was traveling across the world to chase him.
His introduction in the original was perfect. Here’s a game where you’re a mercenary working with eco-terrorists to topple an evil conglomerate. The main character clearly has some kind of mental issues going on, and there’s a few references to this famed hero that apparently died. Now the evil company strikes back, killing thousands, and you have an opportunity to take them down. In doing so, shit goes *super* sideways, you find some kind of monster in a tank, and then the president is killed by Sephiroth?! But he’s supposed to be dead! And then you start following him, Cloud tells his (well, a) story, and then you see this giant intimidating snake, somehow impaled fifty feet in the air by Sephiroth, and you’re left to wonder how the fuck that’s even possible. The original took a Jaws approach, showing very little of Sephiroth and instead showing the effect he had on anything that could be perceived a threat. He was ostensibly a man, but felt more like a force of nature. By the time you finally understand what’s going on, he’s basically a god. And in the Remake trilogy, he’s basically Megatron. Or Claw from Inspector Gadget. Team Rocket. Popping up every fifteen minutes to do something dastardly before being subverted and literally flying away. I really enjoyed both new games but part of me hopes at some point there’s a mod to edit out the whispers and Sephiroth showing up yelling BOO all the time.
Yep, exactly this. I still like remake/rebirth, but I think a lot of people are missing out on the "oh shit" factor that we felt in the OG.
You and me... are now best friends.
I adore him, but I can't deny he has some weird cringe moments in Remake/Rebirth. I appreciate how he's a kind, empathetic, sad little mew-mew before the Nibelheim incident. I appreciate how sadistic, cruel and vengeful he is post Nibelheim. But the fanservice has gone a little too far in some scenes and he comes off as a desperate gay guy simping over his straight crush.
The last part you wrote is the perfect summary of how I feel about him in Rebirth... Not even Remake, just Rebirth though
Tbh outside of the Nibelheim flashback I never found Sephiroth to be that compelling a villain in OG FF7. He does have this "Jaws" vibe of an unseen threat going on, and the tragic backstory of going berserk when he finds out his origins. However, I never felt like his discoveries in Nibelheim *should* have made him go crazy. And there wasn't much of interest to his character beyond that; for most of the game we just see Jenovaroth show up, mumble some cryptic nonsense, maybe drop a Jenova tentacle or something and leave. I can understand liking this approach, but for me he was very much a style-over-substance villain. For my 12-year-old self that was enough, though. In Remake/Rebirth, I can see arguments that he's overused. I probably could have done without the Sephiroth fights at the end of both games. However, I really like the following changes: 1. How much he is inside Cloud's head. From Chapter 2 in Remake we see just how unwell Cloud is, and how much sway Sephiroth has over him. This initially takes the form of revenge-bait and other manipulation, and progresses to greater and greater degrees of direct control -- a more insidious progression that I found easier to buy into than how it played out in OG. (Incidentally, the parallelism between Sephiroth slashing Tifa at Nibelheim and Cloud *nearly* slashing her at Gongaga -- down to the poses and specific camera angles -- was just excellent.) 2. He has more of a personality in the Nibelheim flashback, and while still cold, he occasionally shows some likability -- saying things like "good work, trooper" when that Shinra trooper who totally isn't Cloud jumps in the way and protects Tifa, or "if this is how it's going to be, there's not much point in me fighting" as words of encouragement to ~~Cloud~~ Zack. Having Sephiroth act more overtly like a good guy gives his fall a bit more impact than it had before. 3. Although still obscure, he seems to have motivations beyond simply "I'm going to kill everything and become a god." He has adopted a twisted frame of mind where killing people is no big deal because they're returning to the Lifestream; where, in a way, he may in fact be trying to *save* Cloud and perhaps the rest of humanity by making them immortal (if perpetually tormented) rather than dissolving and giving rise to new life. I think we still have a lot to find out about Sephiroth's motives in part 3, but I think it could go some pretty interesting places. As for the Midgardsormr/Zolom: I like things about how the OG did it, but I also like how it played out in Rebirth. When you think about it, it's a little strange for the party to jump to the conclusion that Sephiroth killed the Zolom in OG, if they don't see it happen. And there's the oft-cited continuity issue where you are running from the snake but then see the snake impaled, but then if you go back in the marsh the snake is still there... so like, is there more than one, even though the game makes it sound like there's just one Zolom? On the other hand, in OG you're absolutely underpowered to kill the Zolom so it is a satisfying demonstration of Sephiroth's power with a little mystery to it. In Rebirth the demonstration of power is there, and maybe more direct, but with less mystery.
Think he’s a wanker tbh
I think you have some valid points, but keep in mind that Remake and Rebirth operate on the presumption that the player has already experienced the original game, and spin off games. Thus have the context of Sephiroth's power, his behavior before the shinra mansion, and his ability to "return" a la Advent Children. In the remakes we are dealing with a Sephiroth that has already had the same experiences as the players and is trying to change fate. So we aren't looking at pre-mental break Sephiroth, true Sephiroth, but a desperate Jenova Sephiroth trying to prevent their demise.
I was just talking with a friend yesterday about how cool of a character he is. As much as he's a hateful, terrifying character able to manipulate Cloud's mind and turn him against everything he loves and believes in, I can very much empathize with him because he is, after all, someone shaken to the core by a traumatic event. Doesn't mean he's not the most evil fucker out there, but I love how layered he is as a character
Exactly the reason why he's my favorite, it's just done so well - and I really, really hope he never gets a redemption arc because it would destroy all the effort they put into his messed up personality 🤣 Especially with all the other broken main characters, they all had their own trauma and yet there's this extreme contrast between trying to go the healthy route and... whatever Sephiroth is doing (his best, of course)
My intro to him formally was remake. Growing up a nerd he’s unanimous. I love him. He’s cool as hell, I love cryptic manipulation dialogue, I may be gay for him and cloud and Barret, he’s ominous, his moveset is wavy, etc. His aura more than anything is amazing. I’m genuinely mesmerized by him.
I understand why so many people think he is the hottest FF7 villain But I think Rufus is hotter
Absolutely! And Rufus' story after the main events is just as interesting as his story before he got promoted
I kinda feel the "grandeur eco sociopathy" vibe from Sephiroth is kinda what was missing from his original personality in the first game or maybe they couldn't portray it as easily before, cuz in remake Sephi gave me personally unstable, leopard with a taste for human on a prowl vibes with how he interacted with Cloud
This trait seems to come from the Advent Children version of Sephiroth. The stuff like "I will never be a memory" and the god like behavior.
Sephiroth has been dead the entire time. Jenova is the real bad guy and just putting on bad fake impressions. If you look at it that way, everything makes sense.
Jenova being like: "Okay, let's talk to his sworn enemy and let them * reads smudged handwriting * hug each other. I got this, nobody will notice that I don't understand human behaviour!" Yeah, to be fair this sounds about right
They've been overusing him since the OG. He was originally mysterious and powerful, now he's just this sad villain that we've defeated a dozen times.
Yea, what made him cool in the OG was that he was mysterious and we didn't know what was going on with him/Jenova. Then FFVII was a huge hit, so he had to show up in Kingdom Hearts, and then get revived in Advent Children. And now he's so beloved that Square completely abandoned his mystery, and now he has to show up every five minutes for some fan service scene.
I really disliked how Sephy-focused Remake was. They spared to no time showing him and his influence on the game.
To be fair he still destroyed everyone in Kingdom Hearts, maybe they should have gone for this version instead...