Best President - Page 3

August 26, 2007, 2:59 PM

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Originally Posted by Kain

I think the original president would've rebuiilt the company immediately instead of sitting on his ass for two years.

You have to take into account that Rufus had Geostigma, and therefore probably couldn't restore his company, all the while keeping Jenovas head secret from Kadaj and co. I think that if president Shinra got Geostigma, he'd be using money everywhere to try and find a cure - but only for himself, and he'd probably sacrifice the head of Jenova to Kadaj if he lied and said he could cure Geostigma in a trade for the head.

August 26, 2007, 6:04 PM

Advent Children aside...in the actual game...

President Shinra was far more successful than Rufus. He built Shinra to what it was, and while Rufus might have eventuall done just as much, he didn't have the chance. You can't "what if" this one. It's just like saying John Kennedy was the best President...you simply can't know, because there wasn't enough time.

August 26, 2007, 7:07 PM

I think its a bit unfair to judge,we never really learnt much about President Shinra iin FF7......come to think of it i dont even know is name!, i think what this topic coems down to is do you like Rufus or not.

August 26, 2007, 7:20 PM

Hmm... I'd honestly have to say Rufus.

President Shinra liked to keep the masses under control using his money... Rufus saw this as a waste of resources, so when he became the president, he decided to resort to military force. After all, the Wutai war began when he was 6, and he was constantly sent on so called business trips to Junon -- which is Shinra's main Military base, so its not a suprise that Rufus became military minded as he grew older. Anyway, you can't say that President Shinra was a better president, since at the moment he was killed, Shinra had hell on their hands. Rufus had to deal with Sephiroth at the same time as preventing the masses from getting out of control. During Before Crisis, his father had to deal with an AVALANCHE rebellion after the war, but during that time he nearly went out of his mind, while Rufus, during meteorfall (his presidency), remained composed as possible. In Advent Children, Rufus cleverly took on Kadaj, which eventually lead to his brave showdown by jumping off the building. After that, Kadaj gets the head, he depended on Cloud to take on him. I mean seriously, how could he have held onto the head for any longer -- he would have gotten killed.

I'm not saying that President Shinra was a dumb-ass, though. He was great at predicting human nature, and built Shinra from the ground up in very little time. However, he was frivilous and uptight, unlike Rufus. He was also easily sweet-talked by Heidegger, while Rufus saw through his incompetence and treated him coldly.

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his father also didn't go power hungry over some "promised land"

Quite on the contrary, really. President Shinra's main concern was to capture Aeris, in order to find the promise land. With the abundant mako there, he would be able to carry on with his plans to build a Neo-midgar. Very greedy indeed. It was right there in the script -- you can't miss it.

And Ultima, you can learn a lot about the both of them, by reading FFVII Ultimate Omega, and the script to Before Crisis.

August 27, 2007, 3:15 PM

i liked rufus much better. his father was just a power-hungry maniac driven by his stupid selfish ambitions. sure, he was responsible for shinra's rise to power, but look how he ended up...face down on his desk with a masamune in his back. rufus was actually a normal human, with morals, who actually cared about the planet.. as we see in AC. also, if you read MoTP, i don't see how you could like president shinra in the least bit.

August 29, 2007, 9:06 AM

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Originally Posted by ultimadream

I think its a bit unfair to judge,we never really learnt much about President Shinra iin FF7......come to think of it i dont even know is name!, i think what this topic coems down to is do you like Rufus or not.

I think his name is actually President Shinra, the game doesnt give another name. Maybe Crisis Core will give more info on him.

September 3, 2007, 9:54 PM

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President Shinra liked to keep the masses under control using his money... Rufus saw this as a waste of resources, so when he became the president, he decided to resort to military force.

The whole problem with that POV is Rufus' decision to go with military might rather than money and influence cost him everything. Rufus' tenure as President amounted to nothing, while his father built the company from the ground up. President Shinra was by far the better president. No question.

The only argument you can make against President Shinra is that he doomed the company (and nearly the world) by involving Hojo. It could be said that Rufus didn't have a chance to change anything for the "better", because his father had, by proxy, introduced Sephiroth to the world.

September 3, 2007, 10:04 PM

I don't see how people say that Rufus had any better morals. Rufus didn't care about the Planet until Meteor, and I'm pretty the old president would've felt repentant as well under that situation.

The old president did keep the people opressed using his money. But he actually attempted to win them over - you can see this at Kalm where people talk about how much they appreciate ShinRa and Mako energy.

Rufus explicitly states during the battle at the top of ShinRa HQ that he doesn't care about what the people think of him. He thinks winning over the people takes too long, and outright says that he will control the world using fear.

Both the old president and Rufus are equally corrupt, so it comes down to what you think is worse: a president lying to you so you'll be happy and like his company, or a president who'll have you shot on the spot if you say something bad about ShinRa.

September 4, 2007, 9:09 PM

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Originally Posted by GunbladeGirl

I would say Rufus.

Wasn't his father a moneyhog/user? When Rufus said he was going to control the people with fear,and not money,he seemed like he knew what he was doing and as a president,you should know what your actions are.

I guess it depends on whether you think of the question as "Who filled the job of president better" or "Who was a better person during their presidency".

September 5, 2007, 12:48 AM

They were both scumbags, though.

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When Rufus said he was going to control the people with fear,and not money,he seemed like he knew what he was doing and as a president,you should know what your actions are.

You mean to say that the first President didn't know what his actions were? I don't get it. Makes no sense.

Anyway, Rufus lasted about a week as President, and he didn't accomplish anything at all. He said he'd control with fear, but how much controlling did he do? Almost none.

It wasn't Rufus.