Rufus' Characterization (or lack thereof)

[Nikkolas]

So I actually had someoen try to argue with me that Rufus was a better antagonist than Sephiroth because he was "deeper". Now I'm no fan of Sephiroth (at least not post-FF7) but the appeal of Rufus has alluded me.

Now I realize he looks cool. In fact I love the boss battle with him where he jumps up and grabs the helicopter. That is pretty epic. But the fact remains that apart from his introduction speech to the party, the guy doesn't do much.

Which is why I find his antihero status iN AC to be all the more baffling. This is the guy who said his father's methods (the man who crushes the slums full of dozens or hundreds of innocents just to frame a handful of rebels) weren't harsh enough. This is the guy who was gonna have Barret and Tifa executed just to gain support of the masses.

He's not a good person. At all.

He's not a great villain either. He really does nothing fo rmost of the game except pop up now and then and he finally (we thought so anyway) dies. That's it. There isn't even much fuss made over his "death".

Rufus was really nothing in the end. A generic villain who got a ridiculous personality switch.

 

[Prometheus]

I disagree on some factors... I agree that he wasn't developed nearly as much as he should have been for a "villain", but i think that he is also essential to the game.. Wasn't it Rufus who fired the Shinra Cannon thing at the Northern Crater getting rid of the barrier?

 

[Ayumi Hamasaki]

I don't know, Rufus is important to the story, but he's never in the spotlight a lot. It seemed to me that he preferred working behind the scenes. As for Sephy, I didn't care for him much as a villain, but he was well developed and certainly more so than Rufus. Now, if we had seen more of Rufus, I would have to say differently, but we didn't.

 

[Sohryuden666]

I do think that it was odd how Rufus seemed less antagonistic in the film, since the guy really didn't seem to care about what happened to you (or anyone). He was an ass with power basically. Other than that, though, there really isn't much to say about him. As for Sephiroth, his development had flaws here and there, but it was still more than whatever Rufus got, which is why he's a more interesting villain. Rufus could be interesting........if we knew more about him.

 

[10th Doctor]

Well, yeah, Rufus was kinda boring. But the man was evil. He still wanted to go through with the whole taking-over-the-world-through-mah-awesome-company business. Still, Sephiroth was the better Villan... I always thought so anyway.