Setting the Record Straight

[Rockman X]

<.<
>.>

Aaaanyway, not exactly sure why you (Rogue) brought up the whole cruelty matter. I don't think cruelty showed up that much in either Sephiroth or Kuja's roles. Of course by cruelty one usually thinks of torture, which there wasn't particularly much of. Sephi stabbed Aerith through the gut and let her die, he didn't twist the blade around inside her or anything. Kuja doesnt torture anybody when he captures them in his desert palace, though he certainly could have if he'd wanted to.

But then of course there's the psychological torment that Cloud is going through due to Aerith's death and his body being taken over, and then Garnet's psychological torment due to seeing her mother change from a loving parent/queen into trying to kill her and destroying other kingdoms, then eventually being killed by her own summon.

So if you look at it that way...i'd say Sephi and Kuja run about even, their actions indirectly led to psychological torment of a main character.

 

[Aztec Triogal]

Even though it's shallow, I think the reason I like Sephiroth more than Kuja, despite all the debate about their character and the extent of their power... I'm more of a physical guy. Sephiroth's slice and dice mentality appeals to me much more than Kuja's whimsical magic casting. Maybe, even though it is shallow, that has more to do with people's decision than anything else.

 

[Rockman X]

Actually...when does Sephi ever use magic? I mean we see him use magic against that dragon in the flashback battle, and he uses it when you fight him at the end...but in the story itself, does he ever display a prowess for magic aside from Meteor?

 

[Aztec Triogal]

Right... that was exactly my point...

Sephiroth is a completely hands on fighter. He doesn't use magic spells and doesn't have weak body that relies on magical support, as do most magic users.

 

[Rockman X]

He's the complete opposite of Kuja in that respect. Kuja hated getting dirty and probably would have freaked out if he'd gotten dirt under his nails. Then again he only smirked when blood started running down his forehead from Bahamut's blast.

Normally i'm not much for mages, and i prefer hack-n-slash characters...but i think one reason why it bores me about Sephi is that you've already got alot of physical characters in the game. There's Cloud and Zack, Tifa, Yuffie, Red, Cid, Barret (since i'm sure he'd be just as happy bludgeoning someone with his gun hand), and then of course Jenova who just slaughtered people and left messy blood stains everywhere.

 

[Aztec Triogal]

Yea, that's true. Other than Aeris there weren't any real magic users because everyone could be a magic user... and your ability to cast magic could be altered greatly by what materia was equipped. You could also increase your stats with items... which means that you could make Barret a much stronger mage than anyone if you wanted to.

 

[YF-23]

(Oh, and just because I can correct you YF-23, all of the genomes survived because they were evacuated on The Invincible thanks to Zidane and his party. They were brought to Gaia and left at the Black Mage Village to live there.)

I... had totally forgot about that. O.O Totally.

...

...but he still nearly wiped out the Burmecians.

 

[Ultima36]

the reasons presented as to why Kuja is better are actually quite persuasive...! But still think Sephiroth is better! He's more sinister, and is a lot scarier than Kuja.

 

[Lionheart3k]

Its a hard one, but i think i'm going to go with Kuja, i myself prefer the hands on melee type of combat..although i dont hate magic. Kuja showed power to a high degree in that FMV where he destroys Terra, probably one of the best FF FMV's i've seen. What do we actually see Sephiroth do? Apart from slaughter a good few people lol . Someone said Sephiroth was more sinister, i tend to disagree. You always knew what his next move was..where as Kuja you couldnt predict. Especially earlier on in the game, who would have thought he'd send you on a mission for him?? Sephiroth just tried to kill you at every opportunity .

 

[Sephirothalpha]

Its a hard one, but i think i'm going to go with Kuja, i myself prefer the hands on melee type of combat..although i dont hate magic. Kuja showed power to a high degree in that FMV where he destroys Terra, probably one of the best FF FMV's i've seen. What do we actually see Sephiroth do? Apart from slaughter a good few people lol . Someone said Sephiroth was more sinister, i tend to disagree. You always knew what his next move was..where as Kuja you couldnt predict. Especially earlier on in the game, who would have thought he'd send you on a mission for him?? Sephiroth just tried to kill you at every opportunity .

Because he is alot more evil.

 

[TrueSephiros]

Honestly, I believe I shall set the record straight, because some of the reasons for even remotely placing Kuja above Sephiroth is quite outrageous.

Firstly, Kill Count is one of the most outrageous points to ranking a antagonist higher than another. Because, if any of you believers who state this as being a good reason, then we would rank the Dragon Ball Z Villains as the Ultimate Antagonist. Because they have completely wiped out planets, galaxies, etc, and more civilizations then anyone to any degree on any lvl.

Evil is another poor judgement on ranking an antagonist above another, because again, look at the DBZ villains, they are the most evil of them all, however look at how extremely one-dimensional they are. Infact, look at another Evil character antagonist from Final Fantasy such as Kefka, he is extremely one-dimensional.

Just because you are evil and you kill alot does not ='s Better Antagonist. That's a huge, huge misconception, because again, if you really rank characters by this, then the DBZ villains have no equal on any given ground.

Power as in a persons personal abilities are also highly, highly overrated. You can again, go to other sources of antagonist from other things and see what I mean. Someone like The Joker from Batman has a huge lvl of persona, and depth, but he has ZERO power abilities. Yet he is ranked #1 by top comic book references for being the most dangerous antagonist within the comicbook world, even above power consuming characters like Galactus, or Magneto.

Yes, Kuja indeed has been seen to show more stronger extents of his power than Sephiroth. However, we have to take this very, very large portion into consideration. I read on an interview in japanese a few months back, when Square Enix themselves have confirmed fully, that Sephiroth is the most powerful being within the FFVII Universe.

Not only that, but another confirmation that Sephiroth has never ever, not once displayed his full potential from either Pre-Nimbleheim, VII, or even in AC. The reason for this is because Sephiroth is extremely arrogant and confident and that he enjoys toying with his opponents moreso then to try and completely annihilate them.

With these confirmed statements, we do not yet know all of Sephiroth's powers, however how much more powerful do you want him to be?

Do you want him to be able to blow up planets like DBZ villains? I mean, the guy has already shown to have telepathic abilities, can fly, can defy gravity, can shift the weather patterns, can cut huge debris much larger than his Masamune and has cheated death not once, but twice, and from the looks of it within AC it seems he's still not dead...can Kuja say he's cheated death at all?

Sephiroth's personality is not 1-dimensional, because you get to see Sephiroth as a hero to only fall from grace to become VII's main antagonist. Anybody's mentality would not be normal if their entire life they where nothing but a test subject and was trained only for one thing, to fight and to become the Best Soldier ever.

He actually has a powerful ideaology, and it's quite simple. He believes it's his right to become a God, and he believes that it's his destiny so much that he summoned Meteor just to wipe out the entire planet, so he could consume it and become a God, to create a new world in his image.

Not only that, but during FF VII, he controls his clone, while completely manipulating Cloud into basically handing him the Black Materia to shape the aftermath of what was to come in Final Fantasy VII.

These are clear indications of a character who is not 1-Dimensional, but very well built.

If you ask me, and my opinion, I would rank Sephiroth and Kuja =, since they both have very powerful storylines, but most importantly, they have a strong tie with the main protagonist.

With that being said, Sephiroth and Kuja are my two most favorite antagonist within the original FF series.

 

[The One_Neo Bahamut]

Kuja>Sephy IMO.

Im too lazy to post more Im afraid.

 

[Lionheart3k]

TrueSephiros

Your talking about DBZ villians..? I've never watched it myself, and yeah they may have overwhelming power but at the same time they have nothing to do with Final Fantasy, Kuja or Sephiroth.

Why cant we judge them by Evil or Kill count? Thats what makes them the better antagonist, we cant just say Sephiroth is better when we havent even seen anything other than whats displayed in the game. You said SE announced that Sephiroth was the most powerful being in all of FFVII, i have no doubt about that. But, thats FFVII not FFIX.

So yeah it should be hard to judge whos more powerful, because there not in the same world and dont come up against each other. But from any fans point of view, we have only seen what is displayed so we can only go by that. And in my point of view Kuja shows alot more character and power than what Sephiroth does, obviously people will disagree but everyones aloud their own opinion .

All in all, i dont think you can compare or make arguments using DBZ or The Joker. Kuja IMO is far better than Sephiroth .

 

[TrueSephiros]

TrueSephiros

Your talking about DBZ villians..? I've never watched it myself, and yeah they may have overwhelming power but at the same time they have nothing to do with Final Fantasy, Kuja or Sephiroth.

Why cant we judge them by Evil or Kill count? Thats what makes them the better antagonist, we cant just say Sephiroth is better when we havent even seen anything other than whats displayed in the game. You said SE announced that Sephiroth was the most powerful being in all of FFVII, i have no doubt about that. But, thats FFVII not FFIX.

So yeah it should be hard to judge whos more powerful, because there not in the same world and dont come up against each other. But from any fans point of view, we have only seen what is displayed so we can only go by that. And in my point of view Kuja shows alot more character and power than what Sephiroth does, obviously people will disagree but everyones aloud their own opinion .

All in all, i dont think you can compare or make arguments using DBZ or The Joker. Kuja IMO is far better than Sephiroth .

I will put it very simply out, antagonist will always be compared to other antagonist, regardless of where they stand. I will compare characters like M. Bison character from SFII to even comic book antagonist. I will even compare anime antagonist to video game antagonist. They don't just fall within a certain boundary.

When I look at an antagonist as a whole, I like to see the overall character, not just how many characters has he/she killed or wiped out. Again, many of the great antagonist barely have any massive kill counts, nor are they to the extent of ruthlessness, so the ball just doesn't bounce in one court.

Not just what's on their kill count or power lvl, you see, Kuja has a "high kill" ratio and he achieved his status. However, let's compare the status, Kuja at his most elite status could still be stopped or more importantly was destined to be stopped, Sephiroth at his most elite status "if" he had achieved that would no longer be a stoppable force.

These are two very different paths, Sephiroth's achievement would've been at the point of where he would've had no equal, nothing would have stopped him.

How fair would it of been to have let Meteor hit the planet? Would Cloud and the gang even have a "remote" chance after? Would they even be alive after that? It makes sense in that you would want to stop them before this, because make no mistake, a metor landing on a planet would've been more catastrophic than anything any other FF antagonist would've done.

However, let's look at the overall picture, Sephiroth sets into motion Meteor, by gaining the Black Materia inwhich he completely tooled and manipulated Cloud to right out simply hand it to him. All of the Weapons are thus revived to defend the planet and are now going on a complete rampage. Chaos is ensued throughout the entire world because of all these events.

The whole entire FF VII world is on the verge of apocalypse, they are literally, just minutes away, and not only that, but Holy at the end was not powerful enough to stop Meteor. Infact, it took all of the entire lifestream+Holy in order to stop Meteor from severely wounding the planet.

Remember here, it took a power, far greater than the characters that you played with, in order to stop Sephiroth's goal, and this isn't enough for some of you people?

That's what I'm getting too, if you compare Sephiroth's resume during VII, he doesn't even pyhsically get involve, infact, he sets everything in motion mentally from the Northern Crater. That alone show's something of Sephiroth's character, which is highly underestimated, it's the saying of.

"Why do I need to do the work, when I can get others to do it for me."

With that being said, this is what I mean from "kill count" and "power" is not always the best way to judge an antagonist.

 

[YF-23]

TrueSephiros, you are right about some things, but I also spot some degree of hypocrisy in your posts.

First off, you say a villain's character shouldn't be judged by their kill count and combat abilities.

Then you go on about Sephiroth being the most powerful being in the FFVII universe, meteor being the most destructive thing that would happen to a FF world, and him being better than Kuja in the regard that if he would achieve his goals he would be a God.

Now, to attempt to shoot your arguements down.

You say that he intended to become a God and make the world in his image. But, if I remember correctly, he said that when the meteor hit the planet and he absorbed the Lifestream, he and Genova would use the empty shell of the planet to do the same to other planets. So, wait, he wanted to just play inter-planetary flipper? What the hell.

As for the rest of your arguements, you defend Sephiroth, and you defend him well, but against the wrong crowd. Even if you show that he had character, he could never match the character Kuja showed. Yes, Sephiroth would become a God and never die. but aside from that, he intended to keep destroying planets. When he was done, what then? Full-time incest with Genova? Kuja admited his eventual death, something that is tough to do, but before he died, he set the same goal as Sephiroth: killing everyone. But, he had a much better and convinient way to do so: destroy the source of all life. He beats Sephiroth in that regard (who intended to play intergalactic ping-pong 'till everything was gone.

 

[ibbylove]

The character development of 9 is probably the best and most multi-layered in all of the Final Fantasy games I've played, and that includes Kuja. He really was badass in a lot of ways.

When it all boils down to it, Sephi is just a sadistic mama's boy, but one can't deny that he's still a pretty cool character overall.

 

[TrueSephiros]

First off, you say a villain's character shouldn't be judged by their kill count and combat abilities.

Then you go on about Sephiroth being the most powerful being in the FFVII universe, meteor being the most destructive thing that would happen to a FF world, and him being better than Kuja in the regard that if he would achieve his goals he would be a God.

I posted those claims, because everyone seemed to value those above all others. Which is why I posted them in the first place, to show/prove to everyone that "seemingly" forgotten what he had done. I don't personally rank Sephiroth as a great antagonist because of these standards, I was simply trying to tell people that what he did, was nothing short of being sinister.

As I've stated before, Sephiroths character does not fall on "power" and "kill ratio" but the overall persona that he had to his character, his idealogies, and the depth revolved around his character.

You say that he intended to become a God and make the world in his image. But, if I remember correctly, he said that when the meteor hit the planet and he absorbed the Lifestream, he and Genova would use the empty shell of the planet to do the same to other planets. So, wait, he wanted to just play inter-planetary flipper? What the hell.

Wrong, Sephiroth's notion within Final Fantasy VII where very straight forward, he intended to consume to the LifeStream so that he would become a God, and destroying the old, he would create a new world of life. He has stated how all the people within the world, where not worthy of living and should never have dominated the world.

He clearly states this in VII on more than one occassion and even in Final Fantasy VII AC, he states that he will consume the planet with Geostigma and then take the planet as a vessel, find a new planet, and create a New Shining Future, or in smaller terms, create a new world. This is the only time and notion when he has stated of taking over a new planet, just so he can create a new world on it. There has never been anything stated of Sephiroth wanting to do numerous planet hopping, that is completely false.

Entirely, the game is exactly the same Becaome a God+Create New World of Life, just a different plan.

As for the rest of your arguements, you defend Sephiroth, and you defend him well, but against the wrong crowd. Even if you show that he had character, he could never match the character Kuja showed. Yes, Sephiroth would become a God and never die. but aside from that, he intended to keep destroying planets.

Read my last statement again, Sephiroth never intended to do multiple planet hops.

When he was done, what then? Full-time incest with Genova?

Keep your wet dreams out of this debate, and it's Jenova, not Genova.

Kuja admited his eventual death, something that is tough to do, but before he died, he set the same goal as Sephiroth: killing everyone. But, he had a much better and convinient way to do so: destroy the source of all life. He beats Sephiroth in that regard (who intended to play intergalactic ping-pong 'till everything was gone.

Kuja only admitted his death, until after he had reached his full peak, and he was destined to fail regardless. Due to simply because Zidane was the chosen one to defeat him. For being "more" convinient as you stated, he still failed, so that statement does not hold any water.

Lasty, you forgot to consider or just forgot to remember, that your own party defeats Necron from bring the end of the world, while again, in Final Fantasy VII, it took a level, far, far well beyond the control of Cloud and them to stop Meteor. It took Holy+Lifestream to do this, without that, Cloud and them would of failed regardless.

So no, if you look at it, what took place within FF IX, the characters abilities where still capable of winning in which they did, within FF VII, they where not, in the end. They where left in the hands of a greater power if you will.

Kuja has passed on, he is no longer a threat. Sephiroth has proven that he still remains, and can still continue to be a threat.

I'll be looking forward to anymore people who still try to claim Sephiroth didn't have the "goods".

 

[YF-23]

Wrong, Sephiroth's notion within Final Fantasy VII where very straight forward, he intended to consume to the LifeStream so that he would become a God, and destroying the old, he would create a new world of life. He has stated how all the people within the world, where not worthy of living and should never have dominated the world.

Would he have deemed anyone worthy of living? I doubt he'd ever manage to find a civilization with his ideals, and much less a civilization willing to accept him as their god.

He clearly states this in VII on more than one occassion and even in Final Fantasy VII AC, he states that he will consume the planet with Geostigma and then take the planet as a vessel, find a new planet, and create a New Shining Future, or in smaller terms, create a new world. This is the only time and notion when he has stated of taking over a new planet, just so he can create a new world on it. There has never been anything stated of Sephiroth wanting to do numerous planet hopping, that is completely false.

I interpreted the "use this planet as a vessel" as meaning that he would use the FFVII planet as a meteor (and that that's how Jenova got to the VII planet in the first place, through a parasitic cycle of striking planets, draining their life energy, and using them as Meteors).

Keep your wet dreams out of this debate, and it's Jenova, not Genova.

Moar liek, Seph's wet dreams, amirite?

And bite me about the typo, I haven't played VII in ages (and when I played it a data corruption prevented me from finishing it).

Kuja only admitted his death, until after he had reached his full peak, and he was destined to fail regardless. Due to simply because Zidane was the chosen one to defeat him. For being "more" convinient as you stated, he still failed, so that statement does not hold any water.

Eh. He still managed to press the "Destroy all life" button, the party defeating the mechanism had nothing to do with Kuja.

Lasty, you forgot to consider or just forgot to remember, that your own party defeats Necron from bring the end of the world, while again, in Final Fantasy VII, it took a level, far, far well beyond the control of Cloud and them to stop Meteor. It took Holy+Lifestream to do this, without that, Cloud and them would of failed regardless.

So no, if you look at it, what took place within FF IX, the characters abilities where still capable of winning in which they did, within FF VII, they where not, in the end. They where left in the hands of a greater power if you will.

Well, I don't see how you could fight against a meteor; if you can picture Cloud trying to shoot the meteor back into space, good for you, but fighing a god of death and nothingness (and winning) seems more possible to me than hacking and shooting a meteor back into space.

Kuja has passed on, he is no longer a threat. Sephiroth has proven that he still remains, and can still continue to be a threat.

Kuja was not a threat ever since he saw (I don't know how, don't ask) Zidane and party's actions against Necron; then he turned good and was still fiarly powerful (he had lost trance but was still able to bring the party outside of Memoria, then was able to survive until Zidane reached him (damn these dialogues were long). Oh, wait, him turning good shows even more character development! Kuja still beats Sephiroth; as I was saying, you are defending Sephiroth well against those claiming he has no character and that he sucks as a villain, but not well enough against the arguements for Kuja.

 

[TrueSephiros]

Would he have deemed anyone worthy of living? I doubt he'd ever manage to find a civilization with his ideals, and much less a civilization willing to accept him as their god.

He has stated, that he would create a new world in which he saw fit. He has never stated or claimed that he would "take over another civilization". His whole idealogy is to make a new world and race that he felt was worthy.

I interpreted the "use this planet as a vessel" as meaning that he would use the FFVII planet as a meteor (and that that's how Jenova got to the VII planet in the first place, through a parasitic cycle of striking planets, draining their life energy, and using them as Meteors).

That interpretation would only be sound had Sephiroth stated that he would go to another planet only to "consume" it. However, he clearly states "Shining New Future." That is very clear indication that his plans where exactly no different from VII. There is nothing, that states Sephiroth is going to do "numerous" planet hopping, however there is everysingle bit of evidence to say that he wants to create a new world.

Moar liek, Seph's wet dreams, amirite?

Your maturity has dropped severely, I will not say this again, keep it about the debate.

And bite me about the typo, I haven't played VII in ages (and when I played it a data corruption prevented me from finishing it).

Not my problem.

Eh. He still managed to press the "Destroy all life" button, the party defeating the mechanism had nothing to do with Kuja.

Like pratically all antagonist, he still failed...remember, key word...Failed. It doesn't matter how close you get, if you don't get results, it's a failure period. Look at how close other antagonist have gotten to brink of achieving their goals

Well, I don't see how you could fight against a meteor; if you can picture Cloud trying to shoot the meteor back into space, good for you, but fighing a god of death and nothingness (and winning) seems more possible to me than hacking and shooting a meteor back into space.

Reasons why, VII's scenario was far more dangerous, because it is a scenario completely out of their power to do anything to stop it from happening. That God of Death isn't so "God" Like if he was stopped from achieving his goals by mind you, mere mortals. So again, in one scenario, it could still be controlled by the characters hands, within the other, it could not.

I'd rather choose the ability to control then to leave it to something other then "well, let's just hope".

Kuja was not a threat ever since he saw (I don't know how, don't ask) Zidane and party's actions against Necron; then he turned good and was still fiarly powerful (he had lost trance but was still able to bring the party outside of Memoria, then was able to survive until Zidane reached him (damn these dialogues were long). Oh, wait, him turning good shows even more character development! Kuja still beats Sephiroth; as I was saying, you are defending Sephiroth well against those claiming he has no character and that he sucks as a villain, but not well enough against the arguements for Kuja.

Most people, at the end of their lives do this all the time, and have shown character to change their thoughts and views as a way of redemption. This does not mean he "shows" more character then Sephiroth. This is just implying that he's trying to find a way for forgiveness for all the things he's done.

Sephiroth on the other hand, even until the absolute end, never turned away from his idealogies and still even continues and lingers regardless of the two outcomes that have taken place. So in short, Kuja as a whole was not a complete antagonist, and still had some purity within his heart ask for forgiveness.

Sephiroth on the other hand has shown absolutely no sign of turning the corner. He truly believes in what he says completely and will do any means to achieve it, even cheating death. That's a character for an antagonist that will never cease to be a Memory, as he so well interpreted it.

So no, you still have done nothing to prove to me that Kuja>Sephiroth. I have disproven you on every claim you have tried to make. From your planet hopping, to your Kuja asking for forgiveness.

Infact the more I see it now, Sephiroth has come out to become an even more complete antagonist then even Kuja. I still however rank Kuja within the Top 3 within my book for FF antagonist, as I've stated earlier in my other post.

 

[YF-23]

He has stated, that he would create a new world in which he saw fit. He has never stated or claimed that he would "take over another civilization". His whole idealogy is to make a new world and race that he felt was worthy.

Well, with everyone dead, he can't exactly begin a civilization all by himself. And I told you, even if he found one that he would deem worthy, said civilization probably wouldn't accept him anyway, the only means he would have to create his new world would be take control of an already existing civilization.

That interpretation would only be sound had Sephiroth stated that he would go to another planet only to "consume" it. However, he clearly states "Shining New Future." That is very clear indication that his plans where exactly no different from VII. There is nothing, that states Sephiroth is going to do "numerous" planet hopping, however there is everysingle bit of evidence to say that he wants to create a new world.

Refer to above. Unless the civilization of the other planet accepted Sephiroth, he wouldn't get his "Shining New Future". He wouldn't be accepted unless he's shown his power to them, when they would accept him as their god by fear. Then he would have a civilization of cowards, with which he still wouldn't be happy. This would continue until he either run out of planets, or he found one on which life was still at a low stage of evolution. But until the latter happened, numerous planet hopping.

Your maturity has dropped severely, I will not say this again, keep it about the debate.

Making a lil' joke every now and then isn't a bad thing, nor does it show immaturity.

Like pratically all antagonist, he still failed...remember, key word...Failed. It doesn't matter how close you get, if you don't get results, it's a failure period. Look at how close other antagonist have gotten to brink of achieving their goals

As I said, he still managed to press the "Kill all life" button.He did nothing wrong at that. The mechanism failed, once again, that had nothing to do with Kuja. Necron's failure=/=Kuja's failure.

Reasons why, VII's scenario was far more dangerous, because it is a scenario completely out of their power to do anything to stop it from happening. That God of Death isn't so "God" Like if he was stopped from achieving his goals by mind you, mere mortals. So again, in one scenario, it could still be controlled by the characters hands, within the other, it could not.

Necron's defeat was, just as every other or at least most end boss's defeat, a plot device so that the good guys win. Yes, that includes Sephiroth, but his can be justified by his arrogance. Necron's was just a plot device.

Oh, and IX's scenario is far more dangerous than VII's. I would rather risk the almost certain destruction of a planet than risk the highly possible death of all life in the universe.

I'd rather choose the ability to control then to leave it to something other then "well, let's just hope".

Everyone would, but again, I would rather sacrifice a planet than risk the universe.

Most people, at the end of their lives do this all the time, and have shown character to change their thoughts and views as a way of redemption. This does not mean he "shows" more character then Sephiroth. This is just implying that he's trying to find a way for forgiveness for all the things he's done.

Sephiroth on the other hand, even until the absolute end, never turned away from his idealogies and still even continues and lingers regardless of the two outcomes that have taken place. So in short, Kuja as a whole was not a complete antagonist, and still had some purity within his heart ask for forgiveness.

Sephiroth on the other hand has shown absolutely no sign of turning the corner. He truly believes in what he says completely and will do any means to achieve it, even cheating death. That's a character for an antagonist that will never cease to be a Memory, as he so well interpreted it.

So now having a static character with only backround and no present development is a good thing?