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In my opinion, it's Kefka... There was no "tragic back-story" for him, at least, not one that was really explored. He's spiteful and mean for what seems like no reason at all, has no qualms about poisoning a castle full of people, and by the end of your second meeting with him, you know that he doesn't just have a few screws loose; there's only a couple pieces of duct tape holding the guy together. And at the end of it all, you just have to sit back and wonder, "was this guy a good person, once upon a time?" Overall, I think he's a better villain. Maybe not so much a developed character.

But tell me what you guys think!

Note: Please do not call Kefka a "Joker knock-off" or anything like that, and please do not call Sephiroth a "mama's boy". I find those both very distasteful when used in the "which one is better" argument. Thank you~

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"I'll be judge, I'll be jury," said cunning old Fury:
"I'll try the whole cause, and condemn you to death.

For the record, here's a favorite villain poll and a favorite villain topic.

Between those two, I definitely vote Kefka, and I think on this site that may actually be the plurality opinion. Other notable villains/antagonists for me are Delita and Wiegraf from FF Tactics and Shinra Corp from FF7.

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Wha? Thanks to me?

I know that Kefka is the general favorite around here, and for good reason. He is completely insane, generally hilarious, and altogether just a brilliant antagonist. You never feel sorry for him; you just when to kill him, which makes a perfect video game boss. There is no question about him. He's just nuts.

But I prefer Sephiroth. He's more my style. Dark; intimidating; insane, but on a relatable level. Encountering him gives me a sense of dread, as opposed to the pure agitation I get from Kefka. Both are probably of about equal merit, but I like the way my emotions respond to Sephiroth. Or maybe it's just that I haven't beaten the game six times and worn out the feels.

BRING ON THE HATERS (that's a joke, i love you guys)

Kefka is special among FF villains, due to his overwhelming aura of success and confidence, despite being totally outmatched by the heroes at nearly every turn.

He frankly gets a lucky break, but Sephiroth didn't exactly save up and buy his powers either.

The fact is, when I picture Sephiroth, I think of the Masamune.

When I picture Kefka, I don't see an image...

I hear that laugh.

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X is blue.

Kefka, the wise cracking weasel. He seems like a one note character what with the being evil just to Kill! KILL! KILL!

Let's put this in a different perspective, however. He's a classic heel. He does cowardly things and a lot less badass than Sephiroth. He's less redeeming in human value than Sephiroth, and begs you to hate him with a seething passion.

Sephiroth tears through Shinra security using nothing but his battle prowess. Kefka poisons a town. Sephiroth runs Aeris through the back at a critical moment. Kefka betrays the man who made and nurtured him. Above all, Kefka destroys the world, and then torments its survivors. Sephiroth? He resurrects a couple of monsters and takes control of Jenova.

When confronted, Sephiroth launches platitudes at you: "What I have shown you is reality. What you remember, that is the illusion."

When confronted, Kefka counters with wisecracks: "Blah! You people make me sick! You sound like lines from a self-help book!"

Seriously, were I in the shoes of Celes and company, and had just killed Kefka, I'd have the cigarettes and chocolate ready. That's how satisfied I would feel. It's actually a slight exaggeration on how I, as a player felt in beating him for the first time.

I stand by the old adage- if you cheer the villain for any reason, then the villain is lousy at doing his job. Sephiroth gets too many cheers to be the best villain of all.

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"So, are you a fan of the Fett?"

"Nah, I'm more of a Star Wars guy."

Quote (chevleclair @ 4th May 2015 09:11)

Sephiroth tears through Shinra security using nothing but his battle prowess.

Before I agree with almost everything that's been said above, I should say that picking either one is not a knock against the other. Would all the people that picked Kefka not agree that Sephiroth is still a special villain?

Take what chevleclair said here. Is that not one of the coolest scenes ever? All we see is blood all over Shinra, and the next few moments are basically following this guy's wreckage and you're thinking, "This guy's a bad***, and I don't want to mess with him." You've got to tip your hat to a villain that was able to become that iconic. If you clear your mind from all the stuff that has followed, and all of the overuse of Cloud and Sephiroth in AC and so on. This is not a mismatch.

Now, our dear friend Ker has been on a mission to argue that Kefka is not the Joker. I personally agree with Ker. Other than, perhaps, Heath Ledger's Joker, the Joker never had the deep characterization and honestly didn't have near the flash that Kefka did. But I think that whether it's true or not is irrelevant. At some point it's about execution. After all, the character that Heath Ledger was portraying had been portrayed before, it's just that he brought something newer, deeper, to the role. You don't have to reinvent the wheel to make something great. Kefka and the Joker are the same type of villain, but Square executed that style extremely well. I would say, in fact, they did a better job at portraying an insane villain than just about anyone else ever has, in any medium. Making him the classic, fight-dodging heel as chevleclair described it was risky for this type of game, and because they pulled it off so well Kefka's one of the best ever.

This post has been edited by BlitzSage on 5th May 2015 00:04

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Praise Be To Helix!

Quote (BlitzSage @ 4th May 2015 14:40)

Quote (chevleclair @ 4th May 2015 09:11)

Sephiroth tears through Shinra security using nothing but his battle prowess.

Before I agree with almost everything that's been said above, I should say that picking either one is not a knock against the other. Would all the people that picked Kefka not agree that Sephiroth is still a special villain?

Take what chevleclair said here. Is that not one of the coolest scenes ever? All we see is blood all over Shinra, and the next few moments are basically following this guy's wreckage and you're thinking, "This guy's a bad***, and I don't want to mess with him." You've got to tip your hat to a villain that was able to become that iconic. If you clear your mind from all the stuff that has followed, and all of the overuse of Cloud and Sephiroth in AC and so on. This is not a mismatch.

Now, our dear friend Ker has been on a mission to argue that Kefka is not the Joker. I personally agree with Ker. Other than, perhaps, Heath Ledger's Joker, the Joker never had the deep characterization and honestly didn't have near the flash that Kefka did. But I think that whether it's true or not is irrelevant. At some point it's about execution. After all, the character that Heath Ledger was portraying had been portrayed before, it's just that he brought something newer, deeper, to the role. You don't have to reinvent the wheel to make something great. Kefka and the Joker are the same type of villain, but Square executed that style extremely well. I would say, in fact, they did a better job at portraying an insane villain than just about anyone else ever has, in any medium. Making him the classic, fight-dodging heel as chevleclair described it was risky for this type of game, and because they pulled it off so well Kefka's one of the best ever.

First, I need to say this - Thank you.
You're one of the few people who actually realizes that Kefka does not equal the Joker, nor vice versa. They're of similar character types, and share some tropes, but that's about it.

Secondly, you're absolutely right. Just because you pick one over the other doesn't discredit them. I loved Sephiroth as a person. He was socially awkward to some extent, but definitely kind. Then, after becoming evil, he's an amazing villain; he makes arguments with points, kills Aerith unexpectedly, and otherwise presents himself as a bad***. He survives being stabbed by a sword that should have and likely did cut him in half. He's more stubborn than an unbroken colt, and it shows (especially in AC). He even manipulates Cloud into giving him the one thing he needs to summon Meteor. On top of all that bad**ery, the player got to see what he was like before his madness, and that made him relatable.
Kefka, on the other hand, is presented to the player as-is. You don't get to know anything about the person he was before the infusion; you get handed the twisted result. He's tiny (a mere 5'4 and 105lbs), irritating and extremely childish (In Japanese, he even uses boku-chin, a pronoun little boys use to refer to themselves). His cowardice is definitely annoying, but I found it funny too. He was very hard to take seriously, which is why it shocked some people when he took over as the main antagonist.
The real nail in the coffin for me is, Kefka doesn't destroy things for the sake of being evil, or for some great mission. He does it because he can. (Or because, as Dissidia Final Fantasy implies, because destruction is the only thing that gets the dopamine going.)

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"I'll be judge, I'll be jury," said cunning old Fury:
"I'll try the whole cause, and condemn you to death.

To be honest with you, I'm more frightened of a person who can poison women and children and cackle maniacally about it, spouting music metaphors, than I am of someone who can cut me.

Kefka attacks the very idea of what is human and good and decent...Sephiroth is just a very efficient killing machine executing his programming. He's insane, yes, but not in the same ultra sadistic way that Kefka is. Sephiroth is merely a megalomaniac.

Kefka is a murdering, dishonorable piece of human garbage.

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X is blue.

You're asking this on an FFVI fan forum. The poll is merely a formality I guess.

That said, to be fair, I've never actually finished FFVII. I've encountered Sephiroth, and I've read about what he's like, but that's still not quite the same as seeing him in action in the game.

Furthermore, I already know the spoilers, and I also know of his reputation as a fangirl magnet, so that adds to the potential bias.

This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on 13th June 2015 18:08

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current games (2024-02-19):
Fairy Fencer F ADF
Pokémon Perfect Crystal

finished so far this year:
Gato Roboto
drowning, drowning
New Super Mario Bros.
TMNT 3: Radical Rescue

tabled: Lost Ruins

Quote (Glenn Magus Harvey @ 13th June 2015 14:07)

You're asking this on an FFVI fan forum. The poll is merely a formality I guess.

That said, to be fair, I've never actually finished FFVII. I've encountered Sephiroth, and I've read about what he's like, but that's still not quite the same as seeing him in action in the game.

Furthermore, I already know the spoilers, and I also know of his reputation as a fangirl magnet, so that adds to the potential bias.

Why did you not finish?

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Praise Be To Helix!

Quote (BlitzSage @ 13th June 2015 22:59)

Why did you not finish?

Game crashed irredeemably upon reaching the Gold Saucer, and I wasn't really feeling it anyway so I haven't picked up another version since.

This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on 14th June 2015 04:37

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current games (2024-02-19):
Fairy Fencer F ADF
Pokémon Perfect Crystal

finished so far this year:
Gato Roboto
drowning, drowning
New Super Mario Bros.
TMNT 3: Radical Rescue

tabled: Lost Ruins

TEAM KEFKA 4 LYFE

And yes, I am not broken anymore...thank god

This post has been edited by HolyCeles on 14th June 2015 16:34

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Excuse me? Would you mind not talking while I'm interupting?

Quote (Glenn Magus Harvey @ 13th June 2015 11:07)

You're asking this on an FFVI fan forum.  The poll is merely a formality I guess.

Hehe. Well, this is actually the first forum I've been on that prefers Kefka over Sephiroth. And it's civil in here; other places, saying "I like Kefka better than Sephiroth" results in butthurt fangirls going on a hate spree.

Quote

Furthermore, I already know the spoilers, and I also know of his reputation as a fangirl magnet, so that adds to the potential bias.

Yeah, he's a fangirl magnet, all right. ._.
He's a good character and all, but if he wasn't so bishonen he wouldn't have half the fangirls he does.


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"I'll be judge, I'll be jury," said cunning old Fury:
"I'll try the whole cause, and condemn you to death.

Quote (Ker @ 14th June 2015 15:35)

Quote (Glenn Magus Harvey @ 13th June 2015 11:07)

You're asking this on an FFVI fan forum.  The poll is merely a formality I guess.

Hehe. Well, this is actually the first forum I've been on that prefers Kefka over Sephiroth. And it's civil in here; other places, saying "I like Kefka better than Sephiroth" results in butthurt fangirls going on a hate spree.

I'm not saying that Kefka fans are more intelligent and sophisticated...

but Kefka fans are more intelligent and sophisticated!

I would say, however, that despite this site's beginnings and its name there are many people here that have favorite Final Fantasies that aren't FFVI. Now, I would say that most of them still might have FFVI in the top two or three, so overall it probably still holds the top spot. But I don't know of many people here that hate FFVII. It's still in my top three or four FFs.

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Praise Be To Helix!

Does this make me a fangirl? Probably...

Actually, I'm just partial to cold and calculated over... whatever Kefka is. Honestly, I was almost more amused with Kefka than afraid of him. He shows up, I'm like, "Ugh, I have to defeat this dastardly sissy again." Sephiroth sends chills up my actual spine. So yeah, Kefka's the ultimate game boss, but Sephy still holds my top place.

Also silver hair srsly

Quote (RavenLalonde @ 18th June 2015 21:36)

Does this make me a fangirl? Probably...

Actually, I'm just partial to cold and calculated over... whatever Kefka is. Honestly, I was almost more amused with Kefka than afraid of him. He shows up, I'm like, "Ugh, I have to defeat this dastardly sissy again." Sephiroth sends chills up my actual spine. So yeah, Kefka's the ultimate game boss, but Sephy still holds my top place.

Also silver hair srsly

No, it doesn't. A fan girl wouldn't be able to accept that Kefka is a better villain.

I never felt particularly afraid of Sephiroth- it was more of a brain twist, wondering what he was up to and why.
Kefka was definitely amusing... That is until he rips the world asunder. That was brutal.
A soldier falls into a crack, and the crack slams itself shut repeatedly after.
I actually flinched, imaging the crunching sound it would make.
I didn't flinch with Aerith- you could hear Seph coming.

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"I'll be judge, I'll be jury," said cunning old Fury:
"I'll try the whole cause, and condemn you to death.

The "explanatory backstory vs not" issue is partly overlook-able, I'd say, just based on the fact that the two games are tied to the different expectations of different times. We don't have a particularly great explanation for why Kefka is so dang crazy, but we do have enough within-game-timeline to be able to make guesses, inferences, fanfiction. When we take into account that holes in plot explanation were practically a part of the genre before the PSX generation, to invite that kind of interaction, I think it becomes more excusable.

Kefka's success in his mission to destroy the world and Sephiroth's success in destroying the last person capable of summoning Holy are comparable. Both are quite surprising to a first time player, even if Sephiroth's act gets more attention in fan communities, but Kefka's splash, I would say, is bigger. That makes me side with Kefka, though we all know Ultimecia is the best villain in the series

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Currently Playing : Final Fantasy V
Most Recently Beat : Elder Scrolls: Skyrim
Favorite Game : Final Fantasy X

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Kefka has more personality than sephiroth.He is cowardly and he is insanity isn't like some things where they tell you he's insane rather than show you and also you to make up your mind.Ff6 is a classic, and one reason it is overshadowed, is due to being old and being in 2d, instead of beautiful come,attic 3D with voice acting.



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We are stardust.Our bodies are made from the guts of exploding stars.

Neil Degrasse Tyson.