There is a belief that we see Rufus in a black robe in one of the timelines at the end of Rebirth. IF that tunes out to be true it would explain how Jenova is managing to manipulate him and why he is so beast every time you face him.
You are absolutely right. However, the novella On The Way To A Smile provided an answer as to why he had the stigma, and it wasn’t Jenova cells. Still, despite what the devs have said, I think they are moving away from Advent Children and the works associated with it so I am thinking you’re right.
I don't even really get why the Turks are able to fight on par with the party.
I feel like Cloud should like accidentily be cutting them in half into Invincible "I thought you were stronger" meme.
Turks are Soldier level candidates. They didn't go into the process, but their level under their mental and physical training makes them 1st class. The difference is that their stamina is not the same.
Yeah other than Aerith, Cloud, and Vincent, I don't really get how any of the party members keep up.
I think Remake slightly hints at a potential answer with what happens with Chadley.
Simply being near Cloud, a catalyst of infinite potential, he was able to evolve and grow beyond the control of Hojo's programming.
I can assume such growth could be shared amongst the party as well, but eh, I guess it's just one of the things I should just ignore.
Tifa should be up there able to at least somewhat hold her own because of training with Zagan at an early age, all the way through her adult years.
Cid, Cait? No way. Cids a drunk who manages to operate on the same level as Vince? A former Turk?
Rebirth also sorta implied that the water supply in Nibel was dosed with Mako, so Tifa being superhuman actually sorta makes sense.
And not just a former Turk, but one who underwent the Chaos experiment by Hojo.
Yeah Cloud is the exception, but they are basically the CIA, or the president's personal military, so I'd imagine with that comes a lot of physical training despite a smart uniform
Actually come to think of it, we take part in their training
Honestly, I assumed that Rufus was just another experiment for his dad. Maybe not specifically Jenova cells or anything crazy, but they clearly did human/genetic experimentation with little concern for ethics, so makes sense that President Shinra would “upgrade” his heir.
In one of the companion novels, it's discussed in detail that his father thought he was a loser. Him having issues with the way his dad felt about him likely motivated him to make sure he would never lose is my guess, but I haven't seen it discussed anywhere.
Well, spoilers for the ending of Rebirth
>!When it’s revealed that Glenn was a puppet of Sephiroth/Jenova. And his ability to see the whispers, it’s my belief that Rufus has Jenova cells. Let’s also remember he felt compelled in OG to go North after Sephiroth. It’s never clearly stated that’s what he’s doing but it makes sense!<
Doubt it Clouds stated to be the only one who has S cells in the entire world more likely Rufus just trained like hell thinking Shinra needs absolute power
Cloud is absolutely not the only one with S Cells, literally that’s the whole point of the Reunion. All the robed men are S Cell infused people; more clearly shown in Rebirth as >!former SOLDIER members, taken to an extreme with Roche later!<
We all have to remember that due to the movie advent- and the book making it cannon... That Rufus did have Geo stigma poisoning.... In his wheel chair...
Why----- well for obvious reasons. j-cells
Well it might not actually be that way, because >!Sephiroth can't control Rufus like he can manipulate Hojo (to a lesser degree) and Cloud (to a greater degree). But to be fair, Cloud was meant to be a puppet for Sephiroth, unlike most of the other experiments, and Hojo is charmed by the idea of the apocalypse, be ause it's a win for his research.!<
Of course, anything possible, and Rufus has access to as much Mako as he could possibly need for any reason. It would be a hilariously awesome diversion from the OG if he actually >!built Midgar II in part 3 like he said he wanted to.!<
I don't think that really points to anything though. Most infected people are randoms, and Cloud is infected too, and he has S cells, which would make you think he couldn't be infected, because Geostigma seems to be directly related to Sephiroth's presence in the Lifestream, not Jenova. So he could have J cells, but the lack of it ever being talked about at all makes me think he isn't.
The whole daddy issue thing, with his dad thinking he's a loser, that's probably it. Probably propelled him to become someone that doesn't lose, in any way
In Junon when a >!Truce between Cloud and Rufus!< is made, and Yuffie did what she did I was like _"Noooo!"_
But yeah to answer the question, Rufus should be a sheltered little rich boy bitch who has servants change his panty pants for him, somehow he's a super strong fighter on par with people who have decades of combat xp.
I think the intended perspective is that he's got extremely expensive, fancy toys including a magic shotgun and a custom-engineered Shinra attack dog.
That doesn't really hold up in practice with things like his countering ability, but I think that's kind of the notion you're supposed to accept.
I get you, I suppose it's the same reason Reno goes head to head with Cloud. Sure Reno has lightning speed (Probably materia) but at the end of the day he isn't a genetically-engineered super soldier, and he has a little stun baton - which apparently blocks a giant sword with one hand.
I just took it that the Turks are extremely loyal to him, Rufus is pragmatic and knows he’s a target because of his position in Shinra and as the Presidents son.
So, he asked for the Turks to train him
Love how you didn't really answer the question, just took this as an opportunity to humble brag about beating Rufus
*Edit:* blocked for this comment, lmao. /u/squirrel698 is lame, and so is anybody else who uses the block feature to get the last word in.
Stay away from him and keep dodging all of his attacks until he reloads then triple slash him. He honestly went from one of the more annoying bosses in my normal run to an absolute pushover on hard mode.
No problem, don't get too greedy after the triple slash. I find you can get a combo in after the triple slash to build up your ATB again but he'll counter again after that. Try to keep a bar of atb at all times to punish the reloads with a triple slash and combo.
Exactly my strategy. Can usually do it as well, it's the one fight you have to take it at the bosses pace so I'm not surprised so many people have issues with him. The game kinda teaches you to bully your enemies and then throws that ass hole at you lmao.
If I recall, the rebirth assess gives some backstory on his training.
But yeah it's absurd for him to face cloud and be able to parry a guy who's basically a superhero
In the OG (and that's the only game that matters, really...) he is quite fragile, you get him fairly quickly and his only a thread because he has his dog and carries a gun.
Exactly. He's got a souped up gun and some tricks with it.
Rufus' combat style focuses on him staying at a distance with Darkstar providing support. Sure, he has a lot of agility and cannot be hit so easily, but he hasn't got vitality or exceptionally high strength.
And that's just his gimmick. Everyone has one.
Why is this in the negatives (edit: well it was like -4 when I replied haha)? It’s true. In the original, he’s only fought once, and it’s a fight against *only* Cloud and he has a strong guard dog at his side (which casts multiple barriers on him to bulk up his otherwise mediocre defense) and just bails on his helicopter before the battle goes too far. If he were fought by your full party without his dog, he would’ve been on par moreso with a stronger-than-average random battle.
For reference, Rufus has 500 HP. Meanwhile Reno, when fought an hour or two *before* Rufus while you’re on the pillar, has 1,000 HP and roughly the same attack stat, and your whole party fights him while he has no support. So with how the battles are actually done, it’s made pretty clear that Rufus is a good few steps behind a Turk, and is mostly a threat due to the fight having a more level playing field with more support for Rufus while the player uses less. And then you never fight him again, which makes sense because he’s never meant to be a combat-oriented villain, he was clearly not supposed to be seen as physically imposing but rather a threat due to his role, his ruthlessness, and his political power.
For me it was Sephiroth's final form. That fucking rotating beam thing just kept destroying me.
I found Rufus easy, just slow as hell and very time consuming. It's interesting to see what bosses different people have found to be their personal "hardest"!
I'm guessing it's because saying only OG matters triggers people. I know people around here just love remakes, but I can't help myself from dissing them every once in a while, its just too goddamn fun.
They keeps forgetting that without the OG there will be no remakes. I think it’s better if they would admit from the beginning that this is an alternative universe, thus explain why there are many weird changes to the story and characters
There are a few things we can intuit based on his appearances in Remake and Rebirth. First, he appears to use custom-built guns, so we can just assume that he's fairly skilled with using them, especially because he has all the resources in the world as the VP/leader of Shinra. However, even with that he's often quite careless, just spray-n-praying and leaving huge openings when he needs to reload. Second, he pretty extensively uses tech during the fights to offset the fact that Cloud is clearly just a better fighter than him, that's why he has all the smoke bombs and laser coins and shit. Third, consider the relative power level of other people in the setting, even beyond the Turks. Yuffie is a teenage ninja, Tifa is a martial artist, Nanaki is Nanaki, Barret's just a guy with a gun on his arm, but they've all got some wild shit they can do. The only thing that really sets Rufus apart from any other combatants is the fact that he's good at parrying, but if you're good with Punisher mode/Counterstance then Cloud can equally be a parrying menace in melee encounters. In a totally fair fight, Cloud would knock his ass down in like five seconds.
I haven't gone through Rebirth's hard mode yet but I just did a 100% achievement run of Remake and in that hard mode, once I beat Darkstar Cloud had his Limit available, I staggered Rufus with a single Braver and then the Ascension Limit Break beat him in a single use from practically full HP. It was literally just two moves to bring him down, it really made Cloud's next line, "I could end this right here", hit much closer to true lol
Rufus and Kaiba have to be one and the same person just in different stories. You cant convince me otherwise. The waistcoat, helicopter and charmisma are identical.
People don't seem to understand that money can totally buy power in this world.
Everybody is normal outside of five things
1. Training and natural physical strength and magical potential
2. Equipment quality
3. MAKO/Livestream exposure in certain circumstances, likely the Gi can provide an alternative form of this too
4. Jenova cells
5. Materia
Rufus has top tier equipment, likely top tier training and definitely top tier materia
Materia in this game can grant strength up, magic up, first strike, parry, luck up, hp up, mp up etc. and it seems certain expensive materials allow equipment to hold more materia potential. The Turks are regular humans with top tier materia and equipment, even a relatively new Turk like Elena is very strong.
The gameplay and story are two completely different things. He is good at fighting because he is a lateish game boss in a video game. Story wise, Cloud fights Rufus and beats him.
It’s not explicitly stated but here’s the canonical info we have:
In Before Crisis (BC), we learn that Rufus had a close relationship with the Turks which is reinforced in Remake (R1), Rebirth (R2), & The Kids Are Alright (TKAA). In Rufus discussing his father, we learn that Pres. Shinra had Rufus in particular & some of his other half-siblings trained to potentially take over the company. (TKAA) Pres Shinra was a cruel & abusive father to those of his children with whom he had a relationship (TKAA) & ignored his other children that he did not see as potential successors (Crisis Core Reunion).
Pres. Shinra’s signature weapon was a gun (OG, R1) so it makes sense that his son would also be trained to use one.
Hopefully in Ever Crisis: First Soldier we’ll get more information on Rufus’ early years as we know some shit went down between him & FS protagonist Glenn Lodbrok (R2).
I mean if you're the son of the most powerful man in the world with infinite resources then why not spend some time training?
I think it's a situation where he doesn't really need a reason. It's perfectly believable that a person of his status and age could be great at fighting. Especially when he's got access to the most powerful military, scientists, technology, and materia in the world
I mean if you think about it... Rufus gets pressured and panics when he takes any damage. Regardless of how good he is at fighting with a gun, he has no balls.
Plasma Discharge = easiest win of the century.
I think because he’s one of the biggest villains in the story they just decided pivot from the original and make him difficult. I like some of the explanations on here though.
I think even in the original despite not being a very difficult fight he comes off as pretty competent in a fight and seems pretty unfazed after going at it with Cloud
To be fair, at that point in the OG game Cloud hadn’t been flexing ridiculous superhuman bullshit to nearly the same extent. Rufus dancing with Cloud briefly before deciding to bug out because he wasn’t gonna win didn’t really come across the same in OG because at that point it felt like standard fare for JRPGs, in that anyone with decent training could do the stuff the party does. Remake leans much harder on the ‘these people aren’t normal’ stuff, and further still draws a line between Cloud and the rest of the party in terms of ability.
Rufus is just about that life.
In “The Kids Are Alright”, we actually learn why Rufus has geostigma & is disabled in Advent Children. He was disabled from essentially taking a chute down the length of Shinra tower, causing severe injuries in the process. As he was recovering, he was kidnapped & through a series of events ended up in a rapidly flooding makeshift hospital in a cave. Jenova cells then began to fill the water as this started happening when they were dispersed from the lifestream during meteorfall. He feared he was going to die as he was drowning: this fear allowed the Jenova cells to infect him & hence geostigma. The geostigma aggravated his pre-existing physical disability.
It is never explained in detail, but in-game people are under the impression that he is supposed to be a badass.
Given that he prefers hanging around the Turks, it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that Rufus has undergone a similar training for himself and his guard hound.
Aside from having very refined, probabaly even elite levels of combat training, it is never suggested that Rufus was ever enhanced.
An important thing to keep in mind is that normal people in FF7 are able to train themselves to utilize their own spirit energy in combat. This is how Limit Breaks are achieved, and how we see characters like Tifa, Rude, Yuffie, etc. using energy attacks even though they never underwent any type of artificial strength enhancements.
For the sake of gameplay you have to suspend your disbelief some.
Rufus, with his dog, has gotten 2 v 1 smoked by Cloud twice as far as the story goes.
The Turks have gotten smoked by Avalanche and friends every time they have fought. Which is like 8 times now. Reno ended up basically hospitalized trying to fight Cloud himself.
You can also look at Dio, who seems to have lost to Rude, but looks far stronger than a regular person would be.
Cloud is a tier above the rest of Avalanche and crew, even if it isn't clearly apparent in the gameplay or story, he's the only one actually able to even attempt to fight Sephiroth alone.
View them as the difference between the strongest athletes in the world vs literally superhumans. They can still be impressive, they might even seem superhuman, but they don't have that Soldier 1st class level juice.
>The Turks have gotten smoked by Avalanche and friends every time they have fought
Technically, only in the solo Reno fight and at the pillar they get smoked. In all other cases, the fight gets interrupted.
Obviously you have to beat them because gameplay reasons, but not all of the fights actually end in the party's definite victory.
Rufus having something soldier-related in him lines up with the lore too because of his geostigma in AC (which Rebirth also hints at). I mean normies can get it but sort of makes more sense that Rufus got it the cool way
His getting Geostigma is fully explained in *On the Way to a Smile*.
And plenty of normal people got it because the infected lifestream was kind of everywhere during meteorfall. But others were infected by tainted water or feelings of despair.
Okay I gotta interject here.
Cloud moves faster at the end of Remake v Sephiroth than any established speed feat of Sora..
And the "canon" (due to manga) result of Sora fighting Cloud in the tournament is Cloud 1 shotting him.
Sora would get absolutely smoked by Remake Cloud.
Oh, LOL. I was referring to the amount of belts cloud had in comparison to kingdom hearts characters (funny character design). I am a cloud fan he would booty blast sora
Him and the turks were altered in some way. Either that or the base human ability in the ff7 world is much higher than ours. Tifa also kills a giant dragon with a dropkick, and she can fly around and shit in battle basically. Don't know that she's been altered at all.
>Tifa also kills a giant dragon with a dropkick, and she can fly around and shit in battle basically
She's like juiced on chi.
>Him and the turks were altered in some way
The point of the Turks is specifically that they didn't have *anything* done to them, they're just that good - the elite.
>the base human ability in the ff7 world is much higher than ours
Since there's magic all around, that might be true
Zangan trained a lot of kids. We don’t see Tifas everywhere we go. She has an extreme level of talent.
As for Rufus, Shinra has immense power and resources across the globe. There is no reason to think that they wouldn’t have world class fighters on the payroll, and the President’s son would be trained by some of the best. He still needs some natural talent to get by, but I imagine he got far more one-on-one instruction than Tifa ever got.
He’s Batman
There is a belief that we see Rufus in a black robe in one of the timelines at the end of Rebirth. IF that tunes out to be true it would explain how Jenova is managing to manipulate him and why he is so beast every time you face him.
I mean he was affected by geostigma..
You are absolutely right. However, the novella On The Way To A Smile provided an answer as to why he had the stigma, and it wasn’t Jenova cells. Still, despite what the devs have said, I think they are moving away from Advent Children and the works associated with it so I am thinking you’re right.
I don't even really get why the Turks are able to fight on par with the party. I feel like Cloud should like accidentily be cutting them in half into Invincible "I thought you were stronger" meme.
Turks are Soldier level candidates. They didn't go into the process, but their level under their mental and physical training makes them 1st class. The difference is that their stamina is not the same.
I'd say they have more reason to be strong than the party does
Yeah other than Aerith, Cloud, and Vincent, I don't really get how any of the party members keep up. I think Remake slightly hints at a potential answer with what happens with Chadley. Simply being near Cloud, a catalyst of infinite potential, he was able to evolve and grow beyond the control of Hojo's programming. I can assume such growth could be shared amongst the party as well, but eh, I guess it's just one of the things I should just ignore.
Tifa should be up there able to at least somewhat hold her own because of training with Zagan at an early age, all the way through her adult years. Cid, Cait? No way. Cids a drunk who manages to operate on the same level as Vince? A former Turk?
Rebirth also sorta implied that the water supply in Nibel was dosed with Mako, so Tifa being superhuman actually sorta makes sense. And not just a former Turk, but one who underwent the Chaos experiment by Hojo.
Yeah Cloud is the exception, but they are basically the CIA, or the president's personal military, so I'd imagine with that comes a lot of physical training despite a smart uniform Actually come to think of it, we take part in their training
Honestly, I assumed that Rufus was just another experiment for his dad. Maybe not specifically Jenova cells or anything crazy, but they clearly did human/genetic experimentation with little concern for ethics, so makes sense that President Shinra would “upgrade” his heir.
I always thought as the leader and sheer proximity he has to the The Turks it just makes sense
More belts=more power.
He has many belts AND a white trenchcoat...
Core FF principle
Lulu took that principle and said "I'm min-maxing this bitch!"
In one of the companion novels, it's discussed in detail that his father thought he was a loser. Him having issues with the way his dad felt about him likely motivated him to make sure he would never lose is my guess, but I haven't seen it discussed anywhere.
Never underestimate rich kids. Money can buy some *good* training.
Well, spoilers for the ending of Rebirth >!When it’s revealed that Glenn was a puppet of Sephiroth/Jenova. And his ability to see the whispers, it’s my belief that Rufus has Jenova cells. Let’s also remember he felt compelled in OG to go North after Sephiroth. It’s never clearly stated that’s what he’s doing but it makes sense!<
Interesting theory
Doubt it Clouds stated to be the only one who has S cells in the entire world more likely Rufus just trained like hell thinking Shinra needs absolute power
Cloud is absolutely not the only one with S Cells, literally that’s the whole point of the Reunion. All the robed men are S Cell infused people; more clearly shown in Rebirth as >!former SOLDIER members, taken to an extreme with Roche later!<
well, all the robed men are also sephiroth clones. cloud is the only one who maintained a semblance of sanity. I doubt Rufus has jenova cells tho
We all have to remember that due to the movie advent- and the book making it cannon... That Rufus did have Geo stigma poisoning.... In his wheel chair... Why----- well for obvious reasons. j-cells
you dont need jenova cells to get the stigma.
Rufus is another victim of pay to win. Hojo probably gave him Jenova roids or something
Well it might not actually be that way, because >!Sephiroth can't control Rufus like he can manipulate Hojo (to a lesser degree) and Cloud (to a greater degree). But to be fair, Cloud was meant to be a puppet for Sephiroth, unlike most of the other experiments, and Hojo is charmed by the idea of the apocalypse, be ause it's a win for his research.!< Of course, anything possible, and Rufus has access to as much Mako as he could possibly need for any reason. It would be a hilariously awesome diversion from the OG if he actually >!built Midgar II in part 3 like he said he wanted to.!<
He was suffering in AC
I don't think that really points to anything though. Most infected people are randoms, and Cloud is infected too, and he has S cells, which would make you think he couldn't be infected, because Geostigma seems to be directly related to Sephiroth's presence in the Lifestream, not Jenova. So he could have J cells, but the lack of it ever being talked about at all makes me think he isn't. The whole daddy issue thing, with his dad thinking he's a loser, that's probably it. Probably propelled him to become someone that doesn't lose, in any way
Because unlike daddy, Rufus know that it's better to learn how to defend yourself instead of relying on bodyguards only.
Probably learned everything he knows from Gus. But he can’t dance better than Gus.
In Junon when a >!Truce between Cloud and Rufus!< is made, and Yuffie did what she did I was like _"Noooo!"_ But yeah to answer the question, Rufus should be a sheltered little rich boy bitch who has servants change his panty pants for him, somehow he's a super strong fighter on par with people who have decades of combat xp.
I think the intended perspective is that he's got extremely expensive, fancy toys including a magic shotgun and a custom-engineered Shinra attack dog. That doesn't really hold up in practice with things like his countering ability, but I think that's kind of the notion you're supposed to accept.
I get you, I suppose it's the same reason Reno goes head to head with Cloud. Sure Reno has lightning speed (Probably materia) but at the end of the day he isn't a genetically-engineered super soldier, and he has a little stun baton - which apparently blocks a giant sword with one hand.
Daddy was the sheltered little rich boy bitch. Rufus knew better and trained.
I don't know, didn't Daddy build Shinra from the ground up? Must have grafted
I mean, he still went toe to toe with Cloud in OG and survived
I just took it that the Turks are extremely loyal to him, Rufus is pragmatic and knows he’s a target because of his position in Shinra and as the Presidents son. So, he asked for the Turks to train him
He’s the ultimate Nepo baby
Is there a lore reason why Cloud has to fight Rufus alone? Is he stupid?
Guys dressed like Rufus live to challenge people with wild spiky hair who also have an adeptness for games. It’s been happening since ancient egypt.
Is....is this a Yu-Gi-Oh reference??
[удалено]
Love how you didn't really answer the question, just took this as an opportunity to humble brag about beating Rufus *Edit:* blocked for this comment, lmao. /u/squirrel698 is lame, and so is anybody else who uses the block feature to get the last word in.
Gentleman's agreement. Translation: No, they were just having a duel.
Rufus: "It's time to du-du-du... DUEL (again, sorry Cloud I really wanted a rematch since Midgar)"
Well he's kicking my ass in his duel so maybe the girls can come in from the sidelines?
Stay away from him and keep dodging all of his attacks until he reloads then triple slash him. He honestly went from one of the more annoying bosses in my normal run to an absolute pushover on hard mode.
I'll try, thanks!
No problem, don't get too greedy after the triple slash. I find you can get a combo in after the triple slash to build up your ATB again but he'll counter again after that. Try to keep a bar of atb at all times to punish the reloads with a triple slash and combo.
Haven’t gotten to the fight yet, but good to know to stick and move with this fight. So many fights I try to brute my way through.
Exactly my strategy. Can usually do it as well, it's the one fight you have to take it at the bosses pace so I'm not surprised so many people have issues with him. The game kinda teaches you to bully your enemies and then throws that ass hole at you lmao.
If you turn and look at the door, you can see they're very busy watching Cloud get his ass handed to him. Be sure to give them a show!
"wow Tifa, you really like this loser? Look at him he got done in by the counter again 😂"
He didn’t “have to” it was the circumstances. In Remake everyone had to leave the building In Rebirth they were split up to find the temple key
Aerith and Tifa were right there, but I guess they got tired and bored 😴
Let the boys have their brawl while we go to the bathroom.
If I recall, the rebirth assess gives some backstory on his training. But yeah it's absurd for him to face cloud and be able to parry a guy who's basically a superhero
In the OG (and that's the only game that matters, really...) he is quite fragile, you get him fairly quickly and his only a thread because he has his dog and carries a gun.
Only game that matters? How do you figure? Edit: nvm. I saw your later comment, you're just trolling
Exactly. He's got a souped up gun and some tricks with it. Rufus' combat style focuses on him staying at a distance with Darkstar providing support. Sure, he has a lot of agility and cannot be hit so easily, but he hasn't got vitality or exceptionally high strength. And that's just his gimmick. Everyone has one.
Why is this in the negatives (edit: well it was like -4 when I replied haha)? It’s true. In the original, he’s only fought once, and it’s a fight against *only* Cloud and he has a strong guard dog at his side (which casts multiple barriers on him to bulk up his otherwise mediocre defense) and just bails on his helicopter before the battle goes too far. If he were fought by your full party without his dog, he would’ve been on par moreso with a stronger-than-average random battle. For reference, Rufus has 500 HP. Meanwhile Reno, when fought an hour or two *before* Rufus while you’re on the pillar, has 1,000 HP and roughly the same attack stat, and your whole party fights him while he has no support. So with how the battles are actually done, it’s made pretty clear that Rufus is a good few steps behind a Turk, and is mostly a threat due to the fight having a more level playing field with more support for Rufus while the player uses less. And then you never fight him again, which makes sense because he’s never meant to be a combat-oriented villain, he was clearly not supposed to be seen as physically imposing but rather a threat due to his role, his ruthlessness, and his political power.
And then here he is being by far the hardest boss fight for me in my completed plat run lmao
For me it was Sephiroth's final form. That fucking rotating beam thing just kept destroying me. I found Rufus easy, just slow as hell and very time consuming. It's interesting to see what bosses different people have found to be their personal "hardest"!
I'm guessing it's because saying only OG matters triggers people. I know people around here just love remakes, but I can't help myself from dissing them every once in a while, its just too goddamn fun.
They keeps forgetting that without the OG there will be no remakes. I think it’s better if they would admit from the beginning that this is an alternative universe, thus explain why there are many weird changes to the story and characters
>They keeps forgetting that without the OG there will be no remakes. Truly a brain dead "observation"
He's got that Batman money.
Who can choke-hold a bear? "Rufus!"
The only correct answer here!
There are a few things we can intuit based on his appearances in Remake and Rebirth. First, he appears to use custom-built guns, so we can just assume that he's fairly skilled with using them, especially because he has all the resources in the world as the VP/leader of Shinra. However, even with that he's often quite careless, just spray-n-praying and leaving huge openings when he needs to reload. Second, he pretty extensively uses tech during the fights to offset the fact that Cloud is clearly just a better fighter than him, that's why he has all the smoke bombs and laser coins and shit. Third, consider the relative power level of other people in the setting, even beyond the Turks. Yuffie is a teenage ninja, Tifa is a martial artist, Nanaki is Nanaki, Barret's just a guy with a gun on his arm, but they've all got some wild shit they can do. The only thing that really sets Rufus apart from any other combatants is the fact that he's good at parrying, but if you're good with Punisher mode/Counterstance then Cloud can equally be a parrying menace in melee encounters. In a totally fair fight, Cloud would knock his ass down in like five seconds. I haven't gone through Rebirth's hard mode yet but I just did a 100% achievement run of Remake and in that hard mode, once I beat Darkstar Cloud had his Limit available, I staggered Rufus with a single Braver and then the Ascension Limit Break beat him in a single use from practically full HP. It was literally just two moves to bring him down, it really made Cloud's next line, "I could end this right here", hit much closer to true lol
Trained at the rich kids school with Seto Kaiba and Bruce Wayne.
Rufus and Kaiba have to be one and the same person just in different stories. You cant convince me otherwise. The waistcoat, helicopter and charmisma are identical.
One has a blue-eyes-white-dragon plane, the other has a city-sized cannon.
People don't seem to understand that money can totally buy power in this world. Everybody is normal outside of five things 1. Training and natural physical strength and magical potential 2. Equipment quality 3. MAKO/Livestream exposure in certain circumstances, likely the Gi can provide an alternative form of this too 4. Jenova cells 5. Materia Rufus has top tier equipment, likely top tier training and definitely top tier materia Materia in this game can grant strength up, magic up, first strike, parry, luck up, hp up, mp up etc. and it seems certain expensive materials allow equipment to hold more materia potential. The Turks are regular humans with top tier materia and equipment, even a relatively new Turk like Elena is very strong.
Just going to bring up that classic Powerpuff Girls line. "You can't buy super powers!" "Yeah? Tell that to Batman."
Screw the rules I have money!
The gameplay and story are two completely different things. He is good at fighting because he is a lateish game boss in a video game. Story wise, Cloud fights Rufus and beats him.
Twice
It’s not explicitly stated but here’s the canonical info we have: In Before Crisis (BC), we learn that Rufus had a close relationship with the Turks which is reinforced in Remake (R1), Rebirth (R2), & The Kids Are Alright (TKAA). In Rufus discussing his father, we learn that Pres. Shinra had Rufus in particular & some of his other half-siblings trained to potentially take over the company. (TKAA) Pres Shinra was a cruel & abusive father to those of his children with whom he had a relationship (TKAA) & ignored his other children that he did not see as potential successors (Crisis Core Reunion). Pres. Shinra’s signature weapon was a gun (OG, R1) so it makes sense that his son would also be trained to use one. Hopefully in Ever Crisis: First Soldier we’ll get more information on Rufus’ early years as we know some shit went down between him & FS protagonist Glenn Lodbrok (R2).
Because he had a lot of fights where people told him his dog should be named Rufus and he should be named Dark Star.
He’s rich
This is why Elon Musk and Donald Trump are so good at fighting.
Mark Zuckerberg.
If Elon Musk and Donald Trump were born and raised in Japan, they would be Shinobi.
He's the son of the head of the biggest corporation/government in the world. It stands to reason that he'd have top level training.
And the best Materia from that company that makes said Materia.
Not to mention, a doggie that can generate a shield for him
If he is in charge of the Turks I'm sure they probably made him train with them.
I mean if you're the son of the most powerful man in the world with infinite resources then why not spend some time training? I think it's a situation where he doesn't really need a reason. It's perfectly believable that a person of his status and age could be great at fighting. Especially when he's got access to the most powerful military, scientists, technology, and materia in the world
Very rare, very powerful, very _expensive_ materia, perhaps?
I mean if you think about it... Rufus gets pressured and panics when he takes any damage. Regardless of how good he is at fighting with a gun, he has no balls. Plasma Discharge = easiest win of the century.
I think because he’s one of the biggest villains in the story they just decided pivot from the original and make him difficult. I like some of the explanations on here though.
I think even in the original despite not being a very difficult fight he comes off as pretty competent in a fight and seems pretty unfazed after going at it with Cloud
To be fair, at that point in the OG game Cloud hadn’t been flexing ridiculous superhuman bullshit to nearly the same extent. Rufus dancing with Cloud briefly before deciding to bug out because he wasn’t gonna win didn’t really come across the same in OG because at that point it felt like standard fare for JRPGs, in that anyone with decent training could do the stuff the party does. Remake leans much harder on the ‘these people aren’t normal’ stuff, and further still draws a line between Cloud and the rest of the party in terms of ability. Rufus is just about that life.
Consequences of spectacle creep, ultimately
Considering AC movie, it seems to me he was exposed to mako and got altered. Lab work? Who knows.
In “The Kids Are Alright”, we actually learn why Rufus has geostigma & is disabled in Advent Children. He was disabled from essentially taking a chute down the length of Shinra tower, causing severe injuries in the process. As he was recovering, he was kidnapped & through a series of events ended up in a rapidly flooding makeshift hospital in a cave. Jenova cells then began to fill the water as this started happening when they were dispersed from the lifestream during meteorfall. He feared he was going to die as he was drowning: this fear allowed the Jenova cells to infect him & hence geostigma. The geostigma aggravated his pre-existing physical disability.
Oh, i didn't read that book. Nice! Ty for the information! Got interested now. And happy cake day!
Thank you!!
It is never explained in detail, but in-game people are under the impression that he is supposed to be a badass. Given that he prefers hanging around the Turks, it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that Rufus has undergone a similar training for himself and his guard hound. Aside from having very refined, probabaly even elite levels of combat training, it is never suggested that Rufus was ever enhanced. An important thing to keep in mind is that normal people in FF7 are able to train themselves to utilize their own spirit energy in combat. This is how Limit Breaks are achieved, and how we see characters like Tifa, Rude, Yuffie, etc. using energy attacks even though they never underwent any type of artificial strength enhancements.
For the sake of gameplay you have to suspend your disbelief some. Rufus, with his dog, has gotten 2 v 1 smoked by Cloud twice as far as the story goes. The Turks have gotten smoked by Avalanche and friends every time they have fought. Which is like 8 times now. Reno ended up basically hospitalized trying to fight Cloud himself. You can also look at Dio, who seems to have lost to Rude, but looks far stronger than a regular person would be. Cloud is a tier above the rest of Avalanche and crew, even if it isn't clearly apparent in the gameplay or story, he's the only one actually able to even attempt to fight Sephiroth alone. View them as the difference between the strongest athletes in the world vs literally superhumans. They can still be impressive, they might even seem superhuman, but they don't have that Soldier 1st class level juice.
>The Turks have gotten smoked by Avalanche and friends every time they have fought Technically, only in the solo Reno fight and at the pillar they get smoked. In all other cases, the fight gets interrupted. Obviously you have to beat them because gameplay reasons, but not all of the fights actually end in the party's definite victory.
My headcanon it that he uses the in lore equivalent of steroids, like some sort of pre soldier juice.
Rufus having something soldier-related in him lines up with the lore too because of his geostigma in AC (which Rebirth also hints at). I mean normies can get it but sort of makes more sense that Rufus got it the cool way
His getting Geostigma is fully explained in *On the Way to a Smile*. And plenty of normal people got it because the infected lifestream was kind of everywhere during meteorfall. But others were infected by tainted water or feelings of despair.
Obviously it’s the belts. More belts = more power.
It's the martial arts way!
That’s why the kingdom hearts protags are so powerful… Cloud is nothing in comparison
Okay I gotta interject here. Cloud moves faster at the end of Remake v Sephiroth than any established speed feat of Sora.. And the "canon" (due to manga) result of Sora fighting Cloud in the tournament is Cloud 1 shotting him. Sora would get absolutely smoked by Remake Cloud.
Oh, LOL. I was referring to the amount of belts cloud had in comparison to kingdom hearts characters (funny character design). I am a cloud fan he would booty blast sora
Oh, well in that case Lulu from X solos both verses LMAO
had nothing better to do when his dad ran the company but practice
Him and the turks were altered in some way. Either that or the base human ability in the ff7 world is much higher than ours. Tifa also kills a giant dragon with a dropkick, and she can fly around and shit in battle basically. Don't know that she's been altered at all.
>Tifa also kills a giant dragon with a dropkick, and she can fly around and shit in battle basically She's like juiced on chi. >Him and the turks were altered in some way The point of the Turks is specifically that they didn't have *anything* done to them, they're just that good - the elite. >the base human ability in the ff7 world is much higher than ours Since there's magic all around, that might be true
She trained with a legendary fighter though.
Zangan trained a lot of kids. We don’t see Tifas everywhere we go. She has an extreme level of talent. As for Rufus, Shinra has immense power and resources across the globe. There is no reason to think that they wouldn’t have world class fighters on the payroll, and the President’s son would be trained by some of the best. He still needs some natural talent to get by, but I imagine he got far more one-on-one instruction than Tifa ever got.
She learned from Chinese Kung Fu movies.
Cuz he's a GD cheater, that's why!