Who's the strongest in Final Fantasy VII?

Note: There are spoilers in this entry and most likely bias personal opinion. :p

Weiss the ImmaculateThis forum thread started a huge buzz on who's the strongest in the entire Final Fantasy VII series? The thread asked if Sephiroth met Weiss (antagonist in FFVII:DOC), who will win? It quickly escalated to a discussion on who's the ultimate guy in FFVII. A quick list of candidates include Sephiroth and his various forms, Weiss the Immaculate and his various forms, Genesis (mysterious character known as G), Restrictor (an unseen guy in DOC that Weiss overthrew with the aid of several allies) and of course Vincent Valentine and his various forms.

SephirothPersonally, I think Sephiroth will win hands down versus anyone for the following reasons:

• Sephiroth can summon Meteor. Even Weiss's omega form will not be able to counter that.
• It is stated in FFVII that Sephiroth's stronger than any other.
• He's a complete maniac that's obsessed with ending Life.
• Sephiroth had to use part of his power to contain Holy, summon Meteor and fight 7 - 8 Avalenche characters. For Weiss, its just Omega vs Chaos.
• Sephiroth's barrier was broken only after two blasts from Sister Ray which is powered by the LifeStream whileas Vincent's bullets were able to penetrate Omega Weiss's armour.
• Sephiroth keeps coming back.
• He has an incredibly strong will, even the Lifestream couldn't absorb him.

In spite of all the reasons, why then does Sephiroth loses to Cloud? Cloud is not even on my list of candidates.

Because of Arrogance and also the fact that being stronger does mean he'll always win the battles. Square Enix developed Sephiroth's character to be perfect in everyway with one major flaw - arrogance. Each time Sephiroth faces Cloud in a fight, it was his arrogance that defeated him. In each fight, there were ample opportunities for Sephiroth to kill Cloud, easily but he contented himself playing with Cloud, never even breaking a sweat whenever he battles Cloud. Each time he wound Cloud, he would be even more arrogant until he gets defeated. This was illustrated in Advent Children where Sephiroth can easily stab his masamune into Cloud's chest but instead stabs into Cloud's shoulders, taunting him at the same time.

When Cloud unleashes his limit break - Omnislash version 5, Sephiroth was busy staring at the various swords hanging around him instead of paying attention to Cloud. That's arrogance for you.

That being said, it is very unlikely that Sephiroth will hold back against any other character. He would kill them in seconds, in my own opinion anyway.

Oh why's Vincent on the list? hehe, because in DOC he is very powerful. With Chaos unleashed, Vincent can do very decent damage with Death Penalty and incredible stunts. You have to play the DOC game or watch the CG movies of DOC to feel that. Also Chaos Vincent is extremely fast while Sephiroth has raw power, he's not known for that kind of speed Chaos Vincent and Weiss have.

Why isn't Cloud on my list? Granted that Cloud has some amazing abilities, he does not have any other form. Also, Cloud's strength stems from the support of his friends and his own determination. I don't recall seeing immense amount of raw power in Cloud. Cloud vs Chaos Vincent will most certainly resulted in Chaos Vincent winning. Cloud versus Vincent himself, hmm.. I think Cloud may win. Cloud versus Omega Weiss, Omega Weiss will most certainly win Cloud, if we're comparing raw strength and power.

Well, at the end of the day, its just another of those insufferable 'who's tougher' hypothesis...