Do you think President Shinra could have benefited from more screen time? FF7 and Remake spoilers

[SolVanderlyn]

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the shock value of killing off the main antagonist up to that point and replacing him with Sephiroth and his cooler son Rufus. But I do wonder sometimes if it would have been more effective, or at least more interesting, to spend more time with him before his death.

While he has comparatively little screen time, his shadow is cast over the entire Midgar segment of the game. His method of controlling the public through political facade, trying to appear respectable and as if he is acting in their best interests while he plots behind the scenes, has a completely different vibe to it than Rufus's more face value villainy. Being older and having a longer history with the people who hate him, as well as commanding more genuine respect from his underlings, give him a sort of corporate crime boss feel that nobody else in the game ever replicates.

I don't necessarily disagree with what the story did with him, but I do think he was an effective villain, and I wonder if he'd be more well regarded if we spent more time learning what makes him tick, and why exactly we are supposed to hate him. I especially wanted to see him interact with Rufus.

What do you think?

 

[Vashetti]

I found him pretty one-note, I'm not really sure what more we could've gleaned about him with more scenes.

 

[Hippopuncher12]

I guess seeing him interact with Rufus would have been nice, but overall nah. I do wish you saw more of Rufus however, maybe the remakes will do that.

 

[The Praiseworthy]

I honestly think that FFVIIR gave every character the screen time they deserves and did them justice.

 

[SimpleCRIPPLE]

I would have preferred more nuance with most of the villains. Ending every cutscene with a maniacal laugh is just cartoonish at this point, but that just seems to be the JRPG way.

Animations are overdone to the point of pantomime, and if there's one place the dramatic NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO (*drops to the ground) hasn't gone out of style, it's the JRPG.

 

[Jimnymebob]

Not really. He serves his purpose as an act 1 badguy really well.
More screen time wouldn't have made him more memorable though. Rufus, the Turks, and Sephiroth are popular because they're cool looking. Kids who played FFVII wanted to be those characters: probably not so many thought "I wanna be the middle aged guy in the chair!"

 

[Aygomyownroad]

But in the original he has next to no screen time. You only see him once outside of Shinra tower and then a couple of times inside before Rufus takes over shall we say.

 

[Deleted member 1102]

He's lame and should have died sooner so we could have more of Rufus

 

[TwinBahamut]

I haven't played Remake, so I can't really comment on that version, but in the original, no, his role was pretty much what it needed to be.

Midgar was the prologue and exposition phase of the plot, and Shinra was never the main villain of the story. Shinra existed to set up the swerve where you see Sephiroth's sword in the president's back, which pushes the characters out of Midgar and into the real story of the game. And the real story starts with the flashback in Kalm.

Elaborating further on President Shinra wouldn't add much to the game, because his only purpose to the story is his death. It's basically the same reason murder mystery stories rarely get too wrapped up in telling the story of the poor victim found at the start of the tale.

 

[AuthenticM]

I would have loved a scene of him interacting with journalists, feeding them bullshit through a smile.

 

[BassForever]

President Shinra has the perfect screen time for the introduction antagonist before Sephiroth steals the show. It's Rufus who needed more screen time and more interactions with the party. It blows my mind that after that first boss fight at the top of Shinra tower we never fight Rufus again in the original FF7.

 

[Weiss]

He's there to die to establish Sephiroth's presence in the plot and his role is filled by Rufus.

You're supposed to hate him because he dropped a city onto another city while listening to classical music.

 

[HockeyBird]

He served his purpose. His death was to signify that there was a bigger threat than Shinra.

 

[FrostweaveBandage]

I actually love the fact that President Shinra gets hyped up during the game only for you to find him dead in his office. It's a shocking twist, and it allows for a complete refocus of the narrative.

 

[SolVanderlyn]

It's Rufus who needed more screen time and more interactions with the party. It blows my mind that after that first boss fight at the top of Shinra tower we never fight Rufus again in the original FF7.

Click to shrink...

This I can 100% agree with.

 

[Deleted member 7051]

The whole point of the Midgar segment of the game is that you're meant to believe ShinRa is the big bad. It's only when Sephiroth kills the President of ShinRa himself that it becomes obvious the real big bad is Sephiroth.

 

[xfactor99]

I thought his VA was excellent but the character didn't really need more fleshing out. Unfortunatey almost all of the Shinra villains are pretty one-note, and when they try to make them complex they don't do a very good job...hard to forgive Reno & Rude for being mass murderers. And Reeve's motivations are a muddled mess all throughout FFVII.

 

[Lulu]

Man Rufus is so hot in remake

 

[SilverArrow20XX]

He could've used less screen time in the remake.
It completely ruined his death scene.

 

[Instant Vintage]

In the original, Cloud tells Barrett (and by extension you, the player) that Sephiroth showing up at this time is the real big bad. It's a subtle but wonderful bit of foreshadowing that this game is bigger than you imagined.

Cloud - Get outta this building with Aerith!
Barrett - What?
Cloud - I'll explain later! Barrett, this is the real crisis for the planet!

President Shinra served his purpose in the story: to be introduced as a corporate asshole, kill innocent people because he can, and dies by a long ass sword in his back. As being said above, it's Rufus that deserved more screen time.

President Shinra has the perfect screen time for the introduction antagonist before Sephiroth steals the show. It's Rufus who needed more screen time and more interactions with the party. It blows my mind that after that first boss fight at the top of Shinra tower we never fight Rufus again in the original FF7.

Click to shrink...

All of this. I wish we would've gotten at LEAST one more fight with Rufus, preferably right before the Hojo fight on Sister Ray. He goes to his office to lick his wounds and then is blasted by Diamond Weapon. (And LIVES. Lucky son of a bitch...)