Round 4: Shinra Inc VS SeeD

[Kermitu Kleric Katie]

Squall could certainly handle any one of them, but there's only one of him, then Rinoa, Quistis, Zell, Selphie and Irvine.

Was Rinoa even a member of SeeD? I'm pretty sure she wasn't, though I could be wrong, like I said, it's been a while since I played VIII.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

SOLDIERS have been seen making use of materia, but what about the Troopers and Turks? I want to assume that they can use materia though...

The Turks use materia in Before Crisis, but regular Shin-Ra soldiers weren't assigned any as far as I know. They certainly didn't use it in battles in the original game, and the Materia Room was on the SOLDIER level of the Shin-Ra building in Crisis Core.

I won't go into too much detail about the strength of SOLDIER operatives since we already know them oh so well and their achievements, but it should be noted that the Turks -- if we're including the Turks from Before Crisis -- were able to take down Zirconiade, supposedly the ultimate summon and the Jade WEAPON, although it took them numerous battles across the planet to do it.

Great achievements, certainly, though Zirconiade wasn't at full power.

SeeD, although human, has trained combat specialists with the goal of taking down 'Mecia. According to the FF Wikia, Balamb Garden is the only one that trains SeeD cadets, conducts the SeeD exam and is the only one with SeeDs stationed at it? Galbadia's Garden focuses more on weapon technology. I might be wrong on this, but I think that Galbadia's Garden is the only Garden that doesn't have its students train with the Junction system/Para-Magic, which was why Irvine was able to remember Edea when others did not.

I think almost all of that is correct, though students at the other Gardens can transfer to Balamb to take the SeeD field exam (e.g. Selphie), so it may not be entirely accurate to say that Balamb is the only Garden that trains SeeDs. Selphie had been trained, she just had to take the field exam, which is only done through Balamb.

Some of the age brackets overlap -- SeeD has the age brackets ranging from 15 to 19 (I don't remember exactly if there was any SeeDs beyond the age of 19, but there might be some.) whereas SOLDIER has an estimated bracket from 14 to 25 (There might be older SOLDIERS, but I'm not sure. The oldest members that we know of is Angeal, Gen and Seph. Dunno about the Deepground peeps though.).

One can be a SeeD beyond the age of 20, but must become a SeeD prior to that. You can also remain at Garden as a student if you're older than 19, but must have passed the SeeD field exam already.

Was Rinoa even a member of SeeD? I'm pretty sure she wasn't, though I could be wrong, like I said, it's been a while since I played VIII.

Not in an official capcity, no, and neither was Irvine, but both of them participated in every major SeeD conflict, and effectively operated as members. Ultimecia also addressed them collectively as SeeD, and they all fulfilled the destiny of SeeD.

 

[LicoriceAllsorts]

I don't know whether the voting indicates that the majority think Shinra would win, or because we just want them to win.