Character battle, Kratos (GOW3) VS. Sephiroth(FF7)

This is a character battle between the Ghost of Sparta Kratos, and the One Winged Angel Sephiroth. The battle will take place in a fair environment that is equal to both characters, and the characters are both in their prime. Here are the rules...

1.) Don't vote if your are bias and hate a character, I respect your opinion but please don't vote.
2.) Not sure if its possible, but don't vote more than once.
3.) Don't vote unless your familiar with both characters and their powers.
4.) Feel free to post opinions after you vote, but lets keep it clean and no trolling.

Let the battle begin...

At first glance, it would seem Kratos's versatility and sheer bloody mindedness give him the advantage. He's stronger, tougher, and, if not faster, able to compensate for that.
However, when their various assets are actually compared, Sephiroth has certain advantages Kratos cannot match. Flight is one, and there is no rule to assume he cannot simply hover out of range, away from any convenient cliffs, swinging his sword to produce sword beams and cut him to bits from afar, Kratos barely able to retaliate. Or use his favorite tactic of mannipulating Kratos into making mistakes and leaving himself open. Or whatever.
Sephiroth has shown himself (in Advent children) to cut through entire buildings in this way, four feet of concrete and steel don't even slow his blade down, and he is approaching Dragon Ball Z levels of power. Ultimately, I think it could potentially go either way, but Sephiroth has the clear advantage as long as he fights smart.

Being a huge Sephiroth fan at first I was biased. I agree with everything you said but the reason I give this fight to kratos is because of his ability to destroy enemies stronger than himself. He tore down nearly the entire Greek pantheon. Sephiroth's speed and skill with his blade are his greatest assets. Kratos' Strength, and shear determination are his. lets not forget the man has climbed out of hades three times. Lets look at the weapons. Sephiroth's sword is probably one of the most devastating weapons in all of video games. Its fast and powerful. However we have to look at Kratos' ability to use his weapons for many versatile uses. Climbing, grabbing, ect. Honestly I would even say Kratos' reach with his chain blades are close if not the same reach as sephiroth's sword. Not to mention their own power. As for Sephiroths "hovering", I don't think Kratos would be a big enough fool to stand while Sephiroth slashes the air. Also kratos has his bow, head of Helios (to blind Sephiroth), and Hercules' gauntlets for when things get personal, and with Hades' claw could tear the soul right out of him. Sephiroth's biggest problem however is how often he underestimates his opponents and with kratos' it would be his last mistake. I am a huge fan of both, but for me, while I think it would be a close fight. Kratos would emerge victorious.

I am also a Sephiroth fan, and I have contempt aplenty for God of War, but I am still capable of making an unbiased judgment, fear not.
Kratos's versatility is not much use, for the simple reason that Sephiroth's lazer firing, razor sharp, seven foot long katana (well, katana shaped Zambuto) trumps every one of his available combination's. It can cut through almost anything, it's ranged, he waves it like the reach and weight doesn't make a difference (and trust me, that's far more impressive then it sounds), and, if I may use a metaphor, while Kratos's blades are a veritable swiss army knife, a deringer is a much better weapon to have in your pocket, even if it can't do as many things. So I will concede versatility, but I will also say that Mansume doesn't change because it's already perfect.

Now if they do fight each other up close and personal, then we can assume Kratos does have the advantage, the sheer unpredictability of his attacks coupled with his strength, speed and pure brutality would certainly match Sephiroth's skill, but that's a bit too... well, the problem with that is it's inconclusive. I could make a compelling case for either side.
For instance, Sephiroth's flight and the reach of the blade would mean that Kratos would be constantly on the defensive, and while the longer the blade the more openings, Kratos would be forced to use his chains in order to match the reach, which would leave him unable to effectively parry, and the fact that once they are extended it's not physically possible to redirect them would mean as long as Sephiroth used his flight to best effect then Kratos would never have a chance.
I could then argue that all Kratos needs to do is entangle the blade, via wrapping one of his chains around it, and Sephiroth is done. I could counter that Sephiroth could let go of his blade, get beyond the reach of the other blade, and simply wraps his arms around Kratos's shoulders, temporarily immobilizing him, and lifts him up, flies higher then Olympus in moments (he breaks the sound barrier in Advent children), then drops Kratos and the poor bastard falls to his death. Or Sephiroth is turned to stone then broken, or he let's off an Ultima, neither gets out in time and it kills them both, or whatever. It's too subjective, as they both have considerable arsenals to fall back on, and neither weapon actually exists for obvious reasons so comparing them is difficult.
But if you really want to, I suggest you watch a Japanese martial arts film about a katana versus a kursi-gama (not accurate, but close enough). Add flight to the katana wielder, and give the kursi-gama wielder an extra weapon (a two edged sword if there ever was one, get the chains entangled and you are done, and you'd have to have ridiculous ambidexterity and the ability to concentrate on both at once, but we can infer that Kratos has that, based on the fact he has never cut off his own face). Advantage, katana. It's too hard to keep the momentum going, to easy to anticipate, and leaves yourself too open. You can't fight defensively with one, and so you need to win without losing the offensive once, which would inevitably happen once you lost momentum, which means you have to stop, twirl it a few times and regain it, then resume. They were surprise attack weapons for a very good reason.
But what if Kratos uses other weapons, you ask? Exactly. What if he does? Too many variables. The Barbarian hammer would leave him too slow, the blade of Olympus doesn't have the range, which means he'd be on the defensive the entire time. Trust me, fencing when they have a longer sword is not suicide,but it is a hell of a handicap, and as Sephiroth is probably better with a sword that's bad news. Plus Kratos can change weapons midfight, which just makes it harder to accurately portray. And no, that doesn't mean that there is some magical sequence that guarantee's him victory, it just means trying to discuss every move either of them could make is an exercise in futility.

So let's assume that Sephiroth fights smart. Let's also assume that neither have a working knowledge of who they are up against (which is an advantage to Kratos, as Sephiroth is a master manipulator), and that this takes place apon a featureless plane of solid rock, in Greece, atop Mount Olympus. Kratos is about to jump, when Sephiroth spots his adversary and descends. They both decide to fight, and charge each other. Sephiroth engages for a few moments to see Kratos's capabilities, then, having a good idea of them, takes flight, gets out of range, and goes through a kata, launching waves of pure energy down at the spartan. Now, it's possible to parry these, but Kratos rapidly figures out that's not a good idea with a short little sword like his, and furthermore the impact still hurts, even if it doesn't cut you in twain. I think it's fair to discount the golden fleece, as it's not really long ranged as the term really applies. Rather, his sword can slice from a far longer distance then makes sense. So he goes looking for cover. Unfortunately, Sephiroth can cut through that too, and that only means he won't see the attacks coming. So, out in the open, he knows he needs to retaliate.
He does have long distance attacks, this is true. However, Sephiroth has better ones. So he tries dodging. But he's not fast enough to get out of the way completely, because Sephiroth's best attacks are all area of effect ones. He doesn't need a direct hit, even if the Greek keeps on getting minor, glancing blows it will still add up, and meanwhile the landscape is becoming so broken and unsteady that dodging is getting much harder.
Meanwhile, Kratos's return fire is inadequate. While Sephiroth is flying, he needs to draw his bow, take aim at a moving target, and then fire, all the while holding still. Which means that he'll be fair game for a few moments while he does, which is likely to be inadvisable. So he starts using the head of Helios before hand, giving himself the time he needs. This works quite well enough, and so Sephiroth starts dodging as well. So he uses the head of the medusa, but, unable to get close enough to really get it to work, is forced to try a second approach. Perhaps lightning bolts, who can tell.
Anyway, this goes on for a while, with it seeming Kratos has regained the advantage, at which point Sephiroth is sick of this, so either taps into the life stream and starts channeling magic, or swoops down and starts doing flyby attacks, or intermediates between both.
Now flyby attacks would be too difficult, because once more it creates too many variables. Does he use sword beams and force Kratos to attempt to guard every direction at once? Does he actually uses his sword, and does Kratos use his swords or does he try to use his bow, or what? Can Kratos parry eight simultaneous blows (octoslash)? To be blunt, we do not know, because he's never been in the situation where he has to. So lets assume Sephiroth does not use this stratedy, for the sake of our ability to reach a conclusion. There will always be uncertainty, but we can try to minimize it.
So let's assume magic, which leaves Kratos at a massive disadvantage again. Being hit by an Ultima is not pretty, and once more, dodging this completely is all but impossible, particularly considering what it would do to the location. Also, Kratos, despite his endurance, is still losing, and he's beginning to reflect this. He doesn't wear armor, he's cut up, he's panting, and he's having trouble focusing. While Sephiroth, who takes a lot longer to be worn out, is injured, but not particularly so, and can keep it up as long as he needs to.
So Kratos has to think of something drastic, and has to get Sephiroth to come down and fight, somehow. So he stops trying to counter-attack, and simply dodges, so that the damage goes down to a crawl. However, this is not as good an idea as he thinks, because Sephiroth is building up. Kratos starts shouting insults, as hammy as he can manage, which Sephiroth ignores with cold disdain, smirking slightly, which only gets Kratos angrier (he hates to be ignored). So he begins shouting all the louder, and decides to attack and not worry too much if he gets hurt doing it, draws his bow, and prepares to fire. This gets cut off by a crash of thunder, that signifies something terrible.
Sephiroth is done charging, and One Winged Angel starts blaring, as though an invisible, pseudo magical Boombox were blasting the song at ear-bleeding volume. Kratos shudders, and looks around desperately, but there is no escaping this. Sephiroth sneers, then uses his limit break. A black wing sprouts from his back, and he unleashes 'Heaven's Light' the blow coming down in a terrible arc with oblivion on the end, bisecting Kratos, and incidentally crumbing the mountain he was standing on. Sephiroth turns, then walks away, resolving to finish what the Spartan started and kill the few remaining Gods, but rather then stop their, he will take their place and resolving to rule better then they did, change the nature of man and build a better world in the place, worthy of him. It is then flashed to a scene of Eris, goddess of chaos, laughing at how it all turned out.
Cue end credits.

Obviously, that is just my take, but it's the way I'd expect it to go, and fairly assessing what both are capable of in regards to their personalities and powers. The real point is, Sephiroth has only a few advantages, but these advantages force Kratos to fight on any terms the SOLDIER wants, which is really enough to win him the fight. The other assets the two of them posses are, to be blunt, totally inconsequential.
I'd be the first to say that yes, it is possible for the spartan to carry this victory. However, every decisive win depends on Sephiroth doing something stupid and being unable to recover. While Sephiroth can, and in fact is expected to win without Kratos actually making any mistakes or bad decisions.

Well, I'm convinced. I can't really think of any arguments you haven't covered, so it's good enough for me.