While I understand the lack of faith in execution, I have to admit I'm a little disappointed and a lot bored with the "she fell because darkness" situation. It's clear that she's been infected, but why? I'm a little more hopeful that her being a Xehanort is an extension of the flaw she didn't overcome in 0.2. Her tendency to self-sacrifice for the greater good.
I don't think it's out of character at all for Aqua to have jumped in the way of a Xehanort heart blast, or for her to have chosen the path in an effort to stop Xehanort from going after Ven (or possibly even Terra). 3D calls her the light within the darkness in the secret ending. I'll choose to dream she's had agency in the choice and is working as a double agent.
The thing with self-sacrifice for the greater good is, and here I agree with Launchpad, that it can in most cases only be done once and removes any further possible agency on your own part
and can fail/be for naught if the issue you seek to solve with that sacrifice can be brought back via different means or "only" buys time others fail to use effectively.
You think along the lines of Aqua trying to protect Ansem the Wise or something? If her aim is to stop Xehanort from going after Ven giving in to Darkness and thus providing Xehanort an opening he can exploit is arguably the most bad decision she could make as she's literally the key to at least Ven's body and soul. It's Aqua who has the knowledge and power to transform C.O. back into the LoD and and find/gain access to Ven's chamber. The latter can be done without having to transform the world back and unless Xehanort is specifically interested mainly in Ven's
heart, he would already get everything he wants from accessing the chamber alone.
While working as a double agent certainly sounds intriguing and I think it might be a somewhat fresh take on the whole thing which still leaves Aqua some agency I'm doubtful if this can work if she has literally Xehanort sitting in the back of her heart overlooking everything she does, not to mention possibly having to put up with Xemnas and Vanitas, who are practically evil caricatures of her beloved friends.
I wouldn't be shocked to find she gave herself over to the darkness just to save Terra and/or Ven. For that matter I would also be unsurprised if they revealed that she isn't an actual Seeker of Darkness.
What's happening with her physically as of the new trailer is absolutely unprecedented as far as I'm aware. Yes the color scheme does remind of Dark Riku/Vanitas, but it is definitely not the same thing. For one, the red on DR and Van is from the forearm to the wrists and STOPS THERE, where Dark Aqua has red fingers/parts of her hands. Second, both Dark Riku and Vanitas have been rendered in the KH3 engine, and what you can see of their bodies reiterates and makes clear that they are wearing body suits effectively. They are materials, with material texture. Dark Aqua's effect, slowly spreading up her arms and legs, is very clearly her skin. To be totally honest, the only thing that is close to similar are the Darklings from KHUX which, if I recall correctly, were keyblade wielders who fully gave in to the darkness. Red claw-fingers and blue-black shadow bodies with yellow eyes... They're wearing hooded clothes so who can say if they have hair or what color it might be?
If that is the case I'm certainly intrigued how that plays out and especially how Aqua rationalizes this decision. By giving in to Darkness, no matter how willingly, she
does give Xehanort an opening to possibly exploit and that would be 100% counterproductive to her aim of saving Ven since she would put him in even more danger by doing it.
On the topic of Terra I could see actually some merit in the prospect as Aqua possibly trying to find Terra in the Darkness by immersing herself in it despite hating it, like Kreia in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic who hated the force yet wielded it "like one would wield poison".
I wouldn't necessary say it is out of character for Aqua to eventually resort to radical means to try and set things right, especially if she really lost faith in Mickey and Yen Sid to
finally do something about the predicament of her and her friends.
These things that constantly chant "Lux, give us Lux"?
Well, the opening scene of 0.2 did feature the aftermath of the Keyblade War and lingered on Luxu and the No Name for a while, so it is possible that Aqua is slowly turning into a Darkling?
What would induct such a transformation and why wouldn't Aqua just lose her heart and become a Heartless like Sora did?
Maybe they have to "subdue" Dark Aqua somehow and then Kairi can show off her purification powers again like in KH 1?
I'm willing to entertain such notions purely because I wouldn't put it past Nomura to throw some extra wrenches and twists into the soup just for the heck of it.
It has been shown that he values surprises and shocks more than narrative coherency anyways.
Maybe Xehanort's seekers aren't the only Dark powers at work after all.
Hm, the lead-up to KH3 sure is a convenient time to apply the, "KH just has a bad plot anyway" defense mechanism in full force. Because I'm sure we're all anticipating the next Great American Novel, and discussing basic plot points back and forth eternally is so unlike this fandom.
Everybody plays these games for different reasons. Some of us have an emotional investment in the characters and the narrative, and that's always going to come first for us. For me, all of the gameplay elements exist solely to deliver the story. Others may consider the opposite to be true. Regardless, Nomura has an obligation to his audience to put out the best game he possibly can. I think we're all aiming to encourage as well as define that in our own terms in anticipation of the big finale, regardless of whether or not we agree on what that will ultimately look like.
Wow, nice find. This gives me some hope, actually. Riku's hair doesn't have to change color at all in order to seem like a Seeker, so whichever Riku that is, it may be that little montage isn't conveying quite that message. Which means Aqua might not be a Seeker. Still haven't seen her out of the RoD yet... *patiently waits for all hope to be dashed on Sep 18th*
Although it does feel a little silly to have all that speculation going around and then...oh, it's just Riku. Pretty much how we'll all feel when the second playable character is revealed.
edit: also yayyy Xion's not a Darkness. The thing that launched this whole retread of the Aqua debate. Yeah. I'd actually prefer if Xion's role in KH3 remains a secret along with Roxas and maybe Namine, as much as I want to see her again I just think she's going to be way more important than a Xehanort lackey or some such.
Is that really a "defense" mechanism or an attempt to strangle any debate or discussion?
Frankly, it may sound weird but I can see good points in both kirabook's approach to the topic and yours, depending on if one looks at the overall narrative from the possible setups given or more in terms of personal character arcs.
In the former, 0.2
can be interpreted as a deliberate setup for Aqua's eventual fall, be it because even her formidable defenses and resilience (which no one doubted here btw) got eroded to a point where she finally cracks or because a third party (The norts) gave her a final push to shatter the new resolve she had build up.
That Ansem the Wise also seems to be nowhere to be found is also a fact to be concerned about and an indicator that the scenes on the dark margin shown in the secret ending of DDD are not the most up date view we got on this theater of operations.
It is a devious but very effective tactic to break someone by repeatedly building up hope and then cruelly crush that hope shortly afterwards again. Repeat this process three or four times and the target will eventually succumb because the next provided hope spot (even if it is a genuine one) won't be taken for fear of the inevitable dashing of that hope the being has already experienced many times beforehand.
Both Ramsay Bolton of Game of Thrones and Morganna from .hack are very effective in deploying this tactic and while in Aqua's case there might not have been a conscious force following it the properties of the Realm of Darkness seem to work in a similar way.
So from this angle, I can entirely see where kirabooks argument comes from and that it makes in-universe sense to happen, also when considering that the original ending of 0.2 which was eventually scrapped
did include Aqua breaking down according to Nomura.
Agreement, I am certainly more into it for the story elements than the gameplay side, so unlike i.e. Launchpad I don't give much about yet another interesting boss fight just for the sake of having it and prefer seeing a character getting agency, characterisation and interaction with other characters over that any day.
So in terms of the information we currently have I agree with the notion that it doesn't really looks well or advantageous for Aqua as a character since unless they play "Dark" Aqua as a rogue element who goes to extreme lengths to save Terra and Ven (like i.e. her getting sick of waiting for that lackluster mouse to finally show up and deciding to polish Xehanort's bald dome with his own weapons and if necessary rip Ventus out of Sora etc.) or something similar that explores
her own issues it will indeed be just a rehash of what we've already seen x-times in this series with "possession by the main bad guy".
That comparison with KH 1-Riku certainly has quite some convincing similarity.
I guess that means the Team Data-Riku and Team Riku Replica contest can be dusted off and re-introduced, lol.
"Just" Riku is probably the wrong way to describe it, more like "which" or "what" Riku in this case.
We haven't seen neither of those three nor Terra or Ven yet anyways.