This is why I think either Sora's going to get his ass whooped, the fight stops midway, OR there's a legitimate story reason as to why he's able to solo a Dark Aqua when two qualified Masters couldn't do it. I know the Darkness is GameShark levels of cheese sometimes, but she still shouldn't be able to take on Riku AND Mickey effortlessly, and still got plenty in the tank for Sora... Assuming this happens at the same time. There should be a reason. Riku is strong against Darkness now, and Mickey isn't a stranger to the Dark Realm. There's really no way to tell. I'd like to think that Sora doesn't have it easy in this battle either. If it does take place at the same time, it's possible that Mickey and Riku join later on during the fight too.
Taken on its own, I have less of a problem with Aqua taking on two Keyblade Masters-- she herself is a Master after all, and who knows what else is going on with her that might give her an edge over them in the Dark Realm. But to undercut that by bringing Sora in to take her down all by himself (which, yes, I'm betting that's what's going to happen absent any evidence to the contrary) is not really justifiable to me. There's no good reason to do it from a narrative stand point, so whatever Nomura contrives to explain it will feel forced.
it's just plot convenience lol.
It's this one, ha.
Aqua's the Bad Luck Brian of the series. Just as soon as you see her catch a win... Nope. If she decided to walk off into the sunset at the end of KH3 and became a Kindergarten teacher or something, I wouldn't blame her at all. How does someone take THAT many L's? Not even Terra did, and that guy lost his body and his Heart.
Nomura seems to insist on keeping her the victim/whipping boy after giving her a good arc in 0.2 which actually progressed her, it would seem she's right back to being kicked around for trying to solve everybody else's messes.
And for an irl explanation: it would be such bad/lazy storytelling. Not only does it go against the "drawing strenght from his friends" moral, but after creating a decently large pool of competent characters ot would be so reductive. At this point I don't even know if playing as Riku again would be such a good idea, if I only jump around in Dark World without actually fighting the main boss.
This has lowkey become another reason I have problems with how DDD portrayed Sora-- some seem convinced he's now the one and only person that can save others, because of what Ansem's data said. Throughout the games we saw many other characters who fought and had the power (and the rights) to save their friends.
Yep, exactly. There was no no point in structuring the series to feature these other protagonists and develop their personal arcs if it's all going to get set back to zero so Sora can come in and handhold them through the culmination of their collective story, when everything is meant to come to a point of intersection driven by a theme of shared strength rather than singular bravado.
Yes, DDD revealed Sora’s weakness and vulnerability when he is alone. But for him to grow, he needs to be able to overcome that weakness not just ignore it. That game was showing us that Sora still has a lot to learn before he is ready to take on Master Xehanort and saving the people connected to him is part of the trials that will give him the strength he needs to win in the end. We’ve seen the chess board with Sora alone surrounded by Seekers. So he obviously needs to learn to function on his own if he wants to stand a chance if that symbolism actually plays out. The way I see it, he failed in DDD so that his comeback and success in KH3 would be that much more notable.
There's no need for Sora to overcome this, it isn't a flaw, it's the basis of his strength and the entire reason the Keyblade chose him over Riku. The reason Sora failed the Mark of Mastery is not because he was or is weak of heart or anything like that, but because he got cocky and allowed himself to be pushed too far and by the time he remembered the real source of his power it was too late-- he failed because he tried to play the hero and take it all on himself when he needed to hold back and learn to let
go of the hurt swirling around inside of him, learn how to not let him drag it down. Yen Sid didn't fail him because he was weak and needed to be stronger, he failed Sora because he lacked the wisdom and self-awareness to be patient and "search his feelings." The exact ability Riku had tempered within himself through his struggle with the darkness.
If Sora is actually reduced to combating the Darknesses by himself, the Seekers will win. It won't be believable at all if he takes them down alone; he has never fought and defeated a single version of Xehanort on his own. He has always had help. The moment after we see his piece surrounded on the chess board Eraqus makes a move: it's obvious there's more to that scene and what plays out, and moreover I don't put a lot of stock in the chess game myself because fate is never written in KH until it happens. The chess game is a representation of Xehanort's intentions, not what
will come to pass but what he means to enact if he has his way.