Well, we don’t know that Elsa is in fact a PoH. Only that she’s a possible candidate for one. We at least have Larxene proposing that Elsa has a choice: to accept either light or darkness. This doesn’t seem typical of how they’ve depicted the Princesses in the past and I’m glad she seems to have some agency. We’ll have to see how it’s played though.
Nor am I arguing that she is one, only that the way they've situated her within that plotline suggests that her "light" is what's at stake in the conflict, and that is unfortunately consistent with how women are situated as victimized and/or expendable throughout this game.
But with Sora, while he has seen Riku come back after falling to darkness, it is still normal for him to not want others to experience that same hardship. Or worse, the fates that have befallen characters like Clayton who fell to darkness. The way I see it, he wants to help her learn to keep her darkness in check the same way Riku did, just without all the hardship. However, if you’re right and he is just trying to control her life, then maybe he will learn his lesson about interfering when people are trying to work out their issues. The same way Anna had to in the film when she pushed Elsa too much and got blasted as a result. I wouldn’t mind Sora getting hurt by Elsa to see how he handles it, tbh. Lol
If she has real agency, then Sora ought not to have any claim over which part(s) of herself she chooses to embrace, but he's nevertheless readily insinuating himself into the situation in an explicitly authoritarian fashion: "I won't 'let' Elsa do what
I think is wrong for her." That's not technically uncharacteristic of him, but it rubs me the wrong way for a number of reasons: first, it gives off the impression that he hasn't learned anything from the events of DDD, where rushing into circumstances he didn't fully comprehend and taking on the pain and suffering of others weakened him and gave Xehanort an advantage; it says to me that he hasn't developed a sense of self-awareness, and that runs contrary to the statements we've heard that Sora has "matured" in this title.
Secondly, it runs directly contrary to the things he does know and has acknowledged on multiple occasions: with reference to Riku specifically, Sora has seen him in a state in which he had fully succumbed to his inner darkness, and he wasn't even phased. The moment he knew it was Riku, Sora accepted him without skipping a beat, so he is obviously aware that a person's darkness does not change who they are fundamentally, but rather that it is a fundamental part
of them. Riku taught both him and Mickey that lesson. An enlightened Sora, thinking of Riku (because we know he's always thinking of Riku <3 ), ought to be telling Larxene that her plan won't work because Elsa's darkness is her own and so it doesn't matter which side of her "wins" in the end, she can only come out the other side stronger. That would be a real show of empathy and support for her as a person.
And with all that in mind, Sora doesn't have any right to make calls for Elsa about how she'll resolve matters of her own heart: this is another double standard that is constantly applied to female characters in the series differently from the men. AtW literally wants to blow himself up in order to "atone for his mistakes" and it's solemnly declared that nobody can change his mind and they have to respect his decision. Aqua makes a sacrifice for her friends and it's declared an "unhealthy" thing to do and she has to be punished eternally for it to show off what a bad idea it is while AtW apparently strolls out of the RoD for a
second time without a scratch on him. Sora sacrifices himself for Kairi and it's cute and romantic and they hug and move on, Xion sacrifices herself for Sora and now she has to be stuck in the same twisted cycle of manipulation just to showcase how vulnerable and pitiable she is. Riku has the option to select the middle Road to Dawn in search of inner balance, but all these Disney women had better keep their light shining bright or they might end up like Elrena over here.
I'm not saying that there's anything inherently wrong with developing stories in which women struggle with differing extremes within themselves, face internal conflict, and make mistakes that have consequences. I'm saying that it should be their actions which are the determinant in resolving that conflict, not that of men and boys playing the hero and making the "right" call for them.
I agree with you on BH6. It’s such a stellar cast. With all their unique abilities, there’s so much potential for all of them as party members. We see them all fighting in various cutscenes, so I still hope there’s some events where they all fight. Nomura has even said there would be times when more than five people are in the party. Since we also have an ending that should include so many heroes, you’d think a party system that allows for more members, even if they need to be interchanged, would be a no brainer. This only impacts my perception of gameplay though, not story. As I said before, characters being party members don’t automatically make them better characters to me.
Certainly, there are Disney characters who have been represented in the series using only cutscenes who I consider favorites. I think Alice and Belle are pretty great, but I also think that bringing characters into the party combat wherever possible goes to immersion, and that helps make them feel more fully realized and "alive" because we've actually fought and struggled alongside them to keep that world safe. That ultimately has a ripple effect on my level of investment in the story, and in the case of BH6, it seems especially hard to care about what's happening when the main characters who should by every estimation be part of the fight for the city are kept offscreen for the majority of the plot, as would appear to be the case. It's distracting, and that does affect the plot, because these are characters with a connection to Hiro, and Baymax, and the story of Takashi, that Sora doesn't have. Minimizing them cheapens the premise upon which the world itself is based.
Hey guys, you should take your argument to PMs.
Thanks, but no thanks. We're responding to the content of the game that we've seen, including extrapolations from the leaks. If you don't want to be involved in the discussion that's taking place, you have every right to take accountability for yourself and discuss the things that matter to you.
With that said, y'all should lower your expectations for the innevitable KH4.
It's sad because the game's not even out yet and it's already being forgotten in favor of the next one. A true classic in the making.
This. Please this, people are actually discussing the toxicity here in other forums and websites.
It's really not at any serious scale. It's more that a couple of people are making vague allusions to what's being talked about here and exaggerating the fallout. Yes, there's been some general sarcasm and cattiness embedded in the exchanges, but nothing to suggest real animosity and hostility.
Anyhow, really hope we get some big spoilers coming up if it's true that more people have the game now. I'm thirsty for plot details.
Spoiler
