I said I wouldn't take part in a debate, but I'm procrastinating loudly right now so I have the times to reply to a few things here!
Ok first of all you think it’s strange people say Roxas is the better swords men (well he proved he is when he fought Sora, and don’t use forms those are just fanservice for gameplay purposes unless nomura make them Apart of the current story)
But he already did. They don't just show up in gameplay, we literally have Yen Sid and the 3 Fairies explain that the forms are because of his new outfit. Big Hero 6 world/San Fransokyo literally has Sora using the Starseeker Keyblade Form to gather data for Hiro to improve Beymax. All part of the story.
but you don’t question why Sora an islander who uses his keyblade like a baseball bat can suddenly clash with keyblade masters?
I don't have to question that because Kingdom Hearts 1 has Sora training with Leon, Merlin and Phil, literally showing his growth from a nobody (pun not intended) to a capable fighter. CoM has his lose and then regain his power by replaying the same events. 2 has another soft reset but he re-learns everything and then more. Like, it's not my headcanon or me theorizing or anything, it's literally what we experience through the games. Even the "My friends are my power!" bit is explained through the Trinity system sidequest showing his friendship with Donald and Goofy growing throughout the game as well, with the white and final trinity unlocking when they decide to side with him even if it goes against their mission.
also Sora 100 times said my friends are my power and in kh3d and Kh3 yet again proven that Sora is nothing with out his friends (that’s not a bad thing but it’s better then the bs happy go lucky islander kid who was never been trained properly by a keyblade master can suddenly put up a fight with characters that been training with the keyblades for years)
Again, I'm not sure why this is constantly brought up as if that wasn't a legitimate power or anything when it's been constantly hinted that the Power of Friendship = Power of Light (which is why it's used offensively by the characters who are constant screaming about friendship; Sora and his variations, and Kairi, who also goes on about the same thing + being a Princess of Heart). Even then, Sora was alone when he took down Ansem-Riku, and was also alone when fighting the second form of Ansem SoD and the first phase of the World of Chaos form as well before freeing Donald and Goofy.
Like SweetYetSalty said, I'm not sure why in these kinds of discussions the "Power of Friendship" is downplayed and not taken into account as the character's own power but Darkness is valid on it's own.
The whole series takes a lot from the same chinese sayings that Star Wars took as base for the Force and it's Light and Dark sides (Jedi and Sith), and I always saw Light as = Friendship, learning that you don't need to do everything on your own, it's ok to rely on others. It's slow growth with high reward Versus Darkness as = Individuality, thirst for power and knowledge, it deals with pride and vulnerability. It's high reward with instant power versus even higher risk of being consumed by it.
So yea we are not downplaying Sora, his strong but if he fights on his own without the friendship thing or MC plot armor then his next to riku and the gang in strength (or maybe even below riku since kh1 it has been hinting that riku have always been the better one between the two, riku admitted that relying on the darkness alone didn’t make him strong, kh3d is where he started using both of his light and darkness in balance and made him stronger and a keyblade master) Sora is not beyond them
Riku was weaker than Sora by the end of KH1 and probably would have lost to him during 2 as well. We can attribute his win against Roxas due to the element of surprise as we aren't sure how Roxas would have dealt with him had he know he had access to The Guardian, but Sora knew how Ansem fought. Post KH2 Riku masters his own Darkness and can definitely stand his own ground against Sora's powerful Light, but I'd say they're both equal by the end of KH3, they just have different sources of power (Riku relying on Darkness versus Sora relying on Light). But if anything, Sora has access to Keyblade forms and probably is still able to Dual Wield (I mean, if Roxas still can then I'm sure Dual Form is canon too?). I still think they would end up in a draw had they ever need to fight against each other on full force, though.
also his greatest feat in cutscenes was slicing buildings and even riku did that in the xemnas fight but that is nothing compared to birth by sleep, look at the keyblade graveyard battle with TVA vs master xehanort and vanitas, that fight is the true strength of a true keyblade masters, Xehanort creating mountains with one hand, causing a catastrophe with just wiggling his fingers lol, and then summons kingdom hearts like it’s normal to him, Xemnas and Ansem got nothing on xehanort, I don’t except many to agree with me but that’s all I’m gonna say.
Ok, this one will need me to tackle each item separately. lol
Xemnas and Ansem got nothing on xehanort, I don’t except many to agree with me but that’s all I’m gonna say.
Completely wrong? Xehanort summoned Keyblade tornados and raised montains. which makes him a really capable magic user, definitely. But his other selves have done much more than that.
His Heartless took control of the End of the World, a conglomerate of Darkness and chaos and then later fused with it. He easily unleashed the Darkness in Maleficent's heart, could travel back in time, turn into a giant airship-monster-thingy and essentially alter the very fabric of the universe through the power of Darkness.
His Nobody warped an ENTIRE world (that was much, MUCH bigger in scope than the Keyblade Graveyard fight), summoned and took control of a giant Dragon-Nobody and then fused with it, had access to an Armor that was similar to his original self's Keyblade armor (if not the very same), could alter the very fabric of reality through his dominion of the element of Nothingness, the final fight between SoRiku versus Zebra Xemnas happening in what looks like a pocket dimension, if anything. His powers twisted the world so much that his defeat caused the very world to warp out making the duo land in the Realm of Darkness, pretty much hinting that he was the one keeping The World That Never Was together in the first place.
Just by raw feats, both of them did more than their Somebody, which was still an extremely capable man but still lost to Lingering Will fresh after switching to a fresh, young body. Even if we assume he was weaker by not being adapted to the body yet, his old form still lost to the Guardians of Light, but I'd rather not comment on that fight properly because we can't really be sure of how exactly it went? The Sora bit seems to be a battle inside Xehanort's mind (or at least a recreation of Scaia based on his heart), while the actual-fight seems to be the SoKai one against overpowered Goat-Armor Xehanort holding the Chi Blade, where he would still lose although his end only really came through the unified force of all 8 Guardians of Light.
also his greatest feat in cutscenes was slicing buildings and even riku did that in the xemnas fight
He also canonically had access to all of his KH2 forms and definitelly all of the Keyblade Transformations from 3, can summon other beings to help him (reminder that summonings are canon since Mushu and Simba both remember their time with Sora, and since Yen Sid is the one who gives us our first Heartbinder we can assume the Dimensional Links are all canon to some extent too, meaning he has access to Spirit Dream Eaters if anything), fought in the Battle of 1000 Heartless, took down both SoD and Xemnas (whose powerlevels I described above), can Dual Wield (if Roxas still can then Sora should be able to do it too), use Keyblade Attractions, has elemental affinity with Light but can still use all elemental spells up to their -Erza level, has extremely powerful Light Magic like Ars Arcanum and Ragnarok, can use Flowmotion.
His Heart is also so strong that his connection to others let him return to his Human form without having to defeat his Nobody first, and we know how strenght of heart is important in Kingdom Hearts.
I don't think Sora is necessarily the strongest character (Xehanort is more experienced, Aqua is more capable and a better magic user, Terra has a stronger body and better swordmanship,), but he is the one with the biggest room to grow and evolve. His feats will keep accumulating as thats his nature as the main character. His biggest strenght is definitely his ability to keep growing and evolving essentially holding infinite potential, all the while still being 15~16 (do we count the timeskip from limit cut when he was essentially dead? It doesnt seem to work for the BBS trio, anyways).
But Kingdom Hearts doesn't follow power rules which is also why it never tries to set up power levels in the first place.
Ansem SoD was almost a galaxy-level threat who almost ended Sora and Riku but he was still caught off-guard by a regular teenager and a bunch of Dusks. Xemnas had power over Nothingness and took down Kairi in one scene only to be pushed out by her later in a DLC. Axel was one of the strongest fighters in the Organization and used as an assassin with his Chakrams and them suddenly turned into a big baby in 3 only to regain the use of his Chakrams as a Keyblade Form in the DLC, berserk Xion using Sora's "stolen" power could warp her own form and reshape reality to some extent in her final form but was still taken down by regular-1-keyblade Roxas who would later lose when super powered up to Riku.
Aeleus and Dylan have the personality of a door with a really nice doorframe and yet we are supposed to believe their hearts were strong enough to generate human-looking Nobodies.
Kingdom Hearts doesnt care about power scaling, so neither will I.
Spoiler
so feel free to correct me❤It might help me learn more about the franchise.