What characters do you think are overrated/underrated in the series?

[PrettyGuard]

I guess he's building up to it? That survey was conducted in 2017 and of the two games released since then, only one features Riku somewhat prominently, and even then his performance left a lot to be desired lol

Agree!

 

[Zetta slow]

Overrated:
Larxene. Yeah, she’s a sassy bitch, moving on.
Axel. He’s my favourite character, but I feel like he’s just kinda there now.

Underrated:
Terra
Naminé
Ienzo/Zexion (dude was more helpful than actual main characters who had more screen time.)
The Twilight Town gang.

 

[RonaldPoe]

If I had to pick a most underrated KH boss fight, it'd be Lexasus in KH2. I always found Marluxia to be a cool character but annoying as hell to fight (in all appearances). Lexasus might not be difficult but he's easily the most fun of the data battles. The fight is like something out of DBZ (he reminds me a bit of Broly). The character himself had a lot of potential too (he was partners with Xaldin/Dilan and friends with Zexion).

See the fight for yourself.

I also find Ienzo/Zexion, Vexen, Tifa (KH version only) and to a lesser extent, Terra (even though he's partially a main character) underrated as well.

 

[Ginalea00]

Underrated
The Genie - all it takes is one wish and you could have the X-Blade just like that.

 

[Bmoney27]

Underrated
The Genie - all it takes is one wish and you could have the X-Blade just like that.

Never thought of that!

 

[Ginalea00]

They also could have done more with the Genie’s wishes. Instead of wishing to free The Genie, Aladdin should have passed the lamp to Sora and had Sora wish for Jasmine to return, then wish for Kairi to return, then pass it to Donald and do the same things, and then finally release the Genie at the end. They should have done that in the film too.

 

[disney233]

Underrated
The Genie - all it takes is one wish and you could have the X-Blade just like that.

Ayo, I'm bringing this up with Merlin, too. This game really just wants to assert Yen Sid as this prominent Wizard figure in the KH series, but with all the feats Yen Sid done in his movie AND the game, when compared to Merlin, I LEGIT WANT TO BELIEVE THAT MERLIN IS FAR MORE POWERFUL THAN HIM. Merlin can see the future and even BEEN in it, he can transform anyone and himself into any kind of animal, he can make furniture and probably anything else reanimate, the mans can casually just summon a door to the past, THE MANS CAN JUST CASUALLY SUMMON A FUCKING POCKET DIMENSION FOR KAIRI AND LEA, The only thing that stopped him from turning the XBlade into Butterflies was how they reduced him to a creepy old man peddling an old book to the first onlooker he sees.

I'ma say this again, Nomura really slept on the Disney characters in place of his precious little ocs, and as a result they've become less and less relevant with each installment. IS THIS A DISNEY GAME? CAUSE AT THIS POINT I WONDER.

 

[KudoTsurugi]

Ayo, I'm bringing this up with Merlin, too. This game really just wants to assert Yen Sid as this prominent Wizard figure in the KH series, but with all the feats Yen Sid done in his movie AND the game, when compared to Merlin, I LEGIT WANT TO BELIEVE THAT MERLIN IS FAR MORE POWERFUL THAN HIM. Merlin can see the future and even BEEN in it, he can transform anyone and himself into any kind of animal, he can make furniture and probably anything else reanimate, the mans can casually just summon a door to the past, THE MANS CAN JUST CASUALLY SUMMON A FUCKING POCKET DIMENSION FOR KAIRI AND LEA, The only thing that stopped him from turning the XBlade into Butterflies was how they reduced him to a creepy old man peddling an old book to the first onlooker he sees.

I'ma say this again, Nomura really slept on the Disney characters in place of his precious little ocs, and as a result they've become less and less relevant with each installment. IS THIS A DISNEY GAME? CAUSE AT THIS POINT I WONDER.

I don’t know about saying he slept on all the characters, but I definitely agree on Merlin. This is a wizard who could time travel in his own movie, surely he could’ve taught Sora another way to do it(granted with its own limits).

 

[disney233]

I don’t know about saying he slept on all the characters, but I definitely agree on Merlin. This is a wizard who could time travel in his own movie, surely he could’ve taught Sora another way to do it(granted with its own limits).

Ok, not all the characters. AT LEAST...the mythical Disney characters. The Wizards, the fairies, and so on. Like...we've got some powerful characters that HAVE been present in the game, but nothing was done with them. A reminder that the Blue Fairy exists, a character that can GIVE. FUCKING. LIFE. TO A PUPPET, AND MAKE SAID PUPPET INTO A LIVING, BREATHING, PERSON. Along with Finklestein...who could ALSO GIVE LIFE TO A PUPPET. A HEART, AND EVERYTHING. Two character that could EASILY tie in well with Xion's story & the Replica Program.

AND THEN THERE'S HIM!


I get it. I get that we can't fit EVERY Disney character into the story. The game is too crowded with ocs to give the Disney characters any screentime....But C'MON, We can't ignore the fact that this game has THESE kinds of people and not do ANYTHING with them...like...bruh. So much wasted potential.

 

[Willow A113]

Well, the Blue Fairy was only able to bring Pinocchio to life because Geppetto loved him. It’s similar to how it works in the Toy Box world.

 

[kirabook]

I think the idea of overrated and underrated is a bit too vague for me, even after reading all these posts.
But if I had a character I think Nomura is overusing in situations better suited for other characters, I think it's Sora and Riku.

Of course, I like both characters, but Nomura has this terrible habit of pushing them into scenarios where I feel other characters are better suited?

The best example is the end of MoM. It's a perfect example of just how overused they are. Kairi, an underused character gets outdone yet again by these two for no reason other than... I mean, I don't even know the reason. It still makes no sense to me.

I believe Namine is also a great example of an underused character. I admit, I feel like when it comes to Namine, Roxas, Xion, and others like them, Nomura wrote himself into a corner. The "no one ever dies" corner. It's a great plot thread to think "Hey, they were their own people with their own hearts!", but now what do you do with a character like Namine, you know? Even in situations that seemed to fit her perfectly (Namine looking for connections between Kairi's memories and Sora to find him??), she wasn't used sooooo

There are other characters floating around in my head right now, but I guess I'll just say Nomura is very uneven with the attention he gives to each trio, and if you aren't in a trio, you're screwed. I think pretty much all the KH characters have something interesting, cool, and fun about them that rarely gets utilized these days.

 

[Noivern]

The most overrated character in the series IMO is Axel. His role and personality changed dramatically from his first introduction and he was pushed to guardian-status purely because of popularity, but in the process he doesn't really have anything that we can call his anymore. From the mysterious assassin with his own secrets in CoM to Angsty Boy's friend in 2, questionably shitty friend in Days to Isa's friend in BBS to.. whatever he was in 3, I guess?, Axel has always been just a convenient keychain attached to someone else and his personality never really evolved beyond personifying cool 90's boy.
They also drastically nerfed his strenght which is quite funny in turn considering Keyblade Lea looks and acts weaker than CoM Axel.

Underrated is Terra, probably? He's got the shittiest out of all of the main characters, was created essentially to justify how Xehanort looked the way he did (and then they reconned YX looking just like Kid Ansem so really, was there a point?), spent the ENTIRE franchise as a JoJo Stand (without we even knowing that), then comes back in 3 with shitty writing taking the spotlight from Aqua.

I really grew to love him and he's one of my favorite characters nowadays, but there isn't much character there, unfortunately, which gets specially sad considering how strong Lingering Will's presence was back before we got BBS.

 

[Zackarix]

Overrated: All the characters I hate because not everyone dislikes them.
Underrated: All the characters I love because not everyone likes them.
(Questions like this need to come with a rule that you can't just list your favorite and despised characters unless you have well thought out reasons for why you think the character has been rated wrong.)

I'd say that Aqua is overrated. She's not a bad character or anything, but she's not a great character either. In BbS her arc is not as strong as Terra's or Ven's and it feels like she mostly exists to round out the trio. They have villains focused on them in Xehanort and Vanitas, while Aqua was mostly tasked with cleaning up the messes of the boys. 0.2 addressed these problems to a degree by developing her character more, then KH3 squandered it all.

But how did a "just okay" character end up as by far the most popular female character in the franchise? It's because she has no real competition. She's not fanficcy like Xion, she's not an eternal damsel-in-distress like Kairi, and she hasn't been demoted to extra like Namine. In a series where the female characters were just a numerous and developed as the male characters Aqua would be considered middling at best, but instead she's like water in a desert - you're not going to complain that it tastes a bit stale if it's the best option you have.

Think back to the infamous "Riku didn't rank high enough, he needs more opportunities to shine" popularity poll. Riku did not rank poorly, he was just up against tough competition and ended up not getting as many votes as the main lead and breakout characters. Meanwhile the girls popularity poll is over half occupied by minor characters and cameos. The boys poll doesn't even have a Disney or FF character until the four-way tie for tenth place!

 

[Noivern]

I'd say that Aqua is overrated. She's not a bad character or anything, but she's not a great character either. In BbS her arc is not as strong as Terra's or Ven's and it feels like she mostly exists to round out the trio. They have villains focused on them in Xehanort and Vanitas, while Aqua was mostly tasked with cleaning up the messes of the boys. 0.2 addressed these problems to a degree by developing her character more, then KH3 squandered it all.

I can see your other points (even If I don't really agree with them, but that's a personal opnion), but I think this one doesn't really hold true. While Vanitas was not directly connected to Aqua unlike Ven, he was all up in her business throughout the entire route and was a much more direct opposition, while with Ven he was more so hinted throughout the game before the final show off. It really stood off particularly during their Neverland interactions, and he also served as the final boss for her route, not counting the extra ones.

Like, sure, Terra got clowned by Xehanort and Vanitas is Anti-Ven, but I personally remember him in her route much more compared to Ven's. lol

 

[kirabook]

In my opinion, it doesn't necessarily matter to me if each character has their own personalized person to oppose them. I think BbS, 0.2, and KH3 wrote Aqua's main "villain" to be herself. Is it the best writing and execution ever? No, but I honestly really like it.

Riku and Terra have similar stories, but they literally have someone causing it (Xehanort/AnsemSoD). Aqua has/had the same struggle with self doubt from the getgo, but it was never someone else causing her to feel that way. It was her own feelings of inadequacy.

Some examples:
- Aqua refusing to call herself a master for pretty much the entire game until the very end fighting against Terranort
- Aqua "correcting" people that she was NOT a hero in any way shape or form
- Survivors guilt for not being able to save Terra and Ven from their suffering
- Believing herself unworthy of being rescued or cared about at all

If it were Terra or Riku, it'd be Xehanort and AnsemSoD whispering this stuff in their ear. Making them question themselves. Terra/Riku would be questioning if their foes have returned to haunt them or if they were truly gone. Or if they've been "tainted" by them forever. In Aqua's case, it's literally all just her inner thoughts and feelings. She has no one to blame for the darkness in her heart but herself.

Writing a character like this isn't easy for sure, but I like the "you're your own worst enemy" kind of thing, especially if it's literal. I hope Anti-Aqua returns to haunt Aqua in the future as I enjoy seeing my favs struggle and eventually overcome their obstacles. Even self inflicted ones.

 

[Noivern]

If it were Terra or Riku, it'd be Xehanort and AnsemSoD whispering this stuff in their ear. Making their question themselves. Terra/Riku would be questioning if their foes have returned to haunt them or if they were truly gone. Or if they've been "tainted" by them forever. In Aqua's case, it's literally all just her inner thoughts and feelings. She has no one to blame for the darkness in her heart but herself.

You know, I really disliked Aqua falling into the Realm of Darkness and the whole anti-aqua stuff as it felt really shitty considering how she got through everything else, but your post really made me stop and rethink how her arc went. I still think the overall conclusion was garbage, but I now see her arc differently and can appreciate it a lot more, so thank you.

 

[kirabook]

You know, I really disliked Aqua falling into the Realm of Darkness and the whole anti-aqua stuff as it felt really shitty considering how she got through everything else, but your post really made me stop and rethink how her arc went. I still think the overall conclusion was garbage, but I now see her arc differently and can appreciate it a lot more, so thank you.

I'm thinking Aqua's arc overall may not be finished if Re:Mind/that Keyblade Graveyard incident is anything to go by. I was expecting a whole lot more from KH3 and didn't get it. Especially after that trailer. How quickly it all wrapped up felt a little too quick in the original release.

 

[Zackarix]

The fact that I got two very different counterarguments to the complaint of Aqua not having her own nemesis sort of supports my point. On a conceptual level Aqua has less effort put into her. Terra is the young man that became Xehanort's vessel. Ventus is the boy who had his heart ripped into two and his other half is the source of the Unversed. What is Aqua? The good student and responsible one? I've seen some people argue that that's the point, Xehanort not properly accounting is why his plans ended up failing, but that doesn't excuse the neglect from a meta perspective.

I'll agree Aqua was her own worst enemy in 0.2, but extending that arc into BbS just strikes me as revisionist. Anti-Aqua is so mishandled that it's almost comical. I was actually really excited when I saw her in the trailer. There were going to be real consequences to all of the traumas Aqua had been through! Then KH3 came out and it turned out that Anti-Aqua happened because Ansem shot her full of darkness and she gets fixed via boss fight. You can argue that he merely brought all the dark parts of her heart to the surface, but the fact that it took an outside force to do so suggests that she had it under control. Maybe this part of her arc isn't over, but I'll only give credit if they actually follow through with it.

I also think that 0.2 wouldn't have existed at all if Aqua hadn't been so popular. Which actually demonstrates that a character being overrated isn't necessarily a bad thing. In this case it possibly lead to Aqua getting some much-needed character development.

 

[Launchpad]

Donald and Goofy continue to be massively underrated and disregarded by fans. So many people want them to be replaced by Riku and Kairi.

 

[kirabook]

But most of my points were related to her character in BbS. She didn't call herself master until Terranort. She constantly referred to herself as someone still in training and not a hero even though she literally passed the test and is a master. In her final moments in BbS, she's pretty much ready to end it all and fade into darkness. 0.2 just expanded on those points. All of Anti-Aqua's quotes in 0.2 are basically from BbS.

Like I said, it's not the best writing in the history of man, but there's no revisionism here. Aqua's worst enemy is herself, followed by Vanitas and Xehanort because they were trying to hurt her friends. They aren't her personalized villains and it's clear they were never meant to be. Xehanort never makes an effort to do anything about Aqua cause he doesn't care about Aqua other than to use her to push Terra and Ven further away. Vanitas only cares about Aqua as a backup if Ven doesn't work out. That's what the story is. You consider that less effort. I consider that the whole objective, SHE is her own worst enemy, not an outsider. 0.2 strengthens what was already there. I mean, I NEVER guess anything right (ok I did guess Ven was a Dandelion) but I've been headcanoning Aqua developing an anti mirror version of herself filled with all her self doubt since 2011 just because of BbS.

0.2 would have existed whether Aqua was popular or not because Birth by Sleep v2 existed before it got canned or whatever. But I guess you're right, we never would have seen some parts of the story of the canned BbSv2 had Aqua not gained some popularity. The whole story segment would've been gone forever and never seen the light of day like Kairi's side of the story.

Do I think it could've been better? Why, of course. The biggest example of this would've been the mirror fight in BbS. Instead of just copying Terra's boss with no context or effort, they could've started showing earlier signs of her ever growing self inflicted darkness. I doubt at this point Nomura literally conceptualized evil mirror Aqua but if only his creative process thought that far ahead.

Or, my #1 suggestion to fix BbS as always, erasing the idea that all three characters have to have a plot/story in all worlds. Make like 1 world story exclusive to one character, a few exclusive to 2 characters, and the last few allowing for all three. In my opinion, the BbS characters didn't get enough time to themselves or together. A problem still present today.

Before I ramble any further about BbS fixes, to summarize again, no revisionism is going on here. Aqua does not have a personal AnsemSoD whispering about darkness in her ear and she was never meant to, clearly. I think it gets boring that every single good character needs a bad guy to help them dabble in the darkside. Maybe a good character accidently dabbles in darkness all by themselves and there's no magic solution of "Kill bad guy" or "Get unpossessed with pure light" to resolve it. Why does Aqua need one to be relevant? So far whether you agree with the method or not, she hasn't needed a personal bad guy to get into personal trouble or have internal conflict.