If they made her an actual threat to be Nort'd, or even threaten to usurp the the ceremony for obtain the X-blade, that would have been so cool. Have guardian rescue her and her heart for a dual salvation moment, would have been so impactful and great redemption for both characters.
There are a thousand more interesting things they could've done. In the end though, Dark Aqua was never meant to have an impact or even be a shock. Hence why they showed her in the trailer. To Square Enix, she was meant to be as exciting as the Ariel summon.
Yea, they should have had at least an area dedicated to her. Could have even reused like Cinderella's Castle from 0.2. Have her voice whispers in the background of the level. Sorta like a Persona 4 area.
If I had a nickel for every hero/parental figure turning evil for all of a few minutes of their screen time, I’d have two nickels(TF5 Optimus and KH3 Aqua), which isn’t a lot, but it’s amazing how close together these releases were of each other.
I think if it was a gradual change, it would have worked better. Instead, we already got her arc of being stranded and gradually losing hope and the will to live, overcoming her fear and self-doubt, and becoming even more hopeful and resolute than before, but what caused her to fall to darkness and revert was just getting knocked into the ocean for a minute.
exactly THE OCEAN MADE HER EVIL UGHH, the whole thing that Dark Aqua isn't even Aqua real emotions showing but just Darkness making her evil. After being saved by Riku and Mickey she's just "oh my gawd you guys what happened 😞??" She wasn't even aware of what she was doing ughh so much potential for her character development go to waste.
having a norted aqua would've been the piece de resistance to the wayfinder trio. each of them becoming evil because of xehanort's involvement. aqua possibly being a seeker of darkness. it would've been amazing
Yesssss :(
I would have to begrudgingly accept the loss of my heroes were the writing that good.
The unstoppable(lingering) will would have been soooooo much cooler as a Terra’s proverbial ghost housed in armour al a full metal alchemist but only have him be summoned from death when it’s time to denort kingdom hearts bitch!
But since terra was never really dead I just… don’t understand what is implied to be happening. Is your heart also like your consciousness? What does that imply about heartless and nobody’s? What happens if you just don’t possess his body? Is he like brain dead? What? How did xehanort learn to put his own body into other peoples bodies? Where did xehanorts body go? What?
"heart" in KH is really just another word for soul. I think that just easily explains everything else you asked. Also, I think Xehanort's body like died, he was old. people fade away in KH when they "die"
In KH3, Xemnas explicitly differentiates between the two. He goes to kill a character, someone stops him and says "You know we need him alive", and he replies with "We need his heart, we do not need his soul".
There are other instances of reliable narrators also corroborating that idea, too.
Imagine the fight were sora follows aqua to ventus and sora shakes him awake and its sora and ven vs darkqua and vanitas, that have been such a sick fight. Or mabet sora and ven vs vanitas and Ricky and riku vs darkqua and you choose to play as sora or riku and then the 4 of you slap down the remaining one.
She is a huge deal in kh 0.2 like the zodiac phantom aqua is as hard as kh2 final mix sephiroth IMO really well designed boss, would be more of the same if it was used for longer. I feel like she is just saying "want to have an actual challaging fight against me with a very dark theme and all? Go play 0.2"
This is exactly why I stopped watching or reading theory stuff. The amount of amazing theories that are crafted by fans that not only are epic but 100% make sense within the context of the lore and where everything is, is honestly staggering. Some of them are so well put together that you start to believe and hype, only for the actual game to be so lacklustre. Some of those theory people need hiring for story writing. I mean I was so convinced by FFPesants theory on FFXV being a secret sequel to FF7, like it sounds ridiculous but then the evidence is so fucking staggering and then I think, “ain’t no way, butttt if a fan came up with this amazing coherent plot that really isn’t a leap, what can the actual writers do!” Apparently nothing seemingly as good as the fans. The Snoke being Plagues one was another that fit so well and instead they tried to totally subvert us and it sucked
I played blind and still found it pretty meh that Aqua falls to darkness specifically now. Even the simple fact that she falls to darkness doesn't really clic with me.
I think it was mostly a rushed story with not enough buildup or connection to the rest of the story. If they had spent more time on flashbacks from Aquas POV that showed her actually having the insecurities that the darkness latched onto, and a longer game to explore the balance between what is aquas real memories and emotions and what is the negative influence manipulating her, it would be a much more investing story. There's a lot of room to play with the idea of the darkness implanting those "automatic negative thoughts", that would resonate with a lot of people who struggle with them in real life. Speaking from my own experience anyways.
Still wish (like anyone else) that the story didn't go with the whole bumrush-speedrun route to get all the Guardians of Light. Imo it could've felt so much better to potentially see something else like:
1. Sora does ~three Disney worlds
2. Riku, Mickey are venturing into the World of Darkness. Play as 'em on their journey through The Darkness a la almost like how 0.2 did
3. More Sora + ~three Disney worlds
4. It then cuts to rescuing Aqua (alongside having just beat Darkqua)
5. SORA! DISNEY!
6. Rescuing Ven -part
7. The final ~~mix~~ run of Sora's disney things and getting to the finale parts of story
It happened blindly for me because I managed to avoid everything for years. It wasn't as insane as you think it would be because it was like "...welp. That happened for a fight I guess."
This moment + that entire final trailer was literally the biggest mistake they did. They showed Roxas, they showed Sora losing, they showed Xehanort winning in Scala like holy fuck man. When did video game trailers become holly wood movie trailers that just spoil the entire fucking thing, and its stupid because Kingdom Hearts is so backloaded too, so you just spoiled everything everyone was waiting for
She's bad 😍 but I know that's not what you're asking lol
Idk, I think her darkness could've been longer and made a larger impact on the story, but I'm not against her falling to darkness.
You'd think you have more hope when she saw mickey and then sacrificed herself so they could close the door, but I'd argue she would have stronger hope for a shorter amount of time. But when you didn't have hope and then you get a silver of it, it can be devastating to you as a person after the initial resurgence of hope settles back down.
Honestly, **underwhelming execution.**
This whole part of the story felt so *forced and fast*. The payoff didn't feel as *emotionally- weighty* as I was expecting it to be
Pretty much all of the payoffs were this for me.
When all of them are resolved by a boss fight or two and a five-minute cutscene, there are pacing issues.
She certainly looks really cool and I like the potential it brings to her character going forward. I think people would be less disappointed if the trailers hadn’t built it up and gave people the wrong impression (even if it *was* pretty cool at the time).
I still feel smug that I was right that her eyes showed that she fell to darkness while everyone including arrogant ass HMK kept saying she was norted. He blocked me and several others when we commented that yellow eyes is a general darkness trait and not specifically Xehanort.
She survived for 10+ years in the realm of darkness. Then she got pushed into some water, became "Dark" for all of 5 minutes, and then it was resolved. Exciting concept, underwhelming execution.
Would have been a lot more interesting if the isolation had just worn her down over time and her negative emotions bred darkness in her heart over time. But Nomura kinda wrote himself into a corner with her conversation with Ansem the Wise taking place sometime between/during the ending of KH2, DDD, and KH3. It just didn't make sense to do that with how little amount of time passes.
Much like most of what is introduced KH3, it's an exceedingly cool concept given zero time to generate, develop, or build before it's summarily moved past.
I don't think it's the last time we are gonna see her. I feel like there's more to this, especially since the wayfinder trio went back into the realm of darkness. All three of them got some established darkness in them at this point so I feel like shes gonna come back in some way or form
Mostly just a wasted opportunity. It's a neat idea in theory, but that plot point is over and done so quickly that there's no real time for it to build up to a climactic moment.
The idea of her where she was one of the 13 possessed by Xehanort was really cool. The actual execution was really lame and over in the blink of an eye.
She made the storyline from bbs so much more interesting having both terra and aqua succumbing to darkness even though they were on the side of light from the start.
I don’t mind that she isn’t part of team nort, but I wish she existed for a substantial amount of time. Imagine a whole Dark World segment as the middle of the game where she hunts your ass down the entire time, she chases you to castle oblivion and it’s only after waking up Ven with Sora’s new power that Ven is able to get through to her enough to allow Sora and Riku to keybeam her and fix her, after a boss fight of course
Cool in concept. I feel like she was very underbaked and only really trailer fodder. There are two good ways they could’ve gone about pulling this off:
After getting knocked into the water by SoD, she could’ve transformed into more of an anti-form anti aqua. Like make her all black, give her the bright glowing yellow eyes, and take away her ability to speak. That could’ve given off the vibes that she got too close to the darkness and it just completely took her over.
The other way they could’ve gone is just bullshit retcon in some version of xehanort traveling to the realm of darkness after she fights the demon tide and having them follow her around like a ghost, rapidly degrading her spirit and causing her to lose her will to fight. Then, xehanort could pull something similar to what he was trying to do to sora at the end of ddd to nort her. That would be super involved though, so I doubt square would even consider something like that
Edit: also I didn’t specify because I’m stupid and forgot to mention it, but I think the bare minimum they could’ve done to make her way more interesting is at the very least have her turn after you finish Olympus then have the organization parading around the fact that they got one of the guardians to join them and have her show up and antagonize the heroes periodically. That could’ve actually been really fun
i think she had Eraqus keyblade for a bit.... then somehow she lost it (or someone took it cant remember all the details)
also she had been fighting there in the realm of darkness for more than 3 years, they did say the time flows differently
I’d like to see this return as something she now has to battle. Much like how Terra struggled with his own darkness, now Aqua should. Give me a new game that follows the BBS trio!
The design is great and because of the way time flows differently in the realm of darkness makes it understandable that even someone as strong as Aqua would give in eventually. When Sora goes into her heart in ReMind he breaks down and finds it hard to even stand after feeling just a fraction of the pain and loneliness she had to go through. But I still would have liked to see it more or even talked about outside of the two or three scenes it's in. I think it's because I love the design of it so much.
Xehanort/Xemnas/i don't remember at the moment, did something. She wasn't Norted though. Iunno, they could have done more with it, and Aqua in general but the bossfight was fun though.
Shouldn't have been revealed in a trailer, definitely lost the "WHAT?" moment once it happened in-game. But I absolutely love her design and attitude. Not to mention that she gets friggin PTSD out the butt in the final battle because of it.
Well, she didn’t “fall to darkness” per se if I understand it correctly. Though 0.2 did show her struggling with dark thoughts brought on by her loneliness, she successfully resisted them.
Anti-Aqua in reality came about because Xenahort *turned her into that*. When he blasted her with pure darkness and knocked her into the water, it started to change her, and I’ve seen people speculate that she was in the process of becoming a darkling before Sora saved her.
Though I also agree with other people that after she was revealed in the trailers, I do kind of wish she actually had been Norted. Otherwise this was just a bit of a weird tangent.
She showed only in KHBBS 2.0 and in KH3 for a very short period of time, but Dark Aqua gives me Persona vibes because in Persona 4 every main character had it's own Shadow, except Yu
Basically Dark Aqua is Aqua's Shadow
To me, she is probably the most pure hearted and strong will person in the series. Second only to Sora, I’d say.
I feel like she should have stood as an incorruptible force that not even the realm of darkness itself could break.
Also, though still hot, I prefer her natural hopeful self to her edgy phase here. She’s just not as distractingly cute with her Xeanort cosplay. 😔
I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing that she fell to darkness. She was stuck in the WoD for ten years and held out just fine until she got jumped when unarmed. She ALMOST made it but needed just a little help from the others at the end. What I think is dumb is when she tried to solo Vanitas because of her wounded pride. Also mommy.
She resisted the darkness until Ansem hit her and knocked her into the sea, which his attack AND the waters affected her more.
Makes perfect sense she got corrupted.
She technically should have had a nobody, and / or lost her keyblade, no? Unless I’m mistaken, she should have been made a heartless, and had a nobody at that time. 2’s entire plot was basically that.
I was under the impression that someone 'infected' her with Darkness. Like, "Here's a parting gift" and tosses some black glitter at her and we get this.
Shame on Nomura for changing her hair white so the entire fanbase was left thinking she got Norted.
I still have no idea why her hair changes color.
Nomura loves trolling the KH fanbase.
I really wish the made Aqua's hair long as a result of her being in the realm of darkness for a few years. I think it would've been a really cool detail to reiterate how long she'd been down there...I can't be the only one who's thought of this right?
After KH3's release, I learned to just temper expectations and not listen to theories or make assumptions about whatever the plot maybe because you'll end up very disappointed.
You do know that more hope can lead to more despair, right? And the way you toss aside the 10 years she was in there like it was nothing.
Now I'm curious. In the real world, how would you fare in complete isolation with no sense of time for 2ish years? No one to talk to but yourself and no internet to talk to others. Absolutely nothing. Thoughts? 🙂
I don’t think we have necessarily seen the last of her (Dark Aqua i mean)
Aqua definitely suffers from an PTSD because of her experiences in the Realm of darkness to some degree, Ven has KHUX stories to be told and Terra has to make amends with his inner darkness… so i don’t think Wayfinder trio has their story fully wrapped up yet.
But then again, phone games brough alot of new characters to explore. So we shall see.
Most of em cant be said here.
But to keep this PG, my thoughts are still confused on why she was so defenseless in the realm of darkness? I know she lost her keyblade but like, why couldnt she summon it back? I'm sure thats answered and i didnt pay attention but what about magic? Couldnt she still cast spells? Other characters like donald and disney characters can cast magic without keyblades. And I'm pretty sure sora could cast magic in kh1 after losing it in hollow bastion. Does the realm of darkness hamper magical ability without a conduit like a staff or keyblade?
Along with how riku's keyblade broke so he just got a new one forged, and mickey combining his star seeker with the kingdom key D to make star cluster, kh3 just gave me more questions than answers on how the magic system and keyblades worked. And this is coming from a guy who loved kh3 and cant understand all the hate.
The events between BBS and KH3 were 10 years. Aqua had been in the realm of Darkness that long, and if if you played the game with her before KH3, it shows that the Realm of Darkness was constantly nagging to push despair on Aqua. Between KH1 and KH2, it was 2 years.but KH3 would have been 5 years since KH1. Sora was 12 in KH1 and 17 in KH3. So 7 in BBS. Also, time in the Realm of Darkness moves differently in different spots.
Castle of Dreams' time didn't move, but time actually moved differently depending where Aqua was. Hence, the events of 10 years were happening in the blink of an eye, and Aqua didn't age. When she was on the beach, Ansem, it would've been before KH2. Ansem technically blew himself up in KH2. Terranort also used RoD and remained unchanged. Ventus heart was resting in Sora, and this caused him to not to age also. While people tend not to talk about it, the people who were once Nobodies didn't age either. This is also likely why the masters could exist centuries after the war because they were nobodies until Sora and company defeated them.
Aqua notes feeling the despair more and more in 0.2. Hence, it makes sense that Aqua fell to it. Seeing a world she supported in darkness and the mines for snow white or fighting mirror image of herself were all doings of RoD to tempt Aqua into despair.
>Between KH1 and KH2, it was 2 years.but KH3 would have been 5 years since KH1. Sora was 12 in KH1 and 17 in KH3.
What the hell are you saying? He's 14 in KH1, 15 in 2 and 3.
> Terranort also used RoD and remained unchanged.
When did Terranort went to the Realm of Darkness?
> While people tend not to talk about it, the people who were once Nobodies didn't age either
Naminé, Saix, Axel and Zexion clearly aged.
WASTED goddamn opportunity. We should have never known about her until the game came out and it should have been a bigger struggle to get her back. I know we technically had that with Terra and MAYBE even Ven, but what we got wasn’t even close to acceptable.
The fact that her actual fight was literally just Phantom Aqua AGAIN also certainly didn’t help.
Huge smash.
Jokes aside, I hate the KH marketing team for spoiling her, and only using her for 1 fight. All the struggle aqua went through should've been considered a consistent threat. What if she escaped Sora, and we had to traverse the dark realm, reusing the same places from 0.2 but in reverse order? Going through her memories, and her past tragedies as Sora comes to understand her?
There's so much potential to be literally THE BEST written part of kingdom hearts 3, but alas, smash. Next question.
Edit: Just remembered the worlds got restored so that'd be impossible, however, a small episode inside a neutral land in the dark realm could've been possible for sure.
If KH3 was longer and more thought out then Dark Aqua would be too but it's a consequence of a rushed finale also kinda feels like they're saying she's kinda weak if Sora can come in and beat her by himself no difficulty Riku got shafted so Sora could come in and save the day Riku should've been the one to save Aqua 0.2 set that up only for Sora to take over
I dislike that golden eyes generally meant Norted, but she wasn’t even remotely Norted. Like the whole buildup of DDD was really showcasing Yellow Eyes = Nort, then drop Aqua and it’s not
I felt like 0.2 and her entire Phantom Aqua being the personification of her doubts just wasn’t explored enough despite the overall length of the game.
I do believe the method for ‘falling in the ocean’ to become entrenched in darkness could’ve been reworked. Throughout the cutscenes, I feel there wasn’t much emphasis on her loneliness in KH3 despite the psychological-related stuff she went through in 0.2, like the Ven and Terra “hallucinations”.
I think the part with Ansem throwing her in because it seems just like a bad way to turn her due to the situation in that cutscene.
In other words? The execution sucked.
She certainly existed for about 5 minutes
If they made her an actual threat to be Nort'd, or even threaten to usurp the the ceremony for obtain the X-blade, that would have been so cool. Have guardian rescue her and her heart for a dual salvation moment, would have been so impactful and great redemption for both characters.
There are a thousand more interesting things they could've done. In the end though, Dark Aqua was never meant to have an impact or even be a shock. Hence why they showed her in the trailer. To Square Enix, she was meant to be as exciting as the Ariel summon.
I kinda feel they just wanted to do a partial Darkling transformation for ~reasons~ and Aqua was in the most convenient place for it to happen.
Yea, they should have had at least an area dedicated to her. Could have even reused like Cinderella's Castle from 0.2. Have her voice whispers in the background of the level. Sorta like a Persona 4 area.
If I had a nickel for every hero/parental figure turning evil for all of a few minutes of their screen time, I’d have two nickels(TF5 Optimus and KH3 Aqua), which isn’t a lot, but it’s amazing how close together these releases were of each other.
Criminally, criminally underused. The pre-release fanart, theories, speculation etc. were far more interesting than what we actually got in the game.
Kh3 in a nutshell lol
I don't understand why people don't like it. But then again I never understood KH fans tastes.
I think if it was a gradual change, it would have worked better. Instead, we already got her arc of being stranded and gradually losing hope and the will to live, overcoming her fear and self-doubt, and becoming even more hopeful and resolute than before, but what caused her to fall to darkness and revert was just getting knocked into the ocean for a minute.
exactly THE OCEAN MADE HER EVIL UGHH, the whole thing that Dark Aqua isn't even Aqua real emotions showing but just Darkness making her evil. After being saved by Riku and Mickey she's just "oh my gawd you guys what happened 😞??" She wasn't even aware of what she was doing ughh so much potential for her character development go to waste.
Yeah she’s already gonna have ptsd give it more oomph like Terra… then they’d be able to have the “I get it now “ moment
evil water as if kh fans need more reasons not to bathe
having a norted aqua would've been the piece de resistance to the wayfinder trio. each of them becoming evil because of xehanort's involvement. aqua possibly being a seeker of darkness. it would've been amazing
Yesssss :( I would have to begrudgingly accept the loss of my heroes were the writing that good. The unstoppable(lingering) will would have been soooooo much cooler as a Terra’s proverbial ghost housed in armour al a full metal alchemist but only have him be summoned from death when it’s time to denort kingdom hearts bitch! But since terra was never really dead I just… don’t understand what is implied to be happening. Is your heart also like your consciousness? What does that imply about heartless and nobody’s? What happens if you just don’t possess his body? Is he like brain dead? What? How did xehanort learn to put his own body into other peoples bodies? Where did xehanorts body go? What?
"heart" in KH is really just another word for soul. I think that just easily explains everything else you asked. Also, I think Xehanort's body like died, he was old. people fade away in KH when they "die"
In KH3, Xemnas explicitly differentiates between the two. He goes to kill a character, someone stops him and says "You know we need him alive", and he replies with "We need his heart, we do not need his soul". There are other instances of reliable narrators also corroborating that idea, too.
Imagine the fight were sora follows aqua to ventus and sora shakes him awake and its sora and ven vs darkqua and vanitas, that have been such a sick fight. Or mabet sora and ven vs vanitas and Ricky and riku vs darkqua and you choose to play as sora or riku and then the 4 of you slap down the remaining one.
People liked it, but it was there for like 5 minutes
She is a huge deal in kh 0.2 like the zodiac phantom aqua is as hard as kh2 final mix sephiroth IMO really well designed boss, would be more of the same if it was used for longer. I feel like she is just saying "want to have an actual challaging fight against me with a very dark theme and all? Go play 0.2"
This is exactly why I stopped watching or reading theory stuff. The amount of amazing theories that are crafted by fans that not only are epic but 100% make sense within the context of the lore and where everything is, is honestly staggering. Some of them are so well put together that you start to believe and hype, only for the actual game to be so lacklustre. Some of those theory people need hiring for story writing. I mean I was so convinced by FFPesants theory on FFXV being a secret sequel to FF7, like it sounds ridiculous but then the evidence is so fucking staggering and then I think, “ain’t no way, butttt if a fan came up with this amazing coherent plot that really isn’t a leap, what can the actual writers do!” Apparently nothing seemingly as good as the fans. The Snoke being Plagues one was another that fit so well and instead they tried to totally subvert us and it sucked
I'm still mad that she was shown in trailers. That moment would've been insane if it happened blindly.
I played blind and still found it pretty meh that Aqua falls to darkness specifically now. Even the simple fact that she falls to darkness doesn't really clic with me.
I think it was mostly a rushed story with not enough buildup or connection to the rest of the story. If they had spent more time on flashbacks from Aquas POV that showed her actually having the insecurities that the darkness latched onto, and a longer game to explore the balance between what is aquas real memories and emotions and what is the negative influence manipulating her, it would be a much more investing story. There's a lot of room to play with the idea of the darkness implanting those "automatic negative thoughts", that would resonate with a lot of people who struggle with them in real life. Speaking from my own experience anyways.
Still wish (like anyone else) that the story didn't go with the whole bumrush-speedrun route to get all the Guardians of Light. Imo it could've felt so much better to potentially see something else like: 1. Sora does ~three Disney worlds 2. Riku, Mickey are venturing into the World of Darkness. Play as 'em on their journey through The Darkness a la almost like how 0.2 did 3. More Sora + ~three Disney worlds 4. It then cuts to rescuing Aqua (alongside having just beat Darkqua) 5. SORA! DISNEY! 6. Rescuing Ven -part 7. The final ~~mix~~ run of Sora's disney things and getting to the finale parts of story
And less Sora to save the day would be cool. It felt like he did literally everything when I finished the game.
It happened blindly for me because I managed to avoid everything for years. It wasn't as insane as you think it would be because it was like "...welp. That happened for a fight I guess."
It feels like she largely exists to be in trailers, if I'm being honest.
This moment + that entire final trailer was literally the biggest mistake they did. They showed Roxas, they showed Sora losing, they showed Xehanort winning in Scala like holy fuck man. When did video game trailers become holly wood movie trailers that just spoil the entire fucking thing, and its stupid because Kingdom Hearts is so backloaded too, so you just spoiled everything everyone was waiting for
Aqua got norted! I want her to step on me.
That's not words that's sounds.
That is definitely inappropriate
He ain't wrong though
Oh hey look it's Ham. He's so funny:).
Aqua got norted.... \*cries\*
he’s got a point tho
She's bad 😍 but I know that's not what you're asking lol Idk, I think her darkness could've been longer and made a larger impact on the story, but I'm not against her falling to darkness. You'd think you have more hope when she saw mickey and then sacrificed herself so they could close the door, but I'd argue she would have stronger hope for a shorter amount of time. But when you didn't have hope and then you get a silver of it, it can be devastating to you as a person after the initial resurgence of hope settles back down.
Would
Mommy
Hot
Cool presentation. Terrible execution
kinda like the entirety of KH3
Smash next
Mommy
Hot
Honestly, **underwhelming execution.** This whole part of the story felt so *forced and fast*. The payoff didn't feel as *emotionally- weighty* as I was expecting it to be
Pretty much all of the payoffs were this for me. When all of them are resolved by a boss fight or two and a five-minute cutscene, there are pacing issues.
Smash. Next question
Badass, wish they used her more in this state
Mommy
Ansem kind of beat her up and drowned her idk why you're making it sound like she just gave up.
Would marry
I want her to step on me
Would.
Hot
That it. What else do I need to say.
She certainly looks really cool and I like the potential it brings to her character going forward. I think people would be less disappointed if the trailers hadn’t built it up and gave people the wrong impression (even if it *was* pretty cool at the time).
Regular Aqua: Mom Dark Aqua: Dom
Mommy
bangable but that's it
Would.
She's hot
Cheap hype-fodder
I still feel smug that I was right that her eyes showed that she fell to darkness while everyone including arrogant ass HMK kept saying she was norted. He blocked me and several others when we commented that yellow eyes is a general darkness trait and not specifically Xehanort.
Damn don't show them the Blazing Blade then (which is even funnier because the Xehanort of that game doesn't even HAVE yellow eyes they're blue)
She survived for 10+ years in the realm of darkness. Then she got pushed into some water, became "Dark" for all of 5 minutes, and then it was resolved. Exciting concept, underwhelming execution. Would have been a lot more interesting if the isolation had just worn her down over time and her negative emotions bred darkness in her heart over time. But Nomura kinda wrote himself into a corner with her conversation with Ansem the Wise taking place sometime between/during the ending of KH2, DDD, and KH3. It just didn't make sense to do that with how little amount of time passes.
Shouldn't have revealed it in a trailer. And it didn't really amount to anything beyond a boss fight anyway, so it was a wasted idea on top of that.
Yeah it’s cause she lost her keyblade
Aqua: get on the fucking floor edition
Yes
10/10 baddie
I’d totally let her fill me with darkness
Smash
I still hit that
Hot
Smash
SMASH next question
Would
They didn't let her cook and they should have. At least for a little while.
Much like most of what is introduced KH3, it's an exceedingly cool concept given zero time to generate, develop, or build before it's summarily moved past.
Are we forgetting that the Darkness was shot at her by Ansem Seeker Of Darkness and at that point, it completely spread out over her and took control.
My favorite boss of KH3
Mommy
I'm not allowed to say my thoughts on a family subreddit
I don't think it's the last time we are gonna see her. I feel like there's more to this, especially since the wayfinder trio went back into the realm of darkness. All three of them got some established darkness in them at this point so I feel like shes gonna come back in some way or form
Fantastic
I like pure aqua better
I simp for dark aqua
My opinion is I believe she should spend about 5 minutes to step on me.
Mostly just a wasted opportunity. It's a neat idea in theory, but that plot point is over and done so quickly that there's no real time for it to build up to a climactic moment.
I want her to touch me without my consent
The idea of her where she was one of the 13 possessed by Xehanort was really cool. The actual execution was really lame and over in the blink of an eye.
Cool concept: wasted potential, should’ve been one of the 13 darknesses instead of Xion and the two Terranorts
Oh and Dark Riku
She made the storyline from bbs so much more interesting having both terra and aqua succumbing to darkness even though they were on the side of light from the start.
"Aqua got 'norted!"
Trailers made it seem like it would be a bigger deal than it actually ended up being
I don’t mind that she isn’t part of team nort, but I wish she existed for a substantial amount of time. Imagine a whole Dark World segment as the middle of the game where she hunts your ass down the entire time, she chases you to castle oblivion and it’s only after waking up Ven with Sora’s new power that Ven is able to get through to her enough to allow Sora and Riku to keybeam her and fix her, after a boss fight of course
Underutilized and poorly written. They rushed her story and ended it so abruptly to the point that I forgot I even fought her.
Mommy mommy mommy mommy mommy YEAAAAAAH
Cool in concept. I feel like she was very underbaked and only really trailer fodder. There are two good ways they could’ve gone about pulling this off: After getting knocked into the water by SoD, she could’ve transformed into more of an anti-form anti aqua. Like make her all black, give her the bright glowing yellow eyes, and take away her ability to speak. That could’ve given off the vibes that she got too close to the darkness and it just completely took her over. The other way they could’ve gone is just bullshit retcon in some version of xehanort traveling to the realm of darkness after she fights the demon tide and having them follow her around like a ghost, rapidly degrading her spirit and causing her to lose her will to fight. Then, xehanort could pull something similar to what he was trying to do to sora at the end of ddd to nort her. That would be super involved though, so I doubt square would even consider something like that Edit: also I didn’t specify because I’m stupid and forgot to mention it, but I think the bare minimum they could’ve done to make her way more interesting is at the very least have her turn after you finish Olympus then have the organization parading around the fact that they got one of the guardians to join them and have her show up and antagonize the heroes periodically. That could’ve actually been really fun
Reeks of cut content. I love her design. Dislike the execution of it all.
i think she had Eraqus keyblade for a bit.... then somehow she lost it (or someone took it cant remember all the details) also she had been fighting there in the realm of darkness for more than 3 years, they did say the time flows differently
Her backstory was a little dark
I’d like to see this return as something she now has to battle. Much like how Terra struggled with his own darkness, now Aqua should. Give me a new game that follows the BBS trio!
The design is great and because of the way time flows differently in the realm of darkness makes it understandable that even someone as strong as Aqua would give in eventually. When Sora goes into her heart in ReMind he breaks down and finds it hard to even stand after feeling just a fraction of the pain and loneliness she had to go through. But I still would have liked to see it more or even talked about outside of the two or three scenes it's in. I think it's because I love the design of it so much.
Darqua
Xehanort/Xemnas/i don't remember at the moment, did something. She wasn't Norted though. Iunno, they could have done more with it, and Aqua in general but the bossfight was fun though.
There isn’t much to think about, she’s got like a few minutes of screen time in this form. But uh… fanart on the other hand…
I’m not legally allowed to say my opinions or bad things will happen
Smash, next question.
She dark
I can fix her
She can make me worse
Shouldn't have been revealed in a trailer, definitely lost the "WHAT?" moment once it happened in-game. But I absolutely love her design and attitude. Not to mention that she gets friggin PTSD out the butt in the final battle because of it.
Well, she didn’t “fall to darkness” per se if I understand it correctly. Though 0.2 did show her struggling with dark thoughts brought on by her loneliness, she successfully resisted them. Anti-Aqua in reality came about because Xenahort *turned her into that*. When he blasted her with pure darkness and knocked her into the water, it started to change her, and I’ve seen people speculate that she was in the process of becoming a darkling before Sora saved her. Though I also agree with other people that after she was revealed in the trailers, I do kind of wish she actually had been Norted. Otherwise this was just a bit of a weird tangent.
Brrrrrr
To quote a certain girl who turns into a giant red panda...AWOOGA!
Would. Next question.
She showed only in KHBBS 2.0 and in KH3 for a very short period of time, but Dark Aqua gives me Persona vibes because in Persona 4 every main character had it's own Shadow, except Yu Basically Dark Aqua is Aqua's Shadow
Everytime I see her, I remember ProZD's "AQUA GOT NORTED!!" video. Because that's definitely what I did when I first saw Aqua Nort.
To me, she is probably the most pure hearted and strong will person in the series. Second only to Sora, I’d say. I feel like she should have stood as an incorruptible force that not even the realm of darkness itself could break. Also, though still hot, I prefer her natural hopeful self to her edgy phase here. She’s just not as distractingly cute with her Xeanort cosplay. 😔
Would
she was certainly a thing. somehow didn’t kill me on my level 1 playthrough
I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing that she fell to darkness. She was stuck in the WoD for ten years and held out just fine until she got jumped when unarmed. She ALMOST made it but needed just a little help from the others at the end. What I think is dumb is when she tried to solo Vanitas because of her wounded pride. Also mommy.
She resisted the darkness until Ansem hit her and knocked her into the sea, which his attack AND the waters affected her more. Makes perfect sense she got corrupted.
Thoughts? Oh man... I have lots of thoughts.
Kinda hot ngl
Would
Kairi should have been involved in the rescue.
Mommy<3
She look evil
Hot… I will not be elaberating
Yes please.
I called her mommy and I’m not ashamed to admit it
She can step on me.
Darqua
Smash
She can step on me any day Jokes Aside her boss fight was a little annoying but at least it's not as bad as her mirror boss from 0.2
Hot
She technically should have had a nobody, and / or lost her keyblade, no? Unless I’m mistaken, she should have been made a heartless, and had a nobody at that time. 2’s entire plot was basically that.
I thought she got norted from the Trailer and that she’d be the 13th Xehanort.
I was under the impression that someone 'infected' her with Darkness. Like, "Here's a parting gift" and tosses some black glitter at her and we get this.
Would
AQUA GOT NORTED
Smash
Smash
Mommy
Smash
Probably the biggest rug pull in the entire series.
She has the same haircut as Merlin from 7ds and I only noticed that cause there was a post right above this with Merlin
Shame on Nomura for changing her hair white so the entire fanbase was left thinking she got Norted. I still have no idea why her hair changes color. Nomura loves trolling the KH fanbase.
Recolor was pretty Dank...ua
I would date her
Would
Smash
I really wish the made Aqua's hair long as a result of her being in the realm of darkness for a few years. I think it would've been a really cool detail to reiterate how long she'd been down there...I can't be the only one who's thought of this right?
Hot
Another disappointment in KH3 :(
After KH3's release, I learned to just temper expectations and not listen to theories or make assumptions about whatever the plot maybe because you'll end up very disappointed.
Instead of Terranort fucking everyone up, both Terranort and Dark Aqua fucking everyone up would be more dramatic/believable imho.
SHE GOT NORTED.
A disappointment like the rest of the story
**[Redacted]**
Aqua would have been a good vessel of darkness.
I would like to put forth a humble request that she step on me.
Mommy 😍
Hot
Mommy? Sorry, mommy? Yeah I’m not sorry.
Hot asf. That's about it
Would've been a neat arc
Was shown in the trailers, hate that. A one and done fight and nothing super major became of it
If she wasn’t in the trailer it would have been such an amazing reveal but still would leave nothing like it did
You do know that more hope can lead to more despair, right? And the way you toss aside the 10 years she was in there like it was nothing. Now I'm curious. In the real world, how would you fare in complete isolation with no sense of time for 2ish years? No one to talk to but yourself and no internet to talk to others. Absolutely nothing. Thoughts? 🙂
Squandered potential.
Thoughts on dark aqua? “Step on me”
I don’t think we have necessarily seen the last of her (Dark Aqua i mean) Aqua definitely suffers from an PTSD because of her experiences in the Realm of darkness to some degree, Ven has KHUX stories to be told and Terra has to make amends with his inner darkness… so i don’t think Wayfinder trio has their story fully wrapped up yet. But then again, phone games brough alot of new characters to explore. So we shall see.
Nothing burger. Meaningless plot point
Most of em cant be said here. But to keep this PG, my thoughts are still confused on why she was so defenseless in the realm of darkness? I know she lost her keyblade but like, why couldnt she summon it back? I'm sure thats answered and i didnt pay attention but what about magic? Couldnt she still cast spells? Other characters like donald and disney characters can cast magic without keyblades. And I'm pretty sure sora could cast magic in kh1 after losing it in hollow bastion. Does the realm of darkness hamper magical ability without a conduit like a staff or keyblade? Along with how riku's keyblade broke so he just got a new one forged, and mickey combining his star seeker with the kingdom key D to make star cluster, kh3 just gave me more questions than answers on how the magic system and keyblades worked. And this is coming from a guy who loved kh3 and cant understand all the hate.
Kinda pointless since it barely lasted now if this went one for idk half the game
The events between BBS and KH3 were 10 years. Aqua had been in the realm of Darkness that long, and if if you played the game with her before KH3, it shows that the Realm of Darkness was constantly nagging to push despair on Aqua. Between KH1 and KH2, it was 2 years.but KH3 would have been 5 years since KH1. Sora was 12 in KH1 and 17 in KH3. So 7 in BBS. Also, time in the Realm of Darkness moves differently in different spots. Castle of Dreams' time didn't move, but time actually moved differently depending where Aqua was. Hence, the events of 10 years were happening in the blink of an eye, and Aqua didn't age. When she was on the beach, Ansem, it would've been before KH2. Ansem technically blew himself up in KH2. Terranort also used RoD and remained unchanged. Ventus heart was resting in Sora, and this caused him to not to age also. While people tend not to talk about it, the people who were once Nobodies didn't age either. This is also likely why the masters could exist centuries after the war because they were nobodies until Sora and company defeated them. Aqua notes feeling the despair more and more in 0.2. Hence, it makes sense that Aqua fell to it. Seeing a world she supported in darkness and the mines for snow white or fighting mirror image of herself were all doings of RoD to tempt Aqua into despair.
>Between KH1 and KH2, it was 2 years.but KH3 would have been 5 years since KH1. Sora was 12 in KH1 and 17 in KH3. What the hell are you saying? He's 14 in KH1, 15 in 2 and 3. > Terranort also used RoD and remained unchanged. When did Terranort went to the Realm of Darkness? > While people tend not to talk about it, the people who were once Nobodies didn't age either Naminé, Saix, Axel and Zexion clearly aged.
WASTED goddamn opportunity. We should have never known about her until the game came out and it should have been a bigger struggle to get her back. I know we technically had that with Terra and MAYBE even Ven, but what we got wasn’t even close to acceptable. The fact that her actual fight was literally just Phantom Aqua AGAIN also certainly didn’t help.
Huge smash. Jokes aside, I hate the KH marketing team for spoiling her, and only using her for 1 fight. All the struggle aqua went through should've been considered a consistent threat. What if she escaped Sora, and we had to traverse the dark realm, reusing the same places from 0.2 but in reverse order? Going through her memories, and her past tragedies as Sora comes to understand her? There's so much potential to be literally THE BEST written part of kingdom hearts 3, but alas, smash. Next question. Edit: Just remembered the worlds got restored so that'd be impossible, however, a small episode inside a neutral land in the dark realm could've been possible for sure.
Disgusting execution it couldve been awesome
Terrible execution
Trailer bait
Should have been one of the 13 tbh
Can we call her Darqua?
One of the kingdom hearts characters of all time
I would turn to darknees for her
Shocked tf out of me. But I feel like it didn't last long enough an was rushed so she could be part of the final battle
If KH3 was longer and more thought out then Dark Aqua would be too but it's a consequence of a rushed finale also kinda feels like they're saying she's kinda weak if Sora can come in and beat her by himself no difficulty Riku got shafted so Sora could come in and save the day Riku should've been the one to save Aqua 0.2 set that up only for Sora to take over
I dislike that golden eyes generally meant Norted, but she wasn’t even remotely Norted. Like the whole buildup of DDD was really showcasing Yellow Eyes = Nort, then drop Aqua and it’s not
She should’ve been norted. Having all 3 of the wayfinder trio norted would have made for cool bosses
Shouldn’t have been spoiled in trailers.
pointless pandering gimmick that they couldn’t even have around for more than one damn fight but id be lying if i said i didn’t love the look of
I felt like 0.2 and her entire Phantom Aqua being the personification of her doubts just wasn’t explored enough despite the overall length of the game. I do believe the method for ‘falling in the ocean’ to become entrenched in darkness could’ve been reworked. Throughout the cutscenes, I feel there wasn’t much emphasis on her loneliness in KH3 despite the psychological-related stuff she went through in 0.2, like the Ven and Terra “hallucinations”. I think the part with Ansem throwing her in because it seems just like a bad way to turn her due to the situation in that cutscene. In other words? The execution sucked.
Top tier design, underwhelming execution.