Same with startup too. It's not really a problem in the older games which were mash to hack 'n' slash, so you could get away with stuff like in Dynasty Warriors, but around by Birth By Sleep, the games became more harsh, but the characters pretty much functioned in the same way. For one, whenever I see Terra gameplay, a lot of people complain that he's pretty much the weakest character compared to Aqua and Ventus because he's so damn slow and his defensive options, mainly his dodge, is arguably the worst. Of the dodge commands, Terra's is slow in recovery and covers a short distance -- it actually reminds me of Dante's dash in DMC3 and 4 which was kind of useless outside of Devil Trigger -- while Ventus's is the staple, spammable Dodge Roll and Aqua's has a long animation, but also a high amount of I-frames to match said animation allowing it to also be spammable. Also, Terra pretty much becomes a glass cannon because of plot-gameplay integration as he becomes kind of like a Dark Knight who can sacrifice his HP or make really risky plays for rewards which aren't anything better than Aqua and Ventus who don't take as much risks. Aqua goes from a mage archetype to a master of all trades and Ventus goes from a speedster to a powerful speedster; both end up as versatile characters unlike Terra. While Terra is the "melee" character, I don't think he even hits significantly harder than Aqua and Ventus. If he did, it might have made it less painful for him on harder difficulties and against the bonus bosses. It's probably just the whole slow character or slow weapon is always screwed while fast characters or fast weapons are at worst, decent.
Well, I think BBS is the most extreme case since in 3D Dream Drop Distance, 0.2: A Fragmentary Passage, and probably KH3 assuming Sora's the only playable character, the playable characters are versatile and balanced. Aqua, Riku, and Sora aren't slow and they don't really lean towards one stat in a way the hurts them. That being said, different combat systems can change this like if KH3 goes hardcore, tactical action-RPG a bit close to what FFXV did, then even if Sora was designed to handle any situation, he could still have a rough time.
Oh, and still hoping that maybe Aqua, Riku, Terra, Ventus, and Kairi and Lea are playable in Kingdom Hearts. Kairi and Lea being Keyblade wielders who aren't part of the action until now either needs to be really amazing party members or at least playable since the end of the Xehanort saga or whatever might not involve them as there might be a new generation of Keyblade wielders. For the others, one, I like Aqua and Riku, if Terra makes a comeback, it would be awesome for him to be playable so we can rampage against Xehanort, and Ventus 'cause he's important I guess. Basically, I don't like Sora.
