Talk:Cloud VS Sora/@comment-29686583-20160930230238/@comment-3463132-20170206231919

They do not have to stand still in Final Fantasy to use magic- arguing as such would be stating the combat system is literal and Cloud and company really do stand a few feet away, attack, then run back to where they were standing to wait to strike again.

Crisis Core, Dirge of Cerberus, Advent Children, and Before Crisis all show people using magic while moving- you don't have to be rooted in place while casting. Said spells also all took just a wave of the hand or a pull of a trigger- so they can cast just as quickly as they can fight.

The draining of the stamina refers to how in FF7 using materia tires you out (magic points) and weakens your physical attack and health score. However, this appears to have been retconned after FF7 as it's not in other titles- not to mention you can overcome this by sheer levels anyways.

Regardless of the exact scenarios, which Cloud of course can not replicate, Sora has shown difficulty with Death magic- which is a notable advantage for Cloud. Doom and Death are both status effects Cloud can bust out in one way or another. Sora is able to resist or block many things Cloud can do and vice versa, but Cloud has the larger magic system with more powers available to him and conversely, Sora has no counter to some of them.