To be fair Naruto Shippuden is an incredibly popular brand that probably had a much larger budget. I know cell shades can be just as rigorous, but many of the stages also share very similar visuals. Each Stage from Season 1 and 2 were incredibly unique and dynamic.
Again, I’m not underestimating devs work, but showing that saying that “20 is a ton” is subjective.
One stage per character is very important. This is a revival of an old fighting game. Every character has its fans, and now some characters lacking a stage mean they are treated with less respect than others. For a fan it’s very important that his favorite fighter comes with the full pack: character, stage, music and retro.
The first mistake is (apparently) not including Eyedol. The second is not giving a new stage to all returning characters. (Either Tusk or Gargos lose theirs)
Also, KI’s roster is so varied that there’s no clones. That’s why every character has a stage. Also traditionally every KI has had a stage per character. Now everytime you pick a stageless character you will never psychologically feel that you are playing “at home”.
No Eyedol
No Ultimates
No new intros/outros
No revamped retros
No remade character models (spaghetti hair, bland faces)
And after all these features lacking, how can even there be a talk for “another shadow character”? priorities anyone?
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It’s really not that bad guys. I understand people are upset, but it’s going to be one of those, “Wait untill its released”…
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Thank you for this news! I’m really excited to hear that IG intends to fully utilize the power of the XB1. The game has always looked pretty good to me. The thought of it looking even better is just awesome.
All I have ever asked for in this game, ever since S1’s cast was still incomplete, is Tusk. He deserves his own stage. If I get those two things, then I’m happy with S3.
Stages are neat, but we have plenty. What I think would be better than more stages is more stage ultras. Stages with no ultra feel cheap to me. And if we STILL don’t get Ultimates, then I hope we at least get more stage ultras. Just as good as Ultimates, if a little less personalized.
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You are so right. But I can’t handle my feels. : (
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how can even there be a talk for “another shadow character”? priorities anyone?
I know right? Whenever I see talk about another Shadow Character it shivers my spine. Please, God, don’t let this happen.
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Trust me. The best we can do is wait. No need to get upset! It’s not even here! 
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You are right, it is subjective. But comparing to other games like Mortal Kombat X and Street Fighter V, KI currently has more stages and Season 3 will be adding even more stages (even if it is only 3).
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Improve the whole look and feel of the game or get extra 4 stages? It’s an easy choice. How many times would you really play on the new stages, maybe at first a lot but then you will get used to them. Now we have a more beautiful game. I personally would rather play a more beautiful game. Think about it!
Ok, Yes, there is less ‘new’ content, but the whole game will look a lot better! Plus who knows what else we may be getting.
I’d imagine characters will probably cost a little bit cheaper and be able to buy stages. This should allow more new players to try/buy more characters.
I guess SFV will have to do. Now taking my salt away for a sec,will the stages be launched right as S3 starts or added over time? How will buying a character work? Do they get a stage?
I’ll say this final thing and this’ll be the end of it for me.
I love KI. I may not have grown up with it like a lot of people here but I’ve grown to love it all the same and I actually have Maximilian to thank for that because it was his videos that turned me on to the game. Recently I’ve been spending a lot of my own time and actual money to create some KI material for another forum that I’m a part of because I love KI so much. Rash being announced was like the pinnacle moment for me as a KI fan. I frickin’ love everything about that toad. Coolest character in the game to me. With that said, the reality that he probably won’t get his own stage is upsetting to me. All in all, I still love this game. I’m still super pumped for Season 3. I’m still thankful that I will at least be able to main Rash. I’m not angry (anymore), I’m just disappointed.
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I hate to say stay tuned…but stay tuned. You won’t have to sit idly by much longer, though.
So this means that we are being set up for DLC stages in the future?
I trust you! What if they’re not kidding about 3 stages, then why they do put only 3 stages in S3? I mean They was hard works to make stages for Season 2. But now, they put three stages in S3? They are lazy…
Guys & Gals - If you’re concerned like me, just wait for all and I mean all the facts before pre-ordering the game, no more no less and then make your decision. We should give IG the benefit of the doubt for now. Maybe they modified or added to existing stages? Might be reaching but you never know. Maybe like…you can break through a wall, etc.
On another note, so the vampire will share Sabrewulf’s stage…hmmm…Medusa could share Sadira’s stage…hmmm…
Well until next Thursday I guess.
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Nothing is being pulled from Season 3 to sell you “again” down the road.
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what the majority of you may not know is that IG screwed up the lighting from SE1 with all the new SDK’s MS was sending out. The lighting was so bad they scrapped it which is why people noticed a visual downgrade from SE1. They always had fixing the lighting was high on the list of priorities now that it seems that the XBox one API’s are pretty much complete.
They basically blew their whole wad on returning the games lighting to SE1. (aka double helix days)
game play over graphics DEVS!!! and no Ultimates?
Anyone who defends this are just shills.
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So, firstly the lighting overhaul is looking good in these images. I wasn’t so keen on it when I saw it on-stream during the KI Cup, though – Jago in particular looked a bit funky – and even if it looks better in person, how it looks on Twitch is pretty important. I guess I look forward to seeing enough to really pass judgment on it.
This stages thing is a curve-ball. As stated the team put a significant amount of their time into relighting the existing stages, but unless we’re somehow stuck with the current lighting unless we buy into season 3, that means very little for the value proposition for season 3. This isn’t likely to matter as much to players with a competitive bent, or to players who live and die by the mantra “it’s the gameplay that counts”, but casual players everywhere are probably wondering what their $20 will net them.
I’m not entirely convinced that Arbiter’s getting a stage, now. The teased looked to me like it could’ve been content lifted from Halo 5. I won’t be surprised if Arbiter’s stage is one of the three, but that’d mean that either Tusk or Gargos isn’t getting a stage, so I don’t know.
For the story buffs, unless additional backdrops are being built for cinematics that aren’t going to be turning into stages for whatever reason (e.g. size of the executable getting too large, workload involved in fleshing out a scene and rigging it for play being too impractical), three stages would seem to limit the scope for the story to go to new places. In particular, we might not get a badass evil mega-lair stage for the final showdown with astral lord Gargos.
Finally, I’m not sure expectations are being managed all that well overall in the leadup to season 3. I can’t say the “bad” news (no ultimates and three stages) has been delivered in the most tactful of ways. On the plus side, the rebalance and Kim Wu reveal were delivered extremely well, and if you were going to announce something as hit-and-miss as guest characters, the immediate Rash beta was a great way to sell it (even if the Gamescom reveal felt flat and disconnected). But so far, all we know about season 3 (aside from a few characters) is that it won’t contain the thing that casuals have been rabidly begging for since E3 2013, nor will it contain a basic cornerstone of the value proposition that’s been present in both prior seasons (i.e. a stage per character). Maybe MS didn’t want to risk any big information getting swept away in the tide of SFV information, but we’re less than two weeks out from launch month and have little more than the negative information about what we won’t be buying come season 3 launch.
tl;dr: this is a downer, hurry up and release some more season 3 details so we can get hype again.
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Thanks, that’s good to hear.