woah woah woah. I don’t think you can say that they decided to relight the stages rather than put in Ultimates. Also, the new lighting is not just a return to S1 lighting. It’s much, much better. The S2 lighting changes were nothing like as drastic, and they were not “messed up.”
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@OlafBludhaven Tusk will have a stage. He is one of original characters. It seems only new characters won’t have stages. Personally I’m ok with that, I played original KI in arcades, new characters are cool but to me they are a bonus. I can see how new KI players can be upset about the stages, but in reality it’s only like 4 stages. That’s not that much really. Now whole game will look a lot better.
OK. For everyone upset, give the Devs a chance to explain themeselves at a later time, rather than accusing everything. 
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I agree with this. I do feel they could have done a better job of revealing 3 stages than just jamming it in as one line at the tail end of an otherwise uplifting news article. I mean they surely knew it would lead to a huge amount of backlash.
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Well maybe they should have thought about that before just throwing this kind of sensitive information out without any explanation.
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Love the new lighting, dismayed at the stages news.
If the price of S3 doesn’t match ultra combo price tag, then fair enough. If it does however, then there’s a lot that needs justified here, 'cause S3 will be missing a classic game etc.
I do however have a theory that will justify the 3 stages news and why the lighting was such a great task to overcome.
DAY/NIGHT CYCLES.
With the lighting being reworked, every stage can now accommodate the option for daytime and nighttime. Automatic doubling of the stage list and fully justified the hard work gone into relighting every stage.
Now, all I need is to be proven wrong and we can all go back to square one with our irrational raving.
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It’s the gameplay that matters, not the number of stages.
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I just hope this isn’t the end and more stages are added later on.
This would definitely dull the blow of having less stages as long as the 2nd version has a new theme (or classic theme) but lets be honest, this won’t happen. Day/Night versions of 20 stages sounds like it could be more work than the 5 stages that they aren’t putting in.
I just find it weird that people have been asking for classic stage packs and instead we get less stages…
As some others have stated, I think it’ll come down to musical option before the fight. Of course it is going to be strange when Maya’s theme rings out on Fulgores stage.
…
#I THOUGHT WE WERE FRIENDS!
Okay, real talk guys.
Am I disappointed that there would only be a total of 3 stages for Season 3. Yep, I’m as butthurt as I was after my last experience with Indian Food. I always make uncomfortable gastrointestinal noises when prettier graphics come at the sake of more stuff. Especially when the game on question is possibly my favorite. As it’s been stated, having a stage for everyone was probably one of the best parts of KI. Everyone had an interesting home field that screamed personality, in both music and visuals. Knowing that’s not coming breaks my fuzzy little heart. 
Now, is this a total deal breaker for me personally? No, not really. Generally when it comes to butthurt I’ve got the recovery rate of Wolverine from the X-men. Let’s look at the positive: The total graphical overhaul is a long requested feature, and from the examples given it looks like the game is going to truly be as heavenly as I’ve always felt it was. For starters, it makes Kan-Ra’s stage interesting; I always thought it was really drab and lifeless, but now the improved lighting looks like it’s going to be higher on my list of stages to play. Amazing what a bit of lighting can do.
I’ll also note that I think the backlash is caused mostly by the awesome levels of content they’ve already given us. Supporting a game for 2 (soon approaching 3) years after its launch, more than doubling the amount of content and characters (soon close to tripling) as well as new additions/adjustments to character balance and customization, new modes like Shadows, Breaker Training, and the S2 story, plus the added graphical boost…
Best way to feel a little better; MKX is getting an update to finally have useable netcode, with 4 characters and one new stage, and they’re ecstatic. Here in KI, it’s underwhelming when we get 3 new stages and 5-9 new characters with netcode that’s already fantastic.
Am I still disappointed? Yep, I legitimately called up my mom and complained. Will I still play this game and sink time into Season 3? Invariably until the end of time, likely.
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That’s assuming that SFV had a similar budget to MKX. Based on Capcom’s output thus far, I’m starting to wonder if that is really the case.
Minecraft is bigger than video games, and already had a huge existing install base that Microsoft is rightly terrified of ■■■■■■■ off.
That’s a depressing thought. I remember way back when we had those huge PC port rumor threads, and one of the (or at least, my) gripes about the idea was that building a port would divert attention from expanding the content of the game for Xbox users, who would then see little benefit aside from maybe noticing a larger pool of players for matchmaking.
Fast-forward to now, and season 3 is hitting several months later than we might’ve expected if it was “business as usual”, and there are now signs that it could potentially be a smaller content expansion than a typical season.
That’s not to say I’m expecting season 3 to be content-light, and I reiterate that this news is just emotionally a downer and MS should hurry up and dump some positive info to rekindle the hype. But if that’s the way it goes, then in line with my position all that time ago when we were slinging arguments back and forth about whether a PC port should happen, I’m going to wish they never opted for the port.
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I’m wondering about this too. Since install size was a concern back then, adding three new stages with season 3 may be just as much about data constraints as it is about allocating development resources.
Last thing I’ll say… Yes, disappointed there are only 3 new stages… but… 20 stages is quite a bit more than SF5 or MKX have, and they probably have way bigger budgets. So… Sigh. Interested to see what else is in store.
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This. And doesnt matter if KI stuff take 50GB of my xbox hdd. Things need to be done right.
The port is HUGE though. You know how many people will finally be able to play? Having a big player-base is important for a fighting game to live. The PC port will grow the community, but will also bring a ton of new players which keeps everything active.
I think we are going to get around the same amount of characters, but I also think stages had to take a hit to make everything possible. I guess we will just have to wait and see, though.
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Again, if I cared about what those games were doing I would play them.
MKX/SFV does have way bigger budgets. They have said before multiple times that KI doesn’t have a big budget like most AAA games. Even guys like Maximilian who helps with the game has directly said that KI is a “budget fighter”.
I was really shocked and then upset. I felt betrayed by this announcement (3 stages) but looking back @ what we have gotten from KI so far I am okay w/ this because the game will grow, S3 is not the end. As long as the 3 Stages are setup w/ Chars affiliated w/ each other story wise share stages and they make it make sense lore wise then okay. CONTEXT IS KEY. Also can’t wait to see the goods we are missing, the full picture of what S3 is has not been revealed yet 
My feelings about season 3:
http://www.vodkacranberryclooney.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/walks-out-o.gif
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