Who would be the best candidates for returning characters in a new KI? Using lore, popularity, and gameplay, who should be given a spot to return in KI 4.
As much as I love Eagle, I don’t see much hope in him returning. His acceptance was a mixed bag, either you hate him or you love him. (From my experience with others) He could offer more in the lore since he was a greatly anticipated character but due to how controversial he was, I don’t believe he will be returning.
Obvious ones I believe are Jago, Fulgore, and Saberwulf. Even if they let go of most characters, they should at least keep these staple characters or at least a successor to them.
Guest and remix characters obviously are not returning, so we can rule them out.
So what do you guys think, maybe one of you lore wizards can help out on this one. I’m not the most knowledgeable on the games lore.
Hypothetically, what would you do if she was cut out? For me if Eagle was cut out, i would be extremely disappointed, like EXTREMELY. But I’d still play
Well, other than thinking the devs were complete idiots to not include the main female character of the franchise into the game, I’d also be heavily disappointed and probably feel a lot less interested in the game, unless another character grabs my interest enough to try the game.
It’s like a Street Fighter without Chun Li… which is exactly what happened with Street Fighter 3, and the fans were enraged and stunned with disbelief back then as well.
I think Eagle and Shin Hisako should return, given how Shin Hisako is now the current incarnation of the character and Eagle was built up so heavily, he deserves to return.
I understand how tought spot it is for devs to balance between adding new characters and keeping old ones. For me, only staples of the series can stay, as long as removed characters will be replaced with cool new functions.
I’d even understand if Tusk would be removed, as long as he wont be replaced with some emo edgelord with 15 concrete swords materializing in his hands or something.
Keep half of presumed roster with veterans, rest could be replaced with new characters.
I’d keep for sure: Jago, Orchid, Fulgore, Spinal, Wulf, Riptor, ARIA (this design can’t go to waste), Tusk, Eagle, Kilgore (he deserves to be fleshed out more, he is cool concept).
I would be fine if kan ra was gone/killed in the next game. After all kan-ra ultimate plan was a failure so there isn’t much else to do with him. …Although now that I think about it it would be funny to have kan-ra become a neutral ally of undetermined intentions giving the hero’s tips and magic items like some kind resident evil merchant. He certainly has an iconic voice and smile for it and it would be a pity if we lose that.
You lack the imagination then. She’s an assassin who is now kinda on the run as ARIA is done with her and might want to get rid of her. Not to mention her clan might see her as a traitor as Sadira more or less exposed them all to the world.
whose not to say literally everyone won’t return? They might drop Shin Hisako, and Shadow Jago (because they’re remix characters) but KI’s cast is small enough to where they could bring back every character no problem.
If a new KI’s story focused on main characters for returning cast members it would probably be something like this:
Returning Cast
Jago(Main Character)
Orchid(Main Character)
Kim Wu(Main Character)
Glacius(has to destroy Aria)
Fulgore(Mark4)(Sub-Villain)
Aria(Main Character)(Main Villain)(Anti-Hero)
Tusk(Immortal Gatekeeper and part of Earth’s resistance against Ultratech)
Omen(Assuming if he isn’t destroyed when Gargos is)
Shago(if Omen survived)
TJ Combo(part of Earth’s resistance against Ultratech)
Riptor(New Model)
Cinder(Bio-upgrade)
Sabrewulf(Assuming he is still searching for a cure and hasn’t succumbed to his madness)
Maya(Night Guard and part of Earth’s resistance against Ultratech)
Mira(needs closure with Maya)
Characters NOT Returning All Guest Characters(not lore-friendly)
Thunder(brother is found alive so his mission is complete)
Eagle(Found by Thunder)
Kan-Ra(If killed by Aganos)
Aganos(mission is complete if he kills Kan-ra)
Sadira(her recklessness turned Aria against her)
Eyedol(Temporarily revived by Kan-Ra to stop Gargos)
Gargos(Destroyed in the final battle)
Omen(if destroyed when Gargos is)
Shago(if Omen is destroyed)
Kilgore(obsolete)
Shin/Hisako(Spirit has been set free when father’s soul is found)
All of my assumptions are for the most part “lore-friendly” so feel free to correct me on anything.
No way Thunder won’t return. He’s one of the legacy characters from the first KI. It would be weird not to include him. Aganos and Kan-Ra will probably never destroy each other, so they can always be in game each other. I don’t get the reason with Sadira and eyedol. I guess I can agree with everyone else, although.
I guess for me, i have no real sentimentality toward any characters in KI. To be fair, the character lore of KI was never it’s strongest point and it’s been with this iteration that more was focused on it. Multiple seasons, different means of exploring the story through traditional story mode and Shadow Lords, the comic series, novellas, etc.
So for that reason, i’d be perfectly fine with dropping characters in favor of the ones we’ve received in this version. I’d welcome it. Some characters like Jago, Fulgore and Orchid have ‘untouchable’ written all over them. Characters like ARIA, Sadira, Aganos, Mira? I would prefer them to return even if characters like Spinal, Kim Wu, Glacius, Cinder, Riptor, Thunder, and TJ Combo had to sit down.
For me, i embrace new before clinging to old. And when i think about the new characters, they’ve done more for me for KI than the returning ones. They’ve brought me nostalgia. The new ones garnered interest and i value that over nostalgia. Story wise, they are pretty open to either evolving from what is known of them currently. Gameplay wise, they are VERY open to continuing to evolve their way of gameplay or to refine what is already there.
Let the old ones sit if need be to make way for the new and interesting ones. You build character library depth that way .
It’s really hard to get rid of a character besides guests. It’s possible to remove Shadow Jago and Shin Hisako as well. However, it’s really hard to remove any of the classic characters from KI1. They are just too iconic to the franchise. It’s just hard to remvoe characters like Riptor and Cinder at this point or else you get a Sagat situation in SFV. It’s possible but really risky.
I also don’t see them removing characters like Hisako. They represent “modern KI” and it’s really hard to see them go. Every character is just so unique it’s tough to have one remove. If removed, they would probably start with the less used characters like Aganos, even though he is so cool.
Going by the story in the new comic series; assuming it’s going to be used as a bridge going into a sequel. This is how I predict KI4’s roster is going to look
I would pretty much go with this as my definite return list, only add Shin Hisako and trade out Maya for Orchid. I just don’t feel Orchid is such an integral part in KI’s fabric to say a sequel couldn’t exist or thrive without her as she was back in KI 1 & 2. And even then her appeal in the 90’s pretty much boiled down to:
A: breasts
B: unknown origin (so you can focus on the T & A and ignore anything else about her)
c: she killed Eyedol, which gave them a reason to bring her back and do this: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/4YXzy_pcj-c/hqdefault.jpg
I likely would have just said my peace and left it at that, but in previous threads when I voiced my opinion on cutting Orchid I got some rather strong pushback, so I thought a bit of elaboration was in order.
