I see your points again.
KOF97 ending was great. Yet, the whole Orochi storyline was clearly introduced in '96, and the linking with Rugal (and his secretaries...) is really pitiful as a retcon move. The biggest flaw in Ash storyline is indeed introducing poorly designed character one couldn't really care less about, and not linking them together to make them interesting either. Back in '03, the idea of a bastard disgusting (kimoi) chatacter as a new starring, stealing the three sacred powres' was really something to me. Plus, Rugal heirs. Wow. When KOFXI came out, it was just sooooo meaningless as a whole (I mean, from a storyline point of view), things seemed totally disbanded, and probably were actatully like that. With KOFXIII, SNK-P tried at least to steer the truck in direction to deliver something good. Not emending previous mistakes, you're right here, but they succeeded in making the climax epic, touching and meaningful at least. Given the premises, I would have not hope for this much.
I will say this much.
I think that KOF XIII did a pretty good job salvaging what they could out of the previous misfires.
I think the IDEAS for a good story are there, but I really think the complexities lend themselves to a different medium, or type of game, far better. There's just too much to decompress in the Ash storyline for a fighting game, traditionally executed, can adequately convey. The Ash specific characters could have easily had their OWN game, without all the previous baggage from the other entries in the series, and I think that might have been an interesting new IP for them to explore.
But shoehorning a whole new cast and a whole new story into a fighter already packed to the gils with characters people actually WANT to play as, each one loaded with their own internal backstory and mythology, just seemed like too much to me after 9 previous games in the series. It was overload in my opinion.
And this doesn't even speak to gameplay. Ideally, you want to strike a balance between characters people WANT to play as with characters that make sense to be present. Sometimes, this results in the appearance of a Billy Kane (makes sense due to return to Garou roots) and Flame Iori (makes sense due to this version of the character already existing and being a fan favorite, in addition to the story contrivance that he gets his flames back at the end.)
The best thing about all of this conversation? We're talking about this game coming out for home consoles where, hopefully, we'll all be able to play together and share the experience. Playing the ROM is fun but I was committed to purchasing the home release from day one. Now, with all this extra content, it's nice to be able to discuss/argue about which characters should be in it and our speculations may actually be rewarded because this game IS coming. It's not just pipe dreams and noise.
This is actually happening. It'll be nice to see people make up their own minds about it when they get a chance. This game is coming out and it's the one we've been waiting for
