Gamestalk caught wind of a Korean preview for Project X Zone 2 (releasing in Japan this November) and found major surprises in some leaked images. Three characters were made plainly visible: Ryo Hazuki from the Shenmue series, Ingrid (a Capcom fighting game character,) and Estelle from Tales of Vesperia.
Ryo Hazuki – you probably already know who he is, at least with the big announcement of Shenmue III this year at E3 2015. He’s a young man on a quest for revenge against Lan Di, the man who murdered his father. His journey has so far taken him across Japan and China, and now it seems he’s going to be even more well-traveled. He’s pictured in the cast image above (right smack in the center of the group,) which is basically an amended version of the Japanese boxart (now featuring Morrigan, Alisa, and Ryo.) Incidentally, we don’t know if he’ll be paired with anybody or if he’s a Solo Unit. If he turns out to be part of a Pair Unit, I think it’s entirely possible that he won’t be paired with another Shenmue character (perhaps Dreamcast compatriot Vyse from Skies of Arcadia?). But we’ll see!
Ingrid is a cult favorite character within the world of Street Fighter and Capcom fighting games. She’s right at the bottom of the upper screen in the image above. She’s a godlike entity who takes the form of a demure yet wise schoolgirl. Ingrid hasn’t had many appearances – she was in Street Fighter Alpha 3 MAX and Capcom Fighting Evolution. Ingrid is absurdly powerful; she can travel through time and is the creator of the Pandora box that is part of Street Fighter X Tekken‘s plot, but thankfully she considers herself a hero and opposes Street Fighter villain M.Bison and the evil force that is the Satsui no Hadou. She also has a fan in Street Fighter series director Yoshinori Ono! Ingrid will be a Solo Unit in this game.
Estelle is the main heroine of Tales of Vesperia, one of the most popular entries in the Tales series. She’s tucked away in the bottom left of the upper half of the screenshot. She starts off the game as being as a good-natured, if a bit naive, and sheltered princess, but after roped in with Yuri Lowell she begins to learn a lot more about the world…and herself. Estelle was paired with Yuri in the first Project X Zone game, but this time she’ll be a Solo Unit. She and Flynn effectively traded places as Yuri’s partner between the two Project X Zone games. Personally, I still appreciate Estelle’s dynamic with Yuri more than I do Flynn’s dynamic. Flynn and Estelle are still the two characters Yuri is closest with, but I like how more pronounced the differences are between Yuri and Estelle.
