The point being Rugal doesn't have his motivation outlined like Geese had. The series has lost its main antagonist. No fuel for the fire now.
What more do we need (for now) than what has been shown?
We know Mature took the Black Crystals in Ep 1. We know she's with Rugal. The plane ride with Terry over to the Cruiser established that Geese wasn't working FOR Rugal, but was something of an equal partner. This already sets him up as "Bigger threat than Geese".
It's the start of a new act within the same season. We know a bit about Rugal just from his tussle with Geese in the flashback episode. If anything, Geese felt like a "Bogard" issue, as he had little to do with the remaining cast.
Now Rugal straight kidnaps and sett friends directly against teammates; this feels like an actual "All Tournament-Participants" issue.
On that note, I have to say, I really like seeing Kyo act a bit mature, knowledgeable, and respectful of his elders. I'm so glad he's not being shown as a pure, unteachable hothead here. So far, this makes him more likable than usual.
This is PlayStation/Sturn level of CGI in a better resolution. It's really hard to watch, but has fun moments.
It's not like mid-tier animation doesn't exist in this world anymore. We've still got loads of cruddy flash animation, and cartoons from lesser studios much worse than this, out now. 18 years ago this would be what'd we fawn over as the limited sub-60 minutes of CG within a Final Fantasy.
Now a mid-tier startup company can make a full series at about the same level. With some very nice fight choreography (something many higher-priced works still get horribly wrong), solid voice actors, actresses, and music, and all for free on YouTube.
It's been nice to have something SNK to fill up the time between 1 games release, and eventual new announcements. I hope they continue on this path, so their teams become more experienced.
