In the Material Remake Ultimania, a member of the staff, Shotaro Shima, actually headcanons that Rufus grew up without love (probably stemming from the OTWtS book confirming his lonely childhood) and that Darkstar was his only friend. T_T I'm glad the devs are pulling tidbits from the compilation titles into the games since there are a lot of folks out there never read the novels. I'm so happy that Rufus's tight bond with Darkstar is shown in Rebirth and love the HC that Rufus having D as a pup.
It's really nice to have that, it's kind of a simple thing that adds so much depth. I mean, you kind of just see Darkstar/Dark Nation as a lil sidekick creature in the original, and since you never one-on-one with Rufus again, you just assume...you killed his dog.
I presume we'll fight Rufus one more time in the third installment, and again I would think Darkstar will be there. No reason to believe otherwise. Darkstar gets so much screentime compared to the original game. It's something small that I'm glad they decided to run with and expand upon. I think it's easy to see that Rufus grew up without love, with his mother gone too soon and his father a canonically huge asshole. Literally, a bad father and complete dick. I imagine there were times when Darkstar was the only source of love or companionship for him. As a dog parent...I can relate to that feeling in shades... (TヘT)
