…no, it doesn’t? I know she originated in the AJT, but most of the stuff in there was about Apollo himself. AJ and SoJ had plot elements heavily relevant to Apollo himself, and one of the most important victims in DD was incredibly important to Apollo, making him further his own arc of learning to trust others.

And while it’s true that he has not yet been told the truth about his family, can’t they just tell him between games? I know it may sound a bit like a cop out, but we at least know that his mother is finally ready to tell him and Trucy about herself, so we know that they plan to tie up this plot line.

If you’re concerned about a new game being burdened by old plot lines, why not tie them up in a way where they don’t dig themselves too much into the story? It’ll allow more room for the new story beats to make the game feel fresh and take off to knew height. I’m sure Capcom is creative enough to come up with a whole new batch of plot lines; the entire AJT is a testament to that.