The updated redesigns for returning characters came from wanting to take advantage of the higher screen resolution and to give the game's characters more detailed and matured identities since the first game, rather than just making another Sonic The Hedgehog-inspired game. Lilac's new design in particular had influences from Mega Man X's armor upgrades to show how much more responsible and experienced she had become, with her large blue earpieces becoming hearing aids that she would be "extremely hard-of-hearing if not deaf" without. When asked by one user why Lilac still had a flat, human-like face (a remnant of her previous design), series creator Sabrina DiDuro explained that she was meant to be a half-breed, with a water dragon parent and an unknown presumably mammalian parent, and as such faced oppression in northern Avalice for her appearance; she also had vestigial fish fins underneath her hearing aids. Carol's character design had minor updates showing she hadn't changed too dramatically, and Milla's more cleaned-up jumpsuit design showed how she grew to take care of herself since her tattered appearance in the first game.