Beautiful Nightmare

Carefree, curious, mischievous, kind, neutral(as in, not really good or evil), and a little chaotic(as in, her disregard for rules).

Well, yes, but I don't believe that's a direction SEGA would actually send NiGHTS in. Of course, I do agree that it could probably be good, but I don't know if it would fit the feel of NiGHTS and the Dream World. And, it's not the species or such that determines what kind of story they can pull off, it's the character. Sonic is a character that, though sharing the same kind and carefree spirit as NiGHTS, has a slightly different way of pulling it off. Plus, a lot of the seriousness in Sonic seems to be to attract more fans and make an awesome game to compete in the market, while NiGHTS is more for nostalgia and fun, and is trying to keep the fun and colorful vibe from the first game. I'm not saying it could happen, and I'm not saying it's a bad idea, I'm just saying that it's probably not something SEGA would do if they made another NiGHTS game. Considering the second game was made almost a decade after the first, we might not get much but cameos for the next few years anyway. I mean, if you think about it, the creators didn't really even want to make a second, but they did largely based on fan demand. So, yea, if you want seriousness for NiGHTS, you'd be best reading some sort of fanfiction because I don't think it's likely that anything official will have that serious vibe. Of course, I could be wrong, but I'm just saying how I see it.

Do you know that one of the(relatively important) guys at SEGA said that he wanted to make NiGHTS 3, right?
A third game coming soon is not so impossible as you make it look like, seriously dude.

And the NiGHTS series is not about nostalgia. JoD was about it because it came after 10 years(it tryed to 'imitate' the first game to give us the feeling of nostalgia), but if they decide to make a third game soon(and not after 8 or more years), they won't need to give a feeling of nostalgia again. Instead, they will have the chance to improve the NiGHTS-verse, and turn the story more 'complex' and interesting.

Well, that may be true, but NiGHTS isn't a very serious character, carefree and spirited, so a serious story would not work well for the character. Then again, I guess that might just be my opinion. I'm not saying that there isn't potential, I'm saying that NiGHTS wouldn't fit well in a serious story. If you're looking for a serious story, you should look for fanfiction, write your own, or look at another game because NiGHTS probably isn't going to get serious any time soon.

You misunderstands. I'm not saying the story should be completelly serious, I'm saying that it could be a little more serious than what we have seen so far.
Maybe add Visitors with more serious problems, or let us know some of the things NiGHTS did while working for Wizeman(instead of just telling us she is a Maren, and leaving it like that)...

If they could give us a 'serious' story about a mere hedgehog, why couldn't they do the same about a living nightmare?

Having a serious feel would work for Sonic, but NiGHTS is a different character, so it wouldn't quite work the same way.

Are you kidding me? She is a friggin nightmare, there's a lot of potential for a more serious story!
I particullary would like to see it. Or at least, see NiGHTS showing some of her dark-side(she is still a Maren after all, and the official manual says she is not exactly "good").

Maybe even one day succumb back to the dark side after some seducing from Reala, who I imagine her incredibly close to.

I would like to see that.

I like the idea that there is a dark side of NiGHTS that no one but the Nightmarens know about and NiGHTS won't speak of.

Me too.