I think from the animes I watched and games I played I got used to the kinds of stories where they just keep picking up new friends. Sometimes the old ones drop off (or die), but the new characters aren't exactly replacement characters. I can see how it'd be frustrating to come across characters explicitly meant to replace the others (they will probably never live up to the originals). In games like Fire Emblem (anime chess) I look forward to the new characters who are going to appear. Then again I know beforehand that new characters are going to show up, so maybe I save space in my heart for them 🤔

Relatedly, I hate Sam Drake. Cannot stand the guy. He's the skeeziest character in the whole series and I was waiting the entire time for him to betray Nathan. Whenever there was a part where he was like "let me go first" I thought, Oh, here it comes. He's stranding me here. The bastard I knew it. Of course, H— then he came back, but I was still suspicious.