I've not made a thread for awhile. But this had to be said.

I and other fans of the MK story have been waiting eagerly to see how this current chapter of MK would end. I for one was hoping to see something spectacular but had a feeling, which I voiced, that certain characters would have no story and would just be there for the sake of being there. I was hoping I’d be proved wrong. This was not to be so.

There was also the matter of closure. So many plot elements had been built up to a great degree and there were holes as ever and they needed addressing. Not only that, there were characters who needed their own individual stories closed and I and fans of these characters were hoping to see something somewhat decent for them. This was not to be so.

The German convention provided some endings for MKA which I viewed with great surprise as there was nothing in them that anyone could call creative or inspired writing. What was shown was horrid and a huge letdown to the MK story, something which has been a joy to follow since it began back in MK1. I and the other MK story fans have pretty much waited with hope that these endings were not going to be the real endings. The fact that they’re kata’s is irrelevant. The story is the big issue here and they needed to be fixed. Again, this was not to be so.

What did we get?

We got a rushed collection of endings. All are dire in terms of story. For me personally, there is no story in any of them. These endings are a tragedy. For a series to apparently be bringing a chapter to an end and for a series whose previous games had all delivered endings that were somewhat inspired and that people could work with and speculate from with great interest and enthusiasm to give us what MKA has is at best a catastrophe.

I don’t know about everyone else, but I see poor storytelling. I see a rush job. I see no story progression and a huge mess in the plot. As far as Konquest goes, there is no closure to the things Deadly Alliance and MKD left open to be explained.

What went wrong?

As Chrome would say, Vogel has been on weed. He could be right.

The closure that was so needed and the many holes that should have been cleared up were not addressed. Why are Kintaro and Sheeva alive and suddenly in this game? We don’t know. How are Shang and Quan back after the blast Raiden created, especially as Shang was confirmed as dead? We don’t know! These things aren’t addressed! Why not? I have no idea!

The progression of the story from MKD to MKA should have been interesting to read. Where is it? I don’t know. From what I’ve read there isn’t any. But surely the bios would help with this and Konquest? Wrong. The returning characters have their existing bios or some re-written wording of said bios from MK4-MKD. And as I was correct in guessing, nothing for the likes of Sheeva, Stryker and Kintaro. Konquest touches upon nothing.

Key plots like the whole build up of the Kamidogou are gone. The One Being was built up to be a great threat as was Onaga and all that has come to naught. The Deadly Alliance was brilliantly built up along with the undefeatable army in MKDA. All that was rushed and then all of a sudden it was gone. The deceased and resurrected Earth warriors look like they’ve gotten no story continuity after their demises.

Then there’s the actually Armageddon storyline. Blazes quest, Taven and Daegons quest and how it would all affect the characters and realms was introduced and given Taven’s ending, it was all for nothing. What’s that about? I don’t know. It just looks like pointless nonsense to me.

As for the other endings...

Kenshi

Kenshi regains his vision, and all his other senses are made even stronger. This ultimately leads to a sensory overload and he spent the rest of his life in a dark soundproof room hidden deep within a mountain.

What in the hell is that?

Sheeva

Confused that neither Taven nor Deagon won the tornument, the Elder Gods have no choice but to make Sheeva a goddess of destruction, after she destroys the realms they are reformed into something unlike anything they ever were.

Yeah, that’s very creative playing on her name and how she originated in design and pretty much copying the Hindu mythology and not using something creative of their own. /Sarcasm

Kitana

Absorbing the power of Blaze Kitana obtained a psychic connection with the Elder Gods and became their champion. To preserve the integrity of the realms she formed an all female fighting force whose members included Sindel, Jade, Sonya and Li Mei. Together they laid waste to the forces of darkness and trapped them in the Netherrealm forever.

I applaud the genius that thought this up... /Sarcasm

Scorpion

As Blazes fire extinguished, Scorpions troubled soul suddenly began to fill with joy as his ninja-klan the Shirai Ryu again appeared and thousands came atop the upper flat of the pyramid. Scorpion was more shocked when he had seen his wife and son. But this reunion fell short as the evil sorcerer known as Quan Chi suddenly appeared. He had took Scoprion’s son and made a portal to the Netherrealm and jumped into it with scorpions son. Scorpion raged and will not rest till his son is freed and Quan Chi is killed.

Brilliant! No closure whatsoever and yet another attempt to throw Scorpion in our faces with his ever lame vengeance story which they purposely drag on.

The result

And the above is just a taste of the extreme nonsense that the story has now turned into. The things that were needed are ignored. We hoped and we speculated. For what? It wasn’t for what we got that’s for sure. There have been people who have posted their own MK7 writings who have done a far better job than Vogel. I know I myself could have produced something far better. (I never got the time to write my MK7 concept and I hope to find time to do so.)

What we see now is the demise of the MK story. It’s gone. They wanted to clean the slate and start afresh. They seem to have failed somewhat unless somehow the mess we have been given can somehow have some sort of plot carved out of it for MK8. They seem to be really good with retcons so perhaps they can retcon MKA, give us our actual proper game with a proper story and then do their slate cleaning then. But that won’t be the case...

For now, there is no story. They ruined it. The brilliance that was once the MK story will live on through myself and the other fans who can, have and will create much better stories.

Please discuss.

P.S To all the fanboys who probably will read this and seek to reply, don’t waste your energy. I have said it time and again and I will say it one more time here, just because you may accept trash, it does not mean people like I will or should. Think about it.

-with the Seal of Chromatic Approval, on 10.11 / 2006