Sockie Wrote:
Wait, why does this mean they aren't dead? The next game could easily have them as all dead, them being in a script that was probably pretty different from what we got doesn't mean much for their current state in the lore. The comic could still kill Reiko off.

Hooky-Fooky Wrote:
Hooo boy...

Well I finished Story Mode about a half hour ago. I'll list some things out.

- The inclusion of Liu Kang, Kung Lao, and Kitana as playable characters makes no sense. They are wasted roster spots, spots that could've gone to Rain, Tanya, Fujin, fuck even Li Mei. Having them playable in human form is just really weird. I think NRS was afraid to not include them because of fan appeasement, and that really sucks.

- Some characters just fucking disappear without a trace. What happened to revenant Nightwolf, Stryker, and Kabal? Where is Jade? What happened to Fujin? (Answered previously, but still). What happened to Kano? Where did Sareena go? How badly was Frost punished? No Goro, Havik, or Reiko? Reiko is mentioned due to the "Reiko Accords" like 239857 times, but he doesn't appear. Not one mention of Cyrax, Noob Saibot, Sheeva, etc? Just seems like there's more questions than answers.

- Ferra/Torr was completely useless. I'm hoping they don't appear in the next one. For all the hype that Erron Black had, he also didn't do too much. I thought Reptile's appearance in this as a character was an improvement over his MK9 appearance, but he still didn't do a lot.

- The deaths. It's not the fact that the people who died (Baraka, Mileena, Sektor, Quan Chi) did so, but rather the feeling that there is no emotional value attached to it. We saw like 9 fucking people get killed by Sindel, and then all of a sudden they are back, and in the cases of Sub-Zero and Jax are returned to life. It makes the prospect of dying empty. Also I really wanted to see Sub-Zero take Sektor out, but of course NRS hates Sub-Zero so I'm not surprised we didn't get to see him do something awesome.

- Cassie taking out Shinnok with the green halo deus ex machina. As soon as I saw Johnny use it in the first chapter, I knew Cassie would be the one to take Shinnok down using the same device. Wayyyyyy too predictable. Keep in mind I went out of my way to avoid spoilers and knew nothing about story mode (except what was shown in the trailer), so I had no idea what to expect as far as chapters go.

- Shinnok as the main boss. Let me start by saying I loved what they did with Shinnok this time (mostly). This isn't a complaint about him, as it is more with Boon. Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Boon say the final boss would be a "surprise returning character"? How in the flying fuck is Shinnok considered a surprise character when the fucking ending of MK9 clearly set all of this up? I was almost expecting it to be Liu Kang because that seemed like a "NRS thinks this will be a surprise to players" type of move, but wow, they just threw all of that out of the window.

- The post-credits scene. First, I liked it, because it gives us an idea of what's coming next. It was fine. I just don't understand--is Raiden dead? He looked like a revenant, but I couldn't tell if that was what happened or he's just turning into Dark Raiden a la Deception. I understand why, it's because of Shinnok's corruption of the Jinsei. But this is a very minor complaint...I'll worry about this again when they start developing MK11.


I'll might post more later, these are just some initial thoughts, and they seem to be relatively common among the fan base. Overall, I did actually enjoy story mode for what it was, but it just seemed....rushed. I think they ultimately focused so much on gameplay that it ended up hurting the story and lore of the series. It feels like they are moving to being more relevant on the tournament fighting game stage at the expense of focusing less on story, which is fine, it is a fighting game. But really as a fan virtually my entire life, it seems tough.

Sockie Wrote:


Liu Kang's "high amount of chi" allowing him to beat Shao Kahn and apparently be on the level of Raiden as powered by the Elder Gods is believable, but Johnny receiving a surge of power from his dormant abilities allowing him to beat Shinnok isn't? I think if Liu could beat both Shao Kahn and Shinnok without power-ups, Raiden, Johnny, and Cassie beating them with power-ups works just as well. Why can't Johnny and Cassie's boosts allow them to equal Raiden's Elder Gods boost when Liu Kang, who isn't a god or descended from a cult whose whole purpose was to create warriors for the gods, was able to beat these guys under his own power?

And I don't think the concept of chi has ever been a big part of the MK universe at all. It's hardly been mentioned or made a big deal out of.

sharefrock Wrote:
I'm wondering if anybody feels weird that Liu Kang is no longer the hero, AT ALL.

He is not even the villain, he is just a foot soldier, someone who shows up and gets his ass kicked. it also feels really weird that Kitana,Kung Lao,Liu Kang united, failed to actually help destroy earth. Sure they helped Shinnok get inside the Sky temple but that's because there was nobody there but Raiden and Bo, Shinnok kicked Bo's ass and Raiden kicked Liu Kang's ass(Again) and Kung Lao's ass(Not again).

So they seriously did nothing, Is Liu Kang this fucking weak? Is Kung Lao this fucking pathetic? Is Kitana this fucking stupid? Is Sindel this fucking fabulous?

And the low blow is that Cassie Cage defeats Shinnok?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!??!?!?!!?!?!?!?!??!!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!??!?!?!!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!? WHAT?! WOT?! UWOTM8?!

Is this the same Shinnok that nearly caused the destruction of Earth in his fight with Raiden billion of years ago? I don't think it is.

Shinnok is made into a laughable boss. Do you remember what Shao Kahn did in MK9? Because if you don't let me remind you.

-Killed Kung Lao.
-Killed Shang Tsung.
-KIlled a kombatant that Kitana defeated( )
-Allowed Shang Tsung to open a portal so the Tarkatans can pass through and fuck the Shaolins up.
-Invaded Earthrealm and in the process caused the death of almost all of it's heroes and not to mention took thousands upon thousands of souls.
-He was only defeated due to the interference of the Elder Gods.

I'm sure I forgot a few things this badass did but let's take a look at what Shinnok, an Elder God, did.

- Got freed --> imprisoned.
- Got freed again ---> Had his head cut off without doing anything threatening.

WHY? JUST WHY? He looked fucking AWESOME in the first chapter, why the fuck did they ruin that?

I could list a lot of things that are wrong with the story but I would rather keep my few brain cells that I have left after playing through the story mode.

Blockbuster my ass, it's a shitty story. MKSZM > MK1-D > MK9 > MK:SM > MK: Special forces > MK Legacy > MK Annihilation > MKvsDC > MKX. Ain't even joking. :'(

lanoitarnu Wrote:

You could switch Liu with Mokap and nothing would change.

sharefrock Wrote:


Yep. That's true. It's such a shame, that the champion of MK did nothing important at all.

shrairyuwarrior Wrote:
Why is it so hard to believe cassie beat shinnok. Sure he's an eldergod. But both times the inner power of green energy both johnny and cassie had helped them. This power is what creates the shadow kick and green force balls that cage possesses

Vash_15 Wrote:
Kai is nothing,

Jarek is nonexistent,

Hsu Hao is fucking garbage and we all know it.

Jenafella56 Wrote:
Are people really mad because a female is the new protagonist and beat Shinnok? Because one guy on the YouTube video said why a damn female have to be the hero? Lol wow, I don't care if it was a animal that beat Shinnok, I mean I knew Liu Kang wasn't going to be the hero in this game because of what happened between him and Raiden in MK 9. I honestly thought Johnny Cage, Sonya, Kung Lao and even Kitana was going to be the protagonists because him and her was playable in human form! Smh

Denizen Wrote:


Being a woman has nothing to do with it, her victory over a powered-up Shinnok was an asspull, her dad's green energy having resisted one of Shinnok's attacks as foreshadow to this event is a huge leap, quite difficult to swallow, no build up whatsoever. Raiden, a god, at least received a direct power-bust from the elder gods and still had a difficult fight to end Shao Kahn. Cassies' victory felt contrived as hell.

Denizen Wrote:


Being a woman has nothing to do with it, her victory over a powered-up Shinnok was an asspull, her dad's green energy having resisted one of Shinnok's attacks as foreshadow to this event is a huge leap, quite difficult to swallow, no build up whatsoever. Raiden, a god, at least received a direct power-bust from the elder gods and still had a difficult fight to end Shao Kahn. Cassies' victory felt contrived as hell.

redman Wrote:
I don't like that this is what we get after patiently waiting for 4 years. They could have done much, much better. Such a disappointment tbh, I wish we could go back to the DA/Deception style of writing.

Sockie Wrote:


It didn't just resist one of Shinnok's attacks; the way they talked about it, it certainly did a lot more than that and stuck with him the whole fight.

Also not sure how you can say Raiden had a difficult fight to end Shao Kahn when we never saw it. For all we know, Cassie's was as well.

canikeyc Wrote:
I'd like to remind to some of you that liu kang is not the hero of this timeline. He is just another fallen soldier. So him not being important to the story is not a big surprise. You may be upset that he's overlooked, but facts are facts.

Btw, Shinnok is not an elder god, he's a fallen elder god. Im sure there is a difference. Also, are we sure that he gets stronger after he goes into jinsei? He definitely soils it, but does he absorb its power? Tell me if i'm wrong but we don't know what "corrupted" exactly means. What if he depowered himself by getting into Jinsei ?

Windy_Thunderstorm Wrote:

Just because something is a fact doesn't mean people have to like it.

As for Shinnok, he may have lost his status, but technically his, "genetic make-up" or spiritual essense ( whatever anyone wants to call it.) is still that of an elder god.

I'm about 1000% sure he got stronger. It only makes sense. Not only is it significantly noticable in gameplay, but the fact that he is fused with the amulet. And every transformation into a big scary monster I've seen = massive power boost.

canikeyc Wrote:
I'd like to remind to some of you that liu kang is not the hero of this timeline. He is just another fallen soldier.