I hate to be this guy, but dropping a FIGHTING game over its narrative choices is a bit ridiculous.

There is always MUGEN.

Unless you hate MUGEN. lol

Likewise. There wasn't much i didn't like about MK4.

I haven't really spoiled myself with much aside from . I'm an MK fan that is into the story and characters even though I know there are multiple flaws. It was indeed a shame that MK: Armageddon's story was half-assed. The whole game itself was a rushed product, and I commend John Vogel for trying to salvage its story.

About the story of the new game, I have to say that I'm not the least bit surprised at how shitty the story is ever since we learned of the premise. I wouldn't say that I'll leave the series despite the story being horrible, because there is the potentially fun gameplay experience to look forward to.

But yeah, Mortal Kombat is a FIGHTING game series, so obviously the gameplay is always essential. HOWEVER, Mortal Kombat is a fighting game series that has given a fair bit of importance to its story, much more serious than stories of fighting game series like Tekken and Virtua Fighter. Although not everyone cares about MK's story, it is a big part of the series in addition to the blood and gore.

Why should fans not be allowed to want it to be of a great quality? By the way, this doesn't mean that it has to be the level of some novel, but don't give us garbage. The series is almost 20 years old, and if they're going to throw away the old story and replace it with something lackluster is a huge insult, especially since MK is now under WB.

Although I didn't really read through XiahouDun84's analysis, I understand how he feels, and I honestly don't blame him. I know some here have been annoyed with him for his negativity, but the fact of the matter is, he's pretty much spot on. Of course, there are some that love the story for whatever reasons.

I have to admit that this game looks very fun to play, and that's the main reason I'll be getting it. However, I wouldn't be surprised if the gameplay turns out to be very broken despite how hard NRS has worked on it. If the gameplay and story both suck, that's a huge blow to the quality of the game. Despite all this, I imagine this game will be highly successful due to its overall presentation.

I'm sure that I'll still be a fan for years to come, but I'm just not as much of a fan of the series as I used to be. I just don't understand why the gameplay AND the story can't both be well done with each game.

Wow, so pretty much nobody is willing to draw the line on a story they wouldn't like one bit. Personally, I'll stop here: everybody enjoy more shit to come.
MK sucks gameplay-wise too.

*pats*

Bitter little oddling. I won't miss you. ^^

I would be, perhaps. However, I'm getting the game as a gift, it's someone else's money rewarding them for ruining characters, not mine...so I'm still going to play it because if they release Cyber-Smoke as DLC, and hopefully an MK3-style alt costume for Subbie where he has the scar, then I will be able to pretend this game didn't change the story when I play arcade and vs. mode.

After all, graphically the game does look like a beautiful upgrade of the original games. You'd never even notice how they've butchered the canon if you never play story mode.
I might not buy the sequel to MK9, though. It is of course several years too early to know for sure if I can say that, but if they keep going with this new timeline and don't fix what they did, then I'm out.

The thing is, the story isn't the only thing I care about when it comes to the series. I want the series to do well, and it would be nice if we had an MK game that contained both a good story AND good gameplay. It's not really much to ask for if they're going to give importance to both things.

This in a nutshell.

Really, I can't think of a game series where I completely love the story and gameplay.

Soul Calibur: My favorite fighting series after MK. The story is so weird that I really don't pay attention to it. Gameplay is fast and fun.

Tekken. Story is kind of retarded. Gameplay is very slow in my opinion and the loading in T6 is unacceptable.

Street Fighter: Nothing new really ever happens yet people keep coming back to it. I think the gameplay sucks if you aren't an experienced tournament fighter.

I don't really play any of the other fighters. I think MvC3 had a terrible roster so I am waiting til it's old and cheap before I buy it.

So what I'm trying to get across is that as long as the gameplay stays good and they don't remove a bunch of characters I'll keep playing. As time goes by I don't think the story is that bad. And the gameplay is definitely not bad, only bitter people will say that.

People are entitled to their opinons.
Personally, I think the only way I'll ever actually drop the series is if they do what they were gonna do in the first place and kill off 98% of the roster.
'Cause that's bullshit.

Well, the death of most of the combatants was one of the possibilities, namely if the energy flowed through Daegon's armor. However, due to Onaga's holy men, Blaze's body was "corrupted", so the effects of the armors would likely go awry.

I don't think that NRS should go to either extreme of killing off or keeping most/all of the roster. I think some characters should live and continue on, others should die off, and the rest should live but not return in the story. Here's the problem. There is such an attachment to the old days (MK1-MKT) with its characters that it's almost going to be impossible to let most of them go.

I think it would have been better if this upcoming game had at least a third of the roster consist of new characters. Instead of going back to the past and changing events to save the future, the story could have gone in a different (and better) direction where we get closure from the current saga and really move onto a new era. That would be a bigger impact on the series as a whole, not just the story.

However, we go back to the old days, appealing to nostalgia. Don't get me wrong. I can be a sucker for nostalgia, but the series has to have a stronger sense of moving on. If the current story is just that confusing for people and they wanted to hold onto most of the old school characters, they could have just done a separate canon, re-introducing them in a new light. Oh, I don't mean the kind of shit such as Kung Lao being a hot-headed jackass that's jealous of Liu Kang's championship title. So far, the story of this game seems to have the same elements but with certain events changing.

Anyway, for right now, I'm just going to get the game and see how it turns out.

I know, I just don't want Street Fighter 3: The Mortal Kombat edition with just Scorp and Subbie and a ton of newbies, lol.

Thank you so much for calling me an idiot. I relly appreciate that.

I thought you stopped being here due to what you said earlier.



Maybe you are an idiot...

I wasn't really targeting anyone directly with what I said. It goes to basically anyone who feels the need to basically drop the series due to a little leakage. But if you feel that it was directed to you, well... I'm not really sorry because I think it is somewhat foolish to get that irritated over something that could have been avoided.

I don't have any sympathy to throw at you or anyone who wishes to do the same because it was your own fault to look at the leaks. That's not my problem. But getting pathetically upset at the series to where you refuse to buy it, well not only will it save you money, but it just makes you miss out in all the fun.

Nobody's mad at things leaking, that's just silly. They're mad at the game's story.

What you fail to realize is that not everyone dislikes the where the plot has gone in this one. I'm certainly happy, especially with where it leaves things for the next game.

See further discussion on that matter here:

http://www.mortalkombatonline.com/content/forum/showmessage.cds?id=133168

Wait a moment: I don't fail to realize anything, I know a lot of story fans feel about this crap the way I do. To me, they just seem psychologically unable to let go of the series. Even assuming the gameplay is that fucking good, why should I pay full price for half a product? No gameplay is ever going to make me like this crap, and I won't accept it out of habit.

Gameplay can ALWAYS make up for a bad story, look at Devil May Cry and Ninja Gaiden. Those games aren't celebrated because of their narrative strength, they're celebrated because they're ridiculously fun to play. What you fail to realize is the narrative of a video game (fighting or otherwise) is always secondary to solid gameplay. Good gameplay can always make up for a bad story, a great story cannot make up for sub-par gameplay which is why this franchise was in the crapper in the first place. A good storyline is a bonus in a video game because unlike films or novels, a decent story isn't a necessity.

With some games, I can agree with you. You have a game like MK: Shaolin Monks, which had fast, fun gameplay. However, the story and the portrayals of most of the characters were done very horribly. It was inexcusable, and while I did have fun playing the game, I was disappointed how the story was done since we were supposed to have gotten an expansion of the story between post MK1 and MK2. Instead, we got a retconned story, with certain characters changed for the worse.

Again, I don't understand why we can't have an MK game that has both good gameplay and a good story. If that's too much to ask for, they should never have gone deep with the stories or even done any stories to begin with.

I'd still rather play a fighter that actually has something of a story, and MK is as close as I'm gonna get to one. IMO, of course.

It isn't too much to ask for and for the record: I have NOT read any of the spoilers, but from what I have gathered is that people are pissed about the direction of the storyline, not the actual quality. I still hold out hope that it'll be decent, but I don't have a favorite character and that alone leaves me more open minded because I don't particularly care what direction they go in with their characters.