Cosmetic, right? Not actual body-part damage like a WWE SmackDown game? Edit: Though that would be kinda raw to implement in a one-on-one fighting game if they managed to balance it somehow

I haven't played SmackDown, so I might not be sure what you're referring to. But yes, this would be purely cosmetic. None of this would affect gameplay.

I think I understand what you were asking, but no, damaging/cutting off limbs and other body parts, causing the character to move slower and/or if he or she was hurt, might ruin the pacing of gameplay. Also if you cut off limbs during a match, you would have to design gameplay around that too. It would probably end up looking awkward anyways.

One of the things that bothered me in in games like Resident Evil 4 and 5 is when you shot someone, blood would come out from the body part you shot at but there would be no visible wound. I see this with a lot of games nowadays. In the more recent MK's, they did have progressively damaged character models. Although I only remember this being on the face. For this new one, cuts and bruises need to be everywhere. Along with torn clothes, when applicable. Make the attire become soaked in blood, in real time. But not to the point where the characters are unrecognizable to the players.

Picture this though. When you do a finishing move such as cut someones head off with a sword, you should sometimes hear the character doing the cutting, yelling, as though if he's using all his strength and is enraged. Then of course the victims blood can splatter all over the winner. Zoom in for a close up of blood dripping down the winners face, as he shakes and breathes heavily with adrenaline, terror and anger. Now that's the MK I want to see!

i think the idea is good for cosmetic purpose but like the post previous to mine...severed limbs and what not would not be right. on the other hand you mentioned dynamically enhanced kills/fatalities...i think you could elaborate a bit more on that but i would like to see something like random physics to pit fatalities and death traps...something close to rag doll physics with a realistic perspective. like if you get knocked off a cliff i want to see the guy bounce off rocks and other objects on the fall down and see the damage and limbs break as they hit each time. or a good example would be the original pit stage how spikes were on the pillars as well as the ground...it would be cool if the falling victim could randomly hit them and rip apart as they fall onto the spikes at the bottom.
i also think the blood effects should have less of an oozing or drip effect and make it more spraying like and maybe deep gushing wounds...similar to stuff like effects from the movie ninja assassin. the last rambo movie had some good blood effects for another example.

For sure having more variations in animations, damage models and stuff is good. I guess they could do some clever stuff with bruising/cuts texture layers for exact positioning, but it's really not necessary.

It will be interesting to see the "Deadliest Warrior" game, which appears to be quite innovative in having somewhat realistic damage. The fight can be over in one move, just like real life. I know Bushido Blade did this too, but Deadliest Warrior is on a current gen system, and it will be interesting to see how well it works in a game, and how well it is recieved.

Somewhat offtopic, but why can't MK have (difficult to do) instant finishing moves? Not sure how exactly it would work, since logically if your character can close enough to do a throw, they can kill the other guy, but it's something to ponder. Deathtraps work like that anyway. And lose the rounds system, so if your opponent gets diced by a grid of laser beams or impaled on a giant stalagtite, they don't miraculously reassemble themselves for the next round.

Well, as for dynamic kills, it could be an environmental danger (aka pits/deathtraps) or manually inflicted kills (fatalities). Though, I'll give an example for the latter, since I already gave one for a pit earlier (Falling Cliifs).

So, say Scorpion does the finishing move, where he takes off his hood and blows fire onto the entire body of the opponent. Well make him do it without stpping. So this in turn, makes the victim burn up quicker and therefore die quicker. So it would be like a blowtorch of sorts. Or another variable being that he does the same thing, except he blows fire into one part of the body more than another. Or he could get close and grab the victim by the shoulders, (if they are standing) and blow the fire in their face and then go back to expelling fire on the rest of the body.

So basically, it's the same finishing move, just with slight variations. Also the screams for the victim don't always have to be the same every time, when the same fatality is performed on one specific character. Another variable would be, how much and where they run around when they are burning. Then they can cycle death animations at random, so the same fatality never gets old.

I never liked the rag doll physics of older FPS games. I don't know if developers have gotten better with the tech, or are using a different approach to achieve realistic physics. But I did like the way Resident Evil 4 physics looked, such as when you shot those monks in the knee and they would topple over, when they were going down stairs. Even though them falling on the stairs didn't look all that real. But, the way they fell looked convincing. So MK could benefit from a similar tech.

Yeah, your cliff/pit example, sound like what I was describing in my earlier posts.

As for blood, if they wanted to make it more realistic, they wouldn't have blood spraying all over the place from a cut. But it could spurt out, depending on where and how big/deep the wound is (don't know if this is what you meant originally). If you cut an artery on the other hand, than you have a higher chance of blood spraying. Although I would save such visuals for fatalities, since, if they showed a great loss of blood during the match from that wound, one would think, that the still standing character would have died from blood loss.

But like I said, when you get in the territory of video game violence, everyone is going to add their own creative flair to it. And what one person deems unrealistic another may not, since it is fantasy and can't be 100% realistic. But yes, blood should definitely drip from wounds during a match and the wounds/blood need to remain on the body throughout it. They didn't make it look like this in the past 3d games, where the blood would just roll off the body, without leaving a trace.

Yeah, I've seen the new trailer for the Deadliest Warrior game. Looks like they tried to make certain things realistic. Such as when someones swinging weapons around, there in no colored luminous trail left behind the weapon, like many games do. Some of the blood I saw, also looks better than past MK games.

This is just me talking, but I wouldn't like the Guilty Gear style insta-finishers. I feel the match should be played out by endurance of normal attacks, until someone loses. I agree about Deathtraps/pits, which should be saved as finishing moves for the final round. Although the team would have to come up with some way to work out the placement of the pits/deathtraps, if you aren't close to them, when fatality time comes. Since the 3d MK's relied on being near the hazards, to knock someone into them. Although such a dilemma, is probably only seen in 3d planes.

Don't think i care for this sort of idea. An aesthetic is an aesthetic in this particular instance to me. I mean, I think they should put some good muscle into making the violence hard hitting, but I think that when it boils down to it, i don't care about it when I'm playing.

Soul Calibur 4 was a good enough testament to that, and MkvsDc felt basically the same. There just wasn't a defined system that we could see while playing through it.
I think it's a great concept....a fantastic idea in fact. But I wouldn't waste the programmers time on it because it's something I don't really feel when I play the game.
Yea, it doesn't contribute much of anything more to the gameplay-ing experience for me....Uhm... It's greatest value is its aesthetic//visual quality.

So I would rather them simply make the hits look and sound like they hit harder, or like they really really hurt. Anything more seems like overkill on this sort of thing. I don't really need stuff coming off of the faces and all that but, I think they should look pretty banged up//tore up after a good fight.

hm...

Well, after watching "Ninja Assassin" I'd have to say that I'm not picky with the level of blood. There was a TON of un-realistic blood splattering in that movie, and it fkn rocked!!! As a matter of fact, when it was over, I turned to my wife and said, "I hope they do this with the new Mortal Kombat movie!!!" So as far as the video game goes...I say don't over-do it, but give it a good bucket of blood! BUT bruises, scratches, scrapes...that's a must!

WHAT WOULD EVEN BE COOLER is if you started "Arcade Mode" completely untouched, and you would start each new match as battered and torn as your previous opponent left you! Thus resulting in one torn up Kombatant at the end of the game! Think about it: Do you go back home and change your clothes after every match and magically get healed?! Not if it was realistic you wouldn't!...Just go to the next match with your black eye or torn shirt sleeves or broken nose. Progressive damage and scarring would be cool to see!