Fair enough. I'd say the exact same thing about 2D. If it was a fantastic 2D game that had all the depth, style and substance of traditional 3D fighter? Sure, I'd be down. I just prefer the freedom of movement that 3D provides. But if it's a great game, then I don't care if it's 2D, 3D or 8D.




Sorry, I may have jumped the gun there a little bit. I just got the impression that the thread was starting to head down the long, dark road toward that argument and it wasn't too long ago that there were about 4 threads going at once, all talking about this topic. That's why I spazzed a little.

Still... My bad

As for my argument for 3D, I mean, I've made it before too, ad nauseum. I like the freedom of movement, the more deliberate pacing and the strategy that comes with both of those things. I like a lot of the traditional trappings that come with 3D games like counters, multipart throws etc. You just don't get that kind of depth in a 2D fighter.

I'm not saying that 2D fighters are shallow by any means. They can have a ton of depth, but just not the kind that I tend to enjoy.

Regardless though, I know that both you and Big Syke are advocates for 2D, and that's cool. Really. I like 2D fighters, especially the Darkstalkers series, I just prefer that MK stick to what it's doing now and move forward that way. No big deal.

a dial a combo is a preset combo that has to be pressed with certain fashion. a good example would be Ultra Combos from Killer Instinct. people complain about them because they don't want to have to memorize the moves to do them or whatever...i think the should bring the system back with alterations like adding chain moves to link combos together also keep the ability to use one or two special moves in the combo as well. all you need is a good generic combo breaker style for each character.

I don't know if I entirely agree with that assessment. Killer Instinct's system was very intuitive. You performed a charged special move (95% of the time) that brought you closer to the opponent, you followed that up with two light hits (while charging the next special move) and then you repeated.
Yes, technically that's a dial a combo, but the ones in MK take it to much more of an extreme.

To me, I think that a better example of dial a combos that apply to MK are the long 10 hit combos in Tekken.

Those are combos that you have to study and memorize and usually perfect through repetition. The timing is crucial. There's no feeling your way through it because the button order usually doesn't make any form of logical sense (especially when your buttons are labeled 1, 2, 3 and 4 as in the last few MK games).

Basically, it takes a good portion of the "pick up and play" ability away from a game. It takes the casual gamer out of the equation completely and forces the player to either learn the system and learn at least one character, or don't even bother playing, especially online.

Sure, you might figure out Scorpion's spear or maybe his teleport and then get a few moves to connect for short combos, but that's not going to help much when your opponent busts a 12 hit combo on you.

Of course, the difference with Tekken is that the game has a TON of basic moves for each character, so you can always feel your way through and easily avoid the 10 hit combos entirely. In the last few MK games, these dial a combos, all varying in size and difficulty, were the CORE of the experience.

Thankfully, MKvsDC finally started getting away from that system.

In short, sial a combos take 80% of the fun out of the game. Again, that's just my opinion Lycani, so no disrespect intended.

They were introduced in MK3. Instead of trying to figure out what type of moves Sub Zero could connect, you had to execute combos like:

HP, HP, LP, LK, HK, back HK.

Looks intuitive, right? You totally would've figured that out on your own, right?

Well, they only got worse as time passed. In MK:DA, they introduced style changes, so you'd have something like:

2, 2, L, 2, L, 1, 1, 3

Or rather, Y, Y, L, Y, L, X, X, A

It doesn't look overly difficult, but it's also something you'd have to look at. You couldn't simply guess that in the heat of a fight.

Now you might think "okay, I don't mind studying up a bit and learning a game. So what's the big deal?"

The big deal is the fact that THIS is the system. Sure, you have special moves, but the dial a combo system takes up 90% of what's useful. It's how you attack and deal damage.

Does memorizing 10+ strings of combos like that sound like it would make for an enjoyable game? Now how about doing that with 20+ characters? Sure, you don't HAVE to memorize that many combos for each character, but if you want to be good with a character, you'd better have at least a few ways to beat your opponent.

Again, this is why I hate this system. It requires FAR too much memorization and because it takes the pick-up-and-play ability out of the equation almost entirely, there's no "feel" to the game at all. It only boils down to who can do the bigger combo and who can sucker their opponent in to a combo first. That's it.

And that's why I hope they never ever bring that system back again.

Sorry to sound so blunt Lycani, I respect your opinion. I just disagree with you on this one thing.

One thing you have to keep in mind for Killer Instinct is that they weren't eacactly dial-a-combo. They called it auto-mated combos. The difference is that 3 button presses could equal 6 hits. MK on the other hand makes it so each button press equals a hit. I kind of like KI's better because it is unique, but I don't like how most characters just do a charge attack to get into a combo.

I think they really started doing the "auto combos" in KI2 if I'm not mistaken. The combos in the first game were primarily stuff like:

(charge) back, toward MK, LP, LP (charge) back, toward FP

Or something along those lines.

I dug both this system as well as the auto combos added in KI2. Both really made for an ability to do a lot with minimal effort, while still keeping the action fast and furious.

That said, I wouldn't want either (or dial a combos for that matter) to come to/return to MK.

lol somebody call the whambulance because dial a combos are too hard to learn and memorize....nahh i am playing. i do like them a lot but i don't really care what they use as long as the system is fluid and not too fast or slow. also...i hated the restrictive feel to the jumping in MK vs DC. it sucks ass big time compared to any fighting game. also you guys mentioned that the combo system in KI is auto combos and not dial.....ummm its basically the same thing just in a different implication and style lol.

anyways i was just answering a question that no one else seem to want to answer.