The lack of 3D era characters is also something the community created by people refusing to let their nostalgia stop clouding their opinions of the newer characters.

We shouldn't forget that NRS shouldn't be obligated to include characters they don't like simply because they have a relative handful of fans. It's important that they feel inspired by what they're doing. If finding a way to make Darrius cool make them nauseous, I don't blame them.

Some of the 3D characters have potential, and I'd like to see them. Many more of them are so bad that the space would be better utilized for a completely new character. We don't know the roster yet.

Well, to be fair - this wasn't intended as a hate thread, or even a roster complaint thread. It's pretty obvious a large section of the community is understandably disappointed in the roster, was just curious what other's felt the thought process was behind cutting the later game characters. They were afterall, heavily requested.

There aren't too many roster threads on the main page and topics like this which are specifically for roster discussion are easy enough to skip. Check gamefaqs if you want to see what heavy roster complaining look like!!

I'm surprised by all the rationality I'm seeing all of a sudden. I was under the impression that the dejection of the Unhappy Ones was the majority sentiment



That's the thing, there was no "cutting" of characters. The people you are referring to are forlorn and indignant because the vision that Netherrealm had for ITS story and ITS project does not match what they wanted. Boon and his people tackled this game with a vision from the beginning (I know there are too many threads about this based on how many times I've uttered that sentence); you can't hate them, or feel personally attacked, because their vision isn't what you expected. You can't control someone's creative product.

Again, everyone's acting like people HAVE to pick a side between MK1-3, 3D era, and MKX characters.

It's possible to like them all and be dissappointed or happy with MKX's roster. Actually talking about the roster in one thread and what you think would make a better game/story instead of taking it out on other people on the internet who are way too invested in the same game you're way too invested in isn't as interesting of a discussion.

Well, cutting/excising/choosing-not-to-include, that is just semantics and basically the same thing. I don't hate or feel personally attacked by NRS.

I think you are wrong to say that the audience has had no influence over MK and that the "creative product" is set in stone purely by an artistic vision. NRS has always had a unique relationship with their fanbase and the audience has always informed and effected the final product. Over the years we've had Ermac, the ninja's added in UMK3, characters replaced in Deadly Alliance and as recently as 2011, Rain added to the roster due to fan insistence. Those are just a handful of multiple examples.

So, something has changed between 2011 and today. This is the first time I can recall NRS flat out choosing to disregard and flat out ignore an extremely vocal set of their fanbase. I don't hate Boon/NRS etc, by any stretch of the imagination. It just surprises me.

There is a big difference between not listening to their fans and refusing to inject a bunch of rejects into the roster (which we don't even know in full yet).

To say they aren't listening to the fans is not accurate. What's more accurate is them not listening to a certain subsect of fans that feel a small portion of characters didn't get their due.

If you were to poll all MK fans, by and large, the characters that would be included would be the Kitanas and the Kung Laos and the Reptiles. That may not make everyone happy, but it makes MOST of the fans happy. That is them listening to the fans.

i think MK11 will focus more on those characters

Yes, and it would make no sense to lose these characters, you're correct. That said, I can't see the harm it would cause in adding a couple of post-trilogy characters to these staples in MKX? It just means you're satisfying your entire fanbase. And as has been said before by other posters, the fans of 3D era tend to be the most loyal and dedicated, the ones NRS has always made a particular effort to reach out to and include, the ones who were most vocal for Rain in MK9 etc. Which is why the decision to sideline them seems to make little sense.

I agree with you completely, and I think we should wait until we know the full roster before we condemn NRS for neglecting portions of the fanbase.

I have faith there will be a couple post trilogy characters in the roster, and if not on disc, certainly DLC. It too soon to say what they are or aren't doing, because as you said, they know their most dedicated fans are dying for those post-trilogy reveals, they are of course going to save them for last.

I didn't state that fans have had no influence over the life of the franchise; I didn't even refer to the past. My post was just calling attention to the fact that any artist will tackle a project with an initial vision. There is no other way to go about it. Not NRS and not any other studio that I know of polls fans about what their story should be, which characters they should have, what events should happen; they don't outsource their project to the fanbase (thankfully!). Yes, I do know that they listen to fans and take their wants into account, but they haven't and shouldn't ever allow something like a niche group of fans clamoring for certain specific characters influence their overall intention with their project, and the direction they want to take.

That's what I was saying; and that thusly, all the indignation is misplaced. I wasn't necessarily referring to you in particular, either--you did create a thread that has at least a dozen clones running around making an irritating ruckus, but you did approach this admittedly tired subject well enough, with some good sense that's lacking in other complaint threads. My address was more so intended at the audience at large that is vocalizing a similar thought, albeit with less tact.



As you could probably tell from what I wrote above: I don't think anything has changed. I'm sure they'll take fan reactions into account for multiple future decisions including the DLC characters, like they have in the past, but not for such impactful decisions as how to tell their story and who to tell it through.



This is another good point.

I admit to not being active in many online boards, so I can't empirically confirm what Jay(?) is saying, but I think it can very safely be assumed that many of the characters that weren't included in MKX don't necessarily carry enough weight to be obviously sensible inclusions in the first place. They have their fans, of course, and God knows they're vocal, but the MK fanbase really isn't well-represented by a comparably small, vocal group.

You can argue that they're playing it safe, but you can't really fault them for doing so, either. They may be including the characters that they know will do well, will be recognized, have and will continue to symbolize their franchise to the masses--to hardcore fans as well as more casual ones. And maybe it is so that, when it comes to the post-Trilogy characters that weren't included, they simply made the decision that NEW characters would be a better use of their time, and (doing a 360) fit much more snugly in their outline.




Their "most dedicated fans" is a term that is really reaching. It's emphasizing the fantasy that someone is being owed something, or that anyone who is not up-in-arms about the apparent exclusion of certain 3D characters isn't "dedicated".

That being said, I also believe that, even if through DLC, there will be more than just Shinnok representing the post-Trilogy characters.

You're right, "most dedicated" is probably not the right phrase. But they have to know that the fans who have followed the series through the 3D era would be more excited to see a 2D rendition of someone like Havik or Tanya than they would be the nth variation of Reptile or Johnny Cage.

Fully prepared, willing, and still HOPING to use this.



I think I'm just about over my initial shock.

At the very least, we can safely assume that they won't ALL be excluded from the roster. As far as story mode goes, there truly aren't any at all that I wouldn't mind seeing....except Mokap. Now, playability is a different ball game.

Pinpoint -

MK4: Fujin

MKDA-MKA: Bo' Rai Cho

Tanya, Hotaru, Reiko, Havik, or Ashrah would also be just dandy. I'd like to include Drahmin and Nitara on that list as well, but we know for a fact their fate.

I'll get at least one of them, and I can accept that. There's simply too much awesome thus far to look forward to than to dwell on this any longer.

Who's Next, Y'all?

As has been mentioned, the full roster isn't known to us. A lot of us have our feelings that the leaked list is accurate, others think its incomplete. I'm in the camp of thinking that is 100% without a doubt the final roster, if only because I want to be blown away if its not so I'm keeping my expectations low.

That said, there really is not a single good reason anyone can give as to why any of the characters other than Kenshi, Quan and Shinnok didn't make the cut. You can't say "They are using the characters they wanted for the story they wanted to tell" because that's a load of horseshit. We know, thanks to the comics, a couple of these characters have BIG roles in that particular story. Hell, Mileena is all by her lonesome on the roster and many of her generals are MIA from that list; Rain, Reiko, ect. Even Fujin seems to be Raiden's right hand man and he's even missing. Reiko alone has a HUGE part in the story of the Civil War that we assume takes up a good chunk of the plot. In fact, it may even be worse if they ARE in the story mode in a good amount of cutscenes and still not playable as thats a huge slap in the face of their fans and that's one thing I'm really worried about. It's a real mystery as to why he's not there and I'm pretty confident in saying he and they will not be DLC and instead we will get the likes of Tremor, guests and a handful more MK9 peeps. I've been vocal about my displeasure at how cut and paste some of the descendent characters are just from their core concepts and that they share roster space with their parents when so similar in design is baffling to me when Jax and his daughter both share arm enhancements. It is a huge turn off so I would've rather preferred some 3D returnee's over them.

But you know what? You can't always get what you want. And the honest to God truth is that if we had gotten 3D characters over someone like Sonya, Kitana, Jax, Johnny and the like, we'd have just as many threads bitching about their exclusion as we do threads about the 3D era characters being missing so to hark down on those posting is a bit of a joke because it would still happen either way.

But that's just my two cents.

Armageddon may have blown chunks, but having every character and therefore no 5 million "So and so took so and so's place" threads was definitely a bright spot

Armageddon was lacking depth in a lot of places but it made for a fun party game.

They really shouldn't have imbibed all those fireballs before racing to the pyramid in drunken Motor Kombat
No wonder they all died.

You're jumping the gun, again. I think this kind of outcry is better suited for after the comics, after Story Mode, when you'll know if what you're saying is true or completely nonsensical. Hell, maybe by the end of the comics and the beginning of Story Mode, all of Mileena's allies are dead, and it's just her trying to go after Kotal! There's no point in condemning something you have no knowledge of, based on assumptions that suit your grousing.

I, myself, am not defending their (currently unknown) decisions but merely spitting out possibilities as to certain characters' (possible) exclusions, having close to NO information about the story and the cast's role in it, just like you and everyone else.


EDIT: GODDAMMIT, weren't we just recently talking about the inutility of this thread?? I'm being roped into discussing this, again!!

*smacks head*
And I just now after 9 years got the connection between the race to the pyramid and Motor Kombat

First off I want to say that I really like Mavado, Havik, and Reiko, and I still have hope for two of them to be in MKX. However, I won't be disappointed in the least if they don't make it in. Why? Kotal Kahn. Ferra/Torr. Erron Black. Cassie Cage. Takashi Takeda. D'Vorah. Kung Jin. Old man Kung Lao. Old man Kano. Throne-hungry Mileena.

I haven't been this eager to try out characters in a long time. While I would have loved a redesigned Mavado, I still have all of those other characters. There really isn't any of the characters announced for MKX I think are completely uninteresting. Jacqui is probably the least, but we also haven't seen any gameplay from her. (I still don't see any arm enhancements on her, but I do see a weapon on her wrist.)

All in all, adding 3D characters would be great, however there isn't anyone I would want to get rid of to add them. I'm sure a bigger roster would make everyone happy, but what we have is great, in my opinion.

Rain from the trailer says hello, thus no grousing to be tailor suited to my argument. Same can be said of who we think is Baraka in the background. So clearly one, if not a few, of her allies are still kicking and noticeably missing from the roster.

Rain still has the best scene in the story mode so far

Hell yeah he does

Aside from seeing him alive after that sunburn, I gotta say I like Mileena's "Come at me, betch" entrance.

And pants.

I swear to God that gif is hypnotic