There was a lot of stupid nonsensical shit in MK9's story mode. Unfortunately that's the trouble with a fighting game trying to tell a story...somebody has got to be the punching bag and there aren't a lot of choices.

All I wanna do is forget about that horrible storyline of MK9 and pray that MKX's storymode will be more worth my time and not be another Liu, Son and John blerghblergh story.

Ludonarrative dissonance my friend.

Or you know the fact that Stryker had a gun and Ermac is still bound to the rules that his mortal physical form permits.

Because Stryker obviously couldn't have any amazing wins against anyone without offending fans, could he?

What exactly makes Liu Kang, Sub-Zero and anyone else who fought Ermac more capable of defeating him than Stryker?

If most fans had their way, few characters could defeat anything but cannon fodder, at best.

But I bet people think Batman could beat Ermac just fine, even though like Stryker he has no superhuman abilities.

Exactly, most of the time if we were going by story, hardly any of these characters would be capable against one another in a fist fight.

Because plot

Ultimately like I said it is all dictated by the basic gameplay being forced onto a story. There are only so many characters to choose from for a story mode fight. Eventually someone will be a punching bag for someone. In the case of someone like Reptile then everyone just beats your ass.

Because people tend to think Stryker doesn't have above normal human abilities, Liu Kang and Sub Zero do, on top of being exceptional fighters. My theory is that Earthrealm warriors get "chosen" by fate because they are gifted individuals, the best the human race has to offer. Also Ermac is avatar level, like an elemental. Probably one of the strongest in the MK universe outsides Bosses and Gods.

Here is hoping this time around they can be bothered to make some unique, but generic story mode characters for this so we don't run into the punching bag issue again.

Aaaaand if they do that we'll just have to deal with the consequences of the fanbase insisting that those "characters" be turned into real characters in future games and get a spot on the roster. *sigh* You guys...

To be honest almost every character on MK9 was a punching bag in the story. I hope it changes with my main Ermac this time around.

Liu Kang throws puffs of fire and kicks people really hard. He beat Ermac.

Stryker shoots a fucking gun, and has incendiary grenades that should be somewhat above a police officer's pay grade. Case closed.

Some people don't realize that Stryker is not "just a guy." He's a supercop. And if you're gonna ask how he can beat Ermac, you might as well ask how half the cast can beat Ermac. Ermac is powerful, but he's not invincible.

So, which characters do most fans think Stryker can beat, exactly? I'll bet it's only Mokap, since he has a goofy design and thus must be an awful fighter (using fan logic).

Actually, a second character fans might think Stryker capable of defeating would be Ferra, without Torr around of course.

A third one would be one of Drahmin's flies, maybe even all of them if he's lucky.

If you want to understand how Stryker might have stood a chance against Ermac, well, Ermac always need to use his hands to telekinetically levitate anyone or anything, so Stryker has to watch Ermac's hands and get out of the way. After that, Stryker can shoot Ermac, who certainly can't be bulletproof if fists and kicks (much of Liu Kang's arsenal) are enough against him, or throw grenades at him, or zap him with his long-range tazer from MKA.

I could go on explaining how else Stryker could beat Ermac, but it'd be too long.

Yeah I didn't get that. Im pretty sure since every good guy had a chapter and Stryker is a good guy he kind of had to get in a win, but I was a little disappointed that he beat Ermac lol He should have fought and beaten Kano or something instead.

Stryker has a gun. He should be putting bullets between the eyes of Goro, Reptile, Mileena, and Shao Kahn. But again this is a fighting game not a narrative driven game where this shit would actually be thought out.