Introducing new characters

Mortal Kombat X

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posted09/06/2012 01:10 PM (UTC)by

balkcsiaboot

@blacksaibot

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02/11/2003 02:30 PM (UTC)

One thing I'm not fond of are the new characters introduced from MK4 and onward. That is not to say that there haven't been great additions, but we have to agree that the majority of them are forgettable (just look at some of the poll results in MKO's supreme champion tournament).

I'm not trying to make MK like Virtua Fighter, Tekken, or Soul Calibur... but they CAN take a slight hint at character development. Most fighters, I've noticed, have stuck to their main cast and introduced only a small handful of new characters, and they took their time making those characters unique and deep (both story and move set). I'm fascinated at how quickly a fan base grows to new characters in the other fighters.

The problem I see with MK is that everyone has to "die" (but are friggin' resurrected by some damn means).

BUT

The problem I see with the other games is that you see the same shit in a different games. No REAL story behind them and I find myself asking the question "aren't these fuckers tired of the same tournament/battle?"

How can NRS find a good balance between
1. introducing new characters and not throwing out all our favorites?
2. not overwhelming us with too many stale characters
3. not boring us with the same damn characters each iteration

Last but not least, what top 10 "new" characters did you like the least from MK4 and beyond?

Me:
1. Kobra
2. Kira
3. Daegon
4. Shujinko
5. Taven
6. Jarek
7. Drahmin
8. Hsu Hao
9. Dairou
10. Darrius

My list is mostly derived from Deception... proving a point about ditching too many of our favorites and shoving out waaaaaay too many new faces. Which reminds me of why MK3 sparked the downfall of the MK series to many people - and then they tried to reconcile with UMK3. Too little too late. I literally remember looking at the MK3 arcade cabinet and saying "who the fuck are all these people" and walking to the MKII arcade to lose my quarters in!!

McHotcakes

@McHotcakes

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"Never Stay Down"- Steve Rogers

•08/28/2012 04:33 AM (UTC) •

Well first off I'd like to say that I think that the characters in Mortal Kombat are more developed than other fighting game's story wise because the MK team actually does try and tell a story. Which brings us to the reason as to why a lot of new characters weren't that well received.

The MK team does seem interested in telling a story and having it grow and progress which is the reason why they tend to kill off more characters then other franchises. A good story can't remain stagnant. Something has to change, and in a game in which people rip each other limb from limb then it's inevitable that some of the characters are going to die at some point. But you don't want them being lost forever so it seems that the solution came about to have the clone characters take over. Oh Kano's dead, so this new guy Jarek is going to be using his moves. That way Kano can still be in the game and still be dead.

Well that didn't really work because most fans rejected the clone characters and wanted the originals to return. And of course story wise that isn't a satisfying idea but they had to be brought back somehow. It's almost has if by having a story NRS can never seem to please their fans. if they kill off a popular character then to please fans their only options would be to raise them from the dead, or introduce a new clone character who would probably be hated for being nothing more than a rip off.

My solution to that would be to simply have non canon character appearances in the roster. So it doesn't matter if your favorite character dies because you will still be able to play with them. This way they can focus on having a good story without worrying about wedging in fan favorites.

acidslayer

@acidslayer

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•08/30/2012 03:37 AM (UTC) •

i would say something along the lines of street fighter games would benfit mk cast. for the longest time ibuki was not see then returned in super street fighter 4. she was great and was improved apon in every way of sf3 3rd strike.

also tekken does a good cast selecton by introducing a few new characters each game while maintaining/updating returning characters. sometimes characters take a break and look and play better than ever. just look at true ogre from ttt2.

mk should not add new characters until they improve apon

fujin
sareena
frost
nitara
bo rai cho
onaga
shinnok
kai
jarek
blaze
chameleon
khameleon
lei mei
so on.

all the new characters from mk4 - mka could be improved apon before adding new fighters to take the place for the next generation of mortal kombat games. it's good to finally see characters getting better treatment. there is still room for improvement and new things to learn. since wb is backing mk financeally there so much can do that they couldn't do in the past. i'm looking forward to the future of mk has a franchise.

Kenshifan1

@Kenshifan1

•09/04/2012 01:04 AM (UTC) •

I would like to make my own and you guys can put in the game this guy is name is nightmareX he is one of blaze demon abandoned in armegeddon just like scorpion he is neutral

balkcsiaboot

@blacksaibot

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•09/04/2012 02:07 AM (UTC) •

Kenshifan1 Wrote:
I would like to make my own and you guys can put in the game this guy is name is nightmareX he is one of blaze demon abandoned in armegeddon just like scorpion he is neutral

We're not the game makers...

Maybe a new Kreate A Fighter would suit your needs...

KungLaodoesntsuck

@KungLaodoesntsuck

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•09/04/2012 04:51 PM (UTC) •

I'm one of those guys who believes every character could be great, but they have to be revamped with better gameplay and an overall better appearance.

I think it would be best if MK pulled a Tekken by absorbing past rosters. That way if a lot of fan favorites are killed like in MK9, they can still play as them.

mintpuff

@mintpuff

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I like to pretend I'm older than I actually am.

•09/05/2012 12:40 AM (UTC) •

I liked a lot of the characters that were introduced in MK4 onwards, some of them were really pretty great.

The characters who I'd really like to see make a comeback are:

Havik
Ashrah
Tanya
Dairou
Darrius
Frost
Hotaru (even though I don't actually like him he's still a good character.)

Havik, in my opinion, was probably one of the best additions in Deception, and really from MK4 onwards in general.

I just really like him. He's really... something... different (in a good way?).

I also don't share in the fandom's general hatred towards Dairou. If they elaborated on his backstory and personality I bet people would start liking him. I see a lot of potential in his character. Also, he has a cool sword.

My least favorites were:
Hsu Hao
Taven
Daegon
Kobra
Kira
Drahmin
Shujinko

Seems like there's a lot of similar opinions on the forgettable and simply 'bad' characters. Taven and Daegon were just really lame and seemed sort of just 'here have them for this game' type of characters. Hsu Hao... uh... no. Kobra is probably just the most boring, annoying, stereotypical evil 'kid' that I've ever seen, Kira just doesn't have much of a personality or any potential, Shujinko was.. sigh. I don't know, I don't think he was good enough to try and replace Liu Kang. He was just the boring 'hero' type who ended up doing more harm than good. And Drahmin is pretty much on there for the same reasons as Kira.

So.. yep. Adding too many new characters is going to be a BAD idea. A good balance is key, really. A couple more, well thought out characters would be good for the series, then MK9 guys, then a few from the MK4-MKA era.

DistraughtOverlord

@DistraughtOverlord

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•09/05/2012 03:01 AM (UTC) •

I was never against introducing new characters with the MK franchise but sometimes the amount of new comers got on my nerves. I agree that other fighting games compared to MK seem like they don't have a story at all but VF is probably my favourite storywise. Not that there is a big step forward between each installment, some characters are even kind of running but not getting anywhere. But it was the case with some veterans from MK and that even with the last game.

I like the idea of introducing non canon characters and also, from now on, if they must keep the most popular characters active even if things are a bit still for the particular char, adding 2 or 3 new chars only in each game could result in having the already established names a better chance at being developped. With a roster of 25-30, 10 or 12 elders at least (Maybe a couple more). Add to that a number of post MK3 character and 2 or 3 new faces could do it. And i still believe that even with their 60+ characters roster it would be possible to do great and better with many of them for the years to come than they have done in the past.

I don't like all of the post MK3 chars as much as the vets but i'm a supporter of a lot of them i'd say. In terms of chars i wouldn't mind to see disappear:

-Blaze
-Onaga (No offence, he has a great look but a better new boss could come along. And if he's not the big boss i wonder what purpose he could have.)
-Shujinko

Couldn't care less about those 3 in particular.

PickleMendip

@PickleMendip

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STATE FED LIES CHARM EMPTY EYES. Anon.

•09/05/2012 07:26 PM (UTC) •

While i agree with the OP on some extent, yes MK4-MKA saw some of the worst characters, but also some of the best: Li Mei, Kenshi, Bo', Havik, Hotaru, Fujin, Shinnok, Ashrah & Tanya are among my favourites.

There is much to be done but also much has been achieved.

As for even more new chars, i think that fewer would be better, Like MK9 having Skarlet, Cyber S-Z, and the (two) guest(s) with an original pre-existing cast worked supremely well. It gave them that chance to really focus on bringing out the best in previously neglected chars, Stryker being the obvious example.

So for the next game i'd like to see mostly original cast, there's plenty to choose from, maybe one or two new but if the new were in fact originals that had never been playable before, that would be better, so as to really give them that chance; eg. Tremor, Wu Lae, Masked Guard (?), random Tarkatan #3... (i'm kidding with those last two)

balkcsiaboot

@blacksaibot

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•09/06/2012 01:10 PM (UTC) •

A Masked Guard (or even a Shadow Priest) would have worked in MK9, but not MK10. I know you were kidding, but they could have done what Soul Calibur does with their "generic" fighters. Well, I take that back... MK9 sorta did do that already.

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