I agree that keeping classic characters will please hardcore MK fans and I hope they do this.

I sincerely believe that a "clean slate" will be the beginning of the end for the series unless they compensate with mind-blowing gameplay, but like that'll ever happen...

You're most likely right...which is why I'll most likely be skipping MK9.

That looks about right given the circumstances right now Vash. But I'm not entirely sure that it's necessary to once again only give us the same characters, in the same fashion again.

Really though, all they'd have to do is present any new characters to us in a way that allowed us to comfortably gravitate away from some of the "classics".

There's a way.......rather, a tactic to get that done without completely nullifying the "classics" presence, and at the same time, allow the new characters room to breathe (so to speak). Actually, we see this technique all the time in movies, and in television shows, where the "stars" take a backseat for the large part of a movie or show for the purpose of learning more about the other characters in the mix.

That way, even if they are "new" characters, they grow in-to the slot that they have been given on the roster. Instead of seeming forced on us, like alot of these latest new characters have. I think of those newest characters, the ones I would definitely consider despite whether I like them or not, are:

: Sareena
: Frost
: Drahmin
: Havik
: Nitara
: Li Mei
: Dairou
: Hotaru


Mostly the women. Mainly because they're just different, and alot of the fan base accepts them /// likes them for whatever reasons. Drahmin, I think has a chance to capitalize on his backstory if they would elaborate in detail on him, and Hotaru and Dairou are more interesting to me than Darrius vs Hotaru.

---------

Wanted to mention something else here too. It doesn't require the MkTeam to wipe the character slate clean in order for the game to be new, feel new, and be and feel totally refreshed.

Fresh art perspectives throughout the game can greatly help do that. Fresh takes on how many different ways we can experience Mortal Kombat can greatly assist in doing that too. A great online experience can help do that. As well as fresh looks about, and in-to the characters' past, present, and future situations can all help do that.

For example, take the Living Forrest. Now look at it in the movie. Different reasons to like the same thing, even though alot of the aesthetics that were in the game, were not in the movie. All I'm saying is that the same principle can be applied to a new game, and be taken much much further now given the capabilities of our current tech.

So, say they did keep the Living Forrest and took what they knew fans wanted from a new MK game. I'd bet they'd try and make the Living Forrest feel more real.

If I were them, I'd probably try to make it feel like we were literally in-the-forest more than ever. I'd probably try to emphasize on some real life fears in that arena//world too. Cuz I mean after all, that's what that arena hinted on in the early games, and the advancements in technology on those "hints" are exactly the sorts of things that are possible current day. MKSM did this pretty adequately for that game with the same arean (even the Dead Pool arena, and the Shadow Priests were utilized in that game).
But, I'd probably bring some of the trees closer in the Living Forest, or I'd scatter the trees a bit more so that they're not so uniform, and animate one or two of the people that are stuck within the trees grasp, closer to the characters on screen.....I'd love to see weeping willows (branches and such) that hang over the characters or over the screen....ect
Maybe the indicator for the "end of the arena" could actually BE one of the trees instead of just being hit, and bouncing off of an invisible wall....whatever. But you see what I mean there. Fresh, new approach to the same thing.

-- As far as the characters, all they really have to do to reengage fans with their favorite characters, is let the witters do their jobs. Let the writers tell more about the characters through the many ways that we should be able to receive story from Mortal Kombat. Which has alot to do with delivery, but still.

Since the story is one of the main things engaging folks with this game, why they are not using that tool more effectively and efficiently, is beyond me. Especially now days!

I mean, in some of these games out here now, we get pieces of the story from paying non-playable characters (fodder) for actual -- little -- story telling sessions! We get pieces of the story from "things" we can pick up! Haha...Where does that NOT fit into MK? By now it's seems like it should be a prerequisite, or even a stout requirement in order to make MK a good game.

-- Far as online goes, if the contest is being held on another world....shouldn't we feel like we actually went there?!? Gimme a portal or somethin'!

What the hell is all the loading, and these little rooms for? Shouldn't we have little monk avatars that run up and smack other players' little monk avatars for a match? Or something? lol Couldn't we meet in a bar or outside a building on Outworld? In a creeped out lobby at Shao Kahns castle? Anything? SOMETHING? hahaha....

Online rooms with a wallpaper and some names....This is crazy.

-- As far as a story mode, hasn't it become apparent to let the player actually become a part of the Mortal Kombat contest? I mean, we got KAKharacter there, we have a contest....Put it together. HA!

We could be finding out what's going on with the story through the eyes of an insider. Following certain characters around, and getting into fights that way. Who says we have to be Shujinko? Or Taven?

What says we have to be getting information directly from the star characters at all? Alot of info that we receive could be indirect. What kind of game would it be, if Shang, Quan, Shao, Onaga, or Shinnok..............manipulated us!? Dope!

Haha! "That asshole tricked me!"

You see.

Games like Prototype get info from taking people's lives in-the-game. Oh, excuse me "assuming the identity of" other people in the game. Are you serious?

Why wouldn't I want to develop my own contestant from start to "finish him" in the MK contest? Start young, get involved in the contest, and work my own way through the current MK plot. Especially right now, when other games can't figure out what to do with their created character systems. I think the only real contenders right now are all these MMO games, or like, Fable 2.

Open lane(s), Mortal Kombat. Holy Jesus.

*Poof!*

I like most of your ideas for the living forest Predator. The living forest is my favorite all time mk level. It was so radically different from any other mk level. I though there was so much mystery involved in that level. You had combatants hiding behind trees it was great.

One of the things I liked most about the level was the color palette. I love the dark greens and browns but they mixed in some blues as well. It had a feeling of being alive about it.

I also loved how you could not see the canopy in that level because the trees were so big. I loved the fact that they went on forever in the distance of the level too. All that black and blue back there was simply so mysterious and awesome.

I think the living forest needs to return. I would certainly fill the level in more than the current mk levels. The ones in mk vs dc felt pretty empty too me. I would make the living forest mutil tiered. I would have a section where you can knock the opponent off onto a lower level and have you crashing through tree limbs and branches and vines and stuff.

The freefall kombat needs to be tweaked however so that you can't activate it after a simple punch. It should be much harder and more positional to activate to make it more special.

I would place the basic arena in an enclosure surrounded by trees but I always thought as you suggest Predator that some trees should be put into the fighting area itself so that you can capture the mk 1 movie feel of actually fighting within trees. i would also add along with the multi tiered arena I would add another area that you can be knocked into like in mka where you can knock somebody down a few stairs like in the wasteland.

Lastly I would blanket the arena floor in mist or fog to really give it a creepy mysterious feel. Really go all out with the particle effects here.

I thought at the time they were on the right track with the mk4 living forest in terms of scope and color. I like the mkd version but again I didn't like how you weren't really fighting close to or in between the trees.

Well Pred, I definitely agree with you about the new characters idea, it seems like that would be the smart thing to do. Hoever, I wouldn't like them forcing the mainstays to take a back seat, because some times, new characters can be a bust (too annoying, too boring, just plan suck). And from what I've seen in MKD/MKA, they're not very good with making NEW main characters, Taven was too bland, not enough emotion, Shujinko was too submissive, not enough action from him. Instead, I think they should either:
A. Do two different plots that will eventually itnertwine at the end, a good reference is the Saw series, how Jigsaw always has two "games" going on at once, and they will always conenct somehow at the end in an awesome way you didn't see coming. By doing this, one plot can focus on the fan favorites, while the other can focus on the newbies, due to the fact that the veteranas of MK always took a backseat in the story mode in MKD and MKA, I found it pretty annoying, because as stated, Taven and Shujinko sucked.

B. Divide it equally, for example, have a new character team up with a veteran character, a redeeming quality of a new character, seems to me, is when they get some quality time with YOUR favorite character. Now, this method is pretty hit or miss, but there seems to be a better chance of people accepting the new characters if their old favorite spends some quality time with them, that way when yo say they can be a spiritual successor, it's an eased in transition. No immediate examples come to mind, but an instance where they did somethign like this was Dynasty Warriors Gundam, where they took characters from different generations and teamed them up, had them interact. The one problem with this was that there was no explination for it, why not make the team up's part of the tournament, and include character departures IN-GAME, that way we know it's coming so we won't be dissapointed when it happens.

Anyway, those are my ideas, I personally think if done well, either of these could be pulled off, the problem with point A that point B takes care of is a way to make the characters likeable. Because eventually, the newbies would win, which is another reason I hated the Konquest characters, they were somehow able to defeat anyone the encoutnered, which isn't necessary, in some games I've played, you win, but then in the cutscene following, you lose by means of a cheap shot or something. Well, this is complicated, and I have SATs later today. Peace.

Ahh, I love the fog idea, but I'm pretty much "bitter beer faced" by the free fall thing with the multiple tiers. Concerning new ways to experience MK, I think they've had some pretty good ideas, but things like the free fall and the close combat suffer from placement problems. And well, excessive repetitiveness, for me anyway. So I guess I like that you'd want to limit how easy it is to get into those situations for players.

I think the only little game I liked all the way through in MKvsDc, would have been the placement of the Test Your Might. However, even though I liked that, I don't want them to do that again like that. I don't feel it has staying power like the tradition TYM game had back in the day, and even IT was too easy to continually do over and over.

I think the fighting mechanic should be mastered by now. So much so, that having it in the game really only serves as proof that they can make a good fighting mechanic, and for the ladder to beat the boss and get the characters endings. That's probably the only reasons we need it. It's just because those are mainstay qualities about the game that are justified by the games existence in the first place. *shrugs*

I think alot of the rest of the time should be invested in finding new and better ways to let the player engage in the Mortal Kombat world better. Better story delivery, more player creativity, more reasons to play the game repeatedly...those sorts of things should be getting more attention by now.

I figure that by now, people know that there's a contest (or there's supposed to be) going on around MK. People also expect to be expected...... to beat the game with all the characters to get the endings. But if you think about it, that's about it. That's all the typical fan expects from MK.

But as you can probably see, a problem arises in that. And it's called mediocrity. Melo-toned mediocrity because of continuing to get what's pretty much a guarantee from a Mortal Kombat game.

That's why I think story needs to drive the whole game, up until we get to the creative parts. Things like Training, KAKharacter, and anything else manipulable. ect

The only other major reason people wanna buy the game is so we can fight each other. Which now, that's something that suggest the online experience should be magnificent.... But the fighting mechanics and overall fighting scheme of MK should be pegged down.

There's alot of wasted time on continually trying to redesign that aspect of the game I think. It doesn't make any sense to keep fooling around with the way the game works. Outside if "here or there" adjustments anyway.



Oh, well yea. But "classic characters" taking a backseat doesn't mean irrelevant, or inactive either.

I mean, I think if the writers are allowed to drive the game, all sorts of things could be happening simultaneously. In my mind, more of what we'd see in action, would be how important the new characters are becoming to the overall plot and scheme of Mortal Kombat. A game with focus like what I'm saying, we'd probably get to see those classic character become more defined. We'd probably get alot of fan services, more sub-plot content, more of the parameters of some of our older characters. Y'know, little defining moments ect....Things like: love interests, power limitations, origins//relatives, plot twists...and on and on and on.

While on the new character front, it's really quite open how to allow them to make a sufficient entrance into the games. Literally anything could happen to make them important.

I don't imagine they'd get much definition aside from things like alignment or some of the inherent things that we know for a fact about our older characters. Special power, associations, ect.

I like your ideas too though, because it's something that can be used abroad, or individualized to fit a specific character. There are a thousand ways to write a story.

-- You know, I think a wise thing to do is loosely base some of these personalities in the games on actual people. People in the media, people in the developers lives.....Fans..haha whatever. Makes the characters "have a life" to write about so to speak.

Think about it this way, there never stops being inspiration for fresh content that way.....not unless the person actually dies in real life.

Yeah I mean how cool would it be to fight on a fog covered floor surrounded by the trees of the living forest, vines hanging off the canopy, dark foreboding level? Imagine Sub Zero and Noob Saibot fighting each other in that environment, the mist parting after certain kicks and punches.

Now as far as the free fall mechanic goes Predator, you seem to have the same problems that I had with it too. It did get repetitive. It still looked really awesome and added a cinematic and epic feeling to some of the fights though. I think they should keep them.

How would you feel if they limited them to only about a 1/4 of the arenas instead of 95% of them. That would cut down on how often you see them right there. Then I think that they should essentially be treated like ring outs in Soul Calibur. You shouldn't be able to trigger them with a standing HP or LK. It should take a heavy move or maybe certain but not all pop up moves. They should also be slightly more positional to perhaps add a slight strategic element to them.

The exact same thing should apply to death traps as well. I loved them and I want them back. But it should take a heavy move to trigger them and they should be on limited levels as well. They should be essentially MK's version of ring outs in my opinion.

I think that those few changes right there would make them more special and more rewarding.

Thoughts? Comments?

To be honest, I don't think I want MK to have a clean sheet. They would only screw it up (again) with the sequel.

What I would rather have are "final" endings for old characters before bringing in new characters. They did a lot of that for Deadly Alliance, but undid it in Deception and Armageddon.

Plus after the cluster-fuck that was Armageddon, I think there needs to be some continuity.

I understand that no one really dies in Mortal Kombat (Ironic that...) but if they really want to move the series forward they need to "retire" characters, maybe even, give them a last hurrah before sending them to the Netherrealm for ever or forever training young talent or being a shokan politician and so on.

I mean its not like we will never ever see them again: The MK team showed us that with the Konquest mode. I would love a cross between Shaolin Monks and Fable though, acting as a sort of MK Encyclopaedia.

Yea, I've thought about limiting those things before too Thrawn. Particularly the brand of limitation that you speak of looks like the best way to go with it if they did insist on bringing the things back.
However, something to consider at the same time is the awful feeling associated with recognizing that "they tried to fix it". I mean, and if we can see that it's what they tried to do, it's bad. It doesn't even matter if the original idea was good or not in that case.

It's just one of those things, y'know? It's the like working at Burger King and eating Whoopers all the time, getting sick of the taste of a Whooper, quiting the job...and then trying to go back there for the Whooper Jr. and expecting it to taste better because you're eating less of a Whooper.

It's still a nasty burger that you had too much of at one point.

-- Personally now, I think good ideas sell. Great ideas that are executed well the first time, sell over and over and continue to sell in a variety of ways. And for the most part, since MKDA alot of these mini-games, and interim gameplay modes have had their potential wasted.

My take on each:

Chess Kombat - Good idea, wrong application, good execution though. Basically, if they use this again, it should be a tatctical game. Could be a quality of gameplay that we encounter in the story mode, or online in saaaay a team vs situation. Absolutely Not like a traditional RPG either. I think it should be disguised really cleverly. Something like what was done in God of War with the labyrinths, or in some sort of FPS type of scenario.

"Online: Mortal Kombat Skavenger Hunt : Only the strong survive"

or whatever...lol But you get relevance given to all these projectiles, the fatalities, and a whole host of other things associated with a new way people can experience Mortal Kombat from that. Imagine getting rewards from performing the different types of finishing moves and so on. Mercy, Babalities, Animalities, Fatalities....how many fights you lost//won...ect ect ect. All those kinds of stats, and bonuses, and whatnot.

There has to be an object everyone is after. Could be a big bucket of money or something that everyone is "killing each other" over. Take that money, go to your created character, and make him//her better...go to training to learn how to use what you bought. Play through the story mode with those improvements, get more story from playing that mode.....get stuck....go back online to play more games with other people....repeat.

When and why would you stop playing that? All from a tactical "online-mini-multi-player-mode".

Tetris - Ditto^ God of War had a great Tetris reference(about 2:12sec) that wasn't really obvious until you realized; "Oh, THAT's Tetris...clever." It was classic Tetris, kind of covered by the overall scheme and objective for that portion of the game.

I'd like to see how clever//creative they could get with an old game called I.Q.(intelligent cube). I think they did something similar to this idea in MKSM, but not quite.

Motor Kombat - The only way we should be "racing" in Mortal Kombat, should be during instances that strongly suggest a sense of urgency. If that does not happen in that sort of form, I have no problem saying that I never ever want to see it in MK ever again. EVER. It was a bad idea applied wrong, and executed wrong. The only thing good about it was the principles of speed and destruction.

Close Kombat - Good idea, good //okay execution even, but it was placed in the wrong part of the game. It should have been....you guessed it...somewhere in the Story Mode. We should have come upon a situation where we needed to zoom in like that. It should have been faster, AND a more complex mechanic associated with it that we were taught to use in the beginning of the mode. We should have been allowed to go into practice mode, and use that mode independently of the usual fighting mechanic because there was enough there to learn. Different limb manipulations, fakes//taunts, some sort of throws or hip tosses, blocks and parrys.

We could have been trapped in close quarters, and made to fight saaay the Brotherhood of the Shadow. Y'know, "because you need to be in that close in order to fight that way(3:45 especially)".

Or something...Maybe, fighting for your life in the dark against Drahmin or even Moloch in close combat like that would be more intense. Who knows?

Free Fall Kombat - Good idea, good application, and execution for the game it was in, but it was far too excessive.

I like your idea about this one, I think had one similar a while ago. But I think it should make sense why we keep having to do it. I think it should've been harder to be subjected to, and that it should be a specific attribute of only one or two arenas. There wasn't too much bad about it actually. I mean, I guess it could have had more depth to the mechanics of it. But hell, for something that only lasts 3-5 secs, what do ya what eh? It was good.

The main problem with this one is that it was used far too much throughout the game. It was at those times where "I just wanna fight" that it became a real nuisance. A small problem I had with it, is that it just seemed like a different camera angle on MKA's air kombat. But that's a lil' picky.

Um, if they bring it back, I'd like to see it severely limited. I'm talking maybe one arena, and with the option to turn it off in addition to that. Why? Cuz I just wanna fight! haha...

Test Your Might - This one, to this day still has more potential than any of the other ones. Because it doesn't self subscribe to any one thing, and can still be applied in really any way.

You could have it like they did in MkvsDc, or you could scatter them throughout the Story mode similar to the Tetris thing in God of War in order to get some larger objective accomplished. You could have these things in a Practice mode to gauge your progress, or you could have these things placed somewhere on the ladder as independent little games, like back in the day.

Anyway, I think these things are small enough to even substitute for loading screens. As just something to do while the loading happens. And if you "win" during the loading screens, toss me a couple of experience points or something if that's possible.

I like how they played TYM in MKSM too, but I think that whole game got over shadowed by the fact that it was similar to God of War at the time.
But I think as long as they don't whore TYM out, I'd like to see one or two of these little things in every MK game. Just find clever ways to incorporate them.

--Last thing on these:

The lingering problem with EVERY one of these little mini games, is relevance. I mean, if they're gonna be putting these things in there, they need to have something to do with other parts of the game. Gameplay, Story, Fantasy, or Kreative attributes of the game. It should be a "revolving circle", so to speak. Something that always infers that we should keep playing the games to find out more, or get more.

It should always be about "A refreshing outlook" on a common technique that relates directly to the Mortal Kombat world and its different elements. That is, it has to related directly to the character going through a situation, the story associated with the character or the game, or it has to be intertwined with how the creators let us players be creative in the game.

For instance: If I make a created character, I should be able to go through a story mode, and gain currency or experience somehow. I then should be able to pay for information or training (talk to an old man who knows about Mortal Kombat, or see a sensei who trains Kombatants). Or I should be able to acquire information, and have to pay to be able to apply what I know for something else I want to get. Regardless though, the inherent work//reward attribute of the game should suffice the act of doing whatever I'm doing.

So,

: How relevant is Motor Kombat to Mortal Kombats gameplay?
: How relevant is close combat to the fantasy element?
: How relevant is TYM to my KAKharacter?
: How relevant is Chess kombat to the story element in the game?
: How relevant is chess kombat to....to Scorpion story?

Now, there's a slew of these types of questions for Mortal Kombat. Some of these questions are harder to answer than others, but I think the more of these sorts of things are met with answers in the games, the better the games will come out. And there's a greater chance that all this potential is capitalized on for alot of these good ideas. The more full that "circle" is, the better the game will be. Because players will be able to tell the level of thought that went into the game.

And in the end, none of this requires them to "wipe the slate clean". This is creative thought process>>, application>>, and execution stuff.

This company is too old to be lacking in these ways.

Dude, I think I played motor Kombat one time when mkd came out. I think. No I agree with your main point that all of the mini games basically stop the momentum of the fight when you are really into a match. Klose kombat was not too bad but it needs some tweak of some kind. I like the free fall kombat because it was pretty fast. It felt to me like it didn't kill the momentum of the fights. Except when you can trigger it so damn easily.

Case in point, the Apokolips level. You can trigger free fall kombat with the first move of the match basically from your starting positions. Lame.

The only mini game I have liked so far other than the TYM is the chess kombat. That wasn't too bad. I'll agree with you that the application could have been explored perhaps a little bit more.

I also like the how the story mode was executed in mk vs dc. I would like that carried through to mk9. That way you can actually find out what happens in the game and not have to wait for the next mk game. That could be neat.

I REALLY REALLY REALLY wish Ed Boon actually came to this site and read the comments because my MK REMAKE / Alternate storyline is EXACTLY what Mortal Kombat needs to become relevant again, and can please the hardcore fans while bringing in new.

Im sure alot of you have read my ideas but just to give you a quick idea of what MK9 SHOULD be .....

After Armaggedon, Onaga wins the world is his and everything goes to hell with the last of humanity hiding from his forces. Even the gods have left earthrealm realizing its a lost cause.

One of the last decendents of Shaolin and Liu Kang swears vegence on the Gods for giving up on earth, which brings about the God of Time, who gives him the power to travel through space and time as one last chance to save humanity.

Now he must travel through alternate Earths to find the chosen few warriors to bring back to this Earth and defeat Onaga. But after visiting countless earths he finds that Onaga has too taken over almost every other version of earth EXCEPT ONE .........

Its this FINAL earth that the game takes place in. And on this earth we see all of the hardcore fans favorite characters, but with a new twist. Think of what Marvel did with the ULTIMATE universe. Its Win Win

1. Old cast with a reimagining to modernize them for example

Scorpion and Subzero have reversed roles with Sub-zero being killed turning to the spirit of vegence Noob Saibot , who now blends the leather bondage look with a hooded grim reaper look, and scorpion having a more human look with skull mask covering his nose and mouth.Thats just an example of the many things you could do with the old characters.

2. Alternate earths explains MK vs DC

3. Unlockable old school costumes to keep hardcore fans happy

4. Outcome of this story can retcon Armageddons horrible story, letting the future of the franchise continue on as if Armageddon never happend.

5. Scanning real actors ( simaler to sports games or WWE games ) can bring back the realistic look of the original games.

This is what MK needs, not more crossovers or gimmicks.

You have some good ideas, but the flaws you have in there scew with the some of the good ideas you have. For one, there's this:



1.) What happened to Onaga before MKD had nothing to do with taking over Earth. It's an indicator that Onaga was satisfied with where he was before Shao Kahn overthrew him, and took Outworld for himself.

So why choose Onaga to take over Earth?

2.) As far as the gods leaving EarthRealm, you'd pretty much have to go through Raiden and Fujin. And at the current, Onaga is not strong enough to do that.

When Raiden sacrificed himself and didn't kill Onaga with the sorcerers, Onaga had help. He had possession of all 6 of the Kamidogu which gave him an edge. Since then, he does not have those any longer, which is why we see him making deals with the other bad-guys in MKA, instead of just obliterating everyone and taking whatever he wants.

Onaga is not so powerful without the Kamidogu. So again, why choose Onaga to take over Earth when he wouldn't be able to beat the now, Dark Raiden(for one), AND Fujin (for two)?

That's a no go just on Dark Raiden alone. Especially on Earth where Raiden presumably still has more jurisdiction as a god, than Onaga would have as a tyrant. He'd get raped.



I thought all the gods left? Liu Kang had kids? With whom? And how long since MKA does your story take place? Looks like 20 or more yrs.

Good idea on a "Father Time" God though. There's a thread buried around here somewhere that I made up a similar character. I also have a Mother Earth, my own interpretations of the elemental gods, a servant for Raiden (from the comics), and a Grim Reaper sub-god type character.



Why do we need a multi-verse? Isn't that a played out pallet for driving a story forward by now? DC has a few, Marvel has a few, now MK has to have one?

I'll just say that I don't like this idea. Gets to sounding like Mario Galaxy except for with yet another Liu Kang type.

No sir, I do not see it as a win win. I see it as a rip off story from the comics worlds(no pun), and a regurgitation of a dead MK character.



The parts where you talk about what you'd like them to look like is pretty good. However, I'm not sure about the switching roles thing.

I'd say re-imagine more, because I like that part the best.



No it doesn't because MKvsDc in non-canon. That's trying to justify the existence of something that never existed in the first place.

The story in that game was horrid anyway.




Cool!

I'd use MK1 as the theme for the alts since we've been seeing alot of MK2-T inspiration lately..



This only justifies starting after MKD rather than after MKA. See, if you're gonna retcon MKA anyway, start from the last hardest facts in the MK continuity.

I'd be for something like that, Or for something that actually explained all the bs surrounding MKA. Either way, we need to get the confusion out of the way.



I'm not sure exactly what you mean, but going to college for gaming, I'd like to see the result from using this technology. A new method of motion capture.

You know something else we need too is a character edit along with KAK. I want the ability to change the colors of the main cast. I hate how Scorpion lately is always in grey or light black instead of dark black. If I want to take off those stupid shoulder pads I should be able to. That is one of my favorite features in Soul Calibur 4. I think that would add some more replayability to the game as well.

There's something better.

When I read what you wrote there, I instantly thought about editing a characters strengths, weaknesses and so on according to the players progressions and habits through the game.

First though, I'm not sure I cared enough about that feature in SC4, to look at it as a "hole" in Mortal Kombats player creative capabilities. At the same time, I don't want it to sound like I'm shooting the idea down. I think that if they were to include something like that, it would just need relevance to something else in the game.

Like, if I'm gonna be changing the clothing of a roster character, or the color of the clothing of a roster character, then what's the purpose for alternate costumes? Yknow, since I'm essentially being allowed to control that feature anyway? Why have distinct alternate costumes?
If your idea is part of the creativity that the developers allow players to have, wouldn't I be better entertained by having those options relate to that characters story? Or gameplay?

I mean, as it stands, alternate costumes really don't have much of a purpose other than aesthetic. But what if changing the costume did something, or meant something to everything else going on in the game for that character?
So, if I change Scorpions shoulder pads to something else (or simply take them off), isn't there some potential for that to mean something for how honorable he is supposed to be?

Maybe it has relevance to his clan somehow (in honor of Takeda, the founder of the Shirai Ryu). Or maybe he finds something that belonged to his wife or son(people do that), and that's why it would make sense that he would change a garment or the color of his clothes. Which is the justification for why we would be allowed the option to make that sort of change to his appearance.

See what I mean? It's not frivolous then, even though the gesture is simple, and on the surface it's a subtle contribution to player control.

*plus + plus = plus*

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As for my initial point there, editing the characters strengths and weakness or whatever should really just be about assessments. I mean if we're doing all this training and practicing, and playing this game to be the best, I think we should be able to see what kind of character we start with, and in contrast, see how strong a player we are. And I think we should be able to make adjustments on these things by playing the game more.

For instance, if we're not using projectiles in the way we fight, a "wigit" of sorts should be able to monitor that, and give us that information.

Method? Simple bar graph with percentages. Might look something like this. Or something like this

I think it'd also serve a purpose for when we get online and want to look at another players gamer card too. Allowing us to see how strong a player they are. From a base character starting point, and then from the perspective that lets us see how we are actually using the character(s) that we most frequently use.

We should be able to tell if as a player, we're strongest in the:

:: air
:: ground
:: mid-range
:: long range
:: short range
:: how much time we've put into pefecting our style
:: Weapons
:: Repetitive usage of a particular move
:: and more...

And to get more specific as pertaining to the character as the developers created them,

:: Talents
:: Power
:: Skill
:: Durability
:: Vulnerability // Invulnerability
:: Stamina
:: Psychology // Perception
:: Weapons

ect ect ect...should get really specific though because every character is that different. And then it depends on how you use those differences to your advantage as a player. That's also why I think there should be at least two of these. One for each of the specific, base characters, and at least one more overall one that assesses the players usage of the character(s) in a fight.

They shouldn't be scattered all over the place, no. But you'd have one that would tell you alot about how the developers built up the character, and then one that would tell you what kind of player you are, and with which characters. Could also be one graph like that second example I posted above too.

So, if you only used Raiden (like me alot of the time), I'd really only have one dualistic style graph to look at. Whereas if you used all the characters on the roster, and there's 20 characters, you'd have 10 graphs to look at.

I think one of these should be viewable from the characters profile, the other should be viewable from the gamer card. Both housed in a "Practice area" of the game, and from a "Extras" menu. I'd even take that a step further, and allow players to scroll through all the character//player stats once in the extras menu, and from the gamer card.

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Basically though, the idea is to give us more control over the improvement process we go through when playing with any given character. And I think for that, it requires that we know more about the characters and our own playing habits.

This can be done in any number of ways really, but percentage graphs seem like an easy, almost weightless solution to a few problems in MK.

Actually, with the character edit feature in SC4, different pieces of equipment can affect your offensive and defensive ranking, maximum health, along with your capacity for special abilities. So it does have a relevance other than just aesthetics in that game.

Also, each of the standard characters has an outfit that cannot be recreated through the cusomization feature, thus making it unique.

(cue star wipe) - The More You Know

I was referring to Mortal Kombats inadequacies should they consider bringing that feature into a Mortal Kombat game.

Mortal Kombat does not typically flesh ideas like this out well before the final cut.

Far as SC4, I just don't care for the feature.

My guess is that we will see the story streamlined, and only the most influencial, iconic and important characters come back. Cool designs and shit will also be taken into consideration. Characters like Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Raiden, Liu Kang, Kung Lao, Sonya Blade, Kitana, Kenshi and Havik all have a really good chance of returning, no matter how fucked it makes the story.

Havik? Why him, just asking out of curiosity.