You're goddamn delusional, you know that?

The woman is Li Mei, but she's just an NPC.

Why would they have an NPC talk that much in the trailer? It doesnt make sense. Im not delusional. That character looks like her costume. People thought it was Sonya but that doesnt look like her costume in the comics.

Not disagreeing with you because you could be right but does that make sense really? Why feature a NPC so heavily in a story trailer? Why give her a specific close up and as much dialogue as a character like Sub Zero? Why give her screen time at all?

Something is fishy here. Looking back at previous games like MK9 and Injustice there aren't really very many examples I can think of (none actually) where an NPC character is featured like that. There were some NPCs like the random soldiers gathered to create the soulnados in MK9 that spoke but it wasn't like this.

You get what I mean? Seems kind of odd to bring a character that would only theoretically exist in cut scenes. I'm not saying it's beyond the realm of possibility it just seems really strange to do that.

TRMK interview.

Ed straight up said that we will see fun cameos in the story.

No... I can't do this...

I JUST came to terms with Li Mei taking a seat back from MKX... and now it's starting all over again...

All I want is peace of mind, but now I'm in the vortex of "NPC or Playable" that may last till April.

Things are looking really good right now. Li Mei fans unite!!

WILD CARD BITCHES!



Maybe it's Kitana?
Maybe? maybe? The patterns are NOT the same though. Kitana has to lay low somewhere now that she's not Princess of anything.


And this was back when MKX was freshly revealed.

Ed on Li Mei

Definitely not playable.

You and me both. I'm at least happy she is apparently in to some degree. From this little snippet though I just have a feeling like she's playable. There are too many suspicious things about her inclusion in this trailer.

Really odd though because this morning before I watched the trailer I had a dream I was playing MKX and I was using Li Mei. Then I saw the trailer and proceeded to nearly have a heart attack haha.

It's very possible that she's just a cameo and I readily accept that possibility...but dang man it just makes sense.

I wouldn't take that tweet as confirmation, its a pun on may or may not. So he's saying maybe.

However his more recent tweet saying 'Li Mei be in the game in some capacity' is another pun, but the words 'some capacity' have me leaning towards cameo.

lol my bad. Watched it once quickly, watching it again now. Still don't know why she would be wearing what she is. Ya these are all fair points but "Villages" aren't exclusive to Outworld. It could be her but I stand by the fact the story could benefit from a character or two that isn't a killing machine. ONLY TIME WILL TELL (wanted to be cliche as possible)

It's just that... man, I don't even know where to start.

I'll say a little more about it on the podcast, but honestly, I'm just exhausted. I get that NRS doesn't owe me my favorite characters. That's cool. You can't please everyone, and I never expected them to.

But to rub those characters in my face and say "like these peeps? Awesome! BTW, there's a 50/50 chance they won't even be fucking playable. Ciao!!"

Then why would you even... !?!?! I'm just ready for all of this to be done. People can say "if you're disappointed, it's your fault for getting your hopes up," but that's not how hope works. Hope is a reaction. My hopes were perfectly fine when I woke up this morning, lol. The fact is that I am invested in her coming back. Psychologically, there's not a lot I can do about that, lol.

So it's frustration or delusion. Those are my choices. I can assume she's an NPC and be disappointed now, or I can delude myself into thinking she's a roster lock. But there is no middle ground. My brain doesn't work like that. I wish it did.

Just six more weeks. Just six more fucking weeks and they can never dick with me ever again.

Some NPCs might be playable in some towers missions .. AKA MK9's Goro.
/Thread

Yeah that's a fair assessment. If she was just a NPC I would be pretty disappointed but not gonna lie for me the speculation has been pretty fun! In this thread alone I think I've been more active in regard to these boards than I've been in probably years. Doing this Scooby Doo/CSI stuff has got me reenergized about this game. Seeing her depicted in such a suspicious manner in a story trailer triggered my spidey sense. The same one that was right about her being in Deception based on some of the early screenshots. Don't know if you remember.

Like I said though seeing her has reenergized my enthusiasm for MKX. Every other character reveal has been along the lines of - ok, whatever, predictable, don't care. It's all a little different though now.

I'm being a deluded fanboy I know but I just got a good feeling about the whole thing. To me it doesn't make a lot of sense for this character (again, assuming she's Li Mei) to be just a NPC. She's featured so prominently; a lot of dialogue, featured in close up, revamped looks, etc. that I've detailed before in this thread. The story aspect too is suspicious; its both incredibly important as a catalyst and yet the message is going to be delivered by a cameo character? Really? You're gonna devote screen time to someone like that and not have them playable? They could have given the same story message from dialogue between the important characters more than likely yet here's Li Mei spilling the beans...

That doesn't scream NPC to me. That screams bit-part playable character in storymode ala Jade from MK9 to me. Again, I know, delusional fanboy reading too much into the trailer...but yeah. So hyped for MKX now hahaha.

Yeah it wouldnt make sense. She seemed to be a big part of the story. Characters like Sheeva, Baraka, and Reptile had like one line in MK9. Why have a character who has already had more dialogue than them be an NPC?

Idk, doesn't really look like her IMO.

I don't know, I didn't get a single Li Mei vibe at all from her.

She certainly looks a lot different than the Li Mei im used to. I saw this woman in the trailer but never got the impression it was her besides the mention of a village.

Well I think that's Li Mei... she might not be a fighter as Shujinko might never taught her in the new timeline.

If that's her, then I think we have finally seen a character that actually improved in the new timeline, but this has more to do with how shitty her design in the first timeline tho.

Remember; NRS is pretty awful at maintaining facial consistency between games. Kitana, Jax, Liu Kang, etc. have all looked different game to game. The difference in her appearance could be attributed to lack of consistency but also possibly due to the more "realistic" aesthetic NRS is apparently striving for. We also don't have a full body shot of this female so it's impossible to fully gauge clothing style.

I think the primary thing with her is that she has her hair tied back rather than letting it go loose. If her hair was long and loose I think it'd be a bit more obvious. Also from what little we see of this woman's clothing we can however see the color of the clothing is kind of bluish purple and that there are floral patterns on the top. Both consistent with Li Mei's previous appearances.

The big thing is the dialogue. There aren't any other Outworld villager characters in MK in terms of playable appearances. This character also shows devotion and a desire to protect the people in Outworld. That is straight up Li Mei's schtick.

There's not really many other people this could be.

Temp man how are you so invested in two characters to fuck you up at this level? I mean I get being disappointed but to have it actually like, emotionally exhaust you isn't healthy bro. There's so much to be excited about in MKX that if you just opened your perspective about it you'd have more fun with it. It's just a video game dude.

This isn't entirely directed at Temp here but I'll admit I have a hard time identifying and relating with people that take the perspective of "if my favorite character isn't in the game then fuck it, I want no part of it." I mean is your enjoyment of the entire game series boiled down to the investment of one or two characters?

Take me for example. Before MK9 Sub-Zero was my go to guy for the series. However after playing MK9, I gravitated to Mileena. Even if BOTH of those characters weren't in MKX there's so many interesting characters that look appealing and that I'd be excited to explore based off of their gameplay and what we know about them as a character (D'Vorah, Cassie Cage, Jacqui Briggs, Quan Chi, Takeda). So if Subs and Mileena sat the bench, I'd be like, "Well shit! Looks like I'm going in on D'Vorah...or Jacqui....or Cassie...or someone because the game still looks hype as fuck!"

I mean hell I'm still going to look into them despite Mileena (probably)and Sub-Zero being in the game.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that if you find yourself bummed out (again this isn't just to Temp) that your favorite character isn't in the game, try and be open minded about what we know IS in the game. This is shaping up to be the best Mortal Kombat game period to-date. If that's not exciting for people who are fans of the series then I don't know what else to say. On Topic: My money is that it is Li Mei but she's an NPC cameo.

It's the nature of desire and scarcity. I found my sweet spot before the trailer was revealed. I was sorta prepared for Li Mei not being in the game. It's been a 9 year wait, but this is where we're at. Fast forward to now, we've actually SEEN Li Mei in MKX (it's probably her at least), and WB/Boon/Whoever doesn't wanna reveal if she's playable because of... reasons. I don't get their logic, but this is the route they took.

So I'm restarting this journey "is she in or isn't she in MKX." It wasn't fun the first time I did it. This isn't something a human being should have to do twice for one game, lol. The fact of the matter is that when you wait 9 years for anything, it starts to take a toll.

That's why it's frustrating when people say, "don't get your hopes up." It's essentially asking people not to care, but there's no off switch for that.

We can agree or disagree that showing off characters without telling us they're NPC's or not is a dick move. I think it is. That's a great way to disappoint people, and I don't really see who wins at the end of the day. Fans of the characters will be disappointed, and non-fans aren't going to give a shit. Where's the profit?

When you're at the brink of starvation (and have been for some time), and someone says "we do have food, but we haven't decided if we're going to give you some or not," frustration is the natural response.

And you're right: MKX has a lot of great stuff in it. It's gonna be great. And when the game comes out, I can simply enjoy it without NRS in the background fucking with my sentiments. The problem is NRS/WB here, NOT mkx.


It's just a game, but at some point, we have to admit it's a passion project too. If I had the perspective that MK was just a game franchise, I'd probably feel a lot better about Li Mei's inclusions/exclusion, but on the same token, I also wouldn't be doing a podcast for series. That's the danger of being invested in anything: you reap amazing fruits, but the thorns stab deeper, too.

That said, the tournament scene is not just a tournament scene. That's a very different creature with all sorts of dimensions. Character inclusions has a HUGE effect on that beast.
EDIT: though it does bear mentioning that Smoke is a different boat. I'm actually alright with Smoke not being in this game. It's really just Li Mei.

^ I completely understand. It's best represented I think in how NRS handled Jade earlier this month by just flat out stating that she was officially not on the roster with the reveal of Kitana and her Mournful variation. I know that sucks for Jade fans (I actually like Jade a lot) but that simple and direct answer regarding her is just way better than giving wishy-washy, trolling, psuedo answers.

It's OKAY Temp. Just take a breath, relax and pray for DLC. lol I, too, really want the likes of her, Fujin, Reiko, Tanya, Bo, all those cats to have a really good shot at getting in. If they really do just keep the majority of them cameos and then sweep them under the rug, I'm going to flip my shit and probably be really pissed and spam the fuck out of their twitter accounts. lol

There's always Super Unlockables though.