So,I watched the entire Story mode(leaked on YT,btw) and,to be honest,it's not bad,but it's certainly shorter,at least in terms of how many fights/gameplay there is. The QTE do feel tacked on,IMO,probably the best one was the D'Vorah fatality on Baraka.
Some of this stuff I know was posted before,but in any case,here's some more story info.
for the record,the final death toll is: Baraka,Mileena,both killed by D'Vorah,Sektor,killed by Sub-Zero,Quan Chi,killed by Scorpion,and Shinnok, "killed" by Raiden.
regarding story cameos,Bo Rai Cho shows up in Raiden's chapter,he nearly gets killed off by Shinnok.(although he doesn't,just to troll Raiden,I suppose) Doesn't show up again.
Li Mei and Kano don't show up after Sonya's chapter. (Kano gets captured by Sonya)
Tremor never shows up,nor is mentioned in the story mode. So far,the only returning DLC MK character that's not a story npc.
Fujin's only appearance is in JC's chapter. never shows up again after that(what,was he bored,or something?)
Sareena's only appearance is in Jax's chapter(Jax also never shows up again after his chapter)
Reiko never shows up,he's only mentioned(specifically,the Reiko Accords they bring up several times,which they never explain in detail,beyond it being a non aggression pact between Earthrealm and Outworld)
Jade never shows up,nor is mentioned. Only MK9 revenant to not show up at all. Kitana never uses her Mournful variation,so it's completely unknown if that variation is canon or not,as she always uses the Assassin variation in Story mode.
Sheeva,Kintaro,Cyrax, Skarlet, and Goro are never shown nor mentioned.
Noob Saibot,Shao Kahn and Tsung are only mentioned. (Kahn's shown in sculptures or statues,but not as an actual character)
Kabal,Nightwolf and Stryker aren't seen again after Jax's chapter(presumably,they are still undead,they never show them getting killed or restored),only Kang,Lao,Smoke,Sindel,and Kitana are seen after that. They also don't have dialogue.
Reptile,Ermac and Erron Black show up several times,but are nothing more than jobbers,for the most part. Ferra/Torr only show up TWICE: once in their main costume,during Kung Jin's chapter,and the last time,in their alt. in Jacqui's chapter. Seriously. Baraka,Rain,and Tanya show up twice and do more stuff than they do.
BTW,probably known,but Raiden's chapter does feature a flashback to the whole rescue "the Shaolin masters" part from MK9 that they never covered in that game.
Also,the whole "Rise and fall of Kotal Kahn" is BS. It does show his rise to being the emperor of Outworld,but not his fall: He's shown talking with Reptile,Ermac,and Black(notice the pattern of no Ferra/Torr! they don't show up during D'Vorah's chapter either) where the four believe that D'Vorah set Cassie's group free,thinking that D'Vorah wanted to return the amulet to Raiden. They show up again in Jacqui's chapter,where they get sent back to Outworld by Sub-Zero and his clan. So yeah,Boon straight up lied to us regarding Kotal's fall.(unless the fall was D'Vorah's betrayal,and even that's a flimsy excuse,given that Kotal still rules Outworld by the end of the Story mode)
The civil war also isn't given that much of a focus here: the big focus is on Shinnok's Amulet,and Quan Chi and D'Vorah's plan to release him. Chi succeeds by letting himself get captured in Scorpion's chapter,where he performs a spell that releases him...just as he gets decapitated by Scorpion.
Finally,there's 5 fightable story npcs: Tanya,Rain,Baraka,Sindel,and Corrupted Shinnok.
Corrupted Shinnok's fight in story mode is the standard 2/3 rounds,unlike the arcade fight that's 1 round only.
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