Thoughts on story mode and the consequences it could have on MKs future. *Massive Spoilers*

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09/15/2004 11:16 PM (UTC)

So yea, I've just gotta get my thoughts out... 'cause I have so many of them.
Obviously, I just beat story mode... and while it was better than MK9's, in my opinion, I have some huge concerns as to how it will impact the future of Mortal Kombat in potentially bad ways. Massive spoilers ahead.

Obviously NRS is taking a much more story driven approach to Mortal Kombat than the series itself or any other fighting game, for that matter, has done. The canonical comic tie-in is a big indicator that this is really uncharted territory as far as fighting go. Some games have done this to a lesser extent, but Mortal Kombat seems to be building universe more akin to what we've seen in DC and Marvel than other fighting games. Something to be explored in multiple mediums.

This is, on the surface, a very cool and exciting thing. However, unlike Marvel and DC, the story is NOT the only thing that matters in Mortal Kombat. Let me preface this next point by saying that I'm aware, that in the past, the MK team has said, "no one really ever dies in Mortal Kombat." However, with this new focus on trying to really build on the continuity and universe of Mortal Kombat as whole, I believe it's possible they are trying to give the events in the story more integrity. What I'm saying is that the characters that died in MKX, could very well be permanently dead, for the sake of having some real impact in the world of MK.

Now what is wrong with that? I mean, the best stories are the ones that leave you feeling something... feeling the gravity of what just happened. That's all well and good... until you remember that Mortal Kombat is a fighting game. These characters are enormous parts of the game. When you invest so much time into one character, you almost become that character. So for me, I always play Sub-Zero, primarily. I've spent hundreds, possibly thousands of hours playing this character over my life. If he were to die in MKX and be removed from consideration due to his absence in future games' story events... well that would borderline ruin the series for me.

Now I understand that not every iteration of Mortal Kombat can have every character. That's fine. I'd like to clarify that the problem is that if these characters are permanently killed, then they may never be seen playable in any future game due to the amount of resources being dedicated to the story of the games. That's something that will be extremely hard to swallow for me. Sub-Zero is not the only character I, personally, feel this way about.

I'm going to start getting into the specifics of the story now. For anyone that's actually read this far, I'd like to thank you for spending the time to allow me to share my thoughts with you.

Let's talk about characters who've died in MKX.

Mileena
Baraka
Quan-Chi
Sektor

....these are some pretty big fuckin' names here. I personally adore these characters. I know there's players out there who have become heavily invested in playing and learning these characters. The potential loss of gameplay that comes with the death of these characters is scary. They all bring very unique and defined styles to the game. I'd hate to know that we'll never be able to play as any of these characters in future iterations because of their fate in the story.

Anyway, I hope I've done well enough in illustrating that concern. I'm gonna go ahead and move on to my critiques of the story mode itself.

I'll just say that it felt much less contrived than MK9's story. All the fights seemed very natural and didn't seem to need to bend to meet the format of the mode itself. Cinematically, it also had excellent direction. There's really not much to elaborate on in regards to praising the story mode, other than to say that it was, overall, very good.

Now I'd like to get to my concerns and questions.

I did not like the way they handled Mileena. She never really seemed like much of a threat to Kotal Khan and was dispatched of very easily. From MK9 to MKX... she lived like 25-30 years and did very little. For a character as wonderful of Mileena, I feel like this was one of the worst, if not the absolute worst butchering of a character in Mortal Kombat history.

Baraka, another character who is loved for his gameplay, but has repeatedly been given the shaft in the story, is now potentially dead for good. Enormous waste, again.

Aside from the characters who were killed, there were a few cameos that I felt weren't quite fleshed out enough. Fujin pretty much vanished for the last two thirds of the story. Where'd he go?

What happened to Jade? Why was she the only character who wasn't resurrected as a revenant?

...and finally... let's just be real. The Cage-family-green-aura... that is dumb. Dumb as shit. It's essentially SSJ mode for Cassie and Johnny that activates when a loved one is in peril... DBZ much? And it just gives them the power to defeat Shinnok with his medallion and the power of Earthrealm? I don't even...

If anyone has actually read this whole post, I'd love to hear your thoughts. If not, well... at least I got this shit off my chest and out of my head.

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•04/14/2015 05:04 PM (UTC) •

A couple notes on what you said.. I agree on a lot of points.. but sometimes they have to kill characters. And it can't just be new characters.. As for Mileena... Watch her ending if you haven't. If they choose to go that route then its a way to get around her death.

Plus Stryker, Nightwolf, Kitana, Liu Kang, and Smoke are still dead/revnants.. (it really bothered me that Smoke didn't emit smoke at all) So even though they killed them off they can still come back if NRS chooses to use them.

Secondly.... Even though you didn't see his dead body, pretty sure Bo Rai Cho is dead..

Baraka is easily replacable. Just make another Tarkatan look unique from the rest and there you go.. No MK story ever said he was stronger or smarter than the rest, so no reason another Tarkatan General wont step forward.

I also agree there were huge gaps in the story telling and chapters. Why the hell would Fujin not come back? One chapter and done.. makes no sense from a story telling perspective. Its like Quick Silver in XMen Days of Future Past.. It makes no sense to use him once and then he's gone for the rest of the story.

NostalgiaGod

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•04/14/2015 05:44 PM (UTC) •

I just want to come in and say Scorpion is a fucking moron.

skyboy

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•04/14/2015 06:07 PM (UTC) •

I was a little confused by Kitana's story as well. Since her live version is the main version, I assumed she wouldn't stay a revenant through the whole story. That being said, where is Jade, and why is she mournful if she's dead as well?

Ki5hiDo

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•04/14/2015 06:14 PM (UTC) •

Reptile's ending should be canon

Prince of Edenia
Raiden Welcomes Rain
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•04/14/2015 06:20 PM (UTC) •

I liked Reptiles ending as well...

Hated Erron Black's.. I mean I like the part that involves Shang... But he had plenty of opportunities to off the people he offed... why wait until the very end... didn't make sense... Its like they had no clue what to do with him...

Speaking of Shang... I like how multiple endings elude to him coming back.. My guess is that's what is going to actually happen in the next game.

I liked Kotals ending.. and how basically its a reverse mortal kombat where Earth Realm are the aggressors.

NostalgiaGod

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•04/14/2015 06:23 PM (UTC) •

I also want to say Takeda and Jacqui are so adorable! <3

TigerStyle

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•04/14/2015 06:33 PM (UTC) •

I feel like Mileena should've been the final boss. I'm not a huge fan of her, but giving a power boost to an old villain who was never boss material would have been more unexpected and interesting.

As far as the deaths go, I'm sure those will be reverted in a game or two when the devs need to cycle in some of the old characters that haven't been around in a bit to keep the rosters fresh.

Shinomune

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•04/14/2015 06:37 PM (UTC) •

IMHO, the order of the MKX endings:

Mileena(X)-->Liu Kang/Kitana-->Scorpion-->Raiden/Kotal Kahn-->Kano(Sub-Zero(?)-->Reptile-->Ermac-->Ferra/Torr(?)-->Erron Black/Jax/Sonya-->Johnny-->Cassie-->Jacqui(?)-->Takeda/Kenshi-->Kung Jin/Kung Lao-->D'Vorah-->MKX Ending post-credits-->Quan Chi(X)

(X) = Maybe, but I don't want him/her return in MK11.
(?) = Doesn't connect with anyone else, can be non-canon
(

•04/14/2015 06:56 PM (UTC) •

MKfan99 Wrote:
A couple notes on what you said.. I agree on a lot of points.. but sometimes they have to kill characters. And it can't just be new characters.. As for Mileena... Watch her ending if you haven't. If they choose to go that route then its a way to get around her death.

Plus Stryker, Nightwolf, Kitana, Liu Kang, and Smoke are still dead/revnants.. (it really bothered me that Smoke didn't emit smoke at all) So even though they killed them off they can still come back if NRS chooses to use them.

Secondly.... Even though you didn't see his dead body, pretty sure Bo Rai Cho is dead..

Baraka is easily replacable. Just make another Tarkatan look unique from the rest and there you go.. No MK story ever said he was stronger or smarter than the rest, so no reason another Tarkatan General wont step forward.

I also agree there were huge gaps in the story telling and chapters. Why the hell would Fujin not come back? One chapter and done.. makes no sense from a story telling perspective. Its like Quick Silver in XMen Days of Future Past.. It makes no sense to use him once and then he's gone for the rest of the story.

I haven't watched any endings from arcade mode, yet. I'll get to them. I do understand the need to have characters die in the story. My point is more that, before, NRS could basically just resurrect any character they wanted to without much reasoning. But now, it seems they want their story to have a certain scope, integrity and impact that fighting games really haven't quite done before and that this approach actually clashes with the nature of fighting games in certain aspects. Some characters are nearly fundamental to their games, and removing them entirely from the series would just flat out suck.

I'm fairly certain Bo' Rai Cho is still alive, actually. Shinnok specifically said, "when he dies..." while referring to him. They never showed anything close to being definitive about him actually kicking the bucket.

As far as another Tarkatan stepping up... it just seems pointless. Why even kill Baraka, then? We've had Baraka since 1993. He's the face of the Tarkatan's, IMO. I did, actually, get the feeling that he was meant to be the most powerful and skilled of the Tarkatans, too. While not nearly as devastating as the possibility of losing Mileena, Baraka is still an icon in Mortal Kombat.

KungLaodoesntsuck

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•04/14/2015 07:39 PM (UTC) •

I don't think we have to worry about characters missing games because they die in story mode. You can always have characters that appear non-canon but still be a part of the game. Tekken 5 did this with Heihachi.

•04/14/2015 08:12 PM (UTC) •

KungLaodoesntsuck Wrote:
I don't think we have to worry about characters missing games because they die in story mode. You can always have characters that appear non-canon but still be a part of the game. Tekken 5 did this with Heihachi.

Yes, this is a possibility... however the amount of resources delegated to the story is probably a big factor in determining the roster of a game.
Creating a character that can't or won't be used in story mode is a less optimal use of assets.

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•04/14/2015 08:23 PM (UTC) •

Okay ive been thinking about it.... and I have another gripe about the story mode....

Raiden disappears from the story for a large portion of the game... and when he shows up he says hes been traveling to different realms... I feel like this is a huge story gap and missed opportunity.... What he may have encountered sounds much more interesting than the story we played through... I would have rather seen that than a lot of the flashback sequences...

Maybe what he experienced during it, and all the story threads from the comic that aren't even mentioned in the game, will be the focus of MKXI? I dunno. I just feel like if they are going to go for a huge cinematic scope of a story they shouldn't leave as many blanks.

Masr

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•04/14/2015 08:52 PM (UTC) •

I think the 'Kold war' looms, with Shinnok dead and the return of a stricter Dark Raiden who refuses to be reasonable, with any threat, period.

renegade494

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Have faith in the elder gods.

•04/14/2015 08:56 PM (UTC) •

I think the story mode was the only great aspect of this game. You sound salty though, Sub Zero and Scorpion always get all the attention, now the Cage's get the spotlight and you complain? I think their green aura power is awesome and is something that should have been prevalent a long time ago.

Nephrite

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•04/14/2015 09:09 PM (UTC) •

I also want to know where the hell did Fujin disappear after Chapter 1. LOL if they kill him off in the comics...

I'm a very frustrated Fujin fan right now.

Jade was the highlight of the story mode, as in she is the most interesting/intriguing character and wasn't part of any of that shit.

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•04/14/2015 09:15 PM (UTC) •

Yeah, I like what's there in the story, but I feel like it should've been twice as long. I know, the game can't be in development forever, but it felt like there were chunks missing, stuff left unresolved, characters that just sort of popped in and left and meant little to the story, etc.

A few other things:

-Speaking of missing stuff... Can someone explain the mid-credits scene with Raiden, Kitana and Liu Kang? Did Raiden die? Do Kitana and Liu Kang rule the Netherealm? Raiden talks about mercilessly defending Earthrealm and that makes him... Evil?

-What did the Outworld rebellion / politics have to do with Shinnok versus Earthrealm? It kinda felt like that whole story thread just died once Shinnok came back.

-Is NRS ever going to find a way to make lackeys more than lackeys? I'm happy that they went a little further in explaining what some characters wanted, but again, none of it amounted to anything or even attempted to mount to anything.

-Where the hell were Reiko and Havik?

-NRS desperately needs to find some programmers that can program a female face.

-So frustrating to see Sareena, Fujin, Li Mei and Bo Rai Cho in bit parts and not on the main roster. I get it, there's only so much room and variations etc. I'd gladly take two unique and more fleshed out variations along with some more characters that I like, if I had a choice.

-While it sucked seeing Baraka go from "he might be on the roster" to the worst kind of cannon fodder (the kind that dies). I'm glad he at least made the story. Does he Goro the Netherealm now that he's dead? What about Mileena, Sektor and Quan Chi?

-Really hope that Quan Chi takes a game or two off now. Him being at or near the heart of practically every MK since MK4 has kinda worn on me.

-Scorpion seriously traded the lives of Liu Kang, Kung Lao, Stryker, Nightwolf, Kabal and others just to kill Quan Chi? Didn't he think that they could use him to revive the fallen Earthrealm warriors and THEN kill him? That's been the problem with him since forever. The whole "blinded by rage and grief" thing keeps making him look like an idiot.

-Why no Jade revenent? Boon seems so adamant that she's just "dead." I don't get it.

-Takeda and Jacqui are great together. After thinking I'd hate the young characters' attitude, I actually really like how they molded the stories and personalities of Cassie, Jacqui, Kung Jin and Takeda and really hope that all four are in the next game. Having said that, they REALLY need to work on Jacqui's move set because it's among the worst in the game. I do like her character a lot though.

-I was great to see Cassie get the win.

-Wait... So the main villain that we'd "never guess" was actually the guy everyone thought it'd be from the start? Eh, okay... Do we at least know why he turned in to a demon form?

I think that they could've stretched the end chapters more to not only establish him as a credible villain (we already got that he was a credible threat, but doing more than turning the sky red might've been nice), but to give Kotal and his forces more to do than say "Earth is lost, we'll offer you to Shinnok." Which just made him sound like a wuss.

------

So on the whole, I actually liked the story a lot, I just wish that there had been more of it to paint in the gaps and establish more of the characters, their stories, motivations, and to give them some action.

I'm sure it's greedy as hell, but after four years of waiting, a four to five hour story just feels like such a short time to spend with these characters in this world.

illu§ion

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•04/14/2015 09:24 PM (UTC) •

Ermac's ending...the return of Shang Tsung.

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•04/14/2015 09:25 PM (UTC) •

Agreed. I wished it showed how Mileena got ahold of the Amulet.... What Reiko is doing.. etc.

There really was no point in showing the outworld civil war other than one of the sides got ahold of the amulet that Earth Realm cared about..

And yes... Kotal seemed like a bit of a bitch... I know he really just cares about Outworld... but come on.. just giving up right away and saying he will give them over to Shinnok... weak..

And to whoever said it in another thread.... It felt like they gave Tanyas story to D'Vorah. Since originally Tanya was the one who was secretly part of the Brotherhood of Shaddow.... which incidently... what happened to it? The only person who had anything to do with it was Quan Chi..and Shinnok.. and eventually you find out D'Vorah.. The revnants don't count since they are under Quan's influence...

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•04/14/2015 10:23 PM (UTC) •

Personally I absolutely LOVED story mode and EXTREMELY happy with how things turned out.

Something that was long overdue and that was Scorpion killing Quan Chi and finally he did it. I loved his personality all round and that he has formed the Shirai Ryu back. I wonder how NRS can continue to evolve him for the future. Extremely excited.

I think it fantastic to see the new darker Raiden at the end. Changes his character and now gives him a lot more backbone. I want to see Raiden kill his enemies. Awesome.

Sub-Zero did a lot better than I thought even though his chapter was a waste. His parts in Jacqui's and Scorpion's chapters were far more important than his own. Good to see Hanzo and Kuai Liang at ease and now they can move on from the boring rivalry of both clans.

Of all the characters I was most grateful for Mileena's death. What a complete and utter moron she actually is. None of her allies were loyal to her except Baraka. They are all using her just to further their own ends. The most stupid character in the game.

Looking forward to see how Kotal will rule Outword now that he has finally got rid of the the civil war. I want to see Outworld evolve from being a war like realm.

Loved Sareena's cameo.

I thought Kitana, Kung Lao and Liu Kang were marginal, practically the same as Sindel, Smoke and Nightwolf and are only playable because of popularity.

Good to see extremely little in the comic in the game just liked I said it would. No Reiko in the game is a huge bonus.

Overall extremely satisfied with the story. Things are finely poised!