Ultimately I think it just comes down to Character loyalty and just picking the variation that suits your playstyle the best, I don;t think NRS would make one variation the defining "this character must be played with this variation" on purpose after making the effort to make each variation unique and interesting.


However when it comes to tier whores and cookie cutter tournament setups or specfically for the purpose of counter picking. I think that's the only time variation loyalty will play a role in MKX.


Only time will tell though I may be completely wrong and each character has that one epic variation that must be played or you're just not optimizing. though I REALLY REALLY HOPE that is not the case.

Historically, that's been known to happen (grooves from CvS2 come to mind). To an extent, I'm okay with that. Logically, one set of options is going to have to be better or worse than others on some degree. If developed right, the meta-game should compensate for that.

Hopefully, the difference in variations will be minimal as far as overall match-up scores. That's all I can really ask for. We should probably accept early on that zoning variations may do better against, say, Cage than other variations (especially now that the dash-cancel is gone).

Here's my worry: if one variation has a very high damage reset, and the other two don't, that's the only varation we'll ever see in tournament. Those are the kind of things that make me nervous.

Yeah I'd mostly pick the one that I have the most fun with gameplay wise, and the best part about variations is hopefully this will mean no character ends up being a complete dud as long as they have at least one good variation.

I don't like counterpicking and variations look to be a pretty overt design approach to diminish counterpicking. It's a character loyalists dream come true.
That being said variation choice pecking order for me is matchup based and then style based (how well it works against any given MU and then how fun the variation is to play.)

I'd probably stick with the variation that seems closest to the spirit of the characters so yeah style and aesthetic.

I expect that I'll pick favorite characters to main based on the basic appeal of that character, then learn each style for that character in order to be competitive for particular matchups. I think that's what NRS is trying to do with variations--helping your main be competitive be in a range of matchups.

I've already decided I like Grandmaster best for Sub. Gonna be throwing ice clones all day.

For each variation is like a character itself. In MK9 how we'd main one or two characters similarly I'd main one or two variations from same or different character. I did MK9 trained with multitude of Fighters becoming a jack of all trades, master of none except kung lao and sub zero

I'm all about style. So whatever variation can create the most creative combos is the one I'll be using

Loyalty is more for the character than the variation. Maybe some variations could fit more with the stage of the character you like more I guess, but the fact that they "have access" to them is enough for me even if I'm not using them (Sub-Zero is a Cryomancer and could focus on what powers that heritage give hi, or he could focus on the powers granted by the Grandmaster medallion).

Personally, my favorite character is Kuai Liang (and I'm 99,8% sure it's him) and I think I will probably use his Cryomancer style a lot. During MK9 I used Sub-Zero very agressively, 2-2 sword move and then depending on the enemy action I, either Iceball for full combo, 4 and clone for safety on block and sometimes I would throw a slide against a standing blocker to surprise him.

Th Cryomancer variation loses the clone, which I will miss and I will probably use Grandmaster a lot because of the new functions with the clone (being able to throw it or intentionally shatter it making it explode), but Cryomancer in adition of the wapons combo themselves (which doesn't neccesarily guarantee better combos by itself) brings a couple of thungs very useful for those starting combo variations: a powerful overhead smash and a grab-like move that can be used during a combo (hammer and dagger stabbing sequence).

A friend of mine doesn't like the hammer on that character, but I remind him Sub-Zero isn't a ninja, he's a warrior and it fits with his ice powers (he had a kori mace before), and Sub-Zero being able to throw an overhead is just great for agressive play.

It's possible that I'm wrong and the hammer is slow and the dagger sequence is blockable, but probably I will use that one a lot, and probably will play Grandmaster to try new things or against certain playstyles.

So far the aesthetic changes to the character's are quite small. The largest being D'Vorah lacking a hood. If this trend keeps up I will mostly choose variation on style (that is, which variation suits my playstyle best and the one I can rifle off combos naturally.)

But.. If reptile's variations change his skin from green scales to fake skin, I will without a doubt choose the human skin variation everytime without question.

I'll say that at the moment, Raiden's displacer and Lightning Traps, as well as D'Vorah Brood Mother look like they could satisfy the Cervantes Instant Geo Da Ray whore i had become playing Soul Calibur. The looks had a lot to do with my loyalty to a character but i bet this'll still end up being a question of tier for me. I.e: I love D'Vorah Swarm Queen, Brood Mother, but something tells me i'm in to have a hard time if i'm in for crazy damage.

Finally, a thread talking about Gameplay and not character wishlist.

Being that Raiden's video is the first time to give you more understanding of character variations than what we could grasp from the e3 videos and whatnot. I really fear for this Variation concept. I find it to be pointless.
You can easily mix these variations into one, or bring back the stance switch button. It would be more balanced since the full arsenal is there.
But to have specialties separate like the way it is now is just going to lead to alienating Variations in the end thus making all that work from NRS pointless. Especially when you got people who just ride on what Tournament players use and they're going to go from that. It never fails.
I don't need to play the game to see how this is going to work out. There's many Fighters that had character specific options right before the match and the majority of players all flock to the same one because it had the easy set-ups for that character. Mortal Kombat X will be no different.

And further more, to make a fighting game to purposely have counter picking is the wrong step in direction in terms of game balance.
I don't want to lose the match simply because it's practically impossible for Character A Variation 1 to beat opps Character B Variation 2. Skills will have nothing to do with it when NRS purposely made it so the chances are less or more and not even. Especially after the fucker waited for me to pick my character and it's variation. Are you kidding me?
Am I the only one alone on this?


Variation clothing changes might look neat and all, but that's not the way to go in such a game genre, otherwise you guys are going to be crying the same "Shao Kahn is too hard" story all over again, simply because you guys don't know how the character works.
I'm not in it for the looks, I'm in it for the gameplay. If the character's gameplay suits my liking, that's the Variation I'm going for, even if I disagree with the slight costume change.
And I'm sure just like everyone else will flock to it in the end, I'm definitely got my eyes on Raiden's Teleporting Varation.

If only they can make explanation videos for previous characters that were announced.

The Stance determines half of the character. But one stance of the same character is even more similar to each other than a stance of a stance of another character.

Half two thirds Special Moves and Combos, beyond the X-Ray, interactions with the environment and if the tag combos and assists (if tag team mode, which hopefully) belong to the character of which is independent stance he is. Have Martial Arts Techniques to half of Combos and a third of Special Moves (movements 2-3), and the movements are gripping the Stance.

Then you choose from the list of opponents half of your character and the other half Stance (you have 3 options).

It would be great if you can change your stance before every fight in Arcade and also be an 8-Kombat mode, which would be better used in this way.

I am going to respectfully disagree with you. You clearly are a tournament gamer and while I can see, sort of, your angle; until we get our hands on it, it is a moot point.

First off, I am sure modifications will be made during tournaments to pick a character and variation prior to the match. This decision would have to be handed in before you fight, locking you in to your decision.

Second, I disagree whole heartedly that character A variation 1 can not beat character B variation 2. While 1 character may have a slight advantage I dont see it making a huge difference. I had 5 mains in mk9. And I beat all of my friends with every character. Sure, I am a casual gamer (I am not entering tournaments) but practice and a knowledge of a characters combos (ones that arent spelled out for you in the move list) can be leaps and bounds more important than anything else.

Third, The vast majority of gamer's who will be playing will be casual gamer's not pro-gamers. While you and the few other tournament gamer's may flock to a handful of characters &variations the rest will not be wasted. The other variations I can guarantee you will not be under utilized in the lifetime of the game. People will want to play and learn all of the variations of their favorite characters. I among them.

Fourth, The variations only give added depth. They do not take anything away from the game. Your argument is basically this: "In mk9 there were elite characters that tourney players all flocked to; so, in mkx there will be character variations that tourney players will flock to." And to that I say "yes, but who care's?" It is going to happen whether we get single character variations or if we get three. Tourney players will find top tier ways to play no matter how NRS shapes the game.

Fifth, (and my last point I swear ) , Mixing variations into a button switched stance. - Honestly, I hated that part of mkDA-A era. It is much easier to balance a character by removing moves than adding moves. So think about it; NRS has found a way to keep all of the characters fan favorite moves and adding new moves while taking moves away.. follow me? For balancing issues it actually helps NRS to spread all these moves into three variations and gives the fans more substance.

Everything you said after the first sentence confused me.

Yes, the stance is half the character but it's better than selecting one out of the three from the character select screen. When with a Stance feature, all three Variations is available to you at any time during the match, with the way it is NOW though, you're stuck with one Variation.
But again, they could had easily bunched all the Variation specialties into one for the character so that the Variation concept (or stance) doesn't need to exist. But it's too late for that since the Variation concept is this games gimmick.



I acknowledge your opinions, I won't respond to them though because I realized that I'll just end up repeating what I already said while you have your heart set on your opinion and so do I and that'll be pointless for both of us. I kind of see your point in "Third" though.

And no I'm not a tournament player, just a Fighting game enthusiast who is very concern about his favorite franchise. MK9 was perfect to me and almost completely balanced than any other Fighter I experienced in the last some years. I would love to see NRS knock another one out of the park before I hang up my gaming gloves in a few years.
But, it is what it is. I can't change anything about the game, all I can do is express my concerns until release.

I can see this being an annoying issue.

I don't know why you'd limit yourself on one variation for a character. It's like having access to a saw, a hammer, and a screwdriver and then being like "Fuck it, I'm building everything with a screwdriver".

Because NetherRealm didn't give us a tool box to fit them all in.


Nice analogy though.

I'm not building a house, I'm playing a game. If the saw and hammer can't pick up ice clones and chuck 'em at you, then I'm picking Screwdriver-Zero.

That doesn't even make sense. NRS did EXACTLY that by including 3 selectable variations per character. If your point is that the variations cant be swapped in-match like stances then that still doesn't negate the fact that you have the option to switch styles yet retain the same character BEFORE or AFTER the match.

I am glad we are getting three variations per character simply because each character will get more depth where gameplay is concerned. MK9 was, as I and many others have mentioned many times before, a great improvement in comparison to all previous MK games when talking about gameplay. Having said that, it didn't take much time to fully explore and get to know all angles of a character (though this was somewhat character dependent) simply because of the limited dial-a-combo system and universal framerates for some normals among all charcaters.

I will explore all variations for every character I plan on maining. Right now, Sub-Zero looks interesting and Raiden really blew me away with his variations so they will be the first characters I will fully explore (unless Shinnok surpasses Raiden's gameplay) and based on my matchups I will choose the variation I think is most effective

I'll likely just pick the variation that fits the way I want to play a character. That's not to say I won't try to grasp the other two variations though. I have a tendency to be overly offensive, so if someone's got a read on that, having a plan b is not a bad thing.

Right now, the character I'm most interested in trying out is Ferra/Torr. The style that interests me most(contrary to the nature of the character) is the style that doesn't make use of Ferra. I'm sad we didn't really get to see that style for e3.

I really wish they would release a trailer for the announced characters like Raiden's.

I mean fair enough. Some people sit down with MK to play checkers where other people are playing chess. I get that, and you know what? That's totally fine. People play these games the way they want to play them. I'm just pointing out that one of the biggest key features of the game (as of right now) is the depth and strategy that lies in character variation.

I mean it's literally what most FGC heads are buzzing about across FGC communities and is arguably the single most unique mechanic MKX is introducing into its fighting engine.