There is not all that much that could have a shock factor for me. It would be nice for the gore to be more extreme along with the fatalities being more detailed but that would not be a new gimmick...just the same one improved.
On another hand,it could go into a whole new direction if we had larger arenas or sandbox arenas with 1-16 characters all trying to kill each other classic MK style.
Other than such insane multiplayer modes as just stated...I would not mind more customization...create a character is an epic win in any type of game genre for me but something new to the series like maybe a special move maker or a fatality creator mode would be a good addition.

MK is already the shock value to the entire gaming industry without ever having to really try to do so. They don't need to concentrate on shock unless it's like, a fatality, or the "fatality moment".The mere premise of the game itself is shocking. "Stylized Fighting, Violence and Brutal Killings".

That said, all they need are fresh ideas, and great execution of those ideas. This requires that they be given the time to execute those ideas...properly. Flesh these things out so that they can see ahead of time whether or not the ideas actually make sense, and work for what MK is supposed to stand for.

They need to ask themselves and be able to answer: "how is this going to improve one or more elements of the games overall playing experience if we put this feature in the game?" If the answer provokes obvious, and sort of ingenious spikes of excitement as per MK's themes and so on, then it's probably the right way to go. But, there shouldn't be a plate of mediocre ideas that get into the game. None of this "put alot of things out there, and hope people like at least one of them" stuff. Makes them look like they don't know what they're doing, or what their fans like.

Take the Konquest mode for example.

: In MKDA, it was a cool idea, but it was pretty nonchalant in it's approach. It didn't really have an obvious central purpose, other than to let us play MK differently. It was a pretty good start, basically.

: In MKD, it was about 10 times more aggressive than MKDA's konquest, as to "what it was doing in the game". We know for a fact that it was there to progress the story of that game. It was there to allow us to experience the story through one of the characters. This was a fantastic follow up to the initial concept of its predecessor in MKDA, but it was still missing some things. The things it missed though, were understandable considering the huge jump interactively, that it made from MKDA.

: In MKA, it failed to progress as a unit of furthering that sort of entertainment in Mortal Kombat. What I mean is, it recognized how important the story element IS in MK, but they repeated mistakes and botched the story. Mistakes such as making us only be able to play with one character, not being able to jump, climb (and so on), only allowing us to find secrets through the chests that lay around....things like that.

A huge failure to me however, is that this Konquest mode did not intergrate well with other aspects of the game at all. You see, story ties everything together, and nothing really seemed to...connect properly other than "run up the pyramid, and kill the big guy. So I'm only doing this to see how this guy gets there.". Problem with that though was "why should I care about Taven, and why, out of all the other seemingly more important character from pre-existing games, should Taven have been the one to do the deed? Why not Sub-Zero or someone that I actually care to see what happens to him?

Also what I mean is, it didn't mean anything to any other portion of the game once we were done playing it, it was empty once we finished the two main parts. It closed itself off, and disallowed more play to come from it, unlike MKD's Konquest mode, and unlike MKSM. Aside from that, there was no new information that we could count on, and the idea that some of the characters were going to get killed, didn't happen. The whole thing was a big fat "Idunno".

It also failed because it was alot shorter than MKD's Konquest mode. There were positives, like the use of weapons, and acquiring special powers, but inside of the same type of "playground" as MKD presented to us, how much more fun could I have had with those things? None. It was a repeat that fell short of the bar MKSM set.

Speaking of which, I do think MK: Shaolin Monks outdoing MKD's konquest had alot to do with how MKA's konquest was expected to be. I really like MKSM, and at the time, I hoped for something equivalent to it to shine through in MKA's konquest mode. It didn't.

The biggest failure of MKA's story mode however, would of course be the execution on the story element. When//If they do this sort of mode in the future (which I really hope they do), they need to make it with the full intent of telling the whole story truthfully, and integrate it well enough with other elements of the game that we have more control of outside the story mode. (the fighting theme//concept, the story telling methods that are applied, the fantasy element, the characters and what they're doing, the mood or horror or suspense element in the game, training, online, KAKharacter - character building..ect The different elements of the game.)

Sooo, what we do in the Konquest mode should affect our KAKharaters more, which should feed into the arcade mode(s) somehow (training, maybe?), which should relate heavily to the story element in the game somehow, and so on and so forth on an endless circle of implied continuous play (after I'm "done" what else can I do? MKD's konquest, and MKSM did this well because they didn't end when it ended, and there was actual stuff left to do or find. The progression from that, is having it again, and allowing these things to be relevant to other elements in the game. Almost dependent on other things in the game, but not so obvious).

And then of course, no more canon//no-canon games with the konquest. Pure fact that we can rely on.

: MKvsDC's story mode isn't worth shit to me. The best thing about it was that it was non-canon. The only other really good thing about it was that they finally got good voice actors for the characters. I personally didn't appreciate watching alot of vids, and being ushered through the story, and using who they wanted me to use, when they wanted me to use them like that. The point is to PLAY the game, I don't wanna watch it happen, and only play matches in a Story mode. Let me play through, and figure out how it happens. Let me take who I want to, through the thing. ect...

Don't get me wrong, I love cut-senes, and would never wish them away completely. But it was abused in this game over letting us experience the plot better. They should use them to...

::: fill in a blank, like in a cinematic situation with the characters exchanging information, banter, or whatever other rhetoric(I don't like the little RPG text box talking mid-game). This gives us a chance to get a feel for the real demeanor of the characters on screen. It can intensify, or degenerate the playing experience. But, it lets us see what kind of personality this character has. Something we've been lacking since MK went 3D, but that's another story.

::: display an instance of espionage, or other non-playable action. Some stuff you just can't play through. So since MK is not a game based on traditional rpg//rts//fps//mmo//sports//ect standards, but does have the elements of a lot of different types of games within it, they should use a cinematic to show things happening in the fashion of those types of games' sometimes. Like, "How does anybody know stuff in MK?" Well, it could be a first person shooter situation, and they could show us that, through a cinematic. You see?

They could answer these sorts of situations with bios, endings, or cut scenes. There are other methods too, but those are the most obvious ways we have for receiving info in MK.

::: explain things that can't logically be played through, like large jumps from one time, to another time. Like they did with Shujinko getting older in MKD.

This is the biggest issue I had with MkvsDc's story mode. Via the concept of a story//konquest mode, it is counter productive to the player, if they take control away from the player, when they should be adding more ways for the player to control the game. Not take it away. Alot of the "play" could probably be centered around a Konquest mode now if you ask me. And I'm not even a traditional rpg fan. teh.
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Also, to make MK "top dawg" again, they need to have good concepts, and fully exhaust those good concepts once they see fans receive them well. So, after they make them and put them in a game, and fans react well to them, spend the time to find out why fans like them. Make sure to progress those things for the fans. Listen to the pros and cons of what people like about the things they like. And I mean, dig deeper than the surface fan base for reasonable answers here. No sub-surface fan I've come in contact with would have agreed with motor kombat.

Another thing they need to do, is get back to how pseudo realistic MK was back in the 90's. Yes, it's nostalgia speaking here, but the appeal to it was how compelling the story became once we saw these very realistic people fighting through it. Go for photo realism, or look at digitized actors again. Albeit in HD and in 2.5D or 3D.

All I'm saying is visually, you can't really care about how a cartoon gets "killed". So, as far away from that as they can get, without being exactly REAL, the better.

There's also the issue of how fantasy plays a role in the games. I think the best option right now for MK is the surrealism of a dream. Dreams are real....but it's a dream, so it's fake. See what I mean?

That's a few things anyway.....there's waaay more but that's all for now.

I was going to say Superman, but they've tried that already.

People already like MK for the gore, and the characters they just need to make the combat tighter, and there needs to be more extras. As far as shock value goes there really isn't much they could do because GTA put a lot of controversial things in their games so it would be hard to shock the audiece of today.

yeah i know everyone has put blood and gore in thier games. but what could be worse than blood and gore? nudity showing genitals, racist slang, attacking religion. lol i dont know about that stuff thats way to crazy. lol. i heard that if a game gets an AO rating that no one would want to publish or distribute it. ( dont know if thats true.) anyways mortal kombat still can become a "top tier" game without shock value, but it would be nice to see it in there.

Pred is right. MK does not NEED TONS of blood and gore to go to the top. What it needs is coherancy and a good fighting mechanism that people want to play. The gore is just an aspect, not the entire game.

To touch on what Pred said about Konquest mode, I pretty much felt the same way, although I did not expect as much in Konquest mode. It is, afterall, a bonus mode, so there shouldn't be a LOT of gaming options in it. It is, however, a mode in the game, so it shouldn't be skimped on. Konquest would be best if it returned to what it was meant to be: a training mode that furthered the story and enhanced the worlds. I prefer the free roaming, multi-realm approach of Deception, but with more fight challenges in it for better rewards (the whole "defeat Scorpion in 20 seconds" thing). Training can be engaged by entering different dojos, stuff like that.
I also agree that we should have each character able to enter Konquest mode. Forgive the analogy, but it's the best one I have. Ever play the Lego Star Wars games? In Free Play mode, you can pick whoever you want and go through a level, exploring it. However, each character has their own abilities that will let it get to some areas where other characters couldn't.
Now take that aspect and apply it to MK. Take MKDs free roaming worlds, enter it with Liu Kang. Go through it, explore as much as you want, except for one area that has a giant boulder you cannot lift.
Enter Konquest with Ermac. The White Lotus area is off limits to him, but he can get to the area with the giant boulder, use his telekinisis and lift it out of the way to reveal a new area for him. Something like that.
Free roaming. Multiple realms. Training dojos that increase in difficulty. Many fighting challenges to take on and beat. And areas that are unlocked per character. THAT would be my DREAM Konquest mode.

Y'know, I'd probably take training a whole other direction. I agree with you, but I think training should be more vested in the game as yet another unit of entertainment had it be judged as a stand alone unit.

I'm in total agreement with the idea of implementing a dojo, its an idea I've also had for some time now. If we think about what a real dojo constitutes, its more than just an arena for battles or practice rounds to happen in. It's an environment all it's own that I think should be utilized as much as possible in MK, should they introduce one. Really squeeze the worth out of an area like this.

For instance, besides the main practice area (where I think we should be entertained by a sensei btw. Someone totally new too.), there should be a room off to the back of the thing somewhere, that "KAK only" has access to. A "dressing room" (so to speak), that allows us to manipulate everything about what our KAK looks like, and how they perform.

Another example would be a sanctuary (so to speak) that serves more of a purpose than what we traditionally know of an area like that. Absent a huge Buddha (for reasons of avoiding controversy), candles an such should be here, and it should serve as an area where we are able to assess and manipulate our characters talents and such. Like:

Experience pts (you can only use what you've earned on the following):
Intelligence: =======================500/500pts max
Strength: =========================500/500pts max
Durability: ========================500/500pts max
Speed //Agility: ====================500/500pts max
Chi /Tai potency or resistance: =========500/500pts max
Sorcery/Magic potency or resistance: ====500/500pts max

ect ect ect.. Remember all those easily attainable experience pts we always get? Well, I feel like I should be able to use experience points for something, and that this is what those pts should be for. Especially concerning KAKharacter if nothing else. Your KAK should at least be a reflection of how much you play, because it should show through in the skill you have, the way the kak behaves//moves, powers, ect, or the way the kak looks.

Experience pts should (1.) grant us with meaningful things to wear. And I don't mean a "vest with some special power associated with it". It's so played out to do that anymore. Let the clothes we wear be significant to our kak's story//backstory. Where we've been, or where we got the article of clothing from...is a piece of our own story, and how we chose to play the game. How we got it, "why it's torn", "why there's an insignia on it"...ect

Experience pts should also signify a "rite of passage". We should be able to obtain abilities and skills because of how we choose to use these pts in the "sanctuary". Let me gain enough experience to acquire the rite to use....saaay, and elemental power. When at first, all I could do it punch and kick as a kak.

Just some ideas but anywho...

Back in the day, experience "points" as a concept was just a method of showing who the highest scorer was in the game. But I think that has changed a bit. Now getting that highest score, can and should have more purpose, and add more of a reason to brag about what you can do with the game.

Think about that for a second though, what I've proposed above instantly connects the practice mode, Kak, arcade mode, Konquest mode, and online play. Because no matter where you are in the game, that dial can be tallying up the points. I just figure that if they're gonna have a good reward system in the game, "dragon coins" should not be the only one....and it should not be as hollow as it has been anymore.
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Anyway, I think a dojo//practice situation should be its own small contribution to the entertainment of the game, but I think it should be constructed with the core intent of cooperating with what's going on in the rest of the game. KAK should be the only real "character building" aspect because we start from scratch with the characters we make (gameplay, story, and appearance have the emphasis).

"Official" roster characters could stand to benefit from this too, but I'm thinking they should pretty much have their stuff set in stone. They're already supposed to be the "best of the best" so, I just think we should be able to see...or "understand" that fact somehow in the game (in the sanctuary, gimme a bar graph I can play with -- with their strengths and stuff on it or something). But, with the "official roster" characters, I'm thinking we'd primarily use this practice area for the dojo's arena and it's sensei. Permitting the mechanics are in fruitful order.

(Something else:)

:: In the past I've had an idea that for every character on the official roster, there should be a non-playable-character sensei that we practice with. Indicating that a specific character, deserves specific attention from a specific type of teacher. But I know how precious space on the disc can be, so I'm willing to forget about that sort of idea....hm...Maybe the sensei could be a down-loadable-character? Might make them playable at some point then too? idk
(//Something else:)

Seems more complicated through a reading than it would be applied I think. Make a room with two or three sub-rooms, and give a good amount of control to the player within each of those areas. The functionality of these areas serves their individual purposes well, and connects the dots between this practice area as a whole, and the rest of the game. Does so by giving us more control over every character including KAKharacter, and by letting us save, and take our improvements out, and into the arcade mode, through the story mode, or online to play against other people. All at different stages in on-going, individual-progression.

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Let me write this now so I don't forget about it.

(Online:)

This is hugungous for Mortal Kombat to become a more competent modern game. I am surprised to no limit that MKvsDc didn't have a better Online set up, and relevance to the rest of the game.

I mean, considering they've got this great story element potential, and a solid voucher for tournaments//online modes from the fans.....AnD a story mode.....AND all these players that wanna get online.....AND ThEy even wanna give us an online experience? I'm just really surprised that more of this stuff wasn't//isn't being geared towards the online community.

Also, a few months ago, I wondered why that when we get online in MK, it doesn't feel like we "went" anywhere. I still wonder that, and whether they're gonna address this problem.

I mean c'mon, gimme a scavenger hunt, and let me "fatality" my online opponents for a prize (bucket o' exp pts//drgn pts or somethin')....gimme rooms with actual tournaments going on in them that I can join for a time. Idk, gimme an online endurance mode, gimme...2vs2//4vs4 that I can play with my online buddies or against random online attendees.

Let me actually go to Edenia for some of these online activities. Or Outworld, or Netherrealm, or Outworld or whatever...

lol Gimme somethin'...geez. hahaha...

If I had my way, and there were no limits to really worry about, I'd put out an MK game with these things in it:

1. MKvsDCs fighting mechanics improved to behave, and infer that this is a martial arts choreographed movie we're playing. Totally different characters, totally different styles, totally different moves, with the over arching theme being movie choreography. bar fights...whatever.

2. MKDeceptions Konquest mixed with MKSM for the Konquest mode. Feels like God of War, functions as well as Assassins Creed, story as ambitious as Prototype seems to want to be. Looks like Condemned 2, RE5 but with MK stuff in it instead.

3. Call of Duty 4//World at War's online functionality (MK scavenger hunt, seek and destroy mini game//2vs2//4vs4//tournament(s) and so on..) Updates, patches, and so on handled like GTA4, Halo3, or our latest Call of Duty games.

4. Graphics as close as I could get to a progression in technology from MK1-Trilogy. Step forward from that without getting much more realistic than that. 2.5D or 3D in HD.

5. Overall games storyline constructed something like "Curse of the Golden Flower".

6. 25 characters max. New, old, and secret characters.
6a. Character specific sub-plots and so on, that hint to infer that the writers got a particular characters build up, from entirely separate, whole movies that we know of. Yes, we should have a "Neo", a "Michael Myers", a "Danny the Dog", a "Hannibal Lecter", a "Joker (Heath Ledger)"....a "Jackie Chan", a "Lestat de Lioncourt" ect...

7. Fantasy element // Overall mood and feel is a of a terrifying, very surreal-life Nightmare. Edenia is the only real bright spot, being the only realm with consistent spectacular scenery. Netherrealm should be terrifying, Earth should be "safe", Outworld should be " foreign, and spooky", Chaos realm should be like mixing Sonic the Hedgehog 2 with Psi Ops or something...ect.

I wouldn't be scared of color either."Black" isn't the only crayon in the box.

8. Kreate a Kharacter, to take through that Konquest mode.

9. Dojo - a whole practice and prep area.

10. Content, should really just be a place to hold all your shit. Videos, secrets you found, profiles, endings, bios, back stories. Stuff you bought from an online store like dlc, or rewards you attained...ect

11. Extras - game options. Turn everything reasonable on or off. Any death traps, or mid game add-ons to the mechanic like free fall or close combat. Controller configurations..ect

meh...this is long enough for now...

mk should have an online tournament free or just for friends. you should get online with your kak character(like playstation home) and travel to a location where the fighting tournament is. then sign up and wait until its your turn to play. while you wait, you should be able to watch the players fight in live stream. you would be able to comment on the players through micophone or emotioncons. you will not be able to travel with real characters in this paticular online mode, real characters only in konquest mode.

now more about kak. i really dont like that feature in fighting games and in arcade mode. i feel that tournaments is only for professional fighters.... not some wanna be copying the real characters fighting styles and special moves. instead of kak, i like what tekken 6 is doing. have the player earn points and unlock different clothing(looks stylish too). but instead of kak, you make the real characters look unique(custom alternate costumes!!!). so basically you did the same thing as kak..... you just using a real character. kak to me just lets you make a character look different with the same moves that the real character has. so uncreative and unoriginal!!!! create a fatalitiy sucks too!!!!(lol)