Yeah, that's true, but I think she showed that she cared about Cage somewhat too. Also, she was helpful to Sub-Zero in his chapter. She did care, but I could see where you're coming from. I just don't want to risk Sonya becoming too "girly" if that makes sense. She's always been independent and her being Johnny's b**ch along with the whole daddy thing in her ending just didn't sit well with me. Maybe it's just showing why Sonya is so stern, but I don't want her becoming needy.
I think as long as they don't force the whole JC x Sonya thing upon us and keep things subtle, it should be fine
Ultimately I disliked a lot of MK9's story. I mean I didn't even play it all the way through because I don't like cyber subz or quan chi. That doesn't mean I give up though. I think they can salvage the story, but I still hold on that the old story is always there. It was better to me, except for in the end.
They nailed some parts
Good things:
-Cage's whole personality made people like him way more.
- Liu Kang finally got some personality
- Kabal and Stryker teaming was cool
- Sindel looked beastly powerful, which coincidentally is what they have always meant her to be in my opinion.
- The relationship between Jade and Kitana I felt was nailed.
I would add Nightwolf's portrayal to that, too. He was badass, he was almost like a second Raiden (or like Raiden in the original timeline when he decided to give up his immortality to fight alongside the heroes in MK3)
I would also add Kabal's personality to that, as well. Seriously, he was my favorite part of the story other than Nightwolf, I thought he was really entertaining to watch
Those were good things, however I think the bad outweighed the good.
- All the character derailment including Shang, Kung Lao, Sub-Zero, Mileena, Raiden, Sonya, etc... there was just so much of this in my opinion.
- The lack of attention to Sonya and Kano's rivalry
- All of the hero death
- The over inclusion of Quan Chi
- The weakness of Goro and Kintaro. These guys are supposed to be beasts, so why can everyone kick their arses so easy?
I think Goro and Kintaro in general are just not the same as they used to be. Kintaro and Goro both used to intimidate me, now they just feel like your typical hired muscles or lunkheads who only know how to fight and destroy shit. Plus, most of the characters were about as tall as the bosses, so that pretty much took away the feeling that you're about to fight a big ass human/dragon hybrid with four arms. Last thing, not only did that Goro's Lair remix NOT ****ing fit the boss battles, IMO (seriously, I just do not like the orchestral shit they had for MK9), MK9's BGM was also quiet and not loud at all, so the "OH SHI-" feeling you get from the loud and blaring BGM in most boss battles wasn't there at all.
Now this, my friends, is what music for a boss battle in MK should be like:
Not the horseshit that they decided to have in MK9 as a "boss theme"
Also, I agree so much on Quan Chi, although I do like him overall. I don't really get NRS' hard on for Quan Chi, but he was the main reason, IMO, why Shang was shit on so much; the former stole all of the latter's thunder. Instead of being the sneaky bastard and sophisticated villain he used to be, he was basically just a yes man to Shao Kahn.
Speaking of Quan Chi, I might get some backlash for this, but I didn't like Chi's voice in MK9. I mean, it just sounded way too normal to me. What happened to that demonic and distorted voice that he had in MK4?
Ignore the awardworthy, emotional dialogue and voice acting, BTW:
Last thing, about the Kano part, I think that's because Sonya and Jax shared their rivalry with Kano instead of it just being Sonya, and also Kano started serving Shao Kahn WAY too quick. And the whole chapter setup where each character only gets one chapter (besides Sub-Zero, of course), I'm assuming they didn't really have time to touch upon that aspect besides a few references to it. Or maybe they just didn't care to do it. Either way, I agree, I myself was looking forward to a Sonya/Kano battle during the MK3 portion
Lastly, as for the heroes' deaths, I still hate the fact that Smoke and Kabal had to get killed. I still don't ****ing understand why NRS thought it was a good idea to bring back a character like Smoke who is underdeveloped and somewhat obscure, only to kill them again. And I would have loved to see how Kabal could have fit into MKX's story, especially since Jarek or the Red Dragon could be coming back
As for Raiden, I still hope that he gets that badass aura he used to have MK1 and MK2. I mean, come on, he's the ****ing God of Thunder. People didn't really fear him in the story at all, IIRC; I would have loved to see some scenes where the enemies actually show a semblance of humility around him and go "OH SHIT, it's the thunder god". Instead of feeling like a powerful and mighty god with millions of years of wisdom at his fingertips, for the most part, he really just felt like a joke to me in MK9
There's more but I realize most think I sound negative, and I'm not trying to be. I just feel that they aren't trying anymore, and that makes me sad honestly. People actually care about the story of MK compared to other fighters. They should capitalize on that, not treat it like it was treated.
IMO, they still care, it just feels like to me, they're going about it in the wrong ways. Like, I think MK9's story overall just feels too cinematic and cleanly presented, if that makes sense. That's fine and all, but what they did in MK9 pretty much killed the sense of atmosphere and despair that the 3D MK games and MK2 had, the rawness and the feeling of danger being all around you. It really felt like Mortal Kombat, not just "Save Earthrealm and kick the bad guys asses".
Also, I don't think people have touched upon this yet, but I will: I think giving each character their own chapter has both its pros and cons. The pros are that every character gets their own spotlight, and every character in the end feels important to the story. The cons, IMO? For one, it's a fixed setup, so it feels like or at least felt like in MK9 that they were just trying to cram as much of the character's story as they could in just that one chapter. So in a sense, it felt like they focused too much on the characters themselves rather than the overall picture, since there were barely any other important factors in the story other than the character themselves and their motives and also the main conflict. This is what I loved about Deception and Deadly Alliance, you had a lot of other factors that contributed to the MK universe as a whole such as the Kamidogu, the Dragon Medallion, etc. besides the main conflict and the characters
Also, aside from Scorpion and Cyrax, we only got to play as the good characters, so the story really felt one-sided. I'd like to have perspective of the story from every side, not just the side of the protagonists