Taven

Nobody is being offensive and I fully respect that you like those characters, even I did enjoy the konquest mode although I preferred the MKD one. However you have to see that MKA was rushed and so were Taven and Daegon - at least move-wise. I mean how many other characters use fire? I believe you could name like twenty that were in the game. The only way that Taven could be redeemed is to give him some sort of time-orientated abilities - he did have one in konquest but all he did have in the main game were extremely bland and uninspiring moves - a generic fireball? ...a shoulder charge? ....a ground pound move? Daegon is pretty much the same story.
 
Nobody is being offensive and I fully respect that you like those characters, even I did enjoy the konquest mode although I preferred the MKD one. However you have to see that MKA was rushed and so were Taven and Daegon - at least move-wise. I mean how many other characters use fire? I believe you could name like twenty that were in the game. The only way that Taven could be redeemed is to give him some sort of time-orientated abilities - he did have one in konquest but all he did have in the main game were extremely bland and uninspiring moves - a generic fireball? ...a shoulder charge? ....a ground pound move? Daegon is pretty much the same story.
Don't give me wrong, but even SCORPION - as of NOW!!! - uses fireballs in Mortal Kombat X. That is not exclusive of Taven's. NRS just loves using fire-based characters. Some of Taven's moves were actually different from the rest of the "fire cast". You pointed out the most generic moves but what about his unique ones? They don't exist? You're simply disregarding them to make your own point valid which to me means very little, sorry... even though I do agree with you in most of your points.

You are right about his fireball and his charge - those were generic yes. Also his fire teleport is nothing special. Now let's deal with his other moves, shall we?

1. The ground pound actually had some twist to it. Its animation allowed you not to be directly affected by combos or projectiles because Taven goes very high above the ground (unless you were in a position you could be damaged that is) and it has potential for more. I've always imagined an enhanced version of it where some sort of lava comes out of the ground once you punch it so your opponent could be damaged up in the air as well. It wasn't a "generic" ground pound. It was still different from Jax's or Sheeva's in MK9 for example.

2. I don't know why you overlooked his three punch move. Not only was it a unique Taven's move as it had tremendously combo potential. It wasn't anything particulary out of this world (yes you could argue that, but neither was Scorpion's scissors in MK2 and yet it is one of its standart moves now), but I also remember that, in certain combos during the konquest mode, Taven could perform a finishing fire punch for bigger damage. This actually would work for his unique-ness in 2.5D MK fighting game.

3. Time control - the sky is the limit here. NRS only needs to use their imagination.

I personally adored Taven's design in Armageddon. He had a more Helenic look, it was completely different from your standart Chinese-influenced designs in Mortal Kombat, but that's just me. Taven definitely has potential for more since he actually does look good and does have some specials moves to improve his gameplay already, so it's not a lost cause. Surely you can see him work much better in a 2.5D MK game than most of the rest 3D cast...
 
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Don't give me wrong, but even SCORPION - as of NOW!!! - uses fireballs in Mortal Kombat X. That is not exclusive of Taven's. NRS just loves using fire-based characters. Some of Taven's moves were actually different from the rest of the "fire cast". You pointed out the most generic moves but what about his unique ones? They don't exist? You're simply disregarding them to make your own point valid which to me means very little, sorry... even though I do agree with you in most of your points.

You are right about his fireball and his charge - those were generic yes. Also his fire teleport is nothing special. Now let's deal with his other moves, shall we?

1. The ground pound actually had some twist to it. Its animation allowed you not to be directly affected by combos or projectiles because Taven goes very high above the ground (unless you were in a position you could be damaged that is) and it has potential for more. I've always imagined an enhanced version of it where some sort of lava comes out of the ground once you punch it so your opponent could be damaged up in the air as well. It wasn't a "generic" ground pound. It was still different from Jax's or Sheeva's in MK9 for example.

2. I don't know why you overlooked his three punch move. Not only was it a unique Taven's move as it had tremendously combo potential. It wasn't anything particulary out of this world (yes you could argue that, but neither was Scorpion's scissors in MK2 and yet it is one of its standart moves now), but I also remember that, in certain combos during the konquest mode, Taven could perform a finishing fire punch for bigger damage. This actually would work for his unique-ness in 2.5D MK fighting game.

3. Time control - the sky is the limit here. NRS only needs to use their imagination.

I personally adored Taven's design in Armageddon. He had a more Helenic look, it was completely different from your standart Chinese-influenced designs in Mortal Kombat, but that's just me. Taven definitely has potential for more since he actually does look good and does have some specials moves to improve his gameplay already, so it's not a lost cause. Surely you can see him work much better in a 2.5D MK game than most of the rest 3D cast...

Fair enough, I did not mention the fire punches, but that is just there is not much to talk about it, I mean it is just a few punches with fire, I fail to see how that move makes Taven unforgettable in any way. You mentioned Scorpion now has a fireball, yes he does but Scorpion has been in Mortal Kombat since the original game, if you want to make a new addition to the series in 2006 and you choose to go with fire element, yet again, that is a whole other story. I was not aware of the difference in the ground pound move, good point, but I am afraid it is still nothing to get excited about when it comes to new characters - still a ground pound with fire I am afraid... Obviously, they could not give him 4 out of 4 copied moves...that would just be wrong, however they did not try very hard with his moveset either and that is my biggest problem with Taven - as I said, it is not really the fault of the character but the whole game, it was just way too rushed.

Now onto your last point, this is where we (mostly) agree. I never said that Taven was a lost cause, in fact, I think if any MK4-MKA character were to return in MKX, he/she would get a proper redesign. I do not agree that he is better than the most of the 3D era cast, but that is again, just a matter of opinion.
 
I really enjoyed Taven. :)

He seems to not have a lot of fans or anything because of the same reason mentioned above. I agree that he has some potential and it would be great if they could reboot him in some way but ah well, I enjoyed what they did do with him.
 
Taven has potential..yeah the whole fire move set is generic but what character in a fighting game has the ability to stop time?
with the right minds taven could very well be revamped and made into a incredible kharacter
his brother on the other hand should not be playable..the whole taven and rain being brothers thing was also a cool
 
Here's a tribute to one of my favorite 3D era characters. I looked up some beta footage and other videos to compile this. I have to thank Tarkatan Trash for his Sonya Tribute, which inspired me to make this:


EDIT:

( I just realized I doxxed my face way before I of started my own channel when I shared it haha). Also here is another Taven vid I did, but it's more of a text only video with some music in the background:


But just in case you don't feel like watching and TLDR; Basically my idea for Taven is that he gets a variation centered around grappling, a martial arts variation based from the film the Last Dragon (which is somewhat of a roundabout Prince reference) and a "stand" variation. But I do think he should retain his old moveset with the addition of his teleport and a timestop (or maybe a parry or time-parry) as his base.

And my ideas for fatalities were:

Dragon Attack - Turns into a golden MK Dragon and chomps away at them bit by bit while stopping time or he can just use his dragon guardian to punch away their flesh after stopping time. Again, this has references to JoJo as well as one of the original names for Mortal Kombat.

Rip and Tear - A mix of the Torso Rip and Thrust Punch Fatalities from Konquest mode. In This scenario he'd punch right through his opponent, then give his opponent a tug causing them to scream before he tears them in half.

Time Rush - Basically, Dio's the World from JJBA, but gory and with Taven and a spirit guardian with a dragon head.
 
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