Don't want to quote any long post but it bugs the hell out of me that Skarlet went from being a homunculus to an orphan in the same timeline. Also while I like the relationship on a personal level. The Jade/Kotal romance does feels odd. Furthermore Cetrion's role in MK11 was an utter disappointment
I know right? Her MK9 origin has so much potential. She was basically a Shadow Priest with Blood abilities. They could have made her into something as formidable as Conquest Shadow Priests.
No need to speak, no need to have ambitions. Just the fact that Shao Kahn has a personal assassin, that gets stronger with every kill would have been intimidating enough.
But again. Entire story just... wasted potential. Not only Cetrion, but Kronika as well. They had so much potential to actually subvert the expectations with reasonable logic.
If anything I was expecting Kronika to be the good guy and Dark Raiden go bat shit crazy.
At the beginning of the story, Kronika would seem like a villain. Using kinds of Shao Kahn, Kano and other assholes for her objective. Dark Raiden would say, that Kronika plans to wipe out entire existence, etc.
So they would fight Kronika forces. Elder Gods could even oppose that idea (something about imbalance). Dark Raiden then could use Medallion to attack Elder Gods (as it turns out they aren't as strong, as they seemed. I mean... how they got killed in MK11, make them looks weak as hell.) Cetrion could have survived and then warned the defenders. So they basically get split. Some agree with Raiden's actions as they lost stuff thanks to inaction of Elder Gods, while others would deem Raiden's actions too extreme. So you get 3 factions. Once they collide. Turns out Kronika wasn't trying to destroy or reset the time, but actually mend the time flow, as Raiden's actions caused unknown fracture in space and time. The reason she picked guys like Shao Kahn, is because for one she doesn't trust people who ally themselves with Raiden and secondly bad guys are motivated by the same goal. Erase Raiden.
That could have been the plot twist. And it could have lead to better endings as well. But again that's just my 2 cents. Overall it sucks that backstories are treated like nothing. You can't even get attached to characters anymore. As the next game, they might be something completely different.