You know that the comic was written after the game was basically done, right? Cinematics for a game like MKX take a very long time to make. The game's script was already set in stone long before Kitana and Liu Kang's shoes were revealed in August 2014. You want NRS to have seen the future and guessed ahead of time that Kittelsen would turn Reiko into a superstar? Reiko and Havik were absolutely non-existent until December/February. As far as evaluating the game's roster, you can just imagine that the comic doesn't exist at all, for all the influence it had on the game's story or roster.
You can't just ignore the comic, as you're implying, and pretend it doesn't exist.
There are some things in the comic that tie-in to the game's story (like Sub-Zero becoming un-cyber and the feud between Kotal and Mileena).
So, no, you just can't ignore it, if that's what you're implying.
I'm pretty sure that the comic writers and NetherRealm had to have
some line of communication as to what the MKX story would be about.
If Liu Kang, Kung Lao, and Kitana weren't in the game, Kenshi wouldn't have needed Jax's help to defeat Quan Chi, and Raiden wouldn't have been weakened before trying to take on Shinnok, which might have allowed him to beat Shinnok before the Jinsei was corrupted, which would have had all sorts of butterfly effect repercussions on MK11, first and foremost Raiden not going dark at all.
If these are not legitimate reasons to include a character on a roster, then as I have said, you can basically discount half of MK
A's roster, because all they do is walk around and fight useless fights that don't matter.
I'm pretty sure that Sindel, Nightwolf, Smoke, Jade, Stryker and Kabal were also dead, and last time I checked none of those are on the main roster.
Raiden not going "dark" may not have been such a bad thing.
Why does Raiden need to go "dark?"
Why rehash the same old story of Dark Raiden again, especially if this is supposed to be a game with an "original story" in it?
These are not legitimate reasons for Liu, Kitana and Kung Lao being in, and I'll give you some of DA's characters too.
Useless, the lot of them.
In MK9, though, just about every character on the roster had a part in the story that was more than just 2 or 3 lines, save for Reptile who's in because (1) Trilogy roster herp derp and (2) He's iconic.
My #2 reason there is exactly why Liu, Kitana and Kung Lao are in.
Nothing more than herp derp fodder for those that can't let go of those characters, despite that Sindel, Nightwolf, Smoke, Jade, Stryker and Kabal could have also done the same thing they did and the outcome of the story would have been the same, while also saving roster space for someone else like Fujin.
Fujin being absent in MKX = lost potential.
Liu Kang, Kitana and Kung Lao in MKX = people can't let go, so let's bring them back.
Their default human skins are all the proof that you need of that.
So you're telling me we knew more about Frost after Deadly Alliance than we do about Erron Black after MKX? Really now? Really? All we knew in Deadly Alliance is that Frost is a Lin Kuei warrior, Sub-Zero's student, and an arrogant and ambitious minx.
We already know that Erron Black is a human who has spent many years in Outworld, probably has long life thanks to a deal he made with Shang Tsung, and we know that he is a sensible mercenary who works for Kotal Kahn and isn't beyond a white lie to his employer if it means padding his pockets with more cash.
Johnny Cage's story in MK
A was him running around Outworld doing vague things that we know nothing about, and then dying to Tarkatans like a fool.
Erron Black's story in MKX was him coming to Kotal's defense after Rain's attempted assassination attempt, trying to profit from Cassie's arrival in Outworld, holding his own against Cassie Cage in a fight in the Courtyard, and staying loyal to Kotal Kahn and not dying to anyone.
You've got mega nostalgia-blinders on if you think that MKX is, on average, as bad or worse than the 3D games in terms of validating its roster.
Yeah we did.
Since you're using Erron Black's ending as canon (which is not provencanon, yet) for him, then I'm allowed to do the same with Frost.
Frost's true intentions for joining the Lin Kuei were to become Grandmaster, herself.
She used her ice blast to temporarily immobilize Sub-Zero and took the Medallion from him.
She was then consumed by her own freezing ability.
According to Johnny's Deadly Alliance ending, he made a movie that told the tale of how he single-handedly stopped Quan Chi and Shang Tsung.
Erron Black's story in MKX was merely being Kotal Kahn's lackey.
Him protecting Kotal Kahn is just more of him being a minion of Kotal's.
Holding his own against Cassie Cage in the Courtyard counts as story development?
Oh well, then I guess that Ferra / Torr fighting against Kung Jin also is equivalent to being huge story development as well (which you conveniently ignored, by the way), if we're going with that mentality. :roll:
Erron Black's MKX ending is merely a "what if" scenario, just like the rest of the MKX endings, and his bio speaks nothing about him getting longer life from Shang Tsung.
Again, individual character endings from a previous game are non-canon, until proven otherwise in the next game.
I don't have any blinders on, but you sure do love to cherry-pick certain endings and things to fit your argument, when in reality both games had issues with validating some of the characters on BOTH rosters.
I think the game is heavy focus too much on the MKX comics. I do feel like the MKX comics was written, so people would go out read to understand the story a bit better. While the comics are great, story modes should always stand on their own. Not everyone likes comic books and should not be require to read them to know the characters better. Kotal Kahn in the comics was handle better with proper development then he was in the game.
Exactly.
Thank you.
