Concerns about respective CHARACTER HEIGHTS

[DeBane]

References:

Kotal Kahn
https://youtu.be/Ibi3nOdIj2E?t=559
(*particularly ~9:20 onward / Kotal sans head wear)

Vs.

Liu Kang / Jade / Kung Lao
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gksrhAtPBA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJWSHvaF1gA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FB7F0YX0b78

So, they're touting Kotal Kahn as "feeling like you're playing a boss" (lol!... if you say so :hahaha... YET, if you factor out his head wear, he's hardly taller than Subzero; perhaps the same height as Liu Kang; and even shorter than Kung Lao! The females, too, seem far too tall given... You know, given THEY ARE FEMALES!

What's going on here -- why is every character's height seemingly being homogenised and made so ill-fitting, compared to their historical design parameters?
Why are they making more aspects of the once infamous "ninja palette swap" game, that's already replete with "universal" abilities / input schemes, even more samey?
Why are the game's already politically topical female characters not markëdly shorter than their male counterparts...?

Following this pattern, should we expect Outworld monster, Shao Kahn to be more or less the same height as the human being of Asian ethnicity, Liu Kang -- a character the former has been depicted as being two feet or more taller than...?! :s:

Anyone know if NRS have addressed / qualified the reasoning behind this glaring design change?... Is it politically motivated?... Does it "retcon" canon? Or have they so far ignored it, à la the offline player-2 customisation functionality (see: Injustice 2)...? :hmmmm2:

 

[FlawlessVictor]

It's something Midway/NRS has been doing since the series turned to 3D graphics. I think it has mostly to do with streamlining the development process, to reduce the need to make lots of tweak due to variations in height and build.

 

[DeBane]

^ Yeah... The pattern has been pretty obvious for some times now. HOWEVER, do we really want all characters to look like cookie-cutter 'klones', aside from their superficies and names? Indeed, it looks that much more glaring in MK11, now that the camera is closer to the action (as Boon put it) and that one can so clearly discern the distances between characters' pates and the HP bar.

I'd argue that, at more than any point in the series' history, NOW is the time to try to differentiate characters' aesthetics as much as possible, based on archetype, sex, race, species... In order to compensate for the other 'homogenising pressures' the game's creators seem to be being influenced by -- a couple of notable examples being: rendering females "less sexy" to satisfy political climate; making the gameplay more "streamlined" (lit., more dumbed-down) in order to broaden appeal.

'Cause, frankly, a 5' 5" Shao Kahn isn't Shao Kahn, any more than a similarly 'vertically challenged' Sagat would be...

 

[D3THF15T]

^
'Cause, frankly, a 5' 5" Shao Kahn isn't Shao Kahn, any more than a similarly 'vertically challenged' Sagat would be...

Well he is really short in person..

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[DjAnubis]

I dont think ive had much a problem with most of the characters heights but (and as much as i like it) the skin for Raiden with Lambert seems a little slower or awkward than the initial skin he uses. Not sure if its because of the detail used but he just doesnt seem as fluent in moves when i use that skin for some reason.