Filling out MKX's Factions

p.W

New member
What do we know about Factions, and how can we use that information to guess at the final roster?

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1. We know with 99.999% certainty that there will be more than one member per faction in the game. Both because it makes sense, and because if one member per faction was enough, Shirai Ryu would have been the first faction in the game.

2. We know with 99.999% certainty where some characters go: Sub-Zero is Lin Kuei, Kung Lao and Raiden are White Lotus, Kano is Black Dragon, Quan Chi is Brotherhood of Shadow, and Cassie is Special Forces.

3. The evidence is piling up for Johnny Cage and Sonya being playable, and according to the comic, they are both in Special Forces during MKX timeline. That would put SF at a minimum of three characters. Jax and/or Jacqui could still bolster that number.

4. We can guess that they'll try to keep the number of characters per faction roughly equal, otherwise they're just begging for wacky population numbers.
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So let's say 3 is the bare minimum for members per faction. It's far enough away from 1 for Shirai Ryu/Scorpion not being a faction to make total sense. If the minimum was 2, either every faction has precisely 2 characters (unlikely), or I think they would have let Scorpion slide. So... without further ado... who are they?

Special Forces
-Cassie
-Johnny Cage
-Sonya
-Jax/Jacqui (I don't see both being playable.)

White Lotus
-Kung Lao
-Raiden
-Liu Kang
(This is where Kung Jin would go if he became a dude, but I'm not sold on him becoming a dude.)

Brotherhood of Shadow
-Quan Chi
-Scorpion
-Ermac (if not Ermac, then Smoke; Quan Chi needs a reliable lackey.)
-New Character (someone from Netherrealm)

Lin Kuei
-Sub-Zero
-Sub-Zero
-Cyrax

Black Dragon
-Kano
-Tremor
-Erron Black/another new character

Why is this not a faction?
-Kotal Kahn
-Ferra/Torr
-D'vorah
-Erron Black

The only confirmed characters this doesn't account for are Reptile, who could go to Brotherhood of Shadows or Black Dragon, but I doubt either, Kitana, who could go to White Lotus, but that's a stretch, and Goro, who is probably allied with Mileena (how is that also not a faction?). Shinnok is obviously with Quan Chi, the only question is whether he's playable, a boss, or just an NPC.
 
The factions are just a way to make the game seem interesting, to give us some kind of goal, to fill up a quota by winning matches for the faction and unlock a few vanity things, such as a background theme etc.
 
The factions are just a way to make the game seem interesting, to give us some kind of goal, to fill up a quota by winning matches for the faction and unlock a few vanity things, such as a background theme etc.

Oh, I understand what they're for. Which of my assumptions in the OP did you disagree with?
 
I personally disagree with this idea of trying to shove every character into these groups that are for the online mode, nothing in the story.
 
Oh, I understand what they're for. Which of my assumptions in the OP did you disagree with?

Well, this, really:

I personally disagree with this idea of trying to shove every character into these groups that are for the online mode, nothing in the story.

As Harpoon stated, all the characters are not necessarily in any of those factions. You already stated some of the characters who aren't, though you neglected to mention Kitana.
 
I personally disagree with this idea of trying to shove every character into these groups that are for the online mode, nothing in the story.

It's not about "shoving characters in," it's about sensible game design. If Special Forces has Cassie/Johnny/Sonya/Jacqui/Jax and Lin Kuei has Bi-Han and no one else, then depending on the way the system is set up and the way points work, this could lead to a lot of issues, including point farming. I'm assuming that the points aren't entirely... pointless, and also that NRS wouldn't be happy with one faction always being on top or one faction always being on the bottom. If the factions are entirely superficial and mean absolutely nothing, then my thread is useless.

But if they're not superficial, then I stand by what I said. They will try to throw an approximately equal number of characters into each faction to draw approximately equal numbers of players. Again, the fact that Shirai Ryu isn't a faction to be allied with is extremely telling. We're talking about the faction of Ed Boon's favorite character, and one of the posterboys for the franchise. There are plenty of people who would join for Scorpion alone. We can't. Why not? Either Scorpion no longer considers himself Shirai Ryu - unlikely, he asks Raiden to resurrect his clan in their intro dialogue - or, my interpretation, there aren't enough characters to fit into it. If you have another theory, I'd love to hear it.

You already stated some of the characters who aren't, though you neglected to mention Kitana.

I did no such thing!
 
Oh, you can join a faction, say the Lin Kuei, and still play any of the characters, such as Kung Lao or Ermac.

So you don't think there's any tangible benefits to choosing a faction and doing well? ME3 had a similar thing in their multiplayer, except instead of you joining a faction, it was weekly or monthly "quest"-type events that asked you to beat a certain number of enemies of particular factions. But there were benefits, you get points and then you can use those points to unlock new content. Otherwise what's the point?
 
I don't think the factions are tied down to characters, per se.

Scorpion in MKX (IMO) wouldn't really belong to a faction, given that him belonging to the Brotherhood Of Shadow would imply him being part of the Brotherhood Of Shadow, which he is not.
In the comics he specifically escapes from Quan Chi and after the NetherRealm wars and controls the demon wraith, gaining his humanity once again.
 
So you don't think there's any tangible benefits to choosing a faction and doing well? ME3 had a similar thing in their multiplayer, except instead of you joining a faction, it was weekly or monthly "quest"-type events that asked you to beat a certain number of enemies of particular factions. But there were benefits, you get points and then you can use those points to unlock new content. Otherwise what's the point?

Not anything that would have any important effect, no. I think it's just all for fun, for unlocking some vanity stuff and the like. It's just a guess, though.
 
Not anything that would have any important effect, no. I think it's just all for fun, for unlocking some vanity stuff and the like. It's just a guess, though.

Yeah, it's about changing the way your menus look and just getting your group on top. That's it. One of the magazines outright confirmed that the selection of your clan doesn't change who you can pick, you could still be Sub-Zero if you were in the White Lotus. So yes, trying to shove in characters into the clans like this is pointless because that's not what they're intended for.
 
I don't think the factions are tied down to characters, per se.

Scorpion in MKX (IMO) wouldn't really belong to a faction, given that him belonging to the Brotherhood Of Shadow would imply him being part of the Brotherhood Of Shadow, which he is not.
In the comics he specifically escapes from Quan Chi and after the NetherRealm wars and controls the demon wraith, gaining his humanity once again.

That just means I might be wrong about where I placed Scorpion. Obviously not every character fits in a faction, including Kotal, D'Vorah, Ferra/Torr, Kitana, Reptile... but there's no escaping that certain characters will be associated with certain factions. Whether the game comes right out and says it ("Join the Special Forces, an Earthrealm organization led by Sonya Blade!") or we simply find out in story mode.

My assumption is that how the factions fare in MP isn't meaningless. I feel that it is supported by the Shirai Ryu not being a faction you can join. No one has provided an alternate explanation for the creator's favorite character's faction not being joinable.

Yeah, it's about changing the way your menus look and just getting your group on top. That's it. One of the magazines outright confirmed that the selection of your clan doesn't change who you can pick, you could still be Sub-Zero if you were in the White Lotus. So yes, trying to shove in characters into the clans like this is pointless because that's not what they're intended for.

Is there an interview that confirms that factions are only for changing how your menu looks, and provide absolutely no benefits, ie. unlocking costumes?
 
Not anything that would have any important effect, no. I think it's just all for fun, for unlocking some vanity stuff and the like. It's just a guess, though.

I agree.
It seems (to me, as well) that this stuff would just let you know which factions has the most wins for that day, along with seeing the menus changing and adding a constant online feeling to the game, the feeling that at any moment the menu type could change and it's always a constant battle for supremacy.

For example:
It would be pretty cool to fire up MKX from 1 day to the next and be like "Oh, shit. The menus are now Black Dragon themed today!" "Yesterday the White Lotus were winning."



No one has provided an alternate explanation for the creator's favorite character's faction not being joinable.

Actually the comics have mentioned why that situation is likely.....
Spoiler:
Forest Foxed killed off all of the new Shirai Ryu that Scorpion formed, in the comics.
 
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Pretty sure it was already confirmed that you select your faction. Not you select the character and the character determines the faction.
 
Actually the comics have mentioned why that situation is likely.....
Spoiler:
Forest Foxed killed off all of the new Shirai Ryu that Scorpion formed, in the comics

I'm confused.

My intention with the thread is to point out that it doesn't make sense for factions to only have one member, therefore we can assume all factions have more than one member, therefore let's see what member goes on what faction.

Then you tell me that...

Spoiler:
The Shirai Ryu can't be a faction because it only has one member at this precise point in time.


So you agree with me? I feel like I'm missing something.
 
Put Kitana in the White Lotus, since she's the girlfriend of one of its members.

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No matter what happened with Shirai Ryu, it should be an option. If they do not have members, let us join. Totally BS not putting them.

And other factions too, I think you should be able to choose on your liking.

Even though it would be too much disperse, but holy s#!t, not putting Shirai Ryu.

Who like Scorpion and eventually like Takeda, (though this has no connecttion with the characters at all, I'm talking about kinship) will have nowhere to go.

I was thinking joining Lin Kuei because of Sub-Zero, but I surely would choose Shirai Ryu if we had.
 
My intention with the thread is to point out that it doesn't make sense for factions to only have one member, therefore we can assume all factions have more than one member, therefore let's see what member goes on what faction.

Then you tell me that...

Spoiler:
The Shirai Ryu can't be a faction because it only has one member at this precise point in time.


So you agree with me? I feel like I'm missing something.

My point was that I don't think that the amount of MKX playable characters from a certain faction matters, in relation to pertaining to a faction.
Regardless of whether there's 1 member or 10 members of a certain faction in MKX, I think it's just faction that NRS picked.

I was just replying because you said no one explained why Boon's favorite (Scorpion) wouldn't be in a faction.
My reply was simply that if there were an explanation for it, then NRS could simply use an excuse and say that "it was explained in the comics" or something like that.
 
My point was that I don't think that the amount of MKX playable characters from a certain faction matters, in relation to pertaining to a faction.
Regardless of whether there's 1 member or 10 members of a certain faction in MKX, I think it's just faction that NRS picked.

I was just replying because you said no one explained why Boon's favorite (Scorpion) wouldn't be in a faction.
My reply was simply that if there were an explanation for it, then NRS could simply use an excuse and say that "it was explained in the comics" or something like that.

Yeah but... Ed Boon... Scorpion. You don't imagine that he would have to be talked out of including the Shirai Ryu when the Lin Kuei is in the game? I'm trying to imagine what argument could sway him. The only one that comes to mind is "one character doesn't make a faction."

There is another argument that comes to mind. "It's not about how many playable members the faction has, it's about how big it is including NPCs and army mooks." But if this is how they were picking factions, then MK9 would have had the freaking NYPD as a faction because Stryker/Kabal/plenty of cops in the NYPD! And I don't think I'm ready to accept this as a possibility, regardless of the fact that it didn't happen. :(
 
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