Future of MK

[Xenon]

I think basically Goro died because Shang T Sung died. It makes no sense but that's what I understood from the mess that is MK11 story. Wouldn't that also mean that henchmen like Reptile turn into a skull'n'bones?....

Ah no he's in there smashing ground for no reason.... while being invisible....

 

[Misucra]

In the early stages? Yeah, imo, at least lore-wise at 1 point it did seem like they gave a shit and then later somehow the quality trailed off.

Again, imo, the cut content (Aftermath) that was later sold as DLC actually did seem better than the main story that we got with the base game.
Fujin, Shang Tsung, Sheeva and Nightwolf getting some cool story chapters was nice to see, for once.
Shang Tsung also not being some asshole's puppet (Shao Kahn) or side-kick (Quan Chi) was a breath of fresh air (to me).
Sheeva's stuff, specifically, seems to have continued right where Kittlesen left off in the comics, which is why it seems pretty good (imo).
For as much as people generally hate on Sheeva, I did enjoy her comics and Aftermath counterpart storylines.
That said, somewhere in production it seemed that they cut Aftermath out and later decided to re-sell it as DLC.

My bigger issue has always been that from MKX to MK11 Dominic tended to ignore previously established lore, while Kittlesen tried to move the story forward (at least in the comics).
I'm not saying Kittelsen is completely innocent on the MK11 game writing front, but he DID get me to actually give a shit for characters like Scorpion, Takeda, Goro, King Gorbak and Kotal Kahn at least in the comics.
MK11 = Kotal being turned into everyone's punching bag, Goro is mysteriously dead on his throne and Takeda is nowhere to be seen.
There's also absolutely 0 progress for Erron Black and D'Vorah (as cool as they are aesthetically).
Story-wise, Jacqui and Cassie also felt pretty flat (imo). Again, some descendants that they introduced in MKX but did little to pass the torch with them because every fucking game HAS to have all of the 7 MK1 characters and the majority of the MKII characters.
So, as much as I've complained about it before, at the end of the day it doesn't matter because Dominic doesn't seem to give enough of a shit to move these new characters forward into the new era like Tobias and Vogel did back in the day for characters like Quan Chi, Kenshi and some of the other characters from the 3D era that people still do like.
Kittelsen seemed to be the one at least trying to push characters like Havik, Reiko and Daegon into some cool storylines in the comics, but the point is now moot as he no longer works at NRS, so now the next MK game's story falls square on Dominic's shoulders... and that really doesn't give me confidence AT ALL.

Smoke and mirrors.

For me MKD is still a standard of lore expansion. Compared to what 3D Era did lore-wise, MK11 is a complete and utter joke. (To be honest MK9/MKX as well. MK9 butchered Shang Tsung and Shao Kahn, while MKX turned into family sitcom)

Kittelsen comics worked for me, cause it wasn't just characters. World itself was involved in the story. We got to see some of the civil war, there was more structure to relations between Earthrealm and Outworld and some sort of proper mention of different places, than just three same realms.


Though judging by his current works, I can see that MKX comics were more or less a fluke.


In the end, we had something going in 3D Era. They just needed to build from that. Instead we got this... and it is never going to get better.

I enjoyed MKX Comic Sheeva. She was the best version. Calm and calculating. Tactical mind. I really enjoyed a non brute version. MK11 on other hand... well at least she was a nice meme. Aside that, wooden board has more personality, than she does in my opinion.

But again, in the end, I look at grander scale of things. I know that WB/NRS will never be able to expand MK to the levels, I imagine.

 

[Commander]

I think basically Goro died because Shang T Sung died. It makes no sense but that's what I understood from the mess that is MK11 story. Wouldn't that also mean that henchmen like Reptile turn into a skull'n'bones?....

Ah no he's in there smashing ground for no reason.... while being invisible....

Which doesn't work (imo) because when Shang Tsung died in MK9, Goro still went off to do things later on in the MKX comics with the story line of joining Mileena's forces against Kotal Kahn and was alive in MKX as well.
It's the same shit with the stupid "the whole Island died" when Shang Tsung died MK11 main story mode excuse.
No, it didn't because again Goro was still around doing stuff after MK9. The only plausible explanation based off of various Sheeva intros is that maaaaaybe some time after Goro met with Daegon to re-grow his arms that Kotal Kahn had an encounter with him and he met his demise.
But again, that's piecing together shit from different intros and I shouldn't have to do that because Dom is doing a piss-poor job of writing.
MK11 Goro is a perfect example of why I don't like horse shit, half-assed explanations from Dom that make ZERO sense.
So, Dom either completely retconned Goro out of all of the MKX comics events or he is full of shit...... or both.

For me MKD is still a standard of lore expansion. Compared to what 3D Era did lore-wise, MK11 is a complete and utter joke. (To be honest MK9/MKX as well. MK9 butchered Shang Tsung and Shao Kahn, while MKX turned into family sitcom)

I agree with you 100%.
Imo, the 3D era (and that game in particular) was the pinnacle of lore expansion, as well.

Kittelsen comics worked for me, cause it wasn't just characters. World itself was involved in the story. We got to see some of the civil war, there was more structure to relations between Earthrealm and Outworld and some sort of proper mention of different places, than just three same realms.


Though judging by his current works, I can see that MKX comics were more or less a fluke.


In the end, we had something going in 3D Era. They just needed to build from that. Instead we got this... and it is never going to get better.

I enjoyed MKX Comic Sheeva. She was the best version. Calm and calculating. Tactical mind. I really enjoyed a non brute version. MK11 on other hand... well at least she was a nice meme. Aside that, wooden board has more personality, than she does in my opinion.

But again, in the end, I look at grander scale of things. I know that WB/NRS will never be able to expand MK to the levels, I imagine.

Yeah, and I loved seeing that world building, which is why I feel like Aftermath had more of a Kittelsen influence to it with some of these characters that you normally wouldn't play as in story mode getting their chance to have a story involving them (Shao Kahn, Nightwolf, Shang Tsung, Fujin).

Yeah, we had something special with the 3D era which is why I'd like to see some of that world building, but like you, I also don't think that it's going to get any better. I'd love to see NRS go with Shang Tsung's Aftermath ending for MK12 and re-introduce Havik, Hotaru, ChaosRealm and OrderRealm / Seido, but they don't have the cojones to do something like that.
Wouldn't be surprised if MK12 ends up being a soft re-boot and we get another UMK3 / MK9 type of roster.

I feel like MK11 Sheeva sometimes gets slack in the game (in general) because of people who were trying to constantly spam her tele-stomp.
It was fun to play as her in story mode, even though I think that she was defeated to easily by Sindel or that they could have handled that part in Aftermath differently. Dunno.

After 2 games with Dominic at the helm, though, I also don't feel like the world building will get any better.
It's disappointing, really, because while people tend to tell me "but, dude, it's a fighting game," (meaning that fighting games tend to have shitty stories) at the same time MK once did have some awesome lore and was 1 of the few fighting games that got me interested in the stories of the characters involved.

 

[Xenon]

Which doesn't work (imo) because when Shang Tsung died in MK9, Goro still went off to do things later on in the MKX comics with the story line of joining Mileena's forces against Kotal Kahn and was alive in MKX as well.
It's the same shit with the stupid "the whole Island died" when Shang Tsung died MK11 main story mode excuse.
No, it didn't because again Goro was still around doing stuff after MK9. The only plausible explanation based off of various Sheeva intros is that maaaaaybe some time after Goro met with Daegon to re-grow his arms that Kotal Kahn had an encounter with him and he met his demise.
But again, that's piecing together shit from different intros and I shouldn't have to do that because Dom is doing a piss-poor job of writing.
MK11 Goro is a perfect example of why I don't like horse shit, half-assed explanations from Dom that make ZERO sense.
So, Dom either completely retconned Goro out of all of the MKX comics events or he is full of shit...... or both..

But that's the thing... Something I've already brought up before.... The MKX comics are not canon. It's the same way Malibu comics weren't canon. As Kittlesen himself said it's HEADCANON. So I guess you're supposed to look at MK11 story without even thinking of the comics. And it makes sense too; none of the characters have any resemblance to the comics.

I view the comics the same way as the movies... They have nothing to do with the game. Hell, the NuMK games themselves have nothing to do with each other. Each game is a separate entity with their own "creative spin".

MK9 - Reboot. Fresh start for NRS to do anything they want.
MKX - Sorta like MK4-Deadly Alliance, but yet as incoherent as it can get. At least the ending didn't suck?
MK11 - Did someone say incoherent? Hold my beer!

Think I've also said this before but you shouldn't overanalyze MK11 story. It's shallow as a piss puddle. The main shtick of it is the timelines. The very first scenes already destroy any coherence. Why did Kronika summon the good guys, specifically them and specifically from that timeline? It's just trash, that's why, and only gets worse from there on.

 

[Commander]

But that's the thing... Something I've already brought up before.... The MKX comics are not canon. It's the same way Malibu comics weren't canon. As Kittlesen himself said it's HEADCANON. So I guess you're supposed to look at MK11 story without even thinking of the comics. And it makes sense too; none of the characters have any resemblance to the comics.

I view the comics the same way as the movies... They have nothing to do with the game. Hell, the NuMK games themselves have nothing to do with each other. Each game is a separate entity with their own "creative spin".

MK9 - Reboot. Fresh start for NRS to do anything they want.
MKX - Sorta like MK4-Deadly Alliance, but yet as incoherent as it can get. At least the ending didn't suck?
MK11 - Did someone say incoherent? Hold my beer!

Think I've also said this before but you shouldn't overanalyze MK11 story. It's shallow as a piss puddle. The main shtick of it is the timelines. The very first scenes already destroy any coherence. Why did Kronika summon the good guys, specifically them and specifically from that timeline? It's just trash, that's why, and only gets worse from there on.

Was it Kittlesen that said that it wasn't canon or Dominic? I don't see why Kittelsen would admit to his own stuff not being canon, and that seems like a thing that Dominic would say to cover up his tracks for the garbage written in MK11. Plus, there's plenty of intro lines among fighters and gear that do reference events from MK9, MKX and the comics.
Wasn't the whole purpose of the comics to tie in the events between MK9 and MKX?
How is something that's meant to tie-in canon game events (the comics) not canon when the game events are canon?
That's what I'm not getting.

Unfortunately, I do analyze they story, though, because up until MKX the MK franchise was 1 of the few series that actually had cool lore to it.
As for the part of Kronika summoning heroes too, dunno, my guess is that she just lazily summoned some of the fighters that were in the arena at the time before Kung Lao got his neck snapped. They use the Back To The Future paradox of time travel in MK11, so maybe Kitana, Liu Kang and Kung Lao were needed alive. Raiden said that he existed outside of time, so that lazily explains how they got rid of Dark Raiden and brought in MK1 / MKII / MK9 Raiden. Jade, because people were pissed that she was missing from MKX. Young Johnny and Sonya, though, no idea.
It just sucks to see the series go down-hill in terms of lore and story content.
We went from cool story stuff in Deadly Alliance, Deception and Armageddon..... to this.

 

[Xenon]

Was it Kittlesen that said that it wasn't canon or Dominic? I don't see why Kittelsen would admit to his own stuff not being canon, and that seems like a thing that Dominic would say to cover up his tracks for the garbage written in MK11. Plus, there's plenty of intro lines among fighters and gear that do reference events from MK9, MKX and the comics.
Wasn't the whole purpose of the comics to tie in the events between MK9 and MKX?
How is something that's meant to tie-in canon game events (the comics) not canon when the game events are canon?
That's what I'm not getting.

Unfortunately, I do analyze they story, though, because up until MKX the MK franchise was 1 of the few series that actually had cool lore to it.
As for the part of Kronika summoning heroes too, dunno, my guess is that she just lazily summoned some of the fighters that were in the arena at the time before Kung Lao got his neck snapped. They use the Back To The Future paradox of time travel in MK11, so maybe Kitana, Liu Kang and Kung Lao were needed alive. Raiden said that he existed outside of time, so that lazily explains how they got rid of Dark Raiden and brought in MK1 / MKII / MK9 Raiden. Jade, because people were pissed that she was missing from MKX. Young Johnny and Sonya, though, no idea.
It just sucks to see the series go down-hill in terms of lore and story content.
We went from cool story stuff in Deadly Alliance, Deception and Armageddon..... to this.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1199759860511850496

Not exactly related to the comics, but it shows pretty well how easily "canon" can become "headcanon". Treating 20 years of whatever lore we had as headcanon... just like that. And yet you're asking the validity of the comics?

There's no reason why Kronika summoned those fighters, other than "well, we need a roster!!!". Someone who's so powerful and so wise, and yet summons Liu Kang knowing full well he'll demolish Shao Kahn, and probably her as well? Or even worse, with Kitana who now can easily manhandle Shao Kahn as well for no reason? I also assume that Jade can do the same now. After all, she and Kitana are pretty much of the same age and had the same training. Especially when Woke Politics are being considered.

Also since when it's a prerequisite to summon exactly the same amount enemies (the good guys) as your potential allies? And why are they needed alive, when Kronika tried her best for the entire game and DLC to kill them all?...

Nothing about Kronika makes any lick of sense. Dumbass villain for a dumbass audience, really.

 

[Commander]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1199759860511850496

Not exactly related to the comics, but it shows pretty well how easily "canon" can become "headcanon". Treating 20 years of whatever lore we had as headcanon... just like that. And yet you're asking the validity of the comics?

There's no reason why Kronika summoned those fighters, other than "well, we need a roster!!!". Someone who's so powerful and so wise, and yet summons Liu Kang knowing full well he'll demolish Shao Kahn, and probably her as well? Also since when it's a prerequisite to summon exactly the same amount enemies (the good guys) as your potential allies? And why are they needed alive, when Kronika tried her best for the entire game and DLC to kill them all?...

Nothing about Kronika makes any lick of sense. Dumbass villain for a dumbass audience, really.

Yeah, I know about the whole debacle with MK11 Sindel thing, but Kittelsen specifically said before that the comics were supposed to bridge the gap between MK9 and MKX games. Sindel seems like more of a Dominic decision. There's even lore that he planned for additional comics which Kittelsen has been reduced to having to call it his own head-canon because it never was officially made, but he DID plan on writing it for future comics.
And yes, it was Dominic (the destroyer of all holy lore in MK ) saying that the comics weren't canon, not Kittelsen.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1326669861762772999

I also get that the in-house reason at NRS for some of those summoned fighters was for the roster (which still doesn't make sense for Liu Kang, Kitana and Kung Lao, imo), but the lazy lore / story reason seemed to be "because time travel." It takes minimal effort on Dominic's part to go "almost everyone in the arena got transported" and hope that most people will eat that shit up just the same way that it takes minimal effort for Dominic to say "the whole Island died when Shang Tsung died." Dominic is writing horse shit in the hopes that people forget about the comics and eat up whatever shit he's trying to force on people in MK11, especially since Kittelsen was more of a free-lance writer for MK11 to help and not fully staffed at NRS. Dominic is the one pushing this whole MK11 garbage narrative.

As for why the younger versions are needed alive... Dunno. As much as I don't care for the writing in this game, my guess is that they tried to explain this a bit with the Back To The Future / grandfather theory of time travel.... Killing the younger version of a character will also kill the older version of that same character, like when Sonya killed young Kano and by doing so she also killed old Kano in the process.
Most of the Kronika stuff didn't make sense to me (like her telling Raiden exactly how to defeat her), but the paradox of killing off the younger character meaning that the older one wouldn't exist in the future does make sense to me.

 

[Xenon]

Right, I don't want to drag out this further but basically you have an NRS employee saying that comics are not canon. What else needs to be said?...

Looks better than the first season. My biggest problem is the overall animation/drawing quality..... God damn is it horrid looking. Just look at that thumbnail?...

 

[Commander]

Agreed, but I'd still take that over the 2021 movie. Lol
At least the animated movies are taking more of a chance with characters like Reiko (how he looked in the comics), Li Mei and Nitara (Scorpion's revenge). Otherwise, we probably would never hear from these types of characters again.

It's a shame (imo) that WB game publishing / NRS doesn't want to take a chance of some of these characters like the WB animated films do.
MKX at least had 4 more post-MK3 characters to it. Still don't care for Bo Rai Cho in MKX, but I still think he was a VAST improvement over his 3D era counterpart and the same went for Tanya and Shinnok.

 

[Xenon]

Jade looks like she's gonna get owned again by Liu Kang First SM, then MK11, and now this. He'll need plenty of explanation to do to Kitana.

It's nice that they bring back 3D era characters. Also glad they didn't fuck around with MK9/MKD costumes too much. Jade and Li Mei look pretty accurate to the source material. Not 100%, but it's not godawful like in MK11. Kintaro is going to die for sure. Reiko and Shao Kahn look like dumb brutes once again, obviously gonna get clapped. Think it's safe to say that most of the bad guys will bite the dust, and the good guys will be pissing on their graves.

Honestly wouldn't even give it a chance after watching Scorpion's Revenge, but I'm a sucker for good ol' MK9 so I'll go in but keep the expectations ultra low.

 

[Misucra]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1411006897868578821

Pfuuu... AHAHAHAHAHAHA

Guys! We promise! This game will be supported for way longer!

 

[Commander]

I hate to be THAT person but 19 months IS much longer than their previous installments.
That said, the website did call MK11 Ultimate the "definitive" edition.
Yeah, there were data mined slots, but shit falls through like the supposed Living Forest expansion, chunks of meat and Sektor.
Not all of the shit that's in the files will come out, and I had lost hope of MK11 getting any additional content as of May 8th.

 

[Misucra]

I hate to be THAT person but 19 months IS much longer than their previous installments.
That said, the website did call MK11 Ultimate the "definitive" edition.
Yeah, there were data mined slots, but shit falls through like the supposed Living Forest expansion, chunks of meat and Sektor.
Not all of the shit that's in the files will come out, and I had lost hope of MK11 getting any additional content as of May 8th.

No, no, no. You don't get to be silent for 6 months and call it "support". That piss poor "patch" with Sheeva's stomp and some health adjustment for couple of characters, isn't content either. If we are counting since last actual content update, then it has been 13 months of support.

 

[Xenon]

I hate to be THAT person but 19 months IS much longer than their previous installments.
That said, the website did call MK11 Ultimate the "definitive" edition.
Yeah, there were data mined slots, but shit falls through like the supposed Living Forest expansion, chunks of meat and Sektor.
Not all of the shit that's in the files will come out, and I had lost hope of MK11 getting any additional content as of May 8th.

Remember all the leaks?

"I SWEAR ON ME MUM.... IT'S COMING.... AND YOU'LL BE HERE SAYING SORRY THAT YOU DIDN'T BELIEVE MEEEE!!!!"

Or how about all the coping by the NuMK stans.... "No way! There are still 5 slots left! Datamines! Leaks! VAs going back to record! Ed Boon's Twitter! BEST SELLER!!!!"

 

[Revamp_Kombat]

Sad no more MK11...

Onto MK12... the Great Kung Lao's time. Any ideas?

 

[lariat]

I find this strange for NRS to come out and say this out of the blue but maybe the silver lining is they're further along with the next game than we thought.. It wouldn't surprise me at all if the next project is crossgen. Maybe that's why WB is letting NRS break their silence.

 

[Guyver Spawn]

We will probably see MK12 until 2024. If you look at the franchise, there is a 5-year gap when things get rebooted.

MKDA: Released five years after MK4. It's not a total reboot, but the gameplay has been fully rebooted.
MK9: Released five years after MKA. They rebooted the story and gameplay.
MK12: They will reboot the story and the gameplay will probably be different too.

 

[Misucra]

We will probably see MK12 until 2024. If you look at the franchise, there is a 5-year gap when things get rebooted.

MKDA: Released five years after MK4. It's not a total reboot, but the gameplay has been fully rebooted.
MK9: Released five years after MKA. They rebooted the story and gameplay.
MK12: They will reboot the story and the gameplay will probably be different too.

You're forgetting possible 2 games in between. Unless they make a crossover of Marvel vs DC, but that isn't very likely as Injustice 3 need to conclude trilogy (though I don't think NRS comprehends what Trilogy even means, knowing how they dealt with MK "trilogy")

There is a chance we won't see any MK for a decade. And by that time, any OG devs will be gone.

 

[Xenon]

Kintaro is going to die for sure.

 

[Guyver Spawn]

I do wish WB would allow other people make MK spin-offs while NRS is doing other stuff. I know NRS does not over flood the market with MK like Midway did in the 90s, but the MK community becomes dead quick when you have no new content.