Future of MK

[Xenon]

I really liked Lewis Tan, but Cole in a MK game sounds so boring. He'd probably play just like Kobu Jutsu Tanya
After MK11 I am sooooo fucking sick of characters having arbitrary weapons.

Deception had a good idea how to handle weapons with the fighting styles. On its own it was pretty jank, but now they could really refine it and have something new to play with.

Hah, who am I kidding.... We're gonna get MK11 2.0.

 

[Commander]

I mean even if you go off BotR, Liu Kang was fighting with the full power of the Elder Gods and still needed NORMAL Scorpion to save him. I wouldn't blame somebody for thinking Scorpion was the main character of MK. Its why you always see Ryu vs Scorpion and not Ryu Vs Kang. Most people see it that way

Exactly, and while the story may revolve around Liu Kang, Scorpion and Sub-Zero are the poster-boys for everything and their story has to be inserted into every-goddamn-thing.
MK9 = retelling of Scorpion / Sub-Zero feud, MKX = Scorpion and Sub-Zero: The Start of A Bro-mance and MK11 = Scorpion and Sub-Zero: The Bro-mance continues.
As for Scorpion....
Deadly Alliance = trailer of Scorpion performing katas in first person view.
MK9 = Scorpion and Sub-Zero at each other's throats.... from the fucking main menu with Scorpion having the upper hand, to the collectible book ends, to pre-order shit to the game's story and CGI trailers... we get it Boon.
Injustice = Scorpion about to finish off Sub-Zero in his intro.
MKX = box cover featuring Scorpion, trailer featuring Sub-Zero and Scorpion fighting each other... Hmm, I wonder who's gonna win this match....Oh, that's right, the fucking studio mascot. Scorpion and Sub bury the hatchet and Scorpion finally kills off Quan Chi.
MK11 = trailer Scorpion (yet again) fighting against Raiden with Raiden killing off Scorpion only for YET ANOTHER Scorpion (UMK3) to show up, box art with (checks notes) ah, yes, Scorpion yet again.... Scorpion and Sub-Zero inserted again into the story because of course, special edition comes with mask / hood of... Scorpion.... pre-order skin for said MK11 special edition is for Scorpion.

There also was a planned Fire and Ice type of Shaolin Monks game with Sub-Zero and Scorpion (because of course), and there even was a concept art or 2 out for it.

 

[BBBLP]

Deception had a good idea how to handle weapons with the fighting styles. On its own it was pretty jank, but now they could really refine it and have something new to play with.

Hah, who am I kidding.... We're gonna get MK11 2.0.

I don't think every character should have a weapon. Its pointless. Because then you end up with shit like Noob having a troll hammer, or even now where Sheeva, a 7 foot tall 4 armed monster uses a 6 inch Buckler shield.

 

[BBBLP]

Exactly, and while the story may revolve around Liu Kang, Scorpion and Sub-Zero are the poster-boys for everything and their story has to be inserted into every-goddamn-thing.
MK9 = retelling of Scorpion / Sub-Zero feud, MKX = Scorpion and Sub-Zero: The Start of A Bro-mance and MK11 = Scorpion and Sub-Zero: The Bro-mance continues.
As for Scorpion....
Deadly Alliance = trailer of Scorpion performing katas in first person view.
MK9 = Scorpion and Sub-Zero at each other's throats.... from the fucking main menu with Scorpion having the upper hand, to the collectible book ends, to pre-order shit to the game's story and CGI trailers... we get it Boon.
Injustice = Scorpion about to finish off Sub-Zero in his intro.
MKX = box cover featuring Scorpion, trailer featuring Sub-Zero and Scorpion fighting each other... Hmm, I wonder who's gonna win this match....Oh, that's right, the fucking studio mascot. Scorpion and Sub bury the hatchet and Scorpion finally kills off Quan Chi.
MK11 = trailer Scorpion (yet again) fighting against Raiden with Raiden killing off Scorpion only for YET ANOTHER Scorpion (UMK3) to show up, box art with (checks notes) ah, yes, Scorpion yet again.... Scorpion and Sub-Zero inserted again into the story because of course, special edition comes with mask / hood of... Scorpion.... pre-order skin for said MK11 special edition is for Scorpion.

There also was a planned Fire and Ice type of Shaolin Monks game with Sub-Zero and Scorpion (because of course), and there even was a concept art or 2 out for it.

I've got no problem by that. Scorpion is far and away the most popular Mortal Kombat character. Like its not even close.

 

[Xenon]

Well, Noob has a Scythe now.... Deception styles had 2 unarmed 1 armed, pretty good balance imo. Gives everyone something to play with.

 

[BBBLP]

Gives everyone something to play with.

Thats the issue. Its pointless. Not everyone should have a weapon.
If a character has a weapon it should be a design choice, not because they have to follow a stupid checklist.

Its just personal taste, but I feel like it takes away some of their personality. Like I already said with Sheeva. Go look at her Fatal blow and you realize it could literally have been given to any other character. She does nothing unique to a Shokan. Some characters are defined by it definitely. Kano is the knife guy, Kabal the hookswords, but it shouldn't be the case for everyone is what I'm saying.

 

[Xenon]

I dunno, most if not all MK characters have weapons now. It's all about making it fun at this point....

By the way, as far as Fatal Blows go.... That logic extends to pretty much most of MK11. Cassie's stupid "kick in the nuts so hard specific part of the skeleton comes out" can be applied to anyone for example. It's just lack of creativity/rushing it, which is at fault here.

Thing is with Deception styles, you don't have to use weapons if you don't want to. Have 2 unarmed styles to play with.... That seems like a good solution.

 

[lariat]

I always thought that was the point of the variation system. To introduce different takes on a characters fighting personality with and without weapons. IMO deceptions weapon system felt like a watered down soul calibur and NRS/Midway was just chasing namco's mechanics since that was all the rage at the time. I get people here love to hate on the variation system (Including myself ) but I still think it's a far better solution than just giving each character a random weapon.

 

[Xenon]

NuMK variations are like more like having a crippled character that you can give moves to before the fight begins. Deception however had 2 unarmed, 1 armed style that you could switch right in the fight, it was a full character. That's why I think that system could work really well if it would've been refined more.

 

[Commander]

Thats the issue. Its pointless. Not everyone should have a weapon.
If a character has a weapon it should be a design choice, not because they have to follow a stupid checklist.

I agree with this.
In MK11 it felt like each character had to have a weapon for NRS to be like "Here, you can also upgrade this useless weapon / gear, in which for lots of characters the change can be pretty subtle."

For some it felt cool and for others it was weird.
Why does Baraka need a damn flag, Liu Kang with a nunchaku, Rain with a katar and Sub-Zero with an axe?

Granted they look neat for some moves, but someone like Sub-Zero for example would have just had different customizable forms to his ice ball.
Hell, let 1 of his ice balls be in the form of a skull for customization (for example), but aside from 1 or 2 moves the customization of the ice axe seems pointless.

 

[Xenon]

Sub-Zero with an axe?

http://mortalkombatwarehouse.com/umk3/subzero/sprites/combos/16.png

It's been the case ever since the original trilogy.... And they only doubled down on it ever since it went 3D.... your favorite era. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Commander]

http://mortalkombatwarehouse.com/umk3/subzero/sprites/combos/16.png

It's been the case ever since the original trilogy.... And they only doubled down on it ever since it went 3D.... your favorite era. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Doesn't mean I ever cared for it in either UMK3 or thereafter, though.
Plus, UMK3 Scorpion also had the same axe, so it seems just like more of the same copy-paste animation that John Turk did for at least those 2 UMK3 ninja sprites.
MK1 and MKII Sub-Zero never had a weapon and I don't think he ever needed to have one added, either.
Out of the 3D era, adding weapons to characters that didn't need it was 1 of the things I didn't care for.
MK9 and MKX Sub-Zero also didn't need weapons, and I don't care for lots of the characters having weapons when they don't need them.
I'll agree to disagree with you, but imo characters like Noob Saibot (sickle) Raiden (staff), Jax (guns), Sindel (staff), Baraka (flag), Rain (katar), Liu Kang (nunchaku) and Sub-Zero (axe) don't need weapons.

 

[Xenon]

Not sure why you're arguing against basically 25 years of MK. Weapons have been an important part of it. Liu Kang has been rocking chains ever since he was turned into a zombie, and the nunchaku is obviously a tribute to Bruce Lee, which is basically what Liu Kang is.

MKD gave everyone a weapon. It's a game about fighting without any coherent rules, so it makes sense why weapons are in. Obviously guns would've given anyone an automatic W, but MK is not realistic to begin with. Hence why you can dodge bullets doing basic cartwheels at point blank...

Btw, Sub-Zero has been forming stabby stabby things (which by definition, are weapons) ever since the 1995 movie. I can't stand MK11 for many things, but the weapons they got right at least from design perspective.

 

[BBBLP]

Forcing everyone to adhere to shit like that is what lead to Sektor having Sonya's stance in Armageddon.

Weapons are cool, but they shouldn't be necessary. Scorpion didn't need an axe in UMK3, Jax didn't need it spiked bat in MK4.

 

[Xenon]

Armageddon was a low-effort game to cram as much shit as possible.

Your logic works both ways. Also Scorpion was built around weapons, that's basically the bread and butter of Ninjas/Ninjutsu...

 

[Commander]

Not sure why you're arguing against basically 25 years of MK.

Because even though I'm a fan of the series I'm allowed to be critical of the things I don't like it, and weapons (imo) for characters that don't need weapons / aren't known for having weapons comes off as being just a dumb gimmick (to me).
Again, if you like the way they look in MK11, then fine, but I'll agree to disagree on that.
Imo, it's not needed for all of the characters.

Weapons have been an important part of it. Liu Kang has been rocking chains ever since he was turned into a zombie, and the nunchaku is obviously a tribute to Bruce Lee, which is basically what Liu Kang is.

MKD gave everyone a weapon. It's a game about fighting without any coherent rules, so it makes sense why weapons are in. Obviously guns would've given anyone an automatic W, but MK is not realistic to begin with. Hence why you can dodge bullets doing basic cartwheels at point blank...

Yeah, and I didn't care for Liu Kang using chains as a zombie in the 3D era, either. Lol
It wasn't something that was broke and needed to be fixed, imo.
MK1 through MK3 / UMK3 Liu Kang, MK9 and MKX Liu Kang were fine the way that they were.
Jax also (imo) didn't need the rocket or machine gun (MKX) nor the shotgun (MK11).
I never said anything about realism or not, just that it feels weird (to me) to give certain weapons to characters that usually don't have weapons like that. Obviously "realism" went out the window starting with MK1, but that's not what I was getting at.

Btw, Sub-Zero has been forming stabby stabby things (which by definition, are weapons) ever since the 1995 movie. I can't stand MK11 for many things, but the weapons they got right at least from design perspective.

But they weren't always a useless customizable gear piece like in MK11.
Again, Rain, Sindel and Sheeva also didn't need weapons in MK11 (imo), as they worked fine without them in MK9.
Sheeva's main issue in MK9 was her shitty hit-box, but that was resolved in MK11, and the main reason that people hated her when she first came to MK11 was because of the Teleport spam, but that was fixed as of a few months ago.
The problem (imo) with characters getting weapons that don't always have weapons is that it also feels like NRS ran out of ideas with some of the variations and felt the need to put weapons for some of them.
Baraka needs a flag?
Why?
Dunno, let's make it part of his Fatal Blow and also hide a Brutality behind it!
Genius!

 

[Xenon]

Jax also (imo) didn't need the rocket or machine gun (MKX) nor the shotgun (MK11).

What are you talking about? Ever since the 1995 movie Jax has been using a weapon, and technically his bionic arms are also a weapon. SF is basically all about weapons.

As I said before, most characters had weapons before NuMK was even conceived. That's like complaining about the gore or the (rest in pieces) skimpy clothing for the female fighters. It's just what MK is, or well, was....

I think your problem is that NRS lamed through a lot of things, not with weapons. Baraka with a banner offends you? Makes perfect sense to me. It's a buff item that he periodically uses to stab people with in very rare circumstances. Would it honestly make a difference for you if he used his....I dunno.... weapons coming out of his arms?....

 

[Commander]

Baraka with a banner offends you? Makes perfect sense to me. It's a buff item that he periodically uses to stab people with in very rare circumstances. Would it honestly make a difference for you if he used his....I dunno.... weapons coming out of his arms?....

Offends me? Lol. Why does it have to be taken to that extreme?
I just stated that I don't care for some of these characters having (what I think are) unnecessary weapons.

 

[Xenon]

Well, you kept ranting about Baraka and weapons.... when he has weapons in arms. This is the perfect example of "if it's not broken, don't fix it!".

 

[Commander]

Yeah, and I stated that I didn't care for it, but it never "offended" me.
I didn't stop playing the game because of it, but it's just 1 of my criticisms of the game. Lol
Simple.
I thought that other things were done well, but things like unnecessary weapons for certain characters (imo), story mode and too many guests weren't some of them.