Gore on tap -- dumbing down Mortal Kombat

Who cares if there is an easy option? if you don't like it don't use it. I for one am glad that we'll be able to unlock them vs having to enter a code.
 
Too much meter for getting pummelled

Just noticed in the final stream the amount of meter the player on the receiving end of a beating gets compared to what they get for landing attacks or doing special attacks -- the disparity is enormous. So much so that it looks as though a player being beaten 'Flawlessly' could possible build two, full meters for doing little more than acting as a training mode dummy.

How dumbed down are they planning to go with this franchise? Two-button supers / X-rays, 'simple mode' Fatalities, meter that rewards poor play... I know SFIV's Ultras are also activated from being beat down. But in that game you have two separate meter mechanics at work and the Ultra combo inflicts very little damage if used immediately upon activation (i.e., when the Ultra combo meter is low / close to 50%). In MK, the damage from X-rays is canned, only scaled in combos and has next to zero execution requirement for played to learn.

These ingredients make for a game where scrubby players will be throwing X-rays out ad nauseum and essentially be patted on the back for doing so. When you couple that with the fact/s that X-rays are effectively only a cut-scene playing out mid bout (no player interaction after pressing the two buttons) and that characters seem to [still] have only one, measly variation of said move, it really does take the sheen away from these attacks.

Why does the meter in MK need to be so poorly implemented? As another example, breakers in a game with so many facile combos should not cost two-thirds of a meter. Nor do they necessarily need to be universal in how much meter they do in fact take -- can't characters have individual traits? Then the cost of X-rays conspire to rendering them near useless in competitive play. Yet, ironically, these moves are handed to weak players on a platter through this markedly 'anti skill' system of meter gain apportionment.

I know MK will never be a competitive scene mainstay while SF and the like are around. But should this mean that the franchise should abandon trying to refine itself and become a just another casuals pandering vehicle for DLC profiteering?
 
Re: Too much meter for getting pummelled

As much I understand your point of view, things like getting Fatality inputs simplified, aren't that big of deal. You always get a choice whether to actually use simplified or original input option. Besides, fatalities are just extra fun and something that series use as marketing tool and I'm cool with that that everyone can use them. Fatalities being hard to execute is in my opinion just left-overs from the arcade era, from the time Fatalities were thought never to be found in the first place.

Then the X-ray. While I again understand your point, I think it does a bit better job than SF has done with supers and ultras. If opponent is a beginner or something like that, x-rays are so easily blocked and meter completely wasted. It wasn't problem either in competetive scene in MK9, since having breakers and meter for EX attacks was so much more important. Finally, trying to teach ultras in SFIV to beginner is pain in the ass, especially if they are playing the game first time. X-ray gives them at least something that they can use easily, rather than for instance Vega's / Guile's charge delta motions that need proper practice before you can execute them properly.

I think breaker being 2/3 of the meter is totally fine, but I agree with you about specific traits. Meter build is different for each character in Street Fighter, so characters would gain more uniqueness to their gameplay in MK as well, if this was the case.

P.S As far as I remember, didn't attacker in MK9 get tons of meter if the opponent was blocking? If it was, is it changed to MKX?
 
Re: Too much meter for getting pummelled

DeBane said:
Just noticed in the final stream the amount of meter the player on the receiving end of a beating gets compared to what they get for landing attacks or doing special attacks -- the disparity is enormous. So much so that it looks as though a player being beaten 'Flawlessly' could possible build two, full meters for doing little more than acting as a training mode dummy.

How dumbed down are they planning to go with this franchise? Two-button supers / X-rays, 'simple mode' Fatalities, meter that rewards poor play... I know SFIV's Ultras are also activated from being beat down. But in that game you have two separate meter mechanics at work and the Ultra combo inflicts very little damage if used immediately upon activation (i.e., when the Ultra combo meter is low / close to 50%). In MK, the damage from X-rays is canned, only scaled in combos and has next to zero execution requirement for played to learn.

These ingredients make for a game where scrubby players will be throwing X-rays out ad nauseum and essentially be patted on the back for doing so. When you couple that with the fact/s that X-rays are effectively only a cut-scene playing out mid bout (no player interaction after pressing the two buttons) and that characters seem to [still] have only one, measly variation of said move, it really does take the sheen away from these attacks.

Why does the meter in MK need to be so poorly implemented? As another example, breakers in a game with so many facile combos should not cost two-thirds of a meter. Nor do they necessarily need to be universal in how much meter they do in fact take -- can't characters have individual traits? Then the cost of X-rays conspire to rendering them near useless in competitive play. Yet, ironically, these moves are handed to weak players on a platter through this markedly 'anti skill' system of meter gain apportionment.

I know MK will never be a competitive scene mainstay while SF and the like are around. But should this mean that the franchise should abandon trying to refine itself and become a just another casuals pandering vehicle for DLC profiteering?
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I hate to break it to you, but the Meter was specifically designed as a catch up mechanic to prevent people from being discouraged that they were losing.

It's not dumbing down, it's kreating a more spectator friendly match; lesser blowouts keeps people on the edge of their seat more.

Also, from the programming standpoint, adding in Easy Fatalities is literally like a line of code and 30 seconds per.
 
Sorry to break it to you but Fatalities were never hard to perform. They were always easy to do. If I could perform Fatalities in MK1 at the age of 7, then yeah they weren't that hard for anyone older.

Why does it matter anyway? If your opponent has performed a Fatality on you, you have already lost the match so who cares? This thread reeks of elitism, and it's gross. Hell, SF's come back mechanic is on its own bar, so one of those Ultras is pretty much guaranteed in a game. X-rays are not, because that same bar allows you to do other things like enhanced moves or breakers and shit.

I play Street Fighter when I feel like playing Street Fighter, and I play MK when I feel like playing MK. Why not enjoy both for what they are? MK was never equivalent to SF in depth, and there is no reason for it to all of a sudden become what MK never was. No 1 frame links, a Block button always held it back when it comes to cross overs and stuff, but who cares? MK always had its own things that made it great and absolutely enjoyable to play.
 
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FobinenHege said:
You always get a choice whether to actually use simplified or original input option.
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So, to extrapolate, if X-rays had an option of a traditional, more deliberate input scheme that was not universal across the roster - e.g., ⤴⤴ or ↻↻ + buttons - together with the "accessible" activation scheme the game now has by default, which would tournaments allow? Both? Only the command input version?

That is, if all the game is about is facilitating the execution of attacks / combos / finishers, why beat around the bush with LT+RT X-rays and not just assign them to a single button? In fact, why not just have attacks activate automatically -- X-rays when the meter is full, combos once the first attack lands / or "target combos" (think: SF:Alpha 3's V-sim), finishers as soon as the player stands in the correct position...? Isn't that the "cinematic experience" the industry is making a bee line for? Mortal Kombat: 1886?

So, what's the point of all these overly elaborate, overpriced, "Hori" and "Senwa" this and that which they flog like snake oils with each game release when all we're seemingly ultimately striving for is gore on tap using Kinect voice commands or Eye Toy? :???:

Demetrius said:
I hate to break it to you, but the Meter was specifically designed as a catch up mechanic to prevent people from being discouraged that they were losing.

It's not dumbing down, it's kreating a more spectator friendly match
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All is good. I already knew this and reading between the lines of my posts should reinforce this (...to say nothing of similar complaints I've been making since circa mid-2000s).

And I'd argue that making the game a "spectator friendly" affair at the expense of its gameplay, learning curve and entrained sense of reward, is throwing the baby out with the bathwater. You might end up with games that look like Avatar, but they'll play like Avatar (the film) as well. Moreover, I can only speak for myself, but I'd much rather 'spectate' Diago Umehara doing a "full parry" comeback against Justin Wong in SFIII at Evo 2004 the way it actually panned out than if it had been accomplished with 'auto parries' or LT+RT... :roll: >subjective

Kal said:
Sorry to break it to you but Fatalities were never hard to perform. They were always easy to do. If I could perform Fatalities in MK1 at the age of 7, then yeah they weren't that hard for anyone older.
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Exactly. So why simplify them? Why remove any semblance of a sense of reward for executing said finishers? It's not like such moves are organic in any way or have much variety, such that the player would see something new each time the action played out. I mean, didn't the advent of the Internet make acquiring the commands for these once 'hidden' moves essentially a mouse-click away from anyone, irrespective of video gaming nous or skill? Or isn't busywork grinding Krypt coins an easy enough method to activate having these commands appear in the pause menu?

So why must even the method by which to execute these actions, or any in-game actions for that matter, have to be reduced to a Wiimote waggle when said actions are free for all to learn? Do we no longer want to learn and "git gud"; exercise our brains and perhaps stave of Alzhimers a few years longer? Why do we even play interactive entertainment then? Why not just watch CGI films?... they've better graphics and run at whatever fps you like! Why not lobotomise ourselves and just stare, gob agape, grinning and drooling incessantly in a blissful state of zombification? Sounds relaxing...
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Has MK become a Hostel or Serbian Film in video game form -- just turn it on and watch the gratuitous gore porn flow forth? No sense of reward or accomplishment required. No need for any hand-eye co-ordination, motor skills or much gaming skill of any kind -- pure, morbid, sadistic indulgence.

Isn't this franchise meant to be a FIGHTING GAME franchise? :???:
 
Fatalities are just extra fun though. You've already won the match, a Fatality is just something extra you can do to kinda rub it in your opponent's face. In the past when the internet wasn't as mainstay, being able to do a Fatality was somewhat special, because not everyone knew how. Now with the internet, EVERYONE can simply type it in Google and find the commands on how to do it. It's not special anymore, so it doesn't actually matter if you can do the commands.
 
^ Yes. So why not either make the execution of said moves more complicated in order to give them an air of 'mystique' (so not every 5-year-old is mashing them out) -OR- give characters scores of said finishers / make them organic and not just canned cut-scenes?

On one hand you're acknowledging the game has become more accessible and no longer as secretive about what used to be its arcane elements. Yet, on the other hand you're advocating certain actions becoming even more casual friendly. Are you saying the more simplistic the game becomes, the better for the franchise?

If so, I cannot agree with that for the reasons stated earlier. Easier =/= better. Especially not in the fighting game genre.
 
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Well, I'm glad the game is just teaching players how to actually perform the fatalities rather than press 1 button for them. Infact, it's only the first fatality and not the second fatality.
 
I've never had an issue performing fatalities, but for some reason none of my friends can pull them off. They'd always hand me the controller. It was an aspect that they didn't really get to enjoy which having the easy input is fine with me if it encourages them to play more often. It's not like it allows them to cheat in the core Gameplay so it's good to see them enjoy doing a finishing move after they win a match against each other. Not against me, they just get slaughtered lol
 
DeBane said:
^ Yes. So why not either make the execution of said moves more complicated in order to give them an air of 'mystique' (so not every 5-year-old is mashing them out) -OR- give characters scores of said finishers / make them organic and not just canned cut-scenes?

On one hand you're acknowledging the game has become more accessible and no longer as secretive about what used to be its arcane elements. Yet, on the other hand you're advocating certain actions becoming even more casual friendly. Are you saying the more simplistic the game becomes, the better for the franchise?

If so, I cannot agree with that for the reasons stated earlier. Easier =/= better. Especially not in the fighting game genre.
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What is wrong with a 5 year old being able to make the fatalities happen?
 
DeBane said:
Not a thing. -the military-industrial complex
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Huh, I played MK2 when I was 3 years old, have never been in a fight, and was actually denied military service because of my health.

You're pulling a Jack Thompson, thinking video games can influence poor young corruptible minds.
 
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