The Story Aspect In MKX And From Here On Out

ArcaneEsper

ArcaneEsper

New member
Now when I say story aspect I don't mean for this thread to descend into any unnecessary bashing or anything. What I'm referring to, is the concept of Story Mode in the MK team's newer games. Now I know we all have our own views on Story Mode, and of course you have the right to disagree with me, but currently Story Mode isn't exactly doing wonders for the plot.

Hence, I've been thinking, that if MK were to return to telling the story primarily from the Bios and the Endings, the lore fans are better off. That way we get to know what each character was up to during the game and the bios would be something fun to unlock. Of course seeing the story play out is always nice however I feel the story in and of itself isn't a top priority for NRS hence telling the story through Bios, Endings and other such small snippets that give us an idea of what's going on, is a better direction to head in. Again feel free to disagree because I'd like to hear everyone else's take on this.
 
Story mode is great for some characters, but for fans of the "jobbers" , they get next to no progression whatsoever. Erron Black is arguably the most popular newcomer to MKX, yet what did he accomplish other than get his ass kicked a few times?

So while I do really enjoy NRS' take on story mode, I'd like to see each character get their own story tower instead. Similar to what Killer Instinct has done, but with more polish obviously
 
I hate how there are certain characters that don't have an important role in the story. As much as I love Ferra/Torr, I knew they weren't going to be anything important.

I'm tired of them making characters that serves hardly anything important in the story. Throw a few of those who hardly is important, they'd have no effect on the story whatsoever.

I'd like for them to split the story up into two. You can choose the good guys to play or the bad guys. Certain characters could have NPCs to fight up against. Those NPCs could share abilities with the playable characters, I couldn't care less. I'd just like to see more than ten characters get more of an importance because they work well as a character to get behind in the story mode. No, if you have a roster that has more than ten characters, I'd like to see more than ten just be playable and have something to do with what's going on. No more of these filler characters because someone needs to have a punching bag.
 
If they ditched the idea of story mode completely, I'd be far less inclined to buy the game. I am a huge fan of the story and lore elements of the MK universe, as well as the actual kombat side of things. I like re-watching scenes from story mode and character endings, and reading the MK wiki, etc.
 
Story Mode is the best thing about the series right now. I think it's fantastic. I do think that the 'jobber' bad guys need a little more plot weight, though -- it was smart to give D'Vorah a chapter in this one, for example. I think a chapter for Mileena would have gone a long way toward making her feel like a credible threat.
 
Imperatrix Sindel said:
Story Mode is the best thing about the series right now. I think it's fantastic. I do think that the 'jobber' bad guys need a little more plot weight, though -- it was smart to give D'Vorah a chapter in this one, for example. I think a chapter for Mileena would have gone a long way toward making her feel like a credible threat.
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If D'Vorah was evil from the beginning she wouldn't have even had a chapter, which is stupid. NRS needs to give bad guys chapters. there are people out there that care about whats happening with characters like Baraka or Reptile.
 
mandead said:
If they ditched the idea of story mode completely, I'd be far less inclined to buy the game. I am a huge fan of the story and lore elements of the MK universe, as well as the actual kombat side of things. I like re-watching scenes from story mode and character endings, and reading the MK wiki, etc.
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Dont you feel like there are almost 2 different stories now though? The story mode tells it one way and the towers tell it a different way. Yes there a bunch of potential outcomes according to the towers but in MK11 wewill get the canon. It just seems to me that NRS should tell a single narrative with the tower endings being either COMPLETLY "what if" scenarios, or about where that specific character is in the over all story and how they tie in to everything else. It feels like, with liu and lao at least and possibly jax and sonya, the stories are heading in 2 different directions.
 
I think people are a little too hard on the "jobbers". They are also a little too hard on calling everyone who doesn't want to rule the world themselves a jobber.
There have to be henchmen types for this kind of story to work. We can't have every fight be Raiden vs Shao Kahn to prevent Armageddon, or chosen one Liu Kang saving Earthrealm by defeating Outworld's champion. The major factions will have subordinates, it's how both fiction and RL work.

I agree that it's nice when characters are fleshed out and have interesting things to do or say, but there's nothing wrong with a few warriors who fight for someone else and lose. Ferra/Torr, Erron Black, Reptile, are entertaining presences and fights. Would we be any better if everyone working for Kotal Kahn was secretly betraying him one after the other to rule the world themselves, for soap opera drama? Or if he had no notable fighters on his side and did all the fighting himself for less variety and shorter story?
Warlords have henchmen, mercenaries, assassins. We fight them, it's fun.
 
VonKrupt said:
I think people are a little too hard on the "jobbers". They are also a little too hard on calling everyone who doesn't want to rule the world themselves a jobber.
There have to be henchmen types for this kind of story to work. We can't have every fight be Raiden vs Shao Kahn to prevent Armageddon, or chosen one Liu Kang saving Earthrealm by defeating Outworld's champion. The major factions will have subordinates, it's how both fiction and RL work.

I agree that it's nice when characters are fleshed out and have interesting things to do or say, but there's nothing wrong with a few warriors who fight for someone else and lose. Ferra/Torr, Erron Black, Reptile, are entertaining presences and fights. Would we be any better if everyone working for Kotal Kahn was secretly betraying him one after the other to rule the world themselves, for soap opera drama? Or if he had no notable fighters on his side and did all the fighting himself for less variety and shorter story?
Warlords have henchmen, mercenaries, assassins. We fight them, it's fun.
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I wasnt saying that everyone needed to be of the utmost importance to the story. I was saying that the tower endings and the story mode should tell the same story, perhaps with varying degrees of detail, so that it would be more compelling to complete all aspects of the game.

Spoiler alert:
I just finished jax and sonya's klassic towers (a little late sure but i never use them normally so i figured now is a good time to get them done) and in their towers jax is killed again. The story mode didnt mention that.
End Spoiler

Or how kitana and liu are revenants all through the story but their primary skins are rather alive.

I just feel that the story should have one ending that is reflected in both the towers and story mode. Show me where those minor characters were when everything came to a head. Not "what if" those minor characters won the tournament. (That is ,of course, aside from guest characters. Do whatever you want with them, their existance isnt canon to begin with)

We live in an age of constant media. The days of waiting till the next game for the canon ending are dead. Give us a whole an complete story. Or do like they have done before and have the story mode be the lead up to the tournament then have the tower represent the tournament.
 
Story mode in MKX was horrible. Poorly written, and intended to make MK Young Justice team look cool and old time favourites look crap. Also, Character bios collide with these character`s role in story, so I would not mind if they ditched story mode.
 
I've said it before in another previous thread, but I would love it if the MK11 story gave you options to choose between neutral, good or villain characters / storylines.

I would love it if MK11 story mode allowed us 3 different paths to choose from, at 1 point in the story.
It could be something like when you get to Chapter 4 in story mode, the you get to decide from 3 different types of characters (either a good character group, a neutral character group or a villain character group) and from there on you're on a different path with either good, neutral or evil characters with either a good, neutral or evil ending, depending on what you picked.

It would give us the option of having 3 different endings (depending on which group of characters you pick), and allow NRS to have 3 different options to chose from as canon, for the next game (MK12).
It would also allow us to play with characters that would otherwise get the shaft in story mode.
 
Commander said:
I've said it before in another previous thread, but I would love it if the MK11 story gave you options to choose between neutral, good or villain characters / storylines.

I would love it if MK11 story mode allowed us 3 different paths to choose from, at 1 point in the story.
It could be something like when you get to Chapter 4 in story mode, the you get to decide from 3 different types of characters (either a good character group, a neutral character group or a villain character group) and from there on you're on a different path with either good, neutral or evil characters with either a good, neutral or evil ending, depending on what you picked.

It would give us the option of having 3 different endings (depending on which group of characters you pick), and allow NRS to have 3 different options to chose from as canon, for the next game (MK12).
It would also allow us to play with characters that would otherwise get the shaft in story mode.
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I've always had mixed feelings about NRS's storyboard flow they've been using since MKvsDC (chapter by chapter having one character, usually good, get the spotlight for a few fights - and with that, only a portion of the roster gets the spotlight with this design).

However, I would EXTREMELY enjoy it if they employed your idea. Not only would it give the player the chance to change the flow of the story, but it can potentially give the usually ignored characters a chance at the spotlight, even if for just the equivalent of a controlling a character for one chapter.

Maybe drop a hint of this idea to someone on NRS (if possible) so it's something for them to consider when they start development on MK11 ;)
 
FreekinTragedy said:
Or how kitana and liu are revenants all through the story but their primary skins are rather alive.
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This is explained in Kung Lao's concept art.

Basically, default Kung Lao, Liu Kang and Kitana are nothing more than just glorified "What if" scenarios.
As in "What if they survived MK9 and also aged within the 25 years?" like the other warriors.

MKX Kung Lao concept art.jpg
 
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Imperatrix Sindel said:
Story Mode is the best thing about the series right now. I think it's fantastic. I do think that the 'jobber' bad guys need a little more plot weight, though -- it was smart to give D'Vorah a chapter in this one, for example. I think a chapter for Mileena would have gone a long way toward making her feel like a credible threat.
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I hope that can be done for Tanya in MK11.
 
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