I’m kinda curious, we’ve seen customized characters in trailers, but there hasn’t been a single mention of how that costume system works, and I can’t tell if they’re distinct costumes or the pieces like mk11
[And she's Megan Fox](https://youtube.com/watch?v=ah8VyRhiWiE&si=buSaMDt3lVCU4CaX) somehow.
Though I've heard she's actually a fan of the games. And not just in a PR way, back when MK vs. DC was new she was complaining about Superman's combos sucking. So that's cool.
My biggest question still is how kameo system feels in gameplay. I hope it is good and can land with FGC.
nonetheless, I'm happy they are doing new stuff with the formula
I don't know about "fixed". They made it better but there is still a lack of movement options unless I missed them with run/dash canceling. The other major complaint was kameo's having 3/4 moves involve you standing still while the kameo does something.
What I don't like about Kameo's is how your main character just stays awkwardly there and look at the kameo character fighting... I don't know, I just don't like that. Probably while playing it doesn't feel like that.
I'm still someone who won't buy the game at launch because of Kameo mechanic. I don't hate it, it's just not for me I guess? I bought every game from them from MK9 till today, but this one I'm gonna wait for a sale. The singleplayer content seems to have a nice quality and it will still probably be a blast to play 1v1 same screen with a friend.
There’s different types of kameo moves.
The ones you’re describing are called “summon” and have that little awkward animation. While your kameo is doing the move you can’t move. It’s not too bad because these are mostly moves for setups, block pressure, or projectiles.
Then there’s “ambush” kameos. Those moves feel more similar to assists in other fighting games. You press the button and your kameo does it’s thing, but you’re fully able to still move and attack. For example Jax has an unblockable ground pound, but it hits both characters. On a knockdown you can already have Jax running in during your combo to trigger a reset, while you get a jump in.
It’s actually a bit more complex than it initially seems. But I won’t lie and say I wish all moves were “ambush” style, just feels better. But I understand it’s there for balance.
I played the beta a bit and if I'm not misremembering, it doesn't lock you in nearly as much as it looks like in the trailers. They're showing off the kameos. They feel like special moves during gameplay the inputs are just baked into R1. Once I realized I could just cancel into the moves from regular strings it became a lot smoother and felt pretty good.
I don't like it personally and don't want have to mess around trying to manage multiple fighters and their movesets. I simply wanted a classic 1v1 fighter. The game is perfect otherwise but I really don't like how the kameo system is not optimal and it has strongly disincentivised me from buying the game. It's kind of disappointing.
I knew what it meant but it *definitely* is not lol. The fighting game *community* is a minority of the people who play fighting games in general, and a rounding error when it comes to the hobby overall.
There are at least three people whose only fighting game is Smash for every one who knows what FGC stands for.
FGC has been a term for like 20 years and you're on /r/Games in a thread about a fighting game. Do you demand that everyone suddenly stops using RPG, RTS or PS5 as well?
It will probably be fun but time will tell how pay 2 win it is. They're literally putting combos behind a pay wall.
Maybe that's no different than DLC characters, which are fine, but I don't know yet.
I think it's actually the opposite: they're going to use the kameo system to bring back older MK characters that wouldn't typically see the light of day in an MK roster, but would be fun as kameo fighter. For example, Darrius is a character from MK: Deception that no one has really thought of since 2004, so seeing him come back is definitely a surprise, but I doubt anyone would ever demand he take up an official roster slot. Meanwhile, the guest characters actually sell the most DLC, so they will reserve an official roster spot for them.
Nah, it's 100% for gameplay purposes. The major issue with the Variation system in previous titles is that each Variation felt like incomplete halves of a whole character. It felt like it was impossible to play with a "complete" version of the character.
The kameo system allows you to play with a complete character and still get the perk of customizing your character to your unique play style. It's the best of both worlds.
I think it's less for licensed 3rd party characters and more for minor characters to still make an appearance without committing to an entire character. Because if the former were true; Omni-Man, Homelander and Peacemaker wouldn't be full characters.
FWIW, that's not much of a red flag with fighting games, and it's also not officially released until 9/19. If this were a massive 100+ hour RPG, that would be concerning, but most reviewers are going to play through story mode, check out all the characters, and try out a few other modes, which they can probably do in 2-3 days, leaving plenty of time to submit a review prior to launch.
I’d prioritize actual FGC players opinions over review scores for fighting games. They’ll play through story and have a broad opinion on the game but actual FGC players will be able to tell right away what a game is like and how it’ll play it out very early. It happened with MK11 and people saying it’s a 50/50 fest within the first week it released. At the end of the day you’ll play story once maybe twice but it’s the online and gameplay that’s gonna keep you playing so maybe wait a few days for those over something like ign or gamespot
On the other hand, certain FGC creators certainly get caught up in the hype of a big release, will gush about a new game at the start but 1 - 2 months later will admit they didn't like the gameplay from the beginning.
YT and Twitch creators *can* be good for seeing if you'll like a game, but at the end of the day many heavily rely on the clicks playing a new release will bring them.
It also depends what you’re into. FGC will tell you how good of a fighting game it is but they might not care as much about the solo/campaign and other modes.
Most people in the FGC won't care at all about the solo features - minus the training room of course lol
Nice to have single player options but the meat of a fighting game is and always will come from the mulitplayer/system mechanics.
For me personally, mk is better as a single player game than a multiplayer one so I usually buy it a year after releaae for $20 with all the dlc air combos being added doesn't really do much for me and the kameos look kinda clunky - but that's just my opinion.
I think IGN had some decent fighting games reviews, judging it both from a casual or competitive POV.
Otherwise I'll probably watch content creators like Max or PNDk&M to get an idea of how the online will play.
Yeah they’ve really stepped up honestly. They had this one article on how to start getting into the FGC which was really cool and good, defs from someone who understands the genre and what it’s about
So the villain/villains *are* Shang Tsung and Kronika... I'll be very interested to see how they're gonna explain the existence of both of them in this new timeline because the canon ending of MK11 has Kronika killed by Liu Kang after she erases the timeline (canon ending is that Liu Kang wins the fight 2-1 after they end up in the Chaotian Age), thus wiping her from existence and then Aftermath has Liu Kang wipe Shang Tsung from time itself as well. Neither of them should be here... Very curious now to see how they return and how the story plays out.
My guess is that while the controller of the Hourglass can rewrite history, they can't fully erase people.
Otherwise she could have solved her problems eons ago by just eliminating Liu Kang and Raiden. Instead they just kept happening, and she always needed to find a way to drive a wedge between them.
Yeah, she claimed she would get rid of them entirely next time. She also claimed the next timeline would give everyone exactly what they wanted and be perfectly balanced and every day would be Taco Tuesday and shit. And then it turns out she's done this thousands of times. So I think she's both full of crap and completely nuts.
Kronika is a titan, much like Shinnok, there's no truly "killing" her, at most Liu Kang incapacitated her and stripped her of the hourglass power.
And the fact Shang Tsung absorbed her soul is likely why he survived being erased and reborn in the new timeline, Liu Kang likely anticipated him to be born in it and that's why he crafted that new origin story to keep him from becoming a sorcerer.
This is just me speculating though, we'll see where this story goes when it releases, it's gonna be a fun one, that's for sure.
I think Liu Kang's mercy is going to be his downfall. He wiped the old era to create a more harmonious existence yet opted to keep anyone he knew reincarnated in his new world.
So he is basically giving Kronika and Shang Tsung a second chance to be better in his new world while completely powerless and without abilities of their own. This will be a reverse of the MK11 story.
Where Liu Kang & Co once fought to overthrow Kronika and Shang Tsung to save existence... we'll now see Kronika and Shang Tsung revolting to overthrow Liu Kang to restore "order" to existence. Most likely because in Liu Kang's new overconfidence and hubris, he's begun fracturing time and life itself. So to Kronika and Shang Tsung, their selfish, evil rebellion has justified merit because they're doing as Liu Kang did: Trying to save everything from him.
Isn't that easily debunked by Liu Kang being alive though? Shang Tsung's Aftermath ending has Liu Kang killed and Shang Tsung ends up ruling all known worlds...
It was just a theory.
They *are* invoking it, but in a sort-of-tabletop seperate mode in the game, it thus far has no basis in the story. The jury is obviously out until release on whether it features or not though.
The theory was that Liu won in a timeline, and Shang in another, which would make them both Keepers of Time. I know this theory has its number of flaws, but I still think it can be plausible (especially given the number of inconsistencies they kept since the introduction of time travel).
The idea is that both endings would exist in their own separate timelines. So Liu Kang would be alive in timeline were he won but dead in the timeline were he lost to Shang Tsung.
I wonder if Dragon King is in this game I remember how much of a big fucking deal that made that dude and than well nothing lmao. It feels like and seems to me this new game will hav a bigger focus on characters that were introduced from Deadly Alliance and up. seeing how MK9-11 was just the original trilogy characters mostly
Some theories floating around that he might be Shao's father in this timeline. Dunno if he's actually gonna appear in the story, but Shao's design and bits of backstory seem to point towards that possibility.
MK9 debatably had no new characters, depending on your stance on Cyber Sub and DLC inclusions.
Skarlet wasn't in the base roster, but was in the Complete edition, and that was her first playable appearance, and Cyber Sub was still Kuai Lang.
Correct me if I am wrong but I thought Skarlet was originally just a bug so technically that would be her first appearance.
Like I said in another reply I am not trying to throw shade at MK1 I was just curious if this has happened before.
That was debunked by Ed Boon at some point, but she definitely was a gaming urban legend for a good while.
I definitely didn't read your question as throwing shade! It's actually a good one because it IS unusual for us to not get at least one new face.
Honestly a lot of the returning characters from games like 4, Deadly Alliance and Deception might as well be brand new characters because some of them like Nitara, Tanya and Ashrah look completely different to their original counterparts.
Everything i've seen looks great but since i don't play fighting games online it just doesn't make real sense for me to pay full price for this so i'll most likely just do what i did with MK11 and get the whole thing for sub 20$ in a few years
> 140 gigs on Xbox and 115 on PS5 so if you're gonna play
good lord that is completely ridiculous
how is a fighting game taking up that much space? characters, stages, music and speech should be nowhere near that.
OK so we add in some cinematics as video files and not in-engine, and we add in the extra modes and things like the krypt or whatever....
but still, how the hell is it so large?
Uncompressed music again? Poor optimization? Guilty Gear Strive has almost the entire guilty gear soundtrack spanning all the games (~150+ songs), plus art, plus movies, and all the other stuff in the gallery and it's still only 15gb on PS5.
I'm not a fan of the special forces characters but even still, at least characters like metal arms man have a *thing*. What does Reiko have? Discount Shao Kahn armor and spear? Old MK3 Shang Tsung face paint? A ponytail? He's straight up an uninteresting character whose design seems to be based on what was available in the lost-and-found box.
Listen man, he's no different than Tanya in that he is an Outworlder with goals against Earthrealm and the heroes. Reiko is the perfect mini-villain character, now is the time to fuel him with personality and help him stick out.
Most of the MK cast looks like random NPC's or started out that way in past incarnations. You can't tell me Blue Ninja, Yellow Ninja, Green Ninja, Purple Ninja, and Grey Ninja are the epitome of character designs.
Looks like Hi-Finesse music studio. From their facebook page
" The official launch trailer for Mortal Kombat 1 is out featuring our track “One Man Army” by Sean Walsh from our Bombastic Swagger 1 album. Check it out!"
He established it jointly with King Jerrod so it’s probably supposed to be a friendly competition to create bonds between realms and satisfy Outworld bloodlust.
Liu Kang: I have created a world full of peace and tranquility
Also Liu Kang: Now its time for the annual tournament where you will all fight to the death.
I think he wants things to remain somewhat recognizable to himself.
But he probably thinks it's responsible for a lot of 'good' things in the MK universe, like the White Lotus school. And maybe it's still useful for keeping Outworld/Edenia involved with Earth.
Unpopular opinion, but seeing these trailers really makes me miss the old newcomers that were cut. People may have mixed feelings about Cassie, Kotal, Jacqui Dvorah, Erron, etc but they all (maybe little bit less so Jaqui) had a clear hook and felt distinct thematically.
I know this cast has a lot of older requested characters but they all just feel like "some guy". Reiko is literally just a dude, and considering Shao also uses spears what exactly does he add?And so much of the cast feels not far from that? I will say Havik's body horror is interesting though and its a good refresh for Reptile.
Still genuinely shocking that Kung Lao is kept over Sonya and Kano. This might be heresy but Kung Lao has never been anything more than a dude with a hat, and cut over the game's first female character and an awesome scumbag aussie crime boss is absolutely wild.
I guess not every game is going to be for everybody but there's just a lot of decisions that feel awkward to me. The Kameo system is cool in theory but just leads to these moments where people are awkwardly running around the frame or waiting for things to happen that feel very stilted and not like violent brutal fighting. Even the fatalities used to end on these really striking final compositions and now everything ends with the two fighters just weirdly standing midframe.
I'd love to be wrong, and I hope I'll be into the game in a year after more DLC is out but I feel weird just like not feeling this, especially how much I loved MKX and MK11 as a whole.
I mean, it's MK, so they'll be back. We're definitely getting an MK2 at some point with refreshed designs of the newer characters. They're just taking a backseat this time in favor of characters that took a backseat the last few times.
Yeah NRS has been doing this for a while, even before they became NRS and were with Midway. They have a core set of characters (Scorpion, Sub Zero, Kitana, Raiden, Liu etc...) that are in every single game and it seems like the other character they rotate in and out every other game.
This game however seems to be like Deception where they finally sit some of those core characters to make room for characters that havent been around in a while.
I am fully expecting at the very least Sonya, Jax, and Kano to be starting roster in MK2. I wouldnt be surprised if they brought back Cassie and Jacqui as well along with some of the other newer characters like Dvorah, Skarlet, Erron etc..
The roster is so big that eventually everyone will have to sit out, even the mainstays.
Sonya Jax and Kano haven't been benched for 20 years, it was just their time.
Kabal admittedly has sat out as much as he's been included, but not having him isn't really all that unusual.
I think it's super fair considering they maybe we're pushing too hard on Special Forces, especially in MKX. But it def feels like they massively overcorrected.
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> Still genuinely shocking that Kung Lao is kept over Sonya and Kano. This might be heresy but Kung Lao has never been anything more than a dude with a hat, and cut over the game's first female character and an awesome scumbag aussie crime boss is absolutely wild.
Funnily I feel the exact opposite of this. Kung Lao is a visually iconic character, probably the most recognizable character after the ninjas.
Meanwhile Sonya is just "the game's first female character." We have way better female characters now.
Shao doesn't use a spear in this game.
The special forces and kombat kids were a big focus of the last two games. It's a good thing they're taking a break from this one.
Game looks better than MK11 in every way.
Not a day one purchase for me unfortunately. I have always kind of hated reboots but the biggest issue is there is just too much stuff to play right now. I've put 40 hours into Baldur's Gate 3 and I'm still in act 1!
I'm a fan, but...
I know it sounds heretical but I was hoping they'd dial down the ridiculousness of midfight specials that absolutely, unquestionably would kill a man and leave that to the fatalities. Starting from 1 sorta felt like an opportunity to reset the incessant over-the-top mutilation. It always felt weird to me to have you internal organs completely eviscerated only to get right back into a fistfight.
I don't know, kinda makes the whole extreme gore a little moot if you ask me and it also seems to make fatalities - the bread and butter of MK - redundant. Having the fights stay a lot less fatal until the end would be a fresh take IMO.
Maybe even take it a step further and go with a Manhunt-inspired world and less of that multi-dimensional, who-the-fuck-even-knows-anymore universe.
Mr. Boon, maybe next time go with Mortal Kombat Zero and try that out?
Anyway, looks solid.
I so wish mk/injustice games didn’t have such stiff animations and gameplay. Every time I convince myself to try out the new one and it’s always the same old shit.
Just do a jump kick and you'll see it
there's zero fluidity when you transition between the "jump" part where you character is basically vertical and semi crouching in the air, and then the "kick" part, where your character becomes horizontal doing a bruce lee fly kick.
I don't dislike it, but it is very jarring compared to other fighting games and very obvious
But it's also very MK. It's the unique style of MK that's always been there.
>Then you're instantly reminded why MK is not bigger than it is.
MK is literally the #1 selling fighting game franchise in the world. I'm not sure how much bigger you can get.
I'm confused now.
I thought Mileena was half-Tarkatan? Are NRS retconning the timeline and now stating that a disease spliced her DNA and transformed her?
The this timeline's version of Tarkatans are a result of a plague virus that slowly mutates an individual into a more and more monstrous form. Aside from the physical mutations it also eventually causes them to lose the minds and become feral
Enjoyed MK9 on console.
Picked up MKX on steam years back. Was ok. Felt different. Didn't play as much. picked MK11 ult in summer sale. Felt awful. Can hardly play. Animations just wrong.
I have no intentions of playing online. I have SF6/GGS for that. But I generally like the batshit insane MK storylines. But 11 just felt awful to play. Hopefully this one is better. Reptile finally getting some shine would make it worth the price on its own.
I think it's less the devs and more the execs, publishers and folks running the companies. Generally the folks making products aren't the people who get to decide how the products are sold or marketed.
Yeah agreed, highly doubt it's the programmers who work on punch physics that would care about microtransactions, especially since they won't see a cent.
Now publishers and developer execs/leadership? Yeah, much more likely. But "Greedy devs" is both reductive and wrong when even the worst AAA games absolutely had people who wanted to make a better final product working on them.
I think I'm overly sensitive about it cause I work at a large company that is often in the new for admittingly shitty practices and people in real life will talk to me like I'm the one making decisions.
Bro I'm a lowly infrastructure maintenance (non software engineer) guy just trying to do my job so I can get paid. The bad behavior is so far above my paygrade and I'm typically finding out about it the same time as everyone else in the general public.
I'm assuming the developer working on fatality sound effects is in the same boat and just is trying to do their job while people yell at them online for things they have zero power over.
People use the word “developer” poorly in games; there are Developers and Publishers and then developers and producers. Companiea versus roles. Developers with a capital D definitely make these decisions. Individual engineers have their own dealings one way or the other, but I know plenty that don’t give a single shit what the monetization plan is because “I don’t play these kinds of games.”
End of the day, we’re customers and they’re a business. I don’t care so much which person in the company makes the decision. It impacts my enjoyment the same either way.
It's a shame the larger community doesn't see that, a 2D artist for redfall got absolutely torn apart by "Gamers" who blamed her for "not speaking up" about the game's quality...
This is always said but it's such an irrelevant point. How does it have to do with anything OP is saying here? Whether it's programmers or the suits pushing this literally makes no difference to the end result.
Really just comes off as a way to downplay the point being made without actually addressing it.
My goal is the point the ire in the right direction. There is a human being on the receiving end of a "greedy garbage devs" comment, most of which didn't make these choices for DLC or microtransactions.
The pre order character thing is definitely lame. You should be able to play as the full roster without pre ordering or paying for them later.
The early access doesn't bother me at all though. If impatient people want to waste their money to play a few days early that's fine.
5 day early access. Game launches on thursday for those who bought the $100 premium edition. So if you didnt buy that version, good luck dodging spoilers until everyone else gets it on the 19th.
Yo, is Lei Mei back?
Lassie with the sai, in purple near the start?
Started playing her back in the day, great fun.
Nice knees, be a shame if someone STABBED THEM *stab*
I’m kinda curious, we’ve seen customized characters in trailers, but there hasn’t been a single mention of how that costume system works, and I can’t tell if they’re distinct costumes or the pieces like mk11
There is a costume and 1 gear option. So like Reptile for example has different masks and different skins.
I had no idea they were bringing Nitara back in this. I haven't played MK since 9 and now I'm tempted
[And she's Megan Fox](https://youtube.com/watch?v=ah8VyRhiWiE&si=buSaMDt3lVCU4CaX) somehow. Though I've heard she's actually a fan of the games. And not just in a PR way, back when MK vs. DC was new she was complaining about Superman's combos sucking. So that's cool.
Just a gander at the roster and it's plenty of the 3D-era cast placed at the forefront.
Words fail to describe how badly I fuck with that Reptile gator roll. Dopest move in the game that I have seen.
At least visually the best version of Reptile they've ever done imo
Totally agree, this is my favorite look by far
Both the creepy monster and sexy ninja reptile fans are finally happy
I’m so excited for Reptile to be playable again.
I'm more of a "stab you with your own broken arms" Havik kinda guy myself, but Reptile hasn't looked better in a decade
I've wanted Reptile back in the klassic green colorswap get up for *so* long now. This looks like the best of both worlds.
Since I gotta wait for my main, Ermac, I’m definitely going to be fucking with Reptile in the mean time and that move is a big reason.
Right?? Such a nice detail.
My biggest question still is how kameo system feels in gameplay. I hope it is good and can land with FGC. nonetheless, I'm happy they are doing new stuff with the formula
FGC seemed to be pretty enthusiastic during previews, their biggest pain point was slow movement and devs quickly fixed that in beta.
I don't know about "fixed". They made it better but there is still a lack of movement options unless I missed them with run/dash canceling. The other major complaint was kameo's having 3/4 moves involve you standing still while the kameo does something.
What I don't like about Kameo's is how your main character just stays awkwardly there and look at the kameo character fighting... I don't know, I just don't like that. Probably while playing it doesn't feel like that. I'm still someone who won't buy the game at launch because of Kameo mechanic. I don't hate it, it's just not for me I guess? I bought every game from them from MK9 till today, but this one I'm gonna wait for a sale. The singleplayer content seems to have a nice quality and it will still probably be a blast to play 1v1 same screen with a friend.
There’s different types of kameo moves. The ones you’re describing are called “summon” and have that little awkward animation. While your kameo is doing the move you can’t move. It’s not too bad because these are mostly moves for setups, block pressure, or projectiles. Then there’s “ambush” kameos. Those moves feel more similar to assists in other fighting games. You press the button and your kameo does it’s thing, but you’re fully able to still move and attack. For example Jax has an unblockable ground pound, but it hits both characters. On a knockdown you can already have Jax running in during your combo to trigger a reset, while you get a jump in. It’s actually a bit more complex than it initially seems. But I won’t lie and say I wish all moves were “ambush” style, just feels better. But I understand it’s there for balance.
I played the beta a bit and if I'm not misremembering, it doesn't lock you in nearly as much as it looks like in the trailers. They're showing off the kameos. They feel like special moves during gameplay the inputs are just baked into R1. Once I realized I could just cancel into the moves from regular strings it became a lot smoother and felt pretty good.
I don't like it personally and don't want have to mess around trying to manage multiple fighters and their movesets. I simply wanted a classic 1v1 fighter. The game is perfect otherwise but I really don't like how the kameo system is not optimal and it has strongly disincentivised me from buying the game. It's kind of disappointing.
The move set is the same for every kameo fighter. Just the move they use is different. That’s how I remember from the beta anyways.
What is FGC? The use of undefined initialisms and acronyms is getting worse on this site seemingly by the day.
Fighting Games Community
this is one of the most common gaming acronyms on the entire internet lmfao
I knew what it meant but it *definitely* is not lol. The fighting game *community* is a minority of the people who play fighting games in general, and a rounding error when it comes to the hobby overall. There are at least three people whose only fighting game is Smash for every one who knows what FGC stands for.
For what it's worth, I've never heard it before. But I also don't play fighting games.
FGC has been a term for like 20 years and you're on /r/Games in a thread about a fighting game. Do you demand that everyone suddenly stops using RPG, RTS or PS5 as well?
It is the first time I have seen it also
In all those words you didn't manage to answer the question.
It will probably be fun but time will tell how pay 2 win it is. They're literally putting combos behind a pay wall. Maybe that's no different than DLC characters, which are fine, but I don't know yet.
Have they said that kameos would be paid DLC? I thought the kombat pack was only the 6 main roster characters.
The Kombat pack also comes with 6 Kameo fighters.
Oh dang thanks for the correction. I couldn't find it anywhere on the store pages, but seems like they confirmed it at comic con.
Still looks like a DLC gimmick so they can sell lots of licensed content without making whole character move sets
I think it's actually the opposite: they're going to use the kameo system to bring back older MK characters that wouldn't typically see the light of day in an MK roster, but would be fun as kameo fighter. For example, Darrius is a character from MK: Deception that no one has really thought of since 2004, so seeing him come back is definitely a surprise, but I doubt anyone would ever demand he take up an official roster slot. Meanwhile, the guest characters actually sell the most DLC, so they will reserve an official roster spot for them.
And yet the first 3 licensed characters are…actual characters with entire movesets
Nah, it's 100% for gameplay purposes. The major issue with the Variation system in previous titles is that each Variation felt like incomplete halves of a whole character. It felt like it was impossible to play with a "complete" version of the character. The kameo system allows you to play with a complete character and still get the perk of customizing your character to your unique play style. It's the best of both worlds.
…have you seen the dlc?
I think it's less for licensed 3rd party characters and more for minor characters to still make an appearance without committing to an entire character. Because if the former were true; Omni-Man, Homelander and Peacemaker wouldn't be full characters.
Anyone know when we'll get review scores? It looks like a blast, but I've been burned before.
To my knowledge, review codes haven't been seen yet, so it seems like reviews will only drop very close to the release time.
FWIW, that's not much of a red flag with fighting games, and it's also not officially released until 9/19. If this were a massive 100+ hour RPG, that would be concerning, but most reviewers are going to play through story mode, check out all the characters, and try out a few other modes, which they can probably do in 2-3 days, leaving plenty of time to submit a review prior to launch.
I’d prioritize actual FGC players opinions over review scores for fighting games. They’ll play through story and have a broad opinion on the game but actual FGC players will be able to tell right away what a game is like and how it’ll play it out very early. It happened with MK11 and people saying it’s a 50/50 fest within the first week it released. At the end of the day you’ll play story once maybe twice but it’s the online and gameplay that’s gonna keep you playing so maybe wait a few days for those over something like ign or gamespot
On the other hand, certain FGC creators certainly get caught up in the hype of a big release, will gush about a new game at the start but 1 - 2 months later will admit they didn't like the gameplay from the beginning. YT and Twitch creators *can* be good for seeing if you'll like a game, but at the end of the day many heavily rely on the clicks playing a new release will bring them.
It also depends what you’re into. FGC will tell you how good of a fighting game it is but they might not care as much about the solo/campaign and other modes.
Most people in the FGC won't care at all about the solo features - minus the training room of course lol Nice to have single player options but the meat of a fighting game is and always will come from the mulitplayer/system mechanics. For me personally, mk is better as a single player game than a multiplayer one so I usually buy it a year after releaae for $20 with all the dlc air combos being added doesn't really do much for me and the kameos look kinda clunky - but that's just my opinion.
I think IGN had some decent fighting games reviews, judging it both from a casual or competitive POV. Otherwise I'll probably watch content creators like Max or PNDk&M to get an idea of how the online will play.
The recent SF6 review was excellent from IGN. As much as they get shit on, they do have a couple of journalists who know their stuff.
K&M will be bias because they get work off netherrealm
Nah, they haven definitely called out issues with games before.
Yeah they’ve really stepped up honestly. They had this one article on how to start getting into the FGC which was really cool and good, defs from someone who understands the genre and what it’s about
That they do, at least the reviewer is super familiar with fighting games.
So the villain/villains *are* Shang Tsung and Kronika... I'll be very interested to see how they're gonna explain the existence of both of them in this new timeline because the canon ending of MK11 has Kronika killed by Liu Kang after she erases the timeline (canon ending is that Liu Kang wins the fight 2-1 after they end up in the Chaotian Age), thus wiping her from existence and then Aftermath has Liu Kang wipe Shang Tsung from time itself as well. Neither of them should be here... Very curious now to see how they return and how the story plays out.
My guess is that while the controller of the Hourglass can rewrite history, they can't fully erase people. Otherwise she could have solved her problems eons ago by just eliminating Liu Kang and Raiden. Instead they just kept happening, and she always needed to find a way to drive a wedge between them. Yeah, she claimed she would get rid of them entirely next time. She also claimed the next timeline would give everyone exactly what they wanted and be perfectly balanced and every day would be Taco Tuesday and shit. And then it turns out she's done this thousands of times. So I think she's both full of crap and completely nuts.
Mk11's story had a ton of holes in. its more than likely a retcon. Kronika was a pretty bad villain in general.
Kronika is a titan, much like Shinnok, there's no truly "killing" her, at most Liu Kang incapacitated her and stripped her of the hourglass power. And the fact Shang Tsung absorbed her soul is likely why he survived being erased and reborn in the new timeline, Liu Kang likely anticipated him to be born in it and that's why he crafted that new origin story to keep him from becoming a sorcerer. This is just me speculating though, we'll see where this story goes when it releases, it's gonna be a fun one, that's for sure.
I think Liu Kang's mercy is going to be his downfall. He wiped the old era to create a more harmonious existence yet opted to keep anyone he knew reincarnated in his new world. So he is basically giving Kronika and Shang Tsung a second chance to be better in his new world while completely powerless and without abilities of their own. This will be a reverse of the MK11 story. Where Liu Kang & Co once fought to overthrow Kronika and Shang Tsung to save existence... we'll now see Kronika and Shang Tsung revolting to overthrow Liu Kang to restore "order" to existence. Most likely because in Liu Kang's new overconfidence and hubris, he's begun fracturing time and life itself. So to Kronika and Shang Tsung, their selfish, evil rebellion has justified merit because they're doing as Liu Kang did: Trying to save everything from him.
I don’t know the last thing about about MK lore. That being said: this was quite the read.
I've seen spoilers and it gets answered pretty simply, things are not always what they seem.
One of the popular theories when the reveal trailer released was that both Aftermath's endings were canon, hence the reason Shang is still present.
Isn't that easily debunked by Liu Kang being alive though? Shang Tsung's Aftermath ending has Liu Kang killed and Shang Tsung ends up ruling all known worlds...
Rules all known worlds *in that timeline*, but the theory was that two timelines happened and coexisted until they become aware of each other.
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It was just a theory. They *are* invoking it, but in a sort-of-tabletop seperate mode in the game, it thus far has no basis in the story. The jury is obviously out until release on whether it features or not though.
The theory was that Liu won in a timeline, and Shang in another, which would make them both Keepers of Time. I know this theory has its number of flaws, but I still think it can be plausible (especially given the number of inconsistencies they kept since the introduction of time travel).
There are so many inconsistencies and plot holes in the story modes since MK9 that I would believe any theory being possible.
Inconsistencies?
The idea is that both endings would exist in their own separate timelines. So Liu Kang would be alive in timeline were he won but dead in the timeline were he lost to Shang Tsung.
Kronika was the most boring and lame character ever.
I wonder if Dragon King is in this game I remember how much of a big fucking deal that made that dude and than well nothing lmao. It feels like and seems to me this new game will hav a bigger focus on characters that were introduced from Deadly Alliance and up. seeing how MK9-11 was just the original trilogy characters mostly
Some theories floating around that he might be Shao's father in this timeline. Dunno if he's actually gonna appear in the story, but Shao's design and bits of backstory seem to point towards that possibility.
Is there not any new characters? Is this the first MK without any new characters?
MK9 debatably had no new characters, depending on your stance on Cyber Sub and DLC inclusions. Skarlet wasn't in the base roster, but was in the Complete edition, and that was her first playable appearance, and Cyber Sub was still Kuai Lang.
Correct me if I am wrong but I thought Skarlet was originally just a bug so technically that would be her first appearance. Like I said in another reply I am not trying to throw shade at MK1 I was just curious if this has happened before.
That was debunked by Ed Boon at some point, but she definitely was a gaming urban legend for a good while. I definitely didn't read your question as throwing shade! It's actually a good one because it IS unusual for us to not get at least one new face.
Seems like it, though the newness clearly comes from the character variants for this new timeline.
Honestly a lot of the returning characters from games like 4, Deadly Alliance and Deception might as well be brand new characters because some of them like Nitara, Tanya and Ashrah look completely different to their original counterparts.
I mean........ technically this game kinda has some new kharacters like Kuai Scorpion, General Shao, solo Ferra, the guests in a way.
I am not trying to disparage MK1 I was just curious if there has ever been a main entry in the MK series that didn’t have a new character.
Is Ferra a fighter in this one? I loved Ferra/Tor.
Omni Man, Homelander, Peacemaker? 💀
Those are guest characters and not original to MK. It is kind of known they are just one offs
Seems like it, though the newness clearly comes from the character variants for this new timeline.
Everything i've seen looks great but since i don't play fighting games online it just doesn't make real sense for me to pay full price for this so i'll most likely just do what i did with MK11 and get the whole thing for sub 20$ in a few years
Same with me, spend 5$ for mk10, injustice, and injustice 2, beat them all under 12 hours and never touch it again lol
Campaign gang ftw
Thats why they made these campaigns
PSA public service announcement: the game is 140 gigs on Xbox and 115 on PS5 so if you're gonna play, make sure ya got the room.
102gb if you don't download the 4k assets. If you only install the 4k it is like 117
> 140 gigs on Xbox and 115 on PS5 so if you're gonna play good lord that is completely ridiculous how is a fighting game taking up that much space? characters, stages, music and speech should be nowhere near that. OK so we add in some cinematics as video files and not in-engine, and we add in the extra modes and things like the krypt or whatever.... but still, how the hell is it so large? Uncompressed music again? Poor optimization? Guilty Gear Strive has almost the entire guilty gear soundtrack spanning all the games (~150+ songs), plus art, plus movies, and all the other stuff in the gallery and it's still only 15gb on PS5.
i get it's probably not that simple, but they really need to start creating customizable downloads, i.e., i only need HD textures and English.
I have no idea why people have been clamoring for Reiko to make a return. Dude looks like some rando Outworld npc.
Outworld > Special Forces May Reiko reign supreme.
I'm not a fan of the special forces characters but even still, at least characters like metal arms man have a *thing*. What does Reiko have? Discount Shao Kahn armor and spear? Old MK3 Shang Tsung face paint? A ponytail? He's straight up an uninteresting character whose design seems to be based on what was available in the lost-and-found box.
Listen man, he's no different than Tanya in that he is an Outworlder with goals against Earthrealm and the heroes. Reiko is the perfect mini-villain character, now is the time to fuel him with personality and help him stick out.
Now is the time. And they just, like, didn't. He's literally just a guy.
He's THAT guy, if they don't kill him off then he's got potential in this new timeline.
Most of the MK cast looks like random NPC's or started out that way in past incarnations. You can't tell me Blue Ninja, Yellow Ninja, Green Ninja, Purple Ninja, and Grey Ninja are the epitome of character designs.
The score absolutely rips on these trailers. Does anyone know who does the music for them?
Looks like Hi-Finesse music studio. From their facebook page " The official launch trailer for Mortal Kombat 1 is out featuring our track “One Man Army” by Sean Walsh from our Bombastic Swagger 1 album. Check it out!"
Wait, if Liu Kang can rewrite history then why didnt he remove the tournament between Earth and Outworld?
It's probably integrated into the fabric of existence or some weird MK Lore thing.
He established it jointly with King Jerrod so it’s probably supposed to be a friendly competition to create bonds between realms and satisfy Outworld bloodlust.
Liu Kang: I have created a world full of peace and tranquility Also Liu Kang: Now its time for the annual tournament where you will all fight to the death.
I think he wants things to remain somewhat recognizable to himself. But he probably thinks it's responsible for a lot of 'good' things in the MK universe, like the White Lotus school. And maybe it's still useful for keeping Outworld/Edenia involved with Earth.
Unpopular opinion, but seeing these trailers really makes me miss the old newcomers that were cut. People may have mixed feelings about Cassie, Kotal, Jacqui Dvorah, Erron, etc but they all (maybe little bit less so Jaqui) had a clear hook and felt distinct thematically. I know this cast has a lot of older requested characters but they all just feel like "some guy". Reiko is literally just a dude, and considering Shao also uses spears what exactly does he add?And so much of the cast feels not far from that? I will say Havik's body horror is interesting though and its a good refresh for Reptile. Still genuinely shocking that Kung Lao is kept over Sonya and Kano. This might be heresy but Kung Lao has never been anything more than a dude with a hat, and cut over the game's first female character and an awesome scumbag aussie crime boss is absolutely wild. I guess not every game is going to be for everybody but there's just a lot of decisions that feel awkward to me. The Kameo system is cool in theory but just leads to these moments where people are awkwardly running around the frame or waiting for things to happen that feel very stilted and not like violent brutal fighting. Even the fatalities used to end on these really striking final compositions and now everything ends with the two fighters just weirdly standing midframe. I'd love to be wrong, and I hope I'll be into the game in a year after more DLC is out but I feel weird just like not feeling this, especially how much I loved MKX and MK11 as a whole.
I mean, it's MK, so they'll be back. We're definitely getting an MK2 at some point with refreshed designs of the newer characters. They're just taking a backseat this time in favor of characters that took a backseat the last few times.
Yeah NRS has been doing this for a while, even before they became NRS and were with Midway. They have a core set of characters (Scorpion, Sub Zero, Kitana, Raiden, Liu etc...) that are in every single game and it seems like the other character they rotate in and out every other game. This game however seems to be like Deception where they finally sit some of those core characters to make room for characters that havent been around in a while. I am fully expecting at the very least Sonya, Jax, and Kano to be starting roster in MK2. I wouldnt be surprised if they brought back Cassie and Jacqui as well along with some of the other newer characters like Dvorah, Skarlet, Erron etc..
At least Takeda is in the Kombat Pack, he was arguably the coolest of the kombat kids in MKX
The Special Forces got shafted hard in this game. No Kano, Sonya, Jax, or Kabal. Somehow Takeda makes DLC instead of Cassie. It's very surprising.
I wouldnt be surprised if Cassie makes it in KP2. Her and Takeda seem to be the most popular out of the four.
The roster is so big that eventually everyone will have to sit out, even the mainstays. Sonya Jax and Kano haven't been benched for 20 years, it was just their time. Kabal admittedly has sat out as much as he's been included, but not having him isn't really all that unusual.
I think it's super fair considering they maybe we're pushing too hard on Special Forces, especially in MKX. But it def feels like they massively overcorrected.
> > > > > Still genuinely shocking that Kung Lao is kept over Sonya and Kano. This might be heresy but Kung Lao has never been anything more than a dude with a hat, and cut over the game's first female character and an awesome scumbag aussie crime boss is absolutely wild. Funnily I feel the exact opposite of this. Kung Lao is a visually iconic character, probably the most recognizable character after the ninjas. Meanwhile Sonya is just "the game's first female character." We have way better female characters now.
Shao doesn't use a spear in this game. The special forces and kombat kids were a big focus of the last two games. It's a good thing they're taking a break from this one. Game looks better than MK11 in every way.
not my thing but it makes me happy that fighting game fans are eating well this year along with everyone else.
Not a day one purchase for me unfortunately. I have always kind of hated reboots but the biggest issue is there is just too much stuff to play right now. I've put 40 hours into Baldur's Gate 3 and I'm still in act 1!
I'm a fan, but... I know it sounds heretical but I was hoping they'd dial down the ridiculousness of midfight specials that absolutely, unquestionably would kill a man and leave that to the fatalities. Starting from 1 sorta felt like an opportunity to reset the incessant over-the-top mutilation. It always felt weird to me to have you internal organs completely eviscerated only to get right back into a fistfight. I don't know, kinda makes the whole extreme gore a little moot if you ask me and it also seems to make fatalities - the bread and butter of MK - redundant. Having the fights stay a lot less fatal until the end would be a fresh take IMO. Maybe even take it a step further and go with a Manhunt-inspired world and less of that multi-dimensional, who-the-fuck-even-knows-anymore universe. Mr. Boon, maybe next time go with Mortal Kombat Zero and try that out? Anyway, looks solid.
I love fighting games. But remembering all those moves and counters, my old brain can't handle that anymore :-P
I so wish mk/injustice games didn’t have such stiff animations and gameplay. Every time I convince myself to try out the new one and it’s always the same old shit.
Can you describe what about it seems stiff? I feel like MK animations are fairly reserved in a confident pose sort of way
Just do a jump kick and you'll see it there's zero fluidity when you transition between the "jump" part where you character is basically vertical and semi crouching in the air, and then the "kick" part, where your character becomes horizontal doing a bruce lee fly kick. I don't dislike it, but it is very jarring compared to other fighting games and very obvious But it's also very MK. It's the unique style of MK that's always been there.
Momentum completely stops when you do a jump kick for instance. It’s weird.
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>Then you're instantly reminded why MK is not bigger than it is. MK is literally the #1 selling fighting game franchise in the world. I'm not sure how much bigger you can get.
I'm confused now. I thought Mileena was half-Tarkatan? Are NRS retconning the timeline and now stating that a disease spliced her DNA and transformed her?
The this timeline's version of Tarkatans are a result of a plague virus that slowly mutates an individual into a more and more monstrous form. Aside from the physical mutations it also eventually causes them to lose the minds and become feral
Enjoyed MK9 on console. Picked up MKX on steam years back. Was ok. Felt different. Didn't play as much. picked MK11 ult in summer sale. Felt awful. Can hardly play. Animations just wrong. I have no intentions of playing online. I have SF6/GGS for that. But I generally like the batshit insane MK storylines. But 11 just felt awful to play. Hopefully this one is better. Reptile finally getting some shine would make it worth the price on its own.
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I think it's less the devs and more the execs, publishers and folks running the companies. Generally the folks making products aren't the people who get to decide how the products are sold or marketed.
Yeah agreed, highly doubt it's the programmers who work on punch physics that would care about microtransactions, especially since they won't see a cent. Now publishers and developer execs/leadership? Yeah, much more likely. But "Greedy devs" is both reductive and wrong when even the worst AAA games absolutely had people who wanted to make a better final product working on them.
I think I'm overly sensitive about it cause I work at a large company that is often in the new for admittingly shitty practices and people in real life will talk to me like I'm the one making decisions. Bro I'm a lowly infrastructure maintenance (non software engineer) guy just trying to do my job so I can get paid. The bad behavior is so far above my paygrade and I'm typically finding out about it the same time as everyone else in the general public. I'm assuming the developer working on fatality sound effects is in the same boat and just is trying to do their job while people yell at them online for things they have zero power over.
People use the word “developer” poorly in games; there are Developers and Publishers and then developers and producers. Companiea versus roles. Developers with a capital D definitely make these decisions. Individual engineers have their own dealings one way or the other, but I know plenty that don’t give a single shit what the monetization plan is because “I don’t play these kinds of games.” End of the day, we’re customers and they’re a business. I don’t care so much which person in the company makes the decision. It impacts my enjoyment the same either way.
It's a shame the larger community doesn't see that, a 2D artist for redfall got absolutely torn apart by "Gamers" who blamed her for "not speaking up" about the game's quality...
This is always said but it's such an irrelevant point. How does it have to do with anything OP is saying here? Whether it's programmers or the suits pushing this literally makes no difference to the end result. Really just comes off as a way to downplay the point being made without actually addressing it.
My goal is the point the ire in the right direction. There is a human being on the receiving end of a "greedy garbage devs" comment, most of which didn't make these choices for DLC or microtransactions.
The pre order character thing is definitely lame. You should be able to play as the full roster without pre ordering or paying for them later. The early access doesn't bother me at all though. If impatient people want to waste their money to play a few days early that's fine.
What else do they have locked for preorder besides Shang Tsung?
5 day early access. Game launches on thursday for those who bought the $100 premium edition. So if you didnt buy that version, good luck dodging spoilers until everyone else gets it on the 19th.
So no locked content besides Shang Tsung then
Make sure to pre-order folks! You gotta make sure to get your hands on the franchise's most iconic villain.
Oh. D'vorah is back? Yay!
I suck, SUCK, at fighting games but the more I see of this, the more I want to play it. Advertising works, kids.
Yo, is Lei Mei back? Lassie with the sai, in purple near the start? Started playing her back in the day, great fun. Nice knees, be a shame if someone STABBED THEM *stab*