MKSM -> horrible portrayal (worst ever)

MKvsDC -> very bad, but not as bad as MKSM

MK2011 -> disappointing, but improved from MKvsDC


I guess it's getting better... :-\


Her primary look is ruined by awful hair animation, her alternate costume is ugly. Her ending is crap.


The only thing she got left is superb gameplay.

Its all just drama, we need the drama to keep the story interesting.

Kitana got some of the best gameplay, and awesome new costumes. Her fans are really badass in this game too.
Her ending is kinda shit though. The beginning is good, until it gets to the Charlie's Angels part. Could they be a little more creative?

Rumor has it that Ed Boon uses her concept art, As a dart board in his office at NRS.

I love Kitana, which is why I'm going to agree with the fan's general disappointment regarding her overall character portrayal and design in this game and all her recent portrayals.

She was so so in MKA, she was horrible in MKSM, she was awful in MKvsDC, she was weak in MK2011.

Let me begin by the #1 thing that ruined everything for me:

The way they retconed her rivalry/story with Mileena

Seriously...WTF where they thinking? This is one of MK's most iconic and enjoyable stories that (considering we went back to MK1, MK2, and MK3) needed to be properly developed and justly and fairly settled. I'm not saying they should have dragged it out again, but, they should had remained faithful to the original canon of this epic story.

Now? It has not only cheapened Ktana and made her less interesting, but, it has completely ruined Mileena (another top favorite of mine) for me. Hopefully the next game will prove to us that Mileena can be closer to her MKD self despite this huge alteration of her origins. Such a horrible and sad disappointment. This was so unnecessary.

They should take a note from the MK:Legacy webseries. THAT'S how it should have been.

And then you have another terrible thing:

The way they made Shao Kahn tell her the truth during MK2 and the way he treated her.

Kitana was supposed to know/suspect about all this waaay before MK2. It cheapened her character extremely. Another unnecessary change. Thankfully she was not under a stupid spell this time around (which is how she ends up in the end anyways, ugh).

Kahn telling her everything just like that was freaking annoying. And he showed no kind of fatherly feelings towards Kitana which is something we all kind of assumed he had grown to have over the years. He preferring Kitana over sad Mileena and actually caring for her is a HUGE thing. Why did they choose to go with the weaker and less interesting and less deep storyline?

I just don't get it.

And then you have the many other obvious factors like the way she was portrayed as a "damsel-in-distress", called a "housewife", and that corny dramatic dialogue of "I am Kitana, Princess of Outworld!" among other lines that really made me roll my eyes. A lot.

And I'm not even getting into her horrible costume designs (which are some of the worst in MK), that monstrous hair, her Fatalities, and her ending (Charlie's Angels/Power Girls?....again?).

Granted, part of Kitana's grandeur has been more of a creative product invented by her fans than an actual invention of the official canon, but, still, no reason why they couldn't borrow/take some of the fans ideas to make her as great as she could have been.

I was not surprised at all to see her die. I actually think it was pretty interesting (and ironic) how it was Sindel the one who finished her.

Now, killing Jade, THAT was unnecessary and stupid. If you were going to off Kitana, there was no need to take Jade as well. It is such a waste. They took Jax, but left Sonya, they took Liu, but left Johnny, they should have left Stryker as well. And if they took Cyber Sub-Zero, they should have also let Smoke live.

Ugh.

Oh, and what the hell is that lame ass "new special move" they gave her? Is that seriously the best they can come up with for her? That's got to be one of the worst special moves in the series. It doesn't even look or feel like a special at all.

Thankfully, she has a super fun gameplay and she's definitely tons of fun to play with. The girl is a beast!

Overall, Kitana's story could have been a gazillion times better if it would have followed the original canon and borrowed from the ideas/assumptions that the fans have created over the years instead of doing what they did.

She has tons of potential to look great and have awesome fatalities and special moves and a compelling storyline. This has not happened since MKSM.



This.



To be fair, the fact that it is 2 fan fatalities is what makes it seem repetitive. Also, that the second one didn't play at all with camera direction. That's why it looks so weak.



Well, to be fair, she was one of the few who didn't even get a chapter in MKvsDC among other things.



This.

And even that might not be permanent. If the latest tournament is any indication or what the DSP channel has said about her gameplay.

I was absolutely loving Kitana until Raiden got to her. After that I was pretty pleased to see Sindel kill her.

That's just a shame if your actually referring to that terrible Kitana player's experience at that tournament, He was an embarrassment to the princess. I myself could of easily destroyed him. He was never doing what he should of been doing, And he missed every combo opportunity under the sun.

Kitana's moveset in the right hands is outright dominating. Possibly some of the best zoning capabilities in the game. Along with insanely long combos that can start from high or Low, Near or far, Even off a projectile. And she has several projectile combos that simply can't be broken.

And, The only character in game who's X-RAY can be done in both the air and grounded.

Kitana's gameplay in this installment is more vicious then ever.

I love her.

apparently people seem to not realise that raiden CHANGED THE TIMELINE...the original canon doesn't exist in this game because with the story they went with, it would not only not make sense to have the original canon in effect, but would significantly weaken the story if it did have the original canon going strong.
It's essentially a "Back To The Future" effect. You change one minor detail in the past, and the entire course of time is thrown into a totally seperate tangent. If it doesnt create a whole new tangent by changing minor events then A)it wouldnt make sense and B)the entire story would be utterly pointless

PS:i like kitana's hair.

It really doesn't help that they changed a lot of shit that had nothing to do with Raiden's message and basically shit all over Tobias's canon. Not to say there's anything from the old timeline I wanted to see changed, but still.

Mortal Kombat Abridged Compact version.

Well, either which way, the fact is they've reduced Kitana from a strong, self-reliant, (potentially) multi-faceted protagonist...to a spineless, co-dependent simp whose definition begins and ends with the word, "princess."

So I don't know if they hate Kitana the character...much like I don't think Geoff Johns hates Wonder Woman. They just seem to not get what made her character work, don't know what to do with her, and really couldn't care less.


P.S. (because I really don't plan on making any more of this monthly visit than I already have)
Having finally watched story mode on youtube...
No, she wasn't cool when she was evil--she was a fucking loser either way. And no, the ship between her and Liu Kang still sucks--it was neither "cute" nor "charming."

And I also found about thirty more things to hate about the story in general.


Cheers...and I'm gone.

Indeed, pretty much. On the whole, I wasn't that bothered by the additions to the 1st tournament, except maybe Troll Chi. Mother fucker had no business being there except for the scene in the Netherrealm to mindrape Scorpion into killing Bi-Han, everyone else I didn't mind that much. That's just me, though. Edit: Damn, I missed Xia's goodbye speech. :(

They don't hate Kitana, but she clearly isnt one of their favorites...

Her new look is flawless, I absolutely love it. Her primary outfit is to die for, sexy with a taste of elegance and loyalty. I've also accepted her secondary custome, it's great.

Her gameplay is one of the best in the whole game. She's lighting quick and can mop the floor with you if u piss her off. Kitana holds the title of combo queen in this game.

Her FATALITIES:
Fan Opener- couldve been better but overall it's pretty good.
Splitting Headache- fukin brutal! I love this one, and is IMO one of the best in the game.
Babeality- adorable, so funny haha

STORY MODE-
During the MK1 era, it started off very well. I was very excited for what was gonna happen next. Then it all went downhill....
I hated how the relationship between her and Mileena was portrayed. They had absolutely zero emotional connection. It was just like, "hi I'm your sister Mileena" ..."ugh, fuck no you ain't!, die bitch!"
After her chapter, Kitana pretty much dissapered until it was time for her death. What a horrible way to kill off one of the greatest MK characters. By her own mother, without defending herself!
I ended up very dissapointed, and worried about her future...so I quickly went to arcade mode and passed it with her.....

ARCADE ENDING-
I was expecting her to have this epic ending. Involving her massacring Mileena and Kahn. Involving her mother Sindel and the rebirth of Edenia.....but no, I got a lame ass ending that was pretty much copied and pasted from MKA and MKVSDCU. So I quickly passed the game with other characters close to her (Mileena, jade, sindel, Liu Kang)...and got nothing, the princess wasnt even mentioned on those characters endings!!!!.....the only ending from an unexpected character that semi gave her justice, was Ermac's!

MK LEGACY-
this producer, whatever his name is...fukin did an amazing job portraying her story!!!!!! Why cant the MK team ever do something like that, or very close to it?

Like I said before, I fear for the future of my favorite character in the next games. But at the same time, in MK death isn't permanent....

About Xia, I think he regularly looks back. He is just as awful at letting go stuff as I am. Maybe, not my place to tell.

I do not think they hate Kitana exactly, they just do not want to do anything with her beyond being the "love" item for Turkey Boy, and being Kahn's daughter.

How cool would it be for Kitana to go rogue, like Scorpion? Just make her kill whatever she wants, whenever she wants. That's how I've always imagined her.

Of course, they'd have to somehow bring her back from the dead while delivering a swift kick to the head of Quan Chi.

Kitana is in no way a least favorite of the MK Team. Saying that NRS "hates" Kitana is a great exaggeration.

If anything, it is quite obvious that Kitana is a favorite among NRS. She's maybe not among the top TOP favorites, but, I think it is safe to assume she's among their definite loved ones (and I'm willing to bet the MK movie really helped with that love).

Hell, Mileena is clearly preferred over the princess since MKD (she's gotten more attention and better treatment) yet she was clearly treated unfairly in this game (not counting her glorious promotion as the poster girl of this game) and her story was arguably ruined to become one of the biggest and lamest disappointments. Mileena was arguably worst than Kitana this time around (not counting promotion).

Kitana was lovable since the start and it hasn't really changed. Like someone else said, there is a difference between "hating kitana" and having her character not presented in the way you'd like her to be.

To be perfectly fair, while her portrayal was not as great as it could have been, and while the retconed bits of her storyline are bullshit, she was definitely much better than in the other incarnations of her (we are all looking at you MKSM and MKvsDC).

She was not flowery or weak.

From the first moment Kitana was introduced (along side Jade) as a mysterious and dangerous "ninja". Sure, she was silent and only glared for the most part, but, that attitude was a MASSIVE improvement over her weak presentation in MKvsDC and the horrible "You are under a spell" business in MKSM.

When she finally spoke she was always commanding and serious. Angry and deadly. The voice actress did overact on many parts which made me roll my eyes ("I am Kitana! Princess of Outworld!"), but, that is not really Kitana's fault. Had someone else said those lines in a more realistic and natural way it would have been awesome. So, yeah, she was one serious commanding babe. Full of self proclaimed authority. Awesome.

She even showed authority when getting her butt kicked.

Kitana was mostly filled with anger and rage. Later she was softened but NOT in a bad way (at least not in a horrible way). After her fight with Liu she still presented a serious solemn attitude. She was still alert and dangerous. The softness that came with her was not bad. She was filled with questions and doubts and later a huge feeling of betrayal. It was portrayed naturally, imo.

After the shock of discovering the truth (as bullshit as it was this time around) she was actually handled quite well. She was overpowered, taken hostage, and sentenced to death. She was sad, she was lost, but, she was still fierce!

I thought that was good.

Again, she was not as epic and as serious as she could have been or as most fans have made her out to be based on creative assumptions, but, I feel that Kitana could have suffered more.

This game proves that the MK team heard the fans regarding their major complaints about Kitana in MKSM (the spell!) and MKvsDC (weak flowery lame princess). The rest of the complaints are not as heavy simply because that is what Kitana has always been in their eyes and minds, not the fans.

Some of that can be good. Some of it, not so much.

Still, I think we have to be fair here and see that there's plenty of positives regarding Kitana and that despite the story flaws she was handled well.

Are you referring to her briefly becoming a Star Sapphire in Blackest Night, or is there something I've missed? Because Geoff's almost never written Wonder Woman, and he certainly isn't responsible for any of the reboots that have damaged her character in recent years, those would be Allan Heinberg and J. Michael Straczynski.

While I don’t think NRS hate her, I think their attitude is more along the lines of Geoff Jones’s towards “wonder Woman’( agreed with previous poster that mentioned this), they just can’t be bothered .

It was quite Blatant in story mode, she even took a back seat to Jade, its such a shame because the Mileena/Kitana rivalry was very dynamic and plausible because of their attachments to Khan, however the way it was portrayed in the game was extremely disappointing. Kitana skipping her way to the locked laboratory that was plagiarized from Alien: resurrection. She sees a Monster and exclaims “How they look alike!”.No relationship, no jealousy and rivalry.

Khan disowns her immediately and order’s her execution, they completely ignored the fact that Khan’s main reason for holding on to Kitana was so that he may remain as the legitimate ruler of outworld/edenia because she was the rightful heir to the throne.

They could have done so much more with Kitana, her second costume is just bland and lazy but atleast her hair was animated well.
On the other hand, in terms of gameplay this is the best incarnation of Kitana to date.

There it is again! What are you talking about, Geoff has not written a Wonder Woman book! Is this an industry rumor I've never heard? Are you thinking of someone else but Geoff is the only DC writer whose name you remember so you assume it's him? What on Earth does Geoff Johns have to do with Wonder Woman?

Dammit Razor, you had to go and ask a valid question.

Geoff Johns has never written Wonder Woman's actual title, but he has written the character via guest appearance and events like Infinite Crisis and such.
His portrayal of Diana is consistently that of a self-righteous, sanctimonious zealot; all but incapable of compassion or warmth.

He was a big part of the, "Wonder Woman isn't human and doesn't understand what it's like to BE human" nonsense a few years back.
I recall he wrote a JLA/JSA Thanksgiving story where Diana was characterized as a nagging shrew, who lectured her teammates throughout the entire issue.
He's the guy who had the Flash say to Diana's face, in essence, she's a zealot who forces her beliefs onto others--I think even implying she was a hypocrite, too...but the details escape me.
And as mentioned, during Blackest Night, he had her drafted by the Stalker Lanterns.

And in his most recent venture, Flashpoint, we have Wonder Woman conquering the United Kingdom and commiting mass genocide against the men who lived there.
Now, before you say "It's an alternate timeline story, she's supposed to be messed up," I would like to point out that--screwed up timeline or no--it's Geoff Johns writing Wonder Woman as an unlikable, inhuman, self-righteous, war-mongering zealot...again.
It may be an alternate timeline, but it's actually pretty consistent with how he's written her in the past.

Like I said, I'm not saying he hates Wonder Woman--but he clearly doesn't get her, doesn't know what to do with her, and really only ever treats her as a prop to further along the stories of characters he DOES like.


To take it back to NRS and their feelings towards Kitana...yeah, I kind of get the impression that--they might not hate her--but they don't know what to do with her and only throw her in because she has a fanbase.

I think the problem with NRS is that they seem to think the central defining characteristic of Kitana, that cannot be altered or deviated from, is that she's, "the princess who falls in love with the designated hero."
No more, no less.

And that......sucks.

I think it's profoundly depressing that Kitana's sunk so low and become so pathetic, we have to look at this game...

...this...

THIS

...as a "step up."
Oh yeah. Real fierce and dignified.

She's about as tough and bad ass as fucking Anna Valarious in Van Helsing.

No, NRS does not hate Kitana. They realize Kitana is one of the biggest fan favorites in the franchise.

Yes, she got shafted in MK vs DC, but so did many characters who didn't even make it in the game--Reptile, Smoke, Mileena, Cage, Kung Lao, etc. It wasn't limited to her.

Her gameplay wasn't horrible though.

This new MK game isn't that bad for Kitana either. It doesn't do everything with her that I would like it to do story wise, but it doesn't ruin her character or any nonsense like that.

Kitana has always been a favorite of mine, and even though I don't usually main her, I'm always glad when her gameplay kicks ass, which is what really matters in a fighting game. To the casual and hardcore player, gameplay matters more on who they like than whether or not a character is portrayed well in story mode.

This game nailed her gameplay. Kitana fans should be rejoicing. Kitana has never been able to recapture her MK2 glory until now. I'd say she's the best she's ever been in this game. I said previously I didn't usually main Kitana, but she's right up there for me in this game. I love using Kitana in this game. I like her gameplay and play style more than Jade who I personally like more.

I'm also a Reptile fan and he went from being this uber secret and cool mysterious ninja in MK1, to the worst fighter in mk2. Thankfully his game play improved in UMK3 but then he got turned into an iguana in the 3D games. FInally they gave him his force ball back and he rocks in this game despite having a crap story again, similar to Kitana.

Bottom line, I don't think NRS hates Reptile either. I'm a MK fan who is a story junkie, but as long as I can kick ass with my favorite characters, ultimately I can ignore a bad story portrayal.

I do hate that they continued the Kitana/Liu Kang love story though. It has always felt forced and utterly ridiculous. That's easily the worst thing to happen to her character in my opinion.

I'm also a Sub-Zero fan and do you know how angry I am about Cyber-Sub-Zero? I finally get Smoke back in human form and they go and automate Sub-Zero. Kitana fans didn't get it too bad in this game compared to some other fans.

I don't think I've read that JLA/JSA crossover you mentioned, but Diana with a violet ring in Blackest Night acted pretty much completely differently from the other Star Sapphires. Carol even points it out that unlike the rest of her corps, who are driven by feelings of loss or unrequited love for a single individual, like her for Hal Jordan, Diana got the ring because of how much love she has for "everyone" and unlike them, the ring doesn't "fill a hole in her heart". I didn't find her to be out of character in Infinite Crisis, either, though her part in that one was really too small to do anything with one way or the other, she was really only there to interact with her Pre-Crisis self.

It's not like she got a red ring, which is what would've happened if Geoff really believed the Amazons are just warmongers or that Diana is somehow inhuman.

I think that XiahouDun84 is spot on about Kitana. It's a shame that he's pretty much gone from the forums as he's one of my favorite members here. I really enjoyed his discussions about the stories and characters.

I don't think that NRS hates Kitana, but they just don't know how to properly handle the character. Granted, she is a step-up from her MKSM and MK vs. DC versions in some little aspects, but ultimately, she is thrown into a refrigerator. They don't seem to be capable of telling a good story anymore nor do they seem to be able to know how to properly handle most of the characters in the series.

I think the problem is that with most or all of the characters, NRS seems to be in favor of dumbing them down as some kind of attempt to make them simple to understand. Kitana is a princess. Liu Kang is an all-around good guy. It's like they want to suck out the complexity and depth that was there with certain characters. Perhaps this could partially be due to what happened with John Vogel not being able to release the rest of the MK: Armageddon bios.

When it comes to MK's story, I'm more or less just into MK: Legacy, because it has a pretty good idea of how certain characters are handled. That's pretty sad, because the source material should be better.

I don't think they hate Kitana, but the community members certainly do (mostly Sonya and Mileena fans). Really Kitana wasn't that great in MK/DC and was kinda boring in MKA but this time she's really fantastic! I love both of her costumes, they are sexy and something dfferent from what she always had before. People bash the alternate one but to me it's even better than the original. What's so bad about it??? Come on, if Mileena wore the same you all would go gaga about it (in fact it reminds me of Mileena's MKD primary). Her Fatalities are also really good. They are both new and are the bloodiest and most brutal she ever had. Thank god that boring and outdated kiss of death is gone. Talking about crappy female Fatalities, it's Sindel and Sonya who got really awful and unoriginal ones. Gamplay-wise Kitana's just awesome and overall it's definitely one of her best appearances in the game if not the best.

Kitana's personality and attitude were perfect in story mode, up until Raiden got to her, she was silent and mysterious at the beginning and as she was revealed further she was a stuck up bitch, which was perfect. Except for the scene with Liu Kang, that was kinda dumb, and the scene where she didnt kill that random kombatant, she should have killed that guy with no problem.

The retconned Kitana/Mileena story sucks so much. They had a really deep backstory and rivalry, I wish they didnt fuck it up. It would have been cooler if it went more like this:

At the beginning of Story Mode when Jade and Kitana come out and always chill by Shang's throne, They were much more trusted by Khan so he sent them to keep an eye on the tournament while Mileena had to stay in Outworld because shes the crazy and ugly one. Mileena also doesnt chill by Khan's throne with Kitana and Jade either because shes the shunned one or something. Kitana should have no problem killing that one random dude and Khan should get pissed at her for something else, then the Kitana chapter starts off the same, Raiden convinces Kitana to go to the flesh pits. Kitana goes to the flesh pits and discovers other failed Mileena attempts and like a book with the plans for Mileena and thats how Kitana finds out about Mileena.

Khan also should not have been to quick to turn his back on Kitana either, there should have been more of a struggle there too.