Thats becouse they don't need to be directly involved in the struggle. It's not like every goddamn thing has to revolve around MK's core. They are affected by the struggle (Hotaru, Dairou, the seidan revolution) so I don't see whats wrong.

But, they need to be sharpened out. The whole chaos/orderrealm is kinda based on existing mythology and it would be a waste to see it be thrown away-mainly becouse they trenghtened the oriental atmosphere of MK.

...and that atmosphere was radically missing in MK3 and MK4.

Well, I must admit that I still like MK3. The storyline was good, change things after Mortal Kombat 2. Shao Kahn's come to Earth and the whole planet is at risk.
Now in Deception, Onaga is powerfull and all, but dont have the same feel of put the earth in danger. Neither other realms it looks to be really in danger in MKD.
Maybe if they continue the story of this One Being we can see a real threat to be deal it.

no ur missing the point behind the whole story onaga,lord of outworld, has come back from the dead to reclaim outworld but at the sametime he wishes to merge all the realms into 1 hence being the ultimate danger to everything that exists in the MK universe if he had just come back to claim outworld again no1 would have cared no1 likes outworld anyway but the reason y every1 is trying to stop him is bcuz he threats all the realms...

I think that the overall danger feel is missing since the characters don't realize the true threat and they don't have/know anything abou the danger Onaga poses. They fight their everyday battles unlike MK2-MK3 where are the chosen or selected warriors knew what is Shao kahns intention.

IN MKD they only knew he was after Outworld, and only Shujinko and a few knew what the sideeffects of the merging will be.

Yea i agree that Onaga didn't pose much of an imminent threat to many of the characters.

But for order and chaos realm, in MKD its story line was flat out stupid as shit. I serve the county for years, and framed, then thrown in jail for life! Kind of stupid in my opionion. And Darrius, Hotaru, and Dairou all were not cool. I mean, they were good fighters, but they were just too boring, and unappealing to choose to actually fight with. The only one out of these people that is interesting is Havik. A guy that eats your arms off? Now that's cool.

I'm very flexible on what can be brought into Mortal Kombat. I paid little mind to the cyborgs and the vampires so the introduction of the Seido plot thread doesn't bother me.

I'm a supporter of the numerous plot threads and I don't think every single character and storyline MUST connect to the main plot. For example, while not really "important" to the overall storyline, I'm more interested in the Netherealm plotline with Noob Saibot, Sareena and all those characters than Shujinko's plotline which is "important."
So if you care about the Seido plot thread, then naturally you'd be interested in what'll happen there and want to see where it goes. If you don't, then yeah you'd think it's useless and has no place in MK.

The problem I see with the Seido plot is it isn't as developed or dynamic as other storylines. I guess because it just sort of came out of nowhere and has no prior connections to the game or cast. Like all of a sudden I'm supposed to give a shit about what happens on this realm I never heard of before?
Also the majority of characters that have appeared aren't very interesting. Thus far, the most interesting and/or likable character IMO is Havik. Hotaru has the charisma of a cardboard box.....Dairou is also pretty bland...and far as I can tell almost no one takes Darrius seriously.

So I wouldn't say the Seido plot has no place in MK. There are very few things I'd say have no place in MK. It's just as of now, the storyline isn't that intriguing.
But it could defintely be improved. I personally don't give a rat's ass about Seido either, so I neither have nor do I care enough to think of ideas on how to improve it....but yeah, It has a place in MK and could be developed.

Ever since MK2 the mortal kombat story has gotten out of hand. Now by throwing all these realms into it, its just getting more confusing and convoluted.

To me, it just doesn't feel like Mortal Kombat anymore. We've come a long way from MK1 and MK2, and all these new realms and chracters just don't even feel like they're from the same series. The Seido/Chaos story could be good, but in terms of the overall MK story I think its just becoming too much.

I do think they seem out of place...the struggle has always been between Outworld and Earthrealm, and it just keeps expanding. Sure, expansion is good...new characters, new storylines, etc...but I think it'll take a little while to get used to everything. It just doesn't feel the same anymore. It hasn't for a long time.

Whether the Chaos and Orderrealms feature in future MK's or not, I think Havik at least has to come back. He was easily the most interesting newcomer, has already branched out by having connections with Kabal's Black Dragon, and there are too many possibilities for a character who's sole aim is to cause chaos not to have Havik return.

The problem with the Orderrealm versus Chaosrealm setting is that, it's an interesting idea, but more should have been done to fit it in with the main MKD plot, it feels too seperate. I quite like Darrius, but it's hard to see where he can go from here, whether his ending happens or not, it has no effect on the main storyline. Same with Hotaru, cool character, but it's hard to see what he would do in a future MK, take away the Chaos/Order side plot, and he'd be reduced to Onaga's henchman, making him about as relevant as Tanya. Dairou's just a really boring, shallow character anyway, and I can see him just drifting away, if he's not killed off.

Well just like every other place that has to be introduced, it has to go through this conformity, give it a chance they cant make it the main battle ground for Mk Just yet. And besides, the Chaosrealm and Order Realm? That shits gonna go places when it blooms. plus people most people like variety, well im hoping that most people do, and these 2 new realms can give you that variety in the future.

I don't mean make the Order/Chaos realms the main setting for MK, but give the characters there more involvement with what's going on in the main plot. Like I said, it feels too seperate, it's a great idea, but needs work, especially if they're looking to use the theme again.

Hotaru and Darrius are characters I would like to see taken further, they have real potential, but both need to be given purpose outside of the Order VS Chaos battle to be meaningful characters. Take this away, and Hotaru becomes "Onaga's generic henchman in cool armour" and Darrius sadly is just kinda there tagging along. Havik already has more involvement in the main events, so it can be done for these two. Dairou I don't give a damn about either way, and would not miss him and his dumb looking specials if he were gone.

Exactly. Hotaru's main problem is, that he is kinda like an anti-hero, but not a villain. He fights for a couse he considers good, but does not revel in atrocities and brutality (enforcing his customs and beliefs on others is another thing). without this, he would have been a generic samurai guy.

Dairou is the opposite of him, he clearly deannounces his beliefs and goes vigilante or renegade. Unlike Havik and Hotaru, Dairou hasn't got a steadfast and zealous urge towards chaos/order. He sim[ply tries to live the best he can by serving his own goals. I think that Hotaru/Dairou/Havik represent the three archetypes towards basic human behavior regarding the creation of laws and basic fundamental urges towards a system.

Dairou is a fine character, though overpowered and his specials look silly. He looks bad ass and represents the cl;assic chinese vagabund fighting character with almost everything. he looks truly like a war-torn battle weary warrior. I say make him better.

And now we get to the real problem. To tie the Chaosrealm and Orderre-alm with the main plot. I think this can be easily done:

if you look at the realms as the particles of the one being you can easily think that if the One Being (or it's dream) is the Universe, than the One being is simply everything including morality. if this true, then the One Being is evil, good, neutral, chaotic and systematic at the same time. I would aproach the issue something like this:

Both Seido and Chaosrealm are gathering points of those who represent the order/chaos element in it's purest forms, thus, they are simply social and moral societies built by archetypes of the particular aligment.

Shortly: Hotaru is elementaly systematic, conformalistic and uniformical, while Havik is very eccentric, while free-minded and rebellious. If the Seido and the Chaosrealm are truly the purest form of society of a particular aligment, then their denizens must vary in "purity" to allow their social engineering to be successfull and evolving. This would explain why Dairou was incarcerated becouse of his sudden fit of anger (less pure in his beliefs as an elemental archetype, but more humane as a character) and why is Darrius rebelling against the system.

there hasn't been an actual tournament since mk2... its jsut been earthrealm warriors going relm hopping fighting off evil... imo deadly aliance had the best storylines jsut because so much happened and for once the good guys actually lostwhich was an unexpected twist

I second that.

The only characters that i see somewhat involved with the "realm merging" thing are Hotaru and Havik (2 of my favorites, by the way), because:

Hotaru wants to keep the Order and impose his laws, and indeed he isnt the most charismatic guy around, and if the Dragon King merges the realms, in Hotarus mind, order will be finally achieved, so thats why is his henchman. And Havik wants to prevent that, by siding with the "good guys", and by convincing Kabal in reforming the Black Dragon, that way there will always be opposite forces fighting a never ending struggle, and thats what Havik wants (and thats what i saw in his ending, but before Shao Kahn was announced for the GC version). Hotaru wants the Dragon King to complete his goal, and Havik, indirectly, tries to prevent it, so in that way, i guess that they are somewhat conected with the plot. Thats not the case with Dairou and Darrius, i mean, ive seen mercenaries for hire everywhere in other games, and Darrius without Seido is just a poor filler fighter with cool shades (which he already is).

i must mention that im not too interested in the storyline on a fighting game (i didnt know what the hell was the storyline in the Tekken series or the 2-D MK, but i still enjoy them), but i think that expanding the mk universe by adding these realms was great, and IMO, Orderrealm is the "Cop Town" and ChaosRealm is the "No explanation for anything and do whatever the hell you want" Town


By the way, this is my first long post ever here in MKO....YAY!!