I think the combat system should change almost completely, because the one they have now, looks and feels very dated.

I wish it was more fluid with realistic designs that don't hamper the game play. The controls should feel very responsive and the game play should be finely tweaked.

Lean away from the bare bones design style they've had since the first game. Elaborate on everything...

There needs to be a new combat system.

FMV endings.

No returning characters except Scorpion and Sub-zero. (because if they were absent mortal kombat would not sell)

A konquest with replay value.

Can you ellaborate on the konquest with replay value?

Laugh at me if you want, but remember in Goldneye 007 when you played that game for like 2 years and youre eyes were glued to youre TV screen? I am not saying Konquest is going to be a FPS like Goldneye 007, but it needs to be something like that were you can play it over and over again. Edit: if by that you mean do I have any ideas, LOL, the answer is no. It just needs to be good.

Yeah, I wanted to read some ideas.

ok. i havent played Armageddon ive only read about it. I have Unchained and im gonna base this decision off of that.

----Konquest Mode----

It was meant to be a fun way of taking your mind off of just fighting and help give the characters' storylines more detail. But, it came short of our expectations. The magazine reviews and online reviews boasted of its "Deatiled and Realistic Graphics" when it scraped up what a Sega Dreamcast could easily and effortlessly display. The frequent camera cuts and the poorly designed non-important characters only gave the game less of a replay value. Similar to that of SvR 2006[SvR 2007 improved greatly....thank god]. Also, once you reached a certain point, you could not go back. For example, once you've left the town, you couldnt go back in. EVER. I forgot to get one of Shujinko's special moves and some other things in there and now im sad. Also. Sometimes the character data would overwrite itself. In Outworld, Tanya would ask you to find a cave in Outworld to ambush Liu Kang in. Once you found the cave and go back to where she was supposed to be, she's GONE. When you go back to the portal of Outworld, she is aimlessly walking around. When you talk to her, she fights you, and if you win, she gives you the key to a Koffin in the Krypt to unlocking her alternate costume. And the item you had gotten(the map to the cave) is STILL TAKING UP SPACE IN YOUR INVENTORY. ARGGGGH!!!!Now don't get me wrong, im just stating my opinion. Also, once you've beaten Konquest, you cannot restart. AT ALLLL........!!!

If Armageddon is not like this, i just wasted my precious time for nothing stating my opinion. Please Bear with me.

And would someone PLEASE get rid of Unlockable Koffins??!!

----Fatalities----
This is what I Have Heard about Armageddon....if I am Dead Wrong about some parts, let me know.
Mortal Kombat has always boasted about each character's Unique Fatality.
But in Armageddon, the idea was scrapped and you could Kreate a Fatality. I have heard it was one of the most boring parts of the game.!!!! I mean, COME ON, MK has always had Fatalities, like Sonya's Kiss of Death, and Raiden's 1000 Volt Shock. If the MK team wanted to Keep the KaF mode, keep it as an additional option,OK?
If it already is, im screwed.

Thank you

XMXVOLT

You're right, the characters just all do a similar sort of thing. You choose moves but it's just a stream attack like a cheaper Brutality. Seems they cut down on time making fatalities by using it. I really love old school fatalities, just two per character.

Can't wait to see a new character. I hope they have a cool new character set and totally new theme.

WHAT!!! NO! THAT IS SOOOOO STUPID!!! Lets go back to Old School, PLLZ...MMMK??

I love those types of questions lol.

Appearance

Um...Should have a sense of a refined homage to the old games. They don't do a terrible job here. They just miss strong points alot...ALOT

Arenas:

Were vibrant killing grounds, now they're just elaborately constructed dungeons. I think the only exception here in the early games was Goros Lair. Which was fitting.

They way I'd like to see this change is for them to (tah dah) put color back into where we get to kill each other. What's wrong with using the seasons? Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall? How about they use some of these lately very colorful martial arts movies like Jet- Li's "Hero", Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Memoirs of a Geisha, House of Flying Daggers, ect ect? Red, orange, yel-low, green, blue, pur-ple?

In MkA, we have (what is it?) something like 20 arenas? 36 total places in the game to have a fight, and all but 1 are "dark", or "night-like" with brightly colored accents. It was to where, when it was time to perform a fatality, the only thing you could have done, was to make the background pitch black.?.?

I don't want that anymore. Instead, I want it to feel like I am doing something reeeeaally wrong on this beautiful scenery. See what I mean? When the time comes to darken the screen in Mk8, it should seem like the son of death just walked in and, sucked most of the life and color from the arena.

Flowers should whither, things in the room should start melting away, fires should seem like they were choked out for lack of oxygen and everything. I would explode if I saw a dripping//spilled blood effect, or smoke-like effect turned translucent black roll over the screen to accomplish, "Finish Him//Her" when a fatality is about to be performed....that's a next gen mortal kombat arena. That's the kind of shit I wanna see.

Characters:

This is one of the main places they don't "get wrong", but just miss points. The "homage" to the older games I was talking about should be simple for Mk8......"sleek -er" characters.

What I'm saying here, is remember Mk1-T. Remember how those characters were "actually humans", and ditch this "bulky character design". People are not bulky... Sometimes, I'll be watching the vids of Carlos Pesina doing the Mo Cap and think...I wonder if his anatomy effects the way they're making the characters? But I know better. lol

Anyway, they don't really need "help" in character design because they can already "make things pretty". Just skim these characters down a bit(mainly the men characters) and that's it, the rest from there they got already.

Special Effects:

It seems like they need ideas here. To make that more realistic, it seems like they need more help making alot more kinds of effects actually "happen" in the game.

What I mean is, elements that we have to work with in "video" kinda boil down to a few. But they all can be put into two or three categories//umbrellas:

1. Nature//Elements
a. earth[rocks, sand]
b. wind[invisible influence on things in any direction]
c. water[anything liquid]
d. fire[from little fires, to explosions]
e. smoke[shadows are not excluded from smoke, and could even be considered it's own category]

2. Magic//Wizardry. (things that are made up of ^^#1 here^^. Like "ghosts", or the Pheonix Bird...... or shapes, or other inanimate objects to become animated for example)

3. Divinity (super speed, super stregnth, flying ect)

Did I miss anything you've seen in a movie or video game?

What I wanna see is elements like "Flesh" be implemented in Mk8. Flesh can be closely associated with "Jelly". "Jelly" is a composition of two I have already mentioned "Earth and Water"...More or less. A problem I see in actually making that idea happening is how do you animate "Jelly//Flesh" in the game without it taking a bunch of time and money to do? On the other side of that problem, I haven't seen or heard a reason why nobody has figured it out yet....and that's what we want to pay for....That kind of innovation in the game.

Something else that I want to see is that infamous rumor about "shredding//tearing clothes". Again, I don't know why nobody's figured out how to implement it...but I want it in Mk8. I'd probably piss myself the day I see a subtlety in an FmV where somebody just "rips a piece of paper with their hands". Note: We've seen people crumple paper before..

Ya know, what's funny about this part is, if they can make Li Meis' boobs jiggle around(jelly), and they can rip the skin off another character(paper) .....2 & 2 together = ??
meh

Special Effects in mk should be culminations of more of these elements at once, and more constantly. Not just body rips...(I know, I know.)

Another thing I'm saying here, is that there is far too much material on earth for 80% of the roster to only have "fire inspired" special moves. There's enough to only have one or two people with a fire//chi element at thier will....and then, they should be SO different you don't even recognize them as the same. (i.e. the differences-in-use between "a flame",
and "lava")

Furthermore, look at how many "Mancies" are possible. The list goes on foreeeever. lol

There's so many things they could do with the elementals it's numbing...even o a simplistic level if that was a problem.

Textures//Shading - Animation:

I think "we've" figured out these things, technologically speaking. I think the technology is far advanced enough by now to even make a fighting game with extreme detail. Therefor, I think there should be a team associated with textures//shading all on their own, and then a team dedicated to animating those things all on their own. Duh, "I'm not the guy with the money", but, if they cut out alot of the bs on the disc, we could get that "fantastic Mk game" we conceptualize about.

Anyway, that's been a prominent gripe from developers for years now; "how to get things looking more realistic", and then translating enough of that look into real time game-play animation.

What I want from Mk8(especially since they're using the same Engine) is the visual quality of a Gears of War, or God of War FmV....but in real time.
Far cry maybe, but if it's too far off, there's other "shit" in the game or on the disc that could've//should've been sacrificed to get it "like this" idea.


Overall Appearance:

I think a statement Boon made during the creation of Mk3-T has falsified a bit. I think he said something like: "Nobody wants to pay for reality."

The problem with that statement now, is that everything on regular t.v. is a more reality based t.v. show. More of the movies that we go and see at the theaters are "Based on a True Story". So let's be crazy for a second and make the game more real than it's been. That's different enough from the rest of these fighting games out here all by itself.

Underlinings of this kind of thing has ties with sound and story too. Thing is, we are not swayed as much by "the voice of a god" or "the voice of the devil himself" as we were 10yrs ago(it's changed now). Much less the actual appearance of some really super powerful being, and then being able to play with him//her. Took that "mystique" away from them when we began haveing playable access to the Boss characters....I think a large part of this issue is based solely in what all we see they are capable of....
For instance, Raiden is a God and he only has a couple "special moves" to speak of. Same with Fujin. These dudes have to prove it in a video game....they gotta show why they're gods...or boss characters, or sub bosses, or leaders of they're factions, or "the #1 person", ect ect. We need to see and understand that kind of power.

Reason being, alot of these things have been exploited to a level where even little kids are desensitized to them("just special moves" are a bit below the standard now...even the linguistic title "special move" is dated. Now it needs to be "abilities", or "talent" or "Art" or something like that). In the movie "Bruce Almighty", "God" himself is played by Morgan Freeman. What's scary//intimidating//threatening//fearful about "God" in that movie? Even if it is supposed to be funny..

Sht, more people buying a game like Mk now-a-days, have a fear of being "terrorized" more than "just being killed". You gotta scare the shit outta people now just to get a rise out of them. lol. "Shootings" and "Warfare" have now become more vivid, and even better, the standard for video gaming now.

For Mk8, I would love to see more....:

1. terror // threats
2. brutality
3. disgust
4. apparent fear
5. overall emotional or physical stress

....implemented into the visual aspects of the game. Because from what I gather, the general census doesn't care enough for the current level of these things in our latest games.

It's not visually engaging enough to hold the attention of the players much past figuring out what's wrong with it and tossing it aside.

I also think that the current level of these aspects of psychology in Mk, lessens (or has lessened) our general "care" for new game characters. Simplified: We don't care enough about the new characters they put in the game.
This I feel, is because the psychology behind the visual is not considered currently when they just "make a character". Has to do with story mostly. But my point is this example:

In any war type game, when your character pulls the trigger on his//her riffle and lets off an array of shots, you don't just see the bullets come out and hit//miss the target.... Instead, you might see and hear him//her screaming in anger or frustration. You might see//feel pure aggression or gratification as the gun fires.

Now, take Jax or Stryker..... they both just get in this really subtle firing position, the gun makes some noise, and you either hit or miss your mark. Jax expresses himself with a GUN by spewing forth: "Oh Yea" in MkdA, and
Styker doesn't make a sound at all in MkA..?...?

Aren't these people fighting for their life's? Aren't these people supposed to be aggressively pursuing some "ultimate source of power" or defending some honor or higher purpose than themselves? Doesn't look or sound like it to me. It doesn't "feel" like it visually as is.

Why should I care about a new character if I can't "visualize" that I should?
More reality in the next Mk is needed imO.

--

Far as seeing the stess on a person when they perform a "special move", be practical. Use the body of the character in the animation more than just "performing the move". Sure, alot of this has been there, but they missed points consistantly.

"Chi power" comes from the belly//stomach and can be focused to a limb of the body, and then, is most commonly accompanied by a real scream or yell. Everybody should have their own voice actor, because not every character will say the same things or sound the same at all. Nor does the same character express themselves the same way while performing the same move every time..

Any form of a "mancy" should probably come from the thing they are "willing control over". Necromancy should likely look as if they pull from the ground(Like Quan Chi in the MkA intro). Same with an "earth" person. Fire people should likely pull strength from the sun. Water people = Moon Wind people = centrifugally forces...."Ninjas" = shadows...Magicians or Sorcerers? Outta fuckin' nowhere lol!! All I'm sayin' is they need to be practical about it.


Then, as far as arenas overall, they need to have more subtleties affect the match. Like stuff falling off the walls or tree branches and stumps...rocks on the ground or little foot holes you actually can step in or trip over(a stray dog runs across your fight if you're outside). We should be able to quickly use things or people(yes, or people) in the arena against our opponent. What I'm saying here is that it's a fight, you don't hold on to shit when you fight somebody.....Some people throw shit and run, some people kick things at you, some people fight systematically, and set you up to have shit hurt you while you're fighting(he trips him to burn his hands on the stove or in the fire pot)........hmp, sometimes the space you're fighting in limits how you can move and still hurt your opponent....
In addition yea, be able to explode into different parts of the arena, but why not use the door against your opponent? Ever slammed the door in somebodies face? Ever seen it? It's hilarious but it hurts like a s.o.b.

Too, "pretty arenas" doesn't mean "without the possibility of death" cuz you can die anywhere. It just makes where you fight interesting. Use color...but "terrify it // petrify it" when it's time to kill your opponent.
_________

That's enough for now.....
_________

@!*%, Pred. Top class. As for the cast ideas, why not make a Gen-1 memorial as a side project as well as make the new gen MK.

you have to go straingt back to Tanya to give her the map or go tothe northwest corner town on the left hand side behind the buildings and talk to Liu kang w/ the map and he'll give you 1000 red koins. Ihave all side quest info if you need help for I've replayed it at least 20 times on ps2, ngc, and psp (unchained) it's deception on the consoles, and i have where and when to get all the krypt keys to help you out on the consoles.

Reboot the series and kill every tie with the previous parts.

The new game should start an entirely new storyline with new interpretations of character (ok, so there might be a Scorpion and a Sub-Zero with their traditional gear and moves, but they do not necessarily need be the same characters) and plot.

New fighting mechanics, new story with a new plot, new feel. Complete and utter restart with no ties to the old.

I agree. completely. Mortal Kombat 8 should start off fresh. Have none of the current characters, and all of the retro MK style, I'm talkin' MK1-MK3.

Like I said, get rid of all characters [except Scorpion and Subzero] and see this game (MK8) Succeed.

Hmm, diverge? Well, here's what I'd like to see:

Graphics:

Since MK4, this series has ALWAYS lagged behind in the graphics department. No more plastic looking characters with hair and clothing that look like they're painted on. I like that they're using a great engine, but I remember when Zeus technology was powering MK4 and that was a powerful engine for it's time, yet when the game released...

Anyways, I would like to see a return to the MK1/Enter the Dragon style of arenas. They should make sense (ie, no more having players start out on a falling cliff that they never could have realistically gotten to in the first place. Or arenas that are completely out of place with the others like having a church and a hellish pit in the same game with a ghetto looking street and a subway). There should be a prevailing theme. Much like the island fortress theme in MK 1.


Gameplay:

It's time MK modernizes it's gameplay. Gameplay must flow. It's not a matter of Tekkenizing the gameplay. Mortal Kombat can and should still have the blood, gore, projectiles, teleporting, special moves, fatalities etc. But there are certain elements that all modern fighters have that MK has resisted up until this point.

There should be no more overly complex dial a combos. They're not fun to pull off, the timing is always a little off or unresponsive to the action on screen, and because of a lack in a true countering feature, there's no real threat for a reprisal for a failed combo attempt. Only a combo from the opponent. So you either turtle and take block damage or the whole game turns into combo...combo back... combo... combo back. Of course, there should be combos and juggles and what not, but they need to be more intuitive, more sit down and play for beginners but with a solid learning curve up to the complex moves.

This problem exists partly because there is no differentiation between characters; no options. In other words, none of the multitude of "fighting styles" in MK:DA, MK:D and MK:A actually put the character INTO that style. Play a game like Virtua Fighter or DOA and you'll see what can be done with a Drunken style for example. But MK could do this, all the while adding special moves along the way and other parts that still keep the MK vibe.

Boxers should primarily use their hands, with quick punches and combos and strong haymakers, uppercuts, strong hooks that spin the opponent around, rabbit punches, head butts, and lock ups where they're hugging their opponents, pushing them, dissorienting them, cheap shotting, dodging, bobbing and weaving etc etc. In other words, GIVE EACH CHARACTER AN IDENTITY! Yes, a character can be known for their story, a brutal fatality or a certain special move, but characters can be much more than that, and in a fighting game, I'd argue that they have to be more than those parts.

MK MUST find a way to marry the hallmarks of the series, which began in the 2D era, with the current realities and innovations of the newer 3D games if it's going to be successful. Oh yeah, and BETTER PLAYTESTING PLEASE!!


Characters and Story:

A very small handful of characters should return, but greatly altered from before. I'm talking 2 to 4 characters max. If it's 4 characters, then one of them should be hidden. The new characters need to be well thought out, and actually have depth. Shades of gray. No evil henchmen who are evil because, umm... they're evil. Have, more aspects of the best and worst of the human condition, not just greed and revenge. How about love? Trust? Despair? Give me a real reason to hate or like a character, not just because they play poorly or I liked them in the past.

The stories should also flow together and make sense. No more "what if" scenarios. You can have cliffhangers and "what happens next... Tune into find out" moments aplenty, but do it in a way that doesn't make people have to wonder what actually happened to half of the roster of characters.

Furthermore, the stories should no longer be done through pictures. I can see a game like Armageddon, with it's huge roster of characters, needing pictures, but a next gen MK game should have cut scenes. These cut scenes should be top of the line as far as graphics go, where characters display emotion and the details are striking. Most importantly, the characters should come to life through a good script and GOOD ACTORS. The actors from MK4, MK Mythologies, MK:SM, and the konquest modes should NEVER appear in an MK game again.

MK's cut scenes should have actors on par with the Metal Gear Solid series or the Legacy of Kain series. Distinct voices who do a good job at conveying the appropriate emotions.


I could keep going here, but the long and short is that the MK series needs to come into the next generation with the idea that the gameplay, characters and storytelling need to be revamped, made new and modern in a way that's uniquely MK but on par with the best elements of modern 3D fighters. So yeah, if this is a drastic departure from previous MK's then so be it. No more gimmicks, no more half baked ideas and useless, underwhelming extra modes that don't pertain to fighting. Make the core of MK much better, more modern, and grow the series from there. I don't mean to bash MK. There are parts of all of the recent games that I've liked, but I also recognize the need for MK to part with some of the bad habits of the past and head toward the future in a way that shuts up the critics and rewards those that are smart enough to make the purchase for the first time or have loved the series from the very beginning.

IMO I think that instead of diverging too much it should expand on a game like MKD instead of trying to completely overhaul the mk games we have loved. I have an idea or to explain what I mean, read my thread MK (8) ressurgence in this forum.