Some other things:

1. Harsher language and speech patterns. Doesn't necessarily have to have cursing in there, just understand that there are more than 3 ways to say one thing.

Also, personality should be reflected through what whoever says. We should be able to tell who the passive characters are, who are the aggressors. But not in a generic sort of way.

An example, we talk to people we know, differently than we talk to people we don't know. It shouldn't sound scripted ever. I feel like, if anything verbal sounds scripted anymore now days, the game will be reinforcing ignorant speech behavior(lol). Cuz people don't talk like that.

2. Show modernized personality. Show modernized versions of "Hatred and Bitterness", or "Honor and Respect". Guess this kind of reaches into character depth a bit but, it needs to be in there for Mk8. Again, not so generic and formal all the time.

For instance, in leisure, the military officers salute in passing. Same with any other organization that has a "respect of rank" system in place.

Another, there aren't many people I know who will blindly rage into a situation just because they are mad or vengeful. So a ninja like Scorpion should never be presented in such primal way.

Anywho, a better level of maturity in each characters personality would be much appreciated....I mean even though this is "just a video game", the characters are all grow up people who are killers. See that?

The way to make MK8 dark and scarry is taking a stage out of MK3. That is the graveyard stage. Now I understand it was not included in the SNES version of MK3, however it was really a dark mood when one played it in the arcades.

So for me, it is all about the music, the backgrounds, and dark characters like Sindel.

"I'm afraid that if it's not taken utterly seriously we'll see another round of fart humor (which I absolutely HATE with a raging passion) and "lol-alities" in MK8, which would disgust and alienate me as a fan. Plus, I figure if you're going to kill people, why not do it right?"

Tzar, on this point, you and I completely agree. I'm done with the humor as far as MK is concerned. It's hard enough to get into the story when you never know who's ending actually happens, but it's hard to take the game seriously when (and I generally think that the story tries to be serious, as evinced by the intros of the last few games) there's 12 year old kid humor and silly fatalities. I couldn't agree with you more on that front.

I'm not entirely convinced that the MK team can reach this point where fatalities are gruesome enough to launch MK back to being the leader of the pack in shock value, but I guess my problem is that the MK team shouldn't need the shock value to sell games. If the MK team would make a good enough fighting game with a great story, memorable characters and rock solid gameplay, the shock value doesn't really matter to me. I also think that when you consider the fatalities and the fact that gamers are so desensitized to violence now, how far can the MK team really go in this area?

I didn't mean to imply that I thought you were a gore hound or anything like that, and I actually agree with alot of your points, but as far as making the MK series dark and serious again, I'm just not sure to what extent the fatalities can actually play a role in accomplishing what the original poster was looking for (ie dark and serious). I think that's accomplished, again, by a the right story, intriguing and possibly mysterious characters, the right music and the right environments. Fatalities might play a role somewhere, but I don't know how grisly fatalities can really add to the game being darker or more serious. What do you think in that regard?

My apologies if I'm wrong, but isn't MKA-MK8. Because MKDA was 5, MKD was 6, MKSM was 7, and MKA 8? But I get your meaning. Besides MKA (except for kreate a kharacter and all kombatants) MAJORLY SUCKED BBIIGG TIME. The programmers need to remake it anyway!

My aplogies again! esa or whomever stated they were making MK8 for ps3 doesn't know the mk world like we do!

I Think first of all it need to start with the graphics. The characters need to look realistic. The last MK's were more clayish.

I don't know if this MK is going to take place at different realms of just 1 realm. But they need to create dark enviroments.

The music needs to be an addition to the backgrounds. Dark, ambient music with asian influence. This kinda music also needs to be used during the title en choose your fighter. The whole setting of MK needs to be dark.

The liters of blood needs to reduce. Only severe blows must cause serious blood loss. Like Uppercuts.

Moves like impaling your oppenent with a sword needs to go. That should be a finishing move. I remember Baraka's lift in mk 2..subtle but still good.

These are just a few things from the top of my head..BUT the main thing is..that de basics of this game needs to be dark and serious.

Its not just the gameplay though. The characters need to act like they are in a life or death situation. They need to act with real emotions. That means when a character dies, that death is forever. They wont come back.

Blood should be a little more realistic.

Not every fight stage should be dark. Edenia for instance, is supposed to be a beautiful place. But if your in the netherrealm it should give you the feeling that you wanna get the hell outta there.

The music should influence the stage and also the fight.

Evil shouldnt always be straight forward. Sometimes evil characters dont have to look evil or talk evil. Did Ted Bundy look like a killer? No. You wouldnt have known it if you were his neighbor. But he finally got caught.

Get rid of stage fatalities at the beginning of the round. Or once it happens the fight is over because the fighter died.

A way to make mortal kombat more dark and serious is taking out the fucking stupid minigames.

1.more cursing.....(or something)
2.noone gets hit in balls (hilarious)
(thats all i have sofar)

by adding a 18+ at the front cover of the game

Hmmmm add Chuck Norris being handicap now thats dark lol.

arenas and the feel of the game need to be dark and serious like manhunt but faster paced. i think the gameplay is ok in mka but its not as responsive and smooth as it should be...maybe in mk8 that will change and it would be nice if the gameplay would be a tad faster aswell. the characters should also be more unique with gameplay,for instance the smaller the character the faster the character...the larger the character the slower the character. maybe even have character stamina,like if a fat character uses too much energy he will get tired and slow down. the controls of the game should revert back to mk2 or 3...make it more basic instead of having to switch fighting styles all the time...maybe still keep the weapons but only if done right...if someone gets impaled the fight should be over. if the controls where more straight foward and basic it would lead to better competition. many of my freinds are just button mashers and think the controls are too advanced...they get annoyed fast and quit playing and thats not fun for me because i end up playing alone. so i think the controls need to appeal to not only expert gamers but novice players aswell.
i was also thinking that maybe a spirit meter for special moves should be added for more seriousness(similar to the dbz ki meter). with a meter as such the fights will consist of more fighting than special moves. special moves are great but they can be cheap or even cheasy. in dbz the special moves are more dramatic and serious that way.
character types are fine but like many have said...loose the joke characters. also,the unlockables need to be more serious. im sorry but in previos games,i hated it when i spent coins on pictures of the game makers crew. its cool that them guys want recognition for making the game but come on now...knowing there names are good enough for me.i want to unlock cool stuff for the game not see the makers. save that stuff for the credits. there should be less characters on the roster but the kreate a kharacter should remain. allthough the kreate a kharacter system should be updated and more advanced. the more serious the makers are the more serious the game will probably be. us as gamers cant really control the outcome or choices the game makers make but we can try.

Honestly, as long as they start the series 'anew', and when someone dies, they don't just come back in the next game, and it plays better than the previous 3D MK games, I couldn't care less if it was vibrant, colorful, and everyone looked like Bozo the Clown.

Add elements of the movie:

Hostel 1 & 2 - Add the "aww" factor back about killing an opponent. Reinvent what is means to be brutally violated, but still be alive before you die. For instance, have someone with blades cut the cartilage. Have someone cause the most gruesome shin splints that protrude from the leg or something.

Others later...

Add more Leeroy Jenkins, Dogmongler and POkemans.

Profit.

well like all the other games the music, and some animations were a bit wacky. the next game needs to be gridy dark and just HARD. the music should match the sceen and enen some fighters in the game. i would like to see the nether ship more dark and scary with real lookin dead guys hanging fron roaps. i want to see a place you can fight in an icey caveor palace or both with some artic element snow, dew mist, with music with chantin voices with a nice melody. fighting on top of a great palace is always sweet and if you fall you fall for about 7 seconds and just hit a lot of stuff on the way down you get back up staggering then fight again. if you get knocked off again for 7 seconds and you see what the guy whos falling sees then it switches back to the angle of him/her falling then hit the ground but not exploadind like mkd and mka. bring back brutalities and i wana see weapon fatalities