I sorta know what you mean. Here is my point of view on the games.
MK - Original at best. Was totally new to everyone and had the dark/mystical feel.
MKII- Even better than the first. Still kept that dark feel with a whole cast of awesome characters.
MK3- Errrr....what happened here? I didn't like the extremely fast gameplay at first and the whole earthrealm thing was lame. The new characters were mediocre and the stages weren't all that great IMO. Combos were cool.
UMK3- Same thing, but with some pallette swaps.
MKT- Sorta felt the same way as in MK3/UMK3
MK4- The dark/mystical feel was back and it was now MK in 3D. I thought it was a decent game.
MK:DA- Pretty damn good game, w/ the exception of one fatal per person, no stage fatalties, and some lame characters (Drahmin, Nitara, Mokap, Blaze) Was happy Test Your Might was back too.
MK:D- Awesome, but the fighting system and new cast of characters still seemed stale. Loved the returning fighters, hara kiris, 2 fatals, stage fatals, and interactive stages, but I didn't care much for Puzzle/Chess. Online is something I gotta try too.
My fav MK Still- MKII. It's just so original, the fatals were gory and cool, the stages and music were perfect and it just added to the fun that MK was originally. I still think the series has great potential.

I never liked the funny stuff in MK to me it just doesn't go with the theme of the game. I never used them anyway because they don't interest me.
Dark / Evil / Gorry is the theme of MK that I like and since that's what they are going with I'm happy.
The only thing I don't like is the fight engine. Fix that and I'm set.

I agree i think the way Mortal Kombat is now i mean how dark and the gore is much better than the funny stuff i mean friendships don't really have a place in MORTAL KOMBAT i mean the story was made so the characters fight to the death.

Yeah don't get me wrong MK needs gore,guts spraying and all that good stuff you couldnt have an MK without it but I missed having a variety of finishers just to break things up and do something ..well different I guess,it could be something else not friendships or babalities per se.Maybe after so many years of playing I have become desensitized to seeing the fatals.I was hoping for something really out there,perhaps in horrific bad taste that would make me blink and say "damn I can't believe they put that in the game!".Probably not good for sales I guess to take things too far but I can dream (or work harder at coding my own idea's).Ya know take it back to when mothers had strokes just at the mere mention of the game (current rank held by GTA I suppose)I think I remember one of the devs saying something about a possible humiliation move for the next game maybe thats just what I need to get crazed an foaming over the game like I did back in my MK2 days

Puzzle and chess kombat need to go. The combo system could use some work. The fatalitys are redundant. If I see a decapatation in mk7 I will die.
They need to have more over the top fatalitys. Like some one rips the other persons intesance then stagles them with there guts.

I like the turn used for MK:DA and MK:D. Humor belongs where it is in MKD, chess, puzzle fighting, and of course Konquest. The actual fights, however, should stay the way they are now. Fighting engine aside, the music, environments, and characters allare getting darker as they progress. Also the character facial designs are amazing in terms of aggression. They all actually look like they are out to kill their opponents which increases the feel of fighting for your life through the tournament.