I have to say MK: DA is overall a better product over Deception to me.
Faster fighting ( no slow recovery attacks)
More creative backgrounds
Better Konquest
More on hand to hand kombat and not too much focus on special moves
Slightly better endings
More well rounded story
Deception out does MK: DA only by graphics and music and maybe fatalites, but what it that if you dont enjoy the slow gameplay like myself?The mini games are fun in all, but I rarely play them. I mostly go for the fighting when ever I do play Deception.

MK:D No question, better range of characters, returning and new. The only thing missing in Deception is Kitana but overall, Deception has everything Deadly Alliance had and more... plus Tanya!

Mortal Kombat: Deception is to Deadly Alliance what Mortal Kombat II was to Mortal Kombat I...a hell of an improvement and one of the highest points in the series hands down.

Mortal Kombat Deception completely stomps MK DA in the Ground

Deception is far better than Deadly Alliance.
It features more modes, more characters, a deeper storyline, online options, the inclusion of deathtraps and interactive enviroments, aswell as more fatalities.
The only bad things about it is the absence of freindships and kano.

No question, deception of course! ^^
Better graphics, more returning characters, Konquest mode (I mean come on; the MKDA konquest mode was kind of... boring I dare say), the mini games (of I jsut love chess kombat), and more fatalities, more special moves, hara kiri's and deathtraps.
MKD has all that MKDA doesn't; and MKDA was even a good game; bu MKD's jsut better! ;)
The only thing that would make MKD perfect would be: less glitches, slightly better graphics (in konquest), faster gameplay and Special buttons like in MKDA. Oh yeah, and FMV ending sequences would make it ultimate! ^^

Deception, all hands down.
great to me cuz it had brought back older characters, but other than that everything in deception was an improvement to mkda.

Both of them are equal!
MK Deadly Alliance pro and contra:
-faster gameplay, better designs on characters, seems that the martial
arts are more realistic than in MKD, the best character roster ever! Story!!!
-contra: impale move, the invisible walls around the arena edges...
Senctence: 8-9/10 in the genre
MK Deception:
-better fatalities, stage kills, multi tiered arenas, Shujinko! ,konquest, and the above mentioned stuff for MK-DA
-contra: slower fighting, unrealistic moves-Judo for instance, weaker cha-racter roster-unoriginal characters like Tanya and Jade are returning! the story is somewhat messed up, konquest has some idiotic points,
Senctence: 7-8/10 but more likely 7/10 in the genre

MKD owns MKDA no doubt about it, character roster is better in every way, the obly character I higly dislike is darrius, because of his specials, his stupid alt, and the glasses, put a scar on his face, put a pirate outfit as his alt, redo his specials, lose the leopard style ( it's more suitable for a girl) and I promise I'll love him then, the rest just rock imo, mkda's roster was kinda boring imo, just scorpion, sub zero, kung lao, kenshi and frost were cool imo
the arenas are just beautiful
the only music I hate his the yin yang island one (the light side)
puzzle and chess 0.o own in every possible way the feeble test your sight/might
imo konquest is kinda like even in both cause mkda's was very good in describing the events, but mkd's is more interactive, in future mk's they could a little interactive story mode for every character in the game
character designs - gotta love what they did to nightwolf, sub zero, sindel, jade, tanya, ermac, kabal, noob saibot, smoke, I mean they really brought back all the loved ones from mk2/3/4...kudos to them
story - mkda's is more complete, I mean there aren't plot holes, mkd on the other hand is more violent, deceptive, dark, but they fail in some aspects...nonetheless I like it
so imo mkda get 9.5 and mkd get's 9.9 lol

*Deception watches deadly alliance then stomps in into the ground.*

Alright i guess the answer is simple so heres a harder question. Would you say MK:D is a true sequal to MK:DA, or is MK:D just MK:DA 1.5?

Its not a sequel its part of a fighting game series. The sequel was MK2 way back in 1992 or whenever it came out. They are all similar you cant really make a fighting game totally different. All the MK games have their similarities but yes it is a 'sequel', not just MK:DA 1.5. If it was, then ALL the MK games are Mortal Kombat 1.5 because basically they are the same game.

Since they tie into each other, why don't take them both as one?
The character roster in MKD is weaker than in MKDA in every way tough.

Infact we'll compare the games.

Gameplay
MKDA: I really didn't enjoy it at all. Too bland. Too slow. It just didn't do it for me.
MKD: Loved it, it just seemed more fun to me. People say its slower but I seemed to enjoy it more.
MKD Wins on Gameplay.
Roster:
MKDA: Yeh it had some of my favourite characters, like Sonya and Kano. But besides that i feel none of the characters were interesting to me. Except Nitara.
MKD: Perfect roster, a few changes yea, but almost everyone, even the new characters were great. The return of Mileena, Sindel, Jade, Tanya was excellant. Shame about Kitana. Kira made up for no Kano or Sonya. And Ashrah is MKDA's Nitara to me.
MKD wins on Roster
Areana's:
MKDA: Good idea's, but the plainess of them bores me. And when you get hit to the sides is crappy.
MKD: No contest really. Death Trap's, Multi Tiered, Stage Weapons. Perfect.
MKD Wins on Areana's
Story:
MKDA: Love the Deadly Alliance, and I was shocked at Liu Kang at the start. Great story.
MKD: Darrius, Hotaru and Dairou's story suck. I hate the Dragon King. And only one ending truly shocked me.
MKDA wins on Story.
Konquest:
MKDA: It was OK, but it bored me quick.
MKD: I really enjoyed playing through this alone. But the training is boring. And as that is what MKDA's one is all about...
MKD wins on Konqust
Mini-Games:
MKDA: Nice to see the return of Test your Might. Test your Sight was alright.
MKD: I love puzzle, great Multiplayer. Chess is fun too
MKD Wins on Mini Games.
MKDA: 1/6
MKD: 5/6
MKD wins for me.

I would have to say Deception, only because Deception IS Deadly Alliance with added fatalitys and mini games.

(I'd also say because of Konquest and the character roster, but other than that, agreed.)
I guess all of us came to the conclusion, that MKD is a great game, but what's missing for pretty much all of us, are better stories.
But I have to say, that I love the DK! ;P
Just don't like all the endings where he dies; too many of them and too little of those where he wins...

By I hate the Dragon King I mean the Fact hes using

Overall, I prefer MK: Deception. I do feel that MK: DA has things about it that are better than MK: D and vice-versa.
I like how the Konquest mode in MK: DA had more backstory stuff for each of the characters. MK: DA had the random select feature. It had the backdash thing with some of the moves and combos, especially Pi Gua. MK: DA had some character specific funny bits that MK: D didn't have such as Chrome Bling, Lizarderm lotion, Damnation Charcoal, etc.
On the other hand, I found MK: D's graphics, music, voices, intro cinematic and other things better than in MK: DA. The characters did more damage. I like the overall kontent more. There were no empty koffins in the Krypt. I liked quite a few aspects of MK: D's Konquest mode such as punching people, meditating, and roaming through 6 realms.

I personally dont see that many differences in gameplay between MK:DA and MK:D. Ok theres the death traps and combo breakers, but i dont use them.
I love the mini games in both MK:DA and MK:D
For me it has to come down to the character roster. In MK:DA, witht eh exception of Scorpion, Kenshi and Mavado whom I only used for their endings, I used every character. Ok Kitana and Kung Lao were who I used most, but I used everyone else. In MK:D however, I never go near Darrius, Scorpion, Noob-Smoke, Ermac, Rayden, Kenshi, Baraka, Liu Kang, Hotaru, Kobra or Kira. I know those characters all have their own fan bases but I dont like them, and for me, like everyone, addition of your favourties would have been better. But for me having so many characters that I dont use maes the game a bit a boring someitmes.
I also think the sotry isnt as strong in MK:D than MK:DA. The endings are generally crap unlike Da when most of the endigns were fairly decent.
So for me its MK:DA that wins.

MK:D also has the random select feature; Player One presses Up + Start on Scorpion and Player Two presses Up + Start on Sub-Zero.
Anyway, MK:D is better than MK:DA even if it is "MK:DA 1.5", I liked the Character Roster better because old favourites such as Baraka and Kabal were brought back and Konquest mode was better than in MK:DA although the training was boring. Training should really be a separate option that is selected in the Practice mode.

I tried that, but it didn't seem to work for me. I suppose I didn't do it correctly which is strange...I'll try it again the next time I get a chance to play the game.
I agree with you about the training thing. That should be in the practice mode. It could kind of be like it is in Killer Instinct Gold.