Your ideas for Raiden are admirable. They actually want me to see Raiden return. I think that is the only way they can bring him back without doing exactly the same thing as they've been doing with him. Give him a completely different look (more vulnerable), and let him learn the error of his condescending ways through his newfound mortality.

I'd go as far as to have Raiden's new character haunted by the ghost of Shujinko. Not literally, just in his mind. Maybe even have Raiden realise that mortality is more desirable than immortality, and have him his bargain with the Elder Gods changed, so that if he re-earns their favour, Shujinko is returned to life, or something.

=====New Characters=====

===Main Protagonist===

I think Earthrealm needs a new Champion (in the sense that Liu Kang was, and not a Scorpion "I think I'm a Champion" Champion). A new main protagonist to lead them forward. He shouldn't be too much like Liu Kang or Kung Lao, but a Shaolin monk does seem the way to go. I'm sure something more captivating than Kung Lao or Liu Kang could be created.

===Female Sorceress===

Like the idea of a main female antagonist. I stand by my "Selphina," character concept. A young, ambitious female sorcerer with a costume design which does not make her appear conservative or feminist, but does not make her too much of a sexual entity. Something revealing, but not too revealing. I'd like her to carry a staff, and for her to feared for her powers. A greater sorcerer at her young age than Shang Tsung and Quan Chi, if you will. She should be serving a higher power, but you got that impression in the early game that Shang Tsung was completely whipped by the Emperor of Outword. Selphina can have room for her own agenda right from the start.

===Death Incarnate===

I like the idea of an entity who must keep killing. I got the inspiration from a shark, as they have to keep moving or else they die. They are essentially killing machines. This character, who I will call "Deatre," should be cursed by someone (and I do think someone is the way to go; not something), and must kill in order to continue to exist. Of course, Deatre wants to turn his scythe on whoever cursed him.

===Lucifer's Son===

It's been done to death in horror films, but Mortal Kombat has not really touched on the issue yet. We know Lucifer exists in the Mortal Kombat universe. Is it so hard to borrow from popular culture, and introduce the MK version of the Devil's Son? I don't know if he should be evil right away, or good and not understand his nature. One would obviously be a "Devil, Jr." character, whereas the other would be more an "Antichrist," earning the trust of other characters, and then finding it his destiny to betray them for horrific greatness.

I think a suave look would be best for him. Mavado's concept character was excellent for something like this, but they obviously can't use that. Apparently, according to some religions, the Antichrist will have red hair. Maybe that could be taken into consideration when creating the character? I'm not exactly how he should look, but he should definitely be charismatic, regardless of whether or not he is evil from the get-go.

===Belokk===

Remember him? I think it's time to dip into the bin of yet to be created characters, and produce some. Belokk was a good concept, I think. If you go ahead with the Lucifer's son character, then Belokk could have been Lucy's "right hand beast" so to speak. Belokk can either be serving Lucifer, Jr. or hunting him down (appearing to be hostile towards him, before we know his origins), and making sure Lucifer, Jr. takes the throne of the Netherrealm, and completes his destiny.

===Netherrealm Ruler===

If you're going to have someone overthrow the Netherrealm, you need someone in charge there. I think this character could be a little more cliched than the rest. An opportunist who took advantage of Armageddon, overwhelmed every being of power trapped down there, and imprisoned them. He then needs a reason to fight in Mortal Kombat.

===Male Vampire===

We're learning more and more about Nitara's realm, and I think this is a good thing. Instead of letting the concept fade away, though, I like the idea of a male vampire traversing the realms looking for his sister, who went missing during the chaos of Armageddon. He can be a more inventive fighter than Nitara, and give the vampire race some respectability. Whether or not his sister is alive, and whether or not he finds her are the questions which drive his character forward.

Through this character, you can explore the vampire realm, and learn a lot about their history, etc.

===Great Warrior===

I like the idea of a great warrior from another realm heading over to our's in pursuit of this new threat, to prevent it from happening. Hopefully he would not steal thunder from the main protagonist, but I think he would provide a nice balance, and a little ambiguity as to who will exactly vanquish evil this time around. I like the idea of this warrior using a sword, and having a "big" personality, if you will. Kind of a gloater, and not afraid to strut his stuff, but ultimately, he knows what is at stake and has the skill needed to take evil and give it the hardest fight it will ever know.

In my early concepts of the character, I went with the name "Mercurus," which I have actually seen used for another fan-made character of these forums, so I'm hoping that it's an attractive name to people.

===Great Warrior Parallel===

Parallels work great in Mortal Kombat, I think. Mercurus would do well with a "flip side" character. On one hand, you have Mercurus, who might be a bit of an egomaniac, but he is not afraid to fight evil until the very bitter end. The fear of death is non-existent to him. This other character, who I nicknamed "Vor" (A play off "War," in a way), is an amazingly capable warrior, who knows Mercurus, and together they could be a tremendous heroic force, but Vor believes in the ideology that if you fight when you cannot win, innocent lives will be lost for no good reason.

This big evil presence which would be the "Emperor" of this arc of games once threatened this general's world, but to the surprise of everyone, the general laid down his sword and pledged allegiance to this presence, and an occupation took place with little bloodbath, but their world is now suffering. Mercurus disagrees with what Vor did, claiming there was no honour in it, and looks to bring the "traitor" to justice. Vor is disgusted that humanity would fight against his new master's will, when it is obvious they are going to die if they resist.

===Sorceress' Lover===

I think this is a good concept to have. It was well received in the early draft of my next generation MK concept. Basically, you have a hot sorceress threatening the realms, and you have this guy who is wrapped around her finger. They share a past, and you don't quite know just how she feels about him, or if he will succeed in his quest to get her to stop the madness she is creating.

It doesn't really matter where you go with it. You can have her manipulating him from the start, just manipulating him now, or you can have this character decide that no matter how much he loves her, she is destroying lives and must be stopped. He is trying to reason with the antagonist threat more than others. He's a brilliant fighter, as every MK character should be, but he is in particular more "brilliant" than others. He might not be the fastest of even the strongest, but I think some kind of fighting prodigy thing would work well for him, and give him reason to survive in the hectic realm of Mortal Kombat when he's not trying to kill everything in sight.

He's young, a little naive, but has a good heart, and a good mind. Give him an interest in poetry, and a sad little orphan story, or something. In my early concepts, I went with the name "Famen" for him. Played off the word "famine." To make him more sympathetic, you can make him a different race than the sorceress, maybe a mutation of some sort? That's not a necessity, though.

===Psychopath===

I was originally against this idea, because everyone in MK should have their screws loose, at least a little, but I think a sadistic fighter that cannot feel pain, loves inflicting it on others because they can, and thinks of women as sexual conquests he can then slice open, would be in a sick way, brilliant. It'd get MK a lot of negative press, because you've graduated from very cartoony evil to a very realistic one, but I'd give him a very unrealistic appearance. Almost insect-like, fully cloaked, wearing a mask, with retractable knives built into his armour (this generation's answer to Baraka in terms of weapon style, if you will).

His character could have a thing for Selphina, but he has a respectable amount of fear of her. He is on death row in his realm, but is released when the new evil force takes over, and he is released under the promise that he serves this new evil threat. He is apathetic towards everything but his life. For some reason, this guy really wants to keep breathing. Maybe give him slightly spiritual side, where he fears that in death, he will discover his worst fear, and he will discover pain for the first time, and it will be unbearable. He knows hell is waiting for him, and he does not want to experience it.

In my original concept, I had a character called "Pestus," and I think that would be a good name here. This guy is a complete psychopath. He likes hurting others, he is insane, and he cannot be trusted unless he fears you, and this guy would not fear the removal of his heart, because he does not have one.

As far as gameplay goes, I like the idea of some kind of "Ironic Fatality." It's something that could replace the Hara-Kiri concept. When the "Finish Him/Her" screen pops up, the player finishing the move enters a code, and a Fatality will be performed that is specific to the character taking it.

For example, performing an "Ironic Fatality" on Scorpion could lead to a sequence where he never gets to see his family again. That'd be quite the cinematic example, but I guess they could do it. Kenshi could be stabbed with his own sword, or something of the like.

And come on, how funny and classic Mortal Kombat-y would it be to hear the announcer saying "Now that's ironic!" or "How ironic?" after a character dies in a way specific to them? You can even shake it up with a simple "Oh, dang it." from the pure evil presence every now and then. Why not make the announcements character specific, too. Scorpion is killed, ascends to heaven, you hear a deep voice say "Hey, Scorpion, your family's in hell!" and Angel Scorpion can hang his head in shame.

It's an idea in progress, but I think something like that would be far more exciting than a Hara-Kiri.

To ThePredator151:

Sub-Zero/Frost

Although I like Frost, I personally feel that it's kind of late for her. I'm not that interested in seeing her come back, and given the way her story has developed, it seems that she would continue down the path of evil.

Raiden

Your ideas are unique, but I personally like Dark Raiden and want to see him continue. To me, it'd be a waste of not having it explored further.

Scorpion

I pretty much agree here except for the idea to have him back as Hanzo Hasashi. If Scorpion returns, which he will, he needs to be fixed in many different ways, but I'm not going to get into that.

New characters

1. I'd say maybe to this character concept. If we were to have a Shaolin warrior monk with rock/earth type powers, he could use fighting styles like Stone Monkey and possibly Luohan Quan (Arhat Fist).

2. That sounds pretty good. As I said in your other thread, I came up with a nut case character for the MK: Resurrection fanfic that Paragon, DNOMYTE and I have been working on. He's called Mercurus, and he's mainly based off of me.

3. I like the idea of a female boss myself. I think it'd be a nice change of things and could turn out to be interesting. I'm not sure what you mean by "Nitara's creator". Having a humanoid vampiress as a boss might be cool, but I'm not sure if that's what I'd go for. There was an idea I had of a female boss, but I might change her to a sub-boss or something instead for certain reasons.

To You-Know-Who:

Main Protagonist

I'd personally not go for this sort of thing. With the main protagonist, if it's going to be a new character, the smart thing to do would be to build that character up into that role. If they were to pull a Taven or Shujinko by establishing the character as the main protagonist in his/her debut, it would be a mistake, namely because it would feel forced. If we're going to have a current character become the main protagonist, it could be someone like Kung Lao or Sub-Zero. Kung Lao could be developed into that role, sort of like with MKDA but going further. With Sub-Zero, it's a matter of developing his story to the main plot and being essential to it.

Female Sorceress

I'm very much for having a female sorceress. Like how you have Selphina in your story, we have Xiu Lan in ours. I think it'd be a neat character concept to have, and she could easily be made different from the likes of Shang Tsung and Quan Chi.

Death Incarnate

You have an interesting idea, and it sounds similar to Shang Tsung's backstory in which he was cursed by the gods to take the souls of others in order to stay young. I don't care for the name of "Deatre", and giving him a scythe would be a bit of a mistake due to the scythe not being for combat. You could go with something similar to a scythe.

Lucifer's Son

It's an interesting idea, but I'm not sure if I'd go for it. But who knows? Maybe it could work well.

Belokk

I think he was a cool concept, but I'm not sure if I'd like to see him be made into a character.

Netherrealm Ruler

I don't think we need a new character for this. Given how Shinnok is still alive and ruling the Netherrealm, you'd need some to challenge him.

Male Vampire

A male vampire would be cool to have, and we have one in the MK: Resurrection story, who is called Vetalas.

Great Warrior

It could be a cool concept. Btw, did you get my PM?

Great Warrior Parallel

If worked well, it could turn out nicely.

Sorceress' Lover

While I'm not particularly for the idea, the concept of Famen is interesting. I do hope you continue your story.

Psychopath

I think this kind of character is pretty much a must have. I do kind of like your character concept of Pestus.

Ironic Fatality

It sounds like a strange idea, and I'm not sure if I'd like it. Although the Hara-Kiri concept was kind of interesting, I'd rather not see it return either.

-------------------------------------------------------

When it comes to the story and characters, I'm pretty much in the middle regarding the fates. What I mean is, a bit more than half of the roster should die and/or retire. For example, I'd like to see characters like Baraka and Chameleon die while characters like Johnny Cage retire. For the other 25-30 characters, I'd like to have them live and have some of them return here and there. To me, MK8 should have about 15-17 returning characters with 8-10 new characters along with a new boss.

Basically, as I said in YingYeung's thread, here are the characters that I'd like to see be the 15-17 in MK8:

Sub-Zero
Sareena
Ermac
Li Mei
Raiden
Fujin
Havik
Hotaru
Nitara
Ashrah
Mileena
Kitana
Kung Lao
Drahmin
Kira
Sonya
Taven
Rain
Dairou

I could probably see ones like Dairou, Rain, Kung Lao, and Kitana being saved for MK9 and maybe have characters like Kenshi, Jade, Sindel, Sektor, and Nightwolf return later. With someone like Scorpion returning, I'd probably have Noob Saibot return as well, but I don't wouldn't want too many male ninja-type characters.

For the new characters, I'd like to see a female sorceress, a female Chaosrealm character, a female boss, a male vampire, a complex nut case, a voodoo type guy, and possibly a new female hero from Earthrealm.

The storyline needs to be streamlined, hence the roster that I'm suggesting. I'd like to see a lot of new character concepts, and the ambiance should get darker throughout each installment.

I like the idea of the 2 main original ninjas returning scorpion and subzero.

new stuff i would like to see are using powers on the enviornments, better blood effects, new characters etc. here are some characters i thought of.

characters
fang- a young male chinese teenager confused about why he likes to cause pain and misfortune apon pleasing his ego. looks similar to a young jet lei withe a dark attitude.

Bam- a 26 year old convict who is insane because of witnessing his parents tragicaly murdered and has lost all connections to reality, which he vievs in a different perspective. similar to torque in the suffering

bones- a ruler in hell, master of all spirts and in the dark arts of necromancy. he feels that the gods underestimate his true power.

toxic - a female fighter that accidently fell into a pool of chemicals, altering
here stucture into a mist that is poisonous to human life. sad about not being able to to see her boyfriend she goes on a rampage looking for decent fighters to fight.

slime- a creature that has been in a dorment for centurys. does not know where it is and is very hostile if comes into contact with humans. streches its body to fit howerever it chooses.

spike- a female teenager that is capaable to spliner out shards of bone as a projectile at her nemisis because she was born with an extra gene not able to be found under a microscope. she sneeks out at night to win money for fights to pay to remove her disorder.

stuff that you are able to do in an enviorment
deadpool- swing from the hooks to deliver a devestating kick.
sky temple- freeze the rain to cause minor damage, by sub zero only.
explode walls, floors, ceilings and etc.

tell me what you think.

STORY

All I want for the story is for it to be something new and unpredictable.

I do not want another tournament or evil sorceror.

Granted, the boss will seek control of the realms and that's fine... as long as it's done in a new interesting way and with style.

CHARACTERS

I don't have any faith in Midway regarding the new characters. They seldom make great, outstanding characters anymore and I doubt MK8 will break the trend.

Some new characters have received awesome bios, like Ashrah and Nitara, but it has yet to turn them into praised star characters.

So, although I do want interesting bios, I am more concerned over the characters having those magnetic, flashy, memorable qualities that made lots of the classics so addictive.

Rain would be an interesting character to return.His establishment as "Protector" of Edenia has yet to be confirmed as canon,but I think it would make an alluring aspect to the story-line. He would make a great addition to the roster in terms of my opinion.

Meaning if Kitana were to be involved in MK8,she'd have some tie with Rain?If his ending were to be canon,she would have been enslaved along with the entire realm of Edenia,having a simple reason to revolt;to earn back her mother's kingdom.

He would be very similar to Kahn,but could also be a replacement.I wouldn't mind,but it really seems to fall upon Midway's shoulders.

Any thoughts?

Overall, I want to see a new threat emerge.It's too soon for Raiden to be the next boss. If that's the direction they take him, he should be properly built up for it. I'd like to see the story return to being a tournament, at least for a game or two. I think it would be good to start the "new generation" off with a smaller scaled story centered around a tournament again. Star quiet, then build from there...similar to how they did with Deadly Alliance.

Earth should be decimated. I want to see a post-apocalyptic hell hole in the next game. Earth's had it way too easy, IMO, and I want to see the realm get fucked. Then we can have the scattered survivors trying to pick up the pieces and try to rebuild society.

I would like to see Sub-Zero get promoted to more "main event" level stories. Depending on who the next big bad is and how he or she is built up, I would like to see Sub-Zero finally step up. If Sub-Zero is to have a secondary feud or rivalry, I would prefer it be with Sektor rather than Noob Saibot. Speaking of which, Noob Saibot should not...SHOULD NOT...become Sub-Zero again or even fusion of them. Horrible idea.

If Noob should return, I would like to see he be Sareena's primary antagonist. Sareena should definitely return and I can see big things for her if they do her right. I can see her bring developed into kind of an "unlikely heroine" in the next gen. She's just trying to do her thing, probably trying to control her Demonic instincts or rid herself of them altogether, and she just gets caught up in these situations. She could feud with Noob Saibot. There's rivalries with Ashrah, Drahmin, and various other characters.
Sareena can very easily be a star.

Scorpion....leave his family & clan dead and give him his brain back.

I'd like to see Outworld in disarray. No more Emperor and constantly at war with itself. I'd like to see Ermac and/or Li Mei emerge as Outworld's defenders here. I can see good things for them in the future.

My thoughts on Edenia can be found here.

Off Liu Kang and let's see some new heroes. As said, I'd like Sub-Zero and/or Kung Lao step up. If they want to go with a new character, they shouldn't rush it. Build him or her up for it properly.


That's about all I can think of for now.

I Agree with most of what you started with. Scorpion & Sub-zero's rival needs to end so that Scorpion can have some back up to rescue his son. (which did get kid-napped). After all these years, he gets his wife and son back and then BLAM!! His son gets kid-napped.. As for returning Kharacters. some of them have already been confirmed that who is going to be in MK8. Radien needs to return so that he can be at peace from Lui Kang's Death and Return. Noone in MK really dies and never returns. As for New Kahracters. I like to see some new ones as long as they don't suck or have really hard or stupid moves or combos. Kombos should be more of an easy way to chain them rather then hitting buttons then l1 then more buttons. Or they should have the same basic combos and then some advanced ones. So that all of us could have a fighting chance on the online portion of MK8. Like come on. I've fought online thru MKA and i tell you there are some really good fighters and some that like to use the same damn move over and over again. That is called "CHEESING" everyone. MY 2 Nieces have become the the top 3 fighters that I have seen online. Yeah they made some mistakes on MKA, but look at what they had to work with and how fast they released it. Out job is to give the best feedback we can so that they can see what we think of the game and give them ideas on what we would like to see different and what doesn't look right. They have alot of stuff on their shoulders and work really hard at what they do. If they didn't, we wouldn't be talking about an 8th game (not including Ult MK3, MK Trilogy, MK4 Gold, etc...) Something just came to me that for the online portion of the game. You should only be allowed into certain parts of the online. Like when you get so many wins, you reach a level of it and can only fight in those areas. That way those that are just begginers can have a fighting chance on fighting against other beginners and not the advanced fighters. that would something kool and fair. Of course that is my opinion and what I'd like to see. Thanks for your guys & gals time. MK Online Rocks!!!

The best idea for a story, I think, is for there to be some kind of tournament. It's how Mortal Kombat got started, and I think that's the best way to continue it. Why the tournament is being held is the question mark, and I think from the host's perspective, it should be to weaken the realms by pitting the best fighters from each one against each other.

The reasons every character fights should be their own. A single prize kind of narrows that down, and everyone kind of looks the same going in. The prize should maybe benefit a few of the characters, but most of them should be entering for reasons other than the prize.

I'd make the prize eternal life. Seeing as I am going with a female sorceress as my main boss for the game, I think I'd go with the prize being one wish granted by her. This game would be the prelude to the next game, in which this evil threat is able to enter the realms, and with the top fighters already weakened, is able to make a much more successful grab for power. After this evil threat has been vanquished, I'd make the new villain a destined ruler of the Netherrealm. My Lucifer's Son character concept, if you will. He is established in earlier games, and here he takes over as the new ruler of the Netherrealm, and he somehow manages to fill the realms with the dead, and basically cause mass havoc. He is defeated, and from there, I think you then move onto the third series arc of Mortal Kombat.

Then what do you think of an offensive Earth?

See, if I can use this threads posters for reference, I'd start out by taking XD84's post apocalyptic Earth, all war ridden and torn apart. Then, take my question there, and make Earth go get the threat. Then, with some sort of plot snag in the motivations of Earth, go to your idea, and tie a tournament in there.

It's like Morta Kombats' subconscious answer to "the war on terror" happening in real life, via USA//G. Bush.

Then comes SZ_7s' ideal roster, because once you establish the above^, the roster would have to be nice and diverse in order to work. Also, making everyone on the roster more obviously talented for individual reasons would be a plus I think. That way you get "specialist" and characters that compliment each other, rather than 1 "The One" character the whole time, and you establish that "they all need one another" to complete the small objectives and major goals.

Imagine losing one crucial person on the "team"(loosing the starting quarterback early in the Superbowl, makes you look at the whole team differently doesn't it?)? I think that could be important in a "start over" story too, because it makes us guess the whole time "who will save the day" up until the last minute. AND, it allows us to have new leaders in a successive story line.

Add in mis-matches per each protagonist // antagonist on the roster, twists(people who switch sides for selfish gain), and different puzzles or obstacles(rules and regulations), and it'd be tough to tell who's the champ of an Offensive Earth Mortal Kombat Contest.

Here's what I'd like to see....

*Two fatalities per character
*One fighting style per character
*Weapon used for a special move only
*2 costumes; primary and alt
*Rivalries; continue Ashrah and Nitara's. New ones; Kira/Sonya, Raiden/Kahn, Sub/Noob etc.

Don't want to see...

Kano as a dragon...that would be FUBAR!

I don't mind the idea of an offensive tournament, actually. It would not be my preferred plot, though.

I would like to see the "Botan Jungle" as a new arena, as for it being a stage fatality as well. There could be a fierce predator awaiting some lunch! Knock your foe into the backround, and then watch him/her get torn apart or eaten. Once the stage fatality button combonation is entered, the foe will face the screen. Your character then either delivers a powerful fist to the face or a roundhose kick which sends the foe flying backwards.

The "Living Forest" should return with a stage fatality as well.