Yes! MkDa had the best arenas! Mk deception had the best stage fatalities since mk2 and umk3, now that i realize it, it was the first game that had them since then lol.

I agree, I'd like to see more variety this time. The arenas in MKX were really drab. I enjoyed the Pit of course, the Dock and the winter forest, but otherwise most of the arenas were a bore. While I don't particularly care for MKDA I do agree that the arenas in that game were pretty good.

I won’t go off on how underrated I think MKDA was, but I will say that I think MKDA has one of the best collections of stages in any MK game as far as I’m concerned. Wu Shi Academy, Lung Hai Temple, House of Pekara (one of my all time favorites), Palace Grounds, and the Nethership are probably my favorites from this game, and I’d put that top five up against almost any of the top five stages from other MK games.

I think what I like about that game’s stages so much is that they weren’t trying to go for super dark torture chambers, there were no city backgrounds, and everything felt more mystical and inspired by eastern architecture. Eventhe stuff that wasn’t an overly realistic version of it. Some backgrounds had almost a haunting aura, some felt rather lived in and active, while others felt like ancient husks that had a near sense of foreboding.

I knew the pendulum would swing back the other way toward dark and sinister in MKD and that’s fine. I just wish they could find a bit more nuance in that darkness and make it a bit more on the eerie side than on the gross out side, but that’s just me.

As for MKX, there were some good stages. I wouldn’t call any of them bad, really. They all had a lot of detail. I can’t really explain why, but it just doesn’t feel like any of them stand out that much. The Sky Temple is probably my favorite, but overall, the stages feel like they’re there more out of story necessity than out of a need to show some really interesting places.

Don’t get me wrong, most MK games have this level of necessity to some degree. Especially MK1. But MKX’s stages still felt a bit beholden to the story and I don’t know if that’s the reason why none really jump out at me, but many feel kinda bland.

Maybe I’m onan island here, but the Refugee Kamp, the Outworld Marketplace, the Jinsei Chamber, the Destroyed City and the Dead Woods all just kinda feel like places to me and there’s really not much presence to them.

The Kamp feels more functional than anything with real style to it. The Dead Woods are kinda just... Ya know... Woods. Dead trees. That’s pretty much it. I won’t go through them all but to me, most stages suffer similar issues, even if it’s for slightly different reasons.

I’d love more stages in the next game that could have a more eerie, haunting tone, with a great mix of dark beauty and eastern influences. Preferably a few more fighting arenas and a few less places that are places people can fight, if that makes any sense.

I think MK9 struck a really good balance overall. Granted, several stages were based off of trilogy, but the way they modernized them were fantastic. My favorites include Shang Tsung’s Throne Room, the Bell Tower, the Courtyard at night, the Graveyard, the Pit, the Wastelands, and especially both versions of Shang Tsung’s Gardens.

One thing I’d love to see in MKXI, in addition to what I’ve been describing throughout would definitely have to be more stages! Why does MK9 have so many and MKX so few? Regardless, I do hope they can find some unique ideas that blend the better aspects of what the series is known for and can find ways of making them rather compelling.

Totally agree with you,
MKDA had a lot of mystical aura....

Such an awesome game

Kreate an Arena would be something different.

Deadly Alliance is still the best MK in terms of aesthetics. I hope they revisit a couple of those stages like they did with the Sky Temple in MKX.

Lin Kuei Temple in MKX actually gave me a bit of a MKDA vibe.

After being overwhelmed by the awesomeness of the MK9 arenas, I was greatly disappointed with those in MKX. Aside from the Lin Kuei Temple, the Pit II, the Kove, and the Dead Woods, the arenas were very lackluster and just seemed cluttered with repetitive background filler. The Training Arena and Jinsei Chamber stand out as two of what seems to be too many eyesores in a game that featured too few arenas. Maybe that was my biggest complaint. Seeing as how MK9 had far more arenas than MKX, the number of bad arenas to good arenas just seemed much less excessive. Another thing is that MKX seemed to focus on two-tone backgrounds, either grays and blues or reds (for example, Jinsei Chamber and its "Infected" alternate), or brown and more brown (Outworld Marketplace, Emperor's Courtyard).

Anyway, I do agree that MK11 would benefit from a better focus on more visually appealing backgrounds. Though, after seeing the arena used in the Raiden vs. Scorpion screenshots, there's at least one indication that we'll see more of what MKX had to offer in that regard. Despite all that, it's not like ugly backgrounds will adversely affect my overall gameplay experience. I loved MKX much more than MK9 because of the diversity of the characters and the addition of the all-too-awesome Brutalities. As long as NRS doesn't steer too far from what MKX was and too close to what Injustice 2 is, I'm sure I'll fall in love with this installment just as quickly as I did with the previous two.

As appealing as the potential of such a feature can be, Kreate-an-Arena would be a waste of space on the game disc and better suited to modders whose potential, disappointingly, seems to peak at (mostly) ugly recolors and glitchy roster manipulations (variation-swapping, the inclusion of NPCs like Baraka). I really wish the MK and Resident Evil modding scenes were comprised of as much talent as, say, the Skyrim or name-an-FPS modding community.

It isn't only a matter of talent. Games like Skyrim are designed with user content in mind - Bethesda has been releasing modding tools for their games since Morrowind shipped in 2002. There's only so much that can be done when the available tools are so limited.

Alright, maybe certain attributes of arenas could be modified by players in an unlockable mode and submitted online. I say this because i think arena DLC and DLC in general will be a thing of the past after MK11 (or in MK11).

Yeah, I took that into account as I was typing out that segment. Maybe I feel a bit critical of the MK modding community because I've had at least one friend try to convince me to stray from the MK for PS4 online scene and venture into that of the PC. Aside from the fact that he didn't own a PS4, his effort to persuade me revolved around the PC modding community. I looked into it and found it laughable. Aside from the glitch-riddled variation-swapping mod, there really is nothing alluring about the MK modding scene.

Veering ever so slightly off-topic, I've taken advantage of a lot of the modding tools that the Skyrim and various FPS communities have to offer. It's fun (and, depending on the size of the undertaking, time-consuming) to add your own flavor or even completely alter the lore of a game you've enjoyed playing for a time.

MKX's arenas were definitely a massive disappointment. The Sky Temple was great, the Pit definitely was the best version of it and there was some potential with the Lin Kuei Palace (the details down in the valley was great) and the Kove - the concept nailed it, but final product left something to be desired. The problem is the characters blended in with the background, it was bland, colourless, nothing stood out.

I didn't feel immersed in any of them except Sky Temple and Quan Chi's Fortress. The rest of the stages you feel like you're outside of it, they're in the background and nothing more. The Krossroads is the perfect example of a great background, but you don't feel like you're in the thick of things like Hell (MK9). You should be more inside the fire, with everything surrounding you, not background if that makes sense. It's also partly because of the music. Outworld Marketplace was the worst, just a regular market.

Shang Tsung's kourtyard look's great in the video, but the actual in game screenshot of the Special Forces base looks along the same line. I also fear aside from gore, MK11 is just an extension of MKX. I'd be happy with just more arenas, if it's more varied, because the hope for a Nethership, Shang Tsung gardens or Wastelands is pointless.

I really agree that MKX stages were... boring. But they had a lot of potential. They just were not interactive enough. I'd like to see a stage fatality on almost every stage, or at least some really cool interactions. And I'd like these things to be hidden in the game. Like, not well known. The more hidden stuff they put into the game, the better to be honest. That's what made Mortal Kombat so much fun back in the day. Literally everything was an easter egg hunt. You had to figure out the fatalities on your own (something I hope they come back to doing). Stages in MK:DA were amazing, but would have loved to see some more stage fatals. I hope there's a ton in this game. I really do. And I'd love to see the acid bath stage come back, as well as the Pit 2, Pit 1, and The Kombat Tomb (with the spikes on the ceiling). Would be great to see a new take on all those old fatalities. Heck, even The Pit 3. But yeah, I'm really hoping we can get some unique stuff. Knowing Ed Boon & Co., I'd figure we'll probably get something really cool. The graphics on the game so far that we have seen really really pop. Characters are really colorful (again, something that was really lacking in MKX), and the game looks far more beautiful. Can't wait to get my hands on the game, and give you guys feedback on it. This looks like one of the best MK games in the series to date!