You're spoon feeding us shit we already know!

We've played Deception.

We've played MKX.

That still doesn't change the fact of what we'd like to see in a NEW game.

Besides, MKX doesn't even fit the description as to what we want- we're talking about a game that focuses ENTIRELY on a different realm- MKX was not that. It had a split focus, but Earthrealm still was apart of that.

The Outworld/Edenia war Endo suggested is something COMPLETELY different that could make for a completely different game. Why the hell are you tossing MKX into that?

We've been playing this franchise all our lives- we don't need you to give us a synopsis of a fifteen year old game as a way to make us shut up.

You're exhausting. Just accept the fact that some of us are not happy with the shitty state this franchise is in plotwise.

You love it and think it's amazing and wonderful! Great. I don't.

Agree to disagree!

Beautifully put. Sounds like one INTELLIGENT and emotionally charged story.

If NRS did just that, I'm sure Lastfighter89 wouldn't have anything to say. He'd see the light then. He's only naysaying because he feels NRS is under attack.

I'd still say that even though Deadly Alliance had a lot of Earthrealm characters in it, only a small handful were actually working for Earth while others were either just trying to survive, or were working for Outworld. The story focus and entire battle setting was in Outworld. They tried to set up Li Mei as the new Liu Kang, even if they didn't follow through with that in future games (possibly because the audience thought it was kind of obvious/forced).

In Deception, Shujinko may have been born on Earth, but he spent the majority of his life as a wandering "citizen of all realms," which was central to his character. I may be nitpicking on this next point, but the Deception roster wasn't 1/2 Earthrealm. Only 9 out of 24 characters were, or 8 if you consider that Zombie Kang is really more of a wildcard, which is a third. Out of those eight, the three Black Dragons are working for Havik and don't have much of anything to do with Earth.

It's fair for some people to want little-to-no Earth characters, and also fair for a lot more people who are fans of one or more Earthrealm characters to not want that. You might as well do another MK with hardly any Outworlders next time, or without Netherrealm. Arguably, it's just not Mortal Kombat without representatives of all the (major) realms involved, including Earth. (I'll start counting Chaos and Seido as major realms when they start doing something more than a mostly irrelevant side story, which I dearly hope happens soon.)

I very much appreciate you engaging me with sensible points, even if our opinions on the matter are still pretty opposite. This was refreshing.

I am salivating over this. For the Orderrealmers I'd go ahead and bring back Hotaru and maybe a female companion. God, I wish this was real.

This is the MK game my SOUL needs.

But one I don't think we'll ever get...but I will hold this in my heart.

This is why I love this fandom. Absolutely beautiful!

... And despite having it spoon fed to you, you somehow still manage to miss what was going on in those games.

I wasn't talking about that before, which I already explained to you. But I did get around to addressing that in my post just above this one. Feel free to quote me out of context about it at your leisure.

I do try.

Oh, like you never come down on anyone's head for having an opinion you don't like. You're not looking for freedom expression, just freedom from criticism.

Says the person who insisted to me that they very definitely don't hate Mortal Kombat.

I do love it. I've offered up many points of constructive criticism as well. I've just developed the ability to do that while still retaining some understanding and empathy for the developers.

This line is so meaningless coming from you. You talk about having a discussion until somebody disagrees with you, and then you tell them to shut up so you can go back to having nothing but discussions you agree with.

*sighs and leaves to do something productive with the day*

@umbrascitor

Yeah, I do get passionate at times and might get a bit too aggressive / negative, but I do try to keep things as civil as possible.

Fair enough on people wanting to see the Earthrealmers and might feel left out. I would agree in some ways. My favourite characters (in order) are Scorpion, Raiden, Noob and Rain. So a game where my top 3 don't feature would be a bit of a bummer - but at the same time we'd get to explore other characters more. Some of those might even become new favourites. Rain only really became interesting to me after Armageddon. And I only started to like Mileena in MKX. I'm loving what I see of Jade in MK11 so far and loving her new costumes.

But Freeing Edenia would only be one game. Earthrealmers are always the heroes / good guys - I think it can be forgiven if we shift focus just once. And yes, I'd definitely want to see more of other realms, and less of Outworld. Outworld is also overused. This is why I don't want Shao Kahn, Shang Tsung, or Quan Chi to return. I don't see them adding anything interesting or new. It's just the same old again and again.

@ProfesserAhnka

I'm really glad you like my ideas. High-fives! :)

@umbrascitor

Look brother, I'm not trying to shut you up and if it comes across as if I'm dismissing your points- my apologies. I was speculating about things I would like to see in a new game and you going back and giving me a synopsis of previous games felt insulting to me- like basically you were saying "Well go play those games".

But my point is- you going back and breaking down Deception to me and MKX as if I've never played those games before still doesn't negate my feelings on the matter and what I'd like to see in future games.

My argument wasn't that NRS has NEVER did anything new. I'm simply saying I feel as though we can go even further into unexplored terrain. That's what I'm getting at. I'm not trying to make this a debate about what they've done, but what they CAN do moving forward.

The One Being was referenced in Shinnok's non-canonical MKX ending. Apparently the elder gods were parts of the the One Being and a reawakened One Being devoured them and caused reality to end.

I honestly don't care for seeing more of the One Being plotline. It's intriguing, but it honestly wouldn't go anywhere interesting because if it did(She/Him awaking)- every thing would be over and we know that wouldn't happen- so that sucks all the tension out right there. They could certainly retire it as far as I'm concerned.

I prefer to have more smaller and intimate stories in the future. Intimacy is the key word I'm looking for.

I don’t think they were a part of him because the ending said he was whole. I think he just consumed them as revenge

@umbrascitor

Oh, I forgot to mention in my reply... I did count zombie Kang, Noob, and Smoke, as Earthrealmers - since techincally that is their home realm.

Noob/Smoke may have only taken one character slot, but from a story point they are still two characters.

Nah, I have my quarrels with NRS and by no means I am their brown noser.

Simply, I believe that the criticism done in this forum (and others) are for the wrong reasons.

Also, MK 11 is an American game, made by an American developer, by an all American producer made for (mostly) an American audience and people are complaining about the Special Forces in the game?

Also, in the first games the hero was CHINESE. CHINESE, GODDAMMIT. And people are complaining about too much S. F. When I explained that the average Joe (averagely American) wouldn't give a crap about edenians?

Back to square one, all of you are picking a very weird hill to die on.

Current Political climate? Keep your political shit away from MK please! It doesn't need it. I

LOL. Damn. You have gone off into the Twilight Zone.

I have no idea what nationality has to do with my original point. I don't think you do either.

I also never brought up politics. You ok, boo?

Now you're saying American players wouldn't care about Edenian characters because they're Edenian? Huh?

We've jumped from talking about Earthrealm characters to Americans for some odd reason.

Let's just drop this. This is getting very...difficult for me to understand. I'm a very confused American right now.

But I must admit, I'm laughing my ass off right now. "CHINESE GODDAMNIT!"

What the frack...:P

I get your reasoning there, and by that logic -- if you wanna count Noob as an Earthrealmer -- then you'd have to throw in Scorpion too. But then I have to ask:

Let's say Bo' Rai Cho decides to defect to Earthrealm entirely. Moves to Shanghai and sets himself up with a microbrewery, runs training camps for the White Lotus and the Special Forces, gets sloshed with Raiden every weekend, with everyone on Earth treating him like he's one of their own. Then, shit goes to shit and the Great Godmorgon rises from the depths of Sewerrealm to take over Earth. Bo' fights alongside the Earth heroes to defend his adopted home, and comes into conflict with Outworlders who have aligned themselves with the cosmic butthole of the universe.

Now, would Bo' Rai Cho still be considered an Outworlder here? Or should we count him as being "from Earth" in this context, the same way we think of Scorpion as being "from Hell?" I mean, he's an advisor to the Special Forces in this scenario. That's as Earthly as it can possibly get.

Sub-Zero's bloodline is from Outworld, but we think of him as an Earthrealm guy, movies be damned. Reptile's considered an Outworlder even though he is the last Zaterran, a race which itself originally hails from Earth. Tremor comes from Earth but is now much more Dream than man, and he looks for all the world like some kind of Outworld rock golem (working against Earthrealm for an Outworld cause, even).

In the end, when it comes to where characters are "from," I think Erron Black's philosophy wins out: it has more to do with who you're fighting for than where you come from. (Speaking of Black: I'm willing to bet he made it into the First Five of your example roster largely because he's a lot more of an Outworlder than an Earthrealmer. Correct?)

And by that reasoning, very very little of the characters and events of Deception had anything to do with Earth. It was a universal crisis, and only a tiny minority of characters could be said to be fighting for Earth specifically. Not the Black Dragons, certainly not Noob-Smoke, and essentially not even Shujinko (even though I did add him to my count anyway, for the sake of argument).

Anyway. Regarding where the series could go in the future: I would be totally on board with MK exploring stories taking place strictly in other worlds... as a Shaolin Monks style side adventure perhaps, or a DLC expansion to a core game. Either of those options would rock my nuts. But the central story of Mortal Kombat would be missing something without Earthrealm, seeing as it's apparently the one place in the universe where you can even find mortals. (Maybe that's what makes Earth so special! Haha.) If we've learned anything from the widespread fan outcry for side characters like Havik to get back in the game, and the demand for a wider scope of representation, it's that leaving out an entire primary realm would probably be a mistake. Even if that realm is boring old Earth.

I'm not saying to inject politics... I'm suggesting a story idea that focuses on a different group of characters. You're the one that brought up relatability, saying they're not relatable because they're not human. It doesn't matter if a character is human, American or whatever, if their conflict (internal or external) is relatable.

It's like Batman fanboys who say Batman is more relatable than Superman because he's actually human. Sorry (not sorry) but in no way do I relate to a multi-billionaire who had his parents murdered in front of him; is on a personal crusade against all of crime; is in perfect physical and mental condition; and smarter and better than everyone at all times. But I can relate to someone who has to hide their true self in order to fit in; constantly holding back as to not hurt people; and just generally trying to do the right thing despite making mistakes - even if that person is an alien. Heck, some people might relate to him MORE for being an alien, if they are an immigrant for example. I can imagine there being a lot of crossover in that regard.

When I pointed out my idea is way more relatedable to way more people and on a more basic human level than what the games currently offer. You reply with: "Mortal Kombat isn't made for you - it's made by Americans, for Americans". We're living in the 21st Century where that statement is just ignorant bullcrap. The world is more connected than ever and games (especially ones as popular as Mortal Kombat) are much more widespread. Even so, I doubt that most Americans can relate to super special forces defending from a magical alien invasion and time manipulation.

Also...
Ed Boon: "It's literally all over the world there are people working on Mortal Kombat"

It does work that way in Mortal Kombat. You sound as though you're speaking of the One Being as though an actual mythological concept, outside the games. I'm not. I'm speaking of the established lore behind the One Being within the games. The established lore is that the realms, and the denizens of said realms, are fractured pieces of The One Being, and that if The One Being is reformed, they will cease to be.

That's exactly WHY the One Being's influence (allegedly) drives characters like Onaga & Shao Kahn to unify all. It wants to make itself whole again, and wipe out existence (which is exactly what happens in Shinnoks MKX ending). What do you mean it doesn't work that way? It works exactly that way. (Which is why my original point was: I don't know why anyone ever expected The One Being to be an actual villain. The premise behind his Resurrection suggests if he exists, nothing else does (except The Elder Gods)... and Shinnok's MKX ending re-affirms that.

EndoScorpion made that jump and lastfighter followed. It was right there in the post you yourself responded to and quoted. You're nagging the dude for being incoherent when you just cut out the part of the quote that shows you exactly what he was talking about. Which was a post that again, you also read.

I appreciate your effort to help tone down the incivility in your last response to me, but still, I have to say: This is the sort of behavior that makes it really hard to have an earnest discussion with you. I would like to have better conversations with you. I genuinely, seriously would. You're not an idiot, and you've even said some things I've agreed with on various levels. But this style of twisting people's words around is just... impossible.

Come on, dude.

No, I'm SERIOUSLY confused and this isn't me trying to be sardonic. You saying that Endoscorpion said those things, Lastfighter followed...so why is he addressing them in a reply directed toward me? I legit had no idea what he was talking about because I never mentioned anything about politics or nationalities.

That's not me twisting anyone's words around. Normally when someone quotes you they are responding to the points YOU made- not someone else.

EDIT- Oh, I see that post about American Soldiers. I completely forgot about that. But my entire point of this debate wasn't based on that nor did I bring it up- I was agreeing with EndoScorp about the Outworld/Edenian War idea- not necessarily about this game taking on current politics. So that threw me for a loop when Lastfighter started talking about nationalities. Not to mention I had gone offline for a while.

I see now.

Yeah, My bad, I mistakenly "merged" two posts into one and made one single reply to two different posts by two different users, I still have to understand how the damned multi quote works.

My bad, sorry.

Haha. It's Ok.

Quoting can be tricky!

@umbrascitor

Very true and fascinating points you've made. And yep, Erron was included on Outworld's side in my roster because he's associated with Outworld and known to fight for them. The order is more just trying to group them by factions / allegiances - with the more iffy characters in the middle.

While Scorpion is associated with the Netherealm, he's always fought for himself and his own goals: Going after Bi Han; investigating a new "Sub-Zero"; tricked into fighting new Sub-Zero; Going after Quan Chi... etc etc. But then, he's not on my list of "Earthrealmers I'm sick of seeing" :D Yet I didn't include him in the suggested roster because he wouldn't fit the main story and I know a lot of people are sick of seeing him.

While I still maintain it has been the main focus overall, I will concede Earthrealm isn't "always" the main focus in every single game. But if that's the case, then my idea should still be ok, just as long as there still some Earthrealmers involved, right!?. Which is easily adjustable. My core roster is only 18 characters - could easily add a bunch of Earthrealmers (including the MK Trinity) and still have room for new characters or redesigned old ones. I mean, this has only been an idea floating around my head. Not a story I've already planned out and plan on submitting to NRS. :D