MK11 has a chance to be truly the best game ever in my opinion, up there with MK2 as a step up from the original with more characters, stages, better graphics, more fatalities, a darker story with deeper asian and fantasy inspired lore and more colourful game. The timelines gives endless opportunities, in terms of stages, characters and story.
MKX was the first title of this generation, so a first try out to see what works. This means in development they needed a lot more time than they do the second time around. This leaves more time for characters and stages so there's serious potential for those reasons as well.
With a step up to the unreal 4 engine there's also a chance at better graphics, maybe for more colour. While MKX had dark levels and somewhat of a gritty atmosphere, the characters and levels showed very little colour and contrast. Also the story was not that dark in the end and very simplistic, straight forward and nothing really surprising.
MK11 has a chance to tell a story that hasn't been told, full of surprises, a chance to introduce a totally new boss, new type of characters and a chance to give some past characters a time to shine with a re-invented design (makeover). I really hope they stay away from any Deadly Alliance and Deception plot points for the most part. Onaga could have a great story and design, but please don't bring him back as the main big bad as just a big guy with horns and wings.
This also counts for the Chaos and Orderrealms, it's enough to have Outworld, the Netherrealm, Earthrealm, Edenia and Heaven where the Gods reside. Maybe the Gods can be more involved, the Oracle being one herself or used by the Gods. This does not mean characters like Havik and Hotaru cannot be in, on the contrary, they could play pivotal roles as chaos will ensue and someone striving for order makes sense. They just don't need to introduce new realms.
I hope they undo the spell of revenants with Quan Chi's death and just have Liu Kan & Kitana be corrupted through Raiden. That cracked look with veins popping out should stay where it belongs, in MKX. While this has been told, I really hope it stays limited to that and we get more than an Outworld MK tournament mixed with some timeshifting. To me it should be a total clusterfuck, not a simple mission with the earth kids going up against 'evil'.
In any case, wherever the story may go, in the end to me it's about the characters and stages. It is a fighting game after all. The story can be great, but if they go safe with the roster again then MK11 will always be another MKX unfulfilled potential type of game. In terms of roster, to me it's not so much about the quantity, but the quality.
Deception had probably the best combination of old characters with lots of new ones, most of which were forgetabble but they took a risk and it was a dark game with the best in terms of lore. MK2 same story. Deadly Alliance laid the foundation for the new generation of Mortal Kombat and Deception took that and improved heavily. To me, while the introduction of new characters in the line of Baraka and Havik would be great, I just hope these 2 make it in and it would be the greatest game ever.
There you go, finding a hidden advantage in an unfortunate circumstance; using pain to take you to the next level. Those are the things that turn players into kings.
id love for mk11 to have decpetions konquest mode they could do a whole 25 year thing starting from mk 1 through mk 11 where we can unlock stuff and show how the tournament was till now . and mk1 - 4 would be updated graphicly to todays systems . make it like 245 hours long with rpg elements. maybe the hourglass person from the trailer plays the key role in such events?
<img src=http://i1205.photobucket.com/albums/bb424/astro407/Baraka407---Baraka-Sig---GIF1.gif?t=1302751589
MK11 has a chance to be truly the best game ever in my opinion, up there with MK2 as a step up from the original with more characters, stages, better graphics, more fatalities, a darker story with deeper asian and fantasy inspired lore and more colourful game. The timelines gives endless opportunities, in terms of stages, characters and story.
MKX was the first title of this generation, so a first try out to see what works. This means in development they needed a lot more time than they do the second time around. This leaves more time for characters and stages so there's serious potential for those reasons as well.
With a step up to the unreal 4 engine there's also a chance at better graphics, maybe for more colour. While MKX had dark levels and somewhat of a gritty atmosphere, the characters and levels showed very little colour and contrast. Also the story was not that dark in the end and very simplistic, straight forward and nothing really surprising.
MK11 has a chance to tell a story that hasn't been told, full of surprises, a chance to introduce a totally new boss, new type of characters and a chance to give some past characters a time to shine with a re-invented design (makeover). I really hope they stay away from any Deadly Alliance and Deception plot points for the most part. Onaga could have a great story and design, but please don't bring him back as the main big bad as just a big guy with horns and wings.
This also counts for the Chaos and Orderrealms, it's enough to have Outworld, the Netherrealm, Earthrealm, Edenia and Heaven where the Gods reside. Maybe the Gods can be more involved, the Oracle being one herself or used by the Gods. This does not mean characters like Havik and Hotaru cannot be in, on the contrary, they could play pivotal roles as chaos will ensue and someone striving for order makes sense. They just don't need to introduce new realms.
I hope they undo the spell of revenants with Quan Chi's death and just have Liu Kan & Kitana be corrupted through Raiden. That cracked look with veins popping out should stay where it belongs, in MKX. While this has been told, I really hope it stays limited to that and we get more than an Outworld MK tournament mixed with some timeshifting. To me it should be a total clusterfuck, not a simple mission with the earth kids going up against 'evil'.
In any case, wherever the story may go, in the end to me it's about the characters and stages. It is a fighting game after all. The story can be great, but if they go safe with the roster again then MK11 will always be another MKX unfulfilled potential type of game. In terms of roster, to me it's not so much about the quantity, but the quality.
Deception had probably the best combination of old characters with lots of new ones, most of which were forgetabble but they took a risk and it was a dark game with the best in terms of lore. MK2 same story. Deadly Alliance laid the foundation for the new generation of Mortal Kombat and Deception took that and improved heavily. To me, while the introduction of new characters in the line of Baraka and Havik would be great, I just hope these 2 make it in and it would be the greatest game ever.
I honestly agree on all fronts here. Great post!
I’d love to see more characters, stages (perhaps way more even), and I love the idea of a more Asian / mystical / fantasy aesthetic. I’d also like stages and even themes to be darker and mysterious, or perhaps foreboding.
That’s a tough needle to thread, as I still want color, but I think you can do that and make stages alive and interesting while still being dark, mysterious, and cool to play in. House of Pekara in MKDA is a good example. I just don’t want stuff like another bombed out street or a rooftop or whatever. I think the destroyed courtyard in the trailer strikes a great balance.
Less daytime levels, less of a washed out color palette (less browns and grays especially), more storms, more stages that have a presence in and of themselves as opposed to just being a near random place where a fight broke out like the Outworld marketplace, the destroyed city or the refugee camp.
I also like the potential in this game given that it’s the second of this generation and they’re moving to unreal engine 4. I worry that a new engine could bring new issues, but I don’t think that’s a major concern.
I think they can do a lot with their current systems and ideas and wrap more around that, like the gear system, the story, maybe tag matches etc without having to change too much of what they do so well already and a new engine shouldn’t be too much of a hindrance in that regard, though I’m merely speculating.
As for the story, I’m hoping for less characters making the roster that have little to nothing to do in the actual story. I get that people like Kung Lao, for example, but he had even less of a role than Fujin or Sareena.
Speaking of which, I really do hope they take some chances with the roster. We’re on game eleven. We’ve seen some of these characters so many times that it’d be nice to actually miss Sonya, Kano, Cage, Jax, Kenshi, Quan Chi, Reptile, Ermac, etc.
There are plenty of characters from all eras that can be put in that either fans know a lot and / or like a lot from all eras. Plus, I’d love to see some more redemption stories for some of the 3D era characters that never really got enough of a chance in the first place like Fujin, Sareena, Li Mei, Kai, Mavado, Havik, Kira, etc.
I’m not saying they all need to make it in, but a healthier balance than what we saw in MKX would be awesome.
A cast that includes Scorpion, Raiden, Shao Khan, Sub Zero, Liu Kang, Kitana, Noob, Jade, Shang Tsung, Smoke, Kabal, Fujin, Kai, Sareena, Li Mei, Havik, Reiko, Skarlet, Kotal Khan, Erron Black, Cassie Cage, Jaqui Briggs, Kung Jin, Takeda, and six new characters to start (including Oracle) would be awesome.
Then you have at least eight DLC spots to use on some returning fan favorites who don’t need to be a big part of the story like Ermac, Reptile, etc that you left out initially, an obscure fan nod or two like Tasia and Jataaka, and guests.
I think Deception is a good analogy here. You have a massive portion of the gameplay concepts in place thanks to the last game. Iterate on why was done so well in inventive ways while concentrating on balancing the roster and putting the best story together possible.
I really hope the story focuses on all of the characters and it’s not just centered on the plucky group of heroes, while other characters kind of revolve around them, popping quickly in and out of the story, and I really hope we get to play as characters on all sides.
Lastly, I really hope they get in the heads of the characters, focus on the gravity of the situations, and explore grown up themes like love, loss, betrayal, mourning, revenge, parenting, aging, failure, expectations, etc and really give the characters some emotional range. I love the humorous quips before matches and the one-liners and I get the need for levity in all the darkness, violence and near absurdity, but it wouldn’t be the worst thing for the story and characters to be taken more seriously.
MK2 and MKD are my fav MK games of all time so for this game to hit the nostalgia points and gameplay high notes, would be a dream come true I really would love a Konquest mode, but I think we all know that's not going to happen. Even the press release states a cinematic story mode 25 years in the making which all but rings of a chapter based cinematic story as the last 4 NRS titles have had.
I really liked the gameplay of MKD, but I was kind of annoyed at some of the roster choices. Deadly Alliance recovered from quite a shitty MK4, in my opinion, and steered things towards this epic, familiar and logical storyline. Shang Tsung and Quan Chi were your main villains and Liu Kang and Shao Kahn were dead, therefore everything was up in the air. They had a clear goal (revive an unstoppable army) and motivations were very clear-cut -- you were either fighting for the Deadly Alliance or against them. It really felt like this would set up The Dragon King as the next boss with Kung Lao and Kitana as major protagonists. In the background you'd get Scorpion being Scorpion, Raiden being Raiden, Sub-Zero struggling with the loss of Frost and the emergence of Noob Saibot, Sektor leading the Tekunin, Nitara manipulating things, the Red Dragon posing a threat to the Special Forces and Earthrealm. Then basically all of those storylines were abandoned. Great game, and Konquest was a great idea, but just a random bunch of B-team fighters making a comeback so everybody got a turn.
Haha, anyway, that's my rant on that. I think this game is going to be a list of all the icons getting explored fairly thoroughly. Given the time-bending storyline, I think we'll get a Scorpion that explores Hanzo Hasashi, his more neutral bad-ass anti-Sub-Zero days and finally his tormented hero role. It would be great if new things could be said about these characters. But in many ways, as much as MK clings to its core cast of characters, I think this does have the potential to be a really epic story, if not really linear.
