Quoted and bolded for truth.

To be fair, I thought Takeda was a good idea and can be built on. Same with Kung Jin, I think they are unique enough to stand out.

Not a fan of Cassie or Jacqui though.

I wouldn't say I hate the Kombat Kids but this sums it up for me more or less. Takeda is pretty good. Not great but acceptible. I absolutely loved the additions of D'Vorah, F/T, and Black so as long as they've not been tampered with its cool.

Has anybody who complains that the Kombat Kids feel like "fanfiction" realized that a lot of now-classic and often widely demanded characters are arguably even worse?

"What if the Lin Kuei... were all turned into ROBOTS?? And Sub-Zero has to stop them??!?" (In a story about an Outworld invasion.)

"What if there was a realm of, like, PURE CHAOS?!?"

"FEMALE Sub-Zero?!! And let's make the champion of the Deadly Alliance tournament just like Liu Kang, but like, LADY Liu Kang!!!"

"So there's these RED Dragons who are even WORSE than the Black Dragons...."

"... was secretly Sub-Zero's brother the WHOLE TIME."

Face it, this series is built on its creators writing their own fanfiction. Mostly around Sub-Zero.

Also, in defense of Kung Jin: Despite being lumped in as a Kombat Kid, he isn't designed to replace or be a legacy, or even a reference, to anyone else. He's a totally unique addition to the ranks of the Shaolin, and even in that category he's a little bit of an outsider. He's related to Kung Lao, but isn't in any way bound to his identity. Compared to other newcomers like Kotal, D'vorah, Ferra-Torr, and Erron Black, he's also the most natural fit to the MK universe in terms of story, looks, and powers -- easily one of the best-designed humans we'd seen in over a decade. Standing beside his fellow Kombat Kids in their cyber-military getup, he alone actually looks like he wandered in from a Mortal Kombat game. I truly don't understand the hate.

The more I read complaints about new characters in general, the more I'm convinced that some people don't actually know what they want from a new character.

I'll agree that in terms of gameplay and powers Kung Jin is very unique in the MK Universe. His costume design however is straight trash if I'm being honest. Just looks horrible to me. Other than that, yeah he's there.

I'm curious what it is about the costume that you think is so bad... but not quite invested enough in this line of discussion to push you for specifics (if the subjective reasons you dislike his look are even easily explainable). To me they seemed to be going for a Mongolian theme, which makes sense alongside his "Ancestral" bow. And while he seems a bit ostentatious for a Shaolin, well, so does Lao.

The headdress he wears makes his chin look like a brick house but even with it off I don't know if that would make a difference. Just something about everything else just isn't doing it. Looking at a picture of him right now as I type this and I guess my original comment was too harsh. I guess it's just not interesting to me. Not trash but very mediocre and forgettable. The thing I like with this new game is the added customization so if he comes to be playable at least I can tinker around with his appearance. I did like the Robin Hood esque alt he got later in the games life. Maybe he just needs a hood.

I’m curious how you reached that conclusion. I dunno, I kinda read that as Cassie wasn’t meant to defeat Shinnok, given that this was by far the biggest thing she’s ever done, and far bigger than simply existing. But who knows.

As for the Kombat kids, I tend to see each of them as good, albeit flawed first drafts. I think a lot of the classic characters get a free pass simply by virtue of how much we’ve known them and gotten used to them game after game.

But now, with the story as deep as it is and all the dialog before matches and what not, newer characters are kind of expected to reach a higher bar since they have to be good enough to justify their existence and compelling enough from a lore / gameplay perspective and that’s not really the standard we hold a lot of the Trilogy characters to.

some characters can simply be henchmen or flat out jobbers but we don’t mind them as much because we know them and like them. Meanwhile these characters have had all of one game to ingratiate themselves to the fanbase, so maybe it wouldn’t be the worst thing if NRS were able to sand out their rough edges?

Maybe get rid of how snarky most of them tend to be? Improve Kung Jin’s attire and make him less impulsive, give Jaqui a more unique moveset and separate her from the Special Forces, do more to make Cassie her own person and perhaps a bit less obnoxious and do the same with Takeda as well?

Mind you, I liked all of these characters. I thought the whole crop of MKX newbies was the best group of new characters since MK2. But I think for this four in particular, making them kids, making them offshoots of existing characters and largely building the story around them at the expense of other franchise stalwarts was always going to put them behind the eight ball in the eyes of some fans.

I do hope NRS doesn’t give up on them. I don’t need to see all four return for MK11, but I certainly wouldn’t mind a few of them. As for the rest of the MKX newbies, I don’t get how people can crap all over designs like D’vorah, Kotal Khan, Erron Black or even F/T. They were all exceedingly unique and compelling in terms of look, personality and gameplay, but I guess you can’t please everyone.

The MKX freaks were certainly more unique than the Kombat kids, it's just the fact that like the Kombat kids all of them for the most part fall into a single category "Outworld freaks/Kotal's generals" I said for the most part because I know D'Vorah betrayed Kotal and what not.

The designs are good, they just feel as if they have served their own roles and now need to sit down for a game.

And I really really hated Kotal Kahn in the story. He had an amazing design and gameplay, I just can't stand him. I really wish we see Shaolin Kahn finish him.

He might have been intriguing, if the story of MK actually mattered at this point. But we've seen them take intriguing characters and ruin them within seconds for the sake of their new hollywood presentation when it comes to how they tell their story these days.

Plus, he's just Kano with a cowboy hat when it comes to personality, minus the vulgarity.

I guess for someone as disenchanted with the number one element that seems to draw people to Black, there's just nothing there for me to sink my teeth into. Until the day comes where they give him a good design that is. But I think that day will only come when/if we get out of the grim dark realistic phase we're in right now.

As for Fera/Torr- I wanted to like them, I really did, but then they did absolutely nothing with them. By the end of it all I was just wondering why they were in the game instead of Rain. I also can't say the lore for them was that intriguing. Perhaps if they had elaborated on it a little more and given us a deeper look into the characters.

Man I miss the old format of the character bios that would actually inform us about the characters instead of just giving us a abridged history of them.

Don't get me wrong I'm not a story or nothing MK fan. I love the KI cast and I know next to nothing about a good majority of those characters. Although it certainly is nice to know that there are a chapters worth of story to read up on for each character if I wanted to know more about about them. Unlike modern MK. But my point is, the aesthetics were enough to draw me to them and did enough to inform me about the characters that I didn't feel I needed to seek out their bios/prologues to understand them.

And yet none of those examples are as cringe worthy as Sonya and Jax having two daughters named Jacqui and Cassie who are BFFs and saves the world all while managing boyfriends and angst. *puke*

Kung-Jin, while I don't hate him, is as dull as a coma patient.

D'Vorah, Erron Black, and Kotal Kahn were all we truly needed for MKX and all we need moving forward. I still think Takeda has some potential though.

While I definitely don't disagree with you at all you seem to be forgetting how this "fan fic" storytelling actually improved the franchise and made it unique, intriguing and charming.

Mk is a dark fantasy martial arts video game with a bit of a horror/splatter comedy. It's not Citizen Kane or Catcher in the Rye. Having a "serious" and somewhat coherent storytelling would have been detrimental to the series, to the point it would have been another Pit Fighter or Tattoo Assassin.

Personally while it's obvious that there are things to improve, I also don't want mk to change into something different

Mk should be a Enter the Dragon meets Big Trouble in Little China meets Teenage Mutant ninja turtles meets Brain dead meets bad Jean-Claude Van Damme movies meets the Simpsons meets the Marvel/DC universes meets Kill Bill meets the man with the Iron fists.

That's it

Mk is not essay cinema nor The Witcher nor Watchmen nor Mangas.

Of course this is me giving my unasked 2 cents.

I don't remember Cassie or Jacqui being particularly angsty. If anything the boys were the angsty ones. On the point of boyfriends, I'll give you there was flirting between Jacqui & Takeda, but he's just as complicit in that as she is. I remember no romantic subplots for Cassie whatsoever. As to the point of being friends... well yeah, their parents are friends and they followed them into the same career. They came up together. They're friends. I didn't find that overtly obnoxious or anything. *Shrug*

I'll say this right up front: I tend to gravitate toward Female & Beastly characters, so my favorites are usually the Gals & the Reptiles. As it happens (you can no doubt see my picture) Mileena is my favorite character, which falls quite appropriately in the middle. BUT that said... I tend to not care much for "regular dude" characters.

SO... while I don't begrude people who like Takeda, but hate Cassie (we all have different tastes) I have the exact opposite opinion.

I enjoyed the bejesus out of Cassie as a character, and more or less mained her in MKX. She had more personality than most of the cast (including AT LEAST her mother, if not both her parents) and playing her was a joy for me whenever I'd beat someone's ass and she'd tack a smartass remark onto the beating (it just made it so much more satisfying). And for what it's worth I've never particularly enjoyed Sonya or Johnny, nor played as either of them much in the 20 years before MKX.

I actively disliked Kung Jin. When he wasn't bland, he was an idiot or a jerkoff (and not even in a funny way). And I'll throw my name in the hat that hated his costume/character design as well. He's by FAR the angstiest of the 4 though. Never much liked Kung Lao either, though I do like Liu Kang (mained him back in MK1 & 2, so nostalgia points)

Takeda & Jacqui I neither liked nor disliked. Found them both kinda bland. Never particularly liked Kenshi or Jax either though, so most of Takeda's backstory failed to captivate me. Jacqui didn't even really have a backstory beyond "I'm Jax's daughter, and I'm also here" so yeah, can't say I don't understand the criticism on her. BUT... I at times found her fun to play as, at least. If not particularly interesting.

SO YEAH... In any case, I'm perfectly FINE with Cassie being the sole survivor, if true, but I wouldn't begrudge the others returning either. Everyone likes different things.

As to the outworld folk...

I think D'Vorah is by far the strongest of the 4. She's the most unique, and MKX built in the most intrigue for her. I like Kotal as well, story wise, he was also quite unique & brought a new element to the game (but I hated his gameplay... though, that can always change game to game). Now I personally... LOVED Ferra... but, much like Cassie, she was an upbeat, quippy, humorous (and somewhat beastly) female character, which is right in my "I like this" wheelhouse. Torr was basically just a glorified prop, and nothing special. That said, I played as them a bit, but ultimately bulky grapply characters aren't my thing. I think their unique dynamic gave them a couple of the best fatalities in the game though. AND finally (and I'll remind you once again now, I'm not super into "regular dude" characters) Erron Black was by far my least favorite of the four. Broody guy with guns is "meh" for me. Mildly interesting backstory, but brought nothing significant to the actual plot whatsoever. For all the crap Ferra/Torr gets for being a useless henchman who was just there... yeah Erron was also a useless henchman who was just there. Of which Outworld already has at least a half dozen.

But the fact you said, "D'Vorah, Erron Black, and Kotal Kahn were all we truly needed for MKX" BAFFLES ME UTTERLY... Agreed on D'Vorah & Kotal... Erron was IN NO WAY essential to MKX. I don't begrudge anyone who enjoyed him, I know a lot of people are into badass gunslingers, which makes him a cool character for many... but he did NOT play a strong role, nor would anything significant be lost in cutting him for me personally.

BUT... to hammer my point home again, we all come at this stuff with a different perspective, and different tastes.SO... we all walk away with different opinions.

Ultimately I wouldn't be upset if any of them returned, I'd just like this franchise to have less one and done characters on the whole.

Except maybe Kung Jin... I didn't like that guy. ;)

Well said! I know I can come off quite harsh sometimes, but believe me, I do not hate the Kombat Kids. As I said, I do hope they get another chance in the future. I personally did like Jacqui and I prefer her to her father, but ultimately I guess I figured from the moment she appeared that she would be a character they wouldn't do anything interesting with beyond "Well here's Jax's daughter along for the adventure!"- she's just empty.

Cassie I liked too and she definitely does have a unique personality, even amongst her parents, I just hope she manages to stand on her own- which I imagine she will- I mean she beat Shinnok after all- You shouldn't go from beating a fallen Elder God to playing assistant to mommy and daddy and she probably won't. But with these writers...you never know.

But I don't HATE Cassie or Jacqui or Takeda or Kung Jin, I find their initial concepts kind of lame but that's just because I'm not a big fan of the whole "here are the kids" type thing.

But I totally respect your thoughts. Erron Black was indeed pointless, I really was just speaking from a gameplay and design perspective haha. But he was quite overrated.

No tears for the Kombat Kids from this series veteran either ! Absolutely detested them. My only major complaint about MKX was the bland roster and so far MK 11 looks just as bland. Get ready for another round of the same characters with few exceptions. We can't have the E Sports crowd without their Kung Lao or Liu Kangs ! I fear these games are made for that crowd now more than the fans I am getting pissy at the lack of 3D era characters. With the amazing work NRS does I KNOW they could make no names like Kai, Ashrah, Havik and Reiko super interesting characters if we get the Kombat kids and Bo, Kung Lao, Kitana and Liu Kang that's pretty much the roster filled and G-d would that ever be generic......again.

Dude, Liu is the main character and Kung Lao is a beloved legacy character. It would be outrageous to not have a roster with the core characters in it.

Every time a fighting game has done such a thing it's taken a hard hit. Street Fighter 3, Soul Caliber 5, Mavel vs Capcom Infinite, MK3 ect.

I agree though, I'm fearing where MK is going. Everyone wants that Esports and Evo position now. But my bigger fear is they are becoming all about the spectacle. MK seems to be becoming the graphics whore fighting game franchise now. All about how good it looks and how much of a reaction they can get from youtubers with the fatalities.

Wished Erron Black's ending was cannon. But we already have Cassie back, I don't doubt seeing the others come back.

Instead I think this story will take advantage of the opportunity to kill off most of the unpopular 3D-era characters, and we'll end up seeing more "next"-generation offspring come along.

They've been saying they wanted the next generation to step in for older chars since DA. Frost, Li Mei, Movado, and Kira all got shit on for being too similar to older kharakters. You want them to be unique/different, then komplain bekause they're too different. While it's not unkommon for offspring to be nothing like their parents/ancestors, what do we do in future MK's without a Sub-Zero type kharakter or playstyle? People will komplain about their absence without a legitimate reason to bring someone back outside a legacy game(Trilogy/Armageddon/The kurrent Smash Bros.). People want familiar faces. I kouldn't imagine a future MK without rekognizable kharakters after years of phasing out the original kast. Soul Calibur even got flak for replacing Taki. In a game with magik, geriatrik martial arts akrobats, 10000 year old twenty somethings n shit, aging shouldn't be a problem unless the story actually kalls for it. I don't hate the kombat kids, they're different enough, and still familiar/nod to their konnektions. Also, they're different enough that they can exist in the same game with their parents. I don't buy the argument they kan't. I know if they're replacements, the older gen should step back, but there hasn't been a legitimate reason for them to. Especially when a bunch of kharakters were introduced as already dead.

Ka-Tra

Please yes, be true. :-p

It's not impossible that they get left out. The idea of the Kombat Kids was a bit cheesy. But something to keep in mind is that they probably want games to stand out from the other ones a bit more. It wouldn't surprise me if MKX kind of self-contains some of its new characters, because you can't really do that with the classics.

I think they'll be back. I think they want to create protagonists people can attach themselves to and that they are going to have plenty to do in the story, but if they were left out intentionally, there is a rationale behind it. I don't think D'Vorah is making the roster for this reason. My gut tells me that Cassie Cage, Takeda, Erron Black and Kotal are going to be in though. Probably Jacqui and Kung Jin too, but I could see them "resting" in this one before getting reinventions in MK12.