What'd I give him:

Animality: Electric Eel

Friendshp: Kidd Thunder! (or him doing the Electric Slide.)

Babality: Lightning strikes the opponent as they are turned into a baby

I really hope Raiden's alt is like his MK:DA alt. I think it was his most kickass costume ever. He looked like someone not to be messed with, a god. It also reminded me of a samurai.

I'd like to see his teleport wake-up return. It set him apart from everyone else and made him stand out more. Which is what I want for every character.

I'm hoping some of the dark Raiden is in this mk. His ruthlessness and focus on his goal could make for some very interesting storylines. It'll be interesting to see what changes to the story he creates.

SO! We have a couple things to critique. I'll have to get back to the story portion of this thread in a bit as I'm busy putting most of my creative energy into work right now.

Anywho, since it's been a bit since these things have been released, sound off and let me hear your opinions, like, and dislikes about some of the materials listed below. Alot of times, giving yourself a little time to digest what you see can make a difference in your opinions and stuff.

Vignette:



Painting // Render:



Wallpaper:



=====
--- My take..
=====

Vignette:

What's Wrong?

1.) I Hhhaaaa aaaa t e.... his Entry animation (lol). I didn't like it when I first saw it, but it's bothering me ALOT more now that I've had some time to view the video a few more times. It's waay too corny//campy or whatever. It is impressive as something the Power Rangers might do. I'm VERY disappointed in this part so far.

An alternative might have him say something more authoritative, protective of Earth, or teasingly condescending. Some examples of each^ respectively:

a.) "E-NOUGH!" *thunder crackles*

b.) "Your melding ends here.." *draws a line in the ground with lightning* or, "I will no longer stand idly by..."

c.) "Choose your destiny, mortal"

: If I could get them to do something about it, I'd ask them to let me download a replacement entry animation for him. It's terrible as is.

2.) The ball of lightning is still bothersome. However, not more than usual. I'm looking for the electricity to trail off of his body and out from his hands like MK1-2 era Raiden. Judging by the fact they keep using this effect though, I don't think they can do much about it.

As far as my knowledge carries me on how to do it, maybe a transparent/animated bit map to house the visual effect of electricity properly, with a small point of contact (p.o.c.) frame/box in the front, middle, and tail end of the projectile could work? Not sure at all because I think projectiles generally only have one hit box or P.O.C.

If I were going to improve the way this looks, and therefor make it more acceptable, I'd probably just add (more obvious) sparks to it. Sektor has red sparks...why not at least blue sparks for Raiden? I think it'd be an acceptable medium if they weren't able to do the MK1-2 effect that I like the best.

3.) Jokers animation inside Raidens move-set is just despicable. I like the X-Ray move for the most part it's just that tail-end move that don't like. The fact that there's a ball of electricity at the very end, instead of something more..."damning?" with electricity there makes it even worse. I don't like the tail end of that move at all.

4.) The fatality is extremely generic and as a result, completely unimpressive. There's no "wow factor" about the way it looks in the video. It looks like they just gave him any 'ol thing just so that he had something for the vignette.

Actually, it seems intentional so, I'm not exactly sure whether I should pass complete judgment on it with another possible two fatalities out there for him. When I get the game, I'm sure I will pass on this fatality consistently. If he has nothing more impressive than this, I'll probably not even do fatalities with him, I'll just end the match. I'm very disappointed in the way this fatality looks.

EDIT:

Raiden Electrocution - Fatality 01 MKvsDC
Raiden Teleport Slam - Fatality 02 MKvsDC

His MKvsDC fatalities almost look better, oddly enough.

((--)) That pretty much it for the negative stuff. I think the negative stuff sticks out like a sore thumb so my complaints are pretty specific. I also have no idea how old the content for this video is so, I'm hoping they saw threads like this one, and other fan opinions on Raiden that helped them change some of these things before release.

What's Neutral?

1.) When he teleports down in his entry animation. I like the way that it is with the electricity like that except, something more impressive could have seen him do something similar as Sub-Zero's entry animation. Only with electricity instead of ice. It's just like his old teleport looks. Couple that with something like [1.) - b.)] in my post above and I think they'd have a bigger winner.

2.) Speaking of his Teleport. After looking at it again, I like it.... I like it alot. But, I still do favor the way it looked in the early games.

3.) I think that's one of his throws in the corner (00:48 sec into the vid). The little "two piece and an electric biscuit" is a nice addition. I have always looked for something slick Raiden could do in close range situations and, this looks to fill that void for me.

Initially, I didn't like the two gut punches but, after looking at it a few more times, I think I just don't like how he's doing what he's doing. So, if I were to replace those two little gut punches, I'd give him something open-handed right there. Still quick, still close-range jabs, just open handed. I think it'd have more finesse, grace, and would be a homage to his MKDA-A self in one simple maneuver.

The shock to the face and abdomen at the end is wonderful, btw. I want more of that sort of thing, however, then there's that ball of electricity again.

4.) I like the X-Ray move....it fits...the effects are good.... but it is a mediocre delight. What did I expect? I - don't - know. lol This may just be a bit of Noob Saibot's extremely impressive re-introduction leaning all over what I imagine must have been next for Raiden. Could be...

So to note, I think the introduction to it is a perfect way to begin Raiden's X-Ray move. When he first throws the lightning and teleports, that's wonderful, and looks like something exciting is going to happen next...
-- The elbow is fine, but I feel that was also an opportunity for Raiden to call a lightning bolt, pop the opponent up, and or do some sort of aerial or electrocution type of assault or something...
-- Teleporting twice during the move is excellent, even if the lightning effects themselves aren't as erratic as I would have like to have seen...
-- The "karate chops" are fine but, Raiden's always seemed like more of a Tai Chi kind of character when it came to open hand strikes. If he has them, I always hope to see more finesse in the strikes with his open hand / palm.

Raiden has always come across as an authoritative finesse kind of character so, the point is I was underwhelmed, yet accepting by the move.

5.) His costume is in the grey area. To be honest it's completely acceptable and, there are no complaints about the design of it except for the fact that it is pretty much a generic representation of his MK2 costume. Plus alot of influence from MKvsDC. This isn't bad, it's just not particularly impressive.

I'm hoping for something really slick from his alternate, and if he gets a third, I'm hoping for something that screams "I am a God."

What's Good?

1.) The story in this vignette is perfect for him. I like everything I heard. Specifically, I love how they've given Raiden credit for the Mortal Kombat contest for EarthRealm. It's not just fitting, it seems like something clarified after a long time comings. That makes is refreshing I think.

2.) Raidens voice and all the gibberish is good. Clearer evidence of this is at the beginning of Liu Kangs gamplay video.

3.) Torpedo and Teleport looks good.

4.) Electricity flowing around his body is good. The effect needs some work as far as making it seem more fluid and flowing, but I'm happy with it like it is. I'm actually surprised they were able to get it in there so, I'm that much more pleased about it.

5.) I LOVE the fact that they're using so much more electricity now. It really sets the tone of the character well and I think with some impressive gameplay footage, I'm sure to be even more excited about Raiden coming up to release.

Painting // Render:

Love the whole damn thing. Power pose showcasing his primary character ability. No complaints.

Painting // Render:

Only thing that bugged me was the pupils. I think it was Jaded_Raven who edited them out so I have that version as my Desktop wallpaper now.

Raiden should never have pupils.. idk who did that but they need a spoon taken to the back of their hands once or twice for that. lol Shame on you.

Otherwise the thing is perfect. Aggressive, intimidating, there's a lightning show going on...perfect.

===

I got a little carried away but, let's here your thoughts now.

That is exactly what I said back in the Raiden vignette thread. Seriously, if I want to watch MK:Annihilation/PowerRangers, I'll go rent it.

I like any of these. Even "Don't make me take my belt off, son," would be better than "thunder take you" pew pew pew lol

I wish they'd do that too. So much of this game seems copied from MKDC. I think they just took his and Sonya's faces from that game and re-used them.

Well, I'm pretty much disappointed with the x-ray all around. It might have just been me pining for some heart fibrillation, but this seems so generic. Every character has strikes that break bones. Why couldn't they incorporate electricity into Raiden's, in a way other than that retarded popping ball to the face?

It's absolutely horrible. Just like the x-ray, it's another missed opportunity to do something really impressive with him. How hard would it have been to disintegrate the whole body like on the SNES? Unless they're saving up something really spectacular for the fatalities we haven't seen, they better have some darn good gameplay to make up for the boring uninspired things these are. Cut points are cool for someone like Kitana or Kung Lao or Baraka. You'd expect it from them. But not Raiden.

Yeah, I liked that too. I'm glad they brought it back.

lol @ the thought of Raiden removing a belt to whip someone.

LMAO! "pew pew pew" holy crap...



I don't blame them for re-using stuff cuz all game series' do that. It's just common practice that consequently allows them to focus on other parts of a new game. But, if they could've at least augmented that special better, I'd feel better about it. I'm pretty sure they know we don't like the ball of electricity... I think it's just something technical that's making them continue to do that.

In college, I was good when it came to animating things so I can kinda guess what it is keeping them from doing the better looking effect. Hair and lightning are tough to get around and are two of the only kinds of materials that are still a puzzle that needs to be figured out.

It's like, if you get it right inside the program, then it doesn't behave correctly inside the engine. Which is the weirdest shit ever but, other elements inside of the arena, along with the other characters on screen start screwing with it. Then there's memory issues to consider.

I was hoping they'd found, or created an add-on that handled hair and electricity better in real-time. I actually think they have figured this out but, it may just still be to heavy on memory or something.



I feel your pain bro... That idea makes perfect sense for him, and it seems like the stage is set up nicely to just...give it to him. I wonder if they would consider going back in the mo-cap studio and redo-ing moves like this just so we can have some different things to choose from.

I mean, there is money in it for them.... I'm curious about the implementation into the mechanic for things like this but, I'm sure people paying for these adjustments via DLC covers the cost of doing it after the game is released. I kinda think it's plug and play when it comes to DLC though. Especially if we're talking about parts of the game that we activate // trigger as players, but that are mainly cinematic instances.

I'm not sure of course, but I think it's similar to playing with the chapters on a dvd. You can take chunks of those out of a sequence, and put them where ever you want to if you're the editor. That's what the X-Ray and the Entry animations look like to me. Why not let us buy something different for those spots if we want it bad enough? I would // will // am going to if it's available...

Seems to me this is the kind of purpose DLC is supposed to serve anyhow, idk.



Yea, I'm just not going to use it. I hope to god the other one(s) are 1000 times better, more brutal, more shocking, and faaar more impressive than this.

To note: It does seem like every character has at least one obviously lame fatality. Scorpion for instance, has that odd second slicing fatality, while the first one, where he slices the head into is far and above that more generic one. Flaming skull fatality pending but, I bet it's out of this world awesome.

Sub-Zero has a second, even more impressive ice fatality that not too many people seem to mention. Just saying I agree... I think they're holding out...or I hope this is the case.

I don't know too much about animating or games, but couldn't they just use a transparent animated gif or something? I mean, they managed to do it in MK1 and 2, why is it that 20 years later they're not able to do it? And they've got electricity arcing over his body? Is it really that difficult to take that same electricity and remove it from Raiden, rotate it and let it fly through the air?

Ugh, don't get me started on hair. They have no excuse in my opinion for that. Tekken manages to do long hair in a realistic manner. If electricity is the same, that just makes me even madder. Maybe it's this stupid Unreal Engine they're using. I can't believe they're able to model individual drops of blood flying through the air so realistically, but they can't do those other things.

I would pay for it for sure. Though I'm annoyed that they didn't just put it in the game in the first place, and then I would start to wonder, "Did they purposely make a game that was not so great so that we would be forced to pay extra for DLC to have a game that was really cool?"

I sure hope so. It does seem odd that most of the ones they've shown have been pretty much carbon copies, except Kano's, which is awesome, but even that one's just like Liu Kang's. If the other unreleased ones are just more of the same, I'll be pretty disappointed.