He is comparing the next generation MK to the last 3 games Deadly Alliance, Deception, and Armageddon. It is suppose to be even darker than those games. Not MK1, 2, 3 or 4.

Some people will believe anything midway says, and buys every mk game they make wether it be good or not...and then becomes very dissappointed when the game comes out... unfortunatly i am one of those fans. I try to think positive that they will finally deliver on what they say.

I think MKSM was the closest thing they have had as far as being what they said it was going to be...closest...

I don't think i will be buying the hype this time. That andi don't own a PS2 or X-box 360..so im screwed anyways Ha.

Well, I pretty much have to go with what The_Truth has already said. While I'm glad they are going for a darker, grittier, more serious tone, the gameplay really needs to be solid from now on. I'm not expecting perfection from it, and I'm sure no one else is either. However, the fighting mechanics need to have a good, solid foundation, otherwise, the gameplay will most certainly fall apart.

To completely cut out all of the series trademark humor would be a bad move imo. At least keep in a few references here and there.

I just hope they get rid of fighting styles for this game, they should keep it simple like the 2d games were imo...

The fighting styles didn't make things complex. The gameplay was still simplistic.

LOL Ed Boon being serious...........

I am excited over the news. However, all of this seems so familiar - so many times we have been given high expectations, that this will happen, that that will happen. In the end, nothing. For instance, we were promised 'ripped clothing' - but wasnt that 2 consoles ago?

[quote]The fighting styles didn't make things complex. The gameplay was still simplistic.[/quote]
not really, you had to memorize a huge list of different combos for three different styles. For games like DA-A you couldn't just pick up and play against someone, it took a little time to practice. but in the 2d ones you could pick up and play it no problem. Im not saying they should make the next game's fighting exactly like the 2d ones, because that sure as hell wouldn't work. i think they should keep the simplicity of the 2d games, less is more imo. It seems to me when Boon said in the interview that "we arent putting restrictions on the game like we HAVE to have fighting styles or we HAVE to have weapons...." that they might get rid of weapons and fighting styles all together....

....would love to believe him, but been down this road many times with boon and his team. Work on the gameplay first PLEASE. No more button taps.

Yes really. You are simply not aware of the fact that the gameplay in MKDA-MKA all comes down to a few moves/combos per character as most of the moves in each movelist are garbage.

High-level play of these games involves using these few moves over and over again and abusing glitches like free throws.

So really, it's all about knowing which few moves work and which ones suck.

Getting rid of fighting styles and weapons, imo, is a big mistake.

Btw, the entire interview

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=162494

Enjoy

I figured he meant multiple fighting styles.

I think it's way to early to assume anything Just yet..

I mean we don't know the Name of the Game, What it looks like, Who's in it. and we might not know until Next year. Im all with taking a more serious Approach but i also agree that it needs a little Humor.

Im not overlly excited about the news of loads of New Characters when you consider the Characters introduced in the last 3 Games really havent been all that. But i wont come to Judgement onto anything till i have seen it all.

yeah thats what I was thinking

The combo system isn't simple pick up and play though Sub-Zero_7th Even a few combos take a while to learn. A perfect example of what i think would work really well for the next game is Shaolin Monks multiplayer.

also i think the combo system is very flawed and doesn't flow together nicely at all. Now i like Deadly Alliance and Deception, it's just the overall gameplay i dislike.

didnt he say MKD was gonna be "more serious" too? i know he said this before...

Thats true, I remember reading in gamepro that mk4 was going to be more serious and darker.

MK 4 was darker and more serious ...and.. gameplay wise it was a nice combo between 3d and the traditional gameplay. Too bad they stopped there.

On another note:
"we're going to... try to introduce as many new characters as possible"

Not glad to hear this, looks like he still feels forced to keep a lot of old characters, and with the new characters added..feels like another quantity over quality issue.

I'm glad to hear the news!! Now we wait to see what happens next!

I don't see what's so hard about the combo system, especially since it's pretty much the same dial-a-combo system that's been in MK since MK3.

The problems lie within the lack of fluidity in animations, the fact that they're still using dial-a-combos, and a bunch of other things.

Going back into the more 2D gameplay style roots isn't going to make things better. It's all a matter of having the essential mechanics and doing a good execution of those mechanics. Without that, the core of the gameplay will likely fall apart.

i wasn't saying they should make the 3d games have the same gameplay as the 2d ones, i was saying it should be more simplistic and have the simplistic feel of the 2D ones. Thats why i chose Shaolin monks gameplay as an example. In that multiplayer there wasn't a bunch of combos and fighting styles, it was very simple to play and was a ball imo. Now if they took that and expanded upon it, the gameplay could change dramatically.

For that they could have simple 1 or 2 button combos like in DOA and MKSM, and custom combos like in K1 and Fight Night. Give these basic types of commands to every fighter.

Give them many variations, so you can basically do custom combos with a limit of 2-4 attacks depending on what moves you use. It could be like a branch system.

Make them escapable strings, not dial combos for the most part.

there you go, that sounds good...

I see what you mean. The switch to 3D put me through a loop too. Then, with MkDa, things just got to felling even slower, sluggish even, and less like the traditional Mk games...but that was the point right?
It was more complex in that, everything looked superficial, and made it worse that it felt like it had to be too precise in order to just-fight.
The traditional "dial-a-combo" system that Sub-Zero_7th mentions just made things worse being in 3D AND having the tactful martial arts styles, but it was already bad imO. I didn't like the switch to 3d at all in the beginning.MkDa, MkD, and MkA just reinforced that notion for me.
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As far as Boon saying all these times that "the next game will be darker, more serious.." or whatever, I think that's exactly what they did each time. I say this now in hind-sight of course so excuse me, but none of the games in the past have a "delightful" or "light" or "silly" Or "pleasant" feel to them. Look back.

Some of them are more colorful(namely Mk2), all of them had some humor to them(namely Mk3-UMk3-T), but none were ever "light" in decore. I think elements of the game changed in ways that didn't exploit the properties which made people like the 2d games when it came to the 3D world.

1. Realistic people went bye-bye. This says alot to me because, with the "real" people in there, the sense of danger is heightened. In a wierd sense, it creates a connection to the character you play with (no matter if you favor the character or not). Whereas with the more computer graphic motivated characters, and motion capture "soul"(if you will), it's lessened....or even gone. Why? Cuz "cartoons" can die........... and they always come back later so who cares if say Shang Tsung cyphens the "soul" out of that.?.

Back in the day it "hurt" more to see a real person get his head or something cut//ripped off. That made alot of the traditional Mk "mood"...disapate into thin air when they(understandably) took real people out of the characters we played with. darkness right? Not as.....mmm.....evil,sadistic, or inhumane with the real people gone.
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So, my suggestion-in-hopfulness is that, to some extent they find a way to put that aspect back in the game. The UnReal3 Engine touch should do nicely.

2. Fatalities gradually got less brutal I think...and that's in general cuz there are still those few that are good.

The thing is, when you first say "Fatality", the picture associated with it should be the worst fate one person could possibly bestow upon another. That's not happening recently in Mk so much as in the past. Has alot to do with morale and the fears of the general populus today but, that's a different thing. "Fatality" = 9/11(terror)......"Fatality" = war(chaos)....."Fatality" = not only amputations, but it equals deformaties(confinement or limitations beyond control). Then implement death into all that. See? heheh..

Basiclly though, "we" ain't "scared" of being blown up or having limbs torn off and so on now-a-days. We're just not frightened, or appauled the same way anymore....and since this is so, the finishers have been failing to impress fans in game as far as I am to understand. Especially when being associated with a word like "Fatality".

You gotta terrorize, frighten, and make us sick from experiencing fatalities now. And at the same time...astonish with creativity.

3. The "Joke" characters and thier habitual tendencies gotta go, there wasn't any of that in the older games. Well, there was Cage, and the nut punch I guess, and then there's the Friendships.

But what I'm saying is that if there is a "Joke character" in the next couple installments, the fight in that character has to superseed....maybe even the looks. He//she can be light-hearted, but the fight has to be totally contradictory.

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that's too much already... maybe more later