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General/Other - Liu Kang Injustice towards Liu Kang's character

Dankster Morgan

It is better this way
I want Liu Kang's redemption eventually, it does not even have to be in the next game. The last story concentrated too much on the new characters. LK needs some story parts to explore this aspect as well. I would like him and Kitana to cease being revenant, thereby having more personality than just being evil, but to continue to rule Netherealm.
I'd like Liu Kang to be given a personality period.
 

Harlequin969

Always press buttons
My 2 cents. I honestly think this adds to them. Basically there are no perfect characters and seeing them such as regular Superman or OG Kang feels flawed by not having flaws. Seeing them make mistakes and either learning from them or becoming evil feels natural.

In Injustice for Superman, if you read the comics, theres a long journey that he goes through before becoming the Regime Superman we see in the game. We see the character struggle, think he's doing the right thing, only to just be let down, betrayed and more. The journey to evil is something that we don't often see for these characters. Suddenly Liu is evil in MKX.

In MK9 he's a good guy, but he has to watch his friends continiously be slaughtered and he's powerless to do anything about it. So his resentment toward Raiden is very jusitfied until the end where it seems as if Raiden has lost his mind and they have their battle. However we don't see the transition as to why he's evil without just assuming Dark Magic. From the arcade mode ending of MKX, Liu's in his default costume but ruling over the netherrealm. So maybe default Liu is an older Liu but still under the corruption of what he once was. Lao had Kung Jin to help him be redeemed and saved from the evil, as per arcade ending, but Liu seems to be left alone even after being 'purified'.

The point is without a transition it feels rushed and gimicky. Without an immediate redemption arc it feels like an after thought. Not to mention in MKX Liu isn't a main player so we have even less time to understand what happens after he's brought back as a Revanent and then some.
 

PapaRegadetho

All hail emperor Liucifer Kang!
I talked to John Vogel on twitter about it weeks ago, he has not yet decided if Liu and the other revenants are going to be revived, but he likes the idea of making him neutral, or at least have him struggle with his good and evil side.
 
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zerosebaz

What's the point of a random Krypt?
MK´s story has been in decline since MKDA, with MKD being not as great but still pretty good, and MKA, MK9, and MKX being different levels of shit, all for diferent reasons. The revenants are lame, all of them. They feel like old stupid rage consumed Scorpion, just bland.

The past two games created so many contradictions and did´t even fix the plotholes the old story had. I´m so dissapointed, MK´s story was better than this.
 

Dankster Morgan

It is better this way
Being a person who values honor, duty, intergrity, respect, love, forgiveness and peace is a personality. Like it or not. :)
He was a total dick lol. I started at MK9 so maybe I'm missing something. Honestly what you described is more in line with the Kuai Liang Sub-Zero than Liu.
 

PapaRegadetho

All hail emperor Liucifer Kang!
He was a total dick lol. I started at MK9 so maybe I'm missing something. Honestly what you described is more in line with the Kuai Liang Sub-Zero than Liu.
I figured you started with MK9. Back in the early games, that's what he was. But even with MK9, you have to realize the situation he was in, you just don't turn a 'dick' like that for no reason, and you have to keep in mind that the devs wanted something different for him. Well, Kuai certainly now shares some things with Liu Kang, thats why he is my second favorite character in the series. Plus I'm a big fan of the ice element along with fire! :D
 

Dankster Morgan

It is better this way
I figured you started with MK9. Back in the early games, that's what he was. But even with MK9, you have to realize the situation he was in, you just don't turn a 'dick' like that for no reason, and you have to keep in mind that the devs wanted something different for him. Well, Kuai certainly now shares some things with Liu Kang, thats why he is my second favorite character in the series. Plus I'm a big fan of the ice element along with fire! :D
That's cool that he wasn't always a dick. He just randomly dicked out in MK9. Like his sort of girl friend that he talked to like twice died and that was enough to betray raiden. I can understand why he was angry about lao's death. He was legit in the mk1 section of the story but he randomly decided it was raidens fault.
 

PapaRegadetho

All hail emperor Liucifer Kang!
That's cool that he wasn't always a dick. He just randomly dicked out in MK9. Like his sort of girl friend that he talked to like twice died and that was enough to betray raiden. I can understand why he was angry about lao's death. He was legit in the mk1 section of the story but he randomly decided it was raidens fault.
The whole drama didn't escalate that fast, if MK9 storlline was a fantasy novel or tv show, it would have shown us the development between the characters, development that lasted months, or even maybe years. And if you pay more attention, without being a bit bias, you could actually pin point the reason why the feud between Raiden and Liu happened. Its not only Liu that question his decision, but others as well. Here you can even see that Liu Kang is trying to tell Raiden what he'll discover after he comes back from the Netherrealm, but he just ignores him instead. And after they come back from the failed attempt to pursue the Elders Gods to help them against the Invasion, they find their friends and comrades dead, when Liu Kang could have easily prevented their deaths.





 
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Dankster Morgan

It is better this way
The whole drama didn't escalate that fast, if MK9 storlline was a fantasy novel or tv show, it would have shown us the development between the characters, development that lasted months, or even maybe years. And if you pay more attention, without being a bit bias, you could actually pin point the reason why the feud between Raiden and Liu happened. Its not only Liu that question his decision, but others as well. Here you can even see that Liu Kang is trying to tell Raiden what he'll discover after he comes back from the Netherrealm, but he just ignores him instead.





The events of mk9 were back to back I thought. Raiden was right and Liu who is supposed to be like a son betrayed him when the going got tough. Cage and Sonya stuck it out and Sonya had an actual reason to be pissed at raiden because she was way closer to jax than Liu was to kitana. I dont know why I'm getting this in depth basically what I came here to say is I personally think Liu is a cookie cutter character with a cocky douchey persona who is a rapist to fight against.
 

PapaRegadetho

All hail emperor Liucifer Kang!
The events of mk9 were back to back I thought. Raiden was right and Liu who is supposed to be like a son betrayed him when the going got tough. Cage and Sonya stuck it out and Sonya had an actual reason to be pissed at raiden because she was way closer to jax than Liu was to kitana. I dont know why I'm getting this in depth basically what I came here to say is I personally think Liu is a cookie cutter character with a cocky douchey persona who is a rapist to fight against.
No one is saying that Raiden was wrong,but Raiden had some bad decisions before the end, I'm just telling you that Liu didn't turn a 'dick' for the reason you mentioned. Actions have consequences. You are going in depth because you came into a Liu Kang thread commenting, you're obviously going to get a response. :)
 

Dankster Morgan

It is better this way
No one is saying that Raiden was wrong,but Raiden has some bad decisions before the end, I'm just telling you that Liu didn't turn a 'dick' for the reason you mentioned. Actions have consequences. You are going in depth because you came into a Liu Kang thread commenting, you're obviously going to get a response. :)
Fair enough. If you like Liu Kang no problem with that. I just don't like him because of betraying raiden.
 

GreatKungLao

LiuTana
MK´s story has been in decline since MKDA, with MKD being not as great but still pretty good, and MKA, MK9, and MKX being different levels of shit, all for diferent reasons. The revenants are lame, all of them. They feel like old stupid rage consumed Scorpion, just bland.

The past two games created so many contradictions and did´t even fix the plotholes the old story had. I´m so dissapointed, MK´s story was better than this.
Tell me about it. The whole Cassie Cage beating Shinnok at his 200% power level with no sweat just diminishes so many characters.

Liu Kang first of all. He was trained his entire life to oppose super natural beings, he was taught by Shaolin monks, a Thunder God and an Outworld kung-fu master Bo' Rai Cho and all of his achievements were through hardwork. Now, why the hell do you need all this if in order to be ultimately strong is to glow green?

Raiden and Fujin TOGETHER couldn't stop Shinnok when he was in his normal form in the beginning of Story Mode, but Cassie defeated Corrupted Shinnok powered up with Jinsei as if like it was a piece of a cake, just because she saw her dad being bullied.

It was a Marie Sue case. It could've been much better if Cassie was discovering her powers throughout the story and beyond it (through comics and such), learning how to use it, but even then she should've been struggling against Corrupted Shinnok and have at least some bruises and broken ribs, that fight should have been something like Neo vs Smith, where Smith prevailed a few times during the battle before Neo finding in himself enough stength to make his final attempts and finally defeating a bad guy.

And don't get me started on Jax who retired for some time, then just returned from the farm and defeated Kitana, Sindel and Liu Kang in a row. Seriously? Jax? Not to mention that Sindel one shotted him in MK9? And Liu Kang was the strongest Earthrealm's fighter? Kitana a 10 000 years old assassin? Jesus Christ.

Being a person who values honor, duty, intergrity, respect, love, forgiveness and peace is a personality. Like it or not. :)
For some reason people find these qualities boring and it really sucks that NRS is trying to replace Liu Kang's character with others now, like they gave Johnny Cage Liu Kang's role from MK4 of defeating Shinnok (which was again thanks to green thing, not years of training with masters from different realms). Though I think this is exactly these qualities that made original timeline Liu Kang so great, because being good with all the shit going around you is what really hard to do, to remain your head clear and going by your principles no matter what, with all the temptations that life throws at you to remain good takes a lot of hard work and shows exactly how strong personality of this character is. I mean remember that in MK Deception Liu Kang corpse was resurrected and corrupted by Dark Raiden? Even that didn't made Liu Kang to turn backwards, but actually trying to find a way to fix things, starting from working with Ermac (whose storyline was also much better in original timeline when he turned good) and saving his freinds from Onaga.

But again, I'm still holding hopes that Liu Kang will eventually come to his original timeline self, just through the journey in darkness first. Have you ever played Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic? The main character Revan was a Jedi, who turned into Sith Lord and then came back as a Jedi again, using benefits of both sides of the Force to do even more good than he could before.

As for Liu Kang and Kitana, I have a thought that if they restored their original selves or at least were regaining their goodness in the process of ruling Netherrealm, instead of this realm being a hell, they both could have made this realm a sanctuary for lost souls and help lead their way into afterlife, since Liu Kang is a sort of spiritual guide, being a spiritual Shaolin monk, as his MK9 bio says "Orphaned at a very young age, Liu Kang was raised by Shaolin monks, who taught him the way of the spiritual warrior." and Kitana being a royalty by nature, a princess of peaceful Edenia, could make Netherrealm into a better place as a realm, thus together Liu Kang and Kitana could be helping purify dead ones from the evil they were corrupted in. Then maybe later they could have free Edenia and rule it as king and queen, after being restored and learning so much from both sides of life and death.

To be honest, when Cassie Cage was announced and we saw Liu Kang and Kitana in their resurrected forms in trailers, I had a hope that we will Liu Kang and Kitana's descendant, maybe a son or a daughter (or both). Can you imagine how badass their kid could be? Liu Kand is a master of fire, while Kitana controls the air. Fire + air is a deadly combination, imagine their kid throwing fire balls like dad and then make it faster and bigger by swinging razor fans in the same direction like his/hers mom does.

A male razor fans user who also wields fire magic, this character could be amazing. Too bad that resurrected sking of Liu Kang and Kitana were just skins, they remained revenants in the story.
 
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Parasurama

Dragon
Liu Kang will get redemption eventually. I would like him to remain conflicted in next the game but grow. Shinnok and everyone who he fought against was defeated in primal timeline. The deadly alliance tricked him to win. It seems that evil LK is not as powerful if Jax could defeat him. I think that Cassie defeating corrupted Shinnok was way crazier than Kung Jin beating Kotal however let it be so. I want more LK and Shaolin story line.
 

GreatKungLao

LiuTana
You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.
You either die a hero or remain strong enough to stay a hero =)

Liu Kang will get redemption eventually. I would like him to remain conflicted in next the game but grow. Shinnok and everyone who he fought against was defeated in primal timeline. The deadly alliance tricked him to win. It seems that evil LK is not as powerful if Jax could defeat him. I think that Cassie defeating corrupted Shinnok was way crazier than Kung Jin beating Kotal however let it be so. I want more LK and Shaolin story line.
In the MKX comics Takeda hold Liu Kang is high regards, when he saw his statue in Kang's Temple, he was really fanboy about him, so I'm thinking that it would be great if in MK11 there was a scene, where Takeda decides to go into Netherrealm to speak with his personal former hero. Like, imagine that Earthrealm started loosing to some new threat (Onaga for example or a new Deadly Alliance formed from somebody else), while Netherrealm stays out of all conflicts and live on its own, so when all hope would seem to be lost, Takeda would decide to go where nobody else would even think about to go to - Netherrealm and ask Liu Kang for help. So once Takeda approaches Liu Kang, he can remind him of what he was once, saying that for him Liu Kang was the Earthrealnm's ultimate hero and an his personal inspiration to become a great fighter and that there is still hope for him to return back to his senses. That would trigger something in Liu Kang and while being in denial first and sending Takeda back to Earthrealm, Liu Kang might be approcahed by Kitana who would say something like "You know, this kid might be right, you was the kindest person I've known, one of the reasons I love you so much, Liu", then Kung Lao joins with something like "You are the best brother I could've dreamed of" and then the others, supporting Takeda's subject. All of this leads Liu Kang to bring back the good that was left in him on the surface of his current state.

Then when Takeda return to Earthrealm, saying that Liu Kang refused and at the verge of being conquered or destroyed by new threat, we see a portal opening from the Netherrealm where Liu Kang, his wife and friends are coming with an army to do something they were originally raised to do - save the world.
 

GreatKungLao

LiuTana
Liu Kang will get redemption eventually.
Speaking of that, I was rewatching Heroes series and here is a very suitable quote for Liu Kang's situation:


Why would it be bad? They've been the it couple in MK since the old days
Yup and there is a lot of great fan art of them together.

And it seems they are going to share a very similar path.
 

Espio

Kokomo
First of all, I like how people pretend like there's a power level system for who can beat who in MK (spoiler alert: there isn't).

When people are saying Jax cannot beat Sindel, Kitana or Liu Kang (when he is physically and mentally one of Earth's strongest) that shows enough bias especially when you consider one of the reasons provided is "Kitana is a 10,000 year old Assassin. I guess Liu Kang shouldn't be able to beat her either since she has WAY more experience than him too.

Cassie was trained by Johnny Cage, Sonya and was mentored by Raiden, she had a God and powerful warriors behind her growth, let's not pretend only Liu Kang did.

Kotal Kahn before becoming emperor was underneath both Shao Kahn and Mileena as a servant, being Kahn does not mean he is Shao Kahn's equal. Not to mention, Kung Jin still remains trained by the White Lotus (Like Liu and Lao) + being the descendant of the Great Kung Lao, but I guess that only matters if you're Liu Kang apparently.

There's a lot of other biased narrative in this thread, but I'm gonna leave it at addressing the above to get right to Liu Kang.

Liu Kang is the Goku of the old time line and that's not a compliment. I don't have a problem with the goodie two shoes/boy scout character that always does the right thing, but their presence in both MK and DBZ is overstated and overdone. "Can't do it without Goku/Liu Kang". The character helped to make the story stale because no matter what, he beat everyone and it made the other heroes seem irrelevant, useless and an afterthought, just like Goku did for other powerful characters like Piccolo, Majuub and Vegeta time and time again.

This went on from MK1-MK4 and when he died in Deadly alliance I finally thought: "Maybe now everyone else will step up and put Quan/Shang down". Boy was I wrong lol. Deadly Alliance/Deception was a passive aggressive way of saying without Liu Kang, we cannot win or even be relevant. They died.

Raiden, Kung Lao, Kitana, Sonya, Cage, Jax, Sub-Zero and Frost should have been able to best the two of them. Even if Raiden fought toe to toe with Quan Chi and Kitana and Kung Lao tag teamed Shang Tsung, that should have been enough with Jax, Sub-Zero, Frost, Cage and Sonya running interference with the Tarkatans.

He made the series very stale for me story wise. If they had done things better and gave the other heroes their chance in the spotlight, I might feel slightly different about Liu Kang, but making the main hero the only one who matters while also being plain, boring/cliche do gooder doesn't help his case.

At least revenant Liu Kang is sharing the spotlight with Kitana, but I shouldn't get my hopes up for that till the next game lol.
 
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GreatKungLao

LiuTana
If they had done things better and gave the other heroes their chance in the spotlight
This is what NRS should have been strarted to do with reboot, but they thought that turning another character into Darth Vader will be "original", like nobody else done this before. I have absolutely no problem with other characters taking the lead in one MK game or another, what I'm not ok is when heroic character is turned at 180 degrees just because it is "cool" with no other reason for that. It's not like there are already all sorts of different type of characters in MK universe, why the hell removing Liu Kang's original qualities and make him like many others, while it is exactly his boy-scout and goody two shoes self that made him unique for this particular universe, there was no other like Liu Kang in Mortal Kombat. Now Liu Kang and other revenants are just a poor replica of Scorpion, whose actions are motivated by anger, service and vengeance only.

This went on from MK1-MK4 and when he died in Deadly alliance I finally thought: "Maybe now everyone else will step up and put Quan/Shang down". Boy was I wrong lol. Deadly Alliance/Deception was a passive aggressive way of saying without Liu Kang, we cannot win or even be relevant. They died.
Shujinko saved the day in Deception though, but again...

Quan should become a hero
Too late for him, thanks to Hanzo Hasashi's stupidity, who acted like a selfish brat in MKX story mode. When he was told that Quan Chi might be the only way to return other revenants back to life, he was pretty much like "Fuck that, my vengeance is much more important than saving lives of Earthrealm's warriors". That was a facepalm moment for sure.

Cassie was trained by Johnny Cage, Sonya and was mentored by Raiden, she had a God and powerful warriors behind her growth, let's not pretend only Liu Kang did.
Too bad the only reason she won is because of Mary Sue power up.