I honestly think that future NRS games need to put more work into its presentation... [Tekken 7 is] dripping with personality, and comparatively NRS games (mostly injustice 2, MKX didn't have this problem as much) just feel dry and a little lifeless.
I love the injustice series a LOT but I really agree on the presentation aspect. This is a superhero game, it should be full of kapows and blams and over the top animations. I know NRS is applying their dark aesthetic but that’s the one thing I wish they would brighten up in this game, still I love it
Also, I agree 100% on the presentation, especially the overall tone/feel of the game. It's way too wrapped up in the NRS/DC style of dark, gritty, serious, grim. That style works for MKX because MKX at least has the ultra-violence going for it, which adds some personality. Injustice 2 just comes off as lukewarm.
New guy here--old school fighter fan, trying to ease my way into current gen games. I really like the look of I2 and am trying to pick it up, which naturally led me to this thread to see what people think about it.
Just wanted to say that I'm really sad to hear this sentiment expressed, as I hear it's a common sentiment in the FGC and maybe doesn't bode well for the franchise's future.
For me, I2 hits a sweet spot for artistic style that other current gen games just don't. I've always liked how MK-lineage games have focused more on human models and realistic textures than animated sprites (and their current descendents), and I think I2 has brought this to a new high (MKX did too). The realism is so much better for creating a sense of immersion in the setting. Cartoon-like characters and stages can be beautiful to look at, don't get me wrong, but they're not immersive--you just don't get the same sense of (quasi) real physics. I2 (and MKX) characters look and play like action figures, with mass and momentum. You can just feel the impact when they hit each other. It's the exact same reason we can feel immersed in a modern superhero movie without feeling a need for every punch to get a flashy hitbox. Not only are gratuitous kapows and blams unnecessary, they would ruin the realism and break the immersion. All just my own opinion, of course.
I'll give you that not everything needs to be completely grim and gritty to have this effect. I would enjoy a few more brightly lit stages. But it does fit the general mood of most DC comics (ever read a Frank Miller Batman book?) and the well-developed backstory, and thus helps maintain the immersion. And there are tons of humorous interactions between the characters (as well as savage burns and everything in between) that help temper the mood and add more realism and texture to the characters. Tekken 7 seems like a fine game, but I truly don't see how it has more personality than I2.
This is already long, but since the topic of MKX's violence as part of its artistic style came up, I want to mention it. I can understand why some think ultra-violence is what gives MK personality, but I disagree. I'm not a prude; I do expect a lot of violence (it is a fighting game after all) and a little over the top to enhance the realism of the low fantasy setting (think Conan the Barbarian) works well, but MKX goes too far.
In early editions of MK, the fatalities were short (merciful?), not especially graphic, and were mostly about giving players a chance to show flair and deeper knowledge of the game. I think hidden gems like animalities, babalities, and friendships were great and extended that same theme. But I think MKX made a really unfortunate move to emphasize shock value instead. Some thematic violence is value-added, but I don't find graphic depictions of torture, suffering, and mutilation to be fun or entertaining, and definitely not needed to maintain the immersion. There's a lot I like about MKX, but I detest that they doubled down on this worst aspect of the game by featuring DLCs that have absolutely nothing to do with the setting and whose pop culture infamy stems specifically from being torturing, mutilating, murderers. It's just repugnant (especially in this age of toxic, dehumanizing misogyny and racism rampant in the gaming community... but that's a topic for a different thread). Anyway, I2 has just the right amount of thematic violence, nothing gratuitous, and I think it's spot on.
Sorry for the long post. I just felt the need to stick up for this beautiful, rich, artistic gem of a game.
