Shang Tsung's Shapeshifting

[legion666]

Shapeshifting into the characters that aren’t in the game would be also be like little glimpses of what these characters would be like in the game)
The main idea I have been proposing since mk9 is him shifting into characters while performing moves (even normals). This could be one of his variations. So he could turn into Motaro to do a sweep with his tail, or turn into Goro to do a command grab, or into Raiden to teleport, or like doing noob’s Up Shadow animation for his d2...

 

[zerosebaz]

Maybe they can make him morph into different characters for his combo string animations. His variation moves may be shapeshifting to another character and performing their move. Some variations moves may allow him to morph into sub zero for an instant to throw an ice ball then immediately morph back. The MK9 version was kind of lame.

So he's Shujinko, but shapeshifts?

 

[legion666]

On the side note, he has to float this time around!!! Like he has to be old, and he needs to fly like in mk1!!!

 

[Hara-Killer]

what if Shang can morph in Shujinko , Kintaro , Chameleon and triborg ?

hmmm

naa

Maybe just Mk9 Shang soul steal again

 

[Sablicious]

Good idea, OP... But, there's about a snowflake called Buckley('s) chance of parachuting into Hell to deliver Churchill peace negotiations, that NRS would spend their oft meme'd disclaimer for everything fans want, "limited resources" on creating entire characters and balancing whatever abilities they accoutred them with, just for Tsung to fleetingly morph into them. (NB: I do appreciate that MKX had unrealised "NPC's". However, they did not need to be balanced, nor were they [officially] usable by players.)

In the recent history of the character in question, NRS have nerfed the character
s signature skill in utero. In MK2011, Tsung's morphing might as well have never existed -- seeing as how hilariously lame its functionality was (mirrored morphs only). Of course, there are mods that conceived the ability in a much better way: tied to the meter, level-1 morph = mirror; level-2 morph = any non-boss char., pre-assigned in a .INI file (*could be a "slot", if implemented in the MK11 model...); level-3 = a boss. That is, NRS and their e-sports (read" "balance") myopia, handicaps Shang Tsung, perhaps, more than any other char. in MK (*contingent upon what they do with my avatar in the upcoming game, seeing as Goro was relatively nerfed in 'X').

So, I'd wager a shiny, new, Outworld Krypt zenny that, whatever they do with Tsung (prediction: lame-tastic "mirror morphs" again), his morphs will be underwhelming and gimmicky, than real and efficacious tools (much less, beseem the MK lore). Issuing from that, the character itself will likely be a disappointment (...having only fireballs to rely on). Uber fans and those drunk of glass-half-full optimism, will shill the sorcerer -- even if he's transitioned into Rocky Horror Picture Show "Frankenfurter cross-dresser!... But, that's a given and should be filtered from any objective assessment of the character.

Suffice it to say, this 'Sablicious destroys everything' episode very disheartening... Seeing as how loved and unique and under-utilised the character is... We do still have our safety blanket of "hope™", though. v_v

 

[KCJ506]

Morphing to any character at will is probably not doable technically. You'd have to load the base version of every character in each fight. Thats waaaay to much memory, trust me. If he morphs at all, it would be into his opponent or into a predetermined character.

Yeah the PS version of Trilogy had to load every single time Shang Tsung morphed into another character and there was a notable and obvious pause in the action for several seconds whenever he did it, as the appropriate characters were swapped in and out of RAM.

This is most likely why he was only limited to changing against the character he was fighting against in MK9. Because their data was already in RAM and he can simply draw from that.

 

[PLAYING TO WIN]

I have been reading how people are doubting that ST would be in the game because his Shapeshifting gimmick and the kustom variations system aren't compatible. That got me thinking, what if instead of shifting into his opponent, we could have him shift into characters not on the roster.
Not sure if it would be feasible, but it would be freaking awesome, in my opinion.
Thoughts?

I like it. I also like how shinnok stole one of their moves. I would be happy with that too

 

[Marinjuana]

How are those things not compatible? Literally do the same exact thing they did with Shinnok except he also visually morphs into the character when he performs their move. Done.

They could do that but that's weak af compared to what he normally does. Morphing into the character is so much cooler then just mimic'ing a move. Not to say Imposter stealing moves wasn't rad though.

I think they should make another attempt at what they did in MK9 with him morphing into the opponent. Personally I wouldn't mind if you randomly switched into another character but people always hate randomize stuff in fighters.

 

[Pterodactyl]

The reasonings I've seen have been that it might be too much extra work to implement or problematic to program. Personally, I believe in NRS's ability to make it work, I just thought if they couldn't or wanted to try something new with him they could have him shift into the souls he's consumed.

How? You have to load in your opponents data anyway, it just copies it and gives it to you like in MK9

 

[SaladPlateLover]

Transform into Chameleon to copy Shinnok's mimicry to gain soul steal

 

[Eji1700]

Morphing to any character at will is probably not doable technically. You'd have to load the base version of every character in each fight. Thats waaaay to much memory, trust me. If he morphs at all, it would be into his opponent or into a predetermined character.

Depends.

Assets and interface are the only real issue. Loading every move and it's corresponding data wouldn't be that demanding, nor would having the moves "work" (...probably) as long as they're invisible (and you designed everything from the ground up with this in mind...)

So from there the question is what tricks would you use.

For example if shang didn't actually 100% morph into the enemy model and just had a "Specter" generic asset he used that then did the moves that would help a ton, but unfortuantely animations are a part of assets and likely a problem.

I think it could be feasible for him to have access to every special move on some sort of demand (although you wind up with the old issue of just an absurd movelist that's a big turn off these days as easier to play is better), but not every normal/combo string. That even still "could" be possible if you didn't mind one hell of a preload (and kicking lower spec machines in the balls, another really bad business move).

The question is, is it worth it? Probably not. Shang has plenty of other signature stuff (mainly ground skulls, but they might pull from the other MK sorcerors kits, like shinnok and quan), and again the fact that you'd NEED to have him in mind when you started designing your program (so that you can access that data mid match) makes it a pretty demanding niche case.

That on top of the fact they've already worked around expectations by just making shang not able to do that since DA, and stuff like imposter shinnok, and I'd say it's super unlikely.

 

[skater11]

MAKE him 100% morph-able to any character on the roster. with access to all variation moves and normals. no cool down. make him 100% broken and top tier, only way it'll work.

 

[MadPropz101]

Just make him shapeshift like he did in MK9

 

[SaSSolino]

Having him shapeshift in characters we don't have on the roster would mean developing extra characters just for the sake of Shang's morph, not really smart.

They could always do it MK9 style, but you only get the standard kit.

 

[MEN_TATALOR]

Look at sub without clone...just BE in the f game..

 

[Agilaz]

Why is everybody making it so complicated?

Just have him mirror morph, either to the opponent's loadout or variationless. Let him keep his damage buff from MK9 when he morphs. That's what makes him a great pocket character.

 

[Fatal1ty_93_RUS]

do the same exact thing they did with Shinnok except he also visually morphs into the character when he performs their move

Problem is, when Tsung does shift into another character - would he keep his original hurtbox/hitboxes, or would they change to that of character in question?

 

[Cassie Cyrus]

I wouldn't even mind if they gave Shang Tsung all types of cool abilities not about shapeshifting, and just saved the shapeshifting part for the storymode. I mean, Shang Tsung mostly ended up on the bottom of the most-played list, probably because of the shapeshifting, so maybe just keep the shapeshifting thing for his intro's, outro's, fatalities, other-talities and storymode appearances.

 

[Fatal1ty_93_RUS]

just saved the shapeshifting part for the storymode

I'm surprised how examples of this there are in MK games. Unless I'm mistaken, the only times Tsung actually used this in the story were
1) When he turned into Kung Lao in the Wu Shi Academy to approach Liu Kang and eventually kill him in MKDA
2) When he kept turning into Johhny Cage, Kung Lao or Raiden throughout MK Shaolin Monks
3) and When he was climbing up the ladder in MK Armageddon's intro

Suffice to say his shapeshifting is severely underutilized

 

[GLoRToR]

It's a plot device for him as an endboss. I do miss him being able to turn into everyone like in the early games, mind. But armoured soulsteal was really nice too.

 

[vapid]

If Shang's in, I've no doubt he'll be epic.

 

[methademic]

Or you know, it would work like mk9 and the moves would just come from the stolen characters base moveset. I know.. logic.. its scary

 

[Espio]

Soul steal could be done pretty simply and be rewarding for Shang Tsung players to learn the whole roster.

I would love to see him be able to soul steal and be able to choose two characters to morph into plus his current opponent since they have shown they can load four characters at a time in previous games.

The characters can just be the base no move added versions of the characters too as it would make Shang Tsung more interesting to learn and super rewarding when you put the time into him.

Base could just be: straight fireball, ground fireballs, and soul steal.

 

[Sablicious]

Do Tsung properly, or don't do him at all -- leave him a non-playable "boss" (hacks / mods aside). I know if he was my favourite, I would not want him diluted--any more than I want a Shao Kahn sans trash talk and cheesy hammer attacks etc..

They could simply do what many want for the variation: make the proper, morphing Tsung exclusive to some dedicated / 'unbalanced' "Free" mode, and use a cookie-cutter version / "variation" for tournament and ranked play. Most of the game's play-time will be spent outside of tournaments / "Rank" realms, anyway. >win-win

 

[J_in_CA]

Shape shifting became pointless once they got away from the old games and you couldn't do it with every character anymore. He has plenty of his own moves so he really doesn't need the shape shifting to make him a fun character to use anyway. I mean if you want to play as sub-zero just pick him, don't pick shang and then switch to him.