Actually, now that I think about. 8 hours doesn't seem
too far fetched.
I don't remember what interview it was, pretty sure it was Ed Boon, but they said something about in one chapter you could be playing Revenant Liu Kang and then in a later chapter you could be playing Young Liu Kang. So, if we think about that it might not seem to big of a stretch for this story to be longer.
Characters that'll definitely have chapters:
Jacqui, Jax, Johnny, Cassie, Kung Lao, Kotal Kahn, Liu Kang, Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Raiden, Jade, Sonya, and Kitana.
I can even see Noob and D'Vorah having a chapter. (I'd hope D'Vorah has a chapter since she was so important to MKX's story.)
We don't know if any of the bad guys will have chapters (For fuck's sake I hope so. Bad guys always feel like jobbers and the reason D'Vorah didn't seem like a jobber in MKX was that she actually WON fights. Let us play as Erron, Baraka, Skarlet, Kabal, Kano, and Frost in the story so they don't just seem like people who get their asses kicked.
Then add onto the fact that there may be one chapter where you play as the current version and then a later chapter where you could play the young version I could see there being two Kitana, Liu Kang, Raiden chapters. (Okay, mainly hoping for two Kitana chapters cause then two possible chapters where we could get Mileena.)
But, I also think we're going to get double chapters where you can choose who you play as. Like how in Injustice 2 you could choose between Black Canary and Green Arrow or Cyborg and Catwoman.
Liu Kang and Kung Lao are definitely going to have a 'choose who you play as' chapter based off the footage from that Behind the Scenes video where the two are facing their revenant selves and you can see both their dialogue before the fight.
I could even see Sub-Zero and Noob having a duo chapter and that being the reason why we didn't see any Sub-Zero during the story trailer.
And we didn't see a young/alive Kitana in the story either? Could that be because her young chapter has a lot of Mileena???????????!!!!!!!! HUH????!!!?!?!?!
But then again Injustice: GAU, MKX and Injustice 2 all had 12 chapters so. But, MK9 had 16, so, idk.
Imagine 20 chapters....yikes.
OKAY Y'ALL I DID SOME FUCKIN MATH:
1 round is 90 seconds.
2 rounds is 180 seconds.
Which = 3 minutes.
If each chapter has 4 fights...
That'd be 12 minutes per chapter in terms of gameplay time. (varies depending on difficulty and how many times you lose or how fast you win)
12 Chapters would consist of 144 minutes of gameplay = Which is 2.4 hours. Almost 2 and a half hours. (12 chapters is the number of chapters NRS games have had since Injustice: Gods Among Us)
So, let's say we got 15 chapters. That'd give us 180 Minutes = 3 Hours.
20 Chapters = 240 Minutes = 4 hours.
That's just maxed
GAMEPLAY time.
But, then you have to take
CINEMATICS alone into account.
MK9: 2 Hours
IGAU: 1 Hour and 38 Minutes
MKX: 2 Hours and 39 Minutes
Injustice 2: 2 Hours and 45 Minutes
(This is from cutscene movies on Youtube. Could be off)
As we can see, in terms of cutscenes we've gotten more and more over the last couple of games.
I think it's safe to say that we're going to get at the very LEAST 3 Hours worth of cutscenes in MK11.
3 Hours of cutscenes + 12 Chapters = 5 and a half hours.
3 Hours of cutscenes + 15 Chapters = 6 Hours
3 Hours of cutscenes + 20 Chapters = 7 Hours
But, then you gotta think like...if there are a huge number of chapters there should be more cutscene time to accommodate that. Unless a lot of those chapters are just back to back to back fights with very short cutscenes in the middle. Which, could be possible. 20 chapters? Add 1 more hour of cutscenes and BOOM. 8 Hours. Everybody is happy and that representative isn't a
FILTHY LIAR!!!!!!!!!!!
But chances are none of this will happen and we're just gonna get like 4 hours max so
But they could also have like...4 hours of cutscenes and 3 hours of gameplay. Idk. Just saying there could be variables.
I'd be happy with 15 Chapters. 3 hours gameplay, 3 hours of cutscenes, 6 hours overall. But anywhere between 15 to 20 Chapters would be godlike. Unlikely, but hype as hell. But, you also don't want it to be TOO long and overstay it's welcome, but the longer it is the longer you'll get to know these new characters and connect with these returning characters.
But, something we definitely have to take into consideration: Flashbacks. They're gonna have to fit in a lot of 'younger' versions of characters as well as current.
Kano, Jax, Johnny, Kung Lao, Liu Kang, Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Raiden, Kabal, Jade, Sonya, and Kitana all have or are likely to have younger versions of themselves. D'Vorah definitely has a version of herself in story with her MKX outfit (Which was itself an outfit she wore in a flashback)
They also need to flesh out a character like Skarlet, who has previously had like...no story at all in the games. All we know is that Shao Kahn gave her blood magic and I think that's it. There's probably more in the comics but casuals aren't super likely to have read them and might not know. I read them, it's just been a minute.
Then there are NPCs they could throw into the story as well. They gotta fit in 25-28 characters into the story and they're likely to sprinkle in some NPCs into the story too. (not-fightable of course. Unless they're slated for DLC which is possible) We could be seeing the likes of Sindel, Nightwolf, and who knows who else in the story mode.
Kratos likely not included in story mode lulz
But, no matter what, I'm HYPED. NRS always brings their A-Game when it comes to their stories. So, even if it's just 2-3 hours I know it'll be good. They always get better and better in terms of quality so I'm really not worried about it at all. There are so many paths they could take when it comes to folding in the timeline and I'm just so excited for it.
This took me forever to write so please don't drag me thx. This is all in good fun and is mostly jokes.
