The irony of this discussion is that, despite all the complaints relating FB's, these poor man's / modern-day casual's "supers" aren't very powerful anyway.
A mere 30~33% isn't very much in the context of the damage output of many far more spammable tools in 'Uppercut: The Game -- Chin Jab Edition' (example: down-2 = guaranteed 14%), and FB's are only allowed once per match, per successful use. Also, MK11's supers aren't anywhere as easy to YOLO as they were in previous games (against intermediately competent players and above, and discounting the really Wiitendo tier FB's, like Error Black's), due to their lack or start-up armor. Granted, those qualifiers do not factor in online latency -- from where (online) my Spidey senses tickle my testes that most of the FB hate stems from... Arguments that are often moot, seeing as, outside of point-n-click MMO's, online is little more than a shits n' giggles troll orgy (at the best of times).
HOWEVER, and having said all that, FB's have proved to be exactly what I imagined to be, the moment their new mechanics were revealed: an "epic" and "'kool" and "awesome" move for casuals to spam over and over, and rot brain cells to; while fighting purist are bored into gaming-induced comas. They're neither here nor there in their implementation: they're neither the tools they would otherwise be if they were meter dependant and/or more versatile and unique in application and/or more than one FB existed per char. and/or they acted as actual "desperation moves"; nor the comeback / "clutch" mechanic that they seem to loosely mimic.
To me, from the perspective of someone who was introduced to this genre in the early 90's, the Fatal Blows are a hodge-podge of old school ideas, smeared in modern-day "accessibility" mechanics -- producing a system that pleases the few, while frustrating the many. In this sense, MK11's supers are case in point for why input execution is so important in this genre of game: Unless execution is used to gate the more powerful abilities characters have, they will invariably feel cheap -- irrespective of how their damage output or activation parameters are tweaked. If the FB inputs were not universal, and their execution not all but non-existent -- instead, all different and in the vein of 654654 / 236236 / 21441236 -- they would:
1. not be as abuseable by lower level players and in a latency-affect environ
2. not come out instantly (*even at the highest level of play, it takes longer to input 624624 than a single button-press)
3. provide much more room for, not only diversity in their design/application and between the chars., but also in how they can be balanced -- example: more powerful FB's could have more arcane inputs and more stringent applications; less powerful ones, easier inputs and more liberal applications.
Of course, people can debate the whys and wherefores of what's the best way (if any) to implement supers in the modern-day, casual conscious fighting game, and no one would ever agree 100% with anyone (see: human nature inclined towards conflict). Though, I do believe that if FB's weren't so homogenised, nor as easy to pull off, they would become less frequent and, therefore, people less critical of them. But, within the severely limiting, casual pandering parameters of today's fighting game designs, game developers are hamstrung in how they can implement mechanics -- without fear of alienating casuals and, to a lesser degree, angering purists. Which, ultimately, results in them displeasing almost everyone.
To NRS's credit, they do include an "alternate" (nice PC euphemism there, Ed!) control scheme (inputs that read 1, 3, 7 and 9 diagonals), in addition to a few other nice control options that the more 'pro' players can use to customise their gameplay experience with. I raise this point because this same system could be used to serve as a gating mechanism for the game's more powerful abilities -- in the same way the button-hold option for Krushing Blows is something that (I'd guess) most casuals would not even be aware of, let alone use, much less be offended by (as opposed how hurt their feelings became by the proposed unique amplify inputs scheme that NRS recanted on). That is, an anodyne tool that does not require the nerfing of the game into the realm of cookie-cutter fighter, nor obtrudes "elitism" into casuals' play experience.
However, to promote the use of these more 'exacting' control schemes, there would have to be incentives tied to it, such as: more advantageous frame data, more i-frames, better versatility / combo application, better damage output etc.. This could work like the difficulty options in actions games: upon selecting either input scheme for Fatal Blows, players are notified that they will get whatever damage / frame / combo advantage (or disadvantage) that is relative to the control scheme they select. In effect, this the same as the carrot-stick systems action games, where notifications appear when selecting game difficulty, that notify what content can and cannot be accessed--relative to what difficult players go with. This simple system would gently encourage casuals to graduate from their indulgent-centric ways, into a more reward orientated maturity... And, of import, without attacking their fragile egos. So, this system could have a three-pronged positive effect:
1. It would help fix the game's more powerful abilities (or at least give devs more balancing tools to do so)
2. Encourage players to better themselves (something that NRS claim to promote via their lauded tutorial modes etc.)
3. Increase the replay value for those who are otherwise prone to moving to the next shiny thing once their "Achievement" OCD is satisfied
I mean, they could rework MK11's super mechanics wholesale -- because there is plenty of room for improvement -- and still not please everyone... Which is something NRS never would or could devote the resources to doing post-release, anyway. However, if they simply tweak the parameters of the existing system, then tie whatever advantages / disadvantages of the FB's to the control scheme selected, they kill two buzzards with one stone:
1. They encourage people to get better at fighting games (as opposed to forcing the genre to condescend / undermine itself to the lowest common denominator demographics)
2. Go some way to fixing what's an increasingly loathed system.
tl;dr version:
Here's the real problem with the Fatal Blows (and every other balancing act between the casuals consumer and the fighting game purist):
"S-s-s-s-sorry, guys... But, I h-h-h-h-have to get a little fighting gaming nerdie for a few seconds."
-- Ed Boon (*at the stage reveal of Mortal Kombat 11, Jan. 2019, upon interrupting the crowd's raucous cheers to MK11's gore parade trailer)
