Aftermath DLC Story Mode spoiler discussion

[Dankster Morgan]

Another plot hole I don't like is how when Shang transformed into the Shokan he had green eyes indicating he wasn't a Shokan, but for Raiden he does it perfect in every way. Some consistency on that would have sold people a lot more.




I didn't see anyone get him. They at least left Kuai Liang alone seemingly. They left alone Jacqui too. She was fighting in the battle, but didn't see her die or get fucked up on screen like most of the heroes.


Sub was kind of there then not like Baraka. They both appeared for like 5 minutes then proceeded on their merry way never to be seen again lol.

Wtf lol at least they didn't do them dirty and the main Mk11 story treats baraka with respect for once

 

[Espio]

Wtf lol at least they didn't do them dirty and the main Mk11 story treats baraka with respect for once

Baraka was smart in Aftermath too thankfully caught Shang slipping, but it's just ugly that he was nowhere to be found for the final battle, just doesn't make any sense.

Jade got thrown into the bottom of the boat so I will also pretend she lived since there's no proof she didn't lol.

 

[Dankster Morgan]

Baraka was smart in Aftermath too thankfully caught Shang slipping, but it's just ugly that he was nowhere to be found for the final battle, just doesn't make any sense.

Jade got thrown into the bottom of the boat so I will also pretend she lived since there's no proof she didn't lol.

Haha I'm still mad D'Vorah killed Scorpion. At least they had her cheap shot him after losing a legit fight, they had some decency.

 

[Espio]

Haha I'm still mad D'Vorah killed Scorpion. At least they had her cheap shot him after losing a legit fight, they had some decency.

They did!

I'm glad Shang had the decency to body Sindel and Shao Kahn. I actually cheered.

Shang is a great villain.

 

[Kiss the Missile]

I don't think it matters who lives or dies. Every possible ending ends with the timeline being reset

 

[Courante]

So...

What was the point of this story expansion?

It ended with a timeline reset. Again. Just like the base story mode.

So they defeat kronika to reset the timeline, only to be told they cant because they don't have the crown. The entire dlc is them getting the crown to... do what they were already going to do before?

They still haven't pushed the story forward or tied up any loose ends. It feels like NRS is kicking the can down the road.

Also tripling down on the backstabbing Sindel retcon is awful.

 

[Blazeglory88]

Overall the story had it's moments. Cary stole the show as Shang to no surprise, if this is his last performance as Shang Tsung I can live with that. The Nightwolf suicide callback on Cetrion was pretty cool. Getting to finally play as the villains for once was a great step forward. But NRS really had to do it to us OG fans of Sindel with those beginning moments, I don't know why I held out hope she'd stay good and they listened to the feedback, but oh well. A lot of plot holes in the writing but at this point who cares. The best part about this story DLC was the fact this timeline is over for good, thank christ. So sick of time travel in media, especially MK.

I do hope that if they decide to go through with this new timeline seen at the good ending they actually reboot it right this time. Seeing a fire god Liu Kang teach the great Kung Lao would be cool but the fact of the matter is we've never even gotten the proper conclusions or resolutions of the Original story right. I mean MK's lore is a mess and a half. I hope that when/if MK12 comes they finally clamp down and give fans a proper story with Raiden as the mentor Liu defeats Goro etc. If not i'll be interested to see where they go with this new premise going forward.

 

[Kiss the Missile]

So...

What was the point of this story expansion?

It ended with a timeline reset. Again. Just like the base story mode.

So they defeat kronika to reset the timeline, only to be told they cant because they don't have the crown. The entire dlc is them getting the crown to... do what they were already going to do before?

They still haven't pushed the story forward or tied up any loose ends. It feels like NRS is kicking the can down the road.

Also tripling down on the backstabbing Sindel retcon is awful.

He wasn't actually able to reset history. If Aftermath didn't happen Liu would've destroyed the Hour Glass and wiped out the timeline

 

[Courante]

He wasn't actually able to reset history. If Aftermath didn't happen Liu would've destroyed the Hour Glass and wiped out the timeline

Yeah but nothing changed though. Story expansion literally was just another hoop for Liu Kang to jump through to accomplish a goal that was already established. The expansion was anti climactic and devoid of tension.

 

[ScreamQueen]

I got a load of thoughts on story which I'll probly spin a yarn about tomorrow... but a couple of thoughts I gotta get off my chest now:

- What writer/team goes "Fans are really invested in these characters, so let's make them watch 70%-80% of them die every single time they tune in for a new story"? Would the MCU be as popular if 10 top characters were killed in every single movie, with some being killed for the second or third time in three films? I, personally, don't look forward to each MK story chapter like: "I can't wait to see everyone get killed again!".

- I think MK9's story was great, and smart, with good dramatic beats. But in retrospect, the Revenant storyline was a huge mistake, and basically haunted the entire trilogy. It provided too much overhang that needed clearing up and the timeline never recovered from it. MKX really confused matters when Quan Chi died, and then they just threw Time Travel in there when they were too far dug in. The Revenant angle put a massive clamp on the overall narrative and is the key to why everything got so tangled and messy.

- At no point did this trilogy commit to who it's heroes and villains were. They introduced a "new generation" only to fall back on the classic characters. How many newcomers from MKX and Mk 11 are ALREADY dead, or irrelevant? Cassie was the new saviour then lol no Liu Kang again. Dark Raiden returns? Actually No. Did Shao Kahn die three times? They reinvented Mileena as a bona-fide new villain, and killed her not two hours later. And the ultimate finale was basically baddies vs. baddies, no heroes, no "Next Gen" stars. There was no pecking order, everyone was shown to be important right up to moment when they suddenly weren't. Going back to the MCU comparison. Imagine if Iron Man didn't show up for Endgame, or, in the last 30 minutes, Thanos just simply "left the story" and Ultron was suddenly Endgame's Final Boss, taking on... I dunno, Ant-Man and Nebula. That's the kind of dice-rolling this MK trilogy did.

I've enjoyed all three games from a gameplay/roster standpoint, I've played MK since the day it launched and these titles have been among my favourites. But after MK9 the story collapsed under its own weight. I never wanna see another Revenant ever again, (or have to pretend that Sindel actually fancies Shao Kahn and thinks he's a cool guy, which ya just can't buy.)
There's stuff I liked in Aftermath: fight choreography, voice acting, Cary-Hiroyuki was fantastic, but I just had to exorcise these few thoughts right now. Maybe more tomorrow.

Long live the Queen, anyways. Maybe next time.

 

[Dankster Morgan]

Im surprised at how Kotal Kuck is treated in MK11. The MK11 writer did the MKX comics, he wrote Kotal to tear off goro's arms and made him extreeeeeeeeemely powerful. In this game he gets his shit kicked in by Jade who has never been portrayed as stronger than average, although never a total jobber. Gets his back broken by Shao Kahn who gets his ass kicked by Kitana, even though Kitana of that era should be far weaker than him, as they are both MK9 ish era. Just stupid, they must write some characters with utter contempt lol.

 

[TrulyAmiracle]

Yeah but nothing changed though. Story expansion literally was just another hoop for Liu Kang to jump through to accomplish a goal that was already established. The expansion was anti climactic and devoid of tension.

Idk I'm pretending Shang won coz after absorbing Fujin, Raiden, Kronika, Sindel, Shao, Nightwolf and having the crown Liu Kang beating him is some bullshit..

Shang Thanos'ing the fuck out of everyone and even sitting on his throne and becoming hella big for no reason was hilarious.

Its a tease that Fire God Liu Kang will make an avengers team with the DC guys in MK vs DC 2 to beat Shang Thanos, finally merging both MK and injustice to one shitty game so we can only be disappointed once.

 

[Courante]

I got a load of thoughts on story which I'll probly spin a yarn about tomorrow... but a couple of thoughts I gotta get off my chest now:

- What writer/team goes "fans are really invested in these characters, so let's make them watch 70%-80% of them die every time they tune in for a new story". Would the MCU be as popular if top characters were killed repeatedly in every single story?

- I think MK9s story was great, and smart, with good moments. But the Revenant storyline was a huge mistake, it provided to much that needed clearing up and this timeline never really recovered, MKX really confused matters and then they just threw Time Travel in there when they were too dug in. Revenant angle put a clamp on the narrative.

- At no point did this trilogy commit to who it's hero/s villains were. And they introduced a "new generation" only to fall back on the classic characters. How many newcomers from MkX and Mk 11 are ALREADY dead, or irrelevant? Remember when Cassie was the new saviour then lol no Liu Kang again? Did Shao Kahn die three times? The finale was basically baddies va baddies.

Ive enjoyed all 3 games from a gameplay/roster standpoint, but after MK9 the story just collapsed under its own weight. I never wanna see another Revenant ever again, (or have to pretend that Sindel actually fancies Shao Kahn, which no ones buying.)

The problem with these big 'world ending/high stakes' storylines was lack of tension and bloat. This is made even worse with time travel.

So now we have to put up with past and future versions of characters, living and revanent versions of characters, two different timelines and a timeline within a timeline.

Also Sindel, Kronika, Shang Tsung, and Shao Khan are all bad guys at the same time backstabbing each other over and over again. Oh gee, I wonder who's gonna betray someone next.

Nothing is a surprise anymore. Where is the story going to go from here? No where. Just hit reset. Seeya in 2025 for MK12.

 

[VSC_Supreme]

Cary Tagawa, the fight coreography, the character interactions, and lesser characters getting the spotlight, the facial animations, all really great stuff.
Was not a fan of the plot though. As was already mentioned there were no real stakes and all you really get to move this forward is seeing what happens when Liu Kang resets the timeline. I was hoping to be surprised or seeing something unexpected, like the appearance of character we haven't seen yet, but nope, all we got was seeing the Krypt guy dead.

Shao Kahn suddenly being as strong as we normally expect him to be was confusing to me. Did he suddenly get a Dragon Ball Z saiyan boost from being almost killed then healed?

The real Kudos I got to give NRS on this is that they managed to give me a new favorite character in Kotal Kahn back when he was explored in the MKX Comics, and then disrespect him every given opportunity. Just when I think it can't get worse, his disembodied head gets rolled down a ramp. They should have just left him out of the siege again.

As a random thought, I feel like Sheeva and Sindel should have swapped DLC release dates.

 

[Kiss the Missile]

I really don't get their hate for Kotal. I don't think any other video game dev disrespects their own characters as much as NRS does.

 

[Law Hero]

It's been said a million times, but I loathe the Sindel retcon, and it just ruined her chapters for me.

As for the main story, it was on par with 11's base story. By that I mean it was completely nonsensical, but entertaining thanks to the great production quality, and Cary's voice acting. It's a shame the same amount of effort doesn't go into the writing as it does into mocap. There were a handful of characters I expected to get some redemption because they had nothing to do in the base story, but that didn't happen either, oddly enough.

I held out some hope that my expectations would be (positively) subverted by something like Shang actually being a good guy this time around, or some sort of left-field twist to recontextualize the whole story thus far. None of that happened, but I honestly didn't expect it to.

Sindel stuff aside, I'd say it's of the same quality as the base game. Much longer than I expected a DLC story expansion to be, which is cool.

 

[Pizza]

Something about the Sindel retcon is puzzling me.


So, let me get this straight. Keep in mind that we're in the MK9 timeline.

Sindel is married to Jerrod and they rule Edenia. But secretly she despises him because of his lack of ambition. Then one day the realm is invaded by Outworld, and she falls in love with Shao Kahn because he's so manly and powerful. So she murders the weakling Jerrod! and marries Shao Kahn.

They fabricate the lie that it was Shao Kahn who killed Jerrod.

Up to this point, it's conflicting with the original Sindel characterization and it's a retcon. The next part is more complicated.

----

As explained in MK9, Sindel commited suicide and by doing that she created a spell/protection for Earthrealm. Something like Lily Potter I guess. The power of love! It sounds corny, but I think it works. It would mean that Sindel was going through intense emotions after having her husband killed, her Realm occupied, she being forced to marry a bloodthirsthy brute and having her daughter taken away. Instead of casting a spell from despair, she does it from the last positive energy that remains within her.

So in order to bypass this and carry on the invasion, Quan Chi travels to where Sindel died and through necromancy (something vile and forbidden according to Aftermath) he revives her. At the same time, he alters her mind to make her cooperate with Shao Kahn.

During the whole scene you can see that Quan Chi has his doubts. He brought Noob Saibot with him, and he was ready to fight before Quan Chi heard from Sindel that the spell worked.

----

However, in this new timeline Sindel was killed by Quan Chi. Why? It's not explained. There's something about Sindel "distracting" Shao Kahn. Lemme stop you right there.

1. Why did Quan Chi care? Shouldn't he be busy in the Netherrealm, doing Shinnok's bidding? Or his own stuff, since he was always more of a lone wolf?
2. How is Shao Kahn so distracted that Quan Chi has to kill Sindel? Were Shao Kahn and Sindel spending time in the park instead of invading realms?
3. Why make it look like a suicide? Who was Quan Chi trying to fool? Shao Kahn?

Of course, this nullifies the spell of protection plot. So what, it was a lie made up by Quan Chi to prevent Shao Kahn from invading Earthrealm?? Was everyone on board to make Shao Kahn believe his wife killed herself?


----

Some comments I've read said that they liked the new Sindel because she "had more agency". Like she was doing things on her own and even manipulated Shao Kahn.
Aftermath debunks all this. She acts more like the trophy wife of Shao Kahn. I've read the writter wanted to make her like Lady Macbeth. I'm not sure if that works when the husband is Shao Kahn, and none of them feel any remorse about what they're doing. In the case of Sindel, going as far as to torture her daughter.
Sindel conspired with Shang Tsung, and then went to help Shao Kahn and stood by his side the whole time. She apparently killed her own protector, Sheeva, to put Shao Kahn in power again.

 

[Chuckyscookie]

Okay, so... two endings.

If Fire God Liu Kang wins, he goes very far into the past and chooses the Great Kung Lao as his champion.

If Shang Tsung wins, he becomes a Titan/Elder God and has Dark Raiden and Fujin (Corrupted Fujin?) doing his biding. They inform him that Earthrrealm, Outworld and the Netherrealm have been conquered; and Chaosrrealm and Orderrealm are next.


----

Both have sequel potential. Which one do you prefer?

I like the second one more. Imagine having Havik and Hotaru joining forces for once to stop Shang Tsung.

With MKX and MK11, they mostly threw whatever had been set up at the end of the previous game out of the window anyways and just did something else. So I'm not really expecting them to follow up on any of the endings. The Great Kung Lao would be really interesting, but I'm not holding my breath to see any of it.

 

[Afk Skinny]

With the way NRS has been going, I'm fully expecting them to make the Great Kung Lao a double agent for Outworld, and he throws the match for Goro to bring Outworld closer to merging

 

[Pizza]

With MKX and MK11, they mostly threw whatever had been set up at the end of the previous game out of the window anyways and just did something else. So I'm not really expecting them to follow up on any of the endings. The Great Kung Lao would be really interesting, but I'm not holding my breath to see any of it.

Yeah, imagine that...

Mortal Kombat 12

Chapter 1: The Great Kung Lao

You play as The Great Kung Lao. Make your way to the tournament and defeat Shang Tsung! (four fights only)


Chapter 2

500 years later

"It is nothing, Liu Kang. The tournament begins"

 

[Evil Canadian]

I fucking loved it

literally fuck you all fake sindel fans who liked "good" sindel, you dumb sons of bitches

she shit on all of you good

and i couldn't be happier

aftermath is a story about TRUE LOVE and Sindel and Shao Kahn are the starcrossed lovers we needed all along.

 

[GeoffBedlam]

The really be doing my mains (Kotal and Cetrion) dirty.

Cetrion is now one of the most criminally underused characters alongside Noob and Skarlet. SHE'S AN ELDER GOD FOR FUCK SAKE, that had sooooooo much potential but nah, fuck it, make her a jobber TWICE IN A ROW. Pretty frustrated by that. At least they somewhat made her a slightly bigger deal this time around? Urgh.

I'm seemingly one of the few that think Kotal was fine in the base story. I knew he wouldn't beat Shao Kahn (because it's Shao Kahn, c'mon) but was legitimately upset with how they seemingly went out of their way to make him look bad in this expansion. Him being in the Soul Chamber was fine but he didn't need to be there in the final battle. He wasn't in the base story so them having him there just to put over Shao really rubbed me the wrong way.

Nightwolf reacting to his revenant being nearby looked dumb at first but once I thought about kinda made sense considering the character is all about spirits. Makes sense the his corrupted self would affect him like that considering he's so in tune with it all. However, him fighting the revenant anyway immediately had me scratching my head again. They've blatantly used the "hurting your past/present self hurts you" thing only when it benefits whatever part of the story they wanna push. Aside from revenant Liu getting his leg snapped near the end, it was never used well and is the thing I hate most about the story as a whole.

Despite all this, I still enjoyed the story expansion much more than I did the base story. I fucking love that they let Shao Kahn and Sindel fuck everyone up (even if Sindel has been irredeemably thotinised) because it was the first time since MK9 that I wasn't able to predict what would happen next. When you dig deeper into it it doesn't make much sense either but it was at least something different from the boring and predictable "good guy win lol".

Shang was the MVP of the entire thing without a doubt. He should have just been in the base story anyway but, hey, better late than never I suppose.

 

[Swindle]

While I TRULLLLLY despise the Sindel retcon, I LOVEEEE how they showcased her power and how strong she is. The scene with her catching Kung Lao’s hat was so sickening.

Her voice actress and the animation team dead fantastic things for her.

 

[NoCharge]

KP3:

1. Story expansion: Mortal Kombat: The first tournament
2. DLC characters: The great Kung Lao, Goro, Quan Chi, chaos/order realm character, Conan the barbarian
3. NPC: Jarrod, Onaga, zaterrans

 

[Jynks]

If NRS does this right the Shang Tsung ending will be cannon and KP3 will also have a story mode like MK11 : Restoration for the comback.. make this the Empires Strike Back of a 3 part story.