What's new

What will Mortal Kombat 11's legacy be if there are no more Kombat Packs/patches?

How would you grade Mortal Kombat 11 if the product were finished?


  • Total voters
    192

REO

Undead
I'm still not even sure what you're so mad about. Is all this anger really because people are saying they prefer MKX or I2 over Mk11?
I feel heavily betrayed and disappointed because the community made me seem like a crazy person back in MKX when I was speaking out about the issues on day one on how they were ruining the franchise by turning Mortal Kombat into something way too similar to their Injustice product. I was constantly attacked and labeled an "NRS hater" for the longest. Then suddenly the community started realizing NRS messed up with MKX as a fighting game. But by then the damage was already done and too late. Now fast forward six years later and people are not telling it how it was during MKX and blatantly lying about how MKX was perceived during it's prime. I've had enough of people flat out lying and trying to rewrite history.


Literally some of you need to open your eyes and look at what MKX was coming from Injustice 1. It was the first Mortal Kombat game that was cross breeding with Injustice and felt nothing like MK9 or any of the older MK games. MKX had some of the most ripped off gameplay from Injustice 1 such as:

  • Pushblock masquerading as crappy Block Breaker
  • Interactables introduced as a returning staple from Injustice 1
  • Jumps ins with crazy hitboxes and active frames borrowed from Injustice 1
  • Pokes being absurd hit advantage like +15 and -2 on block from Injustice 1
  • Meter Burn mechanic (still to this day I think this is the worst mechanic) that was introduced with Injustice 1
  • Non stop 50/50s and degenerate offense borrowed from Injustice 1
  • Clunky walk speeds inspired by Injustice 1
  • Backdash invincibility forcefully implemented into MKX from Injustice 1

I'll never forgive MKX for what it did to Mortal Kombat games moving forward. It boggles my mind how NRS gets a complete pass on MKX by the community and never once got called out for attempting to cross breed Mortal Kombat with Injustice.

The reason why I will always respect a game like MK11 infinitely more times than MKX, is because at least MK11 tries to be it's own game and it cut ties with a lot of the Injustice-type borrowed mechanics. MK11 has a lot of potential (way more than MKX) and if NRS keeps going forward with trying to make sure Mortal Kombat is NOTHING like Injustice, the better.
 

Law Hero

There is a head on a pole behind you
I honestly don't know why people are acting like the phenomenon of rose-tinted glasses is something unique to the NRS community. This happens with nearly every long-running franchise out there. Before NRS was even a thing, people would refer to this as "The Zelda Cycle" where people would hate each new Zelda installment until a new one was released whereby they would then proclaim the previous game to be a masterpiece and the new one to be garbage. This cycle repeats ad nauseam until the old games people complained about are considered classics, the previous installments people complained about are misunderstood gems, and the modern titles are trash.

REO is right in that when MK12 comes out, there will be people who will long for a return to MK11 and will talk about how much better things were during MK11's time. However, that does not in any way mean that people's complaining in this moment are somehow invalid or inauthentic. The game has its problems, and if people believe the developers should be criticized for their work, then people should openly voice those criticisms.
 

DeftMonk

Noob
I do wish the Injustice games had better netcode; I'd really love to go back and give my Deathstroke and Cheetah another shot, now that I'm somewhat less scrubby than I was when those games were popular.
I remember playing inj 2 thinking damn did they really have to neuter this game so much? If only I had known... But ya I think it would behoove all companies to upgrade the netcode of older games as we saw with old as dirt guilty gear ac+r shooting up to #1 on steam fighting games(brawlhalla excluded) for a period after getting rollback.
 

RoboCop

The future of law enforcement.
Administrator
Premium Supporter
I feel heavily betrayed and disappointed because the community made me seem like a crazy person back in MKX when I was speaking out about the issues on day one on how they were ruining the franchise by turning Mortal Kombat into something way too similar to their Injustice product. I was constantly attacked and labeled an "NRS hater" for the longest. Then suddenly the community started realizing NRS messed up with MKX as a fighting game. But by then the damage was already done and too late. Now fast forward six years later and people are not telling it how it was during MKX and blatantly lying about how MKX was perceived during it's prime. I've had enough of people flat out lying and trying to rewrite history.


Literally some of you need to open your eyes and look at what MKX was coming from Injustice 1. It was the first Mortal Kombat game that was cross breeding with Injustice and felt nothing like MK9 or any of the older MK games. MKX had some of the most ripped off gameplay from Injustice 1 such as:

  • Pushblock masquerading as crappy Block Breaker
  • Interactables introduced as a returning staple from Injustice 1
  • Jumps ins with crazy hitboxes and active frames borrowed from Injustice 1
  • Pokes being absurd hit advantage like +15 and -2 on block from Injustice 1
  • Meter Burn mechanic (still to this day I think this is the worst mechanic) that was introduced with Injustice 1
  • Non stop 50/50s and degenerate offense borrowed from Injustice 1
  • Clunky walk speeds inspired by Injustice 1
  • Backdash invincibility forcefully implemented into MKX from Injustice 1
I'll never forgive MKX for what it did to Mortal Kombat games moving forward. It boggles my mind how NRS gets a complete pass on MKX by the community and never once got called out for attempting to cross breed Mortal Kombat with Injustice.

The reason why I will always respect a game like MK11 infinitely more times than MKX, is because at least MK11 tries to be it's own game and it cut ties with a lot of the Injustice-type borrowed mechanics. MK11 has a lot of potential (way more than MKX) and if NRS keeps going forward with trying to make sure Mortal Kombat is NOTHING like Injustice, the better.
I think you are conflating a handful of members with "the community". I didn't attack you and I don't know anyone who did, but we're getting scolded by you just the same. You're attacking "the community" for its changing opinions, when "the community" is comprised of many players, some of whom liked the old games and some of whom like the new games. That's not betrayal or rose-tinted glasses; that's trying to shoehorn an entire diverse community into a single target you can attack. Instead of continuing to attack "the community", wouldn't it be more productive to direct your arguments toward the specific users who are causing the issues?

Am I wrong or is almost every one of those issues also in MK11? We have interactables, jump-ins with crazy hitboxes (that can also be canceled on whiff...), fast safe pokes with massive advantage, meter burn, and non-stop 50/50s and disjointed staggers from the top tier. And I think the new issues in MK11, like getting punished for komboing your opponent, outweigh some of the other issues from the older games. Hell, flawless blocks make it so we can't even enforce our own frame advantage.

I once ran a live trivia show at a bar on the same night as another host. I would run my show from 7-9pm and then his would run from 9-11pm. One night, he made some kind of racist joke and really pissed off this table of African American people. They took to every social media platform they could think of to post about the racist trivia host at this bar. I start getting messages from people thinking I'm the racist trivia host. I tried to reach out to the offended party but they weren't having it; they were pissed and just wanted to do as much damage as possible, regardless of whether or not it affected the person who had wronged them.

Why am I telling this story? Because it feels like an identical situation. Specific users targeted you and called you out over your opinions. Now, instead of targeting those users, you're just attacking the community as a whole. It's not going to help your position and is only going to turn more people against you, all while having zero effect on the people you're actually mad at.
 
Last edited:
You know the majority of those who thought the movie was mediocre and not that good? It's pretty much how I felt(and still would feel) about the game overall if they left it in this state. There's something about it that made it really feel held back that I can't wrap finger around. It didn't have that same spark MK9 did.

That's why I like the movie way more because it sets up the legacy better and it gives me hope for the future. The game on the other hand, not so much. The constant cash grabbing and poor communication brings down the morale. It certainly doesn't help when all Ed Boon ever talks about is Marvel/DC properties either. Among MK, it makes me think they care more about other things.
 
Last edited:

REO

Undead
You're right. And I'm done engaging in these petty "IZ THE GAME GOOD OR BAD" political debates every single NRS game.

Play what you like. Hate what you want. I don't give a crap anymore.

If you want to know how a mechanic works, or what a character is capable of, you can talk to me about it. Because those are actual things of value I'm interested in discussing with detail. If you want me to pretend to be your video game psychiatrist and listen to how MK11 has wronged you, then you can miss me with that crap and talk to these other video game psychiatrists that will coddle you with their "jacqui breaks the rules of the game" and "hOw To MaKe A gOoD fIgHtInG gAmE", and "you only lost cause the game cheated you" expertise.

Anyway, this is the last time you will ever see me post in these garbage political threads that have absolutely zero value of helping players improve at a game or accumulate more knowledge about the games intricacies.

I apologize if my posts come off as "mad", just so tired of the BS repeating narratives that have been getting crammed down our throats for a decade.
 

RoboCop

The future of law enforcement.
Administrator
Premium Supporter
You're right. And I'm done engaging in these petty "IZ THE GAME GOOD OR BAD" political debates every single NRS game.

Play what you like. Hate what you want. I don't give a crap anymore.

If you want to know how a mechanic works, or what a character is capable of, you can talk to me about it. Because those are actual things of value I'm interested in discussing with detail. If you want me to pretend to be your video game psychiatrist and listen to how MK11 has wronged you, then you can miss me with that crap and talk to these other video game psychiatrists that will coddle you with their "jacqui breaks the rules of the game" and "hOw To MaKe A gOoD fIgHtInG gAmE", and "you only lost cause the game cheated you" expertise.

Anyway, this is the last time you will ever see me post in these garbage political threads that have absolutely zero value of helping players improve at a game or accumulate more knowledge about the games intricacies.

I apologize if my posts come off as "mad", just so tired of the BS repeating narratives that have been getting crammed down our throats for a decade.
I mean, it's not a political debate? It's fans on a fan site talking about the subject of that fan site. NRS is giving us literally nothing else to talk about lol. It seems like someone will post an opinion that aligns with something another user said a long time ago, and so now that new user is getting held accountable for those unrelated posts. Or a user will post something about MKX and it becomes "THAT'S NOT WHAT THE COMMUNITY WAS SAYING 6 YEARS AGO!!!", as if that user was personally posting those arguments 6 years ago. So, all I'm saying is argue whatever you want, but stop attacking your imagined concept of "the community" when it's just specific users who have upset you.

"Anyway, this is the last time you will ever see me post in these garbage political threads..." I don't remember you being invited? Like, I'm glad everyone is here and I welcome all users to come and post their opinions. But this is like coming to my cookout uninvited and indignantly proclaiming my cookout is garbage and we're never going to see you again. Ok? No sweat off my taint. I don't see you in here helping people improve, I only see you attacking our community and stirring up drama.
 

Gooberking

FGC Cannon Fodder
It would take effort to trace back on specific people to find out if there was actual opinion shifting going on, and technically it’s super plausible that the people complaining from times back, aren’t the same people that are praising a game of times back.

That said, it’s a super easy impression to get that the overall view of a game shifts without doing that digging into a mess of specific examples that nobody has the practical time to do. I’d wager that the most optimistic dynamic is that the game of the day attracts a lot of people that just want to complain for the sake of doing so, or because if you can point out flaws you ergo must know things.

Eventually they move on to complaining about the next, big thing, while the people they drowned out who did like a past game are the only one’s still interested enough in it to keep calling back to it. That group says good things, and the negativity mob has moved onto something else, so the overall conversation trends more positively than it once did.

Even without being able to say people are shifting their personal opinions over time there is still a repetitive cycle of unapologetic outrage. This thread isn’t even about legacy near as much as just another chance to keep the same topic on repeat for two years. The “say something nice” thread largely just used as the “say something nice to segue into the long list of things you don’t like.”

I don’t have a tenth of the investment or history as Reo, or have Twitter and I’m pretty jaded with the humanity in fighting games at this point. I play the CPU on occasion now, but I adjusted my free time use in part because it’s like the same thing that make FG’s work ruins them.

Most of the time the last couple of years, I just wanted to hangout out, play and talk about a game we all dug, but that's not really been the thing. I've gotten to play some people interested in the game, but it's been 2 years of having to raise my hand to prove that someone in the room was actually enjoying themselves. I don't remember making a big deal of it when I decided I really didn't like IJ2. I just went and played Tekken and SC6 for a few months. I didn't keep playing it and calling people shills as far as I can recall.

If you can’t even foster positive connections with other like minded people, then what do these games even have to offer any of us? You could learn to do anything else with all the hundreds to thousands of hours and maybe get something. You could learn to cook and benefit you and those around you. You could take up music and put a song into the world, paint and leave something behind. For all but the maybe top 25 people in a game, the game can’t give much back beyond a common interest group. And overall we seem more interested in tearing down the thing that common interest is built on, and the people that work really hard to do something really hard. Something that most of us could never pull off, but can definitely say was done wrong.

I know people need to discuss what works and what doesn’t, and maybe every common interest group bickers about stuff on the inside, but we seem really good at it. (I'd wager I'm included in that seeing as how I kind of just let my sarcasm roll these days)
 
Ya exactly mk11 is like a chef throwing down the best fuckin flour shape u have ever seen for a pizza in your life and on top of that is like 3 foot diameter! This is going to be one badass pizza! Then the chef just doesnt say shit and walks away from the kitchen.
Man, I don't think I've ever laughed this hard in my life.
 
Reactions: Zgf
People stating this game flat out sucks, is somehow abysmal or whatever are just being silly. Objectively speaking this game is solid, it has received the most DLC and even add on story mode that created some extra hours of fun. It easily is improved over Injustice 2, can be considered better than X, beats Tekken 7 by a long mile, is much more strategic than SF5 and Fighterz and at least with customisation allows you to have some fun with characters that otherwise would be a bit bland. Most people agree that the lack of patches overall is due to a very solid foundation. So irregardless of your subjective opinion, objectively speaking this game is solid. Period!

Now, as far as the question itself as to what the game's legacy would be if this is it, then I have to conclude that it is not good and that is largely subjective. Not necessarily due to how the game plays, but due to a serious lack of attention to some glaring issues that shows an arrogance and lack of connection with the fanbase. On top of that, the game has done so well, looks gorgeous, has so much content potential and with the statement by both NRS and WB that this game will be supported for a long time they simply cannot get away with stopping after not even 2 years. We have every right to feel betrayed, for the lack of a better word.

We're seeing studios change their strategy, SF5 actually supporting for at least one more season than they wanted to, but at least this is for the better, since it also comes with more gameplay features, balance patching, extra stages etc. And fighting games in general seem to have longer support and more seasons of content than ever before. It's not that crazy to see a 3rd or 4th season of DLC content. For NRS to win all these awards, be this successful, have an actual select screen that is uneven and datamined to be at least 5 more characters, make grand statements and to actually say before KP2 that they were not done yet, and now be done would be bad.

This game, for as gorgeous as it looks, still feels like it's missing that wow factor and something to draw you back in. A new finisher, extra Fatality or anything of that nature is not that appealing to me. That won't change the actual game experience that much. I welcomed the stage fatalities and friendships for sure, but that doesn't last. Now if they add some more moves to the characters in the game, that would go a long way to at least extend its run. There's so many classic moves missing that I would love each character to get 1-2 more moves. On top of that, a certain EX combo - faster, like in UMK3 - would be a game changer.

Right now, it just feels too much like a prettier version of MK2 with more stages and more characters. It's very calculated and "stiff", which I actually like, but like how UMK3 improved upon MK2 by giving us more combo options, I'd feel it would be a warm welcome for MK11 to feel like a truly Ultimate version of the original game. What doesn't help is how a lot of stages are rather forgettabble, partially due to music, but also because it's 90% in a confined space. What partially drew me to MK was the setting and how you could be fighting on beautiful outside locations with lots of things going on in the background, see off in the distance and actually be part of a world. Rigth now, it's kind of difficult to feel that way when even the Fire Garden, Desert Command and Tarkatan War Kamp feel very confined. Only Kronika's Keep kind of has some depth.

The characters we have now offer plenty of diversity, but the Aftermath and KP2 followed so quickly one after the other, that the game just feels stale. Now, I'm not going to act like other fighting games didn't have any flaws in terms of content and communication regarding extra content. There's been up to year of silence from various studios like Capcom and Arcsys for SF5 and DB Fighterz, so that's not an issue per se. However, the rushed movie skin pack and underwhelming KP2 - Mileena felt like a cheap copy paste job and Rambo...meh - so it's not like they went out with a bang. Aftermath was a straight dump of all content at once as well. SF5 gives us steady new content in terms of characters and stages. So just 5 or so characters would be nice, but honestly to me would not satisfy me. It would be nice for a week or 2 to play a new character, but with no new stages or anything new gameplay wise, it would be soon over after that KP3 is done.

All in all, I'd welcome anything at this point, but just a KP3 would be the least to at least bring me back to the game since I play maybe once a month max and am pretty bored after a few matches. I'd need some serious new moves, a new gameplay mechanic and some stages to really feel like they give us the best MK11 we would love. The game itself is definitely solid, but all in all if this is it, it's very disappointing.
 

xRantex

Rante Inferno
Its just a bit frustrating when you use a character like Raiden who's consider a fair character. And ppl are doing 40-50% krushing blow combos all over the place or easy 30% krushing blows smh.. I love Raiden but I can't wait til this game dies and they make a more balanced "fighting game". This is worst than mkx imo I hate krushing blows. The worst mortal Kombat game ever but graphics are good at least.
 
I have read players post that they prefer a fast-paced fighting game so they had rather play Mortal Kombat X.
That's me :).

@REO You're not responsible for anyone's psychological well being (save your own), or even whether they understand a game or its meta. Reading your posts, I actually think you're being too hard on yourself and expecting too much from yourself. It's okay to let people think what they want, even if they're opinion (that they like to present as fact) is completely bonkers.
 

Marinjuana

Up rock incoming, ETA 5 minutes
Of course you can, but why would you? LOL. Earthquake and boulder cancels are not moves that make Cetrion a strong character.

Cowboy wants to control space with ground eruption as he did with Shinnok, but obviously this strategy is ineffective, at least against a majority of the top tier characters who can flawless block the second the hit and punish. For this reason, Arn Kratos uses the tele-slam and plays aggressively.

I have no respect for Robocop. He is a weak, boring, and poorly designed character. Sonic Fox and Tweedy certainly have the credentials over me and may place Robocop as high as they want on the tier list. The reality is that the character is rarely used in competitive play. When he is used, the results speak for themselves.

Fun is subjective so I am not going to criticize you. A lot of the underused moves that you find interesting I find weak and boring because they add absolutely nothing innovative to the meta. The game is and will always be low poke / throw / mid string / jump kick unless there is an overhaul happens, which seems to be less and less likely as the days go by.
So you're telling me you can't zone with top tier Cetrion in a slightly unoptimal variation but you can zone with Shinnok and Predator in MKX?


And poor Robo getting shit on for having a command grab while Quan Chi players keep their heads down
 

mastermalone

Use only logic, please
This community will never learn. It doesn't matter what you think the legacy of this game will be. The history will be rewritten into something it was not during the games prime, many years later into the future once we get there. It's happened four times already.

MKX, the worst NRS game ever made that got constantly complained about every single day during it's prime, with countless 100+ page threads and the FGC laughing at the barbaric "meta" is NOW some how regarded as this "amazing", "hype", "creative" fighting game in 2021. It's insane how history gets rewritten.

And I need to mention Injustice 2 the most "boring", "spam fest", "zoning", "runaway", "walk-back city" game ever created that literally died to me (and countless others) after the first couple months where we left and never came back, is now receiving praise in 2021 as this impeccable neutral fighting game with the most brilliant arch types? LOL.

You guys can't fool me and many others anymore with these constant charades and backpedaling. No one is called out for their inconsistency. And many of you will be "missing MK11" and calling it a "good but misunderstood game" in the future once you're stuck with the more bland-post-nerf-Jacqui and Sheeva-less NRS games of the future. I can't wait to bump this thread in 2026 and 2030 when we're on the new super mega shit, one-more-patch-away-from-being-perfect NRS game and people rewrite history for MK11 in the future as a game that was "such an underrated game".
This man speaks the truth. I can dig up so many posts from the MKX days where the MAJORITY of players complained about how broken the game was (is and rightfully so).

MK11 is a good game that needs some love from the Dev Team to shake things up and to patch some holes.

I think the majority of this community needs to do what the Marvel vs Capcom community did:

Embrace the fact that you LOVE unbalanced, broken shit.

There is nothing wrong with loving broken games. They can be hype, fun and interesting to watch and play for years. MvC2? Broken AF but beloved by millions. Street Fighter Alpha 2? Custom combos broke that game and balance is nowhere to be found. Loved by millions of players.

Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike? Ken, Chun, Urien and Yun should literally be the only characters on the select screen since balance was not their intention. Beloved by millions.

Capcom Vs SNK 2?
A-Groove Sakura, Sagat, Bison and Cammy anyone? A-Groove in general lol! A broken game but so much fun and I love it!

I love all those games and I'm still very active playing them on FightCade and NullDC.

So to all you on here searching for Zen of balance when it comes to a fighting game or, play mechanics that seen fair.... Stop. You will never get that. Just find the things you love about the game and embrace them. If you don't like much about the game, move on or, in some cases back to the game you liked. Broken or otherwise.

MKX was a fun game to watch, I just didn't care to play it much. I hated that 50/50 blender meta. Others do and that's OK. The game is still playable online so to all those complaining about MK11:

You know what you need to do. Show your dislike for MK11 by going back to and playing MKX, the game you really love. The devs watch the analytics for their games. They will notice the uptick in users for MKX.

If you don't, I'm calling Bullshit on everyone in this thread that said they LOVE MKX.
 
Its just a bit frustrating when you use a character like Raiden who's consider a fair character. And ppl are doing 40-50% krushing blow combos all over the place or easy 30% krushing blows smh.. I love Raiden but I can't wait til this game dies and they make a more balanced "fighting game". This is worst than mkx imo I hate krushing blows. The worst mortal Kombat game ever but graphics are good at least.
I thought the crushing blow system was cool until I mained Johnny Cage lol.

Imagine outplaying your opponent an entire match and making one mistake and getting d2 KBed into fatal blow and now you are either dead or even in health with your opponent.
 

xRantex

Rante Inferno
I thought the crushing blow system was cool until I mained Johnny Cage lol.

Imagine outplaying your opponent an entire match and making one mistake and getting d2 KBed into fatal blow and now you are either dead or even in health with your opponent.
My point exactly! Most characters have far too easy krushing blow requirements.
 

Law Hero

There is a head on a pole behind you
I thought the crushing blow system was cool until I mained Johnny Cage lol.

Imagine outplaying your opponent an entire match and making one mistake and getting d2 KBed into fatal blow and now you are either dead or even in health with your opponent.
I actually really like the krushing blow system and think it's a great addition to the game that also adds that NRS-style flair. The main issue is that in MK11 it's very unbalanced and still really bare bones. I think that if they were really creative with it and took it to the next level with different requirements and unique effects, it could be amazing. I think part of the issue is that they kind of clash with the variation system. If you have a single character with a specific set of moves, it's a lot easier to add krushing blows that complement the character and their playstyle; however, because of the variation system, it just gets messy with requiring certain moves or certain combinations of moves to be equipped, or krushing blows being attached to bad moves you don't want to use.

The point is, like much in MK11, I think it's a really great idea and can add a lot of depth to the game. The problem is when you have a rushed and unfinished game, these great ideas start to detract from the experience rather than enhance it.
 

DeftMonk

Noob
REO, I think you are reading into some of the posts too much. Such as myself I don’t dislike this game at all...but some aspects of it make me feel a bit disappointed which is ok. Doesn’t mean I am sitting here saying “LuL mk11 suck ding dongs mk1 better and reo been wrong since mk9” or something. Pls don’t get emotional and threaten to just posts in threads with new tech/new matchup opinions or we will never see u again.

If someone 5 years from now asked me what was mk11 like I would say “neutral footsies based game with quite a lot of fuck neutral tools neutered offense for an mk game and plethora of defensive tools. Very interesting take on meter building I like a lot. Noob friendliest comeback mechanic I’ve ever seen and simple but effective character design to fit the game”. Some people won’t like that game, u don’t have to get mad at them.
 
Last edited:

DC King

Noob
I actually really like the krushing blow system and think it's a great addition to the game that also adds that NRS-style flair. The main issue is that in MK11 it's very unbalanced and still really bare bones. I think that if they were really creative with it and took it to the next level with different requirements and unique effects, it could be amazing. I think part of the issue is that they kind of clash with the variation system. If you have a single character with a specific set of moves, it's a lot easier to add krushing blows that complement the character and their playstyle; however, because of the variation system, it just gets messy with requiring certain moves or certain combinations of moves to be equipped, or krushing blows being attached to bad moves you don't want to use.

The point is, like much in MK11, I think it's a really great idea and can add a lot of depth to the game. The problem is when you have a rushed and unfinished game, these great ideas start to detract from the experience rather than enhance it.
From my POV krushing blows is not a great idea/mechanic. I believe this is one of the reasons the game feels watered down. The flashy combos I was use to watching and doing in MKX got scraped because of this mechanic.
 

xRantex

Rante Inferno
From my POV krushing blows is not a great idea/mechanic. I believe this is one of the reasons the game feels watered down. The flashy combos I was use to watching and doing in MKX got scraped because of this mechanic.
Yes it went from a fighting game to a krushing blow game lmao.. Then some characters have ridiculous 50/50s: sub zero, jade for example. I think mk9 was good just with exception of custom moves I think is a good idea to make your character how you want. Also the roster isn't all that but happy they added Fujin and Rain.