Khaos Reigns Story Discussion Thread (Spoilers)

[LEGEND]

I see MK1's story as a one-off comic book run that nobody should care too deeply about.

These aren't the same characters. They won't be around long term. Don't get so invested.

 

[Dankster Morgan]

I see MK1's story as a one-off comic book run that nobody should care too deeply about.

These aren't the same characters. They won't be around long term. Don't get so invested.

What if I wanna care about it and want it to be good? If it wasn’t dogshit nobody would be saying this.

The Dark Knight Returns is an elseworld Batman comic that’s influenced many interpretations of the character, if the new versions of these characters weren’t so shit then they’d be able to do the same.

 

[Vulgar]

What if I wanna care about it and want it to be good? If it wasn’t dogshit nobody would be saying this.

The Dark Knight Returns is an elseworld Batman comic that’s influenced many interpretations of the character, if the new versions of these characters weren’t so shit then they’d be able to do the same.

Eeehhh not really a fair comparison.

 

[Dankster Morgan]

Eeehhh not really a fair comparison.

Because this game's story is slop and the meat of the product is being a competitive fighting game, while TDKR is only needing to focus on being a good story? - I agree, to a degree.

I also get that a story written with the fact that there has to be a fight every 5 minutes is gonna involve a lot of contradictions automatically re who can defeat who and why, and just what kind of story it needs to tell (no down-time really). I do however think NRS can do better than this even with these limitations, because they have. MK9 and Injustice 1 and 2 are remarkably better than MK1 and Khaos Reigns imo. There are actual stakes instead of MCU phase 4 tier slop.

Or did I miss what you're getting at

 

[Vulgar]

Because this game's story is slop and the meat of the product is being a competitive fighting game, while TDKR is only needing to focus on being a good story? - I agree, to a degree.

I also get that a story written with the fact that there has to be a fight every 5 minutes is gonna involve a lot of contradictions automatically re who can defeat who and why, and just what kind of story it needs to tell (no down-time really). I do however think NRS can do better than this even with these limitations, because they have. MK9 and Injustice 1 and 2 are remarkably better than MK1 and Khaos Reigns imo. There are actual stakes instead of MCU phase 4 tier slop.

Or did I miss what you're getting at

Generally speaking, I think the whole, "Who can defeat who" thing is some anime tier, power level brain rot. Unless you're Dan Habiki, I think believing that all of the characters in a fighting game's cast being able to compete with one another is fine.

TDKR doesn't stray THAT far from the path in terms of re-interpretations of characters. Design wise is probably the most differing part. Joker is still doing Joker things, he's just older. Superman is more or less the Big Blue Boyscout with a jingoistic twist, etc.

Whereas there are a lot of drastic changes in MK1, and people don't typically like change.

 

[Dankster Morgan]

Generally speaking, I think the whole, "Who can defeat who" thing is some anime tier, power level brain rot. Unless you're Dan Habiki, I think believing that all of the characters in a fighting game's cast being able to compete with one another is fine.

TDKR doesn't stray THAT far from the path in terms of re-interpretations of characters. Design wise is probably the most differing part. Joker is still doing Joker things, he's just older. Superman is more or less the Big Blue Boyscout with a jingoistic twist, etc.

Whereas there are a lot of drastic changes in MK1, and people don't typically like change.

I think it can be taken too far but I don't think "who can defeat who" is brain rot, it helps create logic in the story and establishes stakes. I don't think a character should never be able to beat a "stronger" character though, I actually like some jobber redemption lol. I do want to feel rewarded for paying attention though and want to be able to engage with the story beyond "oh gee I guess this is what's happening next".

I disagree that TDKR didn't change characters pretty drastically. Superman and the Justice League are borderline assassinated by Frank Miller, really it's only Batman that's MOSTLY intact. My point is that if these new characters were accepted, there would be no "don't take it seriously, it won't last" argument. Perhaps a better example is Marvel's Ultimate universe and the staying power of characters like Miles Morales, or DC Earth 2 where Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman are all dead.

I agree that people typically don't like change, but if the core of the character's motivations etc are intact, it's fine. I think MK1 has a very strong start and if the back half of the campaign was just concluding what was set up in the start instead of just going off the rails and the expansion was dealing with the fallout of that, it'd be more acceptable because people would have a reason to be more invested.

 

[PrinceGoro]

Absolute garbage from start to finish.From pathetic dilaogue to awfull references to trash story telling and pacing.Not to mention it feels like it has nothing to do with mortal kombat.
The fights in the story are trash ass invasions skinned characters which in turn makes the fights feel completly boring and have zero urgency.The entire main timline is supposedly at risk of destruction yet 90% of characters are on vacation and are not even seen lmfao.

Emberassing to say the least.
The story was so trash i have buyers remorse and i didnt even buy it but watched it on youtube.

 

[chud_munson]

Generally speaking, I think the whole, "Who can defeat who" thing is some anime tier, power level brain rot. Unless you're Dan Habiki, I think believing that all of the characters in a fighting game's cast being able to compete with one another is fine.

Where I disagree with this is when it's pivotal to a plot point. In Khaos Reigns, Havik is an existential threat. To the point that even Liu Kang and Geras can't just god mode him away, which justifies doing all this shit in the first place. Despite that, he gets his ass kicked at the end handily by Noob Saibot, who just tears off all his limbs. That must mean that Noob, Havik's perfect creation, surpassed even Havik in terms of his threat to the timelines, right? Then as Noob is getting out of control, Geras just kinda casually time-traps Noob and it's all over.

Set aside for a moment that tearing off limbs is something Havik does routinely throughout the story when it's convenient or entertaining for him, so I'm not sure why doing that would matter in this case. But the ease with which everyone just kicked everyone's ass sort of forces you to be like: why didn't Geras just time trap Havik, put him in wherever they sent Noob, and then go back to having a lovely lunch full of sand or whatever Geras eats? The power levels as they existed in that exchange were so insanely unexpected that the story stops making any sense.

 

[Vulgar]

Where I disagree with this is when it's pivotal to a plot point. In Khaos Reigns, Havik is an existential threat. To the point that even Liu Kang and Geras can't just god mode him away, which justifies doing all this shit in the first place. Despite that, he gets his ass kicked at the end handily by Noob Saibot, who just tears off all his limbs. That must mean that Noob, Havik's perfect creation, surpassed even Havik in terms of his threat to the timelines, right? Then as Noob is getting out of control, Geras just kinda casually time-traps Noob and it's all over.

Set aside for a moment that tearing off limbs is something Havik does routinely throughout the story when it's convenient or entertaining for him, so I'm not sure why doing that would matter in this case. But the ease with which everyone just kicked everyone's ass sort of forces you to be like: why didn't Geras just time trap Havik, put him in wherever they sent Noob, and then go back to having a lovely lunch full of sand or whatever Geras eats? The power levels as they existed in that exchange were so insanely unexpected that the story stops making any sense.

I wasn't a fan of the ending, and I've said as much before.

As far as Noob beating Havik goes, I'm fine with that. It's not uncommon for a weaker character to beat a stronger one, and in this case I think it's good for Noob's character. He effectively overcomes what was done to him and defeats the person responsible. That part is fine.

It's after that where I take issue.

 

[Felipe_Gewehr]

Where I disagree with this is when it's pivotal to a plot point. In Khaos Reigns, Havik is an existential threat. To the point that even Liu Kang and Geras can't just god mode him away, which justifies doing all this shit in the first place. Despite that, he gets his ass kicked at the end handily by Noob Saibot, who just tears off all his limbs. That must mean that Noob, Havik's perfect creation, surpassed even Havik in terms of his threat to the timelines, right? Then as Noob is getting out of control, Geras just kinda casually time-traps Noob and it's all over.

Set aside for a moment that tearing off limbs is something Havik does routinely throughout the story when it's convenient or entertaining for him, so I'm not sure why doing that would matter in this case. But the ease with which everyone just kicked everyone's ass sort of forces you to be like: why didn't Geras just time trap Havik, put him in wherever they sent Noob, and then go back to having a lovely lunch full of sand or whatever Geras eats? The power levels as they existed in that exchange were so insanely unexpected that the story stops making any sense.

It was especially weird having Havik be defeated by being dismembered when FIVE SECONDS PRIOR his plan was dismembering himself to create copies of him. Of course, this wouldn't be a problem if they simply have someone like Geras ou Liu Kang shout something like "Quick! Havik has exhausted his power temporarily by having dismembered himself that much in such a short amount of time! Let's seize the opportunity while he is vulnerable and can't regrow his limbs quite yet!".

Nope. We are just left to wonder the reasons.

 

[Felipe_Gewehr]

Another thing I noticed: Noob calls Havik a hypocrite when he notes Havik is frustrated at having his plans "sent into disarray". This could've been a perfectly valid reason for Noob to defect Havik's side instead of "he got beaten immediately after showing up as Noob Saibot and Liu Kang already removed Havik's influence from his mind". That way we get a Noob Saibot with a little more development instead of "he is just sub-zero but partly restored".

 

[chud_munson]

I wasn't a fan of the ending, and I've said as much before.

As far as Noob beating Havik goes, I'm fine with that. It's not uncommon for a weaker character to beat a stronger one, and in this case I think it's good for Noob's character. He effectively overcomes what was done to him and defeats the person responsible. That part is fine.

It's after that where I take issue.

Same, I don't mind Noob beating Havik. But then the characters need to show some deference to the fact that Noob single-handedly defused the greatest threat creation has ever seen. Instead they're like "great, thanks Noob. Throw Havik's body somewhere, and timetrap Noob now please."

 

[KillerKombatX]

With Bi-Han now being Noob I hope you guys are ready for Hanzo to be Sub-zero in the next game.

 

[Eddy Wang]

It was especially weird having Havik be defeated by being dismembered when FIVE SECONDS PRIOR his plan was dismembering himself to create copies of him. Of course, this wouldn't be a problem if they simply have someone like Geras ou Liu Kang shout something like "Quick! Havik has exhausted his power temporarily by having dismembered himself that much in such a short amount of time! Let's seize the opportunity while he is vulnerable and can't regrow his limbs quite yet!".

Nope. We are just left to wonder the reasons.

That was Lazy writting there is so many ways they could've go from that.
They coul've com up with an excuse that the kamidogus he injected himself with were giving him an regen boost, so taking them out to stop his regeneration would be a nich goal and make more sense.

Instead Kamidogus are just there to merge realms and only merge on a specific spot lmao

 

[Eddy Wang]

With Bi-Han now being Noob I hope you guys are ready for Hanzo to be Sub-zero in the next game.

this joke has been going around in the forum since MK1 release
mean while Cyrax is now Shirai Ryu

 

[Archgamer]

Reiko + Li Mei out in left field.

Yoo, it's like NRS decides to ship characters that don't even make sense anymore. Everybody is switching partners like it's normal.

 

[Dankster Morgan]

With Bi-Han now being Noob I hope you guys are ready for Hanzo to be Sub-zero in the next game.

It’s gonna happen and they’re gonna feel so clever lmao. Or worse yet it’ll be a variation of Frost.

 

[pure.Wasted]

I enjoyed mk9, mkx, mk11, aftermath, and mk1 for what they were. Corny action movies with basic but functional plots, likable characters, fun twists, some memorable and over the top villains, and cool choreography. They all had their problems, and deserve criticism, but they mostly did what they were trying to do.

So I'm genuinely shocked by how bad KR's story mode was. This is trash by NRS's own standards. This wasn't just a Saturday morning cartoon episode, this was a very bad Saturday morning cartoon episode.

This is so bad it makes the MKX tie-in comic, which also features Havik as a bad guy, look like Man Booker prize writing by comparison.

The plot is not functional. The characters are not likable. The villains are not remotely memorable. There are no fun twists. There is some cool choreography, and the graphics fidelity is amazing. But from the moment chapter 1 ends, they're in service of actual trash.

1. Plot. There's no plot. From the moment chapter 1 ends, to the boss fight, it's all the same story beat. Nothing changes. It's all one story beat of "evil chaos people are putting chaos in our timeline so we must protect our timeline from the chaos of their timeline before the chaos can spread to all timelines chaos timeline chaos anarchy chaos timeline anarchy." For TWO FUCKING HOURS. If I hear the words chaos, anarchy, or timeline one more time in my life I might actually have an aneurism.

2. I don't give one single fuck about any alternate timeline characters. They're the epitome of disposable filler. When these characters are professing their undying love to one another and having "profound" ptsd moments... good god. You didn't make me care. In fact because they're shitty multiverse clones, I start out with negative caring for them and you have a steep hill to climb just to get me to stop rolling my eyes, and how do you guys not realize that? 90% of the story mode is spent with characters I dgaf about or actively disliked. Scorpion was ok, and Bi-Han and Sektor are so edgy and over the top, I kinda can't help liking them. Everyone else sucked. Lord Liu Kang needs to take a vacation, I'm tired of this guy taking center stage and solving everything for 4 games in a row. Go find Titan Kitana and go on a Titan honeymoon to Titan Paris or something already.

3. The villains... my god. NRS has always had a problem with filler story chapters where you go through 50 mooks in a row and only the last fight matters, but this took that problem and cranked it up to 11. The "characters" you fight are literally not characters, they have no personality, no motivation, no agency, nothing. Most of them are just shitty color coordinated palette swaps. It isn't even building MK canon because when Tanya meets Mileena in the next story, they're not gonna be like "remember that time we fought? Let's fight about it." Because it wasn't our Tanya OR OUR MILEENA. None of it is canon. It was all a bad bad very dream.

So that brings us to Havik, the only villain who kind of sort of had... agency? He was a loser. What a disappointment. Just rants and rants about chaos and anarchy, but isn't any more chaotic than any other bad guy, and his plan is stupid. He sounds like he's in control the entire time (why? isn't he about chaos?) but then like every other villain he just lets the heroes win. Actually that makes me realize, Titan Shang from MK1 was way more chaotic, at least he tried to deceive everyone (including Shang!) and came up with a novel plan. And his pyramid mooks were pretty chaotic. Anyway back to Titan Havik, what a loser. The only remotely interesting moment with him was when Noob called him out on his shit, but the story was like "whoops we're at risk of doing something remotely interesting in this story mode, can't have that, better move on!" and it just didn't matter one fucking bit.

4. The only twist is that Harumi survived, lmao. And it's not that I think good writing needs plot twists, it's just it goes to show how absolutely lazy this story mode was, how low effort (except for graphics/animation), that they couldn't even be bothered to come up with some entertaining fun twists to keep us guessing.

I just don't get it. It's like at every step of production, they actively chose to make this as forgettable and uninteresting and trash as possible. Why does Havik's plan suck so much? Imagine if instead of this shit, Havik's plan was to create ACTUAL CHAOS and make everyone fight amongst themselves, by sprinkling misinformation and encouraging people to make bad decisions that push them towards conflict. No, can't have that.

It actually makes me angry to think how bad this was.

 

[pure.Wasted]

I think it can be taken too far but I don't think "who can defeat who" is brain rot, it helps create logic in the story and establishes stakes. I don't think a character should never be able to beat a "stronger" character though, I actually like some jobber redemption lol. I do want to feel rewarded for paying attention though and want to be able to engage with the story beyond "oh gee I guess this is what's happening next".

Yeah this is the take. If halfway through The Two Towers, Frodo walked up to Sauron and punched him out, everyone intuitively understands that would make for a less satisfying story than the LOTR that exists. It's good to have a sense of relative power because it builds stakes and creates expectations that can then be played into OR cleverly subverted. If we know how strong the bad guy is, we know how brave the good guy is to fight him. If we don't know those things, then it's just a fight with zero context or emotional weight.

And if "everyone can beat everyone" truly at random, then there's no stakes. So what if all the good guys got beat? Mokap can show up out of nowhere and defeat Shao and Shinnok and Kronika all by himself, because who says he can't? That's not good storytelling. It's not satisfying.

All the fights in KR blend together partly because we don't know how any of the characters relate to anyone else, it's just fight after fight after fight. None of them are stronger, none of them are weaker. The enemies are complete placeholders.

People absolutely do take the complaints too far in terms of which characters should/shouldn't be allowed to beat others. But it should also make a modicum of sense and have at least the illusion of consistency. If you want a weaker character to beat a stronger one, you can, just make a point of in the story that that was a big deal and/or give them an advantage, have the opponent be injured, or have them use trickery/intelligence to win.

This is storytelling 101, I don't know how NRS blew it this hard. It's like their storytelling is actually devolving instead of getting better.

 

[Kiss the Missile]

Generally speaking, I think the whole, "Who can defeat who" thing is some anime tier, power level brain rot. Unless you're Dan Habiki, I think believing that all of the characters in a fighting game's cast being able to compete with one another is fine.

Its important for the sake of consistency. Threats don't mean anything if they aren't actually threats.

You know what would have fixed this entire issue? Show us what Havik's chaos actually looks like. Right before the final fight, put us in an unwinnable match vs Havik as Liu Kang. Make it so the screen is constantly rotating, your controls are being jumbled and rejumbled the whole fight, Havik randomly turns invisible at points. Then after Liu loses, then you can do the whole Noob part with "I understand Havik's chaos, I know his kombat". Then with Noob's fight when Havik starts doing all that whacky shit, Noob is able to counter it all and turn it into a regular match.

 

[Vulgar]

Its important for the sake of consistency. Threats don't mean anything if they aren't actually threats.

You know what would have fixed this entire issue? Show us what Havik's chaos actually looks like. Right before the final fight, put us in an unwinnable match vs Havik as Liu Kang. Make it so the screen is constantly rotating, your controls are being jumbled and rejumbled the whole fight, Havik randomly turns invisible at points. Then after Liu loses, then you can do the whole Noob part with "I understand Havik's chaos, I know his kombat". Then with Noob's fight when Havik starts doing all that whacky shit, Noob is able to counter it all and turn it into a regular match.

I like that idea quite a lot.

 

[YagamiFire]

Can we also talk about the absolute on-going dumpstering of Geras?

Dude was a jobber of the highest order in MK11 and a slave to Kronika...so then in MK1 he's nothing but a boring do-nothing 'keeper of time' who effectively does nothing in the story. KR then takes this and...has him be that AND be a giant jobber who can be taken out by two Khaos minions...you know, the guys that get bodies en masse by people like Tanya and Khameleon and Sektor and Cyrax...only for him to be tied up into Havik's S&M KHAOS ANARCHY KHAOS KHAOS KHAOS ANARCHY HAHA KHAOSSSS (seriously this is about 40% of his dialogue) sex-swing to have his "time crystals" stolen so Havik like a cow being milked.

Then he gets saved and freezes one person in time.

Thanks, Geras. A+ contribution to the story and defense of Earthrealm.

Geras is this timelines Kotal Kahn but an even bigger loser. I can't wait to see the next expansion where Geras gets bodied by Time Flu and has to sit out the entire story because "Liu Kang...muh tummy hort".

Just FFS the entire capture scene is so stupid.

Geras: "Oh no! Two absolute jobber-tier nobodies have goo'd up my arms...I will respond by turning to sand/stopping time at will/rewinding time/teleporting/physically overpowering them since I'm a brick shit-house feebly struggling like a child on one of those retractable leashesOHSHITITDIDN'TWORK! Master Liu Kang help!

It's so funny. Unironically if you told me the writers at NRS despise black men I'd be willing to believe you just based on preponderance of evidence. Jax? Gone. Cyrax? Genderswapped. Geras? Jobber plot device with no agency.

Its important for the sake of consistency. Threats don't mean anything if they aren't actually threats.

You know what would have fixed this entire issue? Show us what Havik's chaos actually looks like. Right before the final fight, put us in an unwinnable match vs Havik as Liu Kang. Make it so the screen is constantly rotating, your controls are being jumbled and rejumbled the whole fight, Havik randomly turns invisible at points. Then after Liu loses, then you can do the whole Noob part with "I understand Havik's chaos, I know his kombat". Then with Noob's fight when Havik starts doing all that whacky shit, Noob is able to counter it all and turn it into a regular match.

That's an awesome idea of how to merge narrative & game mechanics. You could even have him invoke different kamidogu as the match goes on and each one adds a new element. Make the last two REALLY unfair like Blocking Disabled and then finally "Dealing damage heals Havik & Hurts you" so it's literally unwinnable.

 

[PrinceGoro]

Its important for the sake of consistency. Threats don't mean anything if they aren't actually threats.

You know what would have fixed this entire issue? Show us what Havik's chaos actually looks like. Right before the final fight, put us in an unwinnable match vs Havik as Liu Kang. Make it so the screen is constantly rotating, your controls are being jumbled and rejumbled the whole fight, Havik randomly turns invisible at points. Then after Liu loses, then you can do the whole Noob part with "I understand Havik's chaos, I know his kombat". Then with Noob's fight when Havik starts doing all that whacky shit, Noob is able to counter it all and turn it into a regular match.

The funniest thing about that whole ordeal is that at the very begininng of the story titan havik storms into lius timeline and bitch slaps titan god lui kang and 3 other fighters by himself and is introduced as a major threat who is toying with them all.

Thats him without any kamidogu powerups.

He goes from that to being beat by noob like its nothing after he is powered up by all of the kamidogu and drained time crytal essence from original all timlines blood geras.And noob was just instantly bitch slapped by tanya like its nothing moments before the final fight.

Zero consistency,zero urgency,zero storytelling.
Dominic single handedly destroyed the lore of the entire franchise and rendered it meaningless.

 

[Kiss the Missile]

Can we also talk about the absolute on-going dumpstering of Geras?

Dude was a jobber of the highest order in MK11 and a slave to Kronika...so then in MK1 he's nothing but a boring do-nothing 'keeper of time' who effectively does nothing in the story. KR then takes this and...has him be that AND be a giant jobber who can be taken out by two Khaos minions...you know, the guys that get bodies en masse by people like Tanya and Khameleon and Sektor and Cyrax...only for him to be tied up into Havik's S&M KHAOS ANARCHY KHAOS KHAOS KHAOS ANARCHY HAHA KHAOSSSS (seriously this is about 40% of his dialogue) sex-swing to have his "time crystals" stolen so Havik like a cow being milked.

Then he gets saved and freezes one person in time.

Thanks, Geras. A+ contribution to the story and defense of Earthrealm.

Geras is this timelines Kotal Kahn but an even bigger loser. I can't wait to see the next expansion where Geras gets bodied by Time Flu and has to sit out the entire story because "Liu Kang...muh tummy hort".

Just FFS the entire capture scene is so stupid.

Geras: "Oh no! Two absolute jobber-tier nobodies have goo'd up my arms...I will respond by turning to sand/stopping time at will/rewinding time/teleporting/physically overpowering them since I'm a brick shit-house feebly struggling like a child on one of those retractable leashesOHSHITITDIDN'TWORK! Master Liu Kang help!

It's so funny. Unironically if you told me the writers at NRS despise black men I'd be willing to believe you just based on preponderance of evidence. Jax? Gone. Cyrax? Genderswapped. Geras? Jobber plot device with no agency.



That's an awesome idea of how to merge narrative & game mechanics. You could even have him invoke different kamidogu as the match goes on and each one adds a new element. Make the last two REALLY unfair like Blocking Disabled and then finally "Dealing damage heals Havik & Hurts you" so it's literally unwinnable.

Hard disagree on Geras. I think MK1 handled him perfectly. Before the game came out, there was talks of him betraying Liu Kang and trying to bring back Kronika. But they didn't, instead they gave him full agency and made him his own person. Even defying Liu Kang's wishes of giving up his godhood, instead keeping it safe secretly. Liu even brings up that Geras could have taken the power for himself, but he didn't because he believed in Liu's vision. That's an incredible redemption arc for a former jobber and slave.

 

[YagamiFire]

That's an incredible redemption arc for a former jobber and slave.

But it's not a redemption arc. Geras has been programmed to be a different person in this timeline. It's not the same dude going through some arc. It's essentially a robot that's been given new programming. It's similar to people saying Mileena 'got a redemption arc'...but it's a totally different person in all the ways that matter.