Support for MK1 Supposedly Cancelled

[Lt. Boxy Angelman]

Here's a question: have any of the Kombat Kast had anything to add to this situation via Twitter or what have you?

Kinda curious what the three biggest shills of them all have to say about all of this, Stephanie the most of all being that this giant downswing we've been on since MK11 started when she became the Vince Russo of NRS.

I don't understand how @Tom Brady has done more to cover this game and keep the discussion going than the three people whose supposed role in all of this is to be the communicators between the studio and the community they supposedly care about, and he hasn't been on the payroll in almost a decade.

.

 

[popmaster501]

Nobody hates MK more than Mortal Kombat fans

 

[Vulgar]

Here's a question: have any of the Kombat Kast had anything to add to this situation via Twitter or what have you?

Kinda curious what the three biggest shills of them all have to say about all of this, Stephanie the most of all being that this giant downswing we've been on since MK11 started when she became the Vince Russo of NRS.

I don't understand how @Tom Brady has done more to cover this game and keep the discussion going than the three people whose supposed role in all of this is to be the communicators between the studio and the community they supposedly care about, and he hasn't been on the payroll in almost a decade.

.

Stephanie is a head QA lead, not a PR manager.

I think it's super strange how parasocial people get with the employees shown on the Kombat Kast.

I imagine having hundreds of thousands of people blaming you for things they personally don't like would be awfully taxing on one's mental health.

Now there was a time Stephanie would post on this very site, answering questions and stuff like that. That came to an end when people would throw a ton of transphobic hate her way, conspiracy post about her "ruining" the franchise, and asking a question that she would answer only to be told she was wrong despite only one person in the interaction having worked on the game.

Given that Tyler, Derek, and Stephanie face massive vitriol online for things they surely have no control over, if I were them, I wouldn't want to engage with the fanbase, either.

 

[MK9KevAgain]

Stephanie is a head QA lead, not a PR manager.

I think it's super strange how parasocial people get with the employees shown on the Kombat Kast.

I imagine having hundreds of thousands of people blaming you for things they personally don't like would be awfully taxing on one's mental health.

Now there was a time Stephanie would post on this very site, answering questions and stuff like that. That came to an end when people would throw a ton of transphobic hate her way, conspiracy post about her "ruining" the franchise, and asking a question that she would answer only to be told she was wrong despite only one person in the interaction having worked on the game.

Given that Tyler, Derek, and Stephanie face massive vitriol online for things they surely have no control over, if I were them, I wouldn't want to engage with the fanbase, either.

Honestly that’s why I take breaks from the MK community because it can be a cesspool. I do think the Kombat Kast are kinda pointless but attacking someone for something they had nothing to do was pointless and unnecessary. It’s like people harassing actors for the role that they were given. I wouldn’t interact with the fan base either. Sucks because that’s probably a reason why NRS isn’t as communicative too, all the harassment and death threats the developers get.

 

[Dankster Morgan]

Stephanie is a head QA lead, not a PR manager.

I think it's super strange how parasocial people get with the employees shown on the Kombat Kast.

I imagine having hundreds of thousands of people blaming you for things they personally don't like would be awfully taxing on one's mental health.

Now there was a time Stephanie would post on this very site, answering questions and stuff like that. That came to an end when people would throw a ton of transphobic hate her way, conspiracy post about her "ruining" the franchise, and asking a question that she would answer only to be told she was wrong despite only one person in the interaction having worked on the game.

Given that Tyler, Derek, and Stephanie face massive vitriol online for things they surely have no control over, if I were them, I wouldn't want to engage with the fanbase, either.

It's gotta be rough. Human beings aren't meant to be exposed to thousands of peoples' opinions about them at the touch of a button.

I basically can't stand NRS, but going after Tyler, Derek, or Stephanie is like bitching out a waiter because your steak is overcooked, like there is more to it than that.

The kombat kasts are shit though, you can roast them for that lmao

 

[Lord Snotty]

We're Mortal Kombat fans.

We hate Mortal Kombat.

I just hate this Mortal Kombat. I'm sorry. It reminds me of how irrelevant the franchise felt back in the 3D era. MK has lost itself trying to be an esports event. It forgot the casual fan and the Kombat Pack didn't get them onside. I don't give a shit about hit boxes or strings, I just want a fun game I can play with against my friends. I'd argue Khaos Reigns got those low sales because no-one wanted to spend more money after feeling like they'd been conned with MK1. That's why I didn't buy it. I knew soon after finishing it that I'd wasted all that money on something really shit, and I've never felt that about Mortal Kombat.

 

[Dankster Morgan]

Nobody hates MK more than Mortal Kombat fans

imo this is because of the frequency at which the games drop.

NRS games come out quite often and are very different so it’ll naturally make a lot of people have different favorites and what the conceptualize as the ideal MK will be drastically different. The same thing happens to games like COD and assassins creed.

 

[YagamiFire]

Nobody hates MK more than Mortal Kombat fans

I am not obligated to like [shitty product] just because it has [brand] name on it.



"What do you mean the salad was wilted and gross even though it was before the expiration date? I swear, no one hates Star Wars more than Star Wars fans!"

Of course the people most passionate about something will have the strongest criticism if its bad. Why would people with zero interest or investment in MK have any strong feelings about it at all?

MK fans naturally want MK to be good and want to recommend it to others so they can make more fans. MK1 is not good and is a bad recommendation. NRS is doing a bad job and fans should let them know.

And agreed on the earlier sentiment that attacking employees is straight up stupid AF. Most have nothing to do with anything. Boons the lead...criticize him for his obviously bad leadership. Just keep to the game.

 

[Vulgar]

I am not obligated to like [shitty product] just because it has [brand] name on it.

View attachment 22170

"What do you mean the salad was wilted and gross even though it was before the expiration date? I swear, no one hates Star Wars more than Star Wars fans!"

Of course the people most passionate about something will have the strongest criticism if its bad. Why would people with zero interest or investment in MK have any strong feelings about it at all?

MK fans naturally want MK to be good and want to recommend it to others so they can make more fans. MK1 is not good and is a bad recommendation. NRS is doing a bad job and fans should let them know.

And agreed on the earlier sentiment that attacking employees is straight up stupid AF. Most have nothing to do with anything. Boons the lead...criticize him for his obviously bad leadership. Just keep to the game.

Gosh, there's lots of really subjective stuff in here, but I think you missed the point.

Every MK game that has come out in the NRS era(for lack of a better phrase) has been met with a slew of haters.

People declared MK9 bad and that the game would die after it's first EVO.

People said MKX had, "no neutral" and was just "run up and mix."

People hated MK11 because combos weren't very long, and Krushing Blows and Fatal Blows were "braindead."

And now they hate MK1 for a host of reasons. So when people say that no one hates MK more than MK fans, they're referring to the fact that as a community, we are never satisfied. As a community, we will complain no matter what the devs do.

Just look at MK9-MK1. Each game has had tons of controversy and online vitriol tossed its direction and none of them really play like one another at all.

 

[YagamiFire]

Every MK game that has come out in the NRS era(for lack of a better phrase) has been met with a slew of haters.

Seems like you might just surround yourself with a lot of negativity or might only focus on it and take it WAY too personally. It's a game, it's not fucking you. You don't need to get that offended on its behalf. Most of my friends are absolute casuals when it comes to fighting games and I got them all to get MK9-11 and they liked every single one. MK1 was the first one they shit hard on because it had nothing for them.

Maybe you're just super sensitive to criticism of things you like and perceive ANY criticism as 'a slew of haters'? Might be a 'touch grass' situation if you're getting this ass-blasted especially considering how popular MK9 and X were. Regulate your emotions better instead of taking shit so personally, especially over [brand]? I dunno, just seems crazy to think a game like MK9 was hate-mobbed. That's some serious revisionist history OR an insanely myopic view of conversation around the game.

none of them really play like one another at all.

Have you considered this right here might be part of the problem? When you radically change a game so sequels don't "really play like one another at all" (your words) you are setting yourself up to displease at least a section of the very fanbase you just cultivated. I can pick up SFII-SF6 and they will feel similar enough that a lot of combos will still work across the same character in many of them. NRS can't even fucking decide what inputs for iconic special moves are from game to game.

MK has never been good at inventing the wheel...but they keep insisting on trying to reinvent it every single game instead of learning from what they just did and improving what they had. By the time you get to the third or fourth iteration where you've jerked people around back and forth through playstyles because you can't decide (or, frankly, you don't fucking know) what you're doing, it's a recipe for satisfying less and less people. Combine that with offering less options, less features and less gameplay and how can anyone be surprised there's more criticisms than praise now?

Again, this is an L of NRS' own creation

They need to hold it to hopefully learn something.

 

[M2Dave]

Of course the people most passionate about something will have the strongest criticism if its bad. Why would people with zero interest or investment in MK have any strong feelings about it at all?

Correct.

Besides, every mainstream game receives heavy criticism.

Have you seen or read what some Street Fighter 6 players say about drive rushes and throw loops? Or what some Tekken 8 players say about the heat system?

The difference is that Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8 are objectively superior products than Mortal Kombat 1, so Mortal Kombat 1 deserves the heavy criticism.

Of course, I have learned my lesson in the past and I am strictly against deranged personal attacks on NRS employees, which is why Tom and I rarely mention them by name on the podcast.

However, Ed Boon, being the spokesman for the franchise, is subject to name drops and criticism about the games.

I do believe that there is an issue with certain individuals harping on about Mortal Kombat 1.

If you did not like the game on day one due to the kameo system, you are probably not going to like the game on day 400+.

 

[DayAlreadySucks]

It ends after Conan. Khaos Reigns is overpriced nonsense and I literally only find Sektor and Ghostface interesting and have no plans of ever buying the full DLC.

I got MK1 right around launch and it still remains my least played modern day MK title, excluding mk9, which I couldn’t play online.

Their first fuck up was adding Kameos.

People shouldn’t underestimate just how many people they put off with the addition of Kameos. They overcomplicate an already complex genre of games and make learning matchups so much more difficult because you aren’t fighting Shao Kahn anymore…you’re fighting a Shao Kahn with projectiles, a Shao Kahn that can teleport, or a Shao Kahn with a low freeze, depending on who you pick as your Kameos. It is just so fucking frustrating to me and completely damages the learning process. Remember when MK11 had more players at one point? Know why you can still get matches fairly quickly on MKX? Not only because they’re great games, but because people are sick of the kameo shit and want what MK always was. There are plenty of people that like the mechanic, understandably so, because it’s new, and it has been implemented in some creative ways. But for people like myself who feel that it overcomplicates the game, makes some matchups a nuisance, and abandons what the game originally was, it is but a faulty mechanic, similar to Krushing blows in MK11, which we could have gone just fine without. They couldn’t even give us a no kameo mode, something people were asking for before the game even released.

So yeah, the ship is sinking. Let’s hope they do better with Injustice 3 and don’t ruin it with marvel tag team shit.

 

[YagamiFire]

Have you seen or read what some Street Fighter 6 players say about drive rushes and throw loops? Or what some Tekken 8 players say about the heat system?

The difference is that Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8 are objectively superior products than Mortal Kombat 1, so Mortal Kombat 1 deserves the heavy criticism.

Exactly this. I do not like the way the drive mechanic works in SF6. I think it makes a lot of the game feel very 'samey'. However, the core gameplay is still very good and the game has an insane amount of content. I spent 100 hours just in World Tour before even diving into other stuff in the game and had a blast. I recommended the game to a lot of friends and everyone that got it enjoyed it despite them all being casuals. The couple more serious fighting game players I know also enjoy it a lot even with their criticisms about Drive.

Tekken is much the same. Some criticisms, but overall very good product that is well worth the money.

MK1 is not a good product. It is not worth the money. It has a lot to criticize. If MK1 played exactly the same but had as much content as something like we got in the 3d era? You'd see A LOT less complaints because at least it would feel like a full product. MK1 feels like a bare bones fighter release from 15 years ago...and which is not enjoyable as a fighter for a lot of people.

MK1 released unfinished. That is on WB. MK1 also released with a kameo system that is in direct conflict with the core concept of Mortal Kombat...a 1v1 fight to the death. For fucks sake, it's in the name. That is on NRS. It also released with a dogshit terrible 'Invasion' mode that does not help anyone learn the game, does not have much to enjoy and gives dogshit reward for yourtime & effort. That is also on NRS. Then you've got the online issues. The features missing from MK11. The shitty story. Etc etc. All that stuff is on NRS.

Even if MK1 was delayed and released right now it would have done poorly because its core content for the casual player, the fandom that MK has courted since day one because it has never marketed itself as a serious competitive fighter (and that is NOT a criticism. MK being the casual fun fighter is a good thing), is totally lacking in every way and what they do offer is flat-out bad. It really is that simple.

They're in a bad spot right now.

A friend asked me how I would rehab the MK brand and I had to describe a full 3-5 year fucking plan just to get back to the point where it would seem feasible to relaunch a genuine new full MK game. That's how much I believe they've undermined themselves with this release. It would take a good amount. And that sucks. I love MK...but when you love something you gotta love it enough to be honest about it.

 

[Vulgar]

Seems like you might just surround yourself with a lot of negativity or might only focus on it and take it WAY too personally. It's a game, it's not fucking you. You don't need to get that offended on its behalf. Most of my friends are absolute casuals when it comes to fighting games and I got them all to get MK9-11 and they liked every single one. MK1 was the first one they shit hard on because it had nothing for them.

Maybe you're just super sensitive to criticism of things you like and perceive ANY criticism as 'a slew of haters'? Might be a 'touch grass' situation if you're getting this ass-blasted especially considering how popular MK9 and X were. Regulate your emotions better instead of taking shit so personally, especially over [brand]? I dunno, just seems crazy to think a game like MK9 was hate-mobbed. That's some serious revisionist history OR an insanely myopic view of conversation around the game.



Have you considered this right here might be part of the problem? When you radically change a game so sequels don't "really play like one another at all" (your words) you are setting yourself up to displease at least a section of the very fanbase you just cultivated. I can pick up SFII-SF6 and they will feel similar enough that a lot of combos will still work across the same character in many of them. NRS can't even fucking decide what inputs for iconic special moves are from game to game.

MK has never been good at inventing the wheel...but they keep insisting on trying to reinvent it every single game instead of learning from what they just did and improving what they had. By the time you get to the third or fourth iteration where you've jerked people around back and forth through playstyles because you can't decide (or, frankly, you don't fucking know) what you're doing, it's a recipe for satisfying less and less people. Combine that with offering less options, less features and less gameplay and how can anyone be surprised there's more criticisms than praise now?

Again, this is an L of NRS' own creation

They need to hold it to hopefully learn something.

Actually, I was speaking on the narratives that the community have spun around each game, nothing to do with me personally. It seems to me that you haven't been apart of this site for very long, so I understand you being unaware of certain trends the community went through.

There's several old episodes of KTP where the issue of the community crapping on MK9 was becoming an issue, as well as plenty of old threads on this site, if you've the patience to find them.

It's really quite strange that that was what you took from my post.

 

[Vulgar]

Seems like you might just surround yourself with a lot of negativity or might only focus on it and take it WAY too personally. It's a game, it's not fucking you. You don't need to get that offended on its behalf. Most of my friends are absolute casuals when it comes to fighting games and I got them all to get MK9-11 and they liked every single one. MK1 was the first one they shit hard on because it had nothing for them.

Maybe you're just super sensitive to criticism of things you like and perceive ANY criticism as 'a slew of haters'? Might be a 'touch grass' situation if you're getting this ass-blasted especially considering how popular MK9 and X were. Regulate your emotions better instead of taking shit so personally, especially over [brand]? I dunno, just seems crazy to think a game like MK9 was hate-mobbed. That's some serious revisionist history OR an insanely myopic view of conversation around the game.



Have you considered this right here might be part of the problem? When you radically change a game so sequels don't "really play like one another at all" (your words) you are setting yourself up to displease at least a section of the very fanbase you just cultivated. I can pick up SFII-SF6 and they will feel similar enough that a lot of combos will still work across the same character in many of them. NRS can't even fucking decide what inputs for iconic special moves are from game to game.

MK has never been good at inventing the wheel...but they keep insisting on trying to reinvent it every single game instead of learning from what they just did and improving what they had. By the time you get to the third or fourth iteration where you've jerked people around back and forth through playstyles because you can't decide (or, frankly, you don't fucking know) what you're doing, it's a recipe for satisfying less and less people. Combine that with offering less options, less features and less gameplay and how can anyone be surprised there's more criticisms than praise now?

Again, this is an L of NRS' own creation

They need to hold it to hopefully learn something.

MK has always done different things from game to game. This isn't exclusive to the NRS Era titles.

The closest might be MK1 and 2 and the 3D games.

But UMK3 plays absolutely nothing like 1&2(has strings, running, actual intended combos), MK4 plays nothing like UMK3, despite being 3D, MK4 doesn't play like the other 3D games that came after.

MK has always been this way. Even across 3D titles, there are pretty significant gameplay changes. Deadly Alliance didn't have breakers or instant death environmental hazards that would come later.

Even movement isn't the same across titles as a lot of normals that were backdash cancellable in previous 3D titles weren't so in Armageddon.

 

[theotherguy]

I don't give a shit about hit boxes or strings

Doesn't mean that hitboxes shouldn't be correct, or that strings that are supposed to work a certain way shouldn't do so. Being "eSports ready" shouldn't preclude the game from being fun.

I don't think the problem is related to that at all. It's just some questionable decisions elsewhere.

 

[M2Dave]

MK1 is not a good product. It is not worth the money. It has a lot to criticize. If MK1 played exactly the same but had as much content as something like we got in the 3d era? You'd see A LOT less complaints because at least it would feel like a full product. MK1 feels like a bare bones fighter release from 15 years ago...and which is not enjoyable as a fighter for a lot of people.

Essentially, the lesson and effect of Mortal Kombat 1.

Mortal Kombat 11 enraged competitive players, but casual gamers were generally satisfied with the presentation and content of the game, and hence the 15 million sales.

Competitively speaking, Mortal Kombat X was a mixed bag, but the atmosphere and the erratically fast gameplay attracted lots casual gamers and spectators.

Mortal Kombat 1 pissed off competitive and casual players alike. I am an extinct dinosaur, and I genuinely cannot recall the last time that a Mortal Kombat game and/or its DLC did not meet sale projections.

Whatever the subsequent game may be, I believe that there will be conspicuous improvements, particularly to the overall experience of the game.

But will NRS finally listen to competitive players and design a deep, engaging, and balanced one-on-one fighting game?

Of course not. LOL. We have been asking and begging since Mortal Kombat 9.

 

[SaltShaker]

Or what some Tekken 8 players say about the heat system?

I just spent the last couple hours running a couple sets to grind MUs and I left feeling nothing but pure unfiltered rage at the Heat system. Even when you abuse it it's still dirty. Nothing in MK1 is this stupid. Every game has it's stupid stuff but the oppressive heat "does everything combined plus ultra unga" is probably the worst of them all. Combined with Rage Arts not being able to jab check anymore, Power Crush being much better for some than others (mid hitting heat engaging combo starting wall splatting etc power crushes), just so much nonsense stacked together. Feeling like MKX sometimes out there. This post probably makes your point lol, but this game makes me more salty than any modern FG right now.

/Rant

 

[Kiss the Missile]

It ends after Conan. Khaos Reigns is overpriced nonsense and I literally only find Sektor and Ghostface interesting and have no plans of ever buying the full DLC.

I got MK1 right around launch and it still remains my least played modern day MK title, excluding mk9, which I couldn’t play online.

Their first fuck up was adding Kameos.

People shouldn’t underestimate just how many people they put off with the addition of Kameos. They overcomplicate an already complex genre of games and make learning matchups so much more difficult because you aren’t fighting Shao Kahn anymore…you’re fighting a Shao Kahn with projectiles, a Shao Kahn that can teleport, or a Shao Kahn with a low freeze, depending on who you pick as your Kameos. It is just so fucking frustrating to me and completely damages the learning process. Remember when MK11 had more players at one point? Know why you can still get matches fairly quickly on MKX? Not only because they’re great games, but because people are sick of the kameo shit and want what MK always was. There are plenty of people that like the mechanic, understandably so, because it’s new, and it has been implemented in some creative ways. But for people like myself who feel that it overcomplicates the game, makes some matchups a nuisance, and abandons what the game originally was, it is but a faulty mechanic, similar to Krushing blows in MK11, which we could have gone just fine without. They couldn’t even give us a no kameo mode, something people were asking for before the game even released.

So yeah, the ship is sinking. Let’s hope they do better with Injustice 3 and don’t ruin it with marvel tag team shit.

Your criticism of the Kameo system is literally what custom variations were in MK11.

 

[YagamiFire]

It seems to me that you haven't been apart of this site for very long

"It seems to me that you've not gone long enough without touching grass. Perhaps touch less grass before you say I need to touch grass" - grassless Vulgar

Sure, man. Whatever. You're right. A small community you've been a part of spinning occasional narratives at some points about the games is definitely reflective of how the general MK community feels about stuff. You definitely aren't supporting my point out all that you're totally out of touch with a crazy myopic view of the games. Not one bit. The argument that you know what's up because a forum for competitive Mortal Kombat had a few narratives at one time or another about the games and that that definitively reflects "the community" in regards to the general feeling towards the games is definitely rooted in reality. Being in one small niche community for longer is definitely good support for not being surrounded by limited voices regarding the overall community. Just brilliant argumentation.

But what do I know? All I did was predict the trajectory of this game and how much damage was done to it by its launch and that its initial good sales meant fuck all nothing.

You've got your finger on the pulse of the community. Enjoy the continued support of MK1. Great sales. Great experience. Gonna have the longest support of any NRS game. Boon said so. Keep winning. Fuck the haters & the critics. What do they know? Get hype like the 1800 people playing MK1 right now on Steam. They know what's up way more than the 2400 people playing MK11. Or the 15,000 playing SF6. Morons, all of 'em. Viva NRS. They've done nothing wrong.

Can't wait for KP3. I hear it's going to have Spongebob.

 

[YagamiFire]

But will NRS finally listen to competitive players and design a deep, engaging, and balanced one-on-one fighting game?

Of course not. LOL. We have been asking and begging since Mortal Kombat 9.

NGL, my belief has pretty much always been that they're not capable of it. They seem to lack the technical skill and a company hierarchy that allows them the long term commitment. There's so many things wildly outdated about how NRS does things with their game that I think they have a genuine design & skill deficit in the company and that's not even going into a general lack of know-how about fighter balancing which is a much narrower and uncommon skillset in game development.

MK1 really does cement my belief that they need restructuring from the ground up. Both in who they have doing stuff and in how they're allowed to do stuff.

 

[Vulgar]

"It seems to me that you've not gone long enough without touching grass. Perhaps touch less grass before you say I need to touch grass" - grassless Vulgar

Sure, man. Whatever. You're right. A small community you've been a part of spinning occasional narratives at some points about the games is definitely reflective of how the general MK community feels about stuff. You definitely aren't supporting my point out all that you're totally out of touch with a crazy myopic view of the games. Not one bit. The argument that you know what's up because a forum for competitive Mortal Kombat had a few narratives at one time or another about the games and that that definitively reflects "the community" in regards to the general feeling towards the games is definitely rooted in reality. Being in one small niche community for longer is definitely good support for not being surrounded by limited voices regarding the overall community. Just brilliant argumentation.

But what do I know? All I did was predict the trajectory of this game and how much damage was done to it by its launch and that its initial good sales meant fuck all nothing.

You've got your finger on the pulse of the community. Enjoy the continued support of MK1. Great sales. Great experience. Gonna have the longest support of any NRS game. Boon said so. Keep winning. Fuck the haters & the critics. What do they know? Get hype like the 1800 people playing MK1 right now on Steam. They know what's up way more than the 2400 people playing MK11. Or the 15,000 playing SF6. Morons, all of 'em. Viva NRS. They've done nothing wrong.

Can't wait for KP3. I hear it's going to have Spongebob.

I'm sensing a lot of aggression here. Why so mad?

Obviously the forum isn't representative of the entire community. However, as someone that traveled for MK9 and MKX and spoke to other players at these events, as well as talks with top players I've had at different events, observing discourse online(You may not know this, but before every top player moved to Twitter the vast majority of them posted here) I can verify that it's true. This is to say nothing of discourse amongst top players, podcasts, so on and so forth.

I hope that clarifies things for you.

 

[Vulgar]

Essentially, the lesson and effect of Mortal Kombat 1.

Mortal Kombat 11 enraged competitive players, but casual gamers were generally satisfied with the presentation and content of the game, and hence the 15 million sales.

Competitively speaking, Mortal Kombat X was a mixed bag, but the atmosphere and the erratically fast gameplay attracted lots casual gamers and spectators.

Mortal Kombat 1 pissed off competitive and casual players alike. I am an extinct dinosaur, and I genuinely cannot recall the last time that a Mortal Kombat game and/or its DLC did not meet sale projections.

Whatever the subsequent game may be, I believe that there will be conspicuous improvements, particularly to the overall experience of the game.

But will NRS finally listen to competitive players and design a deep, engaging, and balanced one-on-one fighting game?

Of course not. LOL. We have been asking and begging since Mortal Kombat 9.

Was MK9 very balanced though?

A common issue is that many players - from top players to lower tier players - don't really agree on what an ideal MK game is.

Some people really like MK9. That's valid.

But you also have a lot of players that really want a return to MKX.

And yes, there are people that enjoy MK1's gameplay.

You're not going to please them all.

As far as "depth" goes, I would argue that games get "figured out" much faster now than they ever did back in 2011. Information spreads so much faster now than it did before.

 

[Subby Z]

So I’ve never been hardcore into gameplay. I just like the MK franchise.

I can say (and I’ve been around since waaay before MK9) that MK9, MKX, and yes even MK11 were MOSTLY well received.

the fgc hated MK11 but everyone else seemed to love it (I mean I’ll straight up admit I put hours upon hours into that game. I had FUN). Speaking of FUN that has to be part of the damn game.

It’s not just the fgc who plays these games. That’s MAYBE 5% of sales right? Possibly 10 but I feel that’s even generous.

As a long time fan I was honestly just pissed they fucked their legacy characters and all of their lore. I’ve said it before but if I want to play a game with random characters I don’t know then I can play any franchise. When I play MK I want to see Raiden, Scorpion, and Sub-Zero and at this point I see those 3 as Thundergod Raiden, Hanzo Hasashi, and Kuai Liang. None of which were in their respective roles in this game and it all just felt so shitty. Idk this game just didn’t feel like MK.

And I’ll say this again. I’m glad it’s failing.

 

[DayAlreadySucks]

Your criticism of the Kameo system is literally what custom variations were in MK11.

I see what you’re saying, but with Kameos, every character can access the tools of the kameo, whereas in MK11 it was still mostly limited to the character’s identity. Take Baraka for example. If I fought someone playing two different Baraka variations in MK11, I’m dealing with someone who may use the command grab, use the flag, or use his gutted move, etc. I never had to worry about Baraka teleporting across the screen or freezing, because that isn’t Baraka. Sure, their moves change, but there aren’t these major changes to what make the character themselves, mostly just an alteration of how their offense and defense is played, because it’s a variation of the SAME character. It’s a lot easier to competitively deal with different alterations of the same character than to deal with one character being combined with 10+ other characters. Now I have to worry about if Baraka is gonna throw boomerangs at me with Sareena, teleporting with Motaro, leaving a trap with Mavado, ground pounding with Jax etc. It’s a much more drastic gameplay difference, even more so when you consider that Kameos are completely different characters that you have to hit to get off of the screen.