I thought the game would be played very slowly and you would have to footsie your way in but after 2 hours of sparring you realize this game is actually pretty fast.
Initially I thought everything was safe and couldn't AA or reverse pressure but once you begin to see the moves and its frames you realize you can counter attack at the end of block strings, use meter to get out of pressure with push blocking, cross ups are real, the corner is dangerous, wake ups are not free and mindless rushdown can be reverse in the blink of an eye since everything leads to combos so watch out.
It's def extremely foreign if all you've played is MK9 but give it time, the game is sick. Granted, I have a sparring partner so it's much easier to take an hour or two to understand how the game mechanics work. I went in with an open mind and so far I'm having a blast with all the features this game has.