A.B.I.torial: Mortal Kombat 11

[Crusty]

The shilling in this thread for mk is beyond hilarious.

 

[Jhonnykiller45]

Yes I do.

Story mode was a disaster, and ended with a cop out of a timeline reset even though Boon lied on stage about how they were fully committed to continuing MKX's story.

Marketed on the gore and variations and single player even though those three things arguably the most annoying aspect of the game.

People who are happy with MK11 are unlikely to take ABI opinion to heart.

I believe all of this. Dont see why I would lie about having an opinion. No one seems to know me as someone who loves MK11 to begin with, lol.

I fully believe you or anyone else when they say they don't like MK11.
But you say the "The entire soul of the franchise is superceded by the need for hyperviolence", what does that mean? That NRS is putting in more effort in creating Fatalities than the rest of the game? That's plainly untrue.
And "People who are happy with MK11 are unlikely to take ABI opinion to heart" while that's true, conversely, I doubt he, you, or anyone else who share similar thoughts, gives a shit about the opinions of those who do like MK11.

 

[MKF30]

He doesn't seem to grasp that photorealistic animations will not look like cartoony, anime bluer effect animations. And I love how he uses SF and Tekken to compare with MK, yet ignores the fact that literally every Tekken game looks the same like they don't want to change things up like MK and even SF over time. Or the fact that you punch someone in Tekken and sparks come flying off their face, see I can gripe about trivial shit too. Or the fact that SF's proportions are way off, I don't care if it's a cartoony look or not. There are other games that have that cartoony look yet with more realistic looking proportions of the anatomy.

MK and SF are like night and day. DC and Marvel. The Ying and the Yang. Doesn't mean one's necessarily inferior or superior, just different which if you ask me makes it unique. I'd also like to ask, and while I do have my issues with MK 11(just not trivial opinionated shit like this guy) I'd like to ask him, why is it then that the past few MK games have sold much better than SF 5 and Tekken 7? hmm

 

[kingjolly]

jumping is really the only thing that looks off to me. Overall....i think he's being a little harsh on this one. However, I agree with his points on the violence. It's a waste of my time when I'm forced to do fatalities to progress. I want a skip button.

 

[NaughtySenpai]

I just wish the game would let you unlock all the Krypt shit with one opening of the boxes, a poke system that does not suck and neutral bypassing tools to be punishable, being able to decline WIFI players and maybe jump attack invincibility on d2s.

I kinda gave up on NRS putting in decent music because they didn't do that since MK3, or designing characters properly to give them personality instead of these terribly written intros (Kano and Johnny being exceptions).

He has a point with Liu Kang but I don't really care. I just want a fun game and though I love playing MK11, I think there's a lotta room for improvement to make it even more fun.

 

[Rasilover]

The shilling in this thread for mk is beyond hilarious.

Facts XD

 

[MKF30]

Depends, shilling for the youtuber? Definitely cause most of us have issues with MK 11 and nrs, it's just not stupid shit like this guy rants about.

 

[BarakaTile]

I have nothing really substantial to say on this guy or his opinions on MK.

But I will say that for all the faults in 9+X+11 story mode, it's still much better than Tekken 7's attempt.

 

[HeavyNorse]

it's still much better than Tekken 7's attempt.

That journalist telling the story lacks any sort of emotion, the voice actor outright sounds bored, just reading up from a manuscript. The angle could've been more interesting, but the monotone voice acting drowns out everything else happening in that story mode.

 

[jcbowie]

Lol I remember this guy, he's the one who ranted about how awful every single Erron Black animation in MKX was and then drew his "improvement" on the default stance and it was this hilariously awkward cartoony lean-back nonsense.

It's never the case that ALL his complaints about animations are invalid, but Christ alive it's clear a lot of his "critiques" have to do with his preference for really stylized sprite-based games with non-continuous attack strings. It's telling that he's often saying "yeah, I mean obviously NRS is going for movement more grounded in some degree of the reality of human range of motion BUT it's a video game so it should be cuh-razy and wild." Then LITERALLY goes on in the next segment to talk about how Jacqui's pre-animation move logic is "too video-gamey." Also lol, imagine being so mad about the stance switch button that you devote like half your time on the animation "critique" complaining about a button that is, at worst, just unnecessary design noise that you have control over for no real reason.

Best points in the video are still the poke or standing button animation qualms, which are the same as always and he seems to think are the biggest possible deal, and some of the animations he looks at with weapons. The fatal blow complaint was almost real, until you realize that he's just leading into his whinging about the violence he's so terribly sensitive to instead of the actual effects on the meta, which is MOST of the video. Love how he off-handedly throws out that the game doesn't have "competitive depth" without ever really saying how or why, waving everything into this pile of complaints about how this particular game's violence is suddenly "gratuitous" culminating with the hot take that Liu Kang was a "non-killing character" that the devs ruined, meanwhile guy was biting a guy in half as a dragon by MK2.

You don't like campy comic book-style characters, don't care for overly-complicated often-shifting canon, no stomach for over-the-top violence that's been a staple of the franchise from day 1? Then guess what bud, I hate to tell ya but you were not ever a "huge fan" of MK.

 

[MKF30]

Lol I remember this guy, he's the one who ranted about how awful every single Erron Black animation in MKX was and then drew his "improvement" on the default stance and it was this hilariously awkward cartoony lean-back nonsense.

It's never the case that ALL his complaints about animations are invalid, but Christ alive it's clear a lot of his "critiques" have to do with his preference for really stylized sprite-based games with non-continuous attack strings. It's telling that he's often saying "yeah, I mean obviously NRS is going for movement more grounded in some degree of the reality of human range of motion BUT it's a video game so it should be cuh-razy and wild." Then LITERALLY goes on in the next segment to talk about how Jacqui's pre-animation move logic is "too video-gamey." Also lol, imagine being so mad about the stance switch button that you devote like half your time on the animation "critique" complaining about a button that is, at worst, just unnecessary design noise that you have control over for no real reason.

Best points in the video are still the poke or standing button animation qualms, which are the same as always and he seems to think are the biggest possible deal, and some of the animations he looks at with weapons. The fatal blow complaint was almost real, until you realize that he's just leading into his whinging about the violence he's so terribly sensitive to instead of the actual effects on the meta, which is MOST of the video. Love how he off-handedly throws out that the game doesn't have "competitive depth" without ever really saying how or why, waving everything into this pile of complaints about how this particular game's violence is suddenly "gratuitous" culminating with the hot take that Liu Kang was a "non-killing character" that the devs ruined, meanwhile guy was biting a guy in half as a dragon by MK2.

You don't like campy comic book-style characters, don't care for overly-complicated often-shifting canon, no stomach for over-the-top violence that's been a staple of the franchise from day 1? Then guess what bud, I hate to tell ya but you were not ever a "huge fan" of MK.

Also you can tell this guy screams casual AF, he speaks nothing of the relevant gripes or issues with the game that are actually important like I don't know...gameplay elements? lol But apparently "animations" and "violence" are this guys priorities as to whether or not a game is good or not. I still crack up at the part where one minute he says "I grew up on MK I LOVE MK" then goes to say "MK just offers nothing but grotesque sadistic violence and forces me to do fatalities" lol like bruh, do you even know WTF made MK so damn iconic and popular in the first place? I think he's a poser personally, he goes on with the "switch stance serves no purpose" but ignores the fact that umm it's kind of important for certain wake ups like rolling and delayed wake up and Fatal Blow, but sure the switch stance button aka Left Trigger serves no important purpose...lol

 

[Samsara]

I think he's a poser personally, he goes on with the "switch stance serves no purpose" but ignores the fact that umm it's kind of important for certain wake ups like rolling and delayed wake up and Fatal Blow, but sure the switch stance button aka Left Trigger serves no important purpose...lol

Dude you are either deliberately mischaracterizing his actual arguments or too stupid to understand what's being said.

His said although switch stance serves as a required input for other moves, the functionality of switch stance itself is useless.

Which it is.

I'd quote and respond to the rest of your post but its full of other nonsensical retorts that you somehow think obliterate his argument.

He criticizes gameplay elements: fatal blow, progression systems, and animation. He says he loved MK but grew out of it, and finds the new overblown focus on long drawn out miserable fatalities to be tiresome.

Which they are.

He wants the animation to match up with the fidelity of the rest of the game. It really isnt all that hard to understand.

 

[MKF30]

Dude you are either deliberately mischaracterizing his actual arguments or too stupid to understand what's being said.

His said although switch stance serves as a required input for other moves, the functionality of switch stance itself is useless.

Which it is.

I'd quote and respond to the rest of your post but its full of other nonsensical retorts that you somehow think obliterate his argument.

He criticizes gameplay elements: fatal blow, progression systems, and animation. He says he loved MK but grew out of it, and finds the new overblown focus on long drawn out miserable fatalities to be tiresome.

Which they are.

He wants the animation to match up with the fidelity of the rest of the game. It really isnt all that hard to understand.

I'm well aware of his "points" if you can call them that. I just call BS when I see it. I'm not too stupid to understand, to not understand what I'm saying would be stupid when I've pretty much explained myself a few times now. Yes but he also immediately ignores and dismisses it as if it's irrelevant because HE don't like the switch stance. Yeah, we get it switching has no purpose(unless of course you want that Kotal Kahn disco achievement) I don't care about switch stance or not one way or another to warrant half a video to it, it doesn't affect gameplay in this game like in previous games. He's just reaching as far as I'm concerned for things to bash and even admits in one point in the video that he petpeeves.

Also, no they're not the whole fatalities being boring is pure opinion. I don't mind doing them especially if I'm in a competitive, close set and I win that last match I'd rather fatal someone than sit there teabagging like a conceded douchebag. It's part of the game, part of MK. Don't like it? Don't play MK, period.

Dude I don't have to obliterate his argument nor do I care to, I'm merely voicing my opinion here like anyone else about this guy's video, he makes himself look stupid, ignorant and whiney all on his own to be honest. He cares about nothing important as I've already stated, he bitches over the dumbest shit like "violence" in MORTAL KOMBAT lol...you'd have to be beyond dumb to not realize why that statement alone is moronic. Progressive system is not gameplay, that's how you unlock things. Casuals know this, and animation is not gameplay. That's animations lol. How characters move. Fatal Blow is the only element he mentions and he doesn't even got into WHY they're bad or not. Yes, he says he loved MK yet whines about violence and obsesses over animations and realistic things yet ignores the fact that Tekken and SF have anything but realistic proportions, overdone animations and blur effects at times which is lazy. At least with MK if you take Jade's twirling her staff vs the chick in SF, you can clearly tell Jade's looks better because MK actually uses real martial artists using motion capture.

I understand but I don't think you're getting why everyone here is calling him out on his flawed argument. He literally goes on about the same shit in every NRS video, yet ignores the flaws in other fighters and his complaints are more petpeeves and personal preferences as oppose to actual logical, relevant complaints.

Let me tell you, I also grew up with MK born in the early 80's and most likely older than this guy. His complaints are all personal preferences 99% if not 100% of the time. I can bet you anything he knows nothing about the core gameplay mechanics and how they work otherwise he'd be mentioning those flaws instead of worrying about "violent sadistic fatalities" and having to do them over and over and over. That being said I've seen MK grow from a casual gory fighter to a serious competitive fighter over time while retaining what made MK great in the first place. This guy is still a poser as far as I'm concerned and nothing nor no one will be changing my mind there.

 

[jcbowie]

Dude you are either deliberately mischaracterizing his actual arguments or too stupid to understand what's being said.

His said although switch stance serves as a required input for other moves, the functionality of switch stance itself is useless.

Which it is.

I'd quote and respond to the rest of your post but its full of other nonsensical retorts that you somehow think obliterate his argument.

He criticizes gameplay elements: fatal blow, progression systems, and animation. He says he loved MK but grew out of it, and finds the new overblown focus on long drawn out miserable fatalities to be tiresome.

Which they are.

He wants the animation to match up with the fidelity of the rest of the game. It really isnt all that hard to understand.

It is useless. Completely useless, like dancing with it is fun sometimes but he's right in saying it doesn't serve a real purpose.

...so what? It's really not that big of a deal, certainly not enough to cry about for literally a third of the animation critique content of this ostensibly animation-based video. Yeah, it's funny to meme about, but he's demonstrably wrong about the angle of characters' animations in a lot of his complaints about orientation, and whinges on for 5 god damn minutes about it.

He also doesn't really criticize many gameplay elements, if you pay attention. He mentions things like fatal blow only in the context of his rant about why he feels he's "outgrown" the violence of MK, not in order to talk about how it might be a flawed mechanic. Progression system and a few of the animations he shows, perfectly cool to have a problems with, but is it escaping everyone how melodramatic and shallow this video and its analyses of these features are...? There's a disclaimer at the beginning about how he can't speak much to mechanics or creative elements beyond animation, but he spends over half the video misguidedly attempting to do exactly that.

If it's about the animations matching up with the fidelity of the game, why does he stand on an unrelated soapbox for half the video?

 

[theotherguy]

"I love mk I grew up with it" then seconds later "I hate mk too violent"

There's a difference between the pixelated sprites of MK1 to the highly detailed 3D models they have today, especially in the detail of the animation of the enders compared to the 2D games.

On top of that it's the design aesthetic they've chosen which focuses/slo-mo's them, and the way you're forced to do them if you want to progress in the game.

Yes it's always been overtly violent, but there's quite a distance between MK1 and 11.

he speaks nothing of the relevant gripes or issues with the game that are actually important like I don't know...gameplay elements?

Because it's not a review of the "game", it's mostly his view on things that he has knowledge about and feels could be better. He's an animator, and probably gets the shits when he sees stuff that's done poorly. No different to a baker who gets a shit piece of bread.

Why is it that every 2nd person on TYM can complain about every tiny thing about the game, from costumes, frame data, hitboxes, online code, marketing, character design, story - many of which probably wouldn't know jack about any of it; yet this guy does this for a living and apparently has no idea?!?

 

[jcbowie]

There's a difference between the pixelated sprites of MK1 to the highly detailed 3D models they have today, especially in the detail of the animation of the enders compared to the 2D games.

On top of that it's the design aesthetic they've chosen which focuses/slo-mo's them, and the way you're forced to do them if you want to progress in the game.

Yes it's always been overtly violent, but there's quite a distance between MK1 and 11.

The violence and gore have always been a hallmark of the series, the change in graphics quality is immaterial. The content has always been there, expecting it to be toned down because it's easier to render realistically now is just silly.

Beyond fatal blows, the other slowed animations are incredibly short and don't really affect the pacing any more than big, dramatic moves in any other game.

I still think the complaining about fatalities taking too long is stupid. Yeah, you can more readily progress in unlocking gear if you fulfill the requirements on character towers, but you're probably only doing that if you really enjoy the game. If you really enjoy the game, you're probably not the kind of person who's bothered by fatalities, most people who get into MK know what kind of content they're playing with. Not sure who this hypothetical group of people is we're concerned about, who are avidly playing MK in order to grind out gear for characters they know and enjoy but clutch their pearls and look away disgusted every time those characters perform a fatality.

Because it's not a review of the "game", it's mostly his view on things that he has knowledge about and feels could be better. He's an animator, and probably gets the shits when he sees stuff that's done poorly. No different to a baker who gets a shit piece of bread.

Why is it that every 2nd person on TYM can complain about every tiny thing about the game, from costumes, frame data, hitboxes, online code, marketing, character design, story - many of which probably wouldn't know jack about any of it; yet this guy does this for a living and apparently has no idea?!?

Over half of this video has nothing to do with animations, and the part that does have to do with animations is a lot of extended, redundant ranting about minor things.

Why is it that NRS, who LITERALLY do this for a living and created the very successful franchise under scrutiny here, are somehow given less credibility than this random dude online in regards to not only animation (which is the only field this guy even attempts to claim expertise in) but also in regards to his opinions on narrative structure, character design, FG mechanics, appropriate tone, imagery, and themes?

It's like watching CinemaSins but for MK dude, come on, this whole thing comes across as a really self-important rant with shallow criticism masked by melodrama. Not saying NRS is always great or right or perfect, but this all seems a bit like being wildly contrarian just for the sake of it.

 

[MKF30]

There's a difference between the pixelated sprites of MK1 to the highly detailed 3D models they have today, especially in the detail of the animation of the enders compared to the 2D games.

On top of that it's the design aesthetic they've chosen which focuses/slo-mo's them, and the way you're forced to do them if you want to progress in the game.

Yes it's always been overtly violent, but there's quite a distance between MK1 and 11.



Because it's not a review of the "game", it's mostly his view on things that he has knowledge about and feels could be better. He's an animator, and probably gets the shits when he sees stuff that's done poorly. No different to a baker who gets a shit piece of bread.

Why is it that every 2nd person on TYM can complain about every tiny thing about the game, from costumes, frame data, hitboxes, online code, marketing, character design, story - many of which probably wouldn't know jack about any of it; yet this guy does this for a living and apparently has no idea?!?

I know that, but I'm not talking about the older MK's. The newer ones since MK vs DC through now they've been using photorealistic tech. They've always had you do fatalities, brutalities to unlock achievements though for the past couple of games. They just changed the Fatalities to slow mo at the end of the fatality but it's this game in general loads pretty long or decent at times, so I really don't see the big deal waiting a few extra seconds for a fatality. Brutalities end quickly. Games will naturally evolve that's how the industry works, if the graphics didn't look a lot better in 2019 compared to 1992 I'd be worried.

Yeah, that's the point of MK to be overly violent. The 90's they were ahead of their time, and now they're just taking advantage of tech but it's not like MK is the only game that's ultra violent. Dead Space, Halo, GTA(may not be gory but the game provokes real life situations where as MK is over the top exaggerated), COD, Fall Out, Resident Evil etc, etc

I get it's not a "review" of the game, he's making a point in ranting yet ignores the actual real problems of the game. Being too violent and animations not up to his personal liking is not important, that's merely him pet peeving and preference. Ok, but even if he's an animator, take it not professional otherwise he'd be working on a game instead of bashing/complaining about a known, popular game. Just saying. I think he's just OCD with the animated thing or he simply hates NRS games, I mean like I've said and pointed out earlier. Why doesn't he ever rant about things in Tekken, SF, KI, Smash, DOA, VF etc because they're far from perfect and MK in general sells better than all of them except for Smash which a lot of people don't even consider a traditional fighter mind you.

I'd say majority of us do know about those things you mention that we complain or gripe about since we play the game at a higher level, I doubt this guy plays the game at that level and all his videos come off as just whining about the same thing animations and now apparently violence....If he does it for a living then why doesn't he have a professional job working for WB or Disney etc instead of having the time to make ranting videos about the same company's animations for the past 3 games now? hmmm I want to see this guys work since he knows so much or thinks he does. The things we complain about make a big difference in how this game lasts, not how violent fatalities are or how Raiden kicks someone. Majority of players both casual and hardcore and pro don't give two shits about that because it's simply not important.

 

[JTC]

Majority of players both casual and hardcore and pro don't give two shits about that because it's simply not important.

Right the art and animations don't matter. What matters is the gameplay....which sucks ass.

LUL

 

[MKF30]

Right the art and animations don't matter. What matters is the gameplay....which sucks ass.

LUL

If it sucks then how did it make evo and every other major? lol Certain aspects of gameplay need some improving, but sucks? No. Nobody complaining about the artistic style of mk but this kid lol. I see why you're mad bruh, no rain lol

 

[superbn0va]

If you can't agree with the poor animations atleast youre eather:

1. biased fanboy
2. Low IQ
3. not a fan of fighting games bc of the fighting

or you work at NRS.

Last and only hope for the MK series is new developers, writers and actors and Boon should involve more, bc he is obviously not.

 

[MKF30]

The animations are fine, not perfect but clearly are smoother. To not see that youd have to be a hater, Idiot or someone who has trouble seeing.

If not for boon there'd be no mk unlike tobias who left. Did this guy send his groupies in here to defend his precious video? Lol Weve said the game has its issues but violence, animations aren't the problem.

Oh yes I'm so sure after nrs and boon made WB millions from mk alone they'll go elsewhere and most likely make less or fire ed for newer people. That'll totally happen lol

 

[xenogorgeous]

lol, this video is a fucking joke .... all this loser a-hole wants is more views in his YT channel, pretending to make fun of this MK subject ..... kinda pathetic, haha

 

[superbn0va]

How come that 90% of premium supporters are biased af? All critisicm towards MK is a joke, makes no sense, blabla instead of saying why he's a joke and bring up some facts.

premium supporters my ass lol. yall make yourself look like biased no lifers with that stupid attitude

 

[C-Sword]

Kim Kaphwan's pants > NRS animations

 

[Baron Greenback]

Kim Kaphwan's pants > NRS animations

This must have been an April Tools joke lmao