ZBirdV8
Flocker
My posts are often written in a stream of conscience, and I am usually not trying very hard to be taken seriously. However, this is one of the rare instances where I am dead serious. I haven't posted in over a year, because 2021 was a year in which I experienced several life changing events and epiphanies. I really wanted to say something of weight about the current state of Mortal Kombat but I wanted to wait and spend time organizing my thoughts to make sure that it was well articulated and void of any knee-jerk reactions or hot takes. With that being said, I sincerely appreciate your time and thoughts regardless of whether or not your own opinions agree or disagree with the ones presented here.
The Current State of Mortal Kombat in my opinion is that of bland mediocrity. Mortal Kombat 11 was mostly balanced, but at the expense of character depth and player autonomy. Rock Paper Scissors is a balanced game too, but it's not wowing anyone in the 2020's if it ever did. The same goes for the movie, it wasn't a bad movie in the way that Armageddon was, but it also wasn't outstanding in anyway. It simply existed. It was a 5/10 game and a a 5/10 movie, and the problem with that is that it's not bad nor good enough to be looked back on fondly. This is the worst situation for a piece of media to be in, and doubly so for a brand that was built on it's extreme reputation. I think this is where we are right now. These were solid products, but nothing that will be fondly remembered. 10 years from now you aren't going to get a random urge to go back and play Mortal Kombat 11 or to watch the movie again.
I feel that Mortal Kombat is at a vital crossroads right now, and needs to choose a path between doubling down on extremity or trying to be a down to earth game. Personally I would love to see an absolutely insane Mortal Kombat game with absurdly violent fatalities, ridiculously sexualized female characters again, and the return of silly stuff like Animalities, Babalities, Friendships, etc., but I also realize that I am a product of a time that has passed. I grew up on Attitude Era WWE, the comedy stylings of Andrew Dice Clay and Sam Kinnison, I witnessed the birth of extreme heavy metal, Mortal Kombat, Doom, and South Park was peak humor, Howard Stern was a major radio personality, you get the idea. It was a time where every form of media was pushing it's envelope in terms of what media was allowed to depict and what audiences were allowed to hear and see. I have nostalgia for the that time and an old man's urge to return to it. I would love to see an over-the-top Mortal Kombat game.
Yet I also realize that time has passed. That sentiment is completely out of touch with the current world's attitudes and the socio-political landscape we currently live in. So while I would love it, most people wouldn't, and to be honest there is only so much that can be done with sex and violence. It's like James Hetfield said when interviewed about Metallica's change from thrash heavy metal into a more radio friendly direction "You can only play louder, faster, and harder so long before it's no longer taken seriously."
This brings us finally to my vision for the future of Mortal Kombat; a grounded, realistic and gritty game that plays to it's strength. You may be asking "What is that strength?" to which I would reply "the strength of Mortal Kombat is the lore-the characters and the universe they live in."
I would start with a hard an strict reboot. I know we've already done that but I really do feel that the time travel gimmick has overstayed it's welcome, become cumbersome, and has major inherent issues-what really are the stakes when someone can simply rewind anything that goes wrong? I would be rebooting with the idea of real stakes, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's just lay out the plan.
My Mortal Kombat Game:
The opening is a black screen, then "Techno Syndrome" by the Immortals starts playing as the original simple black and red dragon logo spins to toward the screen. It lands face up on the screen, and then "Press Start" appears across the Screen. This sets the tone for the no-frills, gritty and realistic game that is about to unfurl-we aren't f'n around here. You push start, and are taken to the menu screen [VS CPU, VS HUMAN, VS ONLINE, OPTIONS]. That's it's it- you bought Mortal Kombat we are here to fight. Gone is are all the wacky modes and krypt junk. It's a very old-school presentation, very clean. VS HUMAN, VS ONLINE, and OPTIONS, are self explanatory. VS, CPU is where the lore is. The character select menu consists of the original 7 MK characters. That's right, 7, but we are going for quality not quantity here.
After choosing your character you play through a story tutorial where you learn how to fight as that character. For example Liu Kang would be a Shao Lin Monk practicing with another monk, Sonya would be in academy at special ops, Kano would be brawling in some seedy underground cage fight, etc). After learning how to fight you would play through a story of what happens with that character prior to the tournament-Scorpion and Sub-Zero's Clan beef, Sonya and Kano's story involving her partner etc. These would incorporate some of the ideas of the spin-off games like Shao Lin Monks, and what Mythologies and Special Ops should have been. Imagine playing a journey as Liu Kang where to complete his Shao Lin training he has to go through a Shao Lin obstacle course, or imagine an FPS section as Sonya where she has to take down black dragon cartel members-this is where the game could genre-break, but all these little side story's end with the character receiving their invitation to the tournament. Then for the first time we get what MK has always promised but never actually delivered: An actual tournament. Depending on your character choice the tournament would play out in different ways with cutscenes explaining what happened in each fight, and with some dialogue at least between your character and the opponent. Then of course the boss battles and your characters ending.
As far as the kombat; we are going back to just 7 characters because these characters will be extremely deep like Tekken, Virtua Fighter, or Guilty Gear levels of deep. When you play as one of these characters they are going to feel very much like they have different fighting styles. Sonya will play like Sonya, and carry over from her will be minimal. This would allow players to become true masters of their characters, such that the gap between beginner, intermediate, and expert Sonya players would be more observable, and more importantly two expert Sonya players would still look different from one another. The small roster would ideally allow for easier debugging and balancing. It would also lead to faster, more numerous, and more satisfying download content as the game went along. I would also opt for more realistic specials and fatalities-if a character has a gun they have a limited number of bullets, if a character shoots energy balls they have a limited amount of energy, etc. Fatalities would be very quick, realistic, and not terribly over the top-things like Sonya snapping necks with her legs, Liu Kang delivering a fatal one-inch punch, Kano quickly and savagely slitting the throat of his enemy, etc. gruesome realistic swift kills befitting of martial artists.
That's my pitch. Let me know if I can elaborate on anything. Cheers.
The Current State of Mortal Kombat in my opinion is that of bland mediocrity. Mortal Kombat 11 was mostly balanced, but at the expense of character depth and player autonomy. Rock Paper Scissors is a balanced game too, but it's not wowing anyone in the 2020's if it ever did. The same goes for the movie, it wasn't a bad movie in the way that Armageddon was, but it also wasn't outstanding in anyway. It simply existed. It was a 5/10 game and a a 5/10 movie, and the problem with that is that it's not bad nor good enough to be looked back on fondly. This is the worst situation for a piece of media to be in, and doubly so for a brand that was built on it's extreme reputation. I think this is where we are right now. These were solid products, but nothing that will be fondly remembered. 10 years from now you aren't going to get a random urge to go back and play Mortal Kombat 11 or to watch the movie again.
I feel that Mortal Kombat is at a vital crossroads right now, and needs to choose a path between doubling down on extremity or trying to be a down to earth game. Personally I would love to see an absolutely insane Mortal Kombat game with absurdly violent fatalities, ridiculously sexualized female characters again, and the return of silly stuff like Animalities, Babalities, Friendships, etc., but I also realize that I am a product of a time that has passed. I grew up on Attitude Era WWE, the comedy stylings of Andrew Dice Clay and Sam Kinnison, I witnessed the birth of extreme heavy metal, Mortal Kombat, Doom, and South Park was peak humor, Howard Stern was a major radio personality, you get the idea. It was a time where every form of media was pushing it's envelope in terms of what media was allowed to depict and what audiences were allowed to hear and see. I have nostalgia for the that time and an old man's urge to return to it. I would love to see an over-the-top Mortal Kombat game.
Yet I also realize that time has passed. That sentiment is completely out of touch with the current world's attitudes and the socio-political landscape we currently live in. So while I would love it, most people wouldn't, and to be honest there is only so much that can be done with sex and violence. It's like James Hetfield said when interviewed about Metallica's change from thrash heavy metal into a more radio friendly direction "You can only play louder, faster, and harder so long before it's no longer taken seriously."
This brings us finally to my vision for the future of Mortal Kombat; a grounded, realistic and gritty game that plays to it's strength. You may be asking "What is that strength?" to which I would reply "the strength of Mortal Kombat is the lore-the characters and the universe they live in."
I would start with a hard an strict reboot. I know we've already done that but I really do feel that the time travel gimmick has overstayed it's welcome, become cumbersome, and has major inherent issues-what really are the stakes when someone can simply rewind anything that goes wrong? I would be rebooting with the idea of real stakes, but I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's just lay out the plan.
My Mortal Kombat Game:
The opening is a black screen, then "Techno Syndrome" by the Immortals starts playing as the original simple black and red dragon logo spins to toward the screen. It lands face up on the screen, and then "Press Start" appears across the Screen. This sets the tone for the no-frills, gritty and realistic game that is about to unfurl-we aren't f'n around here. You push start, and are taken to the menu screen [VS CPU, VS HUMAN, VS ONLINE, OPTIONS]. That's it's it- you bought Mortal Kombat we are here to fight. Gone is are all the wacky modes and krypt junk. It's a very old-school presentation, very clean. VS HUMAN, VS ONLINE, and OPTIONS, are self explanatory. VS, CPU is where the lore is. The character select menu consists of the original 7 MK characters. That's right, 7, but we are going for quality not quantity here.
After choosing your character you play through a story tutorial where you learn how to fight as that character. For example Liu Kang would be a Shao Lin Monk practicing with another monk, Sonya would be in academy at special ops, Kano would be brawling in some seedy underground cage fight, etc). After learning how to fight you would play through a story of what happens with that character prior to the tournament-Scorpion and Sub-Zero's Clan beef, Sonya and Kano's story involving her partner etc. These would incorporate some of the ideas of the spin-off games like Shao Lin Monks, and what Mythologies and Special Ops should have been. Imagine playing a journey as Liu Kang where to complete his Shao Lin training he has to go through a Shao Lin obstacle course, or imagine an FPS section as Sonya where she has to take down black dragon cartel members-this is where the game could genre-break, but all these little side story's end with the character receiving their invitation to the tournament. Then for the first time we get what MK has always promised but never actually delivered: An actual tournament. Depending on your character choice the tournament would play out in different ways with cutscenes explaining what happened in each fight, and with some dialogue at least between your character and the opponent. Then of course the boss battles and your characters ending.
As far as the kombat; we are going back to just 7 characters because these characters will be extremely deep like Tekken, Virtua Fighter, or Guilty Gear levels of deep. When you play as one of these characters they are going to feel very much like they have different fighting styles. Sonya will play like Sonya, and carry over from her will be minimal. This would allow players to become true masters of their characters, such that the gap between beginner, intermediate, and expert Sonya players would be more observable, and more importantly two expert Sonya players would still look different from one another. The small roster would ideally allow for easier debugging and balancing. It would also lead to faster, more numerous, and more satisfying download content as the game went along. I would also opt for more realistic specials and fatalities-if a character has a gun they have a limited number of bullets, if a character shoots energy balls they have a limited amount of energy, etc. Fatalities would be very quick, realistic, and not terribly over the top-things like Sonya snapping necks with her legs, Liu Kang delivering a fatal one-inch punch, Kano quickly and savagely slitting the throat of his enemy, etc. gruesome realistic swift kills befitting of martial artists.
That's my pitch. Let me know if I can elaborate on anything. Cheers.
