Hey folks!
Derek Kitzic was at Eurogamer this week in London Earls Court exhibition center, and luckily for us, so was The Kombat Tether, they managed to get Derek for a quick interview, and the full interview is now up for reading!
Details include:
- Goro speculation
- Guest character wishes
- Universal special balancing
- Meter burn + Enhanced attacks
- Meter burning throws (explained)
+ Much more!
Once you've read the interview, be sure to check out TKT's full opinions of the EGX build of MKX here: http://www.thekombattether.com/egx/mortal-kombat-x-impressions/index.html
Full interview:
"
Goro has been announced as a pre-order exclusive for Mortal Kombat X but fans are wondering if he will in fact be a fully-fledged character with three variations and all the other bells and whistles the main roster has. Is this correct?
Yes, of course he will.
In this game build at EGX, which characters would you say have the strongest variations and why?
I think that they’re all pretty good, I really really love D’Vorah because she has the poison ovipositors so you can almost like sit back at times and just watch her opponent die from the venom; it’s really rewarding and feels good. I really appreciate Scorpion’s ‘Ninjutsu’ variation just because of that additional reach it gives you, like the ground bounce with forward 2, because you can link it with so much stuff. Sub-Zero with his Grandmaster variation, with the ice clone and what you can now do with it like launching it at your opponent. It’s so fun to play with; throwing ice clones at people is just the best feeling in the world. Also I really enjoy playing the ‘Lackey’ variation with Ferra/Torr because it gives them a different move-set further making them unique. Cassie Cage and her ‘Hollywood’ variation – zoning people with the air guns is fun. Kotal Kahn is great as when you buff him using the Blood Offering special, the additional damage that it does is crazy. All in all it seems pretty balanced but as you know, things are bound to change.
MK9 suffered with its online component thanks to a temperamental netcode and subsequent lag in matches. Will the studio ensure online play for MKX will be stellar?
Well you said MK9 right, well with Injustice we improved on that and we will continue to improve on it as much as we can. We listen to the players and online is a very important part of the game and so I can tell you that we are constantly working on it and constantly testing it as we speak.
Will players who purposely disconnect and rage-quit in MKX be penalized or reprimanded online?
Erm, we have brought it up and have thought about doing things like that. I’m really excited about online and with what we are doing with online. I think the players are gonna be overwhelmed with the amount of stuff we are bringing into it. But for punishing players, I want to say that getting someone to actually quit a match is actually quite a reward at times. *laughs*
Ed Boon briefly touched on the possibility of a fourth, barebones variation at Gamescom. If ever implemented, how would this be realized?
*long pause* that’s really something I don’t want to touch on yet, just because it hasn’t been fully fleshed out. I’ll leave that to Ed. *smiles*
Can you explain the difference now with enhanced moves and meter-burn moves? MK9 had the former and Injustice introduced the latter.
Oh absolutely, when you enhance something you’re committing to it, right. But when you meter-burn something you can do it after you’ve already made that connection so with Scorpion for example, you can do the enhanced Double Spear and then meter-burn if you choose to afterwards which sends a wave of fire down them which deals additional damage. Kano for example has combos that can be meter-burned. So if you decide you have the meter to do it, you can pop the player up with one of his grenades and extend your combo off of that. It’s all based on when –you- wanna do it versus committing to it with an enhanced move.
How does meter-burning throws work exactly? Does it allow you to combo into a throw and even after the throw has been performed?
You currently can combo into a throw, if you do a neutral jump you’ll bounce the player right, you can then grab them from the air, you can also grab them from the air with some air combos too. Basically you just meter-burn it, just connect the throw then burn it up with the right trigger. This can also give you a 50/50.
Is there currently a reason for the imbalance in terms of universal special moves across the roster? For example Kano has four universal moves versus Sub-Zero who only has two.
I think that it’s really just based on the characters, what are their most traditional moves; the most iconic moves? Scorpion’s is of course the spear, the teleport and the leg takedown and you’ve also got to think about the balance of everything too, right.
Are wakeups more in tune with MK9 or Injustice at this point?
I think that they definitely have more of that MK9 flavour, but things could change as well when it comes down to tweaking everything.
The flip stance button still perseveres. Will we ever see it replaced by something a little more useful?
The flip stance is a Paulo Garcia thing, he loves it. It’s basically just there if you want your back foot, back punch for example to be closer to the opponent.
With dash-cancelling discarded and running making its return, will the meta-game see a significant change with this new mechanic?
Running is a great addition and the possibilities that people are going to come up with are going to be amazing to see. It’s actually really exciting, plus we have the stamina gauge that will prevent it from being exploited.
At this stage in development, has the main roster been finalized, excluding any guest and DLC characters?
Things are always subject to change but for the most part we have a great idea of which characters will make the cut and who fit in the story and how the story will unravel. Great characters who will lend themselves to the story and you’re going to see a lot of new faces and some returning ones.
Speaking of new faces, where does the studio draw its inspiration from after twenty years of creating characters?
Well we have such a great, creative team and sometimes people want to have a character that they’ve dreamt of forever brought to life so to speak. It’s definitely great to see new blood joining this legacy of characters.
Even though interactables aren’t as big of a mechanic as they were in Injustice, some fans are wishing for an option of disable them altogether. Will the team accommodate this?
Erm, we are currently not discussing that, sorry.
Erm, we are currently not discussing that, sorry. If you could personally bring back one classic Mortal Kombat character to this game, who would it be?
Oh come on now, you know the answer to that! *laughs* [Mileena]
Has the studio thought of reworking messages you deliver to players online to list community events, tournament dates, results and other related information similar to how other games are doing?
Well we did have the ticker in Injustice that provided up-to-date information and we’ve talked about events like E3 with highlighting and I imagine we will do the same with MKX if not better.
Finally, if you had control over who would be a guest character in MKX who would you choose?
If I could choose it would have to be the main character from Shadow Of Mordor. It would be really cool to see another Warner Bros. IP inside of our game and what they’re doing with Shadow Of Mordor would lend quite well to MKX.
Thanks so much for your time once again, Derek! You can follow the Associate Designer/Producer with NetherRealm Studios in the realm of Twitter at @DKirtzic."
The full interview can be found on the Kombat Tethers website here: http://www.thekombattether.com/egx/derek-kirtzic-interview/
What do you guys think? anything mentioned here that's taken you by surprise? possibly a few hints about things to come?
Discuss!
Derek Kitzic was at Eurogamer this week in London Earls Court exhibition center, and luckily for us, so was The Kombat Tether, they managed to get Derek for a quick interview, and the full interview is now up for reading!
Details include:
- Goro speculation
- Guest character wishes
- Universal special balancing
- Meter burn + Enhanced attacks
- Meter burning throws (explained)
+ Much more!
Once you've read the interview, be sure to check out TKT's full opinions of the EGX build of MKX here: http://www.thekombattether.com/egx/mortal-kombat-x-impressions/index.html
Full interview:
"
Goro has been announced as a pre-order exclusive for Mortal Kombat X but fans are wondering if he will in fact be a fully-fledged character with three variations and all the other bells and whistles the main roster has. Is this correct?
Yes, of course he will.
In this game build at EGX, which characters would you say have the strongest variations and why?
I think that they’re all pretty good, I really really love D’Vorah because she has the poison ovipositors so you can almost like sit back at times and just watch her opponent die from the venom; it’s really rewarding and feels good. I really appreciate Scorpion’s ‘Ninjutsu’ variation just because of that additional reach it gives you, like the ground bounce with forward 2, because you can link it with so much stuff. Sub-Zero with his Grandmaster variation, with the ice clone and what you can now do with it like launching it at your opponent. It’s so fun to play with; throwing ice clones at people is just the best feeling in the world. Also I really enjoy playing the ‘Lackey’ variation with Ferra/Torr because it gives them a different move-set further making them unique. Cassie Cage and her ‘Hollywood’ variation – zoning people with the air guns is fun. Kotal Kahn is great as when you buff him using the Blood Offering special, the additional damage that it does is crazy. All in all it seems pretty balanced but as you know, things are bound to change.
MK9 suffered with its online component thanks to a temperamental netcode and subsequent lag in matches. Will the studio ensure online play for MKX will be stellar?
Well you said MK9 right, well with Injustice we improved on that and we will continue to improve on it as much as we can. We listen to the players and online is a very important part of the game and so I can tell you that we are constantly working on it and constantly testing it as we speak.
Will players who purposely disconnect and rage-quit in MKX be penalized or reprimanded online?
Erm, we have brought it up and have thought about doing things like that. I’m really excited about online and with what we are doing with online. I think the players are gonna be overwhelmed with the amount of stuff we are bringing into it. But for punishing players, I want to say that getting someone to actually quit a match is actually quite a reward at times. *laughs*
Ed Boon briefly touched on the possibility of a fourth, barebones variation at Gamescom. If ever implemented, how would this be realized?
*long pause* that’s really something I don’t want to touch on yet, just because it hasn’t been fully fleshed out. I’ll leave that to Ed. *smiles*
Can you explain the difference now with enhanced moves and meter-burn moves? MK9 had the former and Injustice introduced the latter.
Oh absolutely, when you enhance something you’re committing to it, right. But when you meter-burn something you can do it after you’ve already made that connection so with Scorpion for example, you can do the enhanced Double Spear and then meter-burn if you choose to afterwards which sends a wave of fire down them which deals additional damage. Kano for example has combos that can be meter-burned. So if you decide you have the meter to do it, you can pop the player up with one of his grenades and extend your combo off of that. It’s all based on when –you- wanna do it versus committing to it with an enhanced move.
How does meter-burning throws work exactly? Does it allow you to combo into a throw and even after the throw has been performed?
You currently can combo into a throw, if you do a neutral jump you’ll bounce the player right, you can then grab them from the air, you can also grab them from the air with some air combos too. Basically you just meter-burn it, just connect the throw then burn it up with the right trigger. This can also give you a 50/50.
Is there currently a reason for the imbalance in terms of universal special moves across the roster? For example Kano has four universal moves versus Sub-Zero who only has two.
I think that it’s really just based on the characters, what are their most traditional moves; the most iconic moves? Scorpion’s is of course the spear, the teleport and the leg takedown and you’ve also got to think about the balance of everything too, right.
Are wakeups more in tune with MK9 or Injustice at this point?
I think that they definitely have more of that MK9 flavour, but things could change as well when it comes down to tweaking everything.
The flip stance button still perseveres. Will we ever see it replaced by something a little more useful?
The flip stance is a Paulo Garcia thing, he loves it. It’s basically just there if you want your back foot, back punch for example to be closer to the opponent.
With dash-cancelling discarded and running making its return, will the meta-game see a significant change with this new mechanic?
Running is a great addition and the possibilities that people are going to come up with are going to be amazing to see. It’s actually really exciting, plus we have the stamina gauge that will prevent it from being exploited.
At this stage in development, has the main roster been finalized, excluding any guest and DLC characters?
Things are always subject to change but for the most part we have a great idea of which characters will make the cut and who fit in the story and how the story will unravel. Great characters who will lend themselves to the story and you’re going to see a lot of new faces and some returning ones.
Speaking of new faces, where does the studio draw its inspiration from after twenty years of creating characters?
Well we have such a great, creative team and sometimes people want to have a character that they’ve dreamt of forever brought to life so to speak. It’s definitely great to see new blood joining this legacy of characters.
Even though interactables aren’t as big of a mechanic as they were in Injustice, some fans are wishing for an option of disable them altogether. Will the team accommodate this?
Erm, we are currently not discussing that, sorry.
Erm, we are currently not discussing that, sorry. If you could personally bring back one classic Mortal Kombat character to this game, who would it be?
Oh come on now, you know the answer to that! *laughs* [Mileena]
Has the studio thought of reworking messages you deliver to players online to list community events, tournament dates, results and other related information similar to how other games are doing?
Well we did have the ticker in Injustice that provided up-to-date information and we’ve talked about events like E3 with highlighting and I imagine we will do the same with MKX if not better.
Finally, if you had control over who would be a guest character in MKX who would you choose?
If I could choose it would have to be the main character from Shadow Of Mordor. It would be really cool to see another Warner Bros. IP inside of our game and what they’re doing with Shadow Of Mordor would lend quite well to MKX.
Thanks so much for your time once again, Derek! You can follow the Associate Designer/Producer with NetherRealm Studios in the realm of Twitter at @DKirtzic."
The full interview can be found on the Kombat Tethers website here: http://www.thekombattether.com/egx/derek-kirtzic-interview/
What do you guys think? anything mentioned here that's taken you by surprise? possibly a few hints about things to come?
Discuss!
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