I am glad some people are genuinely questioning people's idea of a "complete" character. See, without variations, it's not like you would get all the moves currently part of a variation that can be customised. Since we are so used to characters have a plethora of moves, you really think with the current amount of button combinations you could have no variations and have a complete character? Come on, be real, if MK12 trotted out characters with a few special moves and some staple ones missing or some you liked from 9, X or 11 then you'd cry about how basic the character is and feels incomplete.
Then let's talk about the myth that MKX variations system was perfect and MK11's shit. As one poster on here said, for some it worked, but some characters they really forced variations on and thus made it feel like a character was broken down into 3 parts and incomplete. Reptile is the ultimate example for me, he just didn't have enough moves to really be separated into 3 different variations. Now that doesn't mean it cannot work but clearly NRS failed to come up with enough to make it work. I think both systems are flawed, but I agree that in X for some characters at least they made a variation feel like its own character with a distinct look. For 11 though, the customisation allows to make some great variety of the same character. Take Shang Tsung, you can make him his own character, but also make him a morphing ninja focused one.
With regards to the question, I actually want neither. If they are going to do it, I'll take a hybrid form of this and 3D era or just straight up the Deception / DA form. Three variations, one weapon based, able to switch in-game with a stance or whatever to signify it. My biggest want is no variations, but a creative way to get more out of the amount of buttons we have now to be able to perform more moves. I don't want to have to worry about choosing and spending all this time on customising a character.
Overall I'd like to see less focus on the amount of moves we can perform, but rather the whole aspect of immersion. What the 3D era did right and gets credit for is the music, announcers and stages in general. What specifically speaks to me is the depth and distance of the arenas and how the 3D style allowed you to really be part of the stage, move around in it, actually going around a corner in some arenas to explore a different part. If they ever find a way to make it a more immersive 3D experience given the reality of graphics and designs now moving around what look beyond marvelous, would give us the in-arena finishers rather than stage fatalities and allow for the kind of action we saw in the MK11 trailer where Raiden pummelled Scorpion. That once a character is knocked down with say 10% health bar left, he just becomes a punching bag that you can finish off with a combo like the OG brutality.
I digress, but my point stands. Either none but then a creative way to give us more moves - so not just Trilogy and MK9 style -, the 3D era form or a hybrid but definitely a NO to just a copy of MK9, MKX or MK11.
