MK1 (2023)'s single player offering is and has been since launch one of the best offerings in fighting game history - PART 1 2 & 3

[Roy Arkon]

I know, I know, I've said this before, but I do wanna explain this in way more detail, so you guys would truly understand where I'm coming form, especially with all the comparisons to previous MK games, and also other fighting games. Now I'm not gonna give you all of my points in just one thread, since there's a lot to unpack here, so I'm gonna divide points into two parts, one focusing on the story mode and the one focusing on Invasions mode and the overall direction of the single player content in MK1. Maybe there will be also part 3, but I'm not sure. Anyway, let's talk about the story mode of MK1, both base story and Khaos Reigns.

As a long time MK fan and fighting game fan in general, I've seen and played countless single player story modes done for fighting games across all tons of IP's, including Mortal Kombat. And I have to say that Mortal Kombat 1's story mode, is the best fighting game story mode that has ever been done, not only for Mortal Kombat, but all fighting games.

As usual with NRS story modes, MK1 story has the cinematics, facial animations, character development, choreography, voice acting, writing, fan service and plot twists. In terms of the characters, MK1 story has introduced entirely new versions for the majority of the cast, including the best versions in the history for several of them, for example, Reptile, Mileena and Baraka. As a Reptile fan, this is indeed the best version of Reptile ever made. In terms of fan service, a lot references and Easter Eggs have been showcased throughout the whole story for previous MK games, namely MK9 and the 3D era games. As well as tons of references to a whole bunch of other pop culture IP's. In terms of plot twists, the revelation that both endings in MK11 are canon with the surprise reveal of Titan Shang Tsung being the real villain was also done beautifully that makes perfect sense. And in terms of character development, the best example of this is actually in Noob Saibot's character in Khaos Reigns, as NRS/WB put so much emphasize they put Bi-Han's character and how they let it not get resolved already, letting his character development continue to the next game.

But the one element that stands out in this story, is the brilliance usage of motifs in the base story. The Shang Tsung question motif is shown in several points in the story, and the way it was done, it was used as if this was a Mortal Kombat fight on it's own. In the first time chapter, when the farmer exposes Shang Tsung for the fraud that he is, we the players basically defeated Shang in the first round of the fight. The 2nd time is when Shang manages to convince Bi-Han to join the him, and since this happens right after Sub-Zero's chapter, it's basically Shang defeating us in the 2nd round. Finally, when Titan Shang Tsung uses that motif again before the final fight, we of course beat him, so not only we onw the fight in-game, but we won the over-arching metaphorical fight by beating Shang in his final-form in the final around.

And this was absolutely brilliant.

Now there are of course some highly vocal people who claim that it's not good due to the usage of the multiverse concept, changes to the characters, the power scaling, the lack of meaning in deaths and lack of impact in Khaos Reigns story, but this is false on every metric.

Regarding the characters, it's not the first time that they were not exactly like in the games. Scorpion, for example, was actually 3 different people. He was Hanzo in all the timelines before MK1, also Kuai Liang in MK1, and he also a warrior named Takeda (no, not the Kombat Kids Takdea) in the first 2 live action movies and Conquest TV show in the 90's. Also like I said, some characters got their best versions ever in this New Era. Just because something isn't what you are accustomed to doesn't mean it's bad. Not to mention that the 2nd timeline also did several changes to some of the characters in the roster, it's just that this new timeline made even more changes. Alternative versions of characters in different stories of the same IP's is nothing new. We have seen iconic characters getting brand new origin stories in various incarnations of them.

And regarding the multiverse thing, it's actually a must-happen now in MK. Since Liu Kang is the Keeper of Time and the only one who truly knows what happened in previous timelines (as even though that now people know who he is, they still don't know everything that happened to their past-selves) it makes Liu Kang too powerful for any villain that might come from this timeline, since he planned everything and anything. Therefore, the only way MK can get new villains that can be legit threats are ones that Liu Kang can't control, AKA other Titans or enemies from different timelines. After all, the only reason that Shang Tsung and the other villains Liu Kang's timeline got the resources they needed to become threats is only because Titan Shang Tsung gave them these resources. Same thing for Havik in Khaos Reigns, being a Titan himself from another timeline. Villains are the ones that pushing the story forward, and without any good, legit villains, there is no story.

As for the whole idea that deaths don't mean anything because the multiverse element, this is Mortal Kombat, when the whole subject of death is a must. With the multiverse element, you can get versions of characters to be killed without the characters from the main timeline being killed, or at least not as much as let's say MK9, since Sindel was killed in MK1 base story. After all, it's not like they can create a whole bunch of newcomers every new game just so they will be killed instead of the fighters in Liu Kang's timeline.

Also, the whole power scaling element, again, this is Mortal Kombat, not Dragon Ball. Power scaling was never a thing in Mortal Kombat. And furthermore, all the people who complain about a certain character losing is once again, coming from the place of habits or just favoritism. When people complain that Noob Saibot lost to Tanya in Khaos Reigns, it's only because they just love Noob Saibot and don't wanna see him lose, not because it diminishes his character, especially considering that both Noob Saibot and Tanya are MK Ninjas. And if we do wanna go with the idea of power scaling, the Tanya that beat Bi-Han isn't even the same Tanya from Liu Kang's timeline, but it's empress Tanya, who is way more powerful than the main timeline Tanya, so it would only make sense even more that. Also you need to take into account that power scaling are relative. Even if a character is indeed canonically weaker than another character, it's not like the weaker one has zero chance of winning if the power levels between them are close enough. And on top of that, in the real world, upsets happen, sometime the underdog defeats the all-mighty opponent. Have you ever heard about David Vs. Goliath?

And finally, Khaos Reigns' ending. Yes KR wasn't as big as the base story of MK1 or MK11 story, but that makes sense perfect sense. MK11 was the end of the 2nd timeline, while MK1 is the start of the new timeline, so KR is like an episode in this new series of events in the franchise. Just like MKX overall story was not as big as either MK9 or MK11, since it was the middle episode between the two. Even if there's another story expansion for MK1, chances are that it will also not be as big as MK1's base story, same for MK13's story.

As such, there's absolutely nothing wrong with any of the elements in MK1 story. It is truly the best story mode that was ever done in any fighting game. And if this is indeed done only by Dominic Cianciolo, then hey, I got no objection of him being the only writer for MK13 as well.

As I said, part 2 will talk about Invasions and the overall single player package of MK1.

I will leave it at that.

 

[ImpostorOak]

 

[Kiss the Missile]

"As such, there's absolutely nothing wrong with any of the elements in MK1 story. It is truly the best story mode that was ever done in any fighting game"

 

[Eldriken]

I am convinced that this dude says stuff like this purely to try and spark discourse.

 

[Mikemetroid]

Surely you used AI or something to write this... Right?

 

[Roy Arkon]

I am convinced that this dude says stuff like this purely to try and spark discourse.

Isn't it the point of a fighting game forum?

Surely you used AI or something to write this... Right?

Nope, 110% genuine honesty.

 

[Marinjuana]

On the premise that like 90% of fighting games in existence have just had the style of arcade mode single player, I think this is correct. But I don't look at the single player in MK1 as being significantly better(or perhaps not even as good) as MK11 or Injustice 2. It's a little beefier than MK9, IGAU and MKX but I also don't think it's a big difference. This isn't thinking about story, which was good for me in MK1 but it's still my least favorite story mode they've done, but again still good. Invasions is kind of just a more cooked up version of towers, but stuff like titan battles are pretty cool. They should have kept that one mode where you fight bosses 3v1.

But just from a gameplay perspective, I found SF6 single player to be far more interesting. And I think about games like Soul Calibur 2 and Super Smash Bros, (Especially Melee loved the single player in that) which is just far superior single player. Games like Dragon Ball Fighterz and Tekken aren't far behind in my mind. NRS just has the best presentation in the story mode but to me I want something more, it's a little too safe and predictable to me at this point.

Biggest thing to me is just looking at this franchise with MK Deception like imagine a modern MK with a Konquest mode like that it would be so dope. Basically SF6 World Tour mode just take the idea back and what they did with MK11 Krypt... I don't think it's this big undertaking for them to pull off.

I do love how much stuff there is to unlock in their recent games though.

 

[Roy Arkon]

On the premise that like 90% of fighting games in existence have just had the style of arcade mode single player, I think this is correct. But I don't look at the single player in MK1 as being significantly better(or perhaps not even as good) as MK11 or Injustice 2. It's a little beefier than MK9, IGAU and MKX but I also don't think it's a big difference. This isn't thinking about story, which was good for me in MK1 but it's still my least favorite story mode they've done, but again still good.

But just from a gameplay perspective, I found SF6 single player to be far more interesting. And I think about games like Soul Calibur 2 and Super Smash Bros, (Especially Melee loved the single player in that) which is just far superior single player in my mind. Games like Dragon Ball Fighterz and Tekken aren't far behind in my mind. NRS just has the best presentation in the story mode but to me I want something more, it's a little too safe and predictable to me at this point.

Biggest thing to me is just looking at this franchise with MK Deception like imagine a modern MK with a Konquest mode like that it would be so dope. Basically SF6 World Tour mode just take the idea back and what they did with MK11 Krypt... I don't think it's this big undertaking for them to pull off.

I do love how much stuff there is to unlock in their recent games though.

I'm working right now on part two which goes over Invasions, unlockables and the customization in MK1, I just decided to focus this part on the story since this alone had so much to unpack.

I will just say this, that DBFZ had horrible single player content. The story mode was horrible in terms of writing, also there was next-to-no variety, and even the RPG elements completely fall on their face as the final match is a mirror match that forces you to play Android 21 regardless of how level up the characters, and even the leveling is silly because after level 70, there's nothing to unlock even though you can level them up to 100, and the unlocks are just cutscenes that don't change the outcome of the story at all. And then all you get left is Arcade mode with no endings and has no replay value other than farming money.

And Tekken 8 isn't that much better, after just 2 months of play, you finish all the single player modes and it's all just online.

 

[Roy Arkon]

So as I said in my part 1 of my single player content offering in MK1, in which I've talked about the story, in this part I'm gonna talk about Invasions the overall package since launch.

Overall quantity of modes

MK1 has launched with 6 single player modes overall: Story mode, Invasions mode, Klassic Towers (Arcade mode and Survival mode), Versus mode, and Combo trials. And post-launch it also received the Towers of Time.

Now let's compare it to other games and how they were at launch.

MK11: Story mode, Towers of Time, Klassic Towers (Arcade mode and Survival mode),, Versus mode, and the Krypt. Unlike MK1, M11 didn't get any new mode post-launch, despite both games launching with the same amount of modes

MKX: Story mode, Klassic Towers, Living Towers, Faction system modes, the Krypt and Versus mode (1V1 and Test Your Luck). Also didn't get additional modes post-launch

MK9: Story mode, Arcade mode (1V1 and 2V2), Challenge Tower, and the Mini-Games. Post-launch same as MKX and MK11

SF6: World Tour, Arcade mode, Versus mode, Team Battle, Extreme Battle and Combo Trials. Post launch also received Giant Attack raid mode.

SF5: Prologue story mode (before the cinematic one that was added later) and Survival mode. That's only TWO modes at launch, vs. the six that MK1 was released with just like MKX , MK11, SF6 and Tekken 8 launched with, for all the people that compare MK1 to SFV.

Tekken 8: Story mode, Arcade Quest, Arcade mode, Ghost Battle, Versus mode and Tekken Ball

Tekken 7: Story mode, Arcade mode, 1-Fight Arcade/Story hybrid mode and Treasure Battle

As you can see, MK1's overall quantity was not any smaller than how it was before. Also on a side note, MK1 is the only one of the big 3 to have a Survival mode, something that Tekken players have been begging to come back since Tekken 7. Even a few SF players want Survival mode back, yet NRS/WB games are the only ones that have that mode, including MK1.

But it's not just that quantity; it's also the quality and the replay value. Let me elaborate.

Invasions mode, replay value and grind

As I said before, Invasions mode is an excellent mode in it's own right. Even at launch it had multiple types of mini-games all from previous MK games, going all the way to original MK1 with Test Your Might, and it only gotten better and better every update. Compared to the other aforementioned games which all had great amount of variety but still a bit less than that (all MK games and SF6) and some that much, MUCH smaller variety (SFV and the Tekken games), MK1 Invasions on it's own gave so much content for single player guys already at launch. Combined that with the other modes in the game (the best story mode ever made, Arcade mode, Survival mode etc.), MK1's single player offering was gigantic already at the beginning.

Another cool thing about Invasions mode, especially for me being a huge Pokemon fan, is using some elements from classic Pokemon games on top of all the MK elements. You can see all of them in a video that I made last year:

Also, unlike SF6 and Tekken 8, which also used Pokémon elements in their single player modes (more specifically, World Tour and Arcade Quest) MK1 Invasions uses it's Pokemon elements in an actual logical fashion. All the Pokemon elements you see in the video above don't contradict each other and none of them feel forced at all.

SF6 World Tour tried to use the Pokemon-rival-like character Bosch, but the writing around him was all bad (just like pretty the whole writing of WT), as well as the random civilians chasing you in the same vein as Pokemon Legends Arceus, except not only it doesn't make sense that people would chase you around like wild animals just because they crave fighting so much (even in old school Pokemon games, the trainers who saw you would only go several steps away to face you as they would only challenge you if you're close enough to them) but Capcom even added the stupid ability of time-stoppage that you just unlock from the talent tree with no story explanation whatsoever, only because they knew that not everyone will like them so they gave them this option so they wouldn't have to deal with it. That is HORRIBLE gameplay design.

And as for Tekken 8, they used it Orochi and the whole anime trope of friendship vs. power, again as a Pokemon-like rival, and it all just feels so forced and unnatural.

But Invasions mode doesn't stop with the gameplay part, it also gives tons of replay value. The fact that Invasions updates every 2 months and change the entire landscape of challenges for all 6 Mesas, on top of changing the unlockables every seasons, this alone gives so much replay value that can last for years and years. Even now they keep adding new types of challenges for all Mesas.

Also on a side note, even the story mode gives you more replay value than ever thanks to the final chapter having all randomized fights until the last fight against the Deadly Alliance with different dialogues depending on your character. And that's without mentioning the addition of the Towers of Time and the Floyd secret fight post-launch.

Other fighting games, both current and past ones, don't give you that much variety or replay value. MKX and MK11 for one, gave you tons of variety and replay value also, but not only there wasn't as much variety as in MK1 in terms of gameplay. MK9 had more mini-games than MKX and MK11, but unlike either of them or MK1, because it had no endlessly replayable mode like the Living Towers of Towers of Time, the replay value in MK9 didn't last as long.

SF6 also doesn't hold up. While it has very good variety and quantity mode modes, it doesn't have enough replay value. Extreme Battle and Team Battle both have a very short life-span, almost all SF players also saying that they all forgot about these modes. That's because neither of them has any grind, especially Team Battle. And while World Tour does have a lot of stuff to do, because it's not endlessly changing, all the stuff in it eventually warns out, on top of that the fact that the story is one of the worst fighting game stories ever (just look at the amount of people actually finishing the story the Trophies/Achievements list for PS, XB and Steam), and then during DLC additions, all the DLC add-ons to World Tour can all be done in one hour each. This mean that SF6 single player content doesn't have much value compared to not only MKX and MK11 but defiantly not MK1.

Tekken 8 is even worse, as all the modes can all be done in just around 2 months and it's all just online. Tekken 8 has the least amount of variety then the big 3 as well as the shorter life span than even SF6. As for other fighting games, it's even worse, and I'm not talking about just SFV or Tekken 7, but other games too. As I said to @Marinjuana in my my part 1 thread, DBFZ had horrible single player content. The story mode was horrible in terms of writing, also there was next-to-no variety, and even the RPG elements completely fall on their face as the final match is a mirror match that forces you to play Android 21 regardless of how level up the characters, and even the leveling is silly because after level 70, there's nothing to unlock even though you can level them up to 100, and the unlocks are just cutscenes that don't change the outcome of the story at all. And then all you get left is Arcade mode with no endings and has no replay value other than farming money.

This leads to the whole idea of the grind in Invasions mode. All the people who complain about Invasions being grindy do not understand that the grind is one of the elements that make it so good. Aside from the fact that the same people also complained about MK11 being grindy when it clearly wasn't, once you finish the whole Krypt (or at least as far as you could, and I will talk about it more in Part 3) there was nothing to do in the Krypt after a few runs. MK1 Invasions are even less grindy than MK11 as it gives you one over-arching timer of two months, unlike MK11 Towers of Time which all had timers that all lasted from mere hours to only a few days (except the Character Towers of course). Even MK1 Towers of Time that were added post-launch are much more generous than MK11's TOT's as the Race against Time in MK1 lasts for two weeks, while MK11 Race against Time lasts for only 1 week.

And that's what makes MK1 single player content so good. MK1 single player content has enough replay value to replace the need to go to fight other online in fighting games as opposed to other most other fighting games that can only use their single player content to just take a break from the online. And considering how terrible it is go to Ranked mode these days, either because of the players being toxic (MK1), Ranked mode having horrible design (SF6) or both on top of horrible netcode (Tekken 8), having long term single player content that can last for years like MK1's is exactly what is needed nowadays, and Invasions is exactly the answer for it.

That's it for part 2. Next is part 3, when I'm gonna talk about the customization and unlockables in MK1.

So for now, that's a wrap.

 

[Trustful_Whale]

It's ironic that MK1 doesn't have a mode like it despite MK inventing it, and meanwhile SF6 releases with the best Konquest mode ever in World Tour.

I think it's important to point out that SF6 offers a lot of classic Capcom games that are playable solo. If we're measuring single player content this absolutely counts and is a pretty huge offering. What other fighting game lets you play Captain Commando or Saturday Night Slam Masters inside of it?

Also, seems a bit unfair to conclude that SF6 single player content doesn't have as much value because the DLC content in WT can be done quickly, especially while ignoring that it even gets new content added while MK1 is out here repeating old seasons with slight tweaks to the mini games and quality of life improvements (which were desperately needed). I can't finish a new Invasion in an hour, but I'm also being put on a busywork treadmill that is just there to make collecting cosmetics take longer.
WT time slow ability as a main horrible design flaw is a weird call out, it's just a convenience option. Having no lore explanation behind it is also strange in a game world where sumo wrestlers can be seen flying like jets on the regular. If everything requires some kind of in-universe explanation for it to work for you, then I can see why WT seems weak compared to hearing Liu Kang narrate why everything is going down in your current Invasion season.
(I could listen to him read the phone book, tbh)

Should also be mentioned that a lot of activities available in WT are actual training tools disguised as mini-games. Grinding them and getting more efficient at them has the hidden effect of also honing your actual gameplay skills, such as practising perfect parries against a volley of basketballs for example, or drilling various special move inputs to hone execution. I think we can probably let the slow-mo thing slide when it comes to critiqueing design concepts.

Also, no mention of getting to create your own fighter avatar with your own moves that you can grind to level up. I suspect you may be saving this for the part 3 write-up about customization (which totally doesn't need its own thread btw) but I think it deserves being talked about here too.

What makes SF6 ranked mode horribly designed, btw?

MK1 single player content has enough replay value to replace the need to go to fight other online in fighting games as opposed to other most other fighting games that can only use their single player content to just take a break from the online.

I'm happy for you that you enjoy MK1's content so much, really, but this is just vapid glazing.

 

[Roy Arkon]

It's ironic that MK1 doesn't have a mode like it despite MK inventing it, and meanwhile SF6 releases with the best Konquest mode ever in World Tour.

I think it's important to point out that SF6 offers a lot of classic Capcom games that are playable solo. If we're measuring single player content this absolutely counts and is a pretty huge offering. What other fighting game lets you play Captain Commando or Saturday Night Slam Masters inside of it?

Also, seems a bit unfair to conclude that SF6 single player content doesn't have as much value because the DLC content in WT can be done quickly, especially while ignoring that it even gets new content added while MK1 is out here repeating old seasons with slight tweaks to the mini games and quality of life improvements (which were desperately needed). I can't finish a new Invasion in an hour, but I'm also being put on a busywork treadmill that is just there to make collecting cosmetics take longer.
WT time slow ability as a main horrible design flaw is a weird call out, it's just a convenience option. Having no lore explanation behind it is also strange in a game world where sumo wrestlers can be seen flying like jets on the regular. If everything requires some kind of in-universe explanation for it to work for you, then I can see why WT seems weak compared to hearing Liu Kang narrate why everything is going down in your current Invasion season.
(I could listen to him read the phone book, tbh)

Should also be mentioned that a lot of activities available in WT are actual training tools disguised as mini-games. Grinding them and getting more efficient at them has the hidden effect of also honing your actual gameplay skills, such as practising perfect parries against a volley of basketballs for example, or drilling various special move inputs to hone execution. I think we can probably let the slow-mo thing slide when it comes to critiqueing design concepts.

Also, no mention of getting to create your own fighter avatar with your own moves that you can grind to level up. I suspect you may be saving this for the part 3 write-up about customization (which totally doesn't need its own thread btw) but I think it deserves being talked about here too.

What makes SF6 ranked mode horribly designed, btw?


I'm happy for you that you enjoy MK1's content so much, really, but this is just vapid glazing.

Firstly, I didn't mention the character creator in SF6 because it make a lot more sense to compare it to MK Armageddon's Kreate-a-Fighter mode instead of MK1 customization system, as in MKA you could create your own char as well as it's own moveset just like in SF6.

As for SF6 World Tour, I'm sorry that I have to bring it to you, but is is only a bootleg version of MK Deception Konquest. There are multiple reasons for it, but I'm gonna name only some of them because the list is long:

1) Voice acting in WT is super lacking as only the CG cutscenes has it while the regular-engine cutscenes don't have VA. Unlike MK Deception Konquest in which every single character was fully voiced, from Shujinko all the way to the most random of NPC's. Even the created avatar should've had voices, as other games like WWE SmackDown Vs. RAW 2010 gave multiple voice options for created characters, and it's not like the avatar in SF6 WT has that many dialogue lines anyway. MK1 also started to have non-voiced lines in Invasions, but only from Season 8 and only for the endless optional nodes like Johnny Cage's Arcade nodes that have no impact on the story at all, SF6 had that VC lacking since the beginning.

2) SF6 WT has only two huge maps to explore, unlike MK Deception Konquest that had 6 maps to explore, one for each realm. Even MK1 Invasions has 6 maps that keep changing every season. And while there's not that much exploration and the movement is way more restrict in Invasions due to it being a board game, it makes the experience fresh every time. Also MK1 only from Season 9 started to repeat it's seasons, and until season 8 and including, every season took a while for you to finish, while in SF6 the DLC can indeed be done way quicker. And even since Season 9, Invasions keeps adding new stuff to make every season fresh while still having the same duration that is much longer than SF6 updates. MK1 keeps the duration longer ever since the beginning. Not to mention that Pokemon Legends Arceus, a game that came exclusively on the Switch a year and half before SF6 and which SF6 tried to take elements from, got to have 5 big maps to explore, vs. the 2 maps in WT.

3) Also like I said, the whole time stoppage ability. And yes not every single thing needs to have an explanation, but this one is one of the things that do need it. Also it is a horrible design flaw because of the contradictory that comes with it. As I said, it is used for the die-hard SF fans who don't wanna deal with the people chasing you like wild Pokemon in Legends Arceus, but the reason that they added it in the first place it to attract Pokemon fans to player SF6 WT, but if you knew that SF fans and others won't like it, why did you even add it in the first place, on top of the fact that there's no explanation for it story-wise? MK1 Invasions also made some nodes to be optional so people who don't like them won't have to play them, but only from season 2 and only after they got some feedback from players. And that there's no need for story-explanation for that, so there's no contradictory there design-wise.

4) And worst of all, the story itself and especially the ending. I've seen so many stories and endings for a ton of media pieces, and SF6 WT story isn't only horrible, but it's ending is the single worst ending in the history of all fighting games and one of the worst in all of gaming. In fact it's so bad that it makes SFV story mode, at least in some areas, to actually look decent. You played a 15-hour story that barely has any story just for JP to laugh at you so they use his dialogue as your "philosophical" crossroads for either just be done with the game or going for competitive play in Ranked matches and Esports is absolutely disgusting. Not only because it leaves all the people who don't care about Esports or Ranked mode unsatisfied, but even if you go for Ranked mode you are gonna be disappointed because Ranked mode is so bad.

And the reason that SF6 Ranked mode is horrible is because of the qualifying matches, these allow you to just skip ranks and go to Platinum ranked right away. Even if you lose all 10 qualifying matches you're still gonna end up in Gold rank, skipping a bunch or ranks. All of these made SF6 Ranked mode so inflated that Capcom had to make the MR system and the only thing it fixed is giving more accurate showing of the player skill, same thing for the additional Master ranks that were recently added, but neither fixed the real issue in Ranked: the inflation of skills in it. There also a graph that shows that the particular ranks of Master and Platinum alone (without Diamond even) have 50% of the entire playerbase of SF6 Ranked, to the point that any rank below Platinum doesn't matter at all.

You can see that in this video below:

So yes, SF6 WT does a decent job at helping you getting better at the game competitively, and yes the mini-games in WT are awesome (and also the fan service, I will give them that), but it's also still supposed to be a single player mode first, and yet Capcom clearly try to push players to go to Esports at the cost of almost everything else. And with Ranked mode itself also being bad, you are getting fucked from both ways. I for one, don't wanna play single player modes to get better at the game. If I wanted, I would just go for the tutorial mode. And even though Kombat League is also bad because how toxic the players are, I would still rather play MK1 KL over SF6 Ranked any day, because the design for it is done right. I mean if do have a local SF scene than it might be good still, but that's not true for everyone, so having a single player mode focusing on teaching you the game at the cost of so many elements while not only having a super big training and tutorial mode at the same time but also having Ranked mode being this bad is just pure contradictory in the worst possible way. And that

This is why fighting games need more modes like MK1 Invasions, as well as MK11 Towers of Time and MKX Living Towers, that can replace the online and not just making you taking a break from the online.

So no, this is not glazing at all, this is just me being honest.

 

[Trickywizard]

Did your account get hacked man?

 

[Roy Arkon]

Did your account get hacked man?

Nope, that is me, 110% legit.

 

[TarkatanPeriodontik]

Should also be mentioned that a lot of activities available in WT are actual training tools disguised as mini-games. Grinding them and getting more efficient at them has the hidden effect of also honing your actual gameplay skills, such as practising perfect parries against a volley of basketballs for example, or drilling various special move inputs to hone execution. I think we can probably let the slow-mo thing slide when it comes to critiqueing design concepts.

Those mini games are also incredible throwbacks to past mini games in sf1 (break the targets), sf2 (smash the car), sf3 (parry the balls), final fight, etc. imagine if you could actually play primal rage in cage mansion, that’s kind of the reverence for legacy that capcom has for its properties.

 

[Roy Arkon]

Those mini games are also incredible throwbacks to past mini games in sf1 (break the targets), sf2 (smash the car), sf3 (parry the balls), final fight, etc. imagine if you could actually play primal rage in cage mansion, that’s kind of the reverence for legacy that capcom has for its properties.

And MK1 Invasions has the exact same thing, all the mini games are callbacks to previous games. Test Your Might (original MK1), Endurance matches (same thing as TYM), the survival mini-games (MK9 Challenge Tower), modifiers and modifier-based Towers (MKX Living Towers and MK11 Towers of Time), and so much more. Hell, even the Sub-Zero final boss fight in season 3 (which is the season that is gonna be repeated this week) has an excellent callback to the MK 95 movie.

And that's only in Invasions, not to mention all the callbacks in the story mode. MK1 does it 10X better than SF6 ever did and ever will.

 

[Trustful_Whale]

I didn't wanna write a bunch so I'm tryin to keep this trimmed, but also want to give a fair reply.

Firstly, I didn't mention the character creator in SF6 because it make a lot more sense to compare it to MK Armageddon's Kreate-a-Fighter mode instead of MK1 customization system, as in MKA you could create your own char as well as it's own moveset just like in SF6.

So we're not going to compare content with MK1 that it doesn't have and say it makes sense?

SF6 avatar creation is a big part of its singleplayer content and even has a foot in multiplayer, it kinda has to be part of the discussion. We can compare it with MKA's KaF, sure, but we'd still have to compare it with MK1 anyway since I thought that was the point of the thread.

As for SF6 World Tour, I'm sorry that I have to bring it to you, but is is only a bootleg version of MK Deception Konquest. There are multiple reasons for it, but I'm gonna name only some of them because the list is long:

1) Voice acting in WT is super lacking as only the CG cutscenes has it while the regular-engine cutscenes don't have VA. Unlike MK Deception Konquest in which every single character was fully voiced, from Shujinko all the way to the most random of NPC's. Even the created avatar should've had voices, as other games like WWE SmackDown Vs. RAW 2010 gave multiple voice options for created characters, and it's not like the avatar in SF6 WT has that many dialogue lines anyway. MK1 also started to have non-voiced lines in Invasions, but only from Season 8 and only for the endless optional nodes like Johnny Cage's Arcade nodes that have no impact on the story at all, SF6 had that VC lacking since the beginning.

2) SF6 WT has only two huge maps to explore, unlike MK Deception Konquest that had 6 maps to explore, one for each realm. Even MK1 Invasions has 6 maps that keep changing every season. And while there's not that much exploration and the movement is way more restrict in Invasions due to it being a board game, it makes the experience fresh every time. Also MK1 only from Season 9 started to repeat it's seasons, and until season 8 and including, every season took a while for you to finish, while in SF6 the DLC can indeed be done way quicker. And even since Season 9, Invasions keeps adding new stuff to make every season fresh while still having the same duration that is much longer than SF6 updates. MK1 keeps the duration longer ever since the beginning. Not to mention that Pokemon Legends Arceus, a game that came exclusively on the Switch a year and half before SF6 and which SF6 tried to take elements from, got to have 5 big maps to explore, vs. the 2 maps in WT.

3) Also like I said, the whole time stoppage ability. And yes not every single thing needs to have an explanation, but this one is one of the things that do need it. Also it is a horrible design flaw because of the contradictory that comes with it. As I said, it is used for the die-hard SF fans who don't wanna deal with the people chasing you like wild Pokemon in Legends Arceus, but the reason that they added it in the first place it to attract Pokemon fans to player SF6 WT, but if you knew that SF fans and others won't like it, why did you even add it in the first place, on top of the fact that there's no explanation for it story-wise? MK1 Invasions also made some nodes to be optional so people who don't like them won't have to play them, but only from season 2 and only after they got some feedback from players. And that there's no need for story-explanation for that, so there's no contradictory there design-wise.

1. And worst of all, the story itself and especially the ending. I've seen so many stories and endings for a ton of media pieces, and SF6 WT story isn't only horrible, but it's ending is the single worst ending in the history of all fighting games and one of the worst in all of gaming. In fact it's so bad that it makes SFV story mode, at least in some areas, to actually look decent. You played a 15-hour story that barely has any story just for JP to laugh at you so they use his dialogue as your "philosophical" crossroads for either just be done with the game or going for competitive play in Ranked matches and Esports is absolutely disgusting. Not only because it leaves all the people who don't care about Esports or Ranked mode unsatisfied, but even if you go for Ranked mode you are gonna be disappointed because Ranked mode is so bad.

1. Yeah there isn't much voice work throughout WT outside of main characters. NPCs do make some noises. Voice work is pretty expensive so Deception did an impressive job in that area for sure. You can select a voice for your Avatar in SF6. It's limited to a few choices but you can also edit the tone and pitch iirc. They do have some spoken phrases, typically during special moves.

2) True there's more maps in Deception. I can't speak clearly on the quality of its density since it's been a while, but yeah it was pretty cool to visit all the realms and explore, find secrets. I particularly liked the time-sensitive stuff where events or NPCs can only be found at certain times of day. It would be cool if WT eventually got another map. That said, WT can at least be explored. There's nothing in Invasions I'd call exploring, which is a huge shame honestly.

3) Why does the time slow need a story explanation? What is the contradiction that comes with it?
Hostile enemies being obstacles on an overworld map is hardly anything new let alone specifically meant to be a lure for Pokemon fans. You're making a lot of assumptions about why the slow mo exists that don't really add up, especially for such an inconsequential feature that is more likely there to help less skilled players enjoy the game.

4) I won't be defending SF6's story, but going as far to say worst in all of gaming is taking the piss and it's those kinda comments that come off as glazing. I definitely enjoyed my time in WT but it sure wasn't for the story. MK1's story mode is pretty looking and had some engaging scenes, but still nothing to write home about either, imo. In this category everybody loses, lol.

Nakayama was pretty open about their decisions and intent behind SF6's WT to attract new and old players while gently nudging everyone towards playing multiplayer. I think defaulting to an "all roads lead to esports" way of thinking is missing the forest for the trees, which is a common mistake towards fighting games in general actually (can thank the toxic parts of the fgc for that).

And the reason that SF6 Ranked mode is horrible is because of the qualifying matches, these allow you to just skip ranks and go to Platinum ranked right away. Even if you lose all 10 qualifying matches you're still gonna end up in Gold rank, skipping a bunch or ranks. All of these made SF6 Ranked mode so inflated that Capcom had to make the MR system and the only thing it fixed is giving more accurate showing of the player skill, same thing for the additional Master ranks that were recently added, but neither fixed the real issue in Ranked: the inflation of skills in it. There also a graph that shows that the particular ranks of Master and Platinum alone (without Diamond even) have 50% of the entire playerbase of SF6 Ranked, to the point that any rank below Platinum doesn't matter at all.

You can see that in this video below:

So yes, SF6 WT does a decent job at helping you getting better at the game competitively, and yes the mini-games in WT are awesome (and also the fan service, I will give them that), but it's also still supposed to be a single player mode first, and yet Capcom clearly try to push players to go to Esports at the cost of almost everything else. And with Ranked mode itself also being bad, you are getting fucked from both ways. I for one, don't wanna play single player modes to get better at the game. If I wanted, I would just go for the tutorial mode. And even though Kombat League is also bad because how toxic the players are, I would still rather play MK1 KL over SF6 Ranked any day, because the design for it is done right. I mean if do have a local SF scene than it might be good still, but that's not true for everyone, so having a single player mode focusing on teaching you the game at the cost of so many elements while not only having a super big training and tutorial mode at the same time but also having Ranked mode being this bad is just pure contradictory in the worst possible way. And that

This is why fighting games need more modes like MK1 Invasions, as well as MK11 Towers of Time and MKX Living Towers, that can replace the online and not just making you taking a break from the online.

So no, this is not glazing at all, this is just me being honest.

That's it? The qualifying matches makes it bad?
Which, btw, if failing all 10 placements lands you in Gold then how are there any Silver, Bronze, or Iron ranked players in the game at all?
Perhaps it's slightly more accurate than we think.
Ranked is there to be a sorting hat. None of the ranks "matter", but it seems especially cold to imply that someone's progress climbing from Silver to Gold doesn't matter. Depending on who you ask everyone is still in the tutorial until 1700MR; it's all relative.

As for that video: The air is always thinner at the top.
Longer queue times and matching with the same opponents are commonplace in the highest ranks of competitive games. Hardly unique to SF6.
Komat League gets a really weird rap for being this agonizing experience when it's just the same game as Kasual mode. It's nothing special nor is it doing anything uniquely horrible either so I don't get why it gets singled out so much.

There's plenty of ways to play SF6 without stepping into ranked. Remember those classic Capcom games I mentioned? You even pointed out Extreme Battle, and there's even Avatar Battle which is popular af. WT teaching you how to play the game better doesn't mean "you gotta be esports now", that's a big jump to conclusions.

Anyways, I'm glad you like Invasions. I felt kinda bad for Derek after hearing him talk about it on the latest Kast, he suddenly had the demeanor of someone who reads the internet chatter too much.

 

[chrisisnice]

SF6 also has Battlehub where you can also play previous SF games, Puzzle Fighter, Mega Man, Final Fight, Captain Commando etc and complete Extreme Battles. This gives you hours of enjoyable content to play.

I love MK1, but SF6 is the best quality fighter out of the current crop. It was seriously a love letter to SF fans.

 

[Roy Arkon]

SF6 also has Battlehub where you can also play previous SF games, Puzzle Fighter, Mega Man, Final Fight, Captain Commando etc and complete Extreme Battles. This gives you hours of enjoyable content to play.

I love MK1, but SF6 is the best quality fighter out of the current crop. It was seriously a love letter to SF fans.

That doesn't count sadly, we can only really talk about the content that comes from the game itself, having classic Arcade games isn't content from the game itself. And I did mention Extreme Battle, and I explained why both it and Team Battle, even though they are well-made, don't add this much content in the long run.

Also about the Arcade games, correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't these games on timed rotation? Then what if I would wanna play a certain game at a certain time? Why do I need to wait to play a game that I would like to play? It's not like Living Towers or Towers of Time in which you get to have different modifiers to make the experience fresh but its' still the same game. And honestly a ton of these games really shouldn't be here, almost no one is gonna know like 90% of the these Arcade games since they are all super old. Really it should've only been SF Alpha, SF2 and Final Fight.

 

[chrisisnice]

That doesn't count sadly, we can only really talk about the content that comes from the game itself, having classic Arcade games isn't content from the game itself.

I think you are clutching at straws in a desperate attempt to keep your argument valid. It is a legitimate in game feature. It is similar to if MK1 + 2 were in the arcades in Johnny's house - it would be a feature. I actually thought was a missed opportunity given you literally walk into an arcade in his house.

Also about the Arcade games, correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't these games on timed rotation? Then what if I would wanna play a certain game at a certain time? Why do I need to wait to play a game that I would like to play

They are on timed rotation.

By this logic, - What if I want to play a titan battle at a certain time? I have to wait a year for that and then have a few days to do it? What if I want to play a certain mesa at a certain time, but it is not on this season's rotation?

The argument is ludicrous.

And honestly a ton of these games really shouldn't be here, almost no one is gonna know like 90% of the these Arcade games since they are all super old. Really it should've only been SF Alpha, SF2 and Final Fight.

As I said, SF6 is a love letter to the series - particularly SF2. Most of these games were in the arcades at the time that SF2 was big - that is why they are there.

You are entitled to your opinion on whether you like the games on offer. but you are not really the intended audience.

 

[Roy Arkon]

I didn't wanna write a bunch so I'm tryin to keep this trimmed, but also want to give a fair reply.


So we're not going to compare content with MK1 that it doesn't have and say it makes sense?

SF6 avatar creation is a big part of its singleplayer content and even has a foot in multiplayer, it kinda has to be part of the discussion. We can compare it with MKA's KaF, sure, but we'd still have to compare it with MK1 anyway since I thought that was the point of the thread.

1. Yeah there isn't much voice work throughout WT outside of main characters. NPCs do make some noises. Voice work is pretty expensive so Deception did an impressive job in that area for sure. You can select a voice for your Avatar in SF6. It's limited to a few choices but you can also edit the tone and pitch iirc. They do have some spoken phrases, typically during special moves.

2) True there's more maps in Deception. I can't speak clearly on the quality of its density since it's been a while, but yeah it was pretty cool to visit all the realms and explore, find secrets. I particularly liked the time-sensitive stuff where events or NPCs can only be found at certain times of day. It would be cool if WT eventually got another map. That said, WT can at least be explored. There's nothing in Invasions I'd call exploring, which is a huge shame honestly.

3) Why does the time slow need a story explanation? What is the contradiction that comes with it?
Hostile enemies being obstacles on an overworld map is hardly anything new let alone specifically meant to be a lure for Pokemon fans. You're making a lot of assumptions about why the slow mo exists that don't really add up, especially for such an inconsequential feature that is more likely there to help less skilled players enjoy the game.

4) I won't be defending SF6's story, but going as far to say worst in all of gaming is taking the piss and it's those kinda comments that come off as glazing. I definitely enjoyed my time in WT but it sure wasn't for the story. MK1's story mode is pretty looking and had some engaging scenes, but still nothing to write home about either, imo. In this category everybody loses, lol.

Nakayama was pretty open about their decisions and intent behind SF6's WT to attract new and old players while gently nudging everyone towards playing multiplayer. I think defaulting to an "all roads lead to esports" way of thinking is missing the forest for the trees, which is a common mistake towards fighting games in general actually (can thank the toxic parts of the fgc for that).



That's it? The qualifying matches makes it bad?
Which, btw, if failing all 10 placements lands you in Gold then how are there any Silver, Bronze, or Iron ranked players in the game at all?
Perhaps it's slightly more accurate than we think.
Ranked is there to be a sorting hat. None of the ranks "matter", but it seems especially cold to imply that someone's progress climbing from Silver to Gold doesn't matter. Depending on who you ask everyone is still in the tutorial until 1700MR; it's all relative.

As for that video: The air is always thinner at the top.
Longer queue times and matching with the same opponents are commonplace in the highest ranks of competitive games. Hardly unique to SF6.
Komat League gets a really weird rap for being this agonizing experience when it's just the same game as Kasual mode. It's nothing special nor is it doing anything uniquely horrible either so I don't get why it gets singled out so much.

There's plenty of ways to play SF6 without stepping into ranked. Remember those classic Capcom games I mentioned? You even pointed out Extreme Battle, and there's even Avatar Battle which is popular af. WT teaching you how to play the game better doesn't mean "you gotta be esports now", that's a big jump to conclusions.

Anyways, I'm glad you like Invasions. I felt kinda bad for Derek after hearing him talk about it on the latest Kast, he suddenly had the demeanor of someone who reads the internet chatter too much.

1) Firstly about the char creation, if we really wanna do compare it, I would say that MK1 customization as well as MKA Armageddon are both better than SF6, for the simple fact that that the customization options in both these games look way better visually and the characters SF6 look way uglier, as well as MKA allowing you to play your created character in Arcade mode. I understand that Capcom wanted to mainly focus on creating freaks and whatnot, but they made it in such a way that if you wanna make a normal-looking char, its' very hard to NOT make it look ugly. But with in MK Armageddon, even though its' a much older game and therefore not as visually advanced, I can still make cool-looking chars in addition to freaks. And in MK1, even though you can only customize one skin and one Gear piece, the characters in MK1 all still look visually way better than either the main SF6 chars and their skins or the created avatars. And regarding Arcade mode, why I can't play SF created chars in Arcade mode? MK Armageddon allowed that, and you could've even create your own Arcade-ending text for your created chars. Soul Calibur games also allow you to play Arcade mode with created chars, so why not SF6?

2) As for the voice acting, at least from what I've heard, actually it's not that expensive at all, at least not for full-time VA's. It's only expensive when they have a live-action actor, like John Cena as Peacemaker or Megan Fox as Nitara, to voice acting certain chars, but for full-time VA's like Richard Epcar (Raiden from MK Vs. DC to MK11) it's really not ax expensive. The fact that Midway back then was able hire actors and record voices for everyone in MK Deception is nothing short of amazing. So for SF6 giving only some noises and half-lines for the NPC's outside of CG cutscenes and not giving the avatar the ability to speak in cutscenes is just awful. You know what other game had that exact problem with it's created avatars? One-Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows, a mediocre Arena Fighter.

3) As for exploration in WT, yes you can technically explore, but because you got only two maps and neither of them are that really big, the exploration just doesn't hold up. Also it doesn't help that in Metro City you clearly see that there's a big chunk of the top of the map being closed (and you can see that on the map itself), and yet by the 2nd half of Season 2 of SF6, it's still not open. So not only it's just two maps but they are not even that big. MK1 Invasions never intended to make you explore, not everything has to be about free-roaming and exploring. Something can be way linier in movement and still be way better than something that technically allowing you to explore because the design for it was way better. Even for MK games, I do prefer MK Armageddon Konquest which is a pretty linier beat'em up over MK Deception Konquest simply because I think it's done just a little bit better overall in what it tried to accomplish.

4) The enemies are clearly made to be like wild Pokemon, just like Bosch is clearly made to be a Pokemon-like rival, pretty much everyone figured this out. You can clearly see it in the way run towards and in what context, these are not your typical action-game enemies. And no, this is not made for less-skilled players, it is done for the die-hard FGC players who don't like playing these stuff. SF6 tried to take way too many elements from way too many IP's, just like it tried to make WT to be like MK Deception Konquest for MK fans, adding Pokemon elements for Pokemon fans, also adding a char creator for the Soul Calibur fans in the FGC and so on. And sadly a lot of these elements just don't stick together, it's the cannibalization and contradiction that really hurts not only WT, but SF6 as a whole. And yes, they do at the end all lead to Esports in some way, and if it's not, like Extreme Battle or Team Battle, it doesn't have that much replay value.

5) About the story, I said it is the worst fighting game story overall and ONE OF the worst in all of gaming. And MK1 story is spectacular, if you wanna read more, check out my part 1 about single player content in MK1.

6) As for Ranked mode, yes longer queues are very common, and as Sonic Sol shows in the video a lot of the players outside of Japan much prefer to be in the Battle Hub rather than Ranked. And yes none of the ranks matter, but that's only because Capcom essentially made them to be not matter. Ranked mode is supposed to be the competitive mode of the game, and if everyone can just skip ranks it creates a gigantic inflation of skill. That's why Capcom made the MR system and the additional Master ranks, but even then, the only way to truly fix Ranked is to reset the Ranks for everyone, and Capcom obviously don't wanna do it because it will get too much backlash from the lower skilled players. Now that's not the first time that a Ranked mode is being fucked. DBFZ around year 2 added winning streak point boosts with unlimited rematches for Ranked, which at the end caused huge inflation of skills in Ranked. So yes, Ranked mode has become less and less relevant, but that's because the companies end up making them that way. And yes you can play SF6 online without going into Ranked, but since the game clearly sends you on the path to Esports in way too many ways, having Ranked mode being this fucked up is yet another case of contradiction. And while there are parts of the game that don't lead to Esports, like I said, they don't have that much replay value.

Oh and one more thing, I don't know about Derek, he seemed to be pretty calm and straightforward, but yes I can only imagine what he feels like when reading interent negative posts that many times.

 

[Roy Arkon]

I think you are clutching at straws in a desperate attempt to keep your argument valid. It is a legitimate in game feature. It is similar to if MK1 + 2 were in the arcades in Johnny's house - it would be a feature. I actually thought was a missed opportunity given you literally walk into an arcade in his house.



They are on timed rotation.

By this logic, - What if I want to play a titan battle at a certain time? I have to wait a year for that and then have a few days to do it? What if I want to play a certain mesa at a certain time, but it is not on this season's rotation?

The argument is ludicrous.



As I said, SF6 is a love letter to the series - particularly SF2. Most of these games were in the arcades at the time that SF2 was big - that is why they are there.

You are entitled to your opinion on whether you like the games on offer. but you are not really the intended audience.

Firstly, no, if original MK1 or MK2 would've been in current MK1 that won't count as content for MK1 either. Yes it's an option in the game, but it's not part of the actual game's content. I'm not clutching at straws here at all.

As for the time rotation thing, the difference between Titans and Towers in MK games is that they are all part of the games, so you get the same mechanics, same characters and same presentation, just in different conditions to make the experience fresh. But the Arcade games are entirely different games, so it's not the same thing at all.

And the game being a love letter for SF fans doesn't mean it connects to a specific era, let alone having a feature that doesn't allow you enjoy it in it's entirety.

 

[superbn0va]

Mortal Kombat Deception.

 

[Roy Arkon]

Ok, this is the last part when it comes to the single player content in MK1. This time I'm gonna talk about the unlockables and customization options in the game.

Customization

Now there are some people claim that MK1 "has not enough content" not because of variety of modes or replay value, but instead the amount of unlockables and customization options that are supposedly lacking, but that's not true either.

MK1 has tons of unlockables to unlock, both in terms of skins, Gear pieces, Kombat Kard items and even some stage variants.

Now yes, MK11 and IJ2 allowed you to customize more places for every char via their Gear pieces, but for MK11, a huge chunk of the Gear pieces were barely visible during gameplay. In fact, after checking it out myself, 50% of the MK11 had 1 Gear piece that wasn't visible enough, then 25% had 2 Gear pieces that were hard to see and only one that was very visible, and only the remaining 25% had all 3 Gear pieces very visible. On top of that, MK11 customization main focus the moves vie that Kustom Variations, not the cosmetics, just like IJ2's main focus was the the looks and the RPG states for single player modes but not so much the moves. MK1 cosmetics make sure that you are all gonna see them at all times, while having the true customization focusing on gameplay rather than cosmetics once again, this time in the form of the Kameos. MK customization is based mainly on gameplay, not aesthetics.

And if you think that the quantity in MK1 is lower, think again. MK1 once again has only 1 Gear piece for every char to customize, but the quantity of that 1 Gear piece is much higher compared to that of one Gear piece in MK11. And the amount of skins and colors in MK1 is doubled compared to MK11. Not just in the quantity of skins overall, but the amount of unique skins as well:





As you can see, Scorpion in MK1 has way more skins than in MK11, almost double of the amount in fact, and while the overall amount of Gear pieces in MK11 for Scorpion is way higher than MK1, for the one Gear piece that Scorpion does have in MK1 he still has way more compared to MK11, as you can see that when it comes to his masks, in MK1 he has way more of these than in MK11. Even the amount of Brutalities in MK1 for scorpion is bigger than in MK11. And these screenshots I took from my own save files of these games, and the MK1 screenshot is from just yesterday while there are still more skins that are guaranteed coming to the game, while the MK11 one is from September 2023, right before MK1's release, after MK11 stopped receiving any more content a long time ago.

As for the Johnny Cage screenshot, as you can see, Johnny in MK11 technically has more different skins than in MK1, but 6 of these skins, AKA the base game skins are just copies of each other with 1 more item being added to one of them just to make it look different. Skin 1, 3, and 5 are the same but just with a different top, and it's true also for skin 2, 4, and 6 either have a different top or none. Only skins 7-10 are different, AKA the DLC post-launch skins are truly unique. MK1 Johnny on the other hand has 8 different skins, less than MK11, but unlike MK11, all of Johnny's skins in MK1 are truly unique to one another. And while some skins indeed have way more colors than others, overall it has way more color options than in MK11. And while the some of the skins can only be bought via Dragon Crystals, that's no different than the MK11 DLC skins, which you have to pay money for as well.

And regarding other stuff like customizing intros and outros, after a while you're just gonna skip the intros anyway. And having only being able to customize outros but not intros would just look weird from a design standpoint. But you can still customize and pick and choose round 1 taunts, since you're always gonna see them no matter what. That's why they are still there but not intros and outros.

And finally, I think we all need to be honest. Ever since MKX, it has been very clear that when it comes to customization, it's all about gameplay-based customization rather than cosmetics. MKX preset Variations, MK11 Custom Variations and MK1 Kameos are all gameplay-based customization systems. So any other form of customization is just an extra in that regard, even MK11 customization was there just to help you differentiate between your Kustom loadouts so it won't be just the moves. IJ2's Gear system was indeed way more focused on cosmetics, as while there were unique moves only for single player and non-competitive play coming from the Gear, they were clearly unbalanced and and some characters got way more Gear-only moves than others, and in competitive mode all the moves and the RPG states were not available and you only had the cosmetics. So that makes the complaints about cosmetics part of the customization even less relevant.

Unlockables
Now let's talk about unlocking stuff in MK1. A lot of people say that it's way harder and way grinder to unlock stuff in MK1 compered to MK11 or even IJ2. But it is false.

MK11 allowed you to unlock certain stuff via the story mode end even from the character tutorial, these stuff were preset always. But the majority of the stuff being unlocked in MK11 are from the Towers of Time, Krypt, AI Battle mode and Kombat League.

MK11 KL had only 4 weeks for you to unlock everything. Yes it had the side missions in addition to the ranks which gave more stuff to unlock every season, but because of the 4-week period, you had way less time to unlock everything. MK1 KL, just like Invasions, gives you two months to unlock everything, so it's double the time, as well as the fact that the side missions in MK11 KL were all gameplay-missions, and these can get in the way of you trying to win your matches. So you got less things to worry about.

AI Battle also allows you to unlock stuff on a daily basis, as for the first 5 times you play this mode each day, you could've unlock more stuff. Except that you only unlock new stuff if you win, yet it only implies for your first 5 matches. Meaning that if you wanna get the most unlockables every day, you have to win all first 5 games in a row, and if you lose at all, you get less unlockables depending on how many games you lose. Meaning that if you lose all first 5 daily games, you lose all your unlockables for that day, even if right after that you win 5 times in a row.

And then we got the Towers of Time and the Krypt. As I said in part 2, In MK1 Invasions, you have one gigantic over-arching timer that lasts for two months, so you got plenty of time to unlock everything. MK11 TOT's however giving you small timers for each platform of Towers that can last from mere hours to mere days, with the two exceptions being the character-specific Towers and the Gauntlet Tower. This is also amplified (no pun intended) with the Meteor Towers added in the Ultimate update for MK11 that allowed you unlock Kombat League skins, and you had to check out every two hours on top of inserting the code, or else you could lose a skin that you would probably never be able to unlock again. Same goes for the Race against Time, as in MK11 you have only 1 week to finish every Race, while in MK1, in the Towers of Time that were added post launch, you get two weeks for each Race against Time. And even though there are timers for the TOT's and also the Gateway Mesa Towers that were at year 1, the only Towers that you can unlock stuff from are the Seasonal Tower which is tied to the 2-month timer, and the Legacy Tower which is always available with no connection to any timer and you can unlock stuff from it as long as you got Crowns.

That's also leading to the usage of the AI character playing the game for you. The only reason MK11 TOT's had it is because of all the much smaller timers and how much all of them are connected to the unlockables, but in MK1, since the only timer that is connected to unlockables is the one gigantic 2-month timer, there's no need for an AI to play the game for you. Not to mention that in Invasions go around in whatever direction you want on a map, you can't have an AI playing the game for you then since it's not just Towers anymore.

Also speaking about post-launch additions, MK11 Towers of Time for the first 5 months allowed you to unlock only stuff for that characters that you fight against and not the ones that you play as (except the character-specific Towers of course) and only in September of 2019, five months after release, only then you could've unlock stuff for the whatever characters you played via the random pulls that were added to the TOT's. Meaning that for the first 5 months of the game, it was much harder to unlock stuff that you wanted. Also the Krypt had stuff being added to it in updates, just like MK1 Invasions and the Shrine having the unlockables coming in waves, except that in MK1 it is way more organized, which makes it way easier to follow

But the one problem that truly shows why MK1 unlockable system is better than MK11 is the combination of randomness along with diminishing returns. MK1 also has randomness to it both in the Shrine as well as the Legacy Tower in TOT's, but there are no diminishing returns. As long as have currency, you are good to go, and once there's nothing to unlock the game will just tell you that you're done. But in MK11 Krypt, while you can unlock stuff at the beginning (and even then, like I said, it only adds up until it gets more stuff via updates) but the more you unlock, the less you are gonna unlock later on, to the point that even though there are clearly more stuff to unlock such as character artworks and even some cosmetics, you can't unlock them even after all of these years. I myself played MK11 on an-almost daily basis for all of the 4 years and a half it had before MK1's release AND I STILL missing stuff to unlock. Same thing with the random pulls in the TOT's that were added 5 months after release, they are also operate on randomness alongside diminishing returns, I had chars in MK11 that I didn't touch in months like Joker and Rambo, and as soon I played them again in TOT's, I unlocked new Gear pieces for them that I couldn't unlock before because of the diminishing returns. MK1 doesn't have that issue at all, all the unlockables are way more streamlined and you are not forced to NOT play a certain character just to refresh your chances to unlock stuff.

Even unlocking Variation icons is flawed in MK11, not only that the majority of Variation icons can only be unlocked in certain Towers and only after you already beat them at least once, but even then it's not guaranteed that they will be unlockable after the 1st completion, so it's randomness again. And to make things worse, there are 3 colors of Variation icons in MK11: white, gold and red, but the gold ones can only be unlocked in the Co-Op Towers. And remember when I said that you could unlock only stuff only for the character that you fight against? That is true for the icons also, including the gold icons in the Co-Op Towers, which even up to this day, only Shao Kahn and the base roster chars can be fought against in them, but not any of the post-release DLC chars. So if you wanna unlock any gold Variation Icons for any of the DLC chars? Guess what, you can't, even though you can clearly see them in the Customization mode in the game for the whole roster.

And then we got IJ2, which yes, that game allowed you unlock stuff just by playing matches, no specific modes needed, so you could go and play random matches in casual or even just Versus mode matches and could've still unlock stuff in the game. However you were still had to be lucky to unlock stuff for that char that you want, that system still gave you random stuff, not for the char that you played or wanted to unlock stuff for. So the only way to get better chances to unlock stuff for the char that you wanted is in the Multiverse mode, which just like MK11 TOT's had multiple planets with small timers for each, as it will tell you for which char you are gonna unlock the Gear, witch body part and which level, and even then it was still only for the char that you fought against, on top of the fact that you couldn't know the look of the Gear piece until you unlocked it. The only stuff that was preset was in the story mode.

And don't get me started on SF6 and Tekken 8, as in the first, the vast majority of cosmetics to unlock are for the created avatars, and for the actual chars there's only 2 additional skins to unlock and some as of right now only 1, with only 10 colors for each skins, and it took SF6 until just recently to add more colors via Ranked mode, while MK1 and MK11 both did it in in Kombat League for years at this point. And as for Tekken 8, well..... if you are playing Tekken 8, just look the amount of currency you got, I think you will get the problem there.

Oh and did I mention that both SF6 and Tekken 8 have battle passes, in full-priced AAA games, and a lot of the stuff that you can unlock are tied to these battle passes, and MK1 is the only fighting game of the big to NOT have a battle pass? Yeah, so there's that.

So as you can see, MK1 customization and unlockables are not only perfectly fine, but in a lot of ways are better than a lot of other fighting games including ones that were released in recent years.

And on that note, that's the last part for the single player content in MK1, which like I said, it is one of the best offering in the history of all fighting games, and as a long time fan of MK and single player content in fighting games, I mean it with every sense of the word, that Mortal Kombat 1 single player content, from the story, the other modes and the unlockables, is truly PHENOMENAL!

 

[Jynks]

three posts.... that is a LOT of text.

 

[Roy Arkon]

Well when there's so much misconception around MK1 (and every MK game, let's be real) due to misinformation run on the interent, there's a ton to unpack.