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MK11 Presentation

(Disclaimer: My opinions -- O P I N I O N S !! -- are based on what I've seen so far -- everything is TBC and subject to refutation / change)

There are some presentation issues that are increasingly coming to my attention; if not, becoming confirmed with each reveal. Here they are, bullet-pointed:

- No select screen character interaction, as was present in Injustice 2 and MKX
I really liked these pre-intro intros, as they gave the characters personality, as well as allowed them to showcase their traits in a non-combat setting (and the obvious trolly aspects of these exchanges were also fun). Stuff like "The Flash" hitting opponents in "Bullet Time", or even Johnny Cage's "Call me!" gesture (esp. when directed at the MUTE Jason Vorhess! :D), were quite amusing, and they made this otherwise arguably pointless U.I. segment much more interesting (technically, / hypothetically, all char./stage selection U.I. could be dropped and players given only simple lists to make their selections from -- the game would still operate identically, perhaps with faster loading, and even allow customisation in tournament mode/s, without "pros" whining about time constraints!) . I mean, I even chose (chose, nay played) all MKX / IJ2 chars., just to see what they'd do and say. It's very disappointing that this aspect of the game/s has [seemingly] been dropped for MK11. (Even some distinctive selection char. animations / dialogue would being better than nothing, if fully animated, char. specific interactions are no longer possible to implement).

- No menu / theme / U.I. (a.k.a. "Faction") customisation
As little as the whole "Faction" component interested me in MKX, I did actually like the different aesthetics that the various factions' art styles imbued upon the game. These gave the game had different feel upon start-up (than the generic main menu screen of IJ2, for comparative example), and made things seem a little less homogenised / more individualised.

- Lack of stage weather effects / ambience diversity
For me, Mortal Kombat has always been a dark and almost "nihilistic" universe -- with its slap-stick humour conveying the cynicism of its hapless protagonists. In this sense, I'd like to see more (mostly) dark, rainy / stormy, otherworldly and foreboding settings to fight in; as distinct from the increasingly "urban" environments that series has started pushing with / since MKX. This also plays to the whole "escapism" aspect of video games -- we want to be whisked off to fantastical realms, not plonked into real-world environments. Tangentially, the increasingly "busy" nature of the stage designs (example: literal WARS taking place in the background), smack heavily of the "Star Wars prequels syndrome" -- the designers trying to shovel was much crap into peoples' eyeballs as possible, [apparently] in an ill-conceived effort to woo people with the CGI crafting prowess -- and, in line with said analogy, more does not always equal better. Minimalist stages with ambience that reflects the MK themeölgy, can convey much more mood and atmosphere than comic book schlock tie, migraine inducing chaos. MK is not an "Avengers" movie; and it should not strive to look like one.

- Inconspicuous BGM / musical themes
Other than the menu / U.I. themes and that techno "Mortal Kombat!" ditty from the 90's, I cannot recall a single MK theme... And this is coming from someone who has their MP3 player filled with video gaming themes. Do the MK characters even have their own themes?!... 'Cause I could not name / recognise even one, if they do. I wish the game had more distinctive musical scores to accompany its stages and / or characters. Suffice to say, music resonates with people -- perhaps more than any other artistic medium -- and for a game to all but ignore this tool of presentation, is hamstringing the impact it could otherwise have. I find this lack of distinctive BGM / musical themes in MK games that much more glaring / galling, when juxtaposed with series' promotional side seemingly so obsessed with shoehorning non-sequitur ghetto rap into every trailer...
~

These are the main presentation shortcomings that I've observed so; and I have to say, this runs constituent with the "homogenisation" that the game's overall design seems to be taking -- examples: similar char. heights (irrespective of species, race, sex); universal gameplay abilities / mechanics as or more evident than ever; similar damage outputs on FB's and KB's (and likely non-discriminating damage-scaling to exacerbate thus); not much distinction between "heavy-hitter" chars. (of what have been show so far, or even exist in the game) and the traditionally lithe combatants; "Teleportation Kombat" (to quote another user's thread title); Injustice styled projectile near-universality across the roster... In light of thus, I think the pressure on the presentation side of the game to carry the "freshness" of proceedings, weighs that much more heavily. Hence, this post.
 

Circus

Part-Time Kano Hostage
The laggy rainy stage in MKX still gives me nightmares.

I'm sure it'd be better if done in MK11 with it's good netcode, but still, the thought of playing someone who's on wifi on that stage.... yea.
 
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The laggy rainy stage in MKX still gives me nightmares.
I'm sure it'd be better if done in MK11 with it's good netcode, but still, the thought of playing someone who's on wifi on that stage.... yea.
My only counter-argument here would be, "competitive" players will always opt for the least laggy stages (*the veritable joke of playing in a latency-affected environment "competitively", notwithstanding), which is usually the "Training" stage or whichever stage is the least busy (the latter design spitting in the face of NRS's hectic, "war" themed backdrops).

So, the contention that they could not make weather work (without affecting gameplay), is rather moot: 1) no one would be forced to use any stage they did not want to use, 2) offline is the only environment where one could reasonably say that no performance related issues could exist--outright, and that the game would perform as well as it is fundamentally programmed to, and 3) taking the aforementioned argument to its natural conclusion, a fighting game's stage suite would end up consisting of animation-less and texture-less 2-D planes, differentiated only by their colours...! :confused:
 

pure.Wasted

'ello baby, did you miss me?
(Disclaimer: My opinions -- O P I N I O N S !! -- are based on what I've seen so far -- everything is TBC and subject to refutation / change)

There are some presentation issues that are increasingly coming to my attention; if not, becoming confirmed with each reveal. Here they are, bullet-pointed:

- No select screen character interaction, as was present in Injustice 2 and MKX
I really liked these pre-intro intros, as they gave the characters personality, as well as allowed them to showcase their traits in a non-combat setting (and the obvious trolly aspects of these exchanges were also fun). Stuff like "The Flash" hitting opponents in "Bullet Time", or even Johnny Cage's "Call me!" gesture (esp. when directed at the MUTE Jason Vorhess! :D), were quite amusing, and they made this otherwise arguably pointless U.I. segment much more interesting (technically, / hypothetically, all char./stage selection U.I. could be dropped and players given only simple lists to make their selections from -- the game would still operate identically, perhaps with faster loading, and even allow customisation in tournament mode/s, without "pros" whining about time constraints!) . I mean, I even chose (chose, nay played) all MKX / IJ2 chars., just to see what they'd do and say. It's very disappointing that this aspect of the game/s has [seemingly] been dropped for MK11. (Even some distinctive selection char. animations / dialogue would being better than nothing, if fully animated, char. specific interactions are no longer possible to implement).


Uhh, there is no physical interaction like in INJ, but there are absolutely "distinctive selection char. animations" like in MKX.

Look at Johnny's right here. It lasts for about FIFTEEN SECONDS, and it's far more animated than what he had in MKX.
 

MR.EVL

I am you
I also liked how in MKX we had the select screen pre-intros! felt as if the kharacters "acknowledge" one another. that was badass!

Still loving the new treatment tho.
 
Look at Johnny's right here. It lasts for about FIFTEEN SECONDS, and it's far more animated than what he had in MKX.
Okay... But, that seems like an exception to the rule, and one based on very specific character traits (*Johnny's a show-off by his very nature -- they kind of had to do something for him). If all [applicable] chars. do something as unique -- example: D'vorah breast feeds her baby bugs; Cetrion goes on an environmentalist's homily about saving the Earth; Shao Kahn trolls and talks smack etc. -- that would satisfactory... But, will they?

I don't necessarily want every character to do a song and dance when being selected. However, it would be nice if they all (or most) had something interesting associated with their selection. I know they won't interact with one another now, given the design of the char. select U.I.. They could, on the other hand, have a number of different poses or quotes upon selection -- thereby, imbuing a fresh/er feel to them, each time they're selected. These traits could change relative to the selected match-up... Though, that's probably a bridge too far at this point--if it wasn't something considered / implemented from the ground up.
 

pure.Wasted

'ello baby, did you miss me?
But, will they?
Won't they? It's your thread and your complaint. It's kind of on you to know.

They could, on the other hand, have a number of different poses or quotes upon selection -- thereby, imbuing a fresh/er feel to them, each time they're selected
Have you considered that this is exactly what pre-battle intros and dialogues are for?
 
The "non-sequitur ghetto rap" fits the game just fine, y'all just ain't got no taste
If it were young / modern Jax versus Jacqui -- fine. But, in a game that's set in otherworldly environments (*the first reveal trailer fight was fought on a dilapidated, MK1 arena, in some Asian-themed locale) and comprises mostly anthropomorphised monsters and combatants from alternate realms / universes, ghetto rap is as ill-fitting as those damn "Inception horns" shoved into every film trailer since 2010!

After all, rap stems from "ghetto culture" -- a kind of dirge of the Afro-American downtrodden -- hearkening to the slave era, where slaves weren't permitted to partake in wider societal revelry (much less, the arts), and devised their own sing-songs, that were strongly influenced by their Afro heritage (*the similarities between the deep, bass beats of African tribal chants and modern rap, are very striking). It's why Compton, not the Hamptons, is synonymous with rap. In other words, rap's themes are generally very distinctive, localised and not necessarily as "malleable" as, say, a lyric-less orchestral piece. Moreover, rap is rather U.S.-centric in its appeal -- MK is sold to the world, not just a North American audience...
China ban hip-hop and rap

For mine, as long as the music is suited to the themes, all is good. This is the feeling I've had since Street Fighter III, when the game undertook a turn for "urban", which I (and others I've broached the topic with) found far too jarring to ignore. A musical score needs to reflect the themes being conveyed. A self-professed "gangsta" crooning about "gats" and "hoes", while an elemental deity and fire daemon duke it out, is just an example of poor decision-making (pandering?).
---

@pure.Wasted
  • I don't know... Is there any proof indicating that they have or will?
  • Yes. But, I've seen scant evidence of it... Do you have some you could offer?
 

DragonofDadashov24

Let’s see whose fire burns hotter
Select screen interaction was poorly made in MKX.
If two players choose different arenas there won’t be an interaction, it’ll just go straight to loading screen. And if you choose one arena the interaction is about 2 seconds, sometimes shorter. If you play the same arena you already played there will be no interaction since it loads the same place faster.
 

Raider

Noob
I absolutely loved characters select screen interactions in both MKX and especially Injustice 2, because they were so well done. I am sad about MK11 not having these.

It looks like they had to cut some stuff from MKX/Injustice 2. Maybe because of shorter development?
 

Lord Snotty

Lord of the Bletherrealm.
The music is definitely a problem. Dan Forden crammed the games with memorable music. Ever since MK9, we've barely had the sort of sounds we really should have in a Mortal Kombat game. Deadly Alliance's character select screen? The Bank? The Graveyard? The Armory? All brilliant pieces of music.
 
^ Injustice 2 was definitely and improvement on the selection interaction department.
You did not just say that?
Rap is an Afro-American-centric form of artistic expression... Where is the problem here? Is the hyper-sensitive, "SJW" pathology now infecting even the MK fora too?! Sure -- rap is no longer exclusive to "the ghetto". But, it's sensibilities, stylings and origins are Afro-American. Moreover, to ignore the fact of the high Afro-American representation from the U.S. contingent of fighting game players (esp. for the likes of MK games), is just being obtuse for the sake of beseeming the intellectually toxic, Trumpian era we're wallowing in right now.

Also, what's all this about rap being US centric, that might have been correct for a short period during the late 70s early 80's before rapper's delight but not today. Also, china has rappers on government payroll sooo..
Anyone who does anything in China is on the CCP's "payroll" -- they would not be anything if they weren't. I could go into a War & Peace dissertation about China and its histories, and how its core has been wholly corrupted by Communism... But, that's for another discussion / forum / website.
 
Okay... But, that seems like an exception to the rule, and one based on very specific character traits (*Johnny's a show-off by his very nature -- they kind of had to do something for him). If all [applicable] chars. do something as unique -- example: D'vorah breast feeds her baby bugs; Cetrion goes on an environmentalist's homily about saving the Earth; Shao Kahn trolls and talks smack etc. -- that would satisfactory... But, will they?

I don't necessarily want every character to do a song and dance when being selected. However, it would be nice if they all (or most) had something interesting associated with their selection. I know they won't interact with one another now, given the design of the char. select U.I.. They could, on the other hand, have a number of different poses or quotes upon selection -- thereby, imbuing a fresh/er feel to them, each time they're selected. These traits could change relative to the selected match-up... Though, that's probably a bridge too far at this point--if it wasn't something considered / implemented from the ground up.
Cage is not the exception...it's just like MKX.

 
Interaction on the select screen isn't that much different from MKX. They do something with their powers/weapon, or something show to their personality and then they slide off screen instead of the walk that MKX had (which i always liked.) That along with no character grid between them in MKX sort of made it seem more like the characters were in the same place, as opposed to MK11 where they're just in a space.
 
E

Eldriken

Guest
Y'know, I've noticed something with you, @Shoah_Kahn. Your posts all seem to have the same vibe about them and it's not a good one. I'm keeping my eye on you due to this.

It seems that everything you post has some sort of politics associated with it and this is absolutely not the place for it.
 

Corruption100

Plus Frame Enjoyer
the stages ive seen look scary/creepy af. im a huge fan of dvorah's lair right now. I think the background animations can get a little distracting, and like the simplistic approach to most stages when it comes to background movement. I also doubt the stages could look as good as they do AND have background stuff going on. my slim might explode