Finished this in one go pulling an all-nighter. Took me about five hours.
As a lore fanatic and someone who
deeply adores storytelling and film; I absolutely
loved this story. It hit me like no other Mortal Kombat or any fighting game for that matter ever has, and I am still baffled and amazed at how far NRS has come since 2011. There are some objective flaws relating to plotholes, but they're very minor and do not affect the greater narrative; Raiden and Liu Kang's overarching story. Since MK9, we've been following this eternal clash between the two, and I couldn't have asked for a better, more fitting conclusion to that arc in concept. The level of emotion, character, tension, and much-needed kicks of nostalgia in this game were amazing, and come to the final chapter I was of the edge of my seat and honestly kind of wanted to shed a tear or two.
I could write
paragraphs about how fantastic I thought this was, why it's so satisfying, and how poetic it is in the end that Raiden sacrificed his very existence to save Liu Kang after being responsible for his death, who really was, in the end, "He who must win" all along. Saying this about a fighting game story makes me feel kind of silly, but I can't find any other way to describe it; It's just that good. Overall, I'm just so happy with what we got, and find most of the so-called "major" criticisms to be nitpicky and very ignorant (for lack of a better word, not trying to insult anyone.) to who and what the actual focus of the story was, and why certain things needed to happen in order to progress it. Then again, this is a fighting game, and a lot of fighting game fans who don't really give a fuck about the actual plot would probably rather see their favorite character on the screen then go through an exciting, characterized narrative, unfortunately.
I am so happy with the conclusion to this, that if they wanted to end the Mortal Kombat story here; I'd be satisfied. This is the end all be all, and serves a
great ending to the MK9, X, and now 11 trilogy, even stretching to the old timeline since that ties to 9 directly. Seeing Liu Kang finally once again step up to his role as the chosen one and fulfill his destiny was
so satisfying after almost 20 years of him being shafted; I know it wasn't, but it almost felt intentional that he'd been put under the bus so many times now, only for his return to be that much greater.
I have some disappointments, sure, but they're not anything that stopped me from enjoying the plot because I realized most were kind of necessary. As much as I wanted to see Dark Raiden, he actually has a very, very big role in this despite not being there physically. His everpresent shadow looms over past Raiden, who feels guilt and distress over what eventually seems to be his destiny in all timelines. Dark Raiden serves as his ultimate fear through the game and serves as much as his motivator as saving the timeline itself. It wouldn't have been fitting to see Dark Raiden in a plot like this, as ultimately this is Light Raiden's story with Liu Kang and the fate of the universe involving
their conflict, not his grimmer counterpart. I also, like a lot of people, wanted to see my favorites like Noob Saibot, Frost, and the like get more time to shine, but in a five-hour story mode that has a focus on one a myriad of different arcs, it's understandably very hard to do that. I'm just happy they ended up being included at all, and Noob honestly got the same treatment he did in MK9, which while disappointing doesn't bother me since it serves the purpose of the greater story. I could probably continue with all my counterpoints, such as all the deaths being necessary to further another character (Sonya and Hanzos deaths especially.), and the fact Shao Kahn wasn't the main villain this time, so he was never going to outshine Kronika, but I think I've said enough to show much I enjoyed this.
I give it a
very solid 9/10. Despite its flaws, it succeeds as no other NRS story has before it, and really does feel like the "End of an Era" so to speak. It delivers almost everything I wanted in spades, and really made me care again after how much I despised X's weak, and utterly bland plot. I didn't care for characters like Cassie and Jacqui before, but this story made me like them so much better now; Cassie especially, who was really humanized by Sonya's part in the story. Some aspects were weaker than others, but the strongest positives were so strong that they easily outweigh the more prominent, real negatives like Kronika being a bit one-sided and generic, or Cetrion not really serving her full purpose and being a bit of a waste. This is by far the best MK story to a lore fan, and the best NRS story period.
do you play on Xbox btw?
