Op-Ed: why we should want our favourite characters to not return in MK11

[Braindead]

Appreciate that.

Yeah, see I kinda liked the kids, Jacqui was even my favourite.

I'd kill Takeda off in story mode though

It's very subjective after all.

I just really really REALLY hated the kids.


Still salty about Cassie suddenly beating Shinnok with green CGI power. Just thinking about it makes me d;aklfjasd;fkljasd;fklsj


With that said, the other 4 newcomers were very welcome. Especially Kotal. He was a smashing success.

 

[MKF30]

If they don't bring Ermac back in this one, I would trade him for Fujin. Dude hasn't been in an MK game in over 10 years(playable)...I would admit however, if they chose Reptile over Ermac I'd be upset because Ermac has actually surpassed Reptile greatly in terms of popularity. Would love to see Smoke and Noob come back too but who knows. Not that I hated the new Teen Titans of MK in MK X but honestly I felt they were ok...pretty sure it's a safe bet Ferra/Torr isn't in high demand to return, Cassie and Jacqui are literally Cage/Sonya and Jax 2.0 characters, KJ I felt was just a PC character then everyone forgot about him lol. That leaves Takeda, D'Vorah and Erron Black. I think they're easily the coolest newer characters in MK X overall. I like it when they create newer characters that felt like they haven't been done before. I think that's why D'vorah and Erron Black stand out a lot. They need a new Sorcerer character and a werewolf character, the latter has never been done in an MK game they've done vampires so this would be logical at some point. KK is alright one of those can live with or without him honestly.

Since they're among my favs, Raiden, Sub and Scorp are a given plus they don't want to lose money so for anyone to ask for them to not be in an MK is just foolish. I think everyone can agree on that.

 

[SaladPlateLover]

Also classic characters matter a hell of a lot. It was the biggest flaw of SC5, and hell SF3 basically killed the franchise for a decade cause despite what you might think in 2018, people fucking hated sf3 at launch because where the fuck are all the real street fighter characters.

you are right. although sf3 did it way better than sc5 because the characters were fresh and not all kid versions of each other.

 

[Cursa]

I don't think he's saying that they should remove every classic character, just like... mix em up. Can only see characters like Ermac and Kung Lao so many times before it gets old for me personally.

What I kinda want MK11 roster to go like is:

1. Classics who will always be in and are the face of the game basically. Scorpion, Sub, and Raiden are the only characters that I think fill this spot personally
2. The newbies from MKX with probably like Ferra and an extra taken out (preferably one of the kids but probably be hard to write in)
3. Some old school characters who are nostalgic but aren't always important to the story and not in option 1 - Keep some of them but leave some out this time around. Characters like Ermac, Jax, Reptile, Lao, Liu Kang, and Kitana were all examples of this in MKX imo - didn't really do a whole lot for MKX story.
   
4. Definitely miss me with characters who were decently important in MKX but kinda loss their use. Kenshi, Sonya, Johnny, Mileena (lolz) could give me a miss personally.
5. Add in new characters/returning characters from older games like Fujin or even Shang Tsung if they could.

Not asking for a lot of them taken out, despite the length, just miss me with 2 of the newbies, 2 of the Ermac/Reptile type MKX characters, maybe the parents, and then replace with new/returning characters. I'm also assuming the MK11 roster is going to be bigger so you can afford to not have to take out too many characters, just kinda hope I see more fresh playstyles and faces.

 

[Cursa]

All I'm saying is that I get people want returning MKX characters, but if MK11 roster is about 70% of MKX characters I'll be pretty disappointed personally.

MKX had 9 new/returning characters out of a 24 character roster, no DLC included. That means over 2/3's of the roster were also in MK9, which is fine, but I'd like to see like maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of MKX characters in MK11.

Injustice 2 had 15 new characters out of a 28 character roster, no DLC (Not even Darkseid). That means over half the roster were new characters.

Obviously a bit easier since Injustice had a plethora of DC comic characters (Whichever ones are alive at least) to add into their main game, but it's not impossible to write in missing/dead MK characters. Or just make new characters like Kotal who were well received.

 

[Darth-Nero]

Absolutely wonderful article, probably the 1st wall of text i fully read and enjoyed word by word.

I agree with everything, But as you said, You can't make a mortal kombat game without scorpion, subzero and raiden and call it a mortal kombat game. just like you can't make a street fighter without ryu, chun and ken and call it a street fighter game. Eternal poster characters have to remain eternal because they identify the game, Everyone else that could set one out should set one out for the sake of some fresh blood.

 

[Konqrr]

I hope Kitana is DLC, that way she will be OP.

 

[God Confirm]

Wow what a long post that basically boiled down to "I base my enjoyment of characters on other people's opinions".

I don't care how interested people get for my favorite characters. Why would I? They are MY favorites. I just want to play as them. Give us the established awesome characters back and a few newbies to see what sticks.


There's something to be said for oversaturation though, putting Sub and Raiden in I2.... come on

 

[Cursa]

Wow what a long post that basically boiled down to "I base my enjoyment of characters on other people's opinions".

I don't care how interested people get for my favorite characters. Why would I? They are MY favorites. I just want to play as them. Give us the established awesome characters back and a few newbies to see what sticks.


There's something to be said for oversaturation though, putting Sub and Raiden in I2.... come on

I read it more as 'what should be cool characters becoming increasingly stale because this is the 14th game I've seen Ermac in'. Not that I actually played all 14 games, I've had enough of him after playing MKX and MK9. I think he's basing his enjoyment of characters based on how much he sees them.

Not that it even matters since the next MK game could just be all the same MKX characters or just be completely different characters and a ton of people would still buy it because it's MK, but if it was mostly returning character I'd probably more tempted to give it a miss. Particularly if they do the Raiden/Sub thing for IJ2 and basically just copy their abilities and make some very minor adjustments.

 

[Jhonnykiller45]

Some people are really not understanding what this thread is about. The OP is saying some (most) of the classic characters have to go through a "rotation" as to not feel too stagnant, not all of the classic characters.
There're characters that'll always be in the games like the MK trinity, but certain classic characters like Reptile, Ermac, etc. have to take a break every now and then to make room for other classics like Noob, Smoke, etc. Perfect example of this: Kano and Sonya were removed from MK into MKII, but came back better than before, in MK3.

 

[God Confirm]

I read it more as 'what should be cool characters becoming increasingly stale because this is the 14th game I've seen Ermac in'. Not that I actually played all 14 games, I've had enough of him after playing MKX and MK9. I think he's basing his enjoyment of characters based on how much he sees them.

That's great but that means absolutely nothing to someone who's favorite character is Ermac, which is exactly who the thread is directed to. He's literally telling people why they shouldn't want THEIR OWN favorite characters to come back. Lol.

 

[chrisisnice]

Basically, you are suggesting that they don’t include popular characters that bring money in to the series so that you/we can be excited when they return. It is not really a great model for making money (NRS is a business not a charity). Leaving out Scorpion, Sub Zero, Raiden etc would make no sense as people are heavily connected / invested in them and they are important to the storyline. These characters sell games, which is why they include them in Injustice as DLC.

There are so many good games out there, why would people bother getting one that doesn’t have key things that they are interested in? The whole reason I never bought SFV was because Sakura / Blanka were not in it, so it was not particularly interesting to me in comparison to other games (yay season 3). If Harley wasn’t in Injustice, I would not have bothered buying it. Yes, there are many people like me and NRS knows it or they would do as you suggest.

You seem to be confusing top tier favorite characters with “Tier 2”. Tier 2 are popular without being iconic staples of the series. They are rarely massively important to the storyline and usually just act as minions.

Ermac (who is a favorite of mine), while popular, falls in to this category. He was never really a ridiculously popular / important character in comparison to Scorpion / Raiden etc, so missing out was never a big deal. Rain, Nightwolf, Baraka, Kabal, Smoke, Jade etc all fall in to this category – all have decent fan bases, but are expendable.

If you said leave out some of the popular ones and make them DLC (which will happen with Mileena), I can see more of your point, though you would need to at least have a good amount of the favorites or people won’t buy the game.

I personally think there should be a nice mix of the most popular with some more unexpected "tier 3" characters with updated storylines and looks eg Ashrah, Li Mei, Fujin, Havik, Hotaru etc

 

[conqueror]

I think what you're saying is exactly at play here if you compare MK9 and MKX roster here and I dont think they need to change that, in fact I think they shouldnt bring more new chars for MK11 than what they did with MKX

List of MK important/favorite characters that were missing in MKX from MK9: Shang, Night Wolf, Sindel, Jade, Noob, Smoke, Kabal, Rain, Stryker, Baraka and Sheeva (last 3 maybe not that Important but still important)

 

[VSC_Supreme]

I believe there's usually a formula for this i saw discussed somewhere, that boils down to about 4 different rules for returning characters when deciding a character roster. Similar to what Cursa discussed above.

1st being mainstays: Your typical characters you expect to get with the game, I.E. classics. - Scorp, Sub, Raiden, Johnny cage, Liu Kang, Kung Lao, Kitana, Kano, Reptile, Mileena, Sonya, Goro. (from the first 2 games)

2nd being Popular characters that aren't necessarily classics - Ermac, Quan Chi, Kenshi, Triborg(variations on cyborgs).

3rd being characters with smaller fanbases who you don't see often - Shinnok, Tanya.

4th being unexpected choices - Bo' Rai Cho, Tremor.

The rest being your new coming characters and guest characters.

I based this completely off MKX and my own bias. I think you can realistically argue for any different reason/spot for the characters above as i based my classic choices just off being in MK1 and 2.

That being said I think overall people just want the characters they enjoy playing. I always enjoy seeing Ermac and but never played him cause he wasn't my type of character. I much more enjoyed playing Human smoke, and rain and wanted to see their return because I liked playing those characters.

 

[KiD INsAnitY]

Just give me NightWolf mane.

 

[Cursa]

That's great but that means absolutely nothing to someone who's favorite character is Ermac, which is exactly who the thread is directed to. He's literally telling people why they shouldn't want THEIR OWN favorite characters to come back. Lol.

Yea but the amount of people who's favourite character is Ermac vs the amount of people who would be happy seeing Ermac go is probably more in the latter's favour.

If you add Ermac every single game his fan base will slowly die out, particularly if NRS doesn't vary his moves a whole lot, or improve on his story, because then there's no point in buying MK2142 even if you're an Ermac fan and Ermac is in it. It just becomes the old CoD of fighting games. New game, same old story with some minor features pasted over it.

But people will buy it because it's MK anyway so what's even the point of this entire thread and all it's comments

 

[Israel]

I see what you're saying as far as rotating characters out. But that's a business plan they should have started back in MK9. But maybe they have? Maybe Rain, noobe, Kabal, Sindel, Skarlet, Nightwolf, etc sat this one out, only to be introduced into Mk11.

But either way, Reptile needs to be in it. Do what you will with Ermac, mileena (that no one cares about) and the cage family, but Reptile needs to be in it, or I is aint playing it's. Want to make Reptile more interesting? Make him the main antagonist. Make him the reason folks are fighting and such.

 

[GLoRToR]

@Charybdis I see where you're coming from but I completely disagree. Here is why.

What we forget is that these games are more than just iterations.
They evolve, grow and become more fundamentally sound. Every issue players have with mk9 has been addressed in mkx and everything wrong with mkx has been looked into by injustice 2.

Nobody wants to miss out on having their favourite characters represented in the newest, more balanced / evolved game.

 

[ismael4790]

Sitting out characters to make them fresh again...? We have to wait 4 years between mk games because of injustice. The idea of waiting 8 years minimum to play again my favourite character is not very attractive. Many of us will probably be less interested in fgs or have few to no time for games when that time comes lol.

In the current nrs dynamic of releases, if your favourite character sits out of a game, you are fucked because you have to wait a lot to see him/her again. I don't see the positive side of that. The natural lapse between mk games is more than enough to create interest. This is not cod, where fans get one game per year, and for example if your " favourite weapon" doesn't make it this year, you will probably see it next year, not a big deal.

Personally, if none of my favourite characters make it into the game, my interest in it will be lowered a lot.

 

[Jynks]

I think one of the big points your missing is that "classic" characters full-fill a game design choice as well. Having a decent chunk of the roster the same as last time, the same as it always has been allows players to jump right in. It gives gamers a base to work off and populates the game quickly with good players that "know how it works". There is a reason Ryu or Chung or King or Hieatchi or w.e are in every game and every game has classic "auto includes" and it is not just about nostalgia.. but it is, imo a vital part of providing a game space for players to jump into quickly and allows long term players of the series continuity between games. Also, what you re kinda also forgetting is that people WANT to play those characters, nostalgia maybe.. but also as they are experienced with them and good at them.

Also, as for MKx.. that may have had a huge roster of classic, but it also introduced a heap of new never seen before people. Some meh.. but some Kotal Khan for one, were loved by many... regardless of him not being classic or even cannon.. until now.

 

[DDustiNN]

I’m sure Mileena will be excluded, which bums me out. She was my favorite in MK9 and MKX. Not top tier, but damn fun to play. Most of all, she’s crazy. I just love her insanity. Like the way she screams at the end of her combo where she goes crazy with the sai stabbing. Or her fatality where she goes crazy and claws the opponent apart and eats them as they crawl away. If they get rid of Mileena, I just want to see someone with that kind of personality, and is fun to play. Similarly, Harley Quinn is my favorite in Injustice 2. Like that combo where she ends it by bashing their head on the ground with her bat and laughing. All kinds of stuff like that.

I guess basically I just want some personality in the new characters. New characters absolutely cannot be boring, however cool their moves may be (I’m looking at you, Kung Jin, Takeda and Jacqui). Classic characters seem to get a pass on that, maybe due to nostalgia I guess. But new characters really need to establish themselves.

 

[wsj515]

Just please don't replace the parents with the kids.

 

[Juxtapose]

Just please don't replace the parents with the kids.

I'm confident that, and the reaction to the "kids," was being tested in Mortal Kombat X.

 

[gam224]

You know all those beloved and iconic characters from previous games...scrap em we need more teenage sidekicks

 

[New York Pizza]

Call me... short-sighted, maybe(?), but I don't think we've... "grown apart" from our beloved franchise characters like 2 lovers in a Nicolas Sparks novel, I simply think it's the fault of the devs to keep our interest in them.

I'm basing this off of my own preference, obviously. Anytime Kitana's name is revealed in a new MK, no matter what, I am giddy with excitement. Where the discontent comes from is after release where I disagree with either an aesthetic decision, story representation, or her move list and game play (most important).

Devs have the freedom to expand and recreate their characters as much as they want, for me the latest reincarnations of Kitana has been a tad underwhelming in minor ways, but I keep looking forward to her next reincarnation being fresh.