No tbh I think what we got was WORSE than Kronika. We already had Shang Tsung in this story, we didn't need another one. The whole way we were getting hints of Onaga, and nope, instead, the final boss is the same guy we JUST FINISHED BEATING in Aftermath.
Yeah they really didn't do much with General Shao. I'm not really surprised though, they pretty much ruined shao Kahn. Trainee Raiden could not of defeated him in the tournament, but of course, because of plot armor, and Raiden being the character you fight as, of course he losses. Nether Realm needs to stop with the character chapters. It makes characters wins fights they could not actually win.
@@forickgrimaldus8301 I mean yeah, but Shao is still a general. He's been in multiple fights and wars and what not. Raiden has not been in any wars or real fights yet. Shao was nerfed a bit in this timeline, but not by much.
honestly, I really liked the idea of the two Aftermath endings being canon at the same time. However, the decision to have an even wider multiverse as well just pushed the twist into Stupid territory
That thought does make sense, however, because of this, Snow Blind, and every other MK11 ending, is canon. Do you know how cool a Konquest-like Snow Blind game would be? It also opens up the series for new storylines, and actually good villians(Fuck Kronika)
@@j.i.nthenobody54 i find it more of a shame that we rebooted the timeline but still linked it to the previous, so its not even a good entry point. and if you've already played the other games you've already seen the broader plot minus time travel multiversal bullshit. why not do something actually new instead of speedrunning the old? then there is the "i guess all the infinite Kronikas got along?" and for Shang "when you have multiple eternities to think about your new future why would you hop to THIS time? why not before earthrealm has its most successful champions?" if you have to be linked to their current time you just have to reset and wait.
Honestly I feel like this game was mk11 part 2, it didn’t feel new but rearranged. I still wish that Shang tsung’s ending was the one that was actually canon, then we get a new timeline he crafts. Maybe there could’ve been off screen character development for him where after living so long and trying to perfect the timeline, he lost all motivation to be evil then he tries to undo his mistake but ending his life. Maybe the final fight should’ve been himself against his new timeline self and he loses, but not because he turned good but because he’s genuinely tired.
Yeah, I think that's the unfortunate product of all the Multiverse nonsense going on. This probably would have been cooler two years ago before it was done into the ground
Everyone was so annoyed that they rebooted again, but also moderately hopeful that things were getting grounded again. Maybe we'd see a ... dare I say ... kung fu story?!?! NRS managed to turn that potential into a less grounded and more marvel like experience. Where we also had the nut shot like revelation of all the timelines now being cannon, but (lol) we don't get to play in any game world we have been experiencing over the last 20 years. Luckily we get a new, new, new one. Aaaaaand that world is tossed aside during the final act. ... in a way it's impressive.
I feel the way they did Mileena means that she fulfills the role of both Mileena and Kitana, therefore Kitana isn't needed. Which is probably why she was sidelined so hard in this game. Mileena is the beloved warrior princess that has a cool savage fighting form. And since them seem to have an endless supply of the serum somehow, she can just turn it off when she'd done fighting.
I was expecting a more tragic story for Mileena. Perhaps being a more reasonable person than Kitana but with tarkat disease her is more and more savage and paranoid.
@@alphawilliams7923 I've always preferred Mileena out of the two, but I could still appreciate what Kitana brought and how the two balanced each other out, doing their own separate things. But now, that balance is between Mileena'a two sides, and Mileena is fulfilling Kitana's role as benevolent leader; Kitana has become completely irrelevant. There's nothing left for her.
Wait, no one is going to talk about how atrocious was megan fox on this game? Ronda's performance was oscar-winning in comparison, definitely the worst thing of mk1 was what they did to Nitara, it's like megan was reading a menu from a Mexican restaurant
Shang being Kronika also served to trick Geras and Lui kang, even though they thought it was impossible shes somehow back. Stopped them from making the connection that another timeline runs equal to theirs until Shang does the stereotypical bad guy explains his plans speech lol.
Giving Liu Kang and Geras time to get his Keeper of Time powers back, and summon Keeper of Time allies. Instead of just sneaking in and destroying Geras and the hourglass while Liu Kang was off in Outworld or at that fortress. Shang literally pulled a Kronika here. Guess she's influencing him from within.
@@EndoScorpion Thing is, he needed his allies to help bring down the Hourglass. Otherwise, Geras probably would have been able to stop Shang if it was just him attacking. So either way, he would have gotten the attention of Liu Kang.
@@EndoScorpionhis intent was to take over lui kang timeline at first until shang found out there were more timelines and then decided to destroy lui kang timeline.
But Geras was the one who found out about the "two timelines side by side" thing. Also, Geras and Lui kang never see Kronika. Titan Shang only showed his Kronika disguise to them during the "stereotypical bad guy explains his plans speech". There LITERALLY was no reason for Titan Shang to disguise himself as Kronika XD
I do like how Arcade endings in MK1 instead of being non-canon What If ? are actually like a litte epilogue for the story which explains what happens after the story and gives some sequel hooks. Like Syzoth for example becomes emmissary for Mileena returns to his people and finds out apperantly there were other like him but were all killed and now his goal is to find who and why. Oh and Versus lines throws some stuff like Syzoth and Ashrah are a couple now and there is of course talk about Raiden sister who might be genderbend Fujin.
@@scottchaison1001 Disagree. its a stupid change. Now we have kid scorpion hanging around since lets be real Hanzo no matter what is scorpion. I thought the fake leak of him being their father/noob was ridiculous but NRS one ups that with this nonsense. Again I hope they take a step back and realize how dumb it is and doesn't go forward with it.
@@scottchaison1001 or just calls out bad writing. Side note iv been playing MK since it released on snes. Why would I still be supporting the series if I had blind hatred.
I legit loved mileenas chapter, the only thing I would change is that I would show mileena killing twindel and then going to her own sindel. Other than that, over the story, Mileena was developed SO much that I was just so shocked , especially after her being a jobber for years. Overall, I really really loved the entire story.
Except for that part where (spoilers, idk?) Sindel hit Twindel with the sword handle, rather than just slice her head off with that counter move. And that overhead move which gave her opponent an opening, as if a certain someone else in MK lore has done that before and not got shanked?
It was stupid that Liu Kang was tripped & then didn't save Queen Sindel. Queen Sindel was bleeding for 1 minute, plus the time Dark Sindel vs Mileena. Liu Kang didn't even save Queen Sindel when he got his Time powers back.
I agree that this is the best story NRS has done yet, but it does go downhill after the Shang Tsung twist like you said. I wish that the story would have stayed a bit more grounded with the problems it had at hand. A lot of plot threads are left unfinished (like Mileena's coronation after Sindel's death, dealing with Shao and the Sorcerers, what happens with Reptile, Ashrah and Baraka, etc) for the sake of an Armaggedon throwback and even then it was extremely rushed. And after that you're supposed to believe that the Earthrealm champions are back at Madam Bo's just like that? I don't know, I didn't buy it. I feel like they should have stuck with the two timelines, defeating Shang Tsung and then dealing with loose ends.
So fun fact, the Arcade Endings are pretty much the aftermath of the storymode. So if you wanna know what happens next I'd recommend you check those out XD
@@SonicHaXD I only saw Ahsrah's so far, and I honestly wished that her acceptance into the Shaolin (as her relationship with Reptile according to the character intros) had made it into the story mode. It also made me wish Sareena was in the main roster instead of Reiko because that would have given Ashrah more of a plot besides her redemption. Reiko was kinda... just there.
@@thoet7270 What I meant is that it resolves the ones it had in a very rushed fashion or not at all. You learn that Mileena is the new Empress and that Shao and the sorcerers are imprisoned in the last cutscene of the story and it's like, when did this all happen with the whole Armageddon thing in the middle? I'm ok with the Lin Kuei being a threat to be dealt with in the future because it was set up like that, but I feel like the other plots deserved to be finished.
It feels like Ed boon was like "Lets pour all our good writing onto the first 2 acts!" "What about 3 and 4?" "What do you mean what about them? Lets get crazy!"
Chapter 13 was really good. I liked having Jerrod reunite with his family. The Shang Tsung plot twist was actually suprising, and I think having Kronika as a red herring was actually pretty clever. It is a shame the Shang Tsung boss was kinda lame, but it was still a good twist in my opinion
@@ccelite3782 I think they actually intend to continue with these character arcs later on, so they probably wanted to keep their characters with an open book ending. They could have given a little more of a conclusion, but aye. Atleast they actually want to continue character's stories for once
@@purpirekKronika is no more. Erased. Like Geras said. Titans are forever gone if they die. Evil Shang Tsung just shapeshifted into Kronika to fool the current Quan Chi and Shang Tsung. Because who else looks otherworldy and divine other than Kronika to fool even an alternative universe Shang Tsung?
@@secondaryfrontjudging by how people reacted to Mileena finally getting chapter after years of (half)jobbing and her overall status quo by the end, it might be the case.
@@blacksabbath9631 Yeah, the same was with StarCraft franchise. Bringing back Stukov to life was the single worst plot in the entire franchise, but the many brain dead fangirls were glad because hey they brouth Stukov again!
You should check the ladder endings as well. Unlike in previous games, some of these actually connect each others, and can work as epilouge for the main story.
Endings in the 3D era connected and helped canonise each other too. While some did still contradict. This time they can all be considered canon. Considering they're saying all MK11 endings were canon too.... I guess this is how they're doing it now.
@@EndoScorpion But in this game, I feel non of them contradict any other ones. every single ending, or group of endings since some are connected, can happen in the same canon
@@qpht7409 I agree. That's what I'm saying. I'm just pointing out it's not the first time that ending have been connected and supposrted each other. Just not the entire roster at once.
I also have to applaud how much they set up for a second game/dlc story with *all* the character endings it’s seriously impressive to not make them clash with how their past style of endings have worked
So basically I loved the story until the chapter where we played Liu Kang. I think the fact there were 2 timelines, which were the 2 end choiced in MK 11 is a brilliant idea. Making them both canon at the same time means they didnt dismiss those who didnt like Liu Kang's cold blooded actions at the time. That plot twist was awesome and the choice was perfect. All the thing previous to that while a bit long on explantions also offered a lot of worldbuilding of this New Era and giving explanation to why Liu Kang is just the protector of Earthrealm instead of the Keeper of Time. I was a bit frustrated that there was no Shirai Ryu until the end. HOWEVER, since the chapter when we play Liu Kang and we bring all the timelines of all the MK11 endings and those before and whatnot. That is a classic case of going too big for their own good. From gods, to Elder Gods, to Titans that restore timelines and now to infinite timelines all with their own titans and elder gods and more. They flew too close into the sun and it got burned. Especially in the end with all the mixture of characters and alike. Now what it was interesting to experience, it kind of is too messy for its own good and just one big 'huh'? If it was just Liu Kang and Shang Tsung's timelines, I would say it was perfect continuation, but I am not sure about that with how far they tried to reach for the sun.
I wish the Armageddon chapter was done with a larger roster. Likely impossible, but its really fun to think about the combinations there could be with all the fighting styles there are. Like imagine a Goro with Jax's metal arms or cyberized Noob/Saibot, or a Kollector with all of the weapon-based movesets.
I do like a lot of the concepts they did in act 3, but I also really feel they were a bit rushed specifically because they tried throwing in "Armageddon" at the end. Like I initially thought "oh okay so Shang Tsung is gonna get away this time and the next game is gonna be about going to different timelines and recruiting and in the third game that's when it all comes to a head. Interesting" but not they did that all offscreen and to me it's just really goofy because the whole appeal about Armageddon's intro is you have every single character split into two sides and they're fighting to the death. Here it just feels goofy because they're only really using a lot of skin/palette swapped characters except for a very few people but they die in cutscene, and I think that realization really lessens the impact this setting could've had. It feels they had something interesting going on but dropped it and now I'm just asking "well now what" Very interested where they'll go with this whether that's for better or worse
yeah, most of the stuff that precedes the timeline twist is, imo, the best *executed* story stuff NRS has ever done. the dialogue (though it's HEAVY with exposition), the character progression, even the jokes work! but when we get to the multiverse stuff... I'm pretty sure I'm allergic to the word "timeline" now. the last hour of this game felt like they had fired their writer and let their 10-year old child finish the story, for which said child used their fanfic-y notebook dwarings.
I feel like the multiverse concept holds MK back a lot as a franchise. Can we please for the love of God just get a self contained story based in the world of MK without variants or timeline shenanigans
I actually hated the "turns out both Aftermath endings are canon" twist and subsequent "actually every character is the Time Keeper" twist. It was kind of predictable ever since Liu Kang and Geras started wondering whether Kronika's back or not, but that's not the biggest offense. The biggest offense is the scope. I guess just like you I was really interested in all the characters and all the backstories, but by the time Titan Shang Tsung reveals himself, all of them get shafted in favor of yet another "save the multiverse" plot. It just doesn't make any sense to have an event this big when it's the first time we see the universe and have an opportunity to learn more. There are so many questions I wanted answered and none of them were. Like how did Jerrod get killed? Who is Shao's father? Was Tarkat a thing in previous timelines or is the disease a new thing? How did Shinnok come to be if Kronika doesn't exist, and where is he now? And then there's an absolutely out of nowhere shift towards the Act 4 big fight. The only remote praise I can give it is hybrid chracters, which was fucking dumb, but an interesting idea. All in all, I was so disappointed by the ending I'm not even waiting for the next MK story anymore.
I want so see those random armageddon characters become skins because while I was playing the finale one of my opponents was cyber smoke, and as a smoke main I really want a skin like that in the game for him, maybe even a cyber skin for subzero too
I got the Reptile/Sindel fusion too. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw her. I also got a female scorpion that was fused with Li Mei (Firefly), and a cyberised Smoke with Scorpion’s rope dart. That finale is ridiculously silly, but the combination of choosing your own character and the seemingly random opponents as you fight your way to Shang Tsung makes it F&#@ing brilliant. I just wish I got to fight the Kung Lao/Dark Raiden fusion that attacked me in a cutscene and I feel bad for Cassie, Ninja Mime Johnny and another alternate Johnny I can’t quite remember. They saved my character, only to then get comically yanked into the soul pit. Yes, the finale is THAT insane. 😂
I think the thing I like least is what they did to Tanya it feels like they completely neutered her character removing all the core aspects of Tanya's character and dumbing her down to mileenas love intrest and they somehow made her a good guy but somehow managed to make her less likeable it feels like mk1 Tanya could have been a completely new character and nothing would change how to we have an mk game where baraka is more likeable than tanya
Yeah I agree. She’s notorious for betrayals and then in MK1 she’s stuck with the Umgadi shtick…Titan Kitana suggests that Tanya’s more villainous in her timeline tho so there that I guess….
Yea sounds like it would've been better to keep her a backstabber at least in some aspects. You kind of take away a core part of the character if thats gone.
I think it could have been saved if they still kept everything from MK1 but they also added what made Tanya well... Tanya. She can still be a good guy, but should have a little bit more sass when interacting with close friends or with those she doesn't respect.
My personal meta theory about why the plot shifts around the Mileena chapter is the devs fully realized that they hadn't done much to really celebrate the 30 year anniversary of Mortal Kombat. MK11 was sort of that based on how they got old actors to reprise their roles, on top of an abundance of references. But MK1 is a lot closer to the actual MK 30 year date and had a lot of expectations slapped onto this latest game as a result. So I imagine that around that stage of development, they just said, "fuck it, let's reference absolutely everything and have fun!" So starting from Sindel's chapter we get a recap and acknowledgement of MK11, with special emphasis on Twindel. Then in Mileena's chapter, they open the flood gates and go balls out, starting with a Damashi name drop, and Sindel/Twindel beat down to match the one from MK9. But this time only one person dies. Almost like a big fuck you to everyone who hated Twindel. "Fine you big babies, here's your 'good' queen, but she's gunna get killed by OUR evil queen. But since you Mileena simps are especially rancid, we'll let her claim the W in retribution. Is everyone satisfied now? CHRIST!" From there they start delivering madd fanservice. The Liu Kang x Kitana in the void ending plays out in an alternate way. The hand picked Elder Gods Liu Kang ending plays out, but they're all Titans. They firmly establish the multi-verse instead of just past timelines (Snake is going to be pissed that all of his Line Through Time hard work is entirely irrelevant now, not just in a small way), so that not only can every possible timeline have existed at one time, but now firmly exists with every possible fan desire existing in some way, shape, or form. Devastation name drop for some reason. MK Legends: Snowblind is cannon! Shaolin Monks and cancelled Fire & Ice references! The Great Kung Lao is a thing. How?! Why?! SHUT UP AND LOOK AT THE DEADLY ALLIANCE DO COOL SHIT! DECEPTION! LEAD WRITER RAILS A LINE OF COKE! ARMAGEDDON REFERENCES OUT THE ASS UNTIL THEY FINALLY JUST DO ARMAGEDDON: TITAN EDITION! EVERYBODY'S HERE! YES, SENPAI SEES YOU MUGEN NERDS AND DEGENERATES! MOOOOOOOORE COKE! EVERYBODY LIVES, EVERYBODY DIES, NINJA MIME! JAX'S ARMS GOT RIPPED OFF AGAIN, LAUGH! HAVIK IS OUR NEXT VILLAIN! MORE TIMELINE MULTI-VERSE BULLSHIT! _P E A C E_O U T_B I T C H E S ! !
for me the ending chapter was so rushed that in the end i was just sitting thinking "why they are fighting?". Because when shang said that he wants to be "ultimate time god" i understood it but when they met on the pyramid with army I felt lost
It's just a big giant pointless "easter egg" reference to a better timeline. A timeline that NRS writers are constantly recycling plots and ideas from because they can't come up with their own (and because it was the best timeline).
@@j.i.nthenobody54 There was always a level of cheese and humour in MK. No different to, say MK9. These was plenty of serious moments back then too. Actually, the 3D era was known for breathing new life into old characters and Midway were trying new things and taking old characters in new directions. Plenty of today's fan favourites are only liked because of the additional lore added in the 3D era. There was also some great new characters that people have been begging for ever since. But none of it was stepping on the toes of the old lore, just added to it and fleshed it out more, without really contradicting it (for the most part). These days NRS have completely stagnated because they are just retelling those same stories, constantly rebooting in order to retell them again and again. Having to reinventing the lore and characters to pretend like there's something new to offer, but instead just killing any investment people have. The only new plot in NRS era was MK11 and that whole thing was setting up a new reboot. There's no consequences any more. Characters don't grow or evolve like they used to.
It sucks we didn’t get a smoke chapter. He’s getting the noob sabiot treatment where they hype him up and we never get a chapter of him nor a character development.
I will say, I do think shang tsung transforming into kronika was more than just tricking the audience. He knew liu kang or whoever was keeper of time would figure out new timeline shang was gaining more power very quickly, and and he used the form of kronika to send them on a wild goose chase for someone who doesn't even exist anymore, keeping them off his tail and leading them to never assume there is a 2nd timeline until way later in the game. I honestly thought it was a smart move of his.
I kinda fel like the „the first half was better than the second half“ is like rather typical with NRS Games. MK9 had a pretty damn good story in the first half when it told the story of MK 1 & 2, but was rushing it and falling rather flat once they went into MK 3‘s story and the whole invasion thing. In MKX, everything had a natural flow and things were getting well with Earthrealm working with Outworld, the Special Forces taking care of the refugees and so forth, but everything turned into a clusterf-ck once Outworld betrayed Earthrealm and like *so* many things started to go wrong, it actually became hilarious. Not to mention Cassie just beating up an empowered Elder God. And in MK11, it was so fun and entertaining to just see characters be themselves and reacting to the situation they’re in, like Kung Lao and Liu Kang side eying each other, the 2 Johnnys interacting, young Jax talking to Jacquie or even see Sub-Zero & Scorpion bro‘ing it out, until Kitana‘s chapter where everything started to be grim and everyone was rushing towards the end where *a lot* didn’t even matter anyway anymore. Hell, the same with Aftermath where the story started to s-it all over you because now you were forced to play the worst version of Sindel into absolutely destroying fan favorite characters.
I think the story went good-good-wtf. First act is setting up the story and villains. Raiden wins the tournament and the Shang Tsung investigation begins Second act is… amazing. We got chapters for so many characters and each chapter is very personal to them. I love it so much. And I like that Titan Shang Tsung is the villain and how I called it when Kronika was introduced Third act is…. What the fuck? It turned into a marvel movie. King Jerrod coming back is hype, but how they did it is fucking horrendous. He’s just giving exposition. I would’ve liked it way more if Ermac occasionally showed pieces of Jerrod. It would’ve been creepy. ”My father’s stuck in this body and can’t escape”. That would be awesome But the whole multiverse thing and character select… I hate it. It doesn’t make sense for the story that just anybody can rise to the top of the pyramid. Especially when the one who completely defeats the villains isn’t your character, it’s Liu Kang. The mixed fusions of characters are cool for the fans, but make no sense for the history. We’re just seeing a bunch of no names fight I think they should’ve replaced Liu Kang’s chapter with Titan Kitana’s of Geras’, made the final chapter Liu Kang’s and only kept the titans instead of just every living character in existence
There are few pieces of fiction that know how to make multiversal/timeline stories. This is not one of them. Without the multiverse bs, it would be an easy 9-10/10. As it stands, it’s pretty good, but it has a weak 3rd act (a common occurrence in NRS games).
Nah, the way they brought back King Jerrod was good, I don't know what are you talking about. And there's nothing wrong with selecting your character in the final chapter.
I recommend getting each of the Arcade Endings too, feel it enhances somewhat abrupt Story Ending by giving everyone their own (seemingly canon) epilogues that are really cool and set up for where each character is going from this point onwards.
I finished the story and i got deep into Invasion. The story is great, the graphics are stunning. I had to stop and see if the sets and characters were real or not. They gave the characters more personality, more bonding with each other, and lesser characters in the past, Baraka, Reptile, etc etc, get more time and history. I love this game. To bad my ass gets kicked online
9:09 "There seems to be too much explaining" *No one:* *Literally no one:* *Not even a soul (pun totally inteded):* *Ermac:* I am Ermac. Quan Chi used his magic to create me. I'm an amalgam created by Quan Chi. Quan Chi gathered a lot of souls. That gathering of souls created me, Ermac. I'm a legion of the souls gathered by Quan Chi. I must obey Quan Chi. Souls. Ermac. Quan Chi. His first words are literally exposition!
My biggest issue with the first half of the story is that the events don't really lead to much and half the characters end up in the same spot as the original timeline with very very minor twists in some cases. Like beyond Kenshi losing his eyes and earthrealm getting a few allies who don't really do much beyond their chapters, It felt like filler. There doesn't even seem to be long term consequences for liu sending his friends into outworld. Sindel doesn't lose trust in liu kang permanently nor does Mileena seem permanently affected by earth realms choice to interrupt the shang tsung experiment. Felt like liu kang could have skipped a lot of steps by just telling sindel the truth. Then the second half has some issues but it was setting up some decent concepts. Bi han is just so one note and lame as a villain and his betrayal felt pointless. I liked the two timelines thing but then it jumps the shark immediately into nonsensical with a massive multiverse and I can't even care about the final fights cause I don't even know what friggin timeline these characters are from. Why does shang tsung even care about destroying the other timeline? For fun? Does he gain anything?
I couldn’t wait for you to see the reptile chapter and especially ALL of the facial expressions in this game by Shang and others😭 it’s funny ash! I also loved that “spoiler if you didn’t watch the vid yet” returned!! Many others may not but I loved him!
Shao gets defeated like 4 times in the story lol. At least they didn't kill off Reptile just for fun this time. Also it doesn't make sense that "dark" Geras was in Shang Tsung's timeline because he's a "fixed point in time".
I do like that all the arcade endings in this game FEEL canon. Like they are cohesive woth each other they fit together ans all look are happening simultaneously I think the best example of this is Reptile Baraka and Mileena's endings. Reptile becomes an ambassador for mileena to his race and sixkvers that he isnt a freak (just his goverment is very fucked up) then Baraka learns of this ask for his help to get Mileena to help with his people, whixh she does, and that leads to mileena revealing her condition to her people and getting accepted in spite of it. It all feels...like an actual story
One thing that made the story of this game good is that there is character development even outside a character's chapter. All characters have an actual role instead of them being there just to progress the story. Also about the Jerrod thing, they kind of hinted that his soul was residing in the Living forest and when QuanChi stole the souls Jerrod's soul was among the one stolen to build Ermac
I completely agree with your review about the story. The first two acts were really good and the last two acts were a mess. However, of all of the story modes from NRS Era (MK9 - MK1), i enjoyed this one the most. Normally after i finish the story mode, i don’t come back to play it or watch it again too soon. MK 1 was different for me. I literally rewatched the story again for how fun the first two acts were. Great video 👍
I imagine you will mention in your next video how dumb was that Titan Raiden and Kung lao were defeated by just 2 non-titan minions each one or why the 4 "titan" team just let titan Shang tsung run away.
Overall, I loved storymode until a bit after the twist (which was actually quite genius with the red herring and MK11 Aftermath continuity). I especially liked how they technically made all MK11 tower ending canon, but then they went overboard and included (cool but) unexplained weird mixes of characters and such, they went full 'anything is possible' and 'assemble' multiverse crap. If it was only the MK11 tower ending characters (consistent with their lore) on both sides, it would have been amazing.
Spoilers for the ending. What hurts most is that it was a really cool concept The titan Shang Tsung twist was genuinely really fucking cool and clever and I NEVER saw it coming. It also made sense in context since he was an ending in story mode you can choose. It made sense that those *2* timelines would overlap. BUT THEN THEY KEPT GOING. They took a *relatively* smaller and more subdued story and then ruined it by trying to one up MK11, which at least the spectacle of MK11’s ending was fitting and was built up to IN THE STORY. MK1 pulled the ending out if it’s ass and it was genuinely PAINFUL to watch. Scorpion’s chapter is pretty dope btw
That's not even the *ending* ending The REAL ending is titan Havik wanting to do the second half of the game all over again. Meaning, we'll have ANOTHER game with the same fckin premise
If they go with " Every tower ending is canon " which seems to be the case, then I can't wait to see what happens on this timeline! There are some real cool stories that can be told with what they set up.
Ngl at first when they’re went all “gather warriors from multiple timelines” I really thought they were going to use that to put the guest character like Omni Man and Homelander in lol
I found a reason why he had to use kronika's morph. Showing as Kronika looked too powerful. Also, Kronika used to promise things and that's what he mimiced too. Acting and showing as Kronika looked strong powerful and promiseful as she really were
I love the art style of the game. The designs of some of these characters are my new favorites of all time (Mileena, Ashrah, and REPTILE!!!). I am a bit disappointed in the lesser customization so far (admittedly I haven’t played much past the story). Also the lack of AI battles is sad. I burned hundreds of hours in MK11 by having it on with the AI doing towers while I was working/doing other things irl. Other than that, the play style is a lot of fun. Some characters feel like a great progression of them. 😁
It is remarkable that they finally did a good story mode for the game... And bribed those long depressed fans by giving them reptile, baraka and Mileena character building & playable chapter.
Can't wait for the Havik and Reiko Sucks video. I love these guys and glad that they're back, but they just do jack shit and play as the jobers. Also Smoke and Geras where I feel like they don't appear as much and we don't get to play them.
The way they wrote Bi-Han was when the game story completely died for me. I was already teetering with him constantly just projecting bitter entitlement, but the moment when he turns evil after one speech from Shang Tsung, just so we can have scorpion vs sub zero yet again, was also the moment I realized how little nuance NRS was capable of writing. Compare him to his few pre-death appearances in the midway timeline, and the level nuance presented vs his MK1 story is practically night and day. The sad thing is, they could’ve actually played up an interesting gray morality storyline if Scorpion and Sub Zero clashed over tradition vs progress. Kuai Liang wants to push a cyber initiative in reference to his MK2 affinity for technology (obviously keeping their free will this time) while Bi Han wants to maintain the old ways. He’s stern, but ultimately compassionate, and wants to protect and help his brother, but fears they’re growing apart due to their viewpoints. Kuai Liang would be a bit more brash and energetic, always enticed by the prospect of advancing tech, but willing to hear his older brother’s concerns. The two would ultimately clash and split from each other, Kuai Liang forming the Tekunin while Bi Han holds the Lin Kuei, both protecting earthrealm and still caring for each other but forever divided by their conflicting ideals.
They did most characters in this new story pretty well (Nitara and Reiko suck but that’s a story for a another time), but holy hell did they drop the ball with Scorpion and Sub-Zero. I already didn’t like the idea of Kuai Liang being Scorpion, but they completely ruined Bi-Han. He SUCKS. Granted, Bi-Han has always sucked, he’s an arrogant and entitled prick who acts like a total edgelord, but now they made him suck more by being evil while STILL BEING SUBZERO. If you’re gonna make him evil anyway, just turn him into Noob Saibot already! They made Baraka likeable, they made Shao Kahn/General Shao actually have a decent reason for uprising against the royal family, they brought old characters back like Ashrah and used her well. They rebooted in a way that made sense, acknowledging the stupidity of MK11 and Kronika while still using it as a good basis to reset. But they ruined arguably their two most iconic characters.
@@tedioussugar384 (I’d add Havik to the list of characters that suck) I disagree that Bi-Han has always sucked. He certainly had an edge and a chip on his shoulder in the midway era, due to his status of being an assassin for hire, but there were flashes of humanity and compassion that gave the character nuance. Nuance that got removed in favor of a flat “good vs evil” brotherhood story that utterly fails to do justice to either party involved. Complete waste of potential all around.
I loved the timeline stuff at this point in the story we have to have it and the fact they're some what self aware about how stupid it is and i like the idea of chaos realm putting their spin on the timelines merging it could be a somewhat cool side story
A lot of it was for the fans: i figured once Shang was revealed as "Kronika", that was for the fans. Mileena and Jerrod were also for the Twitter fans (wish NRS took some notes from Harada). I thought the story was the best for NRS. The Armageddon stuff i felt could've waited, but the obsurdity was self-aware. Thought the direction for the voice acting was off. I don't mind the existence of other timelines, especially one where Shang Tsung kills Liu Kang again. It shows his hubris threatened his world of peace
@scottchaison1001 there seems to be where most characters have an epic cadence or are trying to overact. Some characters it makes sense: Liu Kang and Geras are supernatural and Sindel is regal for instance. Others like the Ninja Brothers, I am wondering why they can't sound like normal people talking to each other. Raiden and Kung Lao do it too, but it isn't as pronounced
I also found it pretty funny of both Shang Tsungs having the same character trait of teleporting into a scene, gloating/explaining stuff and doing somethings and then teleporting away.
I think that the story just need more cooking, and I mean A LOT more cooking. I don't hate the multi timelines plot but it's just so raw to me. Let MK1 boss just be Titan Shang and then move the war to MK2 and then Tian Havik in MK3.
I’m actually glad they left out Kitana, Sonya and Jax from the story. They’re always force fed to us everytime so it’s about time Baraka, Reptile and Mileena got some wins. Just wish Noob Saibot was here
13:15 to be fair they did tease it, right after they defeated Ermac in the forest of souls he cries out that he will find Sindel, and the rest of the cast are like “wtf was that”
Personally I think after the "Band of brother" part the story is kinda rush in some form. I really like the Idea of Kuai Liang Scorpion and he was soo cool and although his power was fire, He seem reasonable and compassion compared to Bi-han whose more hot head and I really enjoyed the Bro moment of Kuai Liang and Tomas. But I think the plot is kinda rush from Bi-han betray after small talk with Shang Tsung to all Multiverse thing afterward.
Wasn't planning on getting it out this early. But then I realized there was no point playing the game to review its mechanics. So I just released this video of me going mainly through the storymode XD
I really enjoyed this story mode. I love that we finally get to play characters we haven’t been able to play in story. I love the ending so much it was so bizarre and fun and I couldn’t stop smiling throughout it. There is so much I love about this game it would take forever to write it all.
I honestly really like the direction they took with this game although I wish they’d take a step away from the timeline shenanigans and just let this world sit on its own for a bit. It definitely felt like this game could’ve needed a “big bad” like Shao Kahn or Shinnok because even with Titan Shang there, I felt like he was so underwhelming especially in his final fight. How I would’ve fixed this is to have Shang actually become other characters other than Kronika and actually cause Liu Kang’s timeline to fall into anarchy under the guise of Kronika, maybe only revealing his true form to the current timeline Shang Tsung that way it’s less “KrOnIkA iS bAcK”. Also give Shang a broken boss fight like the other 3 before him, would’ve made the final fight a little bit better.
After playing though the entire franchise and learning essential lore from all the games,I think this was the best MK story. I liked all the new origins to the point where i genuinely like Baraka, Mileena and Reptile. It was very needed because i just didnt care about them at all in the last two continuites. And the final chapter? Actually peak fiction and i will die on that hill. The arcade endings are all excellent! I really like that they are all connected. I think they will be canon too. Im excited for the future of the franchise!
I don’t agree with the final act being peak, but it is the best MK NRS story without question. Especially because the first two acts are so, soo good (especially the second act).
I LOVED this game so much, seeing the OG baddies as heros was cool. It would have been nice if they could have fleshed out Tanya/Milenna's relationship a little more, maybe in an expansion.
Nitara and Shang Tsung are my favorite characters to use in the game. Of course you enjoy Reptile! I enjoyed what the story mode did with Reptile even if his chapter was filler and slightly drops out of the story mode afterwards
We never got a real tournament and we STILL haven’t gotten an actual tournament. Why were Cage, Kenshi, and Lao even there? Cheerleaders? It’s so stupid and that dumb explanation given by Liu Kang prior to the tournament doesn’t excuse how awful it was. Why couldn’t we get a real bracket where everyone involved fights and we could even get some Outworlder wins to raise the stakes? Something like this: Round 1: Raiden vs Li Mei - Raiden Kung Lao vs Reiko - Kung Lao Johnny vs Mileena - Mileena Kenshi vs Shao - Shao Round 2: Raiden vs Kitana* - Raiden Kung Lao vs Shao - Shao Final Round: Raiden vs Shao - Raiden Easy. Same conclusion. But much more interesting than Raiden slapping a bunch of jobbers. And it strengthens some of these characters and even adds to the Mileena arc imo. Now of course this can’t happen because we are still doing the dumb character chapter system
You can tell NRS had so much fun and laughs making the final chapter... It really is Dumb fun done in the right way and honestly it's the best part of the game. I was facepalming but was also laughing and that's a good thing imho.
People are giving praise to the first half of the story and I cannot understand why. The first tournament was useless and completely nonsensical. It was not a tournament, it was a gauntlet for Raiden. Why does earthrealm only have one champion while outworld gets to bring like 8 of them? Many fights actually happened offscreen. It hardly seems fair for a tournament to be 1v8. And many of the fights were just one after the other. Is the point that Raiden is just so much stronger than any Outworld fighter that they need to have 3 fights in quick succession for Outworld to even have a chance to win? The format was so weird. And the tournament is not even Mortal Kombat. Would have either side been happy with fighters actually dying? The whole point of the original tournament was that Outworld was openly antagonistic and belligerent towards earthrealm. So, the elder gods let both realms put together a tournament to see which realm was stronger and Outworld could invade if they won. Notice several things, first is that there are actual stakes in the tournament, if earth loses then invasion is inminent. Earthrealm does not lose if they lose one fight, they have a whole bunch of champions. The elder gods dont really care about earthrealm, they just care about following the rules of the tournament. In mk1, there are no elder gods, Cetrion killed them and Liu Kang doesnt seem interested in bringing them back. The elder gods did not institute the tournament. Liu Kang and Jerrod did. The current regime of Outworld is friendly to Liu Kang and earthrealm. So, what are the actual stakes? If earth loses, it will not be inmediately invaded. And even if this were the case, Liu Kang is not like Raiden was. He has control of the hourglass and can do whatever the fuck he wants. He can literally just threaten to restart the timeline or something to make Outworld back off. He can use his uber god powers to just crush the invasion. Also, what was the point of bringing together 4 potential champions if only one was actually going to fight? Is it that if Raiden gets beaten then the next one goes in? Thats a dumb way to have a tournament. What if Raiden dies? Does earthrealm outmatch Outworld so hard that the very first fighter just solos the entirety of Outworld's roster? The first tournament in mk1 is pathetic. The only reason Outworld might be a danger to earthrealm, which is the one source of conflict in the series (outside of timeline idiocy), is if Sindel stops trusting Liu Kang. Mk1 Sindel seems very friendly with Liu Kang, to the point that only a massive breach of trust would shatter the relationship. They are so friendly that Sindel repeatedly shots down Shao's talk of war and if Outworld were to win the tournament, that would only show Sindel that earthrealm is not a threat. What does Liu Kang do? He sends 3 people into Outworld without telling Sindel with the mission to capture a dude he should know is important for Sindel's court. Why the fuck didnt Liu Kang just tell Sindel the truth? It would have all been over in the first half if they had all apprehended Shang Tsung together.
I don't know if I'm the only one thinking this, but I feel they made a pretty good job with General Shao. Yes, he loses all his fights, but for once it never feels a jobber, and even if it isn't supposed to be this intimidate beast he's still come out as pretty intelligent, always scheming for his success, and it also feels a little more "selfless" (he doesn't want to be the emperor just because he wants to have power, he wants to help the outworld and he believe that he could be a better king), you can see a lot of his intelligence with Reiko's and his own endings.
@@sinistralhydra I'm directly replying to you since the other comment is bullshit I really hope they "nerf" liu kang, since he has become a keeper of time again
The animations and dialogue of the armageddon chapter felt a bit rushed. Also some stories didn't get finished up, what happened to havik? What happened to sub zero? How's Ashra doing? Who killed the emperor? He brought up that it wasn't Li Mei's fault, then never brings it up. Where's Li Mei meeting the emperor in Ermac body? How did Shao escape prison and why couldn't we play as him in trying to escape? why is Reiko such a cuck? What happened to Baraka? Why is Shang Tsung the final boss when we fought him like 900 times already?
For me the most touching moment in MK1's story was when Sindel said MK12_148_154,11.
Indeed, so touching 😔
i seen that and didn’t even think anything of it too 😭😭😭
It was enough to make a grown man cry 😢
truly moving
So inspirational.
Watching Shao Kahn job to reptile has got to be one of the most surreal things I’ve seen in any Mk story mode.
For real
You mean general Shao. That man losing his kahn title got turned into a jobber
@@muchluck7981 My man literally needed a weapon from a different timeline to be relevant.
@@muchluck7981 true but still has a personally unlike mk 11... cause mk 11 has a personally of sand paper lol
loved the part when shang said “this is damashi” and then hsu hao appeared and revealed he was behind everything
Shit blew my mind. Hsu Hao TF is he back
And after that, he said "It's Hsu time!", and started Hsu Haoing all over the good guys. Truly one of the games of all time
@@JoaoLucasK ☠️
"HSU...HOW?"
"Allow me to exlpain, peasants.."
@@Robo311Starno you’re being bamboozled 😂
Reptile and Baraka got the biggest glow-up on this game it's insane
Rare W for them
Reptile got Zatera back too unlike his OG self
Baraka has the more character than his OG Self too.
Mk1 are they best version
Mk1 is the only game where I’ve ever been super attached to those two
And Mileena.
NRS: Here, Kronika is back
The public: >:c
Shang Tsung: SIKE
The public: : D
Fr
I still recall seeing the shang tsung plotwist and instead of shocked i simply said out loud OH THANK GOD
NRS : made sure to troll us
Hard .
Gearas n kornika fusion last boss leaks were troll.
No tbh I think what we got was WORSE than Kronika.
We already had Shang Tsung in this story, we didn't need another one. The whole way we were getting hints of Onaga, and nope, instead, the final boss is the same guy we JUST FINISHED BEATING in Aftermath.
@@RastaganTheGreenthank you ? We should of got a evil raiden
Crazy how General Shao lost every fight in the story mode
Yeah they really didn't do much with General Shao. I'm not really surprised though, they pretty much ruined shao Kahn. Trainee Raiden could not of defeated him in the tournament, but of course, because of plot armor, and Raiden being the character you fight as, of course he losses. Nether Realm needs to stop with the character chapters. It makes characters wins fights they could not actually win.
Shao is a jobber now
All of the villains are incompetent jobbers
@@theretrogamingnerd3316tbf this Shao has been debuffed by Liu Kang significantly but yeah NRS just made Shao a Jobber.
@@forickgrimaldus8301 I mean yeah, but Shao is still a general. He's been in multiple fights and wars and what not. Raiden has not been in any wars or real fights yet. Shao was nerfed a bit in this timeline, but not by much.
SonicHa’s pure joy was the moment he finally got to play as reptile in story mode
Our boy is no longer a jobber
@@A-Dasherhe even got a glow up
They fixed our boy
@@A-Dasherhe still is sadly
@@ccelite3782no they didn't
honestly, I really liked the idea of the two Aftermath endings being canon at the same time. However, the decision to have an even wider multiverse as well just pushed the twist into Stupid territory
That thought does make sense, however, because of this, Snow Blind, and every other MK11 ending, is canon. Do you know how cool a Konquest-like Snow Blind game would be? It also opens up the series for new storylines, and actually good villians(Fuck Kronika)
@@j.i.nthenobody54 i find it more of a shame that we rebooted the timeline but still linked it to the previous, so its not even a good entry point.
and if you've already played the other games you've already seen the broader plot minus time travel multiversal bullshit.
why not do something actually new instead of speedrunning the old?
then there is the "i guess all the infinite Kronikas got along?"
and for Shang "when you have multiple eternities to think about your new future why would you hop to THIS time? why not before earthrealm has its most successful champions?" if you have to be linked to their current time you just have to reset and wait.
Honestly I feel like this game was mk11 part 2, it didn’t feel new but rearranged. I still wish that Shang tsung’s ending was the one that was actually canon, then we get a new timeline he crafts.
Maybe there could’ve been off screen character development for him where after living so long and trying to perfect the timeline, he lost all motivation to be evil then he tries to undo his mistake but ending his life. Maybe the final fight should’ve been himself against his new timeline self and he loses, but not because he turned good but because he’s genuinely tired.
time travel and intertwining multiversal shenanigans. OH JOY!
@@floricel_112
It's a joy for me so...........
I just wish alternate timelines were no more.
Real. Tired of every game and movie now involving the multiverse or an alternate timeline
Yeah, I think that's the unfortunate product of all the Multiverse nonsense going on. This probably would have been cooler two years ago before it was done into the ground
Same but this story was actually the best
Everyone was so annoyed that they rebooted again, but also moderately hopeful that things were getting grounded again. Maybe we'd see a ... dare I say ... kung fu story?!?!
NRS managed to turn that potential into a less grounded and more marvel like experience. Where we also had the nut shot like revelation of all the timelines now being cannon, but (lol) we don't get to play in any game world we have been experiencing over the last 20 years. Luckily we get a new, new, new one. Aaaaaand that world is tossed aside during the final act.
... in a way it's impressive.
There's just no stakes when there's a multiverse. So what if the heroes save one? There's literally infinite 🤷🏿♂
I feel the way they did Mileena means that she fulfills the role of both Mileena and Kitana, therefore Kitana isn't needed. Which is probably why she was sidelined so hard in this game.
Mileena is the beloved warrior princess that has a cool savage fighting form. And since them seem to have an endless supply of the serum somehow, she can just turn it off when she'd done fighting.
To be honest I was never a katana fan, I was more of Mileena fan.
I was expecting a more tragic story for Mileena. Perhaps being a more reasonable person than Kitana but with tarkat disease her is more and more savage and paranoid.
@@alphawilliams7923 I've always preferred Mileena out of the two, but I could still appreciate what Kitana brought and how the two balanced each other out, doing their own separate things.
But now, that balance is between Mileena'a two sides, and Mileena is fulfilling Kitana's role as benevolent leader; Kitana has become completely irrelevant. There's nothing left for her.
@@EndoScorpion
Don't say that, we don't know what their planning for her in this New Era.
@@dylansharp8471 Probably nothing as they'll retell Deception and then reboot and retell everything again anyway. 🙄
Wait, no one is going to talk about how atrocious was megan fox on this game? Ronda's performance was oscar-winning in comparison, definitely the worst thing of mk1 was what they did to Nitara, it's like megan was reading a menu from a Mexican restaurant
Shang being Kronika also served to trick Geras and Lui kang, even though they thought it was impossible shes somehow back. Stopped them from making the connection that another timeline runs equal to theirs until Shang does the stereotypical bad guy explains his plans speech lol.
Giving Liu Kang and Geras time to get his Keeper of Time powers back, and summon Keeper of Time allies.
Instead of just sneaking in and destroying Geras and the hourglass while Liu Kang was off in Outworld or at that fortress.
Shang literally pulled a Kronika here. Guess she's influencing him from within.
@@EndoScorpion Thing is, he needed his allies to help bring down the Hourglass. Otherwise, Geras probably would have been able to stop Shang if it was just him attacking. So either way, he would have gotten the attention of Liu Kang.
@@EndoScorpionhis intent was to take over lui kang timeline at first until shang found out there were more timelines and then decided to destroy lui kang timeline.
But Geras was the one who found out about the "two timelines side by side" thing. Also, Geras and Lui kang never see Kronika. Titan Shang only showed his Kronika disguise to them during the "stereotypical bad guy explains his plans speech". There LITERALLY was no reason for Titan Shang to disguise himself as Kronika XD
@@EndoScorpion Holy sh!t you're kinda right XD
I do like how Arcade endings in MK1 instead of being non-canon What If ? are actually like a litte epilogue for the story which explains what happens after the story and gives some sequel hooks. Like Syzoth for example becomes emmissary for Mileena returns to his people and finds out apperantly there were other like him but were all killed and now his goal is to find who and why. Oh and Versus lines throws some stuff like Syzoth and Ashrah are a couple now and there is of course talk about Raiden sister who might be genderbend Fujin.
I hope they step back from some because the hanzo one is beyond stupid.
@@saloz9483 Not really, there's nothing wrong with the Hanzo one.
@@scottchaison1001 Disagree. its a stupid change. Now we have kid scorpion hanging around since lets be real Hanzo no matter what is scorpion. I thought the fake leak of him being their father/noob was ridiculous but NRS one ups that with this nonsense. Again I hope they take a step back and realize how dumb it is and doesn't go forward with it.
@@saloz9483 Your comment sounds like someone who is blinded by his hatred towards NetherRealm.
@@scottchaison1001 or just calls out bad writing. Side note iv been playing MK since it released on snes. Why would I still be supporting the series if I had blind hatred.
I legit loved mileenas chapter, the only thing I would change is that I would show mileena killing twindel and then going to her own sindel. Other than that, over the story, Mileena was developed SO much that I was just so shocked , especially after her being a jobber for years. Overall, I really really loved the entire story.
I'm very shocked how much character development they gave her XD
It was a great chapter
Except for that part where (spoilers, idk?)
Sindel hit Twindel with the sword handle, rather than just slice her head off with that counter move.
And that overhead move which gave her opponent an opening, as if a certain someone else in MK lore has done that before and not got shanked?
It was stupid that Liu Kang was tripped & then didn't save Queen Sindel. Queen Sindel was bleeding for 1 minute, plus the time Dark Sindel vs Mileena. Liu Kang didn't even save Queen Sindel when he got his Time powers back.
@@Kentrc11 Nah, it wasn't stupid.
I agree that this is the best story NRS has done yet, but it does go downhill after the Shang Tsung twist like you said. I wish that the story would have stayed a bit more grounded with the problems it had at hand. A lot of plot threads are left unfinished (like Mileena's coronation after Sindel's death, dealing with Shao and the Sorcerers, what happens with Reptile, Ashrah and Baraka, etc) for the sake of an Armaggedon throwback and even then it was extremely rushed. And after that you're supposed to believe that the Earthrealm champions are back at Madam Bo's just like that? I don't know, I didn't buy it. I feel like they should have stuck with the two timelines, defeating Shang Tsung and then dealing with loose ends.
So fun fact, the Arcade Endings are pretty much the aftermath of the storymode. So if you wanna know what happens next I'd recommend you check those out XD
Aside from the Arcade endings, this game isn't supposed to finish every plot line. It might be reversed for a story expansion or sequel
@@SonicHaXD I only saw Ahsrah's so far, and I honestly wished that her acceptance into the Shaolin (as her relationship with Reptile according to the character intros) had made it into the story mode. It also made me wish Sareena was in the main roster instead of Reiko because that would have given Ashrah more of a plot besides her redemption. Reiko was kinda... just there.
@@thoet7270 What I meant is that it resolves the ones it had in a very rushed fashion or not at all. You learn that Mileena is the new Empress and that Shao and the sorcerers are imprisoned in the last cutscene of the story and it's like, when did this all happen with the whole Armageddon thing in the middle? I'm ok with the Lin Kuei being a threat to be dealt with in the future because it was set up like that, but I feel like the other plots deserved to be finished.
@@teoktb3108Nah, I prefer Reiko over Sareena.
It feels like Ed boon was like "Lets pour all our good writing onto the first 2 acts!" "What about 3 and 4?" "What do you mean what about them? Lets get crazy!"
Chapter 13 was really good. I liked having Jerrod reunite with his family. The Shang Tsung plot twist was actually suprising, and I think having Kronika as a red herring was actually pretty clever. It is a shame the Shang Tsung boss was kinda lame, but it was still a good twist in my opinion
I know this is unrelated, but I hate how Ashrah just kinda disappeared after her chapter...
Yeah. I originally didn't mind giving Kronika another chance. But still a neat twist even if the final act was rushed
@@ccelite3782 I think they actually intend to continue with these character arcs later on, so they probably wanted to keep their characters with an open book ending. They could have given a little more of a conclusion, but aye. Atleast they actually want to continue character's stories for once
I’m still confuse so evil Shang Tsung was conronica or did conronica survive the battle with lui kang and disguise herself
@@purpirekKronika is no more. Erased. Like Geras said. Titans are forever gone if they die. Evil Shang Tsung just shapeshifted into Kronika to fool the current Quan Chi and Shang Tsung. Because who else looks otherworldy and divine other than Kronika to fool even an alternative universe Shang Tsung?
I like the twist solely for the fact that it is a big middle finger to Kronika
TRUE XD
@@SonicHaXD Also there's plenty of memes because Reptile has green blood, thus making Scyzoth a punching bag to not get Fatality videos demonetized.
Let me just say that Baraka being a good guy is for me, the best thing in the entire story mode.
For me it's kung lao not dying for once. 🥹
Why?
So are we gonna get a MK1 sucks video? Or evan better a MK1 not sucks video??
Yes
@SONICHAXD please reply to me I'd love to talk about something with Mk
Oh come on, if you guys say it does not suck, than you don't care about writing quality or a plot as long as it's simping your favorite character...
@@secondaryfrontjudging by how people reacted to Mileena finally getting chapter after years of (half)jobbing and her overall status quo by the end, it might be the case.
@@blacksabbath9631 Yeah, the same was with StarCraft franchise. Bringing back Stukov to life was the single worst plot in the entire franchise, but the many brain dead fangirls were glad because hey they brouth Stukov again!
You should check the ladder endings as well. Unlike in previous games, some of these actually connect each others, and can work as epilouge for the main story.
Endings in the 3D era connected and helped canonise each other too. While some did still contradict.
This time they can all be considered canon. Considering they're saying all MK11 endings were canon too.... I guess this is how they're doing it now.
@@EndoScorpion But in this game, I feel non of them contradict any other ones. every single ending, or group of endings since some are connected, can happen in the same canon
@@qpht7409 I agree. That's what I'm saying.
I'm just pointing out it's not the first time that ending have been connected and supposrted each other. Just not the entire roster at once.
Tower endings finally canon? I think so, they all reinforce each other and make sense, tying up some (not all) loose ends.
Kitana killing the Kombat Kids tho
NRS's way of saying "sorry guys"
I feel like that wasn't really necessary...
Nice alliteration.
I mean it's not technically not them since it's their dark versions, but yeah...
@@thoet7270 It is them though. It's the Kombat Kids from MKX and 11. Because these timelines are all from the different endings of MK11.
I also have to applaud how much they set up for a second game/dlc story with *all* the character endings it’s seriously impressive to not make them clash with how their past style of endings have worked
So basically I loved the story until the chapter where we played Liu Kang. I think the fact there were 2 timelines, which were the 2 end choiced in MK 11 is a brilliant idea. Making them both canon at the same time means they didnt dismiss those who didnt like Liu Kang's cold blooded actions at the time. That plot twist was awesome and the choice was perfect. All the thing previous to that while a bit long on explantions also offered a lot of worldbuilding of this New Era and giving explanation to why Liu Kang is just the protector of Earthrealm instead of the Keeper of Time. I was a bit frustrated that there was no Shirai Ryu until the end.
HOWEVER, since the chapter when we play Liu Kang and we bring all the timelines of all the MK11 endings and those before and whatnot. That is a classic case of going too big for their own good. From gods, to Elder Gods, to Titans that restore timelines and now to infinite timelines all with their own titans and elder gods and more. They flew too close into the sun and it got burned. Especially in the end with all the mixture of characters and alike. Now what it was interesting to experience, it kind of is too messy for its own good and just one big 'huh'? If it was just Liu Kang and Shang Tsung's timelines, I would say it was perfect continuation, but I am not sure about that with how far they tried to reach for the sun.
i was expecting lui kang to do some crazy sheet but no he felt like a mortal. no wonder nerfed shang tsung was giving him trouble.
I wish the Armageddon chapter was done with a larger roster. Likely impossible, but its really fun to think about the combinations there could be with all the fighting styles there are.
Like imagine a Goro with Jax's metal arms or cyberized Noob/Saibot, or a Kollector with all of the weapon-based movesets.
I just wish they put erron in.
I'd have loved it if Taven or Daegon showed up. Where else would they be at another battle for Armageddon?
Khan Jin
Khano
Shaozoth
Noob Shaobot
Johnny Khan
Hsu Shao
Bo Rai Shao
Shaojinko
The possibilities are endless
I do like a lot of the concepts they did in act 3, but I also really feel they were a bit rushed specifically because they tried throwing in "Armageddon" at the end. Like I initially thought "oh okay so Shang Tsung is gonna get away this time and the next game is gonna be about going to different timelines and recruiting and in the third game that's when it all comes to a head. Interesting" but not they did that all offscreen and to me it's just really goofy because the whole appeal about Armageddon's intro is you have every single character split into two sides and they're fighting to the death. Here it just feels goofy because they're only really using a lot of skin/palette swapped characters except for a very few people but they die in cutscene, and I think that realization really lessens the impact this setting could've had. It feels they had something interesting going on but dropped it and now I'm just asking "well now what"
Very interested where they'll go with this whether that's for better or worse
The cutscene where they run towards eachother on The stairs is also really goofy
@@nicholassgoberoNo.
@@scottchaison1001 yes.
@@nicholassgobero No.
@@scottchaison1001 yes
Aside from Bi Han and Rain being evil (although rains ending could be setting up a redemption arc) this is no doubt the best MK story since the 3d era
Yeah I would’ve been fine with Bi-Han being “”””evil””” now…but he’s not even an effective villain, just an easily manipulated, power hungry idiot.
yeah, most of the stuff that precedes the timeline twist is, imo, the best *executed* story stuff NRS has ever done. the dialogue (though it's HEAVY with exposition), the character progression, even the jokes work! but when we get to the multiverse stuff... I'm pretty sure I'm allergic to the word "timeline" now. the last hour of this game felt like they had fired their writer and let their 10-year old child finish the story, for which said child used their fanfic-y notebook dwarings.
True
Exactly
Couldn't agree more. A horrendous ending.
I feel like the multiverse concept holds MK back a lot as a franchise. Can we please for the love of God just get a self contained story based in the world of MK without variants or timeline shenanigans
I died when Liu Kand literally said in the story mode: "Somehow, Kronika returned"
I actually hated the "turns out both Aftermath endings are canon" twist and subsequent "actually every character is the Time Keeper" twist. It was kind of predictable ever since Liu Kang and Geras started wondering whether Kronika's back or not, but that's not the biggest offense. The biggest offense is the scope.
I guess just like you I was really interested in all the characters and all the backstories, but by the time Titan Shang Tsung reveals himself, all of them get shafted in favor of yet another "save the multiverse" plot. It just doesn't make any sense to have an event this big when it's the first time we see the universe and have an opportunity to learn more. There are so many questions I wanted answered and none of them were.
Like how did Jerrod get killed? Who is Shao's father? Was Tarkat a thing in previous timelines or is the disease a new thing? How did Shinnok come to be if Kronika doesn't exist, and where is he now?
And then there's an absolutely out of nowhere shift towards the Act 4 big fight. The only remote praise I can give it is hybrid chracters, which was fucking dumb, but an interesting idea.
All in all, I was so disappointed by the ending I'm not even waiting for the next MK story anymore.
I want so see those random armageddon characters become skins because while I was playing the finale one of my opponents was cyber smoke, and as a smoke main I really want a skin like that in the game for him, maybe even a cyber skin for subzero too
Dang that's really cool!!! XD
My favorite part was when Smoke absolutely smoked an old lady
Cremated
Man forcer is truly everywhere
I got the Reptile/Sindel fusion too. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw her. I also got a female scorpion that was fused with Li Mei (Firefly), and a cyberised Smoke with Scorpion’s rope dart.
That finale is ridiculously silly, but the combination of choosing your own character and the seemingly random opponents as you fight your way to Shang Tsung makes it F&#@ing brilliant.
I just wish I got to fight the Kung Lao/Dark Raiden fusion that attacked me in a cutscene and I feel bad for Cassie, Ninja Mime Johnny and another alternate Johnny I can’t quite remember. They saved my character, only to then get comically yanked into the soul pit.
Yes, the finale is THAT insane. 😂
I think the thing I like least is what they did to Tanya it feels like they completely neutered her character removing all the core aspects of Tanya's character and dumbing her down to mileenas love intrest and they somehow made her a good guy but somehow managed to make her less likeable it feels like mk1 Tanya could have been a completely new character and nothing would change how to we have an mk game where baraka is more likeable than tanya
Yeah I agree. She’s notorious for betrayals and then in MK1 she’s stuck with the Umgadi shtick…Titan Kitana suggests that Tanya’s more villainous in her timeline tho so there that I guess….
@@pennisss9433 yes but an offhand comment about Tanya being evil In kitana's timeline doesn't change anything
Yea sounds like it would've been better to keep her a backstabber at least in some aspects. You kind of take away a core part of the character if thats gone.
@@saloz9483 they took away everything that made Tanya intresting
I think it could have been saved if they still kept everything from MK1 but they also added what made Tanya well... Tanya. She can still be a good guy, but should have a little bit more sass when interacting with close friends or with those she doesn't respect.
My personal meta theory about why the plot shifts around the Mileena chapter is the devs fully realized that they hadn't done much to really celebrate the 30 year anniversary of Mortal Kombat. MK11 was sort of that based on how they got old actors to reprise their roles, on top of an abundance of references. But MK1 is a lot closer to the actual MK 30 year date and had a lot of expectations slapped onto this latest game as a result. So I imagine that around that stage of development, they just said, "fuck it, let's reference absolutely everything and have fun!" So starting from Sindel's chapter we get a recap and acknowledgement of MK11, with special emphasis on Twindel. Then in Mileena's chapter, they open the flood gates and go balls out, starting with a Damashi name drop, and Sindel/Twindel beat down to match the one from MK9. But this time only one person dies. Almost like a big fuck you to everyone who hated Twindel. "Fine you big babies, here's your 'good' queen, but she's gunna get killed by OUR evil queen. But since you Mileena simps are especially rancid, we'll let her claim the W in retribution. Is everyone satisfied now? CHRIST!"
From there they start delivering madd fanservice. The Liu Kang x Kitana in the void ending plays out in an alternate way. The hand picked Elder Gods Liu Kang ending plays out, but they're all Titans. They firmly establish the multi-verse instead of just past timelines (Snake is going to be pissed that all of his Line Through Time hard work is entirely irrelevant now, not just in a small way), so that not only can every possible timeline have existed at one time, but now firmly exists with every possible fan desire existing in some way, shape, or form. Devastation name drop for some reason. MK Legends: Snowblind is cannon! Shaolin Monks and cancelled Fire & Ice references! The Great Kung Lao is a thing. How?! Why?! SHUT UP AND LOOK AT THE DEADLY ALLIANCE DO COOL SHIT! DECEPTION! LEAD WRITER RAILS A LINE OF COKE! ARMAGEDDON REFERENCES OUT THE ASS UNTIL THEY FINALLY JUST DO ARMAGEDDON: TITAN EDITION! EVERYBODY'S HERE! YES, SENPAI SEES YOU MUGEN NERDS AND DEGENERATES! MOOOOOOOORE COKE! EVERYBODY LIVES, EVERYBODY DIES, NINJA MIME! JAX'S ARMS GOT RIPPED OFF AGAIN, LAUGH! HAVIK IS OUR NEXT VILLAIN! MORE TIMELINE MULTI-VERSE BULLSHIT! _P E A C E_O U T_B I T C H E S ! !
😂
At some point, I started reading this in the voice of the chief from paradise PD and ohmygod
I wish Onaga was the main antagonist of this game
for me the ending chapter was so rushed that in the end i was just sitting thinking "why they are fighting?". Because when shang said that he wants to be "ultimate time god" i understood it but when they met on the pyramid with army I felt lost
It's just a big giant pointless "easter egg" reference to a better timeline. A timeline that NRS writers are constantly recycling plots and ideas from because they can't come up with their own (and because it was the best timeline).
@@EndoScorpion Midway’s timeline was cheesy and certain characters were either forgettable or had their characters just stagnate.
@@j.i.nthenobody54 There was always a level of cheese and humour in MK. No different to, say MK9. These was plenty of serious moments back then too.
Actually, the 3D era was known for breathing new life into old characters and Midway were trying new things and taking old characters in new directions. Plenty of today's fan favourites are only liked because of the additional lore added in the 3D era. There was also some great new characters that people have been begging for ever since. But none of it was stepping on the toes of the old lore, just added to it and fleshed it out more, without really contradicting it (for the most part).
These days NRS have completely stagnated because they are just retelling those same stories, constantly rebooting in order to retell them again and again. Having to reinventing the lore and characters to pretend like there's something new to offer, but instead just killing any investment people have. The only new plot in NRS era was MK11 and that whole thing was setting up a new reboot. There's no consequences any more. Characters don't grow or evolve like they used to.
@@EndoScorpion
Bullshit.
Bro when Smoke #$½@&'d over everybody i lost my shit.
This game peaked new grounds.
Did you see the intros where Ashrah and Reptile are canonically dating?
I really loved the friendship that developed between Johnny and Kenshi
It sucks we didn’t get a smoke chapter. He’s getting the noob sabiot treatment where they hype him up and we never get a chapter of him nor a character development.
"nor a character development"
Say what?
I will say, I do think shang tsung transforming into kronika was more than just tricking the audience. He knew liu kang or whoever was keeper of time would figure out new timeline shang was gaining more power very quickly, and and he used the form of kronika to send them on a wild goose chase for someone who doesn't even exist anymore, keeping them off his tail and leading them to never assume there is a 2nd timeline until way later in the game. I honestly thought it was a smart move of his.
I kinda fel like the „the first half was better than the second half“ is like rather typical with NRS Games. MK9 had a pretty damn good story in the first half when it told the story of MK 1 & 2, but was rushing it and falling rather flat once they went into MK 3‘s story and the whole invasion thing. In MKX, everything had a natural flow and things were getting well with Earthrealm working with Outworld, the Special Forces taking care of the refugees and so forth, but everything turned into a clusterf-ck once Outworld betrayed Earthrealm and like *so* many things started to go wrong, it actually became hilarious. Not to mention Cassie just beating up an empowered Elder God. And in MK11, it was so fun and entertaining to just see characters be themselves and reacting to the situation they’re in, like Kung Lao and Liu Kang side eying each other, the 2 Johnnys interacting, young Jax talking to Jacquie or even see Sub-Zero & Scorpion bro‘ing it out, until Kitana‘s chapter where everything started to be grim and everyone was rushing towards the end where *a lot* didn’t even matter anyway anymore. Hell, the same with Aftermath where the story started to s-it all over you because now you were forced to play the worst version of Sindel into absolutely destroying fan favorite characters.
Nah, most of the story here was very good, it's in the last three episodes where everything starts to go downhill.
I think the story went good-good-wtf. First act is setting up the story and villains. Raiden wins the tournament and the Shang Tsung investigation begins
Second act is… amazing. We got chapters for so many characters and each chapter is very personal to them. I love it so much. And I like that Titan Shang Tsung is the villain and how I called it when Kronika was introduced
Third act is…. What the fuck? It turned into a marvel movie. King Jerrod coming back is hype, but how they did it is fucking horrendous. He’s just giving exposition. I would’ve liked it way more if Ermac occasionally showed pieces of Jerrod. It would’ve been creepy. ”My father’s stuck in this body and can’t escape”. That would be awesome
But the whole multiverse thing and character select… I hate it. It doesn’t make sense for the story that just anybody can rise to the top of the pyramid. Especially when the one who completely defeats the villains isn’t your character, it’s Liu Kang. The mixed fusions of characters are cool for the fans, but make no sense for the history. We’re just seeing a bunch of no names fight
I think they should’ve replaced Liu Kang’s chapter with Titan Kitana’s of Geras’, made the final chapter Liu Kang’s and only kept the titans instead of just every living character in existence
There are few pieces of fiction that know how to make multiversal/timeline stories. This is not one of them.
Without the multiverse bs, it would be an easy 9-10/10. As it stands, it’s pretty good, but it has a weak 3rd act (a common occurrence in NRS games).
@@jessielsanchez5079 What "common ocurrence"?
Nah, the way they brought back King Jerrod was good, I don't know what are you talking about. And there's nothing wrong with selecting your character in the final chapter.
@@scottchaison1001 "Nah, I don't feel the same. You're wrong."
@@arctiwolf857 Don't project yourself, mate.
I recommend getting each of the Arcade Endings too, feel it enhances somewhat abrupt Story Ending by giving everyone their own (seemingly canon) epilogues that are really cool and set up for where each character is going from this point onwards.
I finished the story and i got deep into Invasion. The story is great, the graphics are stunning. I had to stop and see if the sets and characters were real or not. They gave the characters more personality, more bonding with each other, and lesser characters in the past, Baraka, Reptile, etc etc, get more time and history. I love this game. To bad my ass gets kicked online
Honestly it'd been funny during the pyramid mk9 shang shows up yells "A challenge!" And then gets immediately punched into the pit.
9:09 "There seems to be too much explaining"
*No one:*
*Literally no one:*
*Not even a soul (pun totally inteded):*
*Ermac:* I am Ermac. Quan Chi used his magic to create me. I'm an amalgam created by Quan Chi. Quan Chi gathered a lot of souls. That gathering of souls created me, Ermac. I'm a legion of the souls gathered by Quan Chi. I must obey Quan Chi. Souls. Ermac. Quan Chi.
His first words are literally exposition!
My biggest issue with the first half of the story is that the events don't really lead to much and half the characters end up in the same spot as the original timeline with very very minor twists in some cases.
Like beyond Kenshi losing his eyes and earthrealm getting a few allies who don't really do much beyond their chapters, It felt like filler. There doesn't even seem to be long term consequences for liu sending his friends into outworld. Sindel doesn't lose trust in liu kang permanently nor does Mileena seem permanently affected by earth realms choice to interrupt the shang tsung experiment. Felt like liu kang could have skipped a lot of steps by just telling sindel the truth.
Then the second half has some issues but it was setting up some decent concepts. Bi han is just so one note and lame as a villain and his betrayal felt pointless. I liked the two timelines thing but then it jumps the shark immediately into nonsensical with a massive multiverse and I can't even care about the final fights cause I don't even know what friggin timeline these characters are from.
Why does shang tsung even care about destroying the other timeline? For fun? Does he gain anything?
I couldn’t wait for you to see the reptile chapter and especially ALL of the facial expressions in this game by Shang and others😭 it’s funny ash!
I also loved that “spoiler if you didn’t watch the vid yet” returned!! Many others may not but I loved him!
So many meme facial expressions XD
does that mean we gonna get a Mortal Kombat 1 Not Sucks video?
Shao gets defeated like 4 times in the story lol. At least they didn't kill off Reptile just for fun this time. Also it doesn't make sense that "dark" Geras was in Shang Tsung's timeline because he's a "fixed point in time".
He can’t “see”, he has a sort of radar sense akin to daredevil thanks to sento guiding him. Its been that way since MKX
@@RAVRIDO I forgot lmao
Hey Sonic which is more powerful, Kuai Liang Scorpion with Handcuffs or Kotal Khan in a wheelchair?
I do like that all the arcade endings in this game FEEL canon. Like they are cohesive woth each other they fit together ans all look are happening simultaneously
I think the best example of this is Reptile Baraka and Mileena's endings. Reptile becomes an ambassador for mileena to his race and sixkvers that he isnt a freak (just his goverment is very fucked up) then Baraka learns of this ask for his help to get Mileena to help with his people, whixh she does, and that leads to mileena revealing her condition to her people and getting accepted in spite of it. It all feels...like an actual story
I got a reptile/geras character called Klockadile and just in that moment I knew my life was complete.
One thing that made the story of this game good is that there is character development even outside a character's chapter. All characters have an actual role instead of them being there just to progress the story. Also about the Jerrod thing, they kind of hinted that his soul was residing in the Living forest and when QuanChi stole the souls Jerrod's soul was among the one stolen to build Ermac
Like Reptile, Baraka, Havik, Nitara, & Rain?
@@dylansharp8471 what about them?
@@dylansharp8471hey he didn't say it was perfect
I can't wait for the Storymode edit compilation of the characters saying 'Timeline'.
Kotal Khan couldn't participate on the last fight because there was no accessibility ramp.
I completely agree with your review about the story. The first two acts were really good and the last two acts were a mess. However, of all of the story modes from NRS Era (MK9 - MK1), i enjoyed this one the most.
Normally after i finish the story mode, i don’t come back to play it or watch it again too soon. MK 1 was different for me. I literally rewatched the story again for how fun the first two acts were.
Great video 👍
I imagine you will mention in your next video how dumb was that Titan Raiden and Kung lao were defeated by just 2 non-titan minions each one or why the 4 "titan" team just let titan Shang tsung run away.
ong
Overall, I loved storymode until a bit after the twist (which was actually quite genius with the red herring and MK11 Aftermath continuity). I especially liked how they technically made all MK11 tower ending canon, but then they went overboard and included (cool but) unexplained weird mixes of characters and such, they went full 'anything is possible' and 'assemble' multiverse crap. If it was only the MK11 tower ending characters (consistent with their lore) on both sides, it would have been amazing.
Spoilers for the ending.
What hurts most is that it was a really cool concept
The titan Shang Tsung twist was genuinely really fucking cool and clever and I NEVER saw it coming. It also made sense in context since he was an ending in story mode you can choose. It made sense that those *2* timelines would overlap. BUT THEN THEY KEPT GOING. They took a *relatively* smaller and more subdued story and then ruined it by trying to one up MK11, which at least the spectacle of MK11’s ending was fitting and was built up to IN THE STORY. MK1 pulled the ending out if it’s ass and it was genuinely PAINFUL to watch.
Scorpion’s chapter is pretty dope btw
That's not even the *ending* ending
The REAL ending is titan Havik wanting to do the second half of the game all over again. Meaning, we'll have ANOTHER game with the same fckin premise
This, 100%
@@floricel_112honestly I think that was just setting up Invasions.
for the final battle i fought cyber smoke i screamed with excitement
If they go with " Every tower ending is canon " which seems to be the case, then I can't wait to see what happens on this timeline! There are some real cool stories that can be told with what they set up.
Absolute highlight for me was during the final fight one of the guys was called STUNG LAO 🔥
Reptile human form was... good looking in this game 😅
SonicHaXd: No Scaly 😡😡🤬
The4thsnake: 😍😍😍
Ngl at first when they’re went all “gather warriors from multiple timelines” I really thought they were going to use that to put the guest character like Omni Man and Homelander in lol
I found a reason why he had to use kronika's morph. Showing as Kronika looked too powerful. Also, Kronika used to promise things and that's what he mimiced too. Acting and showing as Kronika looked strong powerful and promiseful as she really were
I love the art style of the game. The designs of some of these characters are my new favorites of all time (Mileena, Ashrah, and REPTILE!!!). I am a bit disappointed in the lesser customization so far (admittedly I haven’t played much past the story). Also the lack of AI battles is sad. I burned hundreds of hours in MK11 by having it on with the AI doing towers while I was working/doing other things irl. Other than that, the play style is a lot of fun. Some characters feel like a great progression of them. 😁
It is remarkable that they finally did a good story mode for the game... And bribed those long depressed fans by giving them reptile, baraka and Mileena character building & playable chapter.
I wonder if when the dlc come out you can use them for this. I just want to hear liu king say “thank you homelander for your service to our timeline”
When are you uploading your: "MK1 Reptile doesn't suck" video
Can't wait for the Havik and Reiko Sucks video. I love these guys and glad that they're back, but they just do jack shit and play as the jobers. Also Smoke and Geras where I feel like they don't appear as much and we don't get to play them.
The way they wrote Bi-Han was when the game story completely died for me. I was already teetering with him constantly just projecting bitter entitlement, but the moment when he turns evil after one speech from Shang Tsung, just so we can have scorpion vs sub zero yet again, was also the moment I realized how little nuance NRS was capable of writing. Compare him to his few pre-death appearances in the midway timeline, and the level nuance presented vs his MK1 story is practically night and day.
The sad thing is, they could’ve actually played up an interesting gray morality storyline if Scorpion and Sub Zero clashed over tradition vs progress. Kuai Liang wants to push a cyber initiative in reference to his MK2 affinity for technology (obviously keeping their free will this time) while Bi Han wants to maintain the old ways. He’s stern, but ultimately compassionate, and wants to protect and help his brother, but fears they’re growing apart due to their viewpoints.
Kuai Liang would be a bit more brash and energetic, always enticed by the prospect of advancing tech, but willing to hear his older brother’s concerns. The two would ultimately clash and split from each other, Kuai Liang forming the Tekunin while Bi Han holds the Lin Kuei, both protecting earthrealm and still caring for each other but forever divided by their conflicting ideals.
They did most characters in this new story pretty well (Nitara and Reiko suck but that’s a story for a another time), but holy hell did they drop the ball with Scorpion and Sub-Zero.
I already didn’t like the idea of Kuai Liang being Scorpion, but they completely ruined Bi-Han. He SUCKS. Granted, Bi-Han has always sucked, he’s an arrogant and entitled prick who acts like a total edgelord, but now they made him suck more by being evil while STILL BEING SUBZERO. If you’re gonna make him evil anyway, just turn him into Noob Saibot already!
They made Baraka likeable, they made Shao Kahn/General Shao actually have a decent reason for uprising against the royal family, they brought old characters back like Ashrah and used her well. They rebooted in a way that made sense, acknowledging the stupidity of MK11 and Kronika while still using it as a good basis to reset.
But they ruined arguably their two most iconic characters.
@@tedioussugar384 (I’d add Havik to the list of characters that suck) I disagree that Bi-Han has always sucked. He certainly had an edge and a chip on his shoulder in the midway era, due to his status of being an assassin for hire, but there were flashes of humanity and compassion that gave the character nuance. Nuance that got removed in favor of a flat “good vs evil” brotherhood story that utterly fails to do justice to either party involved. Complete waste of potential all around.
They never had a chance
Tanya, Sub-Zero, Scorpion and Nitara absolutely sucked.
@@tedioussugar384
What about Rain and Havik?
I loved the timeline stuff at this point in the story we have to have it and the fact they're some what self aware about how stupid it is and i like the idea of chaos realm putting their spin on the timelines merging it could be a somewhat cool side story
A lot of it was for the fans: i figured once Shang was revealed as "Kronika", that was for the fans. Mileena and Jerrod were also for the Twitter fans (wish NRS took some notes from Harada). I thought the story was the best for NRS. The Armageddon stuff i felt could've waited, but the obsurdity was self-aware. Thought the direction for the voice acting was off. I don't mind the existence of other timelines, especially one where Shang Tsung kills Liu Kang again. It shows his hubris threatened his world of peace
What are notes from Harada if not secret?
@@blacksabbath9631 to not cave in to almost every fan demand
@@cheapR1 fair enough and thanks
@@cheapR1 What do you mean the direction for the voice acting was off?
@scottchaison1001 there seems to be where most characters have an epic cadence or are trying to overact. Some characters it makes sense: Liu Kang and Geras are supernatural and Sindel is regal for instance. Others like the Ninja Brothers, I am wondering why they can't sound like normal people talking to each other. Raiden and Kung Lao do it too, but it isn't as pronounced
Kitana really went from Princess to housemaid let's gooo
I also found it pretty funny of both Shang Tsungs having the same character trait of teleporting into a scene, gloating/explaining stuff and doing somethings and then teleporting away.
Well, they're literally the same person, it makes sense.
I think that the story just need more cooking, and I mean A LOT more cooking. I don't hate the multi timelines plot but it's just so raw to me.
Let MK1 boss just be Titan Shang and then move the war to MK2 and then Tian Havik in MK3.
I’m actually glad they left out Kitana, Sonya and Jax from the story. They’re always force fed to us everytime so it’s about time Baraka, Reptile and Mileena got some wins.
Just wish Noob Saibot was here
13:15 to be fair they did tease it, right after they defeated Ermac in the forest of souls he cries out that he will find Sindel, and the rest of the cast are like “wtf was that”
Personally I think after the "Band of brother" part the story is kinda rush in some form.
I really like the Idea of Kuai Liang Scorpion and he was soo cool and although his power was fire, He seem reasonable and compassion compared to Bi-han whose more hot head and I really enjoyed the Bro moment of Kuai Liang and Tomas.
But I think the plot is kinda rush from Bi-han betray after small talk with Shang Tsung to all Multiverse thing afterward.
SonicHa's video of MK1 THIS EARLY? Hell yeah, brother
Wasn't planning on getting it out this early. But then I realized there was no point playing the game to review its mechanics. So I just released this video of me going mainly through the storymode XD
I really enjoyed this story mode. I love that we finally get to play characters we haven’t been able to play in story. I love the ending so much it was so bizarre and fun and I couldn’t stop smiling throughout it. There is so much I love about this game it would take forever to write it all.
The weird hybrid characters at the end are easily the highlight.
I honestly really like the direction they took with this game although I wish they’d take a step away from the timeline shenanigans and just let this world sit on its own for a bit. It definitely felt like this game could’ve needed a “big bad” like Shao Kahn or Shinnok because even with Titan Shang there, I felt like he was so underwhelming especially in his final fight. How I would’ve fixed this is to have Shang actually become other characters other than Kronika and actually cause Liu Kang’s timeline to fall into anarchy under the guise of Kronika, maybe only revealing his true form to the current timeline Shang Tsung that way it’s less “KrOnIkA iS bAcK”. Also give Shang a broken boss fight like the other 3 before him, would’ve made the final fight a little bit better.
Janet Cage was my favorite alternate timeline
After playing though the entire franchise and learning essential lore from all the games,I think this was the best MK story.
I liked all the new origins to the point where i genuinely like Baraka, Mileena and Reptile. It was very needed because i just didnt care about them at all in the last two continuites.
And the final chapter? Actually peak fiction and i will die on that hill.
The arcade endings are all excellent! I really like that they are all connected. I think they will be canon too.
Im excited for the future of the franchise!
I don’t agree with the final act being peak, but it is the best MK NRS story without question. Especially because the first two acts are so, soo good (especially the second act).
@@jessielsanchez5079Honestly, the final act was rushed. However, it’s fun as shit
@@j.i.nthenobody54 I agree. Not good and pretty rushed, but I would be lying if I said it wasn’t fun at all.
@@j.i.nthenobody54 yeah things felt rushed but it was also epic as hell too
What about stuff with Shao, Rain, Havik, Nitara, Bi-Han, etc?
My buddy from high school played reptile in this game. Sean. Good kid. Happy to see him doing big stuff!
The thing I hope NRS learns from this.... Let us choose the characters per Chapter and tell the story you want
I LOVED this game so much, seeing the OG baddies as heros was cool. It would have been nice if they could have fleshed out Tanya/Milenna's relationship a little more, maybe in an expansion.
Nitara and Shang Tsung are my favorite characters to use in the game. Of course you enjoy Reptile! I enjoyed what the story mode did with Reptile even if his chapter was filler and slightly drops out of the story mode afterwards
Sonichaxd watching you know handsome devil: HALELUYA!!!!!!!
Soo tired of the multiverse gimmick in mortal kombat
👎🏼😤🗑️
We never got a real tournament and we STILL haven’t gotten an actual tournament. Why were Cage, Kenshi, and Lao even there? Cheerleaders? It’s so stupid and that dumb explanation given by Liu Kang prior to the tournament doesn’t excuse how awful it was. Why couldn’t we get a real bracket where everyone involved fights and we could even get some Outworlder wins to raise the stakes? Something like this:
Round 1:
Raiden vs Li Mei - Raiden
Kung Lao vs Reiko - Kung Lao
Johnny vs Mileena - Mileena
Kenshi vs Shao - Shao
Round 2:
Raiden vs Kitana* - Raiden
Kung Lao vs Shao - Shao
Final Round:
Raiden vs Shao - Raiden
Easy. Same conclusion. But much more interesting than Raiden slapping a bunch of jobbers. And it strengthens some of these characters and even adds to the Mileena arc imo. Now of course this can’t happen because we are still doing the dumb character chapter system
You can tell NRS had so much fun and laughs making the final chapter...
It really is Dumb fun done in the right way and honestly it's the best part of the game.
I was facepalming but was also laughing and that's a good thing imho.
People are giving praise to the first half of the story and I cannot understand why. The first tournament was useless and completely nonsensical. It was not a tournament, it was a gauntlet for Raiden. Why does earthrealm only have one champion while outworld gets to bring like 8 of them? Many fights actually happened offscreen. It hardly seems fair for a tournament to be 1v8. And many of the fights were just one after the other. Is the point that Raiden is just so much stronger than any Outworld fighter that they need to have 3 fights in quick succession for Outworld to even have a chance to win? The format was so weird. And the tournament is not even Mortal Kombat. Would have either side been happy with fighters actually dying?
The whole point of the original tournament was that Outworld was openly antagonistic and belligerent towards earthrealm. So, the elder gods let both realms put together a tournament to see which realm was stronger and Outworld could invade if they won. Notice several things, first is that there are actual stakes in the tournament, if earth loses then invasion is inminent. Earthrealm does not lose if they lose one fight, they have a whole bunch of champions. The elder gods dont really care about earthrealm, they just care about following the rules of the tournament.
In mk1, there are no elder gods, Cetrion killed them and Liu Kang doesnt seem interested in bringing them back. The elder gods did not institute the tournament. Liu Kang and Jerrod did. The current regime of Outworld is friendly to Liu Kang and earthrealm. So, what are the actual stakes? If earth loses, it will not be inmediately invaded. And even if this were the case, Liu Kang is not like Raiden was. He has control of the hourglass and can do whatever the fuck he wants. He can literally just threaten to restart the timeline or something to make Outworld back off. He can use his uber god powers to just crush the invasion.
Also, what was the point of bringing together 4 potential champions if only one was actually going to fight? Is it that if Raiden gets beaten then the next one goes in? Thats a dumb way to have a tournament. What if Raiden dies? Does earthrealm outmatch Outworld so hard that the very first fighter just solos the entirety of Outworld's roster? The first tournament in mk1 is pathetic.
The only reason Outworld might be a danger to earthrealm, which is the one source of conflict in the series (outside of timeline idiocy), is if Sindel stops trusting Liu Kang. Mk1 Sindel seems very friendly with Liu Kang, to the point that only a massive breach of trust would shatter the relationship. They are so friendly that Sindel repeatedly shots down Shao's talk of war and if Outworld were to win the tournament, that would only show Sindel that earthrealm is not a threat. What does Liu Kang do? He sends 3 people into Outworld without telling Sindel with the mission to capture a dude he should know is important for Sindel's court. Why the fuck didnt Liu Kang just tell Sindel the truth? It would have all been over in the first half if they had all apprehended Shang Tsung together.
I don't know if I'm the only one thinking this, but I feel they made a pretty good job with General Shao. Yes, he loses all his fights, but for once it never feels a jobber, and even if it isn't supposed to be this intimidate beast he's still come out as pretty intelligent, always scheming for his success, and it also feels a little more "selfless" (he doesn't want to be the emperor just because he wants to have power, he wants to help the outworld and he believe that he could be a better king), you can see a lot of his intelligence with Reiko's and his own endings.
sindel and her daughers emasculated him. i wouldn't be surprised if they made him wear makeup as punishment judging how he looks without the helmet.
Yeah, but it annoys me, because I know Liu Kang will never let him win.
@@sinistralhydra I'm directly replying to you since the other comment is bullshit
I really hope they "nerf" liu kang, since he has become a keeper of time again
The animations and dialogue of the armageddon chapter felt a bit rushed. Also some stories didn't get finished up,
what happened to havik? What happened to sub zero? How's Ashra doing? Who killed the emperor? He brought up that it wasn't Li Mei's fault, then never brings it up. Where's Li Mei meeting the emperor in Ermac body? How did Shao escape prison and why couldn't we play as him in trying to escape? why is Reiko such a cuck? What happened to Baraka? Why is Shang Tsung the final boss when we fought him like 900 times already?
The endings mostly resolve some of that. Plus there's more to come for future games.