Thanks for the video! I have an idea for the fatalities. I've already written about it in my Tumblr account (and tbh someone probably had the idea too :p), but basically: keep the fatalities shorter and more logical to the respective character. For example, Sonya and Jax are both said to be military professionals by the game, thus, their ways of "offing" the opponent would be quick, but effective. Ninjas, given they're fucking NINJAS, should be stealthier in a way. Pacifists shouldn't be absurdly brutal with their opponents (talking about all of Johnny and Liu Kang's fatalities after Arcade Era) while sadists can have their satisfaction with torturing the unfortunate individuals. And while we're on the topic, it's best to have two kinds of fatalities - one that results in major, but survivable injuries, and one that results in death. For one, gamers on RUclips won't have to censor the entire screen, and two, it would make more sense for certain character dynamics (because Johnny, Sonya and Cassie realistically wouldn't enjoy murdering each other. Same goes for couples, friends, other families). Also, i always found it weird whenever a non-human character's death is portrayed the same way a human's death would. Have the souls that are trapped inside Ermac flee out of his body when he gets fatalitized or something. Have cyborgs' glowy eyes turn off, have their wires gush out and sparks fly. Possibilities are endless. Oh, and this might be controversial, but i'd personally remove the fatal blow mechanic entirely as it's just a fatality with extra steps. It's boring, it's long and serves no real purpose.
Pinned! So many good ideas and common sense in one comment. Liu Kang's brutal finishers always struck me as out of character for him. At least Johnny's are funny, sometimes. I've actually been pondering the familial and relationship aspect, these past few days, racking my brain for a solution. This would be an elegant one, cause you can still "Finish off" your daughter, but it would be a slap in the face, as opposed to through the face. I'm all for dark humor, but I think we've had one too many family Fatality compilation videos. Stop giving internet psychos the satisfaction. Also agree about the cyborgs and souls and all that. Fatal Blows/X-Rays/Supers are also something I've been pondering a lot, lately. I agree that they're one extra un-skippable cutscene that makes one want to hurt themselves after viewing it for the umpteenth time, but at the same time, there probably should be some kind of 3-bar ability, or ultimate ability, or utility thing unique to each character.. My Reptilian brain demands it. At any rate, it should be changed.
I remember as a kid doing as many fatalities as possible on as many varying characters as possible JUST TO SEE if they ever changed for the cyborgs, and that's always been a sticking point for me. I also think, for the record, that doing something like this would be especially brutal. Doing a quick burst of movements and then one final crack and simply watching the lights of the cyborg turn off would be heavy. Some characters could go a flashy route, some efficiency route, some really gross, some "non-lethal" but utterly painful (in some cases could almost be worse than an explicit death). Complete agreement on the layout here. MK's goal with fatalities is to be gnarly, but there's plenty of ways to use fatalities in the way that you're describing *and still be boundary pushing and deserving of a reaction that keeps their spirit alive*. Love it.
@@CynicalWarlock As much as I hate the multiverse idea, an alternate timeline containing the original timeline, now surviving again due to time shenanigans, could be wrapped up with us seeing Taven taking up the role he was given at the end of Armageddon
I've been listening to all the intro dialogue of each MK games. And I gotta say, going from MK1 to MK11 to MKX, and it's like,..... MKX ones were so sharp and snappy. So much bite to them
Right? MK11 has some good ones, but also a lot of shit ones. MKX had some of that character quirkiness I'm talking about; you learned secret tidbits about them, like how Tremor's a Johnny Cage fan. Not that familiar with MK1 intro dialogue.
The thing about Mortal Kombat 11 dialogue that kinda falls flat compared to X is that a lot of Mortal Kombat 11 intro dialogue is just random talking for no reason, there's not a whole lot of explanations as to why the fight is taking place. It's a lot of just "I'm so glad we're allies now" proceeded by decapitation. And in Mortal Kombat 1 there's just so little dialogue of substance and the fact there's really only 2 exchanges instead of 3 just destroys character personality, as there's literally no opportunity for comebacks or quips because it's just two quick words.
@@Grunch_Morrisonx123 Such a good point. So much of 11's intro dialog was "yo what's up. Nothin. Ok cool." And then they fight. It's the fighting game equivalent of a non sequitur. MKX tried, for the most part, to use those as opportunities for storytelling, character trivia and whatnot.
@@CynicalWarlock id prefer costumes/skins. Maybe there could be some gear like elements like changing a character's weapon design, taunt, or intros/exits to give a personal touch. Best of both worlds.
THIS. I'm really not asking for a Tekken style of customization, just 4 or 5 creative costumes for each character that anyone can unlock via challanges/gameplay in general, not just real world cash. MK1 was atrocious in this respect.@@batboythecool
I have an idea for customization. One: allow the player to color any part of a character’s kostume(like choosing what color Scorpion’s mask or ninja vest is) instead of the color palettes we get in MK1 and MK11, and make the color choices specific to that character’s color palette(specifically for the ninja characters, so the player can only choose between yellow, gold, orange, black, and gray for Scorpion). Also make default gear pieces for every kostume so that player doesn’t have to manually change a character’s gear piece because it’s automatically changed.
I'd like to add that the customizable parts will be parts that make sense to the characters, like masks, gauntlets, and things we can actually SEE... Also gears will make sense like not having a biker helmet for nightwolf and have more things like bear hoods and wolves and such. Also... No repeated gear with miniscule changes.
In my eyes, the ideal MK game would be MKX gameplay, with MK11 graphics and Deadly Alliance aesthetic and music. Also lots of customization and obscure characters (I'd love to see Blaze, Meat and Chameleon return)
If we ever want a sidestepping mechanic to return for a new mortal kombat game, we should replace the switch stance button, and reolace it with a side stepping button in order for the right trigger to not be a useless button to use.
I always thought more games should try doing what TF2 did, Meet the Team animations,stylised website with news and lore developments,a hat based economy more stable than the US dollar... ok maybe not that last one,but imagine how cool it would be to get a bunch of short movies about the Kharakters introducing themselves and stuff or like a war between 2 Kharakters like Demo and Soldier had,i think that would add a lot more personality,tho obviously itd take a lot of effort,took Valve 4 years to do 9 mercs.
No, hats totally are more stable than the US dollar; I agree. Gabe Newell should probably run the US economy. And yeah, that's basically what I had in mind - devote a little less time to making these characters flashy and cool, and a little more time towards endearing you to them, whether that's short animations, machinimas, silly gifs, funny stories read by the voice actors, or slice of life stuff. You can do a lot with few resources.
My ideal Mortal Kombat is a game reusing MK9's gameplay, adding MKX's run button, SHORT Fatalities, and bringing back Klassic MK's special move + fatality inputs. With customizations, I think Injustice 2 had the best system yet. My ideal MK would improve on that system by providing proper Default and Alternate costumes that are fully customizable with unlockable gears and palettes Music NEEDS that Klassic MK and 3D MK soul back
Agree with everything, minus perhaps the gear system. Not that familiar with Injustice 2's system, but generally, gear systems in fighting games give me the rumbly tummies.
^this. id add an SF6 style battle hub but with a creepy outworld vibe and ability to pair up with another player to make a tag team and fight other tag teams so its 2v2 with 4 players all from different locations
This 💯. They need to just make the ultimate MK game with the best things from every mk... Not randomly winging it with resetting timelines and making all the males look gay
Hell yeah bring back stuff like chess kombat,motor kombat and puzzle kombat. The 3d era somehow managed this perfect balence of a well crafted serious story in the main modes then still gave us funny side modes that were just there to make us laugh. I want that mk back
Because it created contrast. That's exactly what makes the balance in the first place. You get to take the story and the characters seriously *and* have some lols with them, in the minigames. This business of pumping as many Marvel jokes and meta-references to the older games in the story mode kills the contrast, and thus the balance.
You having ideas? That's dangerous. Overall I like your ideas. Obviously can't comment on gameplay but you explain it well enough to where I get what your saying. It all sounds good. As for the story I think it sounds great. The idea of a much more personal story appeals to me and with the addition that we get to see the characters do stuff that is unrelated to saving the world sounds good. A character really develops when we see what they do besides the main story. Overall I like your ideas. I could easily see it implemented into the Mortal Kombat games.
@@CynicalWarlock I know I know. Only wisdom comes from my mind. Seriously though that is what I think a lot of stories lack. Showing characters sides when not in the main story.
@@Knight1029 It's kinda why we stopped to listen to the Inquisition banter, on the way to a quest, every time. It's the 'off the beaten path' details about a character (or person, for that matter) that endear us to them. Makes em more.. human. For lack of a better word.
@@CynicalWarlock exactly! It just does so much to make a character more believable and relatable. It may not be needed but it adds flavor that makes it all the more better.
@@Knight1029 I think it is needed. And it's kind of what I was talking about, when I described the diference between Mortal Kombat and IPs like Mass Effect and Avatar.
I think they should add in the other fatalities, like Hara Kiri or animality, it’s gives more variety for the player to choose rather than the same “rip ‘em apart” fatalities we’re used to getting. Also out of curiosity what’s your opinion on the “kreate a fighter” mode from MK Armageddon?
I never actually played Armageddon, so I can't judge. To my mind, though, it seems like, in principle, it's a feature that runs counter to the main appeal of fighting games (or a big part, anyway), which is character identity. The premade, prewritten, carefully crafted, badass characters that we become fans of. Sure, it's fun to make a custom character, put some broken powers and move combinations together and have some fun, but I'll wager it gets old, waters down the existing characters' identities (reminds me of MK1's ending, honestly) and is hard to justify the investment (unless it's really easy to code, I guess; I dunno). It's the same vibe I get from gear systems in fighting games. It just becomes a way to dilute the characters, and the whole thing starts to look like free-build Legos pretty fast.
Had me laughing throughout the bit on fighting styles and weapons lol, so true. The fighting styles in general I thought were kind of a mixed bag in terms of how they were executed - a cool experiment at the time, but just not as polished as other fighting games. I thought some character fighting styles didn't make much sense thematically either; the thought of someone like Kano using Aikido of all things, and Stryker using Hua Chuan were kinda funny to behold... . I would also like personalized towers as well. Tekken sort of had the right idea with character specific sub-bosses and interlude fights (Tekken 5 being the best example of this) that served to maintain some degree of character narrative consistency and allow smaller story arcs to shine a bit, although not always canon sometimes.
Kano used Aikido?? Steven Seagal must've approved that decision. And Ermac was the one who used Hua Chuan in Deception; should've kept it like that. Stryker should use MMA, kickboxing, or something like that.
@@CynicalWarlockin a video of yours a while back I mentioned how they should reduce it to two styles (that obviously make sense for the characters), but would change up their fighting style so you could adapt, so for instance being able to go from a rushdown, to a style that's more zoner or something to help adapt and utilize ways of countering your weaknesses. While a designated button would switch when idol, you can also have a couple of combos within each style that switch within the combo too have a more smooth transition when you need it, maybe add stamina to prevent spamming switching, so that you actually have to commit for a moment with your decision to switch.
@@jackkawf4449 Yes, I remember that chat. It's basically an upgrade to how Deception did it, cause there, you had specific combos that switched from one style to the other; so basically as fluid as that, but much more creative, cause you have a dedicated button and switch when you want, perhaps with different effects, based on when you switch. Lot of planning and testing involved, but would yield a lot of versatility.
When MK returned to 2D, it should have brought back the layout scheme - High punch, Low punch, High kick, and Low kick. This front punch, back punch, front kick, back kick or 1, 2, 3, 4 is a button scheme that came with Deadly Alliance and I don’t believe it really suits MK. I think MK9-MK1 remake is the closest to capturing the klassic’s essence but it still gives it those 3D vibes IMO. The mechanics should also feel similar to the klassic MK’s too. So if you hit High punch (HP), High punch (Hp), Low punch (LP), the only time that would turn into a string is if you were up close and it landed on hit or block. Otherwise if you did HP, HP, LP, then you would see two High punches, followed by a Low punch. This doesn’t mean you couldn’t add command normals btw, so holding back + High Punch could change the High punch into a unique High punch animation specific to characters. Maybe for example that would be an overhead for Sub-Zero and from there you could decide on framedata, plus, minus, or whatever. I’m torn on what they could do for movement. MK3’s run mechanic really turned a lot of the klassic MK players off but the original MK1 and MK2 are very outdated in terms of movement. I would honestly prefer dashes and I feel like it would be a nice compromise because in MK3-Trilogy, you could only run forward. So a dash mechanic is what I would prefer and maybe that could also be locked to a button? Like if you were playing it on PlayStation, L2 + forward would be forward dash and L2 + back would be back dash. Otherwise you could just use traditional taps, like forward, forward for example. MK has never really had character archetypes like SF. I mean, I guess some characters feel more like “zoners” but at the end of the day. MK has always given characters their specials and normals based on their identity which ends up creating super weak or super powerful characters because a character like Raiden will have teleports, rush down mechanics, and fireballs. However, there has to be a way to balance these characters that have a lot of utility and I believe the way to do that is with health. So, if a character has all these different mechanics with long combos, then they need to have super low health. That’s how you balance them and keep them from being super OP. Fatalities need to go away. I saw someone leave a comment saying that there should only be brutalities and I totally agree with that and they could just be called fatalities because they’re not even traditional brutalities anyways. Brutalities were long combos you would perform in UMK3-Trilogy on the finisher screen and I think it would keep that fatality mechanic fresh without having to sit there through these long fatality animations and NRS could add as many as they wanted and it would all be based on meeting certain requirements. You could even implement stage fatalities in with that too, like performing an uppercut to win the final round in the corner which would launch the other character into a stage fatal. I love the kameos in this new MK but a lot of people really dislike it and I understand but there’s always some kind of gimmick MK adds and I wouldn’t care if it was that or maybe the interactable mechanics we saw with the introduction of the Injustice series. I also just wouldn’t care if the game just returned to more basic mechanics and just had a meter that enhanced specials, gave you a combo breaker, and some kind of super combo or “fatal blow.” I got more ideas but these are like the core mechanics I think a good MK game needs.
Not sure if the HP-LP-HK-LK is that much better of a scheme (and I played MK4 and Trilogy more than any of the others); still seems like one too many attack buttons. I will say this, stubbornly trying to respect that 'back kick' has to come from the actual back foot severely limits you, so we agree that the current scheme is not the best. I always thought you should structure the attack buttons based on distance and timing: close distance/quick startup, mid distance/medium startup, and far-reaching attacks with long startups, like lunging kicks, roundhouses, tail attacks, weapon thrusts, and such. In which case you only really need 3 attack buttons, and can use the 4th one for something else. The run mechanic really depends on how big you want the arena to feel and how dynamic, mobile and expansive you want the fighting to be. If you're going for a more intimate sparring-type setup, then you don't need a run. Personally, I still prefer running, because, whether the game is 2D or 3D, you still experience it in 2 dimensions, visually, so the more you limit what can happen in those 2 dimensions, the more boring it gets. But you can make an argument for no running too, based on the specific mechanics and design philosophy you put in place. I definitely agree with the dedicated dash button. Double-tapping is the most ridiculous, primitive, outdated, inaccurate, error inducing piece of shit input mentality and I would burn it out of existence. Yes, MK characters are all hybrids, to some extent. Very few are strict fighting game archetypes. The health solution is interesting, but could be a Pandora's Box that we might not want to open. I know nerfing things, in general, is bad game dev etiquette, but I can't help but wonder if downgrading Kitana from a zoning-pressure character to just a zoner would be the right call. She's a woman, she has fans, mobility, projectiles, she's a princess, shouldn't sully her hands up close, I think it both fits her character and her gender. One thing we can agree on is you need to look at every character individually, to find the right solution for each. Heey, someone remembers the *actual* OG Brutalities. Kept thinking I was the only one who missed those, silly as they were. The Fatality thing might become its own video, as it's a pretty complex topic. In the context of how Fatals exist today, I'm definitely also leaning towards removing them, but there are problems with that. For one, a big chunk of players do not want them taken out. For another, there's something satisfying about having the final say - a final punch - in a fight. It's tough to explain, but once you've fought tooth and nail and finally come out on top, it's such a powerful, natural thing to lord over your opponent, barely keeping it together yourself, and to have earned that final, coup de grace hit. It's a primal thing. That said, that coup de grace doesn't need to be an overlong gratuitous mini-slasher film. The longer it is, the quicker you get bored of it. I think "Klassic Fatalities", as they're called today, have the right idea. A short decapitation is less gratuitous, less frustrating for the loser, cause it takes less time and doesn't involve snuffing cigars in their esophagus, and would let you have your cake and eat it. Lots more to discuss here, but between your comment and mine, this is a short novel already. Lotta good ideas, in your comment; we think alike, for the most part.
@@CynicalWarlock I wouldn’t mind a 3-button scheme, like a Light, Medium, and Hard button layout you saw in the early Marvel games and Injustice. I’m not sure what that 4th button would be but more than likely a “gimmick” button or dedicated special button. I went with the traditional HP-LP-HK-LK scheme because that’s how MK started and it would keep things very basic and universal considering that’s how MK has always been. Back + HK = Roundhouse, Back+LK = Sweep, Down+HP = uppercut and so fourth. Lol at your comment at double-tapping. I don’t necessarily mind it but it doesn’t make sense for MK because a lot of their specials are doubles taps like forward, forward… so, it definitely causes errors because if you were using Nightwolf for example and you wanted to quickly dash forward and do let’s say a Front kick, well if you didn’t remember to quickly press back and then Front kick to cancel his shoulder charge special, then that special would come out. So double-tapping for dashes in MK can cause a lot of errors and it also adds these extra inputs you have to do in order for something simple to come out. It becomes a nightmare online with lag, especially if you’re trying to keep away with Scorpion for example. Anyways, I could keep going myself but these two main mechanics have seriously bothered me the most with MK. The 3-button scheme is not a bad idea but I guess I’ve always wanted MK to truly return to its roots. It’s selfish of me of course but I just never understood why they changed their layout so much as compared to other fighting games. Like sure SF and Tekken have gone through significant changes but those games still feel like their predecessors and it’s because they never changed their general formula.
He'll yeah, fellow connoisseur.🤝 I played that game voraciously, when I was little. It had all the ingredients of a great fighting game - from good gameplay, to cool characters and lore - which is rare.
@@CynicalWarlock Exactly! Fighting games were cropping up everywhere around that time, and the surplus led to some games getting overlooked. I've always said that if I became a millionaire, I've got several games that I would revive, Last Bronx being one of them.
@@vincentshadetree Same. Final Fantasy 7 gets a damn remake every few years; Last Bronx deserves one (more of a remake/remaster, really; a remakester), to bring people up to speed with it, and then a sequel.
You could say.... Have the Great Kung Lao train up to fight in the Mortal Kombat Tournament, have him beat Shang Tsung as your first battle and spend the rest of Story Mode marching towards the inevitable death at the hands of Goro. You know, like MK11 initially teased instead of remaking the entire universe and making MK a multiverse story.
I would like them to make games more stylized like mk9, I know people like more realistic sterile look, but I personally love when mk has this campy cartoony colorful vibe
@@CynicalWarlock realism definitely makes everything more generic, funnily enough Id say that cartoony artstyle makes the world of mk feel more believable and creepy
@@HighPriestOfChaos25 It's a delicate balance to strike, and a fascinating topic. Mortal Kombat made a name for itself by being more "real-looking" than its competitors, so you have to keep that, to some extent, but you can clearly go overboard, as mk11 and mk12 have shown.
One major idea that I think would be very fulfilling to see done again would be the "tower" mode that was present in street fighter 4. In this mode you would choose a character like let's say Sagat for this example. From then you would get a short cinematic detailing the characters motivation and arc, so for this example if you chose Sagat you go a cut scene detailing the shame that was imbued onto him after his crippling defeat to Ryu leaving him with his iconic chest scar. He wants to train at his absolute hardest to get his revenge but becomes burdened with a seeking to find a life outside of fighting. Then you had a few normal fights against some opponents and mixed in a fun mini game before having a fight against your characters opponent. For Sagat that was Ryu and instead of the usual introduction he had in the previous fights you get unique dialogue between the two characters revolving around the arc that was presented in the beginning. This was then followed by a huge boss battle which I would personally eliminate and just make the rival battle the final boss. Then you get a short cutscene that would wrap up the short story or tease a future developed arc. For Sagat he found meaning outside of fighting and began to appreciate life as it was instead of being consumed by revenge. Something like this would be phenomenal for characters not prominently featured and release tension on the plot by fleshing out characters outside of the main story. Another thing that might be unpopular is to make the design of Mortal Kombat more cartoonish. Characters should be unique and feel like something you know you shouldn't see in real life in a game as over the top as Mortal Kombat is. My biggest grip with MK1 and MK11 was the design of characters felt generic and plain. Kenshi, Johnny Cage, and Raiden all looked like they have the same father and only were told apart by clothing. Compare this to MK9 or the 3D era where every character felt unique and had very unrealistic aspects that included bright and visually appeasing colors.
Exactly what I've been suggesting. Make the standard arcade run into these personal mini-stories, unique to each character, that all add to this grand jigsaw puzzle of a story, that you only completely understand after you play as each character and see who defeats who, who's stopped by who, why, and how. Heck Last Bronx - a near-30-year-old game - had this. Agree on the cartoonish point too. Raiden and Lao already have the problem of both wearing large round hats, so it makes distinguishing them through aesthetics and art style that much more important. Also important to not projectile-vomit your lunch, because Fatalities look way too real for comfort.
You know what would be brilliant? If they made Motor kombat into an actual racing game, the game mode itself in Armageddon seem so half-baked as a concept, but it's a great idea As for the fighting styles, in deadly Alliance, deception, and Armageddon, I think they were handled greatly, I do wish some of the fighting styles were more character accurate
Yeah, just collaborate with the makers of Burnout Paradise or something. If it were me, I'd put some effort into all these minigames, so I could then release them all as standalone versions you can buy for cheap, if they become popular enough. Even if you think the fighting styles were great, I think we can both agree that they can be made even better.
12:01 true like even SF6 has got me with all their characters just because of WT mode and their individual character story modes ... I honestly have an emotional connection with all the characters... It's beautiful how Capcom captured their personality's sooo beautifully... Cammy being cat crazy, Juri texting you mean texts, Ryu getting training from you on how to use his Smart phone, Manon flirting with you it's honestly perfection.
Exactly this. It might seem silly to some people, but the effect it has on the player can't be understated. And it's that much more criminal, cause Mortal Kombat characters are that much more colorful and out there, yet they've done precious little with their personalities.
@@CynicalWarlock like I'm seriously stressing as I hope we get to transfer our SF6 Avatars over to SF7 some day cause even my Avatar has me hooked I love him like crazy.
I don't get how the 2.5d fighting games don't introduce a side step, automatically followed by a return on your line. You can dodge a projectile, or frontal attack by stepping into the background for a few frames and popping back on the fighting line. Then you could have things like hooks or roundhouse kicks that can hit you when you are 'sidestepping'. Also when you dodge this way, you can counter your opponent. When the opponent does only hooks and roundhouses you could have a fast jab into a combo... It would just add an extra layer to the mechanics... Or is it just me in my ADHD head 🥸
Your ADHD head is on point. All roads lead back to 3D. In a real fight, you just sidestep a projectile, you don't bother to return to the same spot, so you can just make it fully 3-dimensional. This is something I've changed my stance on, cause I love 2D fighting and found Deception to be a tad cumbersome, but the only problem the 3D era games had was they gave too much freedom of movement in a plane where, realistically, not much of anything happened. You'd just use that dimension to do what we're talking about now: dodge projectiles. The only other use for the 3D arena was to make use of death traps. You can have both of those back, while keeping the clean, pristine aspect of the mostly 2D fighting.
I think MK: Mythologies should be an ongoing series, each game with a different protagonist. In an age where indie games are booming and low-budget high-yield side scrollers are plentiful, I don't get why that's not a thing.
I think it's almost time for it, yes. The 2D fighting with 3D environments was a lifesaver, back when they released MK9, but it's slowly getting stale.
Checked Fatal Fury 2 out. The line shift idea is a cool way to do it; don't quite understand the ins and outs yet, but having 2 separate 'lanes' is pretty interesting. The game also has feints, which is another thing I love, and that old games like Last Bronx had. It not only adds a different dimension to the gameplay, but it's also something you actually do in real fighting, quite a bit.
At this rate I don't care about the story but I do have some things If we were to change timelines...again...to a mostly pre-armaggeddon one... There is one NRS character in particular I think could do well. Takeda. I don't really care about Cassie, Jacqui doesn't HAVE a character, and while I do like Kung Jin they also don't have him doing anything, so he should go, he's just dead weight. (Why yes that was a DMC 5 reference.) I just want to see Takeda do something, ANYTHING important. As for gameplay mechanics, I do like the kameo system but tag team would be better. I envision sort of a half and half kameo/tag team option, kinda like UMVC 3, where just tapping the button does an assist, maybe directionals give different assists too, but holding the button switches out characters. But as a SEPERATE GAME MODE. Cut Invasions, give us Konquest back. I think implementing the systems in MK11's Krypt into a new Konquest mode would be fuckin sick. I like how MK1's arcade endings all form one long story which is just an epilogue to the MK1 we cared more about, so I say we continue doing that. Make them all fit with each other and form the building blocks for the next story, y'know? I think brutalities should remain a thing, maybe if we do a tag team mode like I suggessted, we can have team fatalities? Might be super ambitious, but this is my IDEAL MK game after all. I definetly don't think Krushing Blows should ever be implemented ever again. They felt far too random for my liking, and honestly the only character who did anything kinda cool with it was Spawn. There's a reason he's my main in 11. And on customization...some people like skins, some people like gear. I like the idea of the customizable gear pieces but I hate the augment and gameplay shit put on them. So I say...just give us a character customizer like Tekken. Give us preset costumes for each character, then give us the OPTION to make a custom variation. With a lot of its own customization options. AND DON'T MAKE ANY OF THEM PAID. Maybe currency gained in Konquest mode by PLAYING THE GAME can be used to buy customization options or smth. Just don't let me buy customizer options with real money. I still don't like that Tekken's doing the Tekken Shop rn but it's still sadly better than MK1's.
Poor Nero really was dead weight in that fight.. Funnily enough, when I first saw the trailer for MK1, I thought they were actually doing the team fatalities thing, or at least fatal blows. I like crushing blows as a visual effect; I think you might be able to rework them and make them fit somehow. Spawn's the only DLC character I ever bought, but alas, didn't dedicate enough time to master him, at that point. My main was Jax, and his crushing blows were actually part of what made him satisfying to play, for me. If we're going back to a pre-Armageddon timeline, the kombat kids wouldn't be born though, no? Agree with most of the other suggestions.
@@CynicalWarlock Yeah ik they wouldn't have been born, and it sucks because Takeda is genuinely already such an interesting character. Ever since I got Tekken 8, the only thing giving me any semblance of hope for MK1 is Takeda being good. And because Kenshi and Scorpion are both alive, both doing their things, I think they could make Takeda work. But he's the ONLY ONE that I see working.
I mean think about some of the cool story details they could have. Like sure, he would still be trained by Hanzo, but Ermac and Kenshi were buddies too. What if Takeda had a story or plot thread about Ermac teaching him how to use telekinesis or something. Stuff like that would be cool.
@@carbinecryo30716 The Ermac-Kenshi-Takeda combo is something I've been raving about for a while (mostly in my own head, so far). There's a *lot* of story potential there. I actually think you could revamp the Kombat Kids, as a whole, albeit with some pretty drastic changes. Which may or may not be another video, in the works.
@@CynicalWarlock I will be happy to watch, good sir. Honestly your videos have been great, I just stumbled onto your power system vid and since then stuck around. You're great.
Ok hear me out on this, a Mortal Kombat game where WE are a part of the story (like Lego DC Supervillains or SF6), we're just some random shmuck who gets roped into this, we can design our character, change moves and fighting styles etc, ofc in the story we'll play as more than just our character, to make it interesting have a choice system, you can side with different characters throughout the story and get different powers as a result, like if you side with the good guys Liu Kang teaches you his flying kick or if you side with the bad guys, Shang Tsung teaches you dark magic moves, the ending will be decided by the choices we make throughout, it sounds generic but sometimes people like stories like that (I know I do) lol
They already made such a character. His name is Shujinko. Goes through the exact beats you described. And it was a brilliant way to do it too, because he wasn't a generic custom character - they integrated him into the story and the roster. Only problem is they discarded him afterwards, cause he wasn't popular enough, I guess, which is a shame.
@@CynicalWarlock Oh yeah Shujinko! Yeah I never understood why he wasn't used more, I thought his powers were cool asf, the latest we've seen from him is that he's a Kameo in MK1
@@narindraramdial8318 Yeah, I think they adopted the mentality you described a little too much, whereby they literally just pegged Shujinko as a vessel for the player, and nothing else. Which is a shame, cause they actually created a cool character in the process, in my opinion.
Here's an idea I have for a story mode : As soon as player hits enter in story mode they are met with a canvus with the available roster of the game and they have to choose who they want to play in the game, they have a starting point and every starting point is different for example: Bi-Han's could begin at his childhood but Johnny's starts in a Hollywood set and the player has to play them for the rest of the game and to keep it consistent and interconnected for example: Let's say the player was playing Scorpion and in one of the fights they bested Baraka, when you play Baraka's story mode it cuts to a cutscene of him getting defeated making it canonical that he was defeated by Scorpion instead of it being a fight , and if a character dies Let's say for example: Shao Kahn in his story mode kills Johnny Cage in his that would be the end it would be a tragic moment for him and would be a cutscene . Plus not only does the player have to fight the roster but also NPCs as well. I would personally want a full story cutscene for everyone in story mode but that would be too ambitious, they could do it like MK Onslaught but only this time giving cutscenes to important moments. By doing the story mode like this it makes everyone playable instead of being a jobber, everyone has a win and a lose, powerlevel is consistent and we get to develop the character as now they are the hero of their own story and everyone else is a supporting cast member everyone has a different opponent and everyone has a different perspective plus playing with characters perspectives would be interesting Let's another character beliefs another fight went differently, just imagine playing as Havik and understanding his way of things or freaking Mokap. I'd also like to have the villain of the game get their own story mode once you finish the game, wouldn't it be awesome to play as Onaga and actually empathize with his struggles and being defeated, just saying it's an idea I really love.
This is very possible.. ..in about 50 years. It's an ungodly amount of work that's just not feasible with current technologies and manpower. But yes, I've often thought of this kind of a game, even as a kid. It is the dream.
@@Redactedlad Well you can do a 'budget' version of that - which is what I keep harping on about - whereby you have, let's say a tournament, to keep things easy - and every combatant has a predetermined path; if not all the opponents you face in the arcade tower or story mode (which are the same thing, here), then at least the final boss is custom-tailored to the character you chose, and you get to see how that character's story ends. Thus, you get this grand tapestry of little story arcs, that all add up to the big, overarching story arc. That one is doable. It's bloody difficult, but it's doable.
Honestly the story should (In my opinion) should be more like street fighter 6. Where nothing is majorly going on in a way that needs everyone to unite. Instead give everyone a canon tower option with pre determined fighters that in between have either text or cutscence that explain whats going on with said character. Kinda like a MK tower mixed with the S.T.A.R labs injustice mode where each character is doing their own thing. You can even include mini games instead of a fight in certain towers like S.T.A.R labs does. And you can still have those movie level cut scenes if you want
It could be as simple as that, yes. Even sleeker to have an actual, you know, tournament. Then it's easy to structure everyone's story around the fights they have to partake in.
I personally don’t like the variation system as someone that competed. I prefer a whole movelist like MK9 had. People weren’t using all of the variations like they kept saying they were back in MKX. They only used what they felt made them stronger.
They weren't using all of them because some of them were badly designed and balanced, and because of the nature of competitive play, you only have so much time to figure out the most broken variations - soon as a few were figured out, everyone gravitated towards them. The potential of some of them was discovered way later, during the game's second online resurgence. I definitely agree that it wasn't perfect - nor could it have been, it was the first iteration - but I firmly believe they could greatly improve the system, if they chose to.
Great video! Probably they need to first fix their stiff gameplay mechanics and trampoline floor bouncing..and having fewer but deeper characters is a great point! I would also prefer zero guest characters and less gore (as it gets more realistic..) but not many will agree with me on that..
I don't really have much to add to the conversation besides agreeing with the other modes bit. It's why I loved Deception and Armageddon so much looking back. Yeah, these other modes of course weren't the main point or anything, but the love people have for them and all the fond memories speaks for itself, it's honestly surprising it hasn't made a comeback yet. Also if I'm being honest my ideal Mortal Kombat game would be a Shaolin Monks sequel but at this point who knows if that's happening. They finally made a spin-off that wasn't shit and that was the last of it...
At one point I even had a silly idea for a Shaolin Monks-esque game based off of Kotal's ending in MKX. Blah blah defending Outworld against Earthrealm blah blah call it "Mortal Kombat: Outworlders" and make the protagonists Reptile and Erron mostly because of the irony that Erron is from Eathrealm and Zaterrans are originally from Earthrealm, too. Aaaand then they reset the timeline again so my fantasizing died!
@@brewstin I mean.. insta-like for the Reptile-Erron pairing. The idea of 2 Earthrealmers defending Outworld is genius; never realized it before. Regarding the alternate game modes and minigames, I always go back to the Witcher 3 example - it featured this trading card battler minigame that they included, last minute, as some throwaway extra content, and it became so popular that people literally asked them to make a proper standalone version of it, which they did, and made a ton of money from it. And it's the kind of industriousness and attention to the fans that NRS/WB don't seem to have, sadly.
I think i wanna give this rambling business a shot too so here we go The 3d movement idea is spot on, refreshing gameplay like that instantly gives any fighting game so much more replay value, plus it’ll definitely be a change up for mk specifically. No more whiffing a punch then watching the same 200% 40 second optimal combo you’ve seen 90 elderzillion times already CUSTOMIZATION, mk11, (despite having dat red sub zero skin) had the best customization in mk history imo, mainly because of how much and how specific you can customize). There would need to be some remnants of mk11 customization in this fantasy mk game No kameos simple.. (or incorporate it within the tag team system) Better, more ominous music and ominous vibe. mk1 without a doubt feels lost its authentic, sorceric, retroic, mortal kombaty aura. They should Darken the interface/ui (the pause menu, main menu, health bars, etc) and reimburse us with more mortal kombat-esque music. Darken the screen for brutalities too and MAKE THEM MORE BRUTAL AND SUDDEN, half the brutalities in mk1 are just *oop, character kick and oppenent explode 🤑🤑*, we need to see guts being extradited viciously. this whole screen zooming out with a deafening stagelight nonsense kind of ruins the authenticity of the brutal, if that makes sense, and the little dun dun dun sound cue that plays should be exactly like the one from mkx, it was loud sudden kind of funny, and fitting for causing your opponent to spontaneously combust by unleashing a nefarious fart on their face.. Make attack speed faster 👿 the attempts at better photorealism in mk1 just didn’t work; the attacks are slower, and lazier, and uglier, and not swaggy enough. Theres no cadence in the attacks except for a few characters like liu i suppose Kharacters: just add some fan favorites that arent staples in the roster and everyone is happy. (Reptile, goro, erron black, kano, etc.)
Rambling acquired. Retaliation commencing.. I'm all for some customization, as long as you limit it to things like intros, victories, belts, greaves, weapons, jewelry and the like. Changing a character's - especially a ninja's - color/visual identity is a no-no, for me. Big yes on the ominous music/vibe. People underestimate how much this shit matters. I picture you giving that impassioned brutality speech in front of a boardroom of WB execs, saying "we need more blood, damn it!". And them applauding, of course. Of course, +1 on the animations bit; I ramble about that quite a bit. Also, "elderzillion times" is good. Might use it.
God, someone gets it. Back in the day(like I'm that old grandpops) in mk3, brutalities were a violent onslaught hard, rapid attacks that blew the opponent up
@@CynicalWarlock fairplay on the customization, if we’re at least able to change intros outros and accessories again then thats a W in my books About the music thats too true, in any game for that matter people almost always underlook the sound design 💀 I’ve always and will always be of the essence that sound design/soundtracks can make or break a game. I even have a playlist dedicated for pure soundtracks And yes, 100%, MORE BLOOD IS REQUIRED EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY
Mk9 and x was back in the day for me ngl 😂 for me the equivalent of that type of brutal would be johnnys punch flurry in x, that shit was so simple but so sweet and swaggy
Very cool ideas. Agree on fighting styles, konquest mode, all the stuff that made deception so amazing - they should take all that stuff to the next level. If they want to keep it a 2D fighter, then introduce a counter hit system and fireball clashing. Love your ideas though! Would be sick actually. And keep the combo and personal flare of MKX like summoner Quan and Dualist Liu Kang
Hell yeah, I'm an MKX fanboy, all the way. Variations deserved to be improved, not discarded. Fireball clashing is a cool idea, and yeah, some kind of deeper counterplay is what I'm getting at, with this video. I think it would revitalize MK.
MK11 did the tower concept well with the Character towers, 1st time you complete it the final boss is Kronika, you are given the standard arcade ending and rewarded with gear pieces. You could then continue the character tower for extra rewards while also getting an additional story in the tower description which usually are based on events in the game story mode & loose ends in terms of their rivals.
For me gameplay would be like mk1, mk9, and mk armageddon have the modes from mk9 and armageddon roster would be armageddon with more characters including dlc as well and adding new dlcs but its all crossovers like doomslayer, modern kratos, marcus fennix, Ghostface, Michael Myers, and sweet tooth for dlcs also for kameos we will have atreus, jd fennix, doom demons, ghostface, black noir, invincible characters, vigilante, and clown, in terms of reward modes we will bring back krypt and invasions Edit: maybe add z axis aka sidestepping, and stage transitions also add all types of finishers i also think they should add mk armageddon minigames as well as a rpg mode gameplay will be like dragons dogma and kingdoms of amalur but more bloody and gory also the other dlc is past and newer dlc characters also one of the dlc themes of dlc since every mortal kombat game has themed guests should be anime and manga themed for example guts from berserk maybe add game characters as well like jacket from hotline miami and maybe add various versions of characters as skins like original havik and then dairou havik or hanzo scorpion then kuai liang scorpion so many possibilities maybe add black noir as a kameo as well and more violent characters like john wick or b from berzerker aka keanu reaves comic book series about a immortal super soldier who wants to stop being immortal maybe add scrapped and myth characters like Ash Williams, zebron, pedro, Nimbus Terrafaux, khrome, hornbuckle as a alternate liu kang skin, Belokk, aqua, and t wrecks
That's way too many characters to feasibly deliver. You'd probably start with half of Armageddon's roster, and add as much as you could through DLC. Decent RPG suggestions - basically make it hack and slash-y; fits well with MK.
@CynicalWarlock oh wait I had a better idea add canon characters as dlc through story dlc and turn copy characters like Jarek and tsu Hao into skins and mortal kombat can turn this into a tsuedo live service game and add crossovers as kombat packs with scrapped and myth characters
I'd seriously much rather they go the Injustice route with their gameplay. Weirdly enough, Injustice has a lot of elements from classic and 3D era MK games, that being stage transitions and character powers (similar to fighting stances in the 3D era). The fact that both Injustice games had stage transitions, but not the last THREE MK entries is absurd. Stage transitions was always there since the original trilogy games, so to see it not make at least one comeback is ridiculous imo. Also character powers from the Injustice series is somewhat of a better approach than fighting stance from the 3D era games. I think it would give every character their own flair, and uniqueness, especially with how versatile characters are in MK lore. Johnny, for example, in MK1 has his Star Power buff and I'm pretty sure he's the only one on the roster to have a move like that in the game. Considering that MK1 apparently is a scrapped build of Injustice 3, it could've added a lot depth to the roster if characters had a good stance/character power to use. Like imagine giving Scorpion a hellfire/ninjutsu stance to accompany his base moves. Injustice, despite its flaws, had a solid foundation in terms of its gameplay and depth that MK could learn from, even though it's literally made by the same studio. If they incorporated other small mechanics like push block, and meter burn dash it would put more layers on the game. That accompanied with variations (although, not sure with character power if it were added), and a unique Konquest/story mode and we would have a really good MK entry.
Thought you were about to mention everything I hate about Injustice, but I ended up loving your comment. Agree with pretty much everything. Good job pointing the irony of the stage transitions surviving only in Injustice; that's bizarre. The unique character powers are something I actually touched on in another video, as a solution to the current Fatal Blow snoozefest, so I'm in full agreement there. Fatal Blows/Supers/X-Rays don't all need to be the same super-armored, long-reaching 30% damage attack; that's so dull. Making them unique to each character would bring a lot of depth of gameplay and strategy. Auras, utilities, temporary teleports, improved frame data, armor - the sky's the limit. Another thing I just realized is I often talk about how Injustice was NRS' testing ground for features to then port over to MK games, yet they seem to not have learned what they should have, from it.
honestly it'd be best if some characters only had weapon styles(not including firearms) and others only had fighting styles that were also elemental since it is still Mortal Kombat
Yeah, tough thing to balance out, when Kenshi has a Katana and Johnny has pimples, but I think the accessories idea could work, like Batman or Wonder Woman-style bracers, or sword guards.
I think Motor Kombat had a ton of potential to be spun off into its own franchise that was never explored. I still have fons memories of that minigame.
That goes for most mini-games. Chess Kombat, Puzzle Kombat, all of these had potential. And there is now precedent for this - CDPR turned Gwent (a throwaway mini-game from The Witcher 3, made in a couple days) into a standalone game that made quite a bit of money.
Hear me out, a Konquest mode for each character. A mini story the players can play with each character where they have their missions and their stories intertwine leading up to or after the events of a main MK story. Kinda like the DLC stories from Batman: Arkham Knight.
I love that idea (and Arkham Knight), but I think it's only possible if those *are* the main story. Unlike Arkham Knight's 4-5 playable characters, there are 20-30 characters in your average MK roster to make mini-Konquests for, so that's a huge undertaking. So you either make that the story that you assemble, like a jigsaw puzzle - which (mostly) I would personally love, and would incentivize players to pick up the whole cast - or you have a traditional main story mode and then, similar to Arkham Knight, you just pick 4-5 characters to do this kind of a DLC for; characters that don't get any screen time in the main story.
You know, there is an actual tier list on Tier List Template where you can describe your perfect Mortal Kombat game by stating which 2 things each main series fighting game did better than all its other features. It would be interesting to see you and other people turn this into videos.
An MK battle royal would be cool. Add in the side stepping and weapons and it could work hella well. Each win gives you an in game currency that you can use to buy cosmetic customization items for any chosen fighter. The game would keep a record of wins and loses so during a 5 minute waiting period before you spawn in on the location you selected, you can check other characters stats, equipment, and chosen character. After a hundred win, you get a special key that lets you open a mini private BR match, consisting of you and/or a group of friends if you don't want to do it alone, fighting against AI fighters. You win, you get more than the 100x the usual currency amount, a pool of player created cosmetic items and a player created finisher that targets a specific body part on an opponent, allowing for a permanent loss of limb to any player you use it on. Players with lose limbs can get a material specific prosthetic in it's place, able to heal the lost arm back into existence if they can defeat the person who took took it in the first place.
I completely agree with you on so many of these points. The only thing I'd add is minimizing the "character customization" focus that a lot of the unlockables have. Like, to your point, there used to be so many things you could unlock. Art, lore, alternate costumes, funny bits, etc. But now it feels like a lot of that real estate is taken up by character customization options which.......look, I know people want to make THEIR Scorpion unique or whatever, but I'm genuinely so irked by a lot of the instagram videos I see where characters don't even obey any specific color pallete anymore. I know people want versatility with characters, especially as they try to use them semi-competitively, but these characters should have identities right? Why do I keep seeing RED-ORANGE Sub-Zeros...it's a petty thing I know. But I feel like NRS is hyper aware of their games lifespan *in the context of competitive gaming*, and I think when they're too focused on that element, the rest of the game starts shrinking to accommodate it. And I've talked in the comments on previous videos of yours of my general disdain for Deception, BUT, I completely agree that what the games are missing these days are bigger swings for extended storytelling. The arcade tower plot focus is a genius way to accommodate that, and I think another genuine stab at Deceptions Conquest style mode would do WONDERS for all three K's you list in the video. I think the only point of caution there is that, with the semi-expected size and scale of games these days, maybe that's its own game? Also would love your Shaolin Monks opinion because I think that's one of the best games in the series that lends itself to what I think 'we' are all looking for in the story expansion. Idk. Many thoughts about it all. As always, I love the MK conversations you kick up and the ways you lay out your ideas. I appreciate you.
No, it's not a petty thing at all. This stupid brand of customization makes the characters lose their visual identities. Ranton has a great.. well rant.. on this, in his MK11 review: "If the visual identity of Sub-Zero can be anything, then it's nothing". And I wholeheartedly agree. Turning these characters into free-build Legos ruins half of the experience, cause half of the experience is what you see. It's that much more criminal, considering how unique and impactful MK's overall aesthetic is, with the ninjas, sorcerers, cyborgs, gods and emperors and such. It's not *that* big a problem in most other fighting games, cause most other fighting games have (no offense to them) somewhat generic archetypes - the kung fu guy, the fat guy, the dude who dipped his hair in too much styling gel etc. But MK is different. I remember your disdain for Deception, and it's not completely unfounded; they did throw one too many kitchen sinks around to see what sticks. I can't even take full credit for the arcade tower plot idea, cause that's more or less how Last Bronx handled its arcade runs. Your final boss wasn't the same generically bad guy, it was one of the other playable characters that your character had beef with, or some kind of meaningful relationship. And that game is almost 30 years old. And you mention something important: whether or not these konquests and stories and extra game modes have grown too big to be attached to these games. I think that's an interesting - and necessary - discussion to have. At some point, the fighting game ceases to be about fighting, and the argument to just make spinoff games in different genres that complement the fighting game becomes increasingly valid. Glad you enjoyed the video. I also enjoy your well thought out responses. Cheers, Joshua.
My opinion : + Original Trilogy Athmosphere + 3D Era games Story/Lore + MK9 Roster/Costumes/Concept + MKX gameplay + MK Shaolin Monks style Konquest Mode + Kreate A Fighter = the perfect MK game
Would be amazing to get an MK: Shaolin monks game that plays similar to helldivers 2, where you have choices of the MK roster of characters and are teleported to the realms to do missions. It’d be online multiplayer, with players deploying in teams, but they use their powers instead of guns. Considering the variety of denizens in all the realms, you have diversity in enemies similar to the helldivers series.
That's actually a cool idea. Don't even have to make it a shooter, but just the team-picking aspect would be dope, and have all sorts of combo attacks, between the various party members, based on who you pick.
@@CynicalWarlock I can totally see Kung Lao and Liu Kang doing a combo move where Kung Lao aim’s and throws his hat and Liu spins a fire dragon around it as an AOE move.
THANK YOU! Im getting sick of the normal story mode for the very reason of it taking away from the smaller scale story telling that 3D Era MK used to have. Small scale stories thrkugh towers and stuff is such a great ideas
They'll have to eventually do something like that. Sooner or later, these games will become too big for their own good, to the point where they'll have to separate the story modes and adventure modes from the main game and release them as standalone, cause it's just too much to prep for one release. That's when we'll probably see them go back to smaller-scale storytelling, like in the past.
Hara-kiris were such a cool addition to me, I want them back. Animalities can also be added for some shits and giggles, though I don't know how that would work for some specific characters (Reptile, Kotal mostly)
Hey should take time off from MK to work the next one up and if they wanna go ahead with the alternate timelines thing for a while then hey why not have the main story be one timeline then have a deception style Konquest from another timeline then have a fully interactive Krypt that takes place in another timeline maybe even having a deeper like scavenger hunt mechanic where you collect the lore of that timeline and maybe even trigger cutscenes or interactions by some specific means and then the arcade towers could be one more more separate interlocking series of stories from one or more alternate timelines and maybe even have another form of some kind of separate timeline immersion I mean that's literally what the MK legends animated movies are flimg and its kinda totally gire but its not enough
Multiverse migraines aside, I did suggest something similar, in another video. You could have story DLCs that center on an alternate version of Johnny or Sub, kinda like how Joaquin Phoenix's Joker is in a completely distinct universe from Robert Pattinson's Batman. Having every single game mode be a different universe might be too much or too confusing, but some degree of this would definitely be useful.
Ever since MK9, I've thought that the game's story mode was the worst place to portray said story. Given the conplexity and large number of characters i think it would be beneficial to mostly leavw the story put of the games and have a conpanion movie or animated series depicting the canon story for each game. Not only does this allow for more time and better writing, but it adds more media to make more money off of.
This. I think spinoff/action-adventure games that are naturally more story-focused would be a game-changer. And you could still add to it through the arcade endings, like little puzzle pieces that fill in the gaps of the story and lore. There's so much you can do with that.
I'd add one more pillar with "General Variety" but that would ruing the racist joke. But what I mean is like with customization parts and features as well as mini-games and and interactive krypt which is something that I spent so much time in since it's inception I was so young getting jump scared in Deadly Alliance Krypt
well since you asked & i have some time to spare. General design philosophies for NRS: - My number 1 request above all else is for NRS to realize that decision making & options are what make fighting games fun and should prioritize making that their top philosophy. I know it's easier said than done & ill get to it when i talk abt gameplay, but generally speaking FG's are at their best when the system & mechanics make you think about what action you need to take in order to win a match which feeds into creativity & player expression. It's why speed & variations are so beloved. Speed forced you to make decisions quicker and Variations changed up how you and the opponent play. Good devs know how to ingrain this into their games & it seems NRS either forgot or just doesn't know that that's what makes their games fun. - If you're gonna have a 2 year development cycle, there's literally no reason why NRS shouldn't reuse assets from previous games, specifically combo strings, specials, or the variations. Make characters have complete movesets; not only is it a good time saver for development it also gives players more options by the simple fact that you have more moves and strings at your disposal. Even if they want to reinvent their games to give each one their own unique identity, it's still smart to keep stuff from previous games while also balancing them to fit the new game's system & mechanics. SF & Tekken have been doing this since the 90s so there's no reason NRS can't do the same. - Stop the 2 year cycle. So much of NRS's problems on release as well as the presentation & system mechanics could be fixed if they just gave themselves more than 2 years to develop their games and flesh all that stuff out more. now for the nitty gritty. Gameplay (not rly reserved for one game, just stuff I would like to see in future games/MK1): - Punish counter states. I would honestly be fine if they copied SF6 counter state where depending on how you punish your opponent it gives you different properties like an air juggle state for anti-air counters, dmg buff, depleting your opponent's meter, etc. You can even make it flashy by utilizing the krushing blow x ray zoom ins from MK11. - Multiple meters/supers. Not only would this solve the issue of long x-rays/fatal blows but also give us more visual & gameplay variety & could honestly be enough to be the new system for a future MK. Either make it so that you can choose your own super/x-rays similar to SF3 where instead of a cinematic you just get a powered up move that can also have multiple bars or you have the traditional 3 bars of super where lvl 3 super gives you the same old cinematic fatal blows while the ex bars have their own meter like SF6. - 1st hit bonus. It was cool and promoted aggressive decision making, not to mention a good high risk high reward subtle comeback mechanic if you lost the first round. - Push Block. As of me writing this comment the mk1 ermac trailer came out & it seems like we might be getting push block or a version of it in MK1 however nothing is confirmed yet so we'll see but if it is a system wide change then it's honestly what I want pushblock to be like, though maybe not full screen like in the trailer but something more traditional like mid screen in Marvel. - Kustom Kombos. Literally the custom combos from SF Alpha where each special move/normal is cancellable into each other or a big speed increase that makes you plus on everything you spam one normal over and over and over for a limited amount of time. It can either be it's own separate meter from the x-ray bar or just completely replace it & if you finish someone with it the opponent explodes like in the og games & counts as a fatality. You can even be cheeky with it & call it "Dial-A-Kombos". Would like to see one MK game attempt this Presentation: - Make MK music Techno again for the love of god please i cant stand generic cinematic synth movie ost anymore. - Bring back the animated/cartoony side of MK back. I know MK prides itself on being the "realistic" fighting game but I don't play MK for the realism, especially when that realism is being outdone by Tekken and Street Fighter nowadays. Hell I wouldn't mind if they stole the designs and artstyle from the animated movies. I know they're hit or miss but some of those designs look genuinely cool and would be sick to have as part of the mainline MK games. They made Kobra look cool somehow. - For the love of god please fix your animations NRS holy shit how has a company with these giant ass budgets not fixed a core problem especially a FIGHTING GAME dev. From what I can tell from ppl who actually animate shit for a living, the reason MK animations look like ass is bc NRS for some reason does not stretch their models during movement. Meaning they don't bend the character models so that they can easily animate into the next desired pose. It's why characters switch where their body faces whenever they switch sides, bc NRS refuses to bend the body so that it can face the camera's pov. there's more stuff i can talk about but its getting late and i want to go to bed. hopefully WB doesn't crash and burn and takes MK with it so that we can maybe see one of these things added in.
A lot of features to digest, particularly on the gameplay side, but I ended up agreeing with a big chunk of it. There are plenty of issues with the animations, of which that lack of bending the models that you mentioned is the central issue. Touched on them in another video. Stretching the models a little beyond their natural limits, conveying momentum, properly conveying speed, not moving with the body/center of gravity - NRS animations get all of these things wrong. Push block, 1st hit bonus, multiple meters - all this stuff is key. Most importantly, you understand the general philosophy that makes, not just fighting games, but games in general engaging, deep and fun to play is optionality. Having multiple solutions to the same problem, which allows for both flexibility and player expression and creativity. The speed thing is key too, and very counterintuitive, cause you'd think slowing the speed would make it less about guessing and more about skill, yet all it does is lower the overall skill ceiling and detrains your reaction times and overall decision-making skills. The correct option becomes obvious and singular, instead of you reflecting after a wrong, split-second decision and realizing there was a better option and improving your reaction time and game sense, over time. Great comment, good list of features. Thanks for sharing. Nighty-night.
Something else I’d add to the concept of immediately switching to a weapon stance being completely unnecessary is the fact that some of these characters don’t even NEED weapons. Ermac with a giant battle axe, Sonya with a “wind blade” and kali sticks, Rain with a wizard staff, a generic sword, or a fucking pair of katars.
I'm late to the party with my hot take, but turning Johnny into a sorta meta guy in MK11 and MK1 was a mistake. He's an actor, yes, but are all these cameras, props, boom mics and stunt doubles (the literal MK11 ones, not the variation) really necessary? In MK9 he says "I am the special effects", but in MK11 he suddenly drags an entire movie set around.
@@MaxBaik Yes! You are one of the few who share this sentiment. Most people want Johnny to remain the MCU joke machine that he is, which diminishes his character and potential, in my opinion. He should definitely be a funny guy, but crossing over into too much meta territory makes him annoying and a bit superficial. MKX offered a snippet into how he could grow, as a character.
For the most part, your idea is very ideal. For the style change, maybe have it that each kharacter has at least 3 styles and you can choose 2 pre match. Each style may focus on different archetypes like rushdown, grappler and zoning for Liu Kang. And add Motor Kombat.
I forgot to mention that sidestepping would have a reasonable cooldown attached to it, so you can't spam it. That or it could be a resource you build, just like bar.
Id say gameplay like mkx, but a better defense system. Id say taking the degense bar from 11, but keeping the bar from x for enhanced attacks.) I enjoyed the variation system in x, but if we cant have that, then the default moveset is fine. And please for the love of god, we need the classic skins. They should ALWAYS be there. And we need them done right. Not watered down like mk1(2). The story? I think it should remaster the original timeline. If they want to do this multiverese crap, at the very least, they should include that. Theres more id like to add, but this comment is already as long as is. (I actually forgot all I had to say)
Long, he says.. You clearly haven't seen some of the other comments I get. Interesting idea to port the defense bar over from 11; I don't much like self-regenerating bars (essentially mmo-style cooldowns), but I suppose you could work it in, somehow.
I feel like MK today missed some key features, monsters or creature designs, dark thematic maps like the Old School way with Stage Fatalities, Brutality ( The OG version just like Killer Instinct now. ) Anaand return to his dark roots, story, realms, Mortal Kombat in a serious mature form and no more guest Kombatants like Super Heroes bullshit. ( Instead of keeping the Slasher gore themed formula, I'm starting to think Midway era was the golden era of MK in every way possible, before Netherrealm bullshit. ) I guess the mastermind of MK was actually not Ed Boon, it was John Tobias since his departure kinda messed up MK original universe.
Yeah we all kind of knew that. I'd say that the 2 of them together were what made this whole thing work as well as it did. Tobias is a great lore master, while Boon is a great business and hype guy. Can't have one without the other. You touched on something important, though: the superhero element. That shit ruined MK, more than people realize, and it started with Injustice. The 2 IPs gradually bled over into each other, with MK looking and feeling more and more like a superhero fighting game, with the big multiverse plots, the type of dialog and story structuring, even the booming sound effects and victory poses; it's all so comic book-ish, and it's not what MK is about.
@@CoolSaver There's a third option: insufficient intelligence. How did I not see it?? Even your pfp was a hint. I'm a huge DMC fan, actually. Just not the smartest, apparently.
Kenshi keeps his sword sheated because he uses iaido, that is literally the whole point of the fighting style plus if you have magic holding a sword in your hand might make casting the spells harder
Iaido is non-combative, for the most part, often not considered "effective sparring". I know shows and anime glorify it, but even there, it's used for scenes where unsheathing and sheathing instantly ends the fight, or bypasses it, entirely. You don't unsheathe-sheathe 100 times during a single fight, that's mental.
@@CynicalWarlock first of all it was intended to be used in the streets of course its effective, but i do know that once you unsheat the sword it stays that way but we are talking about a game with superhuman agility and magic, i can buy an exaggerated fighting style
@@alessandrolizzio6338 Superhuman agility and magic are still used in a logical way, for the most part (minus some things like teleporting, or video gamey bullshit like creating an ice wall to smash the opponent through, instead of just freezing them). But sheathing your sword back into its scabbard and taking your hand away from it while the threat of imminent death looms in front of you defies common sense so much, it bothers the mind, and there are ways you can have this cake and eat it without causing such lapses in logic.
@@CynicalWarlock people do backflips during fights(in mk and other fighting games) so there is nothing weird about kenshi's fighting style, plus fictional sword styles like holding the sword backwards and ones where you spin a lot are cool even if they dont make much sense so i dont really complain
Shaolin Monks. Remake Shaolin Monks. Shaolin Monks. Fuck it make the Kombat Kids. Its like Shaolin Monks. But the Kombat Kids. Or finish fire and ice. Fire and ice. Make a Erron Black Carnival shooter. Unrelated but it would be fun. I want a carnival stage. Deadly Alliance. Its the deadly Alliance but Shaolin Monks.
Shaolin Monks. Basically, what you're saying - Shaolin Monks - is they should make more spinoff type stuff - like Shaolin Monks. Action adventure games, Shaolin Monks, beat-em-ups, Shaolin Monks, side scrollers, Shaolin Monks, and of course Shaolin Monks 2: Shaolin Monks, the sequel to Shaolin Monks, about the Shaolin who Monk. And I agree.
Yeah Bursts and Breakers in Mortal Kombat are functionally similar, from what I understand, except there are multiple types of Bursts for multiple instances, which also something I'd port over to MK.
i feel like they nailed the kombat mechanic the most in mk x, it's flashy, satisfying to play and watch and just really well rounded overall, but the styling of that game... it was definitely a choice. Like did they really have to put that ugly brown filter over everything? The game just looked too dark even on the well-lit arenas
Yes! This one gets it. Not only was MKX so damn exhilarating to play, it also allowed for a ton of creativity and player expression with combos and such, and just generally a high skill ceiling. Probably the highest of any NRS/Midway game. And yeah, I like certain parts of the aesthetic, but it was overall too gloomy and subdued. Also the arenas were so.. boring. Just lifeless somehow, compared to other games.
The kung fu break stuff is something I have described to my brother long ago. My kontribution? Kreate A Kombatant! Yes, I will sing this forever! My need to create characters in games is eternal!
Way more people fell in love with Kreate a Kombatant than I thought. Need to think up a viable way to work that in. Glad other people like the break thing too.
@@CynicalWarlock oh yeah. I've been wanting less pop ups and more kung fu Matrix like fights with the powers/magic/technology thrown in for some time. Admittedly, the last games I was consistently good at was 3D era. I was just okay in 9 and X.
@@SuperLumianaire I dunno how many other people are in this boat, but popup combos - especially ones that go on for too long - seem kinda ridiculous to me, nowadays. It's one of those things where, once I just zero in on how silly the opponent looks, dangling in the air with the same animation reset over and over again, and how far away that is from reality, it's like I can't unsee it. And it's not just MK - Tekken juggles look even funnier to me, where the victim starts to hit the ground over and over again. I still think popups should be in fighting games - there's a level of satisfaction to successfully pulling off a juggle combo (and can look spectacular, sometimes, like when you do one of those Reptile combos that use his speedy dash move, that looks way cooler and more realistic) - but it should be rarer and harder to do, and maybe require a lot of meter to initiate and extend.
@@SuperLumianaire Last Bronx (really old game) had an interesting take on them. There was this one character that had a bunch of.. essentially parry moves, but the inputs got more and more complicated, in relation to the damage dealt. That's one thing you could do. Other than that, command grabs work just fine, and having the stronger ones link into more slams, like Jax's stuff, is pretty satisfying.
Visually it should look like MKX atmosphere with shapes of MK11/1. MKX looked very good, but characters had those plastic toys bodies. Gameplay wise I think it would be amazing to be it in 3D like MK4 and ps2 games
Gorry, Dark atmospheres, Male characters for the roster as Majority, Cryptic as hell with tones of stuff to be discovered for years to come. Gameplay wise: 1v1 as default, Combos should cost way more and must be hard to perform. Variations are not also needed imo. and finally the right speed and pace balance which is tough to ge right as a game designs stand point. Great video man, and what an amazing title to go with it.
Thanks, glad you liked it. I like that you brought up combo difficulty - that's an important (and fairly complex) discussion to have. Autopilot combos shouldn't really exist, for the most part; even just sitting through one of those, waiting to be over, feeling your beard grow, is soul-crushing. Complex, high-yield combos should have a higher skill ceiling, kinda like Nimble Reptile combos, in MKX.
@@CynicalWarlock spot on, a friend of mind insisted I should give mk1 a shot, I enjoyed a lot about it gameplay wise, but man being shuffeled in the air forever can be fun only for so long! I decided it's not worth investing any time in a game that's like that!
@@Ramt33n It's admittedly a difficult thing - increasing one player's enjoyment while minimizing the other player's suffering. It's a hard thing to balance, and I feel a high skill ceiling for advanced combos would really do wonders for that. Make shorter combos the norm, but allow for longer, more damaging combos if the players are really really good. That makes them both rarer and makes you go "respect" when your opponent performs one on you, instead of wallowing in frustration. Also, there should be counterplay and ways to occasionally interrupt those, again, if you're really really good.
no. side stepping is the worst it turns the game into an awkward looking shuffle fest like tekken straight up 2D is the best solution for fast paced fighting games eg street fighter 2/alpha3/third strike/Umk3/MK9
cool down or not adding side stepping may seem like a small change but ultimately changes the whole mechanics of the game and can ruin the flow of gameplay. like imagine if SF6 introduced side stepping to deal with zoning? that wouldnt go down well so they have the drive system. if the side stepping is just to avoid zoning maybe instead just split each of the 3 bars of the special meter in two so you can spend half a bar to armour through projectiles or for a full bar do a special armour attack that goes full screen through projectiles straight into launcher-combo. point being there will always be better solutions than introducing side stepping @@CynicalWarlock
@@Rockysbeats SF6 is a different animal; slower and more deliberate. The zoning game works completely differently there. MK4 had sidestepping and it can't really be called a 3D game. In fact, I've never seen anyone use the sidestep function apart from me and the AI. But to each his own.
Hm a Mix between MK9(more balanced combat) and X(viseral speed but semi realistic characters who kinda went away with some of the new ones, and build upon the type of fighting styles and moveset), Sholin Monks, with a dash of god of war
Imo, a ideal mk at least for me, is a reality where only onaga the dragon king reshapes everything that we have ever known of this brutal universe on its very head. All these villains although great in their own way, except one. This would give stakes where they need to be, for like back in deception it was the feeling you know full well that you need characters that pulls their weight, know that officially if someone dies, you stick with true death to really stick. Point is, mk needs to be dark, it can't be campy oh look ill save the day bs. Mk9 nailed that
I just thought of an idea for fighting styles, what if they combined the variation system with the fighting style. Like for example let's say you choose Sub-Zero and he gets his Unbreakable/Shotokan variation but it's more styled for zoning while his second fighting style is the Cryomancer/Kori Blade variation which it's more styled for rush-downs
That then becomes more of a nod to Deception's fighting styles, more than anything else. Functionally, it's more or less just variations, except people get to say "look, it says 'Shotokan', just like in Deception". At least if I'm understanding you correctly. You mentioned something awesome, though, which is Sub-Zero having a zoning variation. I believe that should've been a thing in MKX, and it would be a better way to approach these variations, in general, going forward.
@@CynicalWarlock That's a fair point although I was thinking maybe, again bringing up the Unbreakable/Shotokan hybrid style, when you are in that very specific fighting style you can only use strikes/kicks/combos that are made for the said play style and when you switch to a different style you can then use a different set of strikes/kicks/combos for the alternate play style. An example I can think of is maybe with Sub-Zero, again lol, when you switch to his Cryomancer/Kori Blade he then gains his more rush-down combo strings vs the zoning combo strings he would use for his Unbreakable/Shotokan style. Hell you could maybe if you study the kharacter enough, learn to mash them together to unlock longer unique combo strings that transition between their different fighting/play styles. Also when you are in a certain fighting style you can only use specials that are tailored for said play style. An example is if you are in Sub-Zero's Unbreakable/Shotokan fighting style you can only use his Ice Shower, Ice Wall/Spikes, and (I kind of made this one up but I think it would make sense for him) Ice Armor. However, if you then switch to his Cryomancer/Kori Blade fighting style you can then use his Ice Slide, Ice Clone, and Ice Ball. Lastly, I just thought of this after I played a couple rounds on WWE 2K24, what if they tried to add a Kharacter's Stats system. Think about it, each kharacter's starts off with its default overall stats but over time you can upgrade your kharacter's stats to make them more online/tournament friendly. In a way you can take kharacters that start off bottom tier and upgrade them to at least mid-tier so each kharacter gets a chance in the spotlight so to speak. Honestly, at this point, someone or a group of people need to get together and hop on Unreal Engine or Unity and see if we can just make a kustom kommunity-made Mortal Kombat game, hell you could call the game Ultimate Mortal Kombat Kommunity or something like that, trying to combine all aspects/gameplay features that the Mortal Kombat kommunity wants to have in a Mortal Kombat game. And if Netherrealm/Warner Bros gets pissy about it and try to claim Copyright we could just say it's a fan-made game (Plus if they were to argue that then they would have to go after EVERY Mugen/Mortal Kombat fan game out there) and price it for free so no one is making any money off of it. If there is money being made it's either going towards the game itself or towards kommunity-voted kharity (Which gives me a funny as hell idea for a kommunity tournament, hear me out: Ultimate Kreator Klash).
@@_NERD_BROSKI Now I get what you're saying. So basically switch Variations on the fly *and* Variations completely change the character. It's an awesome idea, but it essentially doubles or tripples the roster size, cause you have a completely different Sub-Zero, from variation to variation, so the devs probably wouldn't sign themselves up for that much work. But yes, that would be pretty fuckin ideal. The stats thing doesn't really work competitively; you want all the characters to be balanced and their stats immutable. I need to know what Kano is capable of and what my Sub-Zero can do against Kano, which isn't possible, if you keep upgrading Kano every 2 hours.
@@CynicalWarlock Eh I understand the stat thing but maybe could with a tier card system that you can unlock by doing a variety of different game modes/challenges, again I'm thinking about how WWE 2k24 did it. For example, you could unlock a Gold (Mid-Tier) Sub-Zero card that you can use only online/tournaments by beating Sub-Zero's arcade tower 15 times or something like that. So in theory, if you have an Emerald (Top-Tier) Kano card and you go up against a Gold (Mid-Tier) Sub-Zero you should be just fine. As for the stat system, it could maybe shift to local/offline game modes that you and a buddy can play.
![Natanael Cano - Amor Eterno [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/EO4prCs6WpM/mqdefault.jpg)
Thanks for the video!
I have an idea for the fatalities. I've already written about it in my Tumblr account (and tbh someone probably had the idea too :p), but basically: keep the fatalities shorter and more logical to the respective character. For example, Sonya and Jax are both said to be military professionals by the game, thus, their ways of "offing" the opponent would be quick, but effective. Ninjas, given they're fucking NINJAS, should be stealthier in a way. Pacifists shouldn't be absurdly brutal with their opponents (talking about all of Johnny and Liu Kang's fatalities after Arcade Era) while sadists can have their satisfaction with torturing the unfortunate individuals. And while we're on the topic, it's best to have two kinds of fatalities - one that results in major, but survivable injuries, and one that results in death. For one, gamers on RUclips won't have to censor the entire screen, and two, it would make more sense for certain character dynamics (because Johnny, Sonya and Cassie realistically wouldn't enjoy murdering each other. Same goes for couples, friends, other families). Also, i always found it weird whenever a non-human character's death is portrayed the same way a human's death would. Have the souls that are trapped inside Ermac flee out of his body when he gets fatalitized or something. Have cyborgs' glowy eyes turn off, have their wires gush out and sparks fly. Possibilities are endless.
Oh, and this might be controversial, but i'd personally remove the fatal blow mechanic entirely as it's just a fatality with extra steps. It's boring, it's long and serves no real purpose.
Pinned! So many good ideas and common sense in one comment.
Liu Kang's brutal finishers always struck me as out of character for him. At least Johnny's are funny, sometimes.
I've actually been pondering the familial and relationship aspect, these past few days, racking my brain for a solution. This would be an elegant one, cause you can still "Finish off" your daughter, but it would be a slap in the face, as opposed to through the face. I'm all for dark humor, but I think we've had one too many family Fatality compilation videos. Stop giving internet psychos the satisfaction.
Also agree about the cyborgs and souls and all that.
Fatal Blows/X-Rays/Supers are also something I've been pondering a lot, lately. I agree that they're one extra un-skippable cutscene that makes one want to hurt themselves after viewing it for the umpteenth time, but at the same time, there probably should be some kind of 3-bar ability, or ultimate ability, or utility thing unique to each character.. My Reptilian brain demands it. At any rate, it should be changed.
I remember as a kid doing as many fatalities as possible on as many varying characters as possible JUST TO SEE if they ever changed for the cyborgs, and that's always been a sticking point for me.
I also think, for the record, that doing something like this would be especially brutal. Doing a quick burst of movements and then one final crack and simply watching the lights of the cyborg turn off would be heavy.
Some characters could go a flashy route, some efficiency route, some really gross, some "non-lethal" but utterly painful (in some cases could almost be worse than an explicit death).
Complete agreement on the layout here. MK's goal with fatalities is to be gnarly, but there's plenty of ways to use fatalities in the way that you're describing *and still be boundary pushing and deserving of a reaction that keeps their spirit alive*.
Love it.
I'm on the sofa with a hangover... Entertain me mr. Warlock...
It is what I do..
P.S.
Drink a truck of water.
@@CynicalWarlock way ahead of you 😵
@stijnvanrobaeys7011 don't forget the cheese burger. You need he salt and protein.
@@sabbathjackal lol
@@sabbathjackal sorry brother, I only eat plants... 😶
But I'll just have a protein shake and some salt... Thanks for the advice 💪
My ideal MK game story wise would be a game that recanonizes the old pre mk9 timeline and gives us a proper ending post Armageddon we were robbed of.
Perhaps even pre-Armageddon. That game is more or less an axe to that storyline's neck.
@@CynicalWarlock As much as I hate the multiverse idea, an alternate timeline containing the original timeline, now surviving again due to time shenanigans, could be wrapped up with us seeing Taven taking up the role he was given at the end of Armageddon
@@andrewrogers3067 That was so many uses of the word "time".😵💫
@andrewrogers3067 ugh Armageddon was so bad. I'd prefer to act like it didn't exist..... Oh wait we have
@@CynicalWarlock I know, it's annoying.
I've been listening to all the intro dialogue of each MK games. And I gotta say, going from MK1 to MK11 to MKX, and it's like,..... MKX ones were so sharp and snappy. So much bite to them
Right? MK11 has some good ones, but also a lot of shit ones. MKX had some of that character quirkiness I'm talking about; you learned secret tidbits about them, like how Tremor's a Johnny Cage fan.
Not that familiar with MK1 intro dialogue.
The thing about Mortal Kombat 11 dialogue that kinda falls flat compared to X is that a lot of Mortal Kombat 11 intro dialogue is just random talking for no reason, there's not a whole lot of explanations as to why the fight is taking place. It's a lot of just "I'm so glad we're allies now" proceeded by decapitation. And in Mortal Kombat 1 there's just so little dialogue of substance and the fact there's really only 2 exchanges instead of 3 just destroys character personality, as there's literally no opportunity for comebacks or quips because it's just two quick words.
@@Grunch_Morrisonx123 Such a good point. So much of 11's intro dialog was "yo what's up. Nothin. Ok cool." And then they fight. It's the fighting game equivalent of a non sequitur.
MKX tried, for the most part, to use those as opportunities for storytelling, character trivia and whatnot.
I feel like a good MK game should have more costumes for the characters
But like actual costumes, not recolors
Id like 4-5 skins each character. But we can customize the colors.
It's a choice between full-on costumes/skins and gear/customization.
Costumes are better, every time.
@@CynicalWarlock id prefer costumes/skins. Maybe there could be some gear like elements like changing a character's weapon design, taunt, or intros/exits to give a personal touch. Best of both worlds.
THIS. I'm really not asking for a Tekken style of customization, just 4 or 5 creative costumes for each character that anyone can unlock via challanges/gameplay in general, not just real world cash. MK1 was atrocious in this respect.@@batboythecool
I have an idea for customization. One: allow the player to color any part of a character’s kostume(like choosing what color Scorpion’s mask or ninja vest is) instead of the color palettes we get in MK1 and MK11, and make the color choices specific to that character’s color palette(specifically for the ninja characters, so the player can only choose between yellow, gold, orange, black, and gray for Scorpion). Also make default gear pieces for every kostume so that player doesn’t have to manually change a character’s gear piece because it’s automatically changed.
Yes. Finally, someone gets it.
I would also like to add more than five slots for customization and reintroduce the move assignments from MK11 but do it better
It's Kustomization 🙄
I'd like to add that the customizable parts will be parts that make sense to the characters, like masks, gauntlets, and things we can actually SEE...
Also gears will make sense like not having a biker helmet for nightwolf and have more things like bear hoods and wolves and such.
Also... No repeated gear with miniscule changes.
@@jackkawf4449 Yeah, enough with the stupid gladiator helmets.
In my eyes, the ideal MK game would be MKX gameplay, with MK11 graphics and Deadly Alliance aesthetic and music. Also lots of customization and obscure characters (I'd love to see Blaze, Meat and Chameleon return)
Listen to this man!
If we ever want a sidestepping mechanic to return for a new mortal kombat game, we should replace the switch stance button, and reolace it with a side stepping button in order for the right trigger to not be a useless button to use.
My thoughts exactly.
I always thought more games should try doing what TF2 did, Meet the Team animations,stylised website with news and lore developments,a hat based economy more stable than the US dollar... ok maybe not that last one,but imagine how cool it would be to get a bunch of short movies about the Kharakters introducing themselves and stuff or like a war between 2 Kharakters like Demo and Soldier had,i think that would add a lot more personality,tho obviously itd take a lot of effort,took Valve 4 years to do 9 mercs.
No, hats totally are more stable than the US dollar; I agree. Gabe Newell should probably run the US economy.
And yeah, that's basically what I had in mind - devote a little less time to making these characters flashy and cool, and a little more time towards endearing you to them, whether that's short animations, machinimas, silly gifs, funny stories read by the voice actors, or slice of life stuff. You can do a lot with few resources.
And just like the real US economy it is a monopoly controlled by an elite few.
We also head our own depression !
@@Джекет Yep. Hats off to those few.
Pun intended.
My ideal Mortal Kombat is a game reusing MK9's gameplay, adding MKX's run button, SHORT Fatalities, and bringing back Klassic MK's special move + fatality inputs.
With customizations, I think Injustice 2 had the best system yet. My ideal MK would improve on that system by providing proper Default and Alternate costumes that are fully customizable with unlockable gears and palettes
Music NEEDS that Klassic MK and 3D MK soul back
Agree with everything, minus perhaps the gear system. Not that familiar with Injustice 2's system, but generally, gear systems in fighting games give me the rumbly tummies.
^this. id add an SF6 style battle hub but with a creepy outworld vibe and ability to pair up with another player to make a tag team and fight other tag teams so its 2v2 with 4 players all from different locations
This 💯. They need to just make the ultimate MK game with the best things from every mk... Not randomly winging it with resetting timelines and making all the males look gay
Hell yeah bring back stuff like chess kombat,motor kombat and puzzle kombat.
The 3d era somehow managed this perfect balence of a well crafted serious story in the main modes then still gave us funny side modes that were just there to make us laugh. I want that mk back
Because it created contrast. That's exactly what makes the balance in the first place. You get to take the story and the characters seriously *and* have some lols with them, in the minigames.
This business of pumping as many Marvel jokes and meta-references to the older games in the story mode kills the contrast, and thus the balance.
You having ideas? That's dangerous.
Overall I like your ideas. Obviously can't comment on gameplay but you explain it well enough to where I get what your saying. It all sounds good.
As for the story I think it sounds great. The idea of a much more personal story appeals to me and with the addition that we get to see the characters do stuff that is unrelated to saving the world sounds good. A character really develops when we see what they do besides the main story.
Overall I like your ideas. I could easily see it implemented into the Mortal Kombat games.
"A character really develops when we see what they do besides the main story" - Preach!
@@CynicalWarlock I know I know. Only wisdom comes from my mind.
Seriously though that is what I think a lot of stories lack. Showing characters sides when not in the main story.
@@Knight1029 It's kinda why we stopped to listen to the Inquisition banter, on the way to a quest, every time. It's the 'off the beaten path' details about a character (or person, for that matter) that endear us to them. Makes em more.. human.
For lack of a better word.
@@CynicalWarlock exactly! It just does so much to make a character more believable and relatable. It may not be needed but it adds flavor that makes it all the more better.
@@Knight1029 I think it is needed. And it's kind of what I was talking about, when I described the diference between Mortal Kombat and IPs like Mass Effect and Avatar.
My addiction to these videos needs to be studied💀
No, don't kill the mystery.
I think they should add in the other fatalities, like Hara Kiri or animality, it’s gives more variety for the player to choose rather than the same “rip ‘em apart” fatalities we’re used to getting. Also out of curiosity what’s your opinion on the “kreate a fighter” mode from MK Armageddon?
I never actually played Armageddon, so I can't judge.
To my mind, though, it seems like, in principle, it's a feature that runs counter to the main appeal of fighting games (or a big part, anyway), which is character identity. The premade, prewritten, carefully crafted, badass characters that we become fans of. Sure, it's fun to make a custom character, put some broken powers and move combinations together and have some fun, but I'll wager it gets old, waters down the existing characters' identities (reminds me of MK1's ending, honestly) and is hard to justify the investment (unless it's really easy to code, I guess; I dunno). It's the same vibe I get from gear systems in fighting games. It just becomes a way to dilute the characters, and the whole thing starts to look like free-build Legos pretty fast.
A more in-depth look then I was expecting… a surprise to be sure, but a welcomed one
@@amach3639 Thank you, senator Palpatine.
Had me laughing throughout the bit on fighting styles and weapons lol, so true. The fighting styles in general I thought were kind of a mixed bag in terms of how they were executed - a cool experiment at the time, but just not as polished as other fighting games. I thought some character fighting styles didn't make much sense thematically either; the thought of someone like Kano using Aikido of all things, and Stryker using Hua Chuan were kinda funny to behold... .
I would also like personalized towers as well. Tekken sort of had the right idea with character specific sub-bosses and interlude fights (Tekken 5 being the best example of this) that served to maintain some degree of character narrative consistency and allow smaller story arcs to shine a bit, although not always canon sometimes.
Kano used Aikido?? Steven Seagal must've approved that decision.
And Ermac was the one who used Hua Chuan in Deception; should've kept it like that. Stryker should use MMA, kickboxing, or something like that.
@@CynicalWarlockin a video of yours a while back I mentioned how they should reduce it to two styles (that obviously make sense for the characters), but would change up their fighting style so you could adapt, so for instance being able to go from a rushdown, to a style that's more zoner or something to help adapt and utilize ways of countering your weaknesses. While a designated button would switch when idol, you can also have a couple of combos within each style that switch within the combo too have a more smooth transition when you need it, maybe add stamina to prevent spamming switching, so that you actually have to commit for a moment with your decision to switch.
@@jackkawf4449 Yes, I remember that chat. It's basically an upgrade to how Deception did it, cause there, you had specific combos that switched from one style to the other; so basically as fluid as that, but much more creative, cause you have a dedicated button and switch when you want, perhaps with different effects, based on when you switch.
Lot of planning and testing involved, but would yield a lot of versatility.
@@CynicalWarlock I agree I also believe it's a balanced way to give characters everything, while still not making them OP
When MK returned to 2D, it should have brought back the layout scheme - High punch, Low punch, High kick, and Low kick.
This front punch, back punch, front kick, back kick or 1, 2, 3, 4 is a button scheme that came with Deadly Alliance and I don’t believe it really suits MK. I think MK9-MK1 remake is the closest to capturing the klassic’s essence but it still gives it those 3D vibes IMO.
The mechanics should also feel similar to the klassic MK’s too. So if you hit High punch (HP), High punch (Hp), Low punch (LP), the only time that would turn into a string is if you were up close and it landed on hit or block. Otherwise if you did HP, HP, LP, then you would see two High punches, followed by a Low punch. This doesn’t mean you couldn’t add command normals btw, so holding back + High Punch could change the High punch into a unique High punch animation specific to characters. Maybe for example that would be an overhead for Sub-Zero and from there you could decide on framedata, plus, minus, or whatever.
I’m torn on what they could do for movement. MK3’s run mechanic really turned a lot of the klassic MK players off but the original MK1 and MK2 are very outdated in terms of movement. I would honestly prefer dashes and I feel like it would be a nice compromise because in MK3-Trilogy, you could only run forward. So a dash mechanic is what I would prefer and maybe that could also be locked to a button? Like if you were playing it on PlayStation, L2 + forward would be forward dash and L2 + back would be back dash. Otherwise you could just use traditional taps, like forward, forward for example.
MK has never really had character archetypes like SF. I mean, I guess some characters feel more like “zoners” but at the end of the day. MK has always given characters their specials and normals based on their identity which ends up creating super weak or super powerful characters because a character like Raiden will have teleports, rush down mechanics, and fireballs. However, there has to be a way to balance these characters that have a lot of utility and I believe the way to do that is with health. So, if a character has all these different mechanics with long combos, then they need to have super low health. That’s how you balance them and keep them from being super OP.
Fatalities need to go away. I saw someone leave a comment saying that there should only be brutalities and I totally agree with that and they could just be called fatalities because they’re not even traditional brutalities anyways. Brutalities were long combos you would perform in UMK3-Trilogy on the finisher screen and I think it would keep that fatality mechanic fresh without having to sit there through these long fatality animations and NRS could add as many as they wanted and it would all be based on meeting certain requirements. You could even implement stage fatalities in with that too, like performing an uppercut to win the final round in the corner which would launch the other character into a stage fatal.
I love the kameos in this new MK but a lot of people really dislike it and I understand but there’s always some kind of gimmick MK adds and I wouldn’t care if it was that or maybe the interactable mechanics we saw with the introduction of the Injustice series. I also just wouldn’t care if the game just returned to more basic mechanics and just had a meter that enhanced specials, gave you a combo breaker, and some kind of super combo or “fatal blow.”
I got more ideas but these are like the core mechanics I think a good MK game needs.
Not sure if the HP-LP-HK-LK is that much better of a scheme (and I played MK4 and Trilogy more than any of the others); still seems like one too many attack buttons. I will say this, stubbornly trying to respect that 'back kick' has to come from the actual back foot severely limits you, so we agree that the current scheme is not the best.
I always thought you should structure the attack buttons based on distance and timing: close distance/quick startup, mid distance/medium startup, and far-reaching attacks with long startups, like lunging kicks, roundhouses, tail attacks, weapon thrusts, and such. In which case you only really need 3 attack buttons, and can use the 4th one for something else.
The run mechanic really depends on how big you want the arena to feel and how dynamic, mobile and expansive you want the fighting to be. If you're going for a more intimate sparring-type setup, then you don't need a run.
Personally, I still prefer running, because, whether the game is 2D or 3D, you still experience it in 2 dimensions, visually, so the more you limit what can happen in those 2 dimensions, the more boring it gets. But you can make an argument for no running too, based on the specific mechanics and design philosophy you put in place.
I definitely agree with the dedicated dash button. Double-tapping is the most ridiculous, primitive, outdated, inaccurate, error inducing piece of shit input mentality and I would burn it out of existence.
Yes, MK characters are all hybrids, to some extent. Very few are strict fighting game archetypes. The health solution is interesting, but could be a Pandora's Box that we might not want to open. I know nerfing things, in general, is bad game dev etiquette, but I can't help but wonder if downgrading Kitana from a zoning-pressure character to just a zoner would be the right call. She's a woman, she has fans, mobility, projectiles, she's a princess, shouldn't sully her hands up close, I think it both fits her character and her gender. One thing we can agree on is you need to look at every character individually, to find the right solution for each.
Heey, someone remembers the *actual* OG Brutalities. Kept thinking I was the only one who missed those, silly as they were.
The Fatality thing might become its own video, as it's a pretty complex topic.
In the context of how Fatals exist today, I'm definitely also leaning towards removing them, but there are problems with that. For one, a big chunk of players do not want them taken out. For another, there's something satisfying about having the final say - a final punch - in a fight. It's tough to explain, but once you've fought tooth and nail and finally come out on top, it's such a powerful, natural thing to lord over your opponent, barely keeping it together yourself, and to have earned that final, coup de grace hit. It's a primal thing. That said, that coup de grace doesn't need to be an overlong gratuitous mini-slasher film. The longer it is, the quicker you get bored of it. I think "Klassic Fatalities", as they're called today, have the right idea. A short decapitation is less gratuitous, less frustrating for the loser, cause it takes less time and doesn't involve snuffing cigars in their esophagus, and would let you have your cake and eat it. Lots more to discuss here, but between your comment and mine, this is a short novel already.
Lotta good ideas, in your comment; we think alike, for the most part.
@@CynicalWarlock I wouldn’t mind a 3-button scheme, like a Light, Medium, and Hard button layout you saw in the early Marvel games and Injustice. I’m not sure what that 4th button would be but more than likely a “gimmick” button or dedicated special button.
I went with the traditional HP-LP-HK-LK scheme because that’s how MK started and it would keep things very basic and universal considering that’s how MK has always been. Back + HK = Roundhouse, Back+LK = Sweep, Down+HP = uppercut and so fourth.
Lol at your comment at double-tapping. I don’t necessarily mind it but it doesn’t make sense for MK because a lot of their specials are doubles taps like forward, forward… so, it definitely causes errors because if you were using Nightwolf for example and you wanted to quickly dash forward and do let’s say a Front kick, well if you didn’t remember to quickly press back and then Front kick to cancel his shoulder charge special, then that special would come out. So double-tapping for dashes in MK can cause a lot of errors and it also adds these extra inputs you have to do in order for something simple to come out. It becomes a nightmare online with lag, especially if you’re trying to keep away with Scorpion for example.
Anyways, I could keep going myself but these two main mechanics have seriously bothered me the most with MK. The 3-button scheme is not a bad idea but I guess I’ve always wanted MK to truly return to its roots. It’s selfish of me of course but I just never understood why they changed their layout so much as compared to other fighting games. Like sure SF and Tekken have gone through significant changes but those games still feel like their predecessors and it’s because they never changed their general formula.
I love that you gave Last Bronx a shout-out, a good fighting game lost in the shuffle that was back then
He'll yeah, fellow connoisseur.🤝
I played that game voraciously, when I was little. It had all the ingredients of a great fighting game - from good gameplay, to cool characters and lore - which is rare.
@@CynicalWarlock Exactly! Fighting games were cropping up everywhere around that time, and the surplus led to some games getting overlooked. I've always said that if I became a millionaire, I've got several games that I would revive, Last Bronx being one of them.
@@vincentshadetree Same. Final Fantasy 7 gets a damn remake every few years; Last Bronx deserves one (more of a remake/remaster, really; a remakester), to bring people up to speed with it, and then a sequel.
Id love to see a blunt sesh + exposing the Lin Kuei with Smoke video as a reward
Imagine Smoke doing a blunt sesh. The whole neighborhood would be in a haze.
@@CynicalWarlock Stay toasty!
You could say.... Have the Great Kung Lao train up to fight in the Mortal Kombat Tournament, have him beat Shang Tsung as your first battle and spend the rest of Story Mode marching towards the inevitable death at the hands of Goro. You know, like MK11 initially teased instead of remaking the entire universe and making MK a multiverse story.
One of many prequel ideas with a lot of potential.
Basically reenact Mortal Kombat: Conquest, and finish it, this time.
@@CynicalWarlock Correct.
I would like them to make games more stylized like mk9, I know people like more realistic sterile look, but I personally love when mk has this campy cartoony colorful vibe
100%. I rave about this a lot. The more 'real' you make something look, the more it loses its visual identity.
@@CynicalWarlock realism definitely makes everything more generic, funnily enough Id say that cartoony artstyle makes the world of mk feel more believable and creepy
@@HighPriestOfChaos25 It's a delicate balance to strike, and a fascinating topic.
Mortal Kombat made a name for itself by being more "real-looking" than its competitors, so you have to keep that, to some extent, but you can clearly go overboard, as mk11 and mk12 have shown.
Four words (or three and a number, technically): Ultimate Mortal Kombat 9.
Sold.
One major idea that I think would be very fulfilling to see done again would be the "tower" mode that was present in street fighter 4. In this mode you would choose a character like let's say Sagat for this example. From then you would get a short cinematic detailing the characters motivation and arc, so for this example if you chose Sagat you go a cut scene detailing the shame that was imbued onto him after his crippling defeat to Ryu leaving him with his iconic chest scar. He wants to train at his absolute hardest to get his revenge but becomes burdened with a seeking to find a life outside of fighting. Then you had a few normal fights against some opponents and mixed in a fun mini game before having a fight against your characters opponent. For Sagat that was Ryu and instead of the usual introduction he had in the previous fights you get unique dialogue between the two characters revolving around the arc that was presented in the beginning. This was then followed by a huge boss battle which I would personally eliminate and just make the rival battle the final boss. Then you get a short cutscene that would wrap up the short story or tease a future developed arc. For Sagat he found meaning outside of fighting and began to appreciate life as it was instead of being consumed by revenge. Something like this would be phenomenal for characters not prominently featured and release tension on the plot by fleshing out characters outside of the main story.
Another thing that might be unpopular is to make the design of Mortal Kombat more cartoonish. Characters should be unique and feel like something you know you shouldn't see in real life in a game as over the top as Mortal Kombat is. My biggest grip with MK1 and MK11 was the design of characters felt generic and plain. Kenshi, Johnny Cage, and Raiden all looked like they have the same father and only were told apart by clothing. Compare this to MK9 or the 3D era where every character felt unique and had very unrealistic aspects that included bright and visually appeasing colors.
Exactly what I've been suggesting. Make the standard arcade run into these personal mini-stories, unique to each character, that all add to this grand jigsaw puzzle of a story, that you only completely understand after you play as each character and see who defeats who, who's stopped by who, why, and how. Heck Last Bronx - a near-30-year-old game - had this.
Agree on the cartoonish point too. Raiden and Lao already have the problem of both wearing large round hats, so it makes distinguishing them through aesthetics and art style that much more important. Also important to not projectile-vomit your lunch, because Fatalities look way too real for comfort.
You know what would be brilliant? If they made Motor kombat into an actual racing game, the game mode itself in Armageddon seem so half-baked as a concept, but it's a great idea
As for the fighting styles, in deadly Alliance, deception, and Armageddon, I think they were handled greatly, I do wish some of the fighting styles were more character accurate
Yeah, just collaborate with the makers of Burnout Paradise or something.
If it were me, I'd put some effort into all these minigames, so I could then release them all as standalone versions you can buy for cheap, if they become popular enough.
Even if you think the fighting styles were great, I think we can both agree that they can be made even better.
12:01 true like even SF6 has got me with all their characters just because of WT mode and their individual character story modes ... I honestly have an emotional connection with all the characters... It's beautiful how Capcom captured their personality's sooo beautifully... Cammy being cat crazy, Juri texting you mean texts, Ryu getting training from you on how to use his Smart phone, Manon flirting with you it's honestly perfection.
Exactly this. It might seem silly to some people, but the effect it has on the player can't be understated. And it's that much more criminal, cause Mortal Kombat characters are that much more colorful and out there, yet they've done precious little with their personalities.
@@CynicalWarlock like I'm seriously stressing as I hope we get to transfer our SF6 Avatars over to SF7 some day cause even my Avatar has me hooked I love him like crazy.
I don't get how the 2.5d fighting games don't introduce a side step, automatically followed by a return on your line. You can dodge a projectile, or frontal attack by stepping into the background for a few frames and popping back on the fighting line. Then you could have things like hooks or roundhouse kicks that can hit you when you are 'sidestepping'. Also when you dodge this way, you can counter your opponent. When the opponent does only hooks and roundhouses you could have a fast jab into a combo... It would just add an extra layer to the mechanics... Or is it just me in my ADHD head 🥸
Your ADHD head is on point. All roads lead back to 3D. In a real fight, you just sidestep a projectile, you don't bother to return to the same spot, so you can just make it fully 3-dimensional. This is something I've changed my stance on, cause I love 2D fighting and found Deception to be a tad cumbersome, but the only problem the 3D era games had was they gave too much freedom of movement in a plane where, realistically, not much of anything happened. You'd just use that dimension to do what we're talking about now: dodge projectiles. The only other use for the 3D arena was to make use of death traps. You can have both of those back, while keeping the clean, pristine aspect of the mostly 2D fighting.
Crazy given that Fatal Fury introduced this concept back in 1991 with the lane system.
i want a remake of mortal kombat mythologies sub zero.. i know the game is a bit broken. but i kind of love it for it XD
I think MK: Mythologies should be an ongoing series, each game with a different protagonist.
In an age where indie games are booming and low-budget high-yield side scrollers are plentiful, I don't get why that's not a thing.
Our only hope of getting this is having you in the office at netherrealm studios
Sounds like torture.
Ong, raiko literally has 2 weapons on his person, and he does not use it at all in actual gameplay
Same with Stryker and his stupid back-mounted knives, in Armageddon.
i reckon that a reworked 3D movement system will interest both new players and veterans
I think it's almost time for it, yes. The 2D fighting with 3D environments was a lifesaver, back when they released MK9, but it's slowly getting stale.
The Fatal Fury series (Real Bout Fatal Fury 2) is the best example for showing how side stepping can work in a 2D fighting game.
Will check it out.
Checked Fatal Fury 2 out. The line shift idea is a cool way to do it; don't quite understand the ins and outs yet, but having 2 separate 'lanes' is pretty interesting.
The game also has feints, which is another thing I love, and that old games like Last Bronx had. It not only adds a different dimension to the gameplay, but it's also something you actually do in real fighting, quite a bit.
Always loved the idea of a dodge or kombo kounter move in an mk game. I'm glad you agree, Warlock
Wholeheartedly.
At this rate I don't care about the story but I do have some things
If we were to change timelines...again...to a mostly pre-armaggeddon one...
There is one NRS character in particular I think could do well. Takeda. I don't really care about Cassie, Jacqui doesn't HAVE a character, and while I do like Kung Jin they also don't have him doing anything, so he should go, he's just dead weight. (Why yes that was a DMC 5 reference.)
I just want to see Takeda do something, ANYTHING important.
As for gameplay mechanics, I do like the kameo system but tag team would be better. I envision sort of a half and half kameo/tag team option, kinda like UMVC 3, where just tapping the button does an assist, maybe directionals give different assists too, but holding the button switches out characters.
But as a SEPERATE GAME MODE.
Cut Invasions, give us Konquest back. I think implementing the systems in MK11's Krypt into a new Konquest mode would be fuckin sick.
I like how MK1's arcade endings all form one long story which is just an epilogue to the MK1 we cared more about, so I say we continue doing that. Make them all fit with each other and form the building blocks for the next story, y'know?
I think brutalities should remain a thing, maybe if we do a tag team mode like I suggessted, we can have team fatalities? Might be super ambitious, but this is my IDEAL MK game after all.
I definetly don't think Krushing Blows should ever be implemented ever again. They felt far too random for my liking, and honestly the only character who did anything kinda cool with it was Spawn. There's a reason he's my main in 11.
And on customization...some people like skins, some people like gear. I like the idea of the customizable gear pieces but I hate the augment and gameplay shit put on them.
So I say...just give us a character customizer like Tekken. Give us preset costumes for each character, then give us the OPTION to make a custom variation. With a lot of its own customization options. AND DON'T MAKE ANY OF THEM PAID. Maybe currency gained in Konquest mode by PLAYING THE GAME can be used to buy customization options or smth. Just don't let me buy customizer options with real money. I still don't like that Tekken's doing the Tekken Shop rn but it's still sadly better than MK1's.
Poor Nero really was dead weight in that fight..
Funnily enough, when I first saw the trailer for MK1, I thought they were actually doing the team fatalities thing, or at least fatal blows.
I like crushing blows as a visual effect; I think you might be able to rework them and make them fit somehow. Spawn's the only DLC character I ever bought, but alas, didn't dedicate enough time to master him, at that point. My main was Jax, and his crushing blows were actually part of what made him satisfying to play, for me.
If we're going back to a pre-Armageddon timeline, the kombat kids wouldn't be born though, no?
Agree with most of the other suggestions.
@@CynicalWarlock Yeah ik they wouldn't have been born, and it sucks because Takeda is genuinely already such an interesting character.
Ever since I got Tekken 8, the only thing giving me any semblance of hope for MK1 is Takeda being good. And because Kenshi and Scorpion are both alive, both doing their things, I think they could make Takeda work. But he's the ONLY ONE that I see working.
I mean think about some of the cool story details they could have. Like sure, he would still be trained by Hanzo, but Ermac and Kenshi were buddies too. What if Takeda had a story or plot thread about Ermac teaching him how to use telekinesis or something. Stuff like that would be cool.
@@carbinecryo30716 The Ermac-Kenshi-Takeda combo is something I've been raving about for a while (mostly in my own head, so far). There's a *lot* of story potential there. I actually think you could revamp the Kombat Kids, as a whole, albeit with some pretty drastic changes.
Which may or may not be another video, in the works.
@@CynicalWarlock I will be happy to watch, good sir.
Honestly your videos have been great, I just stumbled onto your power system vid and since then stuck around. You're great.
Ok hear me out on this, a Mortal Kombat game where WE are a part of the story (like Lego DC Supervillains or SF6), we're just some random shmuck who gets roped into this, we can design our character, change moves and fighting styles etc, ofc in the story we'll play as more than just our character, to make it interesting have a choice system, you can side with different characters throughout the story and get different powers as a result, like if you side with the good guys Liu Kang teaches you his flying kick or if you side with the bad guys, Shang Tsung teaches you dark magic moves, the ending will be decided by the choices we make throughout, it sounds generic but sometimes people like stories like that (I know I do) lol
They already made such a character. His name is Shujinko.
Goes through the exact beats you described.
And it was a brilliant way to do it too, because he wasn't a generic custom character - they integrated him into the story and the roster. Only problem is they discarded him afterwards, cause he wasn't popular enough, I guess, which is a shame.
@@CynicalWarlock Oh yeah Shujinko! Yeah I never understood why he wasn't used more, I thought his powers were cool asf, the latest we've seen from him is that he's a Kameo in MK1
@@narindraramdial8318 Yeah, I think they adopted the mentality you described a little too much, whereby they literally just pegged Shujinko as a vessel for the player, and nothing else. Which is a shame, cause they actually created a cool character in the process, in my opinion.
Here's an idea I have for a story mode : As soon as player hits enter in story mode they are met with a canvus with the available roster of the game and they have to choose who they want to play in the game, they have a starting point and every starting point is different for example: Bi-Han's could begin at his childhood but Johnny's starts in a Hollywood set and the player has to play them for the rest of the game and to keep it consistent and interconnected for example: Let's say the player was playing Scorpion and in one of the fights they bested Baraka, when you play Baraka's story mode it cuts to a cutscene of him getting defeated making it canonical that he was defeated by Scorpion instead of it being a fight , and if a character dies Let's say for example: Shao Kahn in his story mode kills Johnny Cage in his that would be the end it would be a tragic moment for him and would be a cutscene . Plus not only does the player have to fight the roster but also NPCs as well. I would personally want a full story cutscene for everyone in story mode but that would be too ambitious, they could do it like MK Onslaught but only this time giving cutscenes to important moments. By doing the story mode like this it makes everyone playable instead of being a jobber, everyone has a win and a lose, powerlevel is consistent and we get to develop the character as now they are the hero of their own story and everyone else is a supporting cast member everyone has a different opponent and everyone has a different perspective plus playing with characters perspectives would be interesting Let's another character beliefs another fight went differently, just imagine playing as Havik and understanding his way of things or freaking Mokap. I'd also like to have the villain of the game get their own story mode once you finish the game, wouldn't it be awesome to play as Onaga and actually empathize with his struggles and being defeated, just saying it's an idea I really love.
This is very possible..
..in about 50 years.
It's an ungodly amount of work that's just not feasible with current technologies and manpower.
But yes, I've often thought of this kind of a game, even as a kid. It is the dream.
@@CynicalWarlockIndeed if only it was possible 😔
@@Redactedlad Well you can do a 'budget' version of that - which is what I keep harping on about - whereby you have, let's say a tournament, to keep things easy - and every combatant has a predetermined path; if not all the opponents you face in the arcade tower or story mode (which are the same thing, here), then at least the final boss is custom-tailored to the character you chose, and you get to see how that character's story ends. Thus, you get this grand tapestry of little story arcs, that all add up to the big, overarching story arc.
That one is doable. It's bloody difficult, but it's doable.
@@CynicalWarlockTrue
Honestly the story should (In my opinion) should be more like street fighter 6. Where nothing is majorly going on in a way that needs everyone to unite. Instead give everyone a canon tower option with pre determined fighters that in between have either text or cutscence that explain whats going on with said character. Kinda like a MK tower mixed with the S.T.A.R labs injustice mode where each character is doing their own thing. You can even include mini games instead of a fight in certain towers like S.T.A.R labs does. And you can still have those movie level cut scenes if you want
It could be as simple as that, yes.
Even sleeker to have an actual, you know, tournament. Then it's easy to structure everyone's story around the fights they have to partake in.
I personally don’t like the variation system as someone that competed. I prefer a whole movelist like MK9 had.
People weren’t using all of the variations like they kept saying they were back in MKX. They only used what they felt made them stronger.
They weren't using all of them because some of them were badly designed and balanced, and because of the nature of competitive play, you only have so much time to figure out the most broken variations - soon as a few were figured out, everyone gravitated towards them. The potential of some of them was discovered way later, during the game's second online resurgence. I definitely agree that it wasn't perfect - nor could it have been, it was the first iteration - but I firmly believe they could greatly improve the system, if they chose to.
I just wanna see bi han and sub zero both human and cyromancers
That would be emotional.
Mk Deception and Deadly Alliance in Tone. Dark and Gritty
All the way.
Great video! Probably they need to first fix their stiff gameplay mechanics and trampoline floor bouncing..and having fewer but deeper characters is a great point! I would also prefer zero guest characters and less gore (as it gets more realistic..) but not many will agree with me on that..
How funny is it that *less* gore would be more realistic?
Nuff said about MK.
@@CynicalWarlock yes, but also as graphics get more realistic, less gore is more fun
I don't really have much to add to the conversation besides agreeing with the other modes bit. It's why I loved Deception and Armageddon so much looking back. Yeah, these other modes of course weren't the main point or anything, but the love people have for them and all the fond memories speaks for itself, it's honestly surprising it hasn't made a comeback yet. Also if I'm being honest my ideal Mortal Kombat game would be a Shaolin Monks sequel but at this point who knows if that's happening. They finally made a spin-off that wasn't shit and that was the last of it...
At one point I even had a silly idea for a Shaolin Monks-esque game based off of Kotal's ending in MKX. Blah blah defending Outworld against Earthrealm blah blah call it "Mortal Kombat: Outworlders" and make the protagonists Reptile and Erron mostly because of the irony that Erron is from Eathrealm and Zaterrans are originally from Earthrealm, too. Aaaand then they reset the timeline again so my fantasizing died!
@@brewstin I mean.. insta-like for the Reptile-Erron pairing. The idea of 2 Earthrealmers defending Outworld is genius; never realized it before.
Regarding the alternate game modes and minigames, I always go back to the Witcher 3 example - it featured this trading card battler minigame that they included, last minute, as some throwaway extra content, and it became so popular that people literally asked them to make a proper standalone version of it, which they did, and made a ton of money from it. And it's the kind of industriousness and attention to the fans that NRS/WB don't seem to have, sadly.
I think i wanna give this rambling business a shot too so here we go
The 3d movement idea is spot on, refreshing gameplay like that instantly gives any fighting game so much more replay value, plus it’ll definitely be a change up for mk specifically. No more whiffing a punch then watching the same 200% 40 second optimal combo you’ve seen 90 elderzillion times already
CUSTOMIZATION, mk11, (despite having dat red sub zero skin) had the best customization in mk history imo, mainly because of how much and how specific you can customize). There would need to be some remnants of mk11 customization in this fantasy mk game
No kameos simple.. (or incorporate it within the tag team system)
Better, more ominous music and ominous vibe. mk1 without a doubt feels lost its authentic, sorceric, retroic, mortal kombaty aura. They should Darken the interface/ui (the pause menu, main menu, health bars, etc) and reimburse us with more mortal kombat-esque music.
Darken the screen for brutalities too and MAKE THEM MORE BRUTAL AND SUDDEN, half the brutalities in mk1 are just *oop, character kick and oppenent explode 🤑🤑*, we need to see guts being extradited viciously. this whole screen zooming out with a deafening stagelight nonsense kind of ruins the authenticity of the brutal, if that makes sense, and the little dun dun dun sound cue that plays should be exactly like the one from mkx, it was loud sudden kind of funny, and fitting for causing your opponent to spontaneously combust by unleashing a nefarious fart on their face..
Make attack speed faster 👿 the attempts at better photorealism in mk1 just didn’t work; the attacks are slower, and lazier, and uglier, and not swaggy enough. Theres no cadence in the attacks except for a few characters like liu i suppose
Kharacters: just add some fan favorites that arent staples in the roster and everyone is happy. (Reptile, goro, erron black, kano, etc.)
Rambling acquired. Retaliation commencing..
I'm all for some customization, as long as you limit it to things like intros, victories, belts, greaves, weapons, jewelry and the like.
Changing a character's - especially a ninja's - color/visual identity is a no-no, for me.
Big yes on the ominous music/vibe. People underestimate how much this shit matters.
I picture you giving that impassioned brutality speech in front of a boardroom of WB execs, saying "we need more blood, damn it!".
And them applauding, of course.
Of course, +1 on the animations bit; I ramble about that quite a bit.
Also, "elderzillion times" is good. Might use it.
God, someone gets it. Back in the day(like I'm that old grandpops) in mk3, brutalities were a violent onslaught hard, rapid attacks that blew the opponent up
@@CynicalWarlock fairplay on the customization, if we’re at least able to change intros outros and accessories again then thats a W in my books
About the music thats too true, in any game for that matter people almost always underlook the sound design 💀 I’ve always and will always be of the essence that sound design/soundtracks can make or break a game. I even have a playlist dedicated for pure soundtracks
And yes, 100%, MORE BLOOD IS REQUIRED EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY
Mk9 and x was back in the day for me ngl 😂 for me the equivalent of that type of brutal would be johnnys punch flurry in x, that shit was so simple but so sweet and swaggy
Very cool ideas. Agree on fighting styles, konquest mode, all the stuff that made deception so amazing - they should take all that stuff to the next level. If they want to keep it a 2D fighter, then introduce a counter hit system and fireball clashing.
Love your ideas though! Would be sick actually. And keep the combo and personal flare of MKX like summoner Quan and Dualist Liu Kang
Hell yeah, I'm an MKX fanboy, all the way. Variations deserved to be improved, not discarded.
Fireball clashing is a cool idea, and yeah, some kind of deeper counterplay is what I'm getting at, with this video. I think it would revitalize MK.
MK11 did the tower concept well with the Character towers, 1st time you complete it the final boss is Kronika, you are given the standard arcade ending and rewarded with gear pieces. You could then continue the character tower for extra rewards while also getting an additional story in the tower description which usually are based on events in the game story mode & loose ends in terms of their rivals.
Yeah this concept of feeding little nibbles of story through towers has potential.
For me gameplay would be like mk1, mk9, and mk armageddon have the modes from mk9 and armageddon roster would be armageddon with more characters including dlc as well and adding new dlcs but its all crossovers like doomslayer, modern kratos, marcus fennix, Ghostface, Michael Myers, and sweet tooth for dlcs also for kameos we will have atreus, jd fennix, doom demons, ghostface, black noir, invincible characters, vigilante, and clown, in terms of reward modes we will bring back krypt and invasions
Edit: maybe add z axis aka sidestepping, and stage transitions also add all types of finishers i also think they should add mk armageddon minigames as well as a rpg mode gameplay will be like dragons dogma and kingdoms of amalur but more bloody and gory also the other dlc is past and newer dlc characters also one of the dlc themes of dlc since every mortal kombat game has themed guests should be anime and manga themed for example guts from berserk maybe add game characters as well like jacket from hotline miami and maybe add various versions of characters as skins like original havik and then dairou havik or hanzo scorpion then kuai liang scorpion so many possibilities maybe add black noir as a kameo as well and more violent characters like john wick or b from berzerker aka keanu reaves comic book series about a immortal super soldier who wants to stop being immortal maybe add scrapped and myth characters like Ash Williams, zebron, pedro, Nimbus Terrafaux, khrome, hornbuckle as a alternate liu kang skin, Belokk, aqua, and t wrecks
That's way too many characters to feasibly deliver. You'd probably start with half of Armageddon's roster, and add as much as you could through DLC.
Decent RPG suggestions - basically make it hack and slash-y; fits well with MK.
@@CynicalWarlock or maybe updates can add main roster characters
@CynicalWarlock also making some copy characters like Jarek and tsu Hao skins would be a good idea too
@CynicalWarlock oh wait I had a better idea add canon characters as dlc through story dlc and turn copy characters like Jarek and tsu Hao into skins and mortal kombat can turn this into a tsuedo live service game and add crossovers as kombat packs with scrapped and myth characters
@@BOTERADICATORX Jarek skin is a much better idea. Characters like that don't really earn their existence beyond that.
Mortal Kombat: Rebirth, sequel to Armageddon.
Dude, the actualy MK: Rebirth was next level.
It wouldn’t matter if MK were made “perfectly”. There would still be lots of haters.
Bring em on.
Also, I purposely avoided the word "perfect", cause that's a theoretical, relative concept that doesn't exist.
I'd seriously much rather they go the Injustice route with their gameplay. Weirdly enough, Injustice has a lot of elements from classic and 3D era MK games, that being stage transitions and character powers (similar to fighting stances in the 3D era). The fact that both Injustice games had stage transitions, but not the last THREE MK entries is absurd. Stage transitions was always there since the original trilogy games, so to see it not make at least one comeback is ridiculous imo.
Also character powers from the Injustice series is somewhat of a better approach than fighting stance from the 3D era games. I think it would give every character their own flair, and uniqueness, especially with how versatile characters are in MK lore. Johnny, for example, in MK1 has his Star Power buff and I'm pretty sure he's the only one on the roster to have a move like that in the game. Considering that MK1 apparently is a scrapped build of Injustice 3, it could've added a lot depth to the roster if characters had a good stance/character power to use. Like imagine giving Scorpion a hellfire/ninjutsu stance to accompany his base moves.
Injustice, despite its flaws, had a solid foundation in terms of its gameplay and depth that MK could learn from, even though it's literally made by the same studio. If they incorporated other small mechanics like push block, and meter burn dash it would put more layers on the game. That accompanied with variations (although, not sure with character power if it were added), and a unique Konquest/story mode and we would have a really good MK entry.
Thought you were about to mention everything I hate about Injustice, but I ended up loving your comment.
Agree with pretty much everything. Good job pointing the irony of the stage transitions surviving only in Injustice; that's bizarre.
The unique character powers are something I actually touched on in another video, as a solution to the current Fatal Blow snoozefest, so I'm in full agreement there. Fatal Blows/Supers/X-Rays don't all need to be the same super-armored, long-reaching 30% damage attack; that's so dull. Making them unique to each character would bring a lot of depth of gameplay and strategy. Auras, utilities, temporary teleports, improved frame data, armor - the sky's the limit.
Another thing I just realized is I often talk about how Injustice was NRS' testing ground for features to then port over to MK games, yet they seem to not have learned what they should have, from it.
Give Scorpion a shotgun
I suppose Scorpion *is* a shotgun, in his own way.
One where Ed Boon doesn't allow Scorpion to rek subzero constantly
Facts. Everything else is secondary.
honestly it'd be best if some characters only had weapon styles(not including firearms) and others only had fighting styles that were also elemental since it is still Mortal Kombat
Yeah, tough thing to balance out, when Kenshi has a Katana and Johnny has pimples, but I think the accessories idea could work, like Batman or Wonder Woman-style bracers, or sword guards.
I think Motor Kombat had a ton of potential to be spun off into its own franchise that was never explored. I still have fons memories of that minigame.
That goes for most mini-games. Chess Kombat, Puzzle Kombat, all of these had potential. And there is now precedent for this - CDPR turned Gwent (a throwaway mini-game from The Witcher 3, made in a couple days) into a standalone game that made quite a bit of money.
The main story should have nothing to do with other versions of characters(alternative reality, revenants)
As in actually have a main continuity/timeline.
NRS are reading this, going "wha?"
Mortal kombat anime
Sold.
Mk9 with new gen graphics = perfection.
Pretty damn close, can't lie.
I will give you ONE like, for referencing Last Bronx. Good old memories...
Last Bronx is my spirit animal.
Great theme song too.
The GOAT returns. Hopefully the Hanzo video next 👀
Yes, he is a tad overdue.
Hear me out, a Konquest mode for each character. A mini story the players can play with each character where they have their missions and their stories intertwine leading up to or after the events of a main MK story. Kinda like the DLC stories from Batman: Arkham Knight.
I love that idea (and Arkham Knight), but I think it's only possible if those *are* the main story. Unlike Arkham Knight's 4-5 playable characters, there are 20-30 characters in your average MK roster to make mini-Konquests for, so that's a huge undertaking. So you either make that the story that you assemble, like a jigsaw puzzle - which (mostly) I would personally love, and would incentivize players to pick up the whole cast - or you have a traditional main story mode and then, similar to Arkham Knight, you just pick 4-5 characters to do this kind of a DLC for; characters that don't get any screen time in the main story.
You know, there is an actual tier list on Tier List Template where you can describe your perfect Mortal Kombat game by stating which 2 things each main series fighting game did better than all its other features.
It would be interesting to see you and other people turn this into videos.
Sounds like a plan.
@@CynicalWarlock Awesome!
An MK battle royal would be cool. Add in the side stepping and weapons and it could work hella well. Each win gives you an in game currency that you can use to buy cosmetic customization items for any chosen fighter. The game would keep a record of wins and loses so during a 5 minute waiting period before you spawn in on the location you selected, you can check other characters stats, equipment, and chosen character. After a hundred win, you get a special key that lets you open a mini private BR match, consisting of you and/or a group of friends if you don't want to do it alone, fighting against AI fighters. You win, you get more than the 100x the usual currency amount, a pool of player created cosmetic items and a player created finisher that targets a specific body part on an opponent, allowing for a permanent loss of limb to any player you use it on. Players with lose limbs can get a material specific prosthetic in it's place, able to heal the lost arm back into existence if they can defeat the person who took took it in the first place.
Not too familiar with battle royale fighting games, but this sounds very well thought out.
@@CynicalWarlock Awe shucks, thanks big homie deep voice Warlock. We all know your voice is deep, but your video making skills are deeper.
@@SozioTheRogue Now *that's* worth framing on my wall. Thanks.
I completely agree with you on so many of these points. The only thing I'd add is minimizing the "character customization" focus that a lot of the unlockables have. Like, to your point, there used to be so many things you could unlock. Art, lore, alternate costumes, funny bits, etc. But now it feels like a lot of that real estate is taken up by character customization options which.......look, I know people want to make THEIR Scorpion unique or whatever, but I'm genuinely so irked by a lot of the instagram videos I see where characters don't even obey any specific color pallete anymore. I know people want versatility with characters, especially as they try to use them semi-competitively, but these characters should have identities right? Why do I keep seeing RED-ORANGE Sub-Zeros...it's a petty thing I know. But I feel like NRS is hyper aware of their games lifespan *in the context of competitive gaming*, and I think when they're too focused on that element, the rest of the game starts shrinking to accommodate it.
And I've talked in the comments on previous videos of yours of my general disdain for Deception, BUT, I completely agree that what the games are missing these days are bigger swings for extended storytelling. The arcade tower plot focus is a genius way to accommodate that, and I think another genuine stab at Deceptions Conquest style mode would do WONDERS for all three K's you list in the video. I think the only point of caution there is that, with the semi-expected size and scale of games these days, maybe that's its own game? Also would love your Shaolin Monks opinion because I think that's one of the best games in the series that lends itself to what I think 'we' are all looking for in the story expansion.
Idk. Many thoughts about it all. As always, I love the MK conversations you kick up and the ways you lay out your ideas. I appreciate you.
No, it's not a petty thing at all. This stupid brand of customization makes the characters lose their visual identities. Ranton has a great.. well rant.. on this, in his MK11 review: "If the visual identity of Sub-Zero can be anything, then it's nothing". And I wholeheartedly agree. Turning these characters into free-build Legos ruins half of the experience, cause half of the experience is what you see. It's that much more criminal, considering how unique and impactful MK's overall aesthetic is, with the ninjas, sorcerers, cyborgs, gods and emperors and such. It's not *that* big a problem in most other fighting games, cause most other fighting games have (no offense to them) somewhat generic archetypes - the kung fu guy, the fat guy, the dude who dipped his hair in too much styling gel etc. But MK is different.
I remember your disdain for Deception, and it's not completely unfounded; they did throw one too many kitchen sinks around to see what sticks.
I can't even take full credit for the arcade tower plot idea, cause that's more or less how Last Bronx handled its arcade runs. Your final boss wasn't the same generically bad guy, it was one of the other playable characters that your character had beef with, or some kind of meaningful relationship. And that game is almost 30 years old.
And you mention something important: whether or not these konquests and stories and extra game modes have grown too big to be attached to these games. I think that's an interesting - and necessary - discussion to have. At some point, the fighting game ceases to be about fighting, and the argument to just make spinoff games in different genres that complement the fighting game becomes increasingly valid.
Glad you enjoyed the video. I also enjoy your well thought out responses.
Cheers, Joshua.
Didn't watch this. But mkx already achieved this as being ideal
My man.🤜🤛
You should still watch the video, though.
My opinion :
+ Original Trilogy Athmosphere
+ 3D Era games Story/Lore
+ MK9 Roster/Costumes/Concept
+ MKX gameplay
+ MK Shaolin Monks style Konquest Mode
+ Kreate A Fighter
= the perfect MK game
I went through every stage of the McMahon meme while reading this.
The Flip stance button would finally serve a purpose in this hypothetical MK
eXACtly!
Would be amazing to get an MK: Shaolin monks game that plays similar to helldivers 2, where you have choices of the MK roster of characters and are teleported to the realms to do missions. It’d be online multiplayer, with players deploying in teams, but they use their powers instead of guns. Considering the variety of denizens in all the realms, you have diversity in enemies similar to the helldivers series.
That's actually a cool idea. Don't even have to make it a shooter, but just the team-picking aspect would be dope, and have all sorts of combo attacks, between the various party members, based on who you pick.
@@CynicalWarlock I can totally see Kung Lao and Liu Kang doing a combo move where Kung Lao aim’s and throws his hat and Liu spins a fire dragon around it as an AOE move.
THANK YOU! Im getting sick of the normal story mode for the very reason of it taking away from the smaller scale story telling that 3D Era MK used to have. Small scale stories thrkugh towers and stuff is such a great ideas
They'll have to eventually do something like that. Sooner or later, these games will become too big for their own good, to the point where they'll have to separate the story modes and adventure modes from the main game and release them as standalone, cause it's just too much to prep for one release. That's when we'll probably see them go back to smaller-scale storytelling, like in the past.
Jmcrofts just made a video about under used ideas in fighting games. Literally everything in that video was good ideas
Mid-match spectate. I want. I've been wanting it for forever.
Also take control, in a replay - that's already a feature in certain games.
Hara-kiris were such a cool addition to me, I want them back.
Animalities can also be added for some shits and giggles, though I don't know how that would work for some specific characters (Reptile, Kotal mostly)
Reptile turns into a human, Kotal turns into a wheelchair.
@@CynicalWarlockSpeaking of Reptile, I honestly still like the idea of him staying reptilian, since MK9 is my favorite design of his.
@@teawen Earlier on, someone else wrote that MKX Reptile was their favorite design. This day's getting more and more interesting.
Hey should take time off from MK to work the next one up and if they wanna go ahead with the alternate timelines thing for a while then hey why not have the main story be one timeline then have a deception style Konquest from another timeline then have a fully interactive Krypt that takes place in another timeline maybe even having a deeper like scavenger hunt mechanic where you collect the lore of that timeline and maybe even trigger cutscenes or interactions by some specific means and then the arcade towers could be one more more separate interlocking series of stories from one or more alternate timelines and maybe even have another form of some kind of separate timeline immersion I mean that's literally what the MK legends animated movies are flimg and its kinda totally gire but its not enough
Multiverse migraines aside, I did suggest something similar, in another video. You could have story DLCs that center on an alternate version of Johnny or Sub, kinda like how Joaquin Phoenix's Joker is in a completely distinct universe from Robert Pattinson's Batman.
Having every single game mode be a different universe might be too much or too confusing, but some degree of this would definitely be useful.
I think MK should also try stand alone games again. Imagine a Sekiro style game but with Hanzo or Bi Han.
Yees. I've been saying this for a while - standalone/spinoff games are an untapped gold mine.
Ever since MK9, I've thought that the game's story mode was the worst place to portray said story. Given the conplexity and large number of characters i think it would be beneficial to mostly leavw the story put of the games and have a conpanion movie or animated series depicting the canon story for each game. Not only does this allow for more time and better writing, but it adds more media to make more money off of.
This. I think spinoff/action-adventure games that are naturally more story-focused would be a game-changer. And you could still add to it through the arcade endings, like little puzzle pieces that fill in the gaps of the story and lore. There's so much you can do with that.
One more minor thing: They should bring back the announcer cackling like a crazy person after you land a fatality
Not just after a Fatality; after a particularly hard-hitting attack, like an uppercut, as it was back in MK3/MK4. Added so much life to the matches.
@@CynicalWarlockYeah dude, whoever Umk3's art director was... They need to bring that guy back asap
I'd add one more pillar with "General Variety" but that would ruing the racist joke. But what I mean is like with customization parts and features as well as mini-games and and interactive krypt which is something that I spent so much time in since it's inception I was so young getting jump scared in Deadly Alliance Krypt
Yeah don't ruin my racist joke.
It'd have all the ninjas no questions asked.
0 complaints from me. :))
well since you asked & i have some time to spare.
General design philosophies for NRS:
- My number 1 request above all else is for NRS to realize that decision making & options are what make fighting games fun and should prioritize making that their top philosophy. I know it's easier said than done & ill get to it when i talk abt gameplay, but generally speaking FG's are at their best when the system & mechanics make you think about what action you need to take in order to win a match which feeds into creativity & player expression. It's why speed & variations are so beloved. Speed forced you to make decisions quicker and Variations changed up how you and the opponent play. Good devs know how to ingrain this into their games & it seems NRS either forgot or just doesn't know that that's what makes their games fun.
- If you're gonna have a 2 year development cycle, there's literally no reason why NRS shouldn't reuse assets from previous games, specifically combo strings, specials, or the variations. Make characters have complete movesets; not only is it a good time saver for development it also gives players more options by the simple fact that you have more moves and strings at your disposal. Even if they want to reinvent their games to give each one their own unique identity, it's still smart to keep stuff from previous games while also balancing them to fit the new game's system & mechanics. SF & Tekken have been doing this since the 90s so there's no reason NRS can't do the same.
- Stop the 2 year cycle. So much of NRS's problems on release as well as the presentation & system mechanics could be fixed if they just gave themselves more than 2 years to develop their games and flesh all that stuff out more.
now for the nitty gritty.
Gameplay (not rly reserved for one game, just stuff I would like to see in future games/MK1):
- Punish counter states. I would honestly be fine if they copied SF6 counter state where depending on how you punish your opponent it gives you different properties like an air juggle state for anti-air counters, dmg buff, depleting your opponent's meter, etc. You can even make it flashy by utilizing the krushing blow x ray zoom ins from MK11.
- Multiple meters/supers. Not only would this solve the issue of long x-rays/fatal blows but also give us more visual & gameplay variety & could honestly be enough to be the new system for a future MK. Either make it so that you can choose your own super/x-rays similar to SF3 where instead of a cinematic you just get a powered up move that can also have multiple bars or you have the traditional 3 bars of super where lvl 3 super gives you the same old cinematic fatal blows while the ex bars have their own meter like SF6.
- 1st hit bonus. It was cool and promoted aggressive decision making, not to mention a good high risk high reward subtle comeback mechanic if you lost the first round.
- Push Block. As of me writing this comment the mk1 ermac trailer came out & it seems like we might be getting push block or a version of it in MK1 however nothing is confirmed yet so we'll see but if it is a system wide change then it's honestly what I want pushblock to be like, though maybe not full screen like in the trailer but something more traditional like mid screen in Marvel.
- Kustom Kombos. Literally the custom combos from SF Alpha where each special move/normal is cancellable into each other or a big speed increase that makes you plus on everything you spam one normal over and over and over for a limited amount of time. It can either be it's own separate meter from the x-ray bar or just completely replace it & if you finish someone with it the opponent explodes like in the og games & counts as a fatality. You can even be cheeky with it & call it "Dial-A-Kombos". Would like to see one MK game attempt this
Presentation:
- Make MK music Techno again for the love of god please i cant stand generic cinematic synth movie ost anymore.
- Bring back the animated/cartoony side of MK back. I know MK prides itself on being the "realistic" fighting game but I don't play MK for the realism, especially when that realism is being outdone by Tekken and Street Fighter nowadays. Hell I wouldn't mind if they stole the designs and artstyle from the animated movies. I know they're hit or miss but some of those designs look genuinely cool and would be sick to have as part of the mainline MK games. They made Kobra look cool somehow.
- For the love of god please fix your animations NRS holy shit how has a company with these giant ass budgets not fixed a core problem especially a FIGHTING GAME dev. From what I can tell from ppl who actually animate shit for a living, the reason MK animations look like ass is bc NRS for some reason does not stretch their models during movement. Meaning they don't bend the character models so that they can easily animate into the next desired pose. It's why characters switch where their body faces whenever they switch sides, bc NRS refuses to bend the body so that it can face the camera's pov.
there's more stuff i can talk about but its getting late and i want to go to bed. hopefully WB doesn't crash and burn and takes MK with it so that we can maybe see one of these things added in.
A lot of features to digest, particularly on the gameplay side, but I ended up agreeing with a big chunk of it.
There are plenty of issues with the animations, of which that lack of bending the models that you mentioned is the central issue. Touched on them in another video. Stretching the models a little beyond their natural limits, conveying momentum, properly conveying speed, not moving with the body/center of gravity - NRS animations get all of these things wrong.
Push block, 1st hit bonus, multiple meters - all this stuff is key.
Most importantly, you understand the general philosophy that makes, not just fighting games, but games in general engaging, deep and fun to play is optionality. Having multiple solutions to the same problem, which allows for both flexibility and player expression and creativity. The speed thing is key too, and very counterintuitive, cause you'd think slowing the speed would make it less about guessing and more about skill, yet all it does is lower the overall skill ceiling and detrains your reaction times and overall decision-making skills. The correct option becomes obvious and singular, instead of you reflecting after a wrong, split-second decision and realizing there was a better option and improving your reaction time and game sense, over time.
Great comment, good list of features. Thanks for sharing.
Nighty-night.
Something else I’d add to the concept of immediately switching to a weapon stance being completely unnecessary is the fact that some of these characters don’t even NEED weapons. Ermac with a giant battle axe, Sonya with a “wind blade” and kali sticks, Rain with a wizard staff, a generic sword, or a fucking pair of katars.
That's a good argument against weapons entirely. Cause it messes with the characters' aesthetics.
I'm late to the party with my hot take, but turning Johnny into a sorta meta guy in MK11 and MK1 was a mistake. He's an actor, yes, but are all these cameras, props, boom mics and stunt doubles (the literal MK11 ones, not the variation) really necessary? In MK9 he says "I am the special effects", but in MK11 he suddenly drags an entire movie set around.
@@MaxBaik Yes! You are one of the few who share this sentiment. Most people want Johnny to remain the MCU joke machine that he is, which diminishes his character and potential, in my opinion. He should definitely be a funny guy, but crossing over into too much meta territory makes him annoying and a bit superficial.
MKX offered a snippet into how he could grow, as a character.
For the most part, your idea is very ideal. For the style change, maybe have it that each kharacter has at least 3 styles and you can choose 2 pre match. Each style may focus on different archetypes like rushdown, grappler and zoning for Liu Kang. And add Motor Kombat.
That might be a good idea - makes it a strategic decision, going into a match.
there wouldn't be mind games at all. people would just side step constantly while moving in to close distance.
I forgot to mention that sidestepping would have a reasonable cooldown attached to it, so you can't spam it. That or it could be a resource you build, just like bar.
My say is BRING THE MINIGAMES AS MOBILE GAMES IF YOU WILL NOT ADD THEM BACK TO THE GAME
At the very least.
Id say gameplay like mkx, but a better defense system. Id say taking the degense bar from 11, but keeping the bar from x for enhanced attacks.) I enjoyed the variation system in x, but if we cant have that, then the default moveset is fine. And please for the love of god, we need the classic skins. They should ALWAYS be there. And we need them done right. Not watered down like mk1(2). The story? I think it should remaster the original timeline. If they want to do this multiverese crap, at the very least, they should include that. Theres more id like to add, but this comment is already as long as is. (I actually forgot all I had to say)
Long, he says.. You clearly haven't seen some of the other comments I get.
Interesting idea to port the defense bar over from 11; I don't much like self-regenerating bars (essentially mmo-style cooldowns), but I suppose you could work it in, somehow.
I feel like MK today missed some key features, monsters or creature designs, dark thematic maps like the Old School way with Stage Fatalities, Brutality ( The OG version just like Killer Instinct now. ) Anaand return to his dark roots, story, realms, Mortal Kombat in a serious mature form and no more guest Kombatants like Super Heroes bullshit. ( Instead of keeping the Slasher gore themed formula, I'm starting to think Midway era was the golden era of MK in every way possible, before Netherrealm bullshit. ) I guess the mastermind of MK was actually not Ed Boon, it was John Tobias since his departure kinda messed up MK original universe.
Yeah we all kind of knew that. I'd say that the 2 of them together were what made this whole thing work as well as it did. Tobias is a great lore master, while Boon is a great business and hype guy. Can't have one without the other.
You touched on something important, though: the superhero element. That shit ruined MK, more than people realize, and it started with Injustice. The 2 IPs gradually bled over into each other, with MK looking and feeling more and more like a superhero fighting game, with the big multiverse plots, the type of dialog and story structuring, even the booming sound effects and victory poses; it's all so comic book-ish, and it's not what MK is about.
5:25
Bro just based his personality on that one anime character who also has an almost always sheathed katana, blue energy glow and MOTIVATION
@@CoolSaver I think that describes a million anime characters.
@@CynicalWarlock I can't tell if that's an irony or you really didn't get who i meant, because i think you're right haha
@@CoolSaver Bleach?
@@CynicalWarlock lol ok, i guess you're not a big fan of Devil May Cry, that's alright. Or maybe my joke calling it an anime has put you off 😅
@@CoolSaver There's a third option: insufficient intelligence.
How did I not see it??
Even your pfp was a hint.
I'm a huge DMC fan, actually. Just not the smartest, apparently.
Kenshi keeps his sword sheated because he uses iaido, that is literally the whole point of the fighting style plus if you have magic holding a sword in your hand might make casting the spells harder
Iaido is non-combative, for the most part, often not considered "effective sparring". I know shows and anime glorify it, but even there, it's used for scenes where unsheathing and sheathing instantly ends the fight, or bypasses it, entirely. You don't unsheathe-sheathe 100 times during a single fight, that's mental.
@@CynicalWarlock first of all it was intended to be used in the streets of course its effective, but i do know that once you unsheat the sword it stays that way but we are talking about a game with superhuman agility and magic, i can buy an exaggerated fighting style
@@alessandrolizzio6338 Superhuman agility and magic are still used in a logical way, for the most part (minus some things like teleporting, or video gamey bullshit like creating an ice wall to smash the opponent through, instead of just freezing them). But sheathing your sword back into its scabbard and taking your hand away from it while the threat of imminent death looms in front of you defies common sense so much, it bothers the mind, and there are ways you can have this cake and eat it without causing such lapses in logic.
@@CynicalWarlock people do backflips during fights(in mk and other fighting games) so there is nothing weird about kenshi's fighting style, plus fictional sword styles like holding the sword backwards and ones where you spin a lot are cool even if they dont make much sense so i dont really complain
Shaolin Monks. Remake Shaolin Monks. Shaolin Monks.
Fuck it make the Kombat Kids. Its like Shaolin Monks. But the Kombat Kids.
Or finish fire and ice. Fire and ice.
Make a Erron Black Carnival shooter. Unrelated but it would be fun. I want a carnival stage.
Deadly Alliance. Its the deadly Alliance but Shaolin Monks.
Shaolin Monks. Basically, what you're saying - Shaolin Monks - is they should make more spinoff type stuff - like Shaolin Monks. Action adventure games, Shaolin Monks, beat-em-ups, Shaolin Monks, side scrollers, Shaolin Monks, and of course Shaolin Monks 2: Shaolin Monks, the sequel to Shaolin Monks, about the Shaolin who Monk.
And I agree.
I love you, man!!
I love you too, stranger in the dark.
3:31 I believe you are talking about "burst mechanics" in anime fighters, I also believe they are the best thing to ever occur In a fighting game...
Yeah Bursts and Breakers in Mortal Kombat are functionally similar, from what I understand, except there are multiple types of Bursts for multiple instances, which also something I'd port over to MK.
i feel like they nailed the kombat mechanic the most in mk x, it's flashy, satisfying to play and watch and just really well rounded overall, but the styling of that game... it was definitely a choice. Like did they really have to put that ugly brown filter over everything? The game just looked too dark even on the well-lit arenas
Yes! This one gets it. Not only was MKX so damn exhilarating to play, it also allowed for a ton of creativity and player expression with combos and such, and just generally a high skill ceiling. Probably the highest of any NRS/Midway game.
And yeah, I like certain parts of the aesthetic, but it was overall too gloomy and subdued. Also the arenas were so.. boring. Just lifeless somehow, compared to other games.
The kung fu break stuff is something I have described to my brother long ago.
My kontribution? Kreate A Kombatant! Yes, I will sing this forever! My need to create characters in games is eternal!
Way more people fell in love with Kreate a Kombatant than I thought. Need to think up a viable way to work that in.
Glad other people like the break thing too.
@@CynicalWarlock oh yeah. I've been wanting less pop ups and more kung fu Matrix like fights with the powers/magic/technology thrown in for some time. Admittedly, the last games I was consistently good at was 3D era. I was just okay in 9 and X.
@@SuperLumianaire I dunno how many other people are in this boat, but popup combos - especially ones that go on for too long - seem kinda ridiculous to me, nowadays. It's one of those things where, once I just zero in on how silly the opponent looks, dangling in the air with the same animation reset over and over again, and how far away that is from reality, it's like I can't unsee it. And it's not just MK - Tekken juggles look even funnier to me, where the victim starts to hit the ground over and over again.
I still think popups should be in fighting games - there's a level of satisfaction to successfully pulling off a juggle combo (and can look spectacular, sometimes, like when you do one of those Reptile combos that use his speedy dash move, that looks way cooler and more realistic) - but it should be rarer and harder to do, and maybe require a lot of meter to initiate and extend.
@@CynicalWarlock agreed. How would handle grapplers?
@@SuperLumianaire Last Bronx (really old game) had an interesting take on them. There was this one character that had a bunch of.. essentially parry moves, but the inputs got more and more complicated, in relation to the damage dealt. That's one thing you could do.
Other than that, command grabs work just fine, and having the stronger ones link into more slams, like Jax's stuff, is pretty satisfying.
Love the content
Thank you. I love bread, particularly smiling bread.
Visually it should look like MKX atmosphere with shapes of MK11/1. MKX looked very good, but characters had those plastic toys bodies. Gameplay wise I think it would be amazing to be it in 3D like MK4 and ps2 games
Kinda what I'm getting at, more or less.
Gorry, Dark atmospheres, Male characters for the roster as Majority, Cryptic as hell with tones of stuff to be discovered for years to come. Gameplay wise: 1v1 as default, Combos should cost way more and must be hard to perform. Variations are not also needed imo. and finally the right speed and pace balance which is tough to ge right as a game designs stand point. Great video man, and what an amazing title to go with it.
Thanks, glad you liked it.
I like that you brought up combo difficulty - that's an important (and fairly complex) discussion to have. Autopilot combos shouldn't really exist, for the most part; even just sitting through one of those, waiting to be over, feeling your beard grow, is soul-crushing. Complex, high-yield combos should have a higher skill ceiling, kinda like Nimble Reptile combos, in MKX.
@@CynicalWarlock spot on, a friend of mind insisted I should give mk1 a shot, I enjoyed a lot about it gameplay wise, but man being shuffeled in the air forever can be fun only for so long! I decided it's not worth investing any time in a game that's like that!
@@Ramt33n It's admittedly a difficult thing - increasing one player's enjoyment while minimizing the other player's suffering. It's a hard thing to balance, and I feel a high skill ceiling for advanced combos would really do wonders for that. Make shorter combos the norm, but allow for longer, more damaging combos if the players are really really good. That makes them both rarer and makes you go "respect" when your opponent performs one on you, instead of wallowing in frustration. Also, there should be counterplay and ways to occasionally interrupt those, again, if you're really really good.
no. side stepping is the worst it turns the game into an awkward looking shuffle fest like tekken
straight up 2D is the best solution for fast paced fighting games eg street fighter 2/alpha3/third strike/Umk3/MK9
One thing I forgot to mention is the sidestepping would have a sizeable cooldown attached to it.
cool down or not adding side stepping may seem like a small change but ultimately changes the whole mechanics of the game and can ruin the flow of gameplay. like imagine if SF6 introduced side stepping to deal with zoning? that wouldnt go down well so they have the drive system. if the side stepping is just to avoid zoning maybe instead just split each of the 3 bars of the special meter in two so you can spend half a bar to armour through projectiles or for a full bar do a special armour attack that goes full screen through projectiles straight into launcher-combo. point being there will always be better solutions than introducing side stepping @@CynicalWarlock
@@Rockysbeats SF6 is a different animal; slower and more deliberate. The zoning game works completely differently there.
MK4 had sidestepping and it can't really be called a 3D game. In fact, I've never seen anyone use the sidestep function apart from me and the AI.
But to each his own.
if nobodys using it that says all you nee to know about that feature ;)@@CynicalWarlock
Bring back Motor Kombat. Nothing else matters - Metallica, 1991
That's the full lyric, yes.
For me it would be the art style, brutality, sound design of MK Trilogy, and the gameplay of MKX/MK1
MKX and MK1(2) are very different, in terms of gameplay. I'd definitely lean more towards X.
Hm a Mix between MK9(more balanced combat) and X(viseral speed but semi realistic characters who kinda went away with some of the new ones, and build upon the type of fighting styles and moveset), Sholin Monks, with a dash of god of war
Sounds like a delicious meal to me.
Imo, a ideal mk at least for me, is a reality where only onaga the dragon king reshapes everything that we have ever known of this brutal universe on its very head. All these villains although great in their own way, except one. This would give stakes where they need to be, for like back in deception it was the feeling you know full well that you need characters that pulls their weight, know that officially if someone dies, you stick with true death to really stick. Point is, mk needs to be dark, it can't be campy oh look ill save the day bs. Mk9 nailed that
It's a hard balance to strike, yes.
I just thought of an idea for fighting styles, what if they combined the variation system with the fighting style. Like for example let's say you choose Sub-Zero and he gets his Unbreakable/Shotokan variation but it's more styled for zoning while his second fighting style is the Cryomancer/Kori Blade variation which it's more styled for rush-downs
That then becomes more of a nod to Deception's fighting styles, more than anything else. Functionally, it's more or less just variations, except people get to say "look, it says 'Shotokan', just like in Deception". At least if I'm understanding you correctly.
You mentioned something awesome, though, which is Sub-Zero having a zoning variation. I believe that should've been a thing in MKX, and it would be a better way to approach these variations, in general, going forward.
@@CynicalWarlock That's a fair point although I was thinking maybe, again bringing up the Unbreakable/Shotokan hybrid style, when you are in that very specific fighting style you can only use strikes/kicks/combos that are made for the said play style and when you switch to a different style you can then use a different set of strikes/kicks/combos for the alternate play style. An example I can think of is maybe with Sub-Zero, again lol, when you switch to his Cryomancer/Kori Blade he then gains his more rush-down combo strings vs the zoning combo strings he would use for his Unbreakable/Shotokan style. Hell you could maybe if you study the kharacter enough, learn to mash them together to unlock longer unique combo strings that transition between their different fighting/play styles. Also when you are in a certain fighting style you can only use specials that are tailored for said play style. An example is if you are in Sub-Zero's Unbreakable/Shotokan fighting style you can only use his Ice Shower, Ice Wall/Spikes, and (I kind of made this one up but I think it would make sense for him) Ice Armor. However, if you then switch to his Cryomancer/Kori Blade fighting style you can then use his Ice Slide, Ice Clone, and Ice Ball. Lastly, I just thought of this after I played a couple rounds on WWE 2K24, what if they tried to add a Kharacter's Stats system. Think about it, each kharacter's starts off with its default overall stats but over time you can upgrade your kharacter's stats to make them more online/tournament friendly. In a way you can take kharacters that start off bottom tier and upgrade them to at least mid-tier so each kharacter gets a chance in the spotlight so to speak.
Honestly, at this point, someone or a group of people need to get together and hop on Unreal Engine or Unity and see if we can just make a kustom kommunity-made Mortal Kombat game, hell you could call the game Ultimate Mortal Kombat Kommunity or something like that, trying to combine all aspects/gameplay features that the Mortal Kombat kommunity wants to have in a Mortal Kombat game. And if Netherrealm/Warner Bros gets pissy about it and try to claim Copyright we could just say it's a fan-made game (Plus if they were to argue that then they would have to go after EVERY Mugen/Mortal Kombat fan game out there) and price it for free so no one is making any money off of it. If there is money being made it's either going towards the game itself or towards kommunity-voted kharity (Which gives me a funny as hell idea for a kommunity tournament, hear me out: Ultimate Kreator Klash).
@@_NERD_BROSKI Now I get what you're saying. So basically switch Variations on the fly *and* Variations completely change the character.
It's an awesome idea, but it essentially doubles or tripples the roster size, cause you have a completely different Sub-Zero, from variation to variation, so the devs probably wouldn't sign themselves up for that much work. But yes, that would be pretty fuckin ideal.
The stats thing doesn't really work competitively; you want all the characters to be balanced and their stats immutable. I need to know what Kano is capable of and what my Sub-Zero can do against Kano, which isn't possible, if you keep upgrading Kano every 2 hours.
@@CynicalWarlock Eh I understand the stat thing but maybe could with a tier card system that you can unlock by doing a variety of different game modes/challenges, again I'm thinking about how WWE 2k24 did it. For example, you could unlock a Gold (Mid-Tier) Sub-Zero card that you can use only online/tournaments by beating Sub-Zero's arcade tower 15 times or something like that. So in theory, if you have an Emerald (Top-Tier) Kano card and you go up against a Gold (Mid-Tier) Sub-Zero you should be just fine. As for the stat system, it could maybe shift to local/offline game modes that you and a buddy can play.
@@_NERD_BROSKI I'll look up WWE 2k24, to make sure I get the full picture.
Lost me the moment you said “side stepping like mortal kombat 4”
I imagine I lost a lotta people there.
step 1 : remove all Kharacters
step 2 : add Johnny Cage
step 3 : make another game
step 4 : go bankrupt
step 5: crowdfunding
Yeah, MK4 just hits different!
Sarcasm or no, I appreciate this comment.