Can We Talk About That Retarded MKX Story Mode?

KingArthur

KingArthur

You Have Alerted the Horse
[REDACTED]
(Specifically @Squadcar)

The story mode in Mortal Kombat X is just... odd, to me. It raises a lot of questions about certain characters, to say the least; first off, Johnny Cage beats both Scorpion and Revenant Sub Zero in the very first chapter. How? Johnny and Smoke together were defeated by Kitana in MK9, who in turn was brushed aside and murdered by Sindel.

The amount of questions this raises about Johnny’s strength and, from there, the strength of everyone who has beaten him, is something I could make a whole thread about. But moving on.

Why is Erron Black beaten up by literally everyone? Why would Kotal Kahn keep him in his service if Erron was that useless as a bodyguard?

Furthermore, on the subject of Kotal Kahn, why is the Kahnum of Outworld so easily taken out on multiple occasions by upstart kids like Kung Jin and Jacqui Briggs? Wouldn’t the people of Outworld want a Kahnum that exudes strength, like former Emperor Shao Kahn, rather than apparent weakness against everyone but Kano, basically?

And let’s talk about those upstart kids. The Young Justice of MK, the new breed, is fucking annoying. They’re cool fighters with grating personalities, and it’s actually akin to watching Heathers intercut with scenes from Enter the Dragon whenever they’re in a cutscene together. Most egregiously violating of my patience and sensibilities is Cassie Cage. Because why, how, and wherefore did she defeat revived Sindel AND Corrupted Shinnok? The developers are clearly trying to make the Cage-Blade family line something of great supernatural energy, but in the end it just comes off as obnoxious, essentially setting Cassie up to be the One Punch (Wo)Man of the MK universe.

I’ll go on if anyone wants me to, but these are my thoughts for the time being. What are yours? I’m interested to hear what everyone else thought of X’s story mode.
 
The power levels in the Mortal Kombat franchise haven't made sense once since the first game, and it got even worse with the reboot. In MK9, Liu Kang defeats and nearly kills Shao Kahn halfway through the story, but then Shao Kahn is so strong at the end of the story that only a Elder God powered up Raiden can beat him. Where the fuck did he get such a power boost? The writers don't seem to care for power level consistency, so it's something that you eventually need to accept. As bad as that sounds.

The series also has jobbers, characters that only exist to get their shit kicked out for the entirety of the story. The worst case being Baraka and Reptile in MK9, and it gets so bad for Baraka in MKX that he gets killed off. Erron Black is also unfortunately a victim of this and it's a shame, because i think he's one of the coolest characters introduced in the rebooted timeline. At least he seems to be broken online in MKX and specially MK 11.

I do like Cassie Cage personality wise and she gets better in MK 11 (she's no longer overpowered for starters). And yup, Cassie Cage beating a powered up Shinnok doesn't make any sense to me, it's an Elder God powered up with the Earth's Jinsei, he shouldn't be beaten so easily. I get what they were doing with Kung-Jin but he just came off extremely arrogant and obnoxious. I do like Takeda more, but he can be somewhat childish at times. I honestly don't care for Jacqui Briggs, she's just female Jax.

I do find the stories in the last three Mortal Kombat games entertaining, but they have myriad of issues. I do like that Netherrealm Studios even adds story modes to their fighting games, i feel it's something that more fighting games need to do. It adds more value to it, the more casual players enjoy it, and it's cool to see certain characters interact.
 
I do agree with most of that, and thinking back to Deception for the PS2 I think the only character whose power made sense was Onaga, and that’s because he was a badass dragon man.

But I see what you mean. A little off topic, but something I did enjoy about MK9 was how it seems to pick up after the events of Armageddon.

Which does bring into account questions in terms of eternal recurrence in the MK universe...

EDIT: also, @Norzan I'm replaying MK9 now, and as I understand it, after Liu Kang defeats Shao Kahn, he essentially comes back and heals stronger than before with the help of magic. Very small detail though, and doesn’t really excuse his being overpowered in any case.
 
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I really never cared for Sonya Blade and Johnny Cage was just that glam-obnoxious shit I couldn't stand. I do like Cassie Cage though. And no the stories have never really made a lot of sense. And since they've messed with the timelines twice now, shit's even more "what the fuck is this?"

MK11 creates a lot of questions that are never answered and some inconsistencies even in itself.

To fully enjoy Mortal Kombat, one must toss sensibilities to the wind, enjoy the carnage, and accept/like that it's a fighting game with the worst Kung Fu B-movie plot ever. It's something I enjoy honestly, in a weird way. The games are literally just throwing stories out there to just cause more conflict. Who cares if it makes sense but now we're going to punch each other more!
 
Squadcar said:
And no the stories have never really made a lot of sense. And since they've messed with the timelines twice now, shit's even more "what the fuck is this?"

...and accept/like that it's a fighting game with the worst Kung Fu B-movie plot ever.
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Well, that’s just it. Up until MK9, you felt that there was at least consistency. Everything was leading up to a zenith, to the “last hurrah”, to the end of the PS2 trilogy... to Armageddon. I can and will argue that up to that point, the timeline messing was minor and barely noticeable, and the story itself was engrossing and interesting.

Now, MK9 and X are still interesting and engrossing, but in a different way; after it’s shown that Shao Kahn ultimately triumphs at Armageddon, MK9 begins and the timeline resets, as you know. But in MK9, everything happens basically the same way it did initially. It almost sets the series up for Nietzschéen eternal recurrence, eliminating any and all... well... attachment to anything in the story. If Shao Kahn is going to win at the end of times, defeating Blaze atop the pyramid again and again, for all time, why bother prolonging the inevitable? I admittedly haven’t played 11, but I’ve been told Shao Kahn is in it again, almost confirming my above theory.
 
Shao Kahn is only back because Kronika brought him back to assist her in stopping Raiden and Liu Kang.
I don't remember how he returns in the original timeline but I really don't think we're getting any timeline similarities with Deadly Alliance, Deception, and Armageddon. MK4 seems to be as far as they'll go and that's mostly a good thing in my opinion. I just want more Noob, Smoke, and Noob-Smoke team up back in my life. Deception was the best of the worst 3 MK games.

I really liked MK9 and MKX was alright. MK11 plays very well and I dig that a lot about it but the Krypt is completely fucked now and the story is wild. Like I said, I don't particularly hate it but it's not some artpiece for display. Mortal Kombat just needs good characters which the best have ironically been the color swapped male and female ninjas (mostly, fuck you Tanya, boring ass). Sounds like they'd suck but they were always the more interesting characters. Look at how many forgettable people show up from MK4 til Armageddon and then never show up in the reboots. There's a reason. There are some cool characters in there but then you remember we have Kobra and all the other throwaways.

Can we also just erase Stryker, I hate that character more than anyone else in the original 3 games.
 
Kitana beats the shit out of him and blinds him with her fan.
Sorry to disappoint you but Shao Kahn hardly does much in MK 11.

The 3D games also didn't had a story mode like the last three games to represent their story. You just learned about story development from Bio Kards and other stuff. So it might seem they make more sense, but they really don't. They still do weird shit and power levels are all over the place.

Honestly, i enjoy the stories in the rebooted timeline because of character interactions. Like Sub-Zero and Scorpion in MK 11. A game with just these two could actually make a great game.

And yup, NRS seems to have disdain for the characters introduced in the 3D games. They seem to only care for Kenshi and a few others, and literally kill off the others. I mean, Hsu Hao's head shows up in an intro of Erron Black in MK 11, that's how much they hate that character and most of the 3D characters.
 
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First of all, fuck you I like Stryker, secondly that... might be similar to the way he gets revived? I can check.

EDIT: yep, clones. Magic clones. Why not. https://mortalkombat.fandom.com/wiki/Shao_Kahn/Original_Timeline

And @Norzan I’m far from disappointed, if anything glad that MK isn’t just on repeat over and over in terms of story. And I remember the Konquest modes in the PS2 games being... odd... but they did make at least a little sense, imo. They were all leading up to Armageddon. Of course, we only realize that in retrospect...
 
Lol @ people looking for sense in MK storyline

MK has always been about style rather than substance. It was always ridden with cliches, bad writing and inconsistencies, and while over time the mythology of the franchise became sprawling enough to actually warrant some sort of a story, it was always of that kind where cool stuff happens on screen and the story is just there to fill in the blanks between the fights.

Not that I don't understand people caring about storyline and characters (as campy as it is at times, I love MK), but nitpicking and overly criticizing it is largely pointless since details were never that important in MK, unless it's a form of fan service I guess.
 
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That's what I've been saying. The stories really don't matter. You come to MK for the ultra violence, blood, and color swapped ninjas. Maybe a few other characters that are cool. AKA Kenshi.
 
Random aside but fuck Kotal Kahn.

He's a murderous piece of shit dictator and the Earthrealm allying with him is the same as allying with Saddam Hussein.
 
The story in Mortal Kombat is all about easter eggs and hat tipping. Oh you saw that guy way off in the distance on fire in MK2?

He was BLAZE!!!! OHHHHHHHH!!!!!

It's not like he ever was Blaze, or that it made sense really, but fans thought it was "cool" ya know? Rule of cool is what MK is all about. I was right there with them too. Until this last one. The characters are shit, the story is shit, the environments are the same shit as always...

Mortal Kombat 1 and 2 were so good in the 90's, but they aged horribly due to modern fans wanting more from a fighting game.

With 3 they tried to change the roster and fans hated it so bad Ultimate was released the same year. It was damn good but at the time people still liked the feel of 2.

By the time MK4 came out, we played it at the arcade, then went home and played Tekken. Even Street Fighter was tossed aside then.

MK came back with Deadly Alliance and Deception. Those games added the lore everyone talks about. Most of it was tossed out with Reboot. Armageddon was a big bag of shit. It played like a budget title. If I wasn't starved for games in my off time in Iraq I would have chunked it into the fucking desert.

The DC stuff was good, the reboot was good, then X started wearing away at my good will for the series. So we are at 11 and I just don't care. To me the problem is they added these cutscenes with shit that is retarded, while previous games had none of that. With Reboot it was ok since it did it good but this shit sucks.

I could word that more eloquently but it suits the series well. At this point they should throw random characters in a game and make a new series.
 
TorontRayne said:
Armageddon was a big bag of shit. It played like a budget title.
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The idea of having every MK characters and then some new ones in a roster sounds awesome until you realize how barebones and lazy it felt because they had to squeeze all of these fighters into it.

Deception is the best of the worst bunch (the 3D Mortal Kombats) if you ask me.

So far, I enjoy the way 11 feels compared to X. The story is still shit but I've expressed I don't really care either. Of the post-3D MKs, MK9 is still the best one for sure. 11 also has that phone game progression system for cosmetics and augments which is braindead stupid.

My favorites of the series are 1, 2, UMK3/Trilogy (not 3 by itself), and MK9. Those four are the only ones I go back to. I'll play 11 because it's the newer one. Deception is a honorable mention for being the best 3D one but it's still not that great.

Got 11 for my PS4 as a gift from the girlfriend which I really appreciated, she knows I love the mindlessness of these games. Will likely wait for a big sale or a sale on a complete edition though instead of spending a ton of money on the DLC packs. Too overpriced on top of a shitty Krypt that encourages you to spend money in their stupid mobile phone-esque store.
 
I mean, I don't hate it. But there was a feeling about it I didn't like so much compared to the other recent MKs. I don't like the way sprinting was and I generally don't care for it in fighting games anyway. Yeah, I know 3 had it too. Really the only things 11 has over X in my book is Noob Saibot and it feels slightly better to me. It's not a huge difference.

I think I also have a sour taste in my mouth from the launch day on PC when it wouldn't let me play the game for 12 hours and NRS deciding that PC didn't deserve the fixes to netcode and the new character pack until they heard enough backlash. That doesn't really help even though that has nothing to do with the game itself.
 
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