Mortal Kombat 11

No no, you are absolutely right on this. Ed Boon and co didn’t make Shaolin Monks… which is why I don’t believe this rumour about MKSM2 at all. NRS will keep pumping out games of the main series, and WB will have another team make the next MK adventure game, if anything.

2 Likes

Now THIS is an idea I can get behind. My ideal scenario would be for NRS to either hire and create a few sub-teams to work on stuff like Shaolin Monks 2, the fabled HD remake, etc, or have WB put some of their other teams or contract out for these. Maybe have them establish Shaolin Monks as a separate, but canonically linked franchise that’s always handled by this other studio or team.

If WB wants to further expand the MK brand, maybe they have one of these teams put out an MK mini-game collection, an actual legit kart racer that’s better than what we got in Armageddon, maybe an MK RPG, etc.

But yeah, keep NRS working on mainline MK games. I’m assuming they’d also go back to Injustice after the next MK game, but again if I’m talking ideal scenarios… Man… I’d just really love for them to tell a Batman story. I know some people are sick of Batman, but I’d love a fighting game with him, his Gotham allies and sort of friends, his rogues gallery, etc. Just tell a completely new story, redesign the characters as much as possible so it’s not just Injustice Solomon Grundy versus Injustice 2 Scarecrow or whatever.

But that’s just me. :slight_smile:

2 Likes

I think a deeper investigation might show that you are wrong about Squars Enix. I think they are strapped for cash and that is exactly the reason for the tomb raider deal. As they said at the time, it’s just like the Capcom/Sony deal for SFV. Without the investment from MS, the game doesn’t get made.

As a tangent, a lot of developers following the traditional, AAA model of game development are going under or in dire straits financially. But gamers continue to demand they follow a model of game development that doesn’t work and rage against dlc, season passes, multiplayer only games etc.

1 Like

I think they’ve been on a bit of a rollercoaster for a while, dating back to Square’s ill-fated Spirits Within movie and absorbing Eidos, so maybe MS just caught them on the downswing or between large system sellers? I mean, Final Fantasy XV made bank for them and they usually seem to have a few big games hitting shelves each year. At least it seems that way. Who knows, I’m probably wrong on that lol.

As far as Rise of the Tomb Raider, I know the first one sold really well, just not as well as they wanted, but that number was insanely high to begin with, especially for a franchise that was at its nadir not long before that reboot. I just wonder how reliant Square Enix was on Microsoft’s money though. Did they not see Tomb Raider as a worthy investment after the reboot? Could they not afford to make the game? Or was it more just that MS got involved to help shoulder the investment burden and make the decision to make the game a bit easier?

Maybe I’m splitting hairs here, but all I’m trying to get at is that maybe not wanting to do a sequel without MS’ financial backing could’ve been more a function of natural cost/benefit and less a function of Square Enix’ overall financial state? I’m not making the argument for that, as I don’t know. But saying this game doesn’t happen without MS’ money might not tell the whole story there or imply that it’s a Capcom situation. Perhaps. Perhaps not. Perhaps I’m full of it lol.

I think DLC for the most part has become accepted. I think many gamers are aware that the after launch support helps publishers and developers in a big way and if we particularly enjoy a game, I think more people might be a little more willing to throw a few extra dollars at some skins or new missions or whatever than might have ten years ago.

I think that developers and publishers are still trying to find the sweet spot in terms of pricing and it’s nearly a game by game battle. Yesteryear’s $10 horse armor is today’s Battlefront 2 fiasco. But for all of the horror stories of price gouging and corporate greed, I think that many gamers are starting to get with the idea that developing games has become much more expensive than it was in generations past, and that the $60 retail price tag needs to be buttressed by other financial means, such as season passes, DLC, in game purchases, etc.

We’re also a bit more cognizant of just how much the industry squeezes out of its employees in terms of their time and effort. Maybe I’m being naïve here, but it feels a bit more to me like the consumer base is slowly evolving toward this knowledge and acceptance of it, even if substantial portions of the gaming population have to be dragged along for the ride.

It’s never going to be perfect because no one wants to feel like they’re being taken advantage of, especially if the measuring stick they’re using is the games from their youth. Still, we know now that a team of five people can’t make a Mortal Kombat game anymore. It now takes a few hundred people.

There’s a much bigger conversation to be had in terms of games leaving single player out, offering less for the same price as others that offer more etc, but I’ll stop there. I know I’m being a bit too optimistic about gamers here, but I tend to believe that people become more able to accept new norms as they change over time. Even us gamers. :slight_smile:

When Nintendo is doing it, you know it’s the norm.

3 Likes

I agree completely. But what gets lost here is those insanely high targets didn’t come from nowhere. These were targets being reported to shareholders and they were set to demonstrate that the company would be financially healthy. Missing them isn’t trivial - even if we all agree that they were impossibly high. It suggests that sales alone are not enough to recoup the cost of investing in developing games the way Square Enix was doing it for Rise of the Tomb Raider. So yeah, I would expect the MS money was pretty essential.

I agree that DLC is clearly accepted - but you still see people complaining all over the internet, which is another while discussion.

To pretend we are on topic, MK11 will almost 100% have DLC following the two character packs model NRS has been using successfully.

1 Like

Two. Now three. Maybe 4 by the next game.

Yeah I wonder how much of it was a matter of recouping development costs and how much was optimism about the brand and what not. I only say that because, I believe, the game sold something like 3.6 million in a period that Wada was hoping for 6 million, but 5 million was more or less their goal. I mean, this wasn’t a bad game by ANY means. In fact, I think it was a really good game and reviewers and fans agreed.

So it’s not like it was a Psychonauts situation or Beyond Good & Evil where reviewers loved it, but only a small group of fans whole-heartedly embraced it. I could be wrong, but this more or less sold like a Tomb Raider game would.

I mean, it’s a moot point since we’ll never know the ratio of cost to hope or whatever, but still. I’m not entirely convinced that Square Enix took a bath on this game and their financial solvency was anywhere close to being at stake, at least to the point where they had to have Microsoft come in pay for their game to be developed, otherwise they couldn’t do it themselves. It’s certainly possible. No question.

I just think it’s also possible that the reboot not meeting expectations made them consider other avenues of bringing another game to market as much out of financial prudency as it could’ve been financial necessity. Again though, who can say for certain.

Haha, yeah that certainly is another discussion. But yeah, I hear ya. :slight_smile:

For sure. I just hope they come in at a good number. I believe each of the last four games has increased in character number for DLC, with MK9 coming in at 4, all the way up to Injustice 2, which had 9 total. I’d love to see them hit 10 with MK XI, if for no other reason, than to give people the guests that they want, while still having more than enough space left for the MK characters that fans like me would appreciate more.

That’s not a “true fan” statement or anything like that. I’m just stating my own personal preference. While I bristled at Freddy’s inclusion in MK9, I’ve long since come to accept the role of guests in sales, and even if the horror characters aren’t really my thing, I know others out there love them, so good on them for getting what they want. But if we get four more guests, it’d be nice if there were six more MK characters to kinda help balance them out a bit.

1 Like

Wonder what horror characters will they go for this time? Michael Myers may be a sure thing.(Just finished watcing the trailer for the new movie…)

1 Like

They gotta have Ash. Ash and Micheal Myers. Then two wildcards with a similar theme. Maybe Spawn.

1 Like

I kinda hope they go in a different direction than horror characters this time around. I get why they fit MK, but it feels like we’ve seen so many of them already across MK9 and MKX. Not sure where else they’d go, whether it’s DC superheroes / villains that fit in relatively well with MK, or Spawn, or guests from other fighting games, or just other franchises in general. Not sure who’d want to put their character in the blood bath that’s MK, but who knows.

If they decide on horror characters again though, no big deal. I’d say Michael Myers would be an obvious choice. Pennywise is recently in people’s memories after the IT remake. I believe Scream’s getting rebooted later this year, so maybe Ghostface? Pinhead is pretty iconic as well. Ash would be a great idea. Hopefully they’d get Bruce Campbell in to do the match intros. That could be awesome.

1 Like

Groovy

1 Like

I agree, or yhey could leave out guest characters and characters who didn’t make the launch roster. Like say if Noob Saibot, Rain, Jade, Khameleon. did not appear in MK11. Eventually your gonna run out horror movie characters to add and unless they go for exclusive guest characters it snot gonna be easy to find game characters that fit MK.

So I’m almost positive this is nothing, since a Boon’s gonna Boon and all that, but I thought it was interesting, at least:

The fact that he put Halloween in all caps and then the number 11… I mean… It wouldn’t be the craziest thing ever to have a Mortal Kombat 11 announcement on Halloween.


Switching gears… Anyone have any ideas on what they’d like to see in MK11? What cast members they’d want? Anything on the gameplay? Modes? What they’d want the story to focus on?

For me, I’d love to have this cast:

Trilogy Era (10):

Liu Kang, Raiden, Shang Tsung, and Scorpion from MK1
Kung Lao, Noob, Kitana, Jade and Shao Khan from MK2
Rain from MK3 / UMK3 / Trilogy

3D Era (7):
Fujin, Tanya and Kai from MK4
Nitara and Li Mei from MK:DA
Ashrah from MK:D
Sareena from MK:A

New Era (6):
Skarlet from MK9
Cassie Cage, Kung Jin, Jaqui Briggs, Kotal Khan and Erron Black from MKX

New Characters (7):
Argus (Sub Boss), Tasia, Jataaka, Kano’s Son, a new Sub Zero, a Shadow Priest, and a new Tarkatan in MK11

DLC Characters (9)

Smoke, Onaga (Sub Boss), Ermac, a new Sub Zero, Kabal for MK DLC

Spawn, The Crow, Michael Myers, Shadow Jago (Xbox), Sweet Tooth (PS) as guest DLC

Boss: The One Being (Unplayable)

So not including the unplayable boss, that’s 40 characters in total.

A few ideas on the characters:

-Shao Khan: I’d want him to be significantly weakened by his previous destruction. Perhaps he’s brought back from the void by the Shadow Priest character and he needs to regain his strength. So I’d change his look completely. Slimmer, scarred, perhaps a new weapon… Some indication that he’s much less than he was, but wants to regain his power.

-Kuai Liang: I kinda hope that with the current Sub Zero aging, he’ll anoint a new Sub Zero to carry on his name, and he’ll be this sort of older, cryomancer looking guy. Like an ice wizard almost. I’m not sure if he still has the Dragon Medallion that aged him before, but it could theoretically be used here again.

-Onaga: I’d kinda like form him to have a secret alt outfit that reverts him to Reptile. So Reptile wouldn’t be on the roster, but you could still use a secret button press or maybe holding down something on select screen to make Onaga turn in to Reptile, perhaps once you beat him.


Story: I’d kinda like to see the various factions in MK split off as follows:

Netherealm Evil: Liu Kang, Kitana, Shao Khan, Noob, Smoke, Jataaka, Shadow Jago / Sweet Tooth
Netherealm Good: Kung Lao, Sareena, Kabal, Ashrah, Spawn and The Crow

(yes some guests should have alignments and participate in the story)

Earthrealm Evil: Raiden, Scorpion, Takeda, Jaqui Briggs, Tasia and New Sub Zero
Earthrealm Good: Fujin, Cassie Cage, Kuai Liang, Kai, Kano’s Son and Kung Jin

Outworld Good: Kotal Khan, Skarlet, Jade, Ermac, Li Mei, Nitara and Erron Black
Outworld Evil: Shang Tsung, Onaga, New Tarkatan, Shadow Priest, Rain and Tanya.

Good Alignment Sub Boss: Onaga
Evil Alignment Sub Boss: Argus

No Alignment: The One being, Michael Myers

I’d like to see a story where all of these factions begin as Earthrealm invading Outworld, Netherealm invading Earthrealm and then they all split off from there in to good and evil in the second act before the final act involves the One Being forming itself in to a single fighter that challenges all realms to Mortal Kombat, and if he wins, he wipes out all three realms from existence.


Gameplay:

-Animations: Add more of them so that moves feel more fluid and have more impact. It won’t happen, but it’d be nice.

-Variations: Drop the number down to two, but make them drastically different, with mostly different special moves and combos.

-X-Rays: These are good, but I kinda feel like they need to go away for a game. Maybe replace them with a more unique super move for each character? Maybe even give them two super moves?

-Breakers: Honestly, these need to be redone. The animation is just a little too jarring. Also, for two bars of meter, it seems a like a high price to pay just to get out of a combo when there’s usually already some damage done. So I’d change the cost to one bar of meter, but I’d also add a few variations to this:

-Escape: (toward and block). You push the opponent backward, which pushes you backwards and you both end safely in neutral. Does not need to be timed correctly.

-Reversal: (up and block): If timed correctly, you grab your opponents fist or foot and spin them around, allowing you time to start a combo.

-Throw: (down and block): If timed correctly, you grab your opponents fist or foot and do a unique throw that sends them to the ground.

-Attack Breaker: (up and block or down and block): On the attacker side, if they have one bar of meter or more, they can break their own combo pressing up and block or down and block.

-If attacker hits either of those when defender uses a standard break, then the standard break won’t work and damage is increased for the duration of the combo.

-If attacker hits up and block when defender hits up and block, the attacker will spin the defender around and can start a new combo with increased damage output for the duration of the combo.

-If the attacker hits down and block when defender hits down and block, the attacker does a unique throw on the defender and the throw does more damage than a regular throw.

-If attacker whiffs an attack breaker, then they push the opponent away and themselves away as well and both end up in neutral.

Maybe there are some logistical issues in there, but I really feel like the combo breaking needs some more layers to it. I’d like to see the defender actually have the ability to do damage to the attacker as well as reverse the attacker in to a combo of their own. I’d also like to see the attacker get an advantage for anticipating a defenders break attempt.

Yes, this is all VERY Killer Instinct-esque, I know. But I really think there needs to be more of an emphasis placed on giving the defender a chance to turn the tide on the attacker, but I also think the attacker should be rewarded for anticipating that attempt.

1 Like

Yeah I do have ideas here we go.

-Characters-
-Returning-

  1. Reptile
  2. Scorpion
  3. sub-Zero
  4. Raiden
  5. Liu Kang
  6. Johnny Cage
  7. Sektor
  8. Cyrax
  9. Gogo
  10. Sonya Blade
  11. Jax
  12. Kotal Khan
  13. Onaga
  14. Kitana
  15. Milieena
  16. Baraka
  17. Kung Lao
  18. Kenshi
  19. Shang Tsung
  20. Ermac
  21. Rain
  22. Smoke
  23. Sindel
  24. Jade
  25. Tanya (story reasons)
  26. Cassie Cage (story Reasons)
  27. Takeda (story reasons)
  28. Goro
  29. Kano
  30. Fujin

-New-

  1. Saurian Character (or Khamleon)
  2. Kano’s Son (lets see how that plays out)
  3. New Amphibious character
  4. (That’s all I got so far)

-DLC-

  1. Jarek
  2. Chameleon
  3. Shao Khan
  4. Noob Saibot
  5. Sheeva
  6. Blaze
  7. Frost
  8. Khameleon

-Modes-
Tag Team modes

OK. I was gonna make my own list. But you somehow reached into my brain and did everything I would, with a few additional character ideas that you somehow missed when reading my mind.

I like the idea of a new Tarkatan, and i desperately want it to be female. I also really want Frost and Havik to return, instead of Noob and Jade. And Triborg. I’d also like to see a female member of Nightwolf’s tribe, the outcome of Ferra/Torr’s ending, and Liu Kang and Kitana’s zombie son and daughter (MK’s Wonder Twins). Ooo. How about that bird guy Asgaarth from Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm!

I also agree with you’re choice of guests, with the addition of Ash Williams. It’s time to get Groovy!

1 Like

Only thing I ask is they bring back the kreate mode

And darrius/ frost/ sindel

If the graphics match or surpass Injustice2, it’s day one preorder

1 Like

Sounds good to me! I wouldn’t want her to be crazy like Mileena though. I mean sure, her rage and bloodlust would come out in battle, but as a character, in story, I’d like her to be a strong, stoic, badass general that works with Kotal Khan, all while scheming behind his back to avange Baraka’s death and wants to bring the Tarkatans out of servitude to the Outworld crown. I think that could be a cool story.

I know that no one stays dead in MK, but I kinda feel as though if a character gets story killed in a game, they should at least take one game off before coming back and Havik was story killed in the MKX comic. How canon that is, I’m not really sure. I wouldn’t be against him coming back, I just kinda tried to obey that unwritten rule when forming my roster.

As for Frost, I debated Kuai Liang anointing her as the next Sub Zero, but thought that wouldn’t really make sense given how much of a hot head she tends to be. Plus, having three “ice” characters seems like an awful lot. Still, ignoring my own ideas and just speaking in general? Yeah, I’d like to see her in the next game.

Ya know, I actually debated whether a new cyber ninja would be a good idea. Hydro perhaps? I love that Triborg covers four characters. Four in one roster spot is really cool. I’m not big on the cyber ninjas, the Tekunin, etc, as it all felt a little too sci-fi for a game that didn’t have that vibe at all before MK3, but I do see his appeal and again, I wouldn’t mind seeing him return.

As for a female Nightwolf, I think that could work too. Maybe someone that looks a little more like a traditional “shaman” and I little less like a 90’s interpretation of a Native American. I don’t mean to sound too derisive of Nightwolf, I’ve just never been that in to the character, but the idea of a female shaman sounds really cool to me!

Ferra/Torr was kind of a strange character in that they didn’t have a ton to do with the plot or how much of anything played out. That said, having Ferra be the new Torr and giving her a new Ferra sounds pretty cool to me. I’d be down for that.

Zombie kids? Maybe they work in tandem like Noob-Smoke worked in MKD? That could be really cool. They could also be demon kids if they’re born in the Netherealm. Either way, that sounds cool to me.

Asgaarth could be cool. I love when MK digs in to its lore for characters. I really liked that they brought Tremor in as a tower character in MK9 and then went and made him a full-fledged playable character. Same goes for making the old female red ninja rumor a reality with Skarlet.

Ash would be awesome. I was trying to think of guests that would make sense from a promotional standpoint. The Crow reboot is a rumor that won’t die, a Soawn movie seems to be in the works and Halloween just got a new iteration. Evil Dead seems to be more or less done, but what the hell, he’s an awesome character I’m sure a lot of people would love to play as, so why not! :slight_smile:

Man, it’s so hard to pare down a roster to a reasonable size!

IM pretty sure that’s a hint that Michael myers will be in MK11… not an announcement on Halloween.

1 Like

While I understand your points, were there any active projects to promote for any of MKX’s guests. I honestly think that they just get guests they want and if they happen to have something new coming out, then that just makes it easier to get the rights holder to work with them.