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Why? Like, am I completely wrong? He doesn’t have a stand out personality to me and his moveset was bizarre and hard to figure out. He always sounds bored. Like he doesn’t want to be there. Even in MK11. Pre-match I don’t get much personality besides non-dark Raiden. I don’t know, Kotal just never felt that interesting in any way.
I’m just pulling your leg.
He’s probably my favorite Mk character though if we’re talking for real.
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Honestly, I think Kotal Kahn is one of the coolest and most unique looking designs NRS (or the MK team for that matter) have ever come up with. I think that much alone puts a lot on his side.
As for gameplay, he’s just a different kind of character than what we’ve normally seen in MK, as he has more passive buffs and debuffs than any character I’ve seen in the series. Stuff like blood offering, god ray, a healing move in sun god and all three moves he gets in the blood god variant honestly don’t excite me much. They’re useful, for sure, but I’m not particularly big on buffs and debuffs in terms of wow factor.
That said, he does still have some really cool stuff. His command throw in sun god is fun in that it has more parts to it the more you use it (up to three) and the third part of it looks particularly cool. I also really like his war god variation. His sword moves are pretty great. The EX projectile, the throw(ish) kind of move, the ground pound (which can be cancelled)… He has some fun options in this one.
He’s a high damage character that works in some unique ways, and I think that alone pushes him up the list of characters I like. I don’t use him as much as any of my favorites, but he is someone I go to every now and then and I do enjoy his ar se nal (why is that censored? lol)
Now as for how he is in the story, I think he’s a good character because he’s such a nice foil to Shao Kahn. While Shao Kahn was more of a moustache twirling villain hell bent on power, Kotal is more complex. He deposes Mileena, who’s more or less as one dimensional in her motivations as her “father,” and he becomes more of a diplomatic leader. He’s powerful, but he’s not just the bad guy that wants to destroy Earth.
I think that created an interesting dynamic in the story, as there’s this tenuous agreement between Earth and Outworld. Seeing how that came about, how strained it is during the story, and how it eventually falls apart is much more compelling, to me, than just big bad guy wants to do big bad guy things.
No, he’s not as bombastic as Shao Kahn, so I can see why his personality might come off a bit dry, but he does offer glimpses in to the type of character he can be when pushed, especially when ordering Mileena’s death. He gets played by D’vorah, sure, but I don’t think that makes him stupid by any means. It just makes her smart (to me). He’s trying to rule a chaotic realm, he has allies (not just minions) and he’s dealing with Mileena’s rebellion, Kano’s deception, Earthrealmers, etc.
He’s trying to juggle all of this as a relatively new emperor and I think all of that makes him a more interesting and multidimensional character. He’s trying to do what’s best for Outworld, which is why he breaks the alliance when he thinks Shinnok will destroy Earthrealm.
So yeah, that’s all a long way of saying that I think he’s one of the better characters in MK. 
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Still waiting on the beta…for now, I’ll take the stress test 
I just wish we saw more of a personality in him. Like, he had a good STORY to him. He has nice wants and all that. And what he’s doing is good. But he himself has very little character to me.
And I just grew to hate him 10% more when you used the phrase “passive buffs and debuffs”. Keep that RPG crap out of my fighting games.
I will go to war with RPGs. I will assemble all 7 Dragon Balls and wish them away. I will win 9 tournaments against their chosen champions so I can invade and conquer and destroy them. I will collect the six infinity stones, snap my fingers and make all RPGs not feel so good. will do all within my power to stop the rpg invasion and return action games to their former glory.
I just got a notification that I got a stress test code. I’m boarding a plane and will be home tomorrow in the middle of the day.
Just found my code as well. Liu Kang hasn’t even been revealed yet so I guess just stick it out with Scorpion somehow.
Just got my Stress Test beta code as well. I’m so excited!
Seems like Baraka, Scorpion and Skarlet are the playable characters. I think I’ll try out Baraka and Skarlet.
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Only 3? That’s a bummer
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Daw… I wish I got a code. I did preorder the Premium Edition, but we’ll see.
Pre-Order Beta is from the 29-31 of March. Worry not, we’ll have our time!
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I got a code too… lets play this weekend.
Anyone else get a code for XBox MK11?
** Right now IM just augmenting characters skins, equipment and move sets and WOW!!! THis game is FN amazing and it is going to destroy all Fighting games ever released…blown away!!!
Once I play a match or 2 Im sure it will be even more amazing!! And the music is sick! OMG
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It feels to me like you conflate “bombast” with “personality”. A lot of people do actually (in research it’s called the extrovert bias or somesuch). But quiet or reserved is not a lack of personality - it a form of personality.
It’s true that reservation can make for an underwhelming presentation, but as a generally low-key person myself I’ve always gravitated to characters who appreciate that shouting or snarking at everything isn’t generally the best way to get things done. In leadership roles in particular, an understated delivery and demeanor can often be much more productive than being shouty or super “driven”.
Perhaps most importantly though, Kotal’s story beats play out in an organic and compelling way precisely because these are the kinds of issues someone of his profile would encounter in Outworld. He’s not especially cruel, and because of that he can’t crush the rebellion as easily as Shao might have. He’s not manipulative by nature and attained his rule by gathering and being recognized by allies, and so doesn’t see the treachery of D’Vorah coming. For all that though, we see that when push comes to shove, he can ruthlessly mow down Tarkatan foot soldiers and hand both Rain and Mileena their purple-garbed asses. He doesn’t shout about his power because he doesn’t need to.
A villain who has actual motivations and doesn’t scream his way through the plot or mindlessly pursue “strength” for no discernable reason? Yes please. I’ll take a cultured and understated badass over a Shao Kahn any day of the week and twice on Sunday.
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I hate this. I can’t disagree with any of the points you’ve made. But you still haven’t changed my mind. I still don’t like Kotal. I still think his personality isn’t all that interesting. And I still would rather not have him back. But all my opinions don’t matter. You’re argument is unbreakable and he’s in the game. I lost. Again.
I’m gonna skip the melodramatic rant this time. You guys are probably tired of my issues coming up again sense I can’t seem to figure out how to fix them no master how much advice I get.
I empathize with people who are more bombastic. That’s who I am. I love characters who just enjoy being themselves and doing what they want. And ■■■■ anyone who stained in their way. For most of my life I couldn’t be like that’s and it drew me in. It’s still hard to overcome the self-loathing and worthless that was pounded into me when I was young. But I try my damndest to make sure people know I’m me and nothing you can do will stop me. It’s why I like characters that are more like Shao. I’d love to find out more of his backstory and motivation, sure. But I love everything he already is.
Basically I identify as the Final Boss.
-shrug- There’s nothing wrong with that - different characters appeal to different people for all sorts of reasons. “Not all characters are for you” is the way I think about it, so I don’t stress when characters I’d prefer not to return inevitably make their way into a game I’m interested in. I’ve hated Voldo with the fire of 10,000 suns for like two decades at this point, but dangit if that blind fetishist weirdo doesn’t make it into every Soul Calibur game. It is what it is
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Ok guys…MK 11 is so awesome! I cant wait for everyone to play this game! It looks amazing, it plays amzing and OMG the custimazation is off the chain!!!
One thing I dont like as of now is how easy it is to Down uppercut wake up move for button mashers. If you block it the push back is so far you cant not “take your turn back” or punish. Thats lame becasue people mash upercut constantly and you either get hit by it or you block and it resets the position. Also trying to combo from mid screen as a meaty on thier wake up and BAM…upper cut!!! Definitely going to take some getting used to! ALso the enhanced attacks are hard because you cant just hit block as before (yes we al lknow this) but still if you dont memorize the enhanced attacks you cant just “do it” in the match if you dont know it. I wish they would have left this the same which I thought i heard they changed it but it wasnt working fo rme so I guess Once i study the move list Ill get a hang of it.
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Pretty sure uppercut doesn’t have any invincibility on wakeup (do its high-crush properties begin frame 1?), so that’s a day 1 strategy at best. Once you figure out how to meaty properly that’ll be a free opening every time.
They did change it, but it’s likely the stress test is operating on a pretty old build. Having to optimize obsolete designs is actually one of the reason demos fell out of favor as hard as they did.
Glad you’re having fun though! 
THe push back on block is ridiculus! OMG…litteraly pushes you back 1/4 of the screen. I havent read the enhanced move list yet so thats my fault really, but I was trying to just figure it out mid match and I never got a one enhanced move lol
THe wake up game and learning it is going to be something new for everyone to grasp and get used to for sure. It defintely doesnt feel natural when you are used to MKX, KI, and SF style special move wake up with enhanced invincibilty.
But seriously the graphics on this game look so good… I could spend hours just customizing characters and looking at the different gear pieces, intros, outros, ect… the full game is going to be EPIC!!!
OH and BTW…Scorpion is sick as hell in this game…you are going to love him!