Why Are Ultimates So Important?

General Discussion
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I am revealing my relative ignorance here, but I feel that this is worth asking.

Why are Ultimates so important to everyone here? I’ve looked up the original Ultimates on Youtube, and they’re just…flashy finishers? Like an inferior Fatality, or a less impressive KI 2013 Ultra?

It is not my intention in any way, shape, or form to ruffle anyone’s feathers here. But I would like you all to enlighten me. What makes Ultimates so important? Why is it the single most outrage-inducing omission? What benefit would their inclusion have upon the game and it’s playerbase?

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“Nostalgia.”

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If you ask me, there is no benefit, and there is actually a drawback (not being able to interrupt them like you can interrupt an Ultra). But to be fair, I never played the original KI games, so I am not burdened by any former attachment (to ultimates, characters, retro costumes and so on).

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I barely played KI as a child, I actually preferred Dark Rift more lol.

I suppose the common answer you will get from the vast majority of the community would simply be nostalgia or rather keeping KI true to its roots. On the other hand, some just want additional content to justify their purchase or that extra “something” at this point to make three stages not seem so bad.

I don’t mind other way, sure they will be awesome to see each member of the cast preform their own unique Ultimate.

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exactly what I think!
Fatality, ultimate, none of this is interesting or make any difference. KI has the trademark combos and ultra combos. You do not need anything else!
The fatalitis in old KI, was only a reflection of the time, where virtually all fighting games had to have some finishing.

In the current scenario of KI, the game needs a single identity… reinforce what is the DNA of the game. Combos.

Having these ultimate/fatality today is something like copy the DNA of MK.
And It is the opposite of what KI needs to become a game with unique identity.

The ultimates, if they were similar to what Shago do, I would like to see in all the characters. But it is not a priority in my view!

“Nostalgia” is just a reflection of your good times. They should not be revised or will no longer be nostalgia. Think about it

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You know what I find hilarious?

I just went on youtube because of this to see all the old ultras, ultimates, dangers in one nice compilation for you know, reasons (nostalgia).

I noticed on every video there are people claiming that the old one is way better than the new or “RARE sold out to Microsoft and now KI is fecal matter”.

You know what they say about opinions.

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For me, Ultimates were one of the biggest things about KI that I enjoyed. If you have been playing the game since season1 you’ll notice that only finisher that is ever really commonly seen are Ultras, and really there isn’t a whole lot that you can do with them.

I mean yeah sure you can get a 100 hit Ultra but at the end of the day it’s just one long ridiculous combo that really doesn’t carry the same kind of enjoyment of actually FINISHING off my opponent.

The reason I’d like for Ultimates to be in KI is because aside from the way I feel about them (which is just as Iconic as Ultra-combos) I love the idea of the options they have for Ultimates to be a thing.

Not only that, but in what they were trying to get with Shago they already have an awesome way of making you EARN these Ultimates, they already have the base work down for making these Ultimates work. So it’s not like people will not see them very often. If you were able to keep your first life-bar up high enough to even pull one off. Hell it’d even could motivate ME to play better just to have the chance to do one.

Ultra’s have lost their luster over the years for me, because I’ve seen them just about every other match, not even the new character Ultra’s excite me that much. Plus while it can be agreed that "ULTRAAAAA!!" is iconic, I also fins "ULTIMATE" to also be iconic at just the same way.

The problem: they don’t want to do them, which is terribly unfortunate. Honestly that was one of the biggest things I was hyped about on KI and for me, it’s lack of inclusion kind of puts a blemish on this gold of a game.

@GodtierMacho

I think wen people say KI is copying MK it seems tey forge tthqat KI started as a copy of both MK and Street Fighter as well. Having fatalities will not make KI a copy of MK because it has enough stuff to establish it. That’s like saying KI is Street Fighter because of DP motion and FB motion, all which originated in SF.

II were to say that KI is able to establish itself pretty well, just because a fighting game has a cool finisher (like Ultimates, AstralFinishes, Guilty Gear finishers) doesn’t make the game a copy of MK. Other factors can come into to play in Ki that are already established: So answer this, Blaze Blue and Guilty gear have great finishers were you actually and truly defeat your opponent, you can compare em’ to MK fatalities but are they considered copies of MK?

KI already is pretty established as it’s own thing:

Diverse characters, Music, atmosphere, gameplay mechanics, etc.

Do you really think one feature with Ultimates is gonna some how make KI a sudden copy of Mortal Kombat?

I honestly don’t think so. In my opinion it just makes KI even better in my opinion. Gives me the end of the fight to look forward to, otherwise you’re just going the motions.

Ultra may be iconic but they have lost their luster and are now stale. You probably don’t see em tournaments so maybe in the next game they shouldn’t be there?

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I think it is pretty obvious that performing an Ultimate is just another satisfying way to finish your opponent. If it was a particularly frustrating match, I would enjoy tearing them apart somehow on screen. With the new criteria for an Ultimate being you have to have your first lifebar, it would be a lot more hype.

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KI would become a copy of MK if it added dismemberment

EXACTLEY! Ultimates are a new way and could be workable since since KI’s ultras cannot be done online due to risks of quitters.

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I am asking myself the question after reading your post, why did you mention me?

I do not understand what anything you said has to do with what I said. Not trying to be rude just curious lol

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They aren’t important. The devs know that’s the case. There are just a minority of very passionate nostalgia driven fans that want a recreation of absolutely everything in the original KI.

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I think it’s part Nostalgia and part having more finishing options. Part of the joy of the original KI was having multiple options for finishing your opponents - Ultras, multiple Danger Moves (fatalities), Ultimates, Stage Knockoffs, and Humiliations. When this game started it was just Ultras. So for ppl that played the original, this game was severely lacking when it came to finishers, and frankly still is. That’s why everyone was so excited when they started adding Stage Ultras; but that also fell short since only 4 (now 5) stages have it. So you can imagine how ppl felt when they saw Shadow Jago’s Ultimate but then found out he’s the only one that had one; and then felt that frustration all over again now that he’s a full character, and is still the only character that has one.

So yeah, it’s all about options, or lack therof rather… That’s my take on it anyway

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Why are they important? Because they are a part of KI.

Why are Ultra combos in KI 2013? I mean, they’re just long drawn out combos. Why did MS/DH put them in to begin with?

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I don’t get it either. Shago’s is really nothing special or mind blowing, so I don’t see what all the fuss is about. It really just reminds me of a Critical Art but with the stage blacked out. Would I be mad if every character got them? Of course not, id love to see what they can come up with for others, but it’s definitely not something I am begging for (Like Eyedol hehe)

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I’m indifferent. Doesn’t matter to me if they make it or not, I’ll still play the game.

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Well, so far we only have Ultras as a finisher. Stage Ultras depends on the stage, so we can’t always do those. Ultimates were another cool way of the past two games to finish your opponents, so I’d love for them to return, if not only to add some more variety to the game.

KI is all about varitey, so it feels kinda boring that you only have Ultras.

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I’m gonna reiterate what I said in some other post and advise you to forget about Ultimates. Even if IG implement them, they won’t look good, because when it comes to non-essential stuff, IG either reuse old animations or make them with minimal effort and it looks not so great. Just look at stage Ultras, the only one that is good is on TJ’s stage and it has almost no animations, the other ones are ranked from silly to downright terrible (Aria stage arm flailing anyone?).
Shago is an exception. it was made by DH.

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Haven’t you done shago’s ultimate yet? It’s amazing how you can kill your opponent with an ultimate. Yep, with a little grain of nostalgia, but the finishers dont need to be that classic. I want to see how new finishers turns out and how creative IG can be on creating new ultimate combo for the characters. Rizza D. Marco has posted his own ideas on potential finishers and most of them are brilliant! It would gave KI a brand new breath and have lot hours of fun digging them just to look what they look like on your own TV.

Doesnt really matter if you called it nostalgia factor. It was the big reason why they brought the whole KI game back.

Yeah ultimate combo worth it because its the final combo technique and its missing from this game. It not that good having them on 22 years old classic titles and dont have it now.

And since Rash are dancing on his taunt exactly like a humiliation finisher, its easy to guess that’s little spot of what is about to come. spoilers

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They’re not. People are just being nostalgic. As cool as Shago’s Ultimate is, it takes a bunch of resources for limited gains. Not everyone will experience the content, it adds nothing to gameplay and it adds to something we already have (End of match styling in the form of Ultras and Stage Ultras). It’s a redundant addition.

Some people still want it though and will keep asking for it. I personally would rather see development resources be put elsewhere.

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Aganos could very really have an ultimate that works like good stage ultra, maybe it would be looked at as lazy but turning sometime to dust? That’s classic KI for you.

I’m going to be the odd man out here but I grew to not like shago’s ultimate. I don’t like the cinematic of it, the reason for this is exactly what I mentioned above. Aganos stage ultra is quick, straight to the point and brutal. There’s no “cut scene” in between, if aganos had an ultimate like that I would like to see it happen in the same way that stage ultra works.

I think that world separate ultimates from fatalities. (Although admittedly they would look more akin to mkx brutalities but hey KI did it first damnit!) It’s hard to explain but what I miss from 2d fighters is when animated interactions were done without cutting to different angles. KI as it grows has a good mixture of both the new interections and old, I think ultimates should model after the older quicker style.