100% agree. I love how grounded it was in first 3/4 of the game. It really felt like a true reimagining, but then they slapped us back to a multiverse headache .
This was just a retelling of MK11 Aftermath. They could've just told this story and the direction they wanted to go in a hour long cutscene in Aftermath.
This was EXACTLY my problem with the story as well. It was so good and grounded for the first 3/4ths of it. The characters and worldbuilding were absolutely great, but then it just turns into Avengers Endgame for no reason
Fr 😂 It's like if the Mcu did a Reset and was Retelling the first Avengers Movie and you're rebuilding this new Mcu with new Character growth and team building then all the Sudden it went From a Avengers 1 to Endgame in a Heartbeat
The story got really messy after the big reveal with Shang Tsung. But I’m curious about what dlc will come later to fix the ending. Also think Baraka, Reptile and Geras had the best glow ups.
It won't get fixed, NRS has been filling their story full of plot holes since MK9. Their only saving grace is that the gameplay has improved, and most gamers don't play fighting games for the story.
I agree. I think the mistake is making it too big and epic for the first reboot series. They should have finished it rather simply but with taste, having say Titan Shang Tsung using Shinnok's amulet to boost himself even more because of some new spell and transform into a super Shang Tsung as the final boss, rather then dive into a multiverse of good vs bad Titans. Just have Liu Kang fighting and Raiden the new champion helping out to solidify the new Champion's legacy and both defeating Super Shang Tsung and destroying the crown to the army. Then have the ending where Onaga's soul is released with the crown destroyed and enters a fossilized egg, where he will be reborn. (Egg turns out to be his last magical plan prior to his death many years ago, as foresight planning to allow his revival in the future under the right circumstances.) Onaga isn't a good or bad character per say, but has his own will and plans for his rule and establishes a new Mortal Kombat to establish power by consulting with the Elder Gods since he was the last rightful ruler prior to his assassination. etc, etc, etc Save all the epic stuff to build up for later games (MK2, MK3, MK4, etc)
To play Devil's advocate, there are 2 possible concerns with that. The first is that it risks the game's story feeling hollow and safe. Like, we have had fighting game stories for over 2 decades with such a premise where the main heroes just defeat a powered up villain. Hell, MK9, X and 11 arguably followed that model. And 11 at least had Kronika's time travel as a way to raise the stakes. From Neatherrealm's perspective, it is a reasonable fear that players would be like "what the hell? Why are we going back to a more basic style after the past several games cranked it up?". To use analogy, it would be like if after Avengers Endgame, we had "Iron Man 4" that was about Tony Stark coming back to life and learning how to rebuild his armour all over again as essentially a "remake" of Iron Man 1. After everything that happened in the last movies, this feels like step down. The second issue is that time isn't on MK's side. You say "Save all the epic stuff to build up for later games (MK2, MK3, MK4, etc)". But consider that it's not 2001 anymore. A studio can't just release a sequel to a game in a couple short years anymore. Game development times have gotten really long. Like, Santa Monica originally wanted God of War 2018 to launch a trilogy of games. But after seeing it took nearly 5 years to make a single game, if they insisted on a trilogy players would have had to wait for over 10 years to see the story conclude. And that's assuming players even stuck around. So that's why they compressed a 3 game plan into a 2 game plan so players only had to wait around 5 years. MK11 came out in 2019. MK1 came out in 2023 nearly 4 years later. And Neatherealm was only able to do that because they didn't make an Injustice 3 like everyone expected. If they had, MK1 would have come out at least 2-3 years later. Lets just imagine if NeatherRealm decided to save the Endgame style event for MK3. Assumming 4 years per game and no more Injustice games, you'd have to wait until 2031, nearly 8 years to see it. And if they decided to do Injustice 3 at any point during that time, then it would be over 10 years. On top of that, Neatherealm is the only AAA fighting game company that is still operating like that. Street Fighter and Tekken operate by supporting a single game for over 7 years. It's entirely possible that Neatherrealm might consider that approach and opt to support a single fighting game for multiple years. Then what? Do we have to wait even longer for an Endgame style event? By doing it now with MK1, it at least gives us the event before it has a chance to be cancelled or delayed.
I 100% agree on this, I really wish they would’ve taken the time on the ending and we actually get to see Lu kang build the army, even if it was just a quick meet and greet with other timelines, rather then them just throwing up a portal and having everyone walk in. Still a good game and story just had some hiccups.
Part of the issue is the nature of the game. Because MK1's story is told in a fighting game, and one with very expensive production values, it limits the way the story can be told. Injustice 1 and 2 demonstarte this clearly as the games really skip through much of the content and context in order to accomodate the fights and gameplay. Wheras the comic was able to really take its time and explore and build up to stuff. MK1 is in a rough place. It can't expand its story as doing so would require way more resources and also reasons for the player to fight.
And it was a good story but I felt it was kind of rushed and it expanded way too quickly. It should have been two parts to it. That way they would have time to explore and build up more and not leave the main cast out of the war that unfolded. They were missing for a huge part of the story which took away from the story to me. Still a good story tho
The story went out of the window as soon as they went with the multiverse trope. It threw all of the struggles from MK11 out of the window and made the plot meaningless. Geras told Liu Kang that a titan is killed in all timeliness after they die, but the whole plot of this game is about 2 Titans fighting each other after creating their respective timeliness (Liu Kang and Shang Tsung) Actually rebooting the timeline would have given this franchise a much needed break from the constant plotholes that the writers can't help but keep digging for themselves. I get a lot of gamers don't play fighting games for the story but getting this many inconsistencies from the originator of story-driven fighting games is mind-boggling to me.
Should’ve kept it to two timelines. Introduce alternate Shang but continue the story they started and focus on lui kangs timeline. Then the next game have kangs timeline vs shangs timeline. Multiple timelines was unnecessary and made no sense
I wish there was a Rpg like where you can kreate your own fighter choose your lineage choose your own special powers by the sub categorys of the lineage you choose
@raidbenachoure1330 yeah and not because it isn't possible. But because no triple A studios and only inde devs care to make games with risk and games with a graphic tone and want to compete in the most fine grain details in graphics. One reason I respect the hell out of the devs who made Cup Head. That was another huge reason I hated MK11 the grind to unlock everything is absolutely exhausting. And would take ones lifetime let alone how boring it becomes. The penny pinching is so horrible. But I didn't like the gameplay because it feels so tedious and slow imo. MKX is my favorite for the fast sleek gameplay it has. Well MK1 looks like a step twords the right path
The tournament doesn't even make sense. Earthrealm chooses a chambion, and then he destroys everyone?? Much more experienced fighters?? They should at least put all Earth chambions against the outworlds fighters. Line a team vs team. This Raiden one man army was bs.
The titan katana was the same one from lu Kang timeline. The same one that held hands with him at the end of mk 11. The one he chose to rule time with . It's confusing I know but based off the convo he had with katana this is her. She just retained her powers and resided over her own timeline.
So the split of timelines happened in many points as long a decision is taken a new timeline is created some I think, including when the new era was created, so there is a timeline whereby instead of Liu Kang building the new Era like in ending of MK11 Kitana was the one who created the new Era whereby in that timeline Liu Kang was also reborn like the Kitana in our timeline
@@tarrellwilks6998 yeah I know, but the original ending of MK11 was just Liu and Kitana and Aftermath was the continuation without Kitana. So I'm wondering if MK1 Liu Kang is the same one with Kitana or the one who won over Shang Tsung?
100% agree. Up until the last few chapters, I was hooked on the story. It was a little slow in a few spots in the beginning (Johnny Cage's Indiana Jones movie ripoff took too long), but overall, very fun. But the ending...this is what I hate about multiverses, they diminish the characters. Now there are infinite Kitana's, Liu Kang's, Shang Tsungs, and all these weird variations. Just imagine if the writers took a chill pill and just made it a battle between Liu Kang's timeline vs. Shang Tsung's. And maybe you got to choose which one would win. It's not that hard. Also, Invasions sucks. They took away the Krypt and the Towers of Time for that? Also no variations for characters, no special moves to pick from, no huge inventory of konsumables, and lastly, the amplifiers for moves are barely noticeable for most special moves. It feels like the creators care about this IP, but either didn't know where to go to make it stand out or the studio rushed them way too hard. Such a shame. Overall, I like MK1, but I LOVED MK11.
A choose your path at the end would have been awesome. This was one expensive mobile game, even then, it has less game modes than an actual app. I feel like this game was a huge step back as far as content and fine tuning. Like wtf does Reptile's enhanced invisibility do?
This game had a lot of potential to do way more but I feel like nrs felt the need to connect it to mk11 love the game but the story made it feel so bland to me, makes me wonder what the next game will be about especially with all the cliffhanger endings they gave at the end (the pictures) and the last cutscene. There's not much to go off of, they just need to make a standout fighting game.
I was hoping that the new story wouldn't fall into the trap of characters just randomly winning and losing fights simply because the story calls for it, but alas this game fell right into that. One of the biggest offenders is Mileena beating evil Raiden like he's a generic jobber. That was completely ridiculous. Then immediately afterwards Sindel just wrecks everyone somehow. Absolutely absurdity. Edit: just wanted to add that I actually do agree that having a thousand different versions of each character heavily diminishes their significance. I'd rather just have one of each character.
If memory serves me right, anyone that you used to beat MK11 became the new keeper of time. So it makes sense you would have time line where their is time keeper version of every character.
Exactly there would be cutscenes with what they would do as a keeper of time but there's something wrong liu kang fight with Shang tsung shattered the timeline making different timelines but not because that there's difference keepers because of that there's different timelines so with different timelines the results of the fights with kronika would change by who beat her
When I found out the bad guy was Shang tsung at the end I lost interest. I was really hoping the big bad was Onaga. I wasn’t impressed with all the combination characters. With that said I wasn’t a fan of the secret ending. I don’t like where it’s headed
I did not like the lack of character evolution for Havik at all, and I’m really disappointed we did not really see Kai. Honestly 4 games in a row plus the movie is really overkill for Kung Lao. I’m sick and tired of him. This honestly should have been Kai’s time to shine. I am having a blast with Nitara and her gameplay though. She’s my favorite character and looks amazing, but her voice actress is admittedly a bit flat at times. It’s weird. Some lines are delivered well while others are delivered very flat. I’m also really enjoying playing as Ashrah, Li Mei, and Reiko.
Yeah, Kung Lao should have been replaced with either Meat or Blaze. But Kung Lao and Liu Kang are friends, so idk if they would ever remove him from a roster
@@FatalShotGG I would prefer him replaced with Kai by far, but I would welcome Meat back for sure. It’s beyond overkill with Kung Lao already. He can be in story as a NPC. No reason he had to be playable again
I think they were trying to say is that every characters ladder ending is Canon from mk11. I also didn't like the ending for the same reasons. I was hoping that Onaga would be teased but didn't get anything. Like I don't care about havik.
Onaga does get teased in the one of the arcade endings though, and unlike previous games they seem really confdiant in making all of them canon as they acually flow very well together
I disagree on the back end only because the timeline split is clearly explained. There aren't infinite timelines. There was one timeline which split and all timelines spawn from a kombatant winning the tower in mk11. The titans and timelines are limited to that number. I will agree in that instead of the multiverse armies it would have been nice to see the titans face off against each other in a higher stakes mortal kombat to bookend with the first act. This is certainly a heavy turn with no buildup for the player. "Why did it happen so fast?" Is absolutely the biggest question I have
I mentally checked out the second they started doing multiversal nonsense. I've been a fan since the Arcade days & I genuinely didn't want to finish the story after that. RIP proper -storytelling.-
To me one of my negatives is that why Tanya did not have story chapter to further flushed her out. You went out of your way to redesign an old iconic character with a brand-new back story with a new look!!!
My biggest disappointment was that we never get the chance to see heroic versions of villians especially Shang Tsung. I've always had this notion that he had a sad backstory. Granted the Mortal Kombat Conquest TV show highlights their version of how Shang Tsung becomes evil but since it got alot of bad reviews the directors of Midway at the time ditched it and didn't offer a concrete storyline
I almost thought, since Liu put Shang in a humbled life, eventually Shang would stumble on something he never should have (maybe a realm/portal/amulet), granting him some sort of magic.
A heroic Bi-han would have been cool. We got to see a good bi-han subzero they just didn't focus at all on him. We could have got what all fans wanted. A bi-han that redeemed himself after mythologies and sided with earthrealm.
No kidding I agree with you I was totally immersed up until Mileena's chapter where somehow without explanation she can total level with a powered up Dark Raiden and Mk11's Sindel beefed up to rival an elder god but earlier on she gets destroyed by Li Mei a couple chapters earlier and I was just left scratching my head how the writers dropped the ball so bad this is worse than the Cassie Cage vs Shinnok fight in MKX final chapter , then we get a reveal its Shang Tsung from the Aftermath ending and I was all for it and loved the plot twist reveal but then like you said it just fell apart after that ; Another thing I had a gripe with is they should have used the different assets from different MK games to make it believable like classic Subzero or Scorpian but they were just the alt skins already in the game to the 3d assets in MK1 ; another problem I had immediately when I saw Kitana is where the white in your eyes girl? if your the same status as LK why no glowing eyes? Raiden had them but no one else so that really just took me under its too bad I think this ending really hurts the prospect of Mk2 storyline and having them end with a generic Havok with no backstory or hype up just kinda thinks this may be the last MK I get myself into ; No doubt this was a rushed final chapter and ending and it felt like WB basically told Netherealms " Hey you got like 30 days to finish up this game , shareholders are getting impatient , thats your deadline" and this is the result of that
I agree the 2nd half just went fuck it we want an MK Armageddon scenario. Tension between Kitana and Mileena just went poof. Rayden as the new chosen one is hardly utilized. Sub-zero's betrayal felt under-utilized and the Lin-Kuei felt like a street gang rather than an organization of assassins or "earthrealm guardians". Shao Kahn is reduced to a jobber. Honestly, pacing is almost as bad as street fighter V story with just a bit better acting. Also, that charge at the final battle looked goofy AF, with the evil dudes running down cautiously so they don't trip, while the good guys looked totally exhausted like anyone would be running up a flight of stairs.
Everything you said here is spot on, but I'd like to add the point that they have to get out of the ~4 fight chapter system with specific characters. It really constrains how they can tell the story, often leads to pointless filler fights, makes the conclusions very predictable (we know our character will survive and win, at least until the fourth fight), and the character often fades into the background and becomes irrelevant after their chapter. Once Raiden wins the tournament, he disappears until the end of the game. Once Kung Lao loses to Raiden, he does and says nothing of value for the rest of the game. Once Ashrah and Syzoth arrive in earthrealm, they do nothing. Even after the monumental Jerrod reveal, he basically fades into the background cast and provides no decisive advantage for the heroes.
Idc about Nitara voice acting, she has literally only 2-3 lines in the movie. Her character is bad, she’s always talking about how her species is about to go extinct, but then Geras saying “Abandon vampirism”, lol, so there’s no stakes, she’s not really saving anything.
I can overlook A lot of these writing decisions, but I have a hard time getting over Raiden getting his powers from an amulet. So is that for everyone in this universe now?
Scorpion also miraculously had his fire elemental powers before forming the shirai ryu and never becoming a revenant The story was good in the 1st half then NRS did what they've been doing since MKX and wrote themselves into a corner.
@@scottchaison1001 it’s preference. I prefer the universe where these characters have the magic and ability to use those powers without an item to do it through like the previous canon
@jeffdcgamer1077 They really was too. Those first 6 or 7 chapters are good despite the chapter system and the first 5 chapters were absolutely great. I guess all I can hope is that they drop the timetravel/multiverse shenanigans fully for the next game. I don't mind them referencing it and stuff but they gotta stop revolving the story around it.
I feel like the whole multiversal battle at the end was done just to justify the video game logic of why you have different versions of the characters fighting each other. but that first 65% of the story was great, if they ever did a high budget hbo style series, that should be the template on how the story should begin
Loved, loved, LOVED the first 3/4 of the story. All these characters had great moments. The Johnny Cage/Kenshi bromance was awesome, they brought back Ashra who I thought had a good backstory back in deception but was ultimately unexplored. But, the game REALLY jumped the shark in the third act. I'm really starting to get sick of the multiverse trope. One the one hand, yes, the possibilities are infinite. You can have any variant or mashup of any character at any time which is awesome. But on the other hand, nothing matters anymore. I mean, 90% of Rick and Morty jokes are about how things become hollow and meaningless when you really start to grasp the possibilities of infinite realities. The Johnny Cage we've been following the whole game dies? Who cares! There's litterally 10 others with the exact same backstory right around the corner, just with different cool designs. At first, the multiverse seems to scale the antes to the max, but it ultimately becomes an ouroboros of meaninglessness. The story ultimately should have kept being more down to earth.
i believe they did too much with the ending i love that beginning it was nice and felt good I think that Shang the new time line one should've just been the main bad but I also think that they should've worked their way up to relive there two times lines in later games. and just have Shang from the main timeline just mess with liu timeline from time to time
The grounded restart was nice. Personally i'd rather have had the previous timeline completely ignored. No tie ins. Just a standalone timeline. Have two tournaments or so. And then either have a cliffhanger or move briefly to Outworld. And setup war with Shao Kahn. Instead the story comes across as a 'greatest hits' mangled together in the last part of the game. They negate all the work they did before. So the clusterfuck is maintained making the sacrifice of the past of and fundamental changes to beloved characters a useless sacrifice. Also exposition bad guys giving away their schemes when talking face2face. A darn shame that these brainfarts are back to curse the storyline.
Would've been cool if instead of an all out war, we got another mortal kombat tournament between the two timelines. Wouldn't have been so chaotic, which would make sense because of the Havik reveal later.
The only thing I hate they didn’t mentioned is how did King Jerod died they said he was killed who killed him and how plus they blame Ali Mei because she was the guard of him plus even King Jerod say it himself Mi lei wasn’t to blame like we need more of this we need comics or a new DLC for the story PRONTO the story I love the game ever since MK9 Raiden reboot the story
I like the whole multiverse fight, but I would love for the whole multiverse thing to be built up upon instead of having a big jump into it. Also I want to point out that the general isn't dead as liu kang mentioned that he was imprisoned along with shang and quan Edit: I have a feeling that this whole multiverse idea was inspired by snow blind's final segment of the movie
MK1 doesn't actually start the "anyone can beat Kronika and get the hourglass" cause there's also Kano in SnowBlind who has the hourglass. A Kenshi mirror intro also mentions it.
@@NaveRellim34He didn’t “straight up” that there IS a Kano who’s a keeper of time. He was telling Kitana that there’s many possibilities for each timeline to be ruled by someone we know. So it may be true or not. It’s not directly confirmed
The last quarter of this story feels like the culmination of a trilogy battle, and we skipped 1-2 movies. As soon as it was revealed "Kronika" was Shang Tsung from Aftermath, I thought it was so cool that maybe we would see characters pulled from the MK11 timeline to help fight against Aftermath Shang Tsung and maybe some evil version of characters from his timeline. Having Hanzo Hasashi Scorpion and Kuai Liang Scorpion meet and fight together would've been sick. I was NOT expecting hundreds of random ass people pulled from the now infinite timelines out of thin air. Also upset that they brought back 3D-era characters only to give them barely any character development and focus on the mainline characters (I am so sick of Kung Lao, for example). I'm glad they at least gave Jax, Kano, Sonya, and some other mainline characters the backseat for a change.
truth to be told, even Liu Kang find it impossible that there is more than two timeline (him and shang, since the two of them are the only one possible that he knows can defeat Kronika). but with the power of friendship anything can be possible XD.
As far as the story, I’m just pissed that they threw out all of these hints and Easter eggs and STILL not even a hint of Onaga. Dragon Army…No Onaga… Armageddon temple.. No Onaga… Dragon Crown….. No Onaga… I REALLY hope that Titan Havik is just story DLC that actually leads into Onaga returning as the big bad.. maybe Blaze too..
I loved the story mode in this game. Up until the multiverse stuff. Was really hoping going in to the game that we were done with all that, bit still enjoyed it afterwards. Dare I say, the lack of special forces involment played a part in it being so good. My favourite story mode so far of all the NRS Mortal Kombat games
Honestly, I prefer the way to be able to do the Fatal Blows of Mortal Kombat 11 more than that of this one. I also don't find normal that we can't do them in a duel, or even in the Story Mode. And I also find that there are a lot of important characters missing in it and especially in the Story Mode (except of course Hanzo Hasashi after seeing the end of Smoke in the Klassic Tower): Fujin, Sonya Blade, Jax, Kurtis Stryker, Kabal, Bo' Rai Cho, Shujinko, the Great Kung Lao (while I thought that he would be the one we would see after seeing the end of Liu Kang, god of thunder and fire in the Story Mode of Mortal Kombat 11, and that he is supposed to be the champion of the Earthrealm as Liu Kang says in this same ending), in addition to his descendant, Nightwolf, Jade, General Kotal, Sheeva, Erron Black, Ferra/Torr, Skarlelt, Kollector, D'Vorah, Kintaro, Cyrax, Sektor, Frost and the Elder Gods. If this game must have secondary characters and Kameo, it is all the characters who should be able to be, and not only Sonya Blade, Jax, Stryker, the descendant of the Great Kung Lao (if that is him), Shujinko, Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Kano, Cyrax, Sektor, Frost, Sareena, Darrius, Motaro and Goro. I would even add that some characters are supposed to have chapters with 1/2 character to choose and control in the Story Mode like in Mortal Kombat 11 and Injustice 2: Fujin, Geras, Sonya Blade, Jax, Stryker, Kabal, Bo' Rai Cho, Shujinko, the Great Kung Lao, his descendant, Kitana, Nightwolf, Smoke, Cyrax, Jade, Kotal, Sheeva and Sareena, in addition to all those who already have it in solo. As I noticed that there were strength tests in chapters 5, 8, 9 and 15, I find there should also be QTE in some like in those in Mortal Kombat X. And finally, I find that this game should also be able to be played on PS4 for those who don't have the PS5.
Bro straight up there is TOO MANY people to differentiate who the good guys are vs the bad guys garuntee that after they clashed together nobody could tell the good guys apart from the bad so its basically endless slaughter
What doesnt make sense at all is that Geras said if a titan dies, they cannot be resurrected or even exist. So how the hell is Titan Shang Tsung even a thing if he was killed in the aftermath dlc! “But its a branching timeline” Nah bro he died, period. He shouldnt even exist according to Geras. Biggest Plothole and honestly worst MK story ending ever. So many missed opportunities and amazing character build and story build to a very very disappointing ending
Lets see. We get the MK11 story, the purpose of which is obviously to create a fresh start for the franchise. Then we have the MK11 DLC plot which re-hashes the MK11 story again and leaves us in the same place. Then we have the new game which once again re-hashes the MK11 story and leaves us in the same place. Yea... the lead writer obviously needs to be let go - they were handed a clean slate and couldn't create anything new. And the number of times a character would be introduced and give their full exposition immediately was ridiculous.
the fusion characters was awesome in the last chapter!!! i had fun wit it u know i had to pick liu kang as my final warrior ima pick raiden next and then kitana when i play the last chapter again
I don't like anything about the story mode (haven't finished yet though). I am rationalizing it in my mind that it is just a movie that Johnny Cage convinced Liu Kang, Kenshi and Kung Lao that co-star with him in it, but the rest of the characters are played by actors cause they're nothing like they should be.
I agree with you that it made sense to have Mk 11 have two endings. In turn, it made shang the logical choice for the big bad to force the story and paths of certain characters such as himself and quan chi. I wish they would have kept it to two timelines. It was way too quick, as you said, how fast both Shang and Lui gathered characters from different multiverses.
Though the transition to the all-out Titan battle may have been visually jarring, I chose to assume that it happened at least a few hours, or even days, later. He needed a realistic amount of time to recruit all those people. I just wish that we got to see some of those recruitment conversations. See Liu in shock when he discovers a good Shang Tsung or good Quan Chi, or an obnoxious Titan Johnny. Maybe an alternate Liu who fell in love with Mileena, or an evil Titan Madame Bo. 😂 And I'm really wondering if the Titans truly died? And what does that mean for their timelines - billions of beings snuffed out of existance, or just timelines left without a Keeper to guard the hourglass? So many questions! Also, Titan Tsung said it took him "eons," not a few hundred years. So we're talking about millions of years here.
There's a hidden timeline between 12:00am and 12:01am...they abandon the war on both sides earlier in the big fight... After seeing so many fighters stand to their feet after getting balls crushed and brains smashed that was it... The fighters from that timeline have no idea what a fatality is because no one ever survived an X-Ray move....
I think the mystery of the plot was what kept the 3/4 acts engaging. When the final act comes in it and mystic of whats going on is unveiled... Well it gets a lil weird BUT it makes sense following story and lore. They basically canonized fandom at the end because in no way shape or form could they had pulled the last chapter without a multiverse (which again... was put into motion since 9) 9 touched the SAME timeline but giving it different outcomes. If Raiden never killed Liu Kang then 10-11 wouldn't have happened. This all starts with Raiden trying to fight history. Thats actually even more evidence to why Kronika shows up because from time and time again is a war on Earth Realm which Shao Kahn has never EVER done in any timeline. 9 is the first time i ever saw Earthrealm REALLY invaded. Mind you.. He won in a timeline that never happened basically (When he kills all and leaves Raiden last). Liu Kang repeatedly defied and questioned Raidens decisions, hence why in a 11 Raiden gave his elder powers to him (also for killing him). Shang Tsung is the anti-thesis of Liu Kang. Im pretty sure Liu Kang pulled a MK9 Raiden but instead of sending a message thru time he went thru SIMILAR timelines while Shang went to DIFFERENT. Meaning Liu picked those similar to the world he made, everything else is Shang because he's technically a god just like Kang but he didn't create any timelines, he just snaked around for multiple variants of himself and build an empire for those years he was hiding. To even go further in it, the fact Liu Kang didnt know of other timelines suggest a Geras from Shang's time helped him. He just had to conquer enough Earthrealms to get a Geras. The story we follow in one is the middle ground where things could go Liu's way or Shang's way. Imo its the climax of everything til 9.
I believe Titan Shang Tsung was done to show how Liu Kang's Perfect New Era became flawed (villains rising) without making Liu Kang and Geras into idiots. MK2 will possibly continue exploring the New Era and how the heroes will work hard to undo the damage Titan Shang Tsung created (General Shao, Shang Tsung, Quan Chi, Onaga, Havik, etc.). The ending introduced Onaga as a new threat General Shao unleashed and Havik's destruction of Orderrealm. Also, Titan Havik might be involved in creating chaos between the gods and titans of the Mortal Kombat universe. Havik being the new main threat is awesome because he is the embodiment of Mortal Kombat and its carnage.
So I've enjoyed what they did. Essentially, eventhough fire god liu kang changes everything it still happens. Deadly Alliance happens, Deception happens, and the end part with whole clash is an omage to Armageddon!
I respect your opinion king I haven’t played it yet because I have to wait to cop it but I honestly think the ending was really cool obviously it has it’s probably the story especially through out but i still personally think its one of the better stories so far so yeah i loved the premise. I obviously respect everyone’s opinion as long as you don’t come at me with hate towards my opinion so yeah everyone and Alex I understand and respect your opinions. Great video by the way.
They definitely just wanted to go through all the 3d era games just like the last few games went through the old 2d era. They definitely rushed through getting from new era deception (the Shang Tsung reveal and the hourglass attack) to Armageddon with the pyramid fight again.
This opens up so much more problems than it solves, like for example if all other time lines exist then its just as logical to suggest Kronika was victorious in a timeline so will she be showing up at some point? Does she not care? Would that not also dimish the point of MK11? Shang Tsung, if he didn't reveal himself at all and just went straight for hourglass with his army, subduing Geras in the process, he wouldve won without Liu Kang knowing. Does it matter anymore if characters die if they can just be replaced easily from another timeline? You know they are going to go down that path. Is yet another game to have an Armageddon war scene? By my count this game makes 3, MK Armageddon, MK11, and MK1. Its essentially the same story told over again.
I was hoping that they went with a story of Order realm and Chaos realm and someone that we know from the previous games mentions an artifact that can reset the final battle with Shang Tsung and Lui Kang and Kronika. After finding this out they go out on the quest to get it but then in Chaos Realm Havik is after this too but he wants Titan Shang Tsungs power and it’s gets messy and betrayals happen someone was working with Havik the whole time leading those who were from order realm and then everything goes fucking crazy. Big battle is where Titan Shang Tsung is. The arena is the fallen elder gods temple Kronika comes back (She comes back by Havik doing with the artifact that has time essence and the ability to send one back in time or in the future, but if they mess with either it will affect the present time like and alter the future.) but she is back and tries to have a final battle with Shang and Lui Kang reclaiming her power but tells them that by winning the last battle she was destroyed and all timelines were lost and it was irreversible to make the new era possible but Shang Tsung managed but Kronika knew this would happen cause she made Shang Tsungs destiny and she failed to tell them that this was all planned and failed to tell them that she never really needed the crown but only to see how far Shang Tsung will go to become ruler of the realms. Her power has been within her and she could’ve stopped this but since Lui Kang and raiden merged she didn’t expect that. Anyways Kronika wins in the end by saving the ultimate weapon hidden from Shang Tsung and that was the Kamidogus ( spelling is bad ik) she merged them and used the artifact the Havik had and absorbed its power and defeats Shang Tsung if lose everything is reset and Raiden is gone and the realms are exactly the way she wanted and if you win against her a new story line appears and the Titans are no more and chaos realm has merged with order realm leaving only the Netherrealm to want to merge with outworld and bring nothing but Carnage across all realms
The fabric of time splits during the fight between LiuKang and Shang Tsung. everything happen before is of a single timeline it makes sense Shang Tsung took time to find out this fact and believe there is only 2 timeline. How other timeline come to be? Like Kitana as a titan?. L.K and Shang fought to a draw and both dead leaving the crown free ? Kitana found her way to the chamber and became a titan?
They could have kept it simple with only two timelines, the final fight being versus the dragon army and reintroduce Mortal Kombat as a war between the two timelines.
I agree that the twist of both MK11 endings was cool and they could've done something with it. But everything after that was a nonstop mess of callbacks to an MK era best left in the past. Not only did it rehash the extremely convoluted Armageddon, it made a worse version of Armageddon because it threw a hundred new random goofy characters at us instead of focusing on ones we already knew. The formerly badass villains like Shao and Goro were already getting clowned on throughout the campaign, but by the time I fought Ninja Mime and Klockodile during a final battle, I was ready to check out entirely. Fun gags for a non-canon spinoff, not a main story "reboot".
Same here, I was really on board with it and then the (hugely overused) multiverse thing dropped and I literally rolled my eyes and said "but of course!". It just ended up for me lazy and boring because it's been done to death now and most importantly it seriously hurts Liu Kang's status as the chosen one. Even worse it made him less significant because in MK11 Raiden fused with the Revenant form of Liu Kang who had possessed his past self's soul, so it was basically like a double boost. Now did the same thing happened to other characters in those different outcomes? If yes then still I don't know if anybody else would have been able to defeat Kronika unless they had her crown to give them a big boost or something else...maybe? It just creates more questions than answers and makes you care less (at least in my case). And you know what I think I would be ok if there was only another timeline with the Shang Tsung's ending from the Aftermath.
Personally I agree but I also really like what was done. What I’m hoping is once the aftermath dlc thing with havik is done I hope they get back to more grounded threats
What I appreciated about this universe is that it wasn't nearly as cynical as past MK storylines. Sometimes it felt as if the writers were almost shackled to just trying to one-up the "shock value" of betrayals, deaths, and impossibly twisted alliances that made nearly every character's motivation and place in the universe muddled. This leaves a lot more room for a straightforward story to follow in subsequent games.
also, just to dovetail off your note about the infinite timelines extension from MK11....I think what the writers were trying to show is that each of the endings in single-player mode from MK11 is a canon-ending of MK11. It's just that MK1 only focuses on the Liu Kang timeline as the story. I guess it's assuming though that FIre God Liu Kang had the ability to conscript all those other Titan versions of characters because he was the only God that recognized that possibility. Had Titan (Time Keeper) Kitana recognized it, she could've theoretically done it and so forth. Titan Shang Tsung recognized it, and therefore did it in his parallel set of infinite timelines, hence why everyone is an evil version of themselves in that "mirror-verse."
One big thing I want to know is are we going to get Cyber Smoke as a playable character since they already had him in the freaking game with a full move set and everything???
Great video Alex and I already hit the like button to support you channel and I glad you get a code for this game and because I don’t want to know who the game end I watch the rest of the video when I play it myself and I being loving you MK videos lately man
I was really enjoying the story until act 3. Especially, the final battle ugh!!! I rolled my eyes alot. The minute they said Liu Kang needed his time keeper powers again, so he could lead an army again, and fight over the hourglass....AGAIN!!! Smh. Who wrote this bs!?
Thank you!!!! I loved the story from 9/10/11 and had high hopes for this one. I was not disappointed until the last part to the story… and it kept getting worse…
Also no one mentions how they builded up these characters even from the trailers and when the story comes they really worked these characters to be very charismatic, but it all ends really flat because almost after all these characters own chapters they completely disappear from the story, you see later other variations, but these are not the same characters that you got to know through the course of the game. Baraka disappears before the festival begins, Reptile and Ashrah after they get to Earthrealm, Li Mei after Shang Tsung's laboratory(Even though in that chapter she doesn't even speak) and etc... The villains are just punchbags in the story as always, if they don't have a redemption route or are wunlingly working for the forces of good like Quan Chi and Shang Tsung. Talking about punchbag there's one of the most failures of characters in this story and it is Tanya, They took everything from that character from apearence to role, personality and even fighting style to some extent, you expect for them to also work on her new persona and then the only thing that she does the entire game is getting her butt kicked and applying serum to Mileena, she's just Mileena's girlfriend/nurse now. The only thing that makes Tanya TANYA is the fact that she wears yellow. I hope the ending means that there will be a second story passing in realms like Chaos and Order and they give a chance to a lot of characters who didn't had a chance in the story mode, the problem is that good part of them are villains. Nitara's case is complicated because paying Megan Fox must not be cheap and even if they go through the effort, not judging her career as an actress, but at least in this game's voice acting she didn't do a good job. Maybe is the lack of experience in voice acting, maybe it's the direction they gave her, nevertheless must be a lost cause, but not that much important except for Nitara fans. Wich is interesting because her character suffers from a lot of the same points that i talked about Tanya, but i think i'm most disappointed with Tanya because i liked the character since the ps2 era and MK X did such a perfect job with her, it is really a mess. Even with all this, just like people are saying, i liked 3/4 of the story just the last part was the major mess. The visual design of the character variations are really good anyway, congratulations to those who worked to bring the concepts to life.
Part of the issue is the nature of the game. Because MK1's story is told in a fighting game, and one with very expensive production values, it limits the way the story can be told. Injustice 1 and 2 demonstarte this clearly as the games really skip through much of the content and context in order to accomodate the fights and gameplay. Wheras the comic was able to really take its time and explore and build up to stuff. MK1 is in a rough place. It can't expand its story as doing so would require way more resources and also reasons for the player to fight.
Wasn’t Kitana supposed to live through the eons with Lui Kang at the end of 11? Where was she throughout the creation of everything? Wasn’t Lui Kangs hair white & he controlled both fire & thunder? Idk. Too many inconsistencies. The insane artifacts like raidens that give him electrical power. What? So why not make multiple amulets for everyone to use against the enemy?
@@paragon1172000 what about Lui Kangs white hair? Dyed it over the eons? How about other fighters getting magical amulets that let them control elements. Or tracking devices
@@tgonzalez1983 The out of universe answer is that it's a change in character design they do that a lot. The in universe answer is he probably changed it back to black once he gave up the time keeper role. That artifact is probably what he put Raiden's power in once he was done with it. Remember he also had Raiden's lightning power in 11. If he can give up the time keeper power he can probably also give up Raiden's.
@@paragon1172000 oooooh. Kung Lao just learned to teleport from madam bo & Shang Tsung only found out about 2 timelines & not the others I’m guessing. It all makes sense now. They just make up literally anything now
@@tgonzalez1983 I don't entirely disagree with what you are saying. There are elements I take issue with in the game as well. I was simply answering your points that clearly had answers.
The story actually felt decently paced for about 70% The final act was quite a mess, just felt like it was super rushed as it got to that point. The armageddon section, while a cool throw back, just felt to early to introduce in what is supposed to be a new fresh start for the franchise. It would be a better idea to build up to that for a future title. My only other gripe is a lot of previous jobber characters got great glow ups and better changes. Then they gave sub-zero a bad change. I really didn't like is how sub-zero (Bi Han) was inherently turned evil in the most random way for this game. I would have just preferred him being this super angry serious grandmaster who is still good than almost power hungry for generic bad guy reasons. He was kinda just left out after the scorpion chapter as well, so his whole threat level was basically pointless.
Loved the game up until the 3rd act. Wasn’t looking forward to the crazy timeline nonsense. Went into this game hoping they put all that in the past. Reptile is by far my favorite character from the story mode. There was a bunch of weird choices they made in the story. Lui kang should have swept dark sindel and most of the foes in this story
I was with the story until the part where they were trying to destroy the portals in the snow and I was like wtf is happening Also I had no idea the story of aftermath existed so I was super confused when Shang Tsung revealed himself.
I get what you’re saying with being confused with other characters as titans. They made that cannon through the towers story’s in mk11. Cause in towers everyone has their own ending as becoming a titan. So the help you get during the story before chapter 15, it’s the ppl that won against kronica in their tower story’s amongst other alternate versions of the characters you see and fight against during ch.15
I liked it honestly and I been around since deception yea multiverse is annoying but the potential is good this story is a multiverse story so let’s see how it goes
Its escalating so quickly out of nowhere that you dont really know whats Happening and why but its good the Charakters you play how they split up and stuff its pretty good but it has its flaws but i would say best story mode so far
I hated how they made it seem like Havik is a big deal in the end credit scene when he’s literally in this game as a useless grunt. He should have been the one pulling the strings and the main villain for this game and then set up the next game for Onaga.
My biggest problem that got some reason no one brings up is that shao khan (the big bad and one of the most iconic villains ever) keeps getting his ass beat by side characters and Shang tsung what happened to Shang tsung and almost everyone being terrified of shao khan ? Didn’t shao khan rip literally RIP through raiden (A LITERAL GOD) why have the writers forgot how powerful this guy is?
The last chapter was underwhelming. IMO, Armageddon was the absolute worst Mortal Kombat mainline game and it was not any kind of nostalgia I wanted to revisit. Sure, it had a ton of characters but that was definitely quantity over quality. I wish 1 was a complete refresh with no dots connected.
100% agree. I love how grounded it was in first 3/4 of the game. It really felt like a true reimagining, but then they slapped us back to a multiverse headache .
This was just a retelling of MK11 Aftermath. They could've just told this story and the direction they wanted to go in a hour long cutscene in Aftermath.
Absolutely agree!
@@michaelpenirelli9003Don't say stupid things.
Yes the ending blew.Still good all around but the ending was eh.And Scorpion and Sub Zero being brothers was trash
@@theseeker7711 Nah, there's nothing wrong with Scorpion and Sub-Zero being brothers.
This was EXACTLY my problem with the story as well. It was so good and grounded for the first 3/4ths of it. The characters and worldbuilding were absolutely great, but then it just turns into Avengers Endgame for no reason
Fr 😂 It's like if the Mcu did a Reset and was Retelling the first Avengers Movie and you're rebuilding this new Mcu with new Character growth and team building then all the Sudden it went From a Avengers 1 to Endgame in a Heartbeat
This game should’ve focused on the tournament the whole game & cut out every hint of multiverse
Don't say stupid things.
@@scottchaison1001Not judging but how do you find the energy to say this on so many comments?
The tournament was always a side to the actual plot the invasion
@@scottchaison1001 Multiverse hurts the game bruh
The story got really messy after the big reveal with Shang Tsung. But I’m curious about what dlc will come later to fix the ending. Also think Baraka, Reptile and Geras had the best glow ups.
It won't get fixed, NRS has been filling their story full of plot holes since MK9. Their only saving grace is that the gameplay has improved, and most gamers don't play fighting games for the story.
@@JordanFanaticDon't say stupid things, MK9 and this game are great.
@scottchaison1001 The game is fantastic. The story? Not so much
@@JordanFanatic Nah, the story is pretty good.
It depends on your standards. If your standards are low, then it's bad. If you're standards are non-existent then it's decent.
I agree. I think the mistake is making it too big and epic for the first reboot series. They should have finished it rather simply but with taste, having say Titan Shang Tsung using Shinnok's amulet to boost himself even more because of some new spell and transform into a super Shang Tsung as the final boss, rather then dive into a multiverse of good vs bad Titans. Just have Liu Kang fighting and Raiden the new champion helping out to solidify the new Champion's legacy and both defeating Super Shang Tsung and destroying the crown to the army.
Then have the ending where Onaga's soul is released with the crown destroyed and enters a fossilized egg, where he will be reborn. (Egg turns out to be his last magical plan prior to his death many years ago, as foresight planning to allow his revival in the future under the right circumstances.)
Onaga isn't a good or bad character per say, but has his own will and plans for his rule and establishes a new Mortal Kombat to establish power by consulting with the Elder Gods since he was the last rightful ruler prior to his assassination. etc, etc, etc
Save all the epic stuff to build up for later games (MK2, MK3, MK4, etc)
😤😤😤💯💯💯🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
To play Devil's advocate, there are 2 possible concerns with that.
The first is that it risks the game's story feeling hollow and safe. Like, we have had fighting game stories for over 2 decades with such a premise where the main heroes just defeat a powered up villain. Hell, MK9, X and 11 arguably followed that model. And 11 at least had Kronika's time travel as a way to raise the stakes.
From Neatherrealm's perspective, it is a reasonable fear that players would be like "what the hell? Why are we going back to a more basic style after the past several games cranked it up?".
To use analogy, it would be like if after Avengers Endgame, we had "Iron Man 4" that was about Tony Stark coming back to life and learning how to rebuild his armour all over again as essentially a "remake" of Iron Man 1. After everything that happened in the last movies, this feels like step down.
The second issue is that time isn't on MK's side. You say "Save all the epic stuff to build up for later games (MK2, MK3, MK4, etc)". But consider that it's not 2001 anymore. A studio can't just release a sequel to a game in a couple short years anymore. Game development times have gotten really long. Like, Santa Monica originally wanted God of War 2018 to launch a trilogy of games. But after seeing it took nearly 5 years to make a single game, if they insisted on a trilogy players would have had to wait for over 10 years to see the story conclude. And that's assuming players even stuck around. So that's why they compressed a 3 game plan into a 2 game plan so players only had to wait around 5 years.
MK11 came out in 2019. MK1 came out in 2023 nearly 4 years later. And Neatherealm was only able to do that because they didn't make an Injustice 3 like everyone expected. If they had, MK1 would have come out at least 2-3 years later. Lets just imagine if NeatherRealm decided to save the Endgame style event for MK3. Assumming 4 years per game and no more Injustice games, you'd have to wait until 2031, nearly 8 years to see it. And if they decided to do Injustice 3 at any point during that time, then it would be over 10
years.
On top of that, Neatherealm is the only AAA fighting game company that is still operating like that. Street Fighter and Tekken operate by supporting a single game for over 7 years. It's entirely possible that Neatherrealm might consider that approach and opt to support a single fighting game for multiple years. Then what? Do we have to wait even longer for an Endgame style event?
By doing it now with MK1, it at least gives us the event before it has a chance to be cancelled or delayed.
I 100% agree on this, I really wish they would’ve taken the time on the ending and we actually get to see Lu kang build the army, even if it was just a quick meet and greet with other timelines, rather then them just throwing up a portal and having everyone walk in. Still a good game and story just had some hiccups.
Part of the issue is the nature of the game. Because MK1's story is told in a fighting game, and one with very expensive production values, it limits the way the story can be told. Injustice 1 and 2 demonstarte this clearly as the games really skip through much of the content and context in order to accomodate the fights and gameplay. Wheras the comic was able to really take its time and explore and build up to stuff.
MK1 is in a rough place. It can't expand its story as doing so would require way more resources and also reasons for the player to fight.
And it was a good story but I felt it was kind of rushed and it expanded way too quickly. It should have been two parts to it. That way they would have time to explore and build up more and not leave the main cast out of the war that unfolded. They were missing for a huge part of the story which took away from the story to me. Still a good story tho
The story went out of the window as soon as they went with the multiverse trope. It threw all of the struggles from MK11 out of the window and made the plot meaningless.
Geras told Liu Kang that a titan is killed in all timeliness after they die, but the whole plot of this game is about 2 Titans fighting each other after creating their respective timeliness (Liu Kang and Shang Tsung)
Actually rebooting the timeline would have given this franchise a much needed break from the constant plotholes that the writers can't help but keep digging for themselves. I get a lot of gamers don't play fighting games for the story but getting this many inconsistencies from the originator of story-driven fighting games is mind-boggling to me.
@@JordanFanatic 100% , i hope in the future they just somehow completely delete this whole theory of multiverses being a thing
Should’ve kept it to two timelines. Introduce alternate Shang but continue the story they started and focus on lui kangs timeline. Then the next game have kangs timeline vs shangs timeline. Multiple timelines was unnecessary and made no sense
Still the story was pretty good for the most part.
I would love if netherealm made a Mortal Kombat open world rpg it would be absolutely insane
so a new and improved version of the story mode of MK Deception?
a Subzero Mythology’s sequel would be cool too imo
@raidbenachoure1330are you referencing the johnny Cage mansion invasion thingy?
I wish there was a Rpg like where you can kreate your own fighter choose your lineage choose your own special powers by the sub categorys of the lineage you choose
@raidbenachoure1330 yeah and not because it isn't possible. But because no triple A studios and only inde devs care to make games with risk and games with a graphic tone and want to compete in the most fine grain details in graphics. One reason I respect the hell out of the devs who made Cup Head.
That was another huge reason I hated MK11 the grind to unlock everything is absolutely exhausting. And would take ones lifetime let alone how boring it becomes. The penny pinching is so horrible. But I didn't like the gameplay because it feels so tedious and slow imo. MKX is my favorite for the fast sleek gameplay it has. Well MK1 looks like a step twords the right path
The tournament doesn't even make sense. Earthrealm chooses a chambion, and then he destroys everyone?? Much more experienced fighters??
They should at least put all Earth chambions against the outworlds fighters. Line a team vs team. This Raiden one man army was bs.
The titan katana was the same one from lu Kang timeline. The same one that held hands with him at the end of mk 11. The one he chose to rule time with . It's confusing I know but based off the convo he had with katana this is her. She just retained her powers and resided over her own timeline.
So the split of timelines happened in many points as long a decision is taken a new timeline is created some I think, including when the new era was created, so there is a timeline whereby instead of Liu Kang building the new Era like in ending of MK11 Kitana was the one who created the new Era whereby in that timeline Liu Kang was also reborn like the Kitana in our timeline
So was aftermath Liu Kang the Shang Tsung ending? And MK1 Liu Kang is the end of the original story of MK11?
@knox7945 both endings are cannon . They split into two different timeliness. Ome where lu Kang won and one where Shang sung won.
@@tarrellwilks6998 yeah I know, but the original ending of MK11 was just Liu and Kitana and Aftermath was the continuation without Kitana. So I'm wondering if MK1 Liu Kang is the same one with Kitana or the one who won over Shang Tsung?
@@knox7945 titain katana is the one at the end of MK11 she said he was her lu Kang
100% agree. Up until the last few chapters, I was hooked on the story. It was a little slow in a few spots in the beginning (Johnny Cage's Indiana Jones movie ripoff took too long), but overall, very fun. But the ending...this is what I hate about multiverses, they diminish the characters. Now there are infinite Kitana's, Liu Kang's, Shang Tsungs, and all these weird variations. Just imagine if the writers took a chill pill and just made it a battle between Liu Kang's timeline vs. Shang Tsung's. And maybe you got to choose which one would win. It's not that hard.
Also, Invasions sucks. They took away the Krypt and the Towers of Time for that? Also no variations for characters, no special moves to pick from, no huge inventory of konsumables, and lastly, the amplifiers for moves are barely noticeable for most special moves. It feels like the creators care about this IP, but either didn't know where to go to make it stand out or the studio rushed them way too hard. Such a shame.
Overall, I like MK1, but I LOVED MK11.
A choose your path at the end would have been awesome.
This was one expensive mobile game, even then, it has less game modes than an actual app.
I feel like this game was a huge step back as far as content and fine tuning.
Like wtf does Reptile's enhanced invisibility do?
This game had a lot of potential to do way more but I feel like nrs felt the need to connect it to mk11 love the game but the story made it feel so bland to me, makes me wonder what the next game will be about especially with all the cliffhanger endings they gave at the end (the pictures) and the last cutscene. There's not much to go off of, they just need to make a standout fighting game.
I was hoping that the new story wouldn't fall into the trap of characters just randomly winning and losing fights simply because the story calls for it, but alas this game fell right into that. One of the biggest offenders is Mileena beating evil Raiden like he's a generic jobber. That was completely ridiculous. Then immediately afterwards Sindel just wrecks everyone somehow. Absolutely absurdity.
Edit: just wanted to add that I actually do agree that having a thousand different versions of each character heavily diminishes their significance. I'd rather just have one of each character.
If memory serves me right, anyone that you used to beat MK11 became the new keeper of time. So it makes sense you would have time line where their is time keeper version of every character.
Exactly there would be cutscenes with what they would do as a keeper of time but there's something wrong liu kang fight with Shang tsung shattered the timeline making different timelines but not because that there's difference keepers because of that there's different timelines so with different timelines the results of the fights with kronika would change by who beat her
Yea, but the purpose of MK11 was to fix the mess that MK9 and 10 created and start over, and instead we're stuck in parallel timeline limbo.
When I found out the bad guy was Shang tsung at the end I lost interest. I was really hoping the big bad was Onaga. I wasn’t impressed with all the combination characters. With that said I wasn’t a fan of the secret ending. I don’t like where it’s headed
I agree! Onaga makes much more sense as the bad guy-especially if you played Deception!
I did not like the lack of character evolution for Havik at all, and I’m really disappointed we did not really see Kai. Honestly 4 games in a row plus the movie is really overkill for Kung Lao. I’m sick and tired of him. This honestly should have been Kai’s time to shine. I am having a blast with Nitara and her gameplay though. She’s my favorite character and looks amazing, but her voice actress is admittedly a bit flat at times. It’s weird. Some lines are delivered well while others are delivered very flat. I’m also really enjoying playing as Ashrah, Li Mei, and Reiko.
Yeah, Kung Lao should have been replaced with either Meat or Blaze.
But Kung Lao and Liu Kang are friends, so idk if they would ever remove him from a roster
@@FatalShotGG I would prefer him replaced with Kai by far, but I would welcome Meat back for sure. It’s beyond overkill with Kung Lao already. He can be in story as a NPC. No reason he had to be playable again
@@rockybalboa4593 Or they could have also replaced him with Motaro and made him a Kameo character
@rockybalboa4593 to be fair though Kung Lao is the most fun he's ever been in MK1
We don't really need another fire user..
Before the twist: Good 👍
After the twist: Bad 👎
I think they were trying to say is that every characters ladder ending is Canon from mk11. I also didn't like the ending for the same reasons. I was hoping that Onaga would be teased but didn't get anything. Like I don't care about havik.
Onaga does get teased in the one of the arcade endings though, and unlike previous games they seem really confdiant in making all of them canon as they acually flow very well together
@@nightwish1453all of them are canon because they'll tie in with the story expansion, meaning we might see Onaga.
I disagree on the back end only because the timeline split is clearly explained. There aren't infinite timelines. There was one timeline which split and all timelines spawn from a kombatant winning the tower in mk11. The titans and timelines are limited to that number.
I will agree in that instead of the multiverse armies it would have been nice to see the titans face off against each other in a higher stakes mortal kombat to bookend with the first act. This is certainly a heavy turn with no buildup for the player. "Why did it happen so fast?" Is absolutely the biggest question I have
I mentally checked out the second they started doing multiversal nonsense. I've been a fan since the Arcade days & I genuinely didn't want to finish the story after that. RIP proper -storytelling.-
To me one of my negatives is that why Tanya did not have story chapter to further flushed her out. You went out of your way to redesign an old iconic character with a brand-new back story with a new look!!!
My biggest disappointment was that we never get the chance to see heroic versions of villians especially Shang Tsung. I've always had this notion that he had a sad backstory. Granted the Mortal Kombat Conquest TV show highlights their version of how Shang Tsung becomes evil but since it got alot of bad reviews the directors of Midway at the time ditched it and didn't offer a concrete storyline
I almost thought, since Liu put Shang in a humbled life, eventually Shang would stumble on something he never should have (maybe a realm/portal/amulet), granting him some sort of magic.
A heroic Bi-han would have been cool. We got to see a good bi-han subzero they just didn't focus at all on him.
We could have got what all fans wanted. A bi-han that redeemed himself after mythologies and sided with earthrealm.
Didn’t we see a good Shang Tsung and Wuan Chi briefly before they got pwnt by their titan counterparts on the pyramid?
Challenge: Netherrealm trying not to create a game involving alternate timelines or universes.
Difficulty: impossible
No kidding I agree with you I was totally immersed up until Mileena's chapter where somehow without explanation she can total level with a powered up Dark Raiden and Mk11's Sindel beefed up to rival an elder god but earlier on she gets destroyed by Li Mei a couple chapters earlier and I was just left scratching my head how the writers dropped the ball so bad this is worse than the Cassie Cage vs Shinnok fight in MKX final chapter , then we get a reveal its Shang Tsung from the Aftermath ending and I was all for it and loved the plot twist reveal but then like you said it just fell apart after that ;
Another thing I had a gripe with is they should have used the different assets from different MK games to make it believable like classic Subzero or Scorpian but they were just the alt skins already in the game to the 3d assets in MK1 ; another problem I had immediately when I saw Kitana is where the white in your eyes girl? if your the same status as LK why no glowing eyes? Raiden had them but no one else so that really just took me under its too bad I think this ending really hurts the prospect of Mk2 storyline and having them end with a generic Havok with no backstory or hype up just kinda thinks this may be the last MK I get myself into ;
No doubt this was a rushed final chapter and ending and it felt like WB basically told Netherealms " Hey you got like 30 days to finish up this game , shareholders are getting impatient , thats your deadline" and this is the result of that
Powerscaling was always messed up ever since mk4. NRS Managed to amplify that to even more bs levels.
@@nabilahmed579exactly man it’s like the powerscaling is none existent though lmao
I think glowing eyes means you are a demi god. Titan doesnt have them. Kronica eyes are normal
@@jennyxie5382raiden is full protector god, not demigod.
It’s NRS fucking about with the pantheon titles
I agree the 2nd half just went fuck it we want an MK Armageddon scenario. Tension between Kitana and Mileena just went poof. Rayden as the new chosen one is hardly utilized. Sub-zero's betrayal felt under-utilized and the Lin-Kuei felt like a street gang rather than an organization of assassins or "earthrealm guardians". Shao Kahn is reduced to a jobber. Honestly, pacing is almost as bad as street fighter V story with just a bit better acting. Also, that charge at the final battle looked goofy AF, with the evil dudes running down cautiously so they don't trip, while the good guys looked totally exhausted like anyone would be running up a flight of stairs.
I agree.. the story was good. I like the fact Liu Kang changed so much for everything to still happened. But the ending was random and rushed
Everything you said here is spot on, but I'd like to add the point that they have to get out of the ~4 fight chapter system with specific characters. It really constrains how they can tell the story, often leads to pointless filler fights, makes the conclusions very predictable (we know our character will survive and win, at least until the fourth fight), and the character often fades into the background and becomes irrelevant after their chapter. Once Raiden wins the tournament, he disappears until the end of the game. Once Kung Lao loses to Raiden, he does and says nothing of value for the rest of the game. Once Ashrah and Syzoth arrive in earthrealm, they do nothing. Even after the monumental Jerrod reveal, he basically fades into the background cast and provides no decisive advantage for the heroes.
Idc about Nitara voice acting, she has literally only 2-3 lines in the movie.
Her character is bad, she’s always talking about how her species is about to go extinct, but then Geras saying “Abandon vampirism”, lol, so there’s no stakes, she’s not really saving anything.
The Multiverse Stuff came out of NOWHERE
I can overlook A lot of these writing decisions, but I have a hard time getting over Raiden getting his powers from an amulet. So is that for everyone in this universe now?
Scorpion also miraculously had his fire elemental powers before forming the shirai ryu and never becoming a revenant
The story was good in the 1st half then NRS did what they've been doing since MKX and wrote themselves into a corner.
@@JordanFanatic Yah I agree. Also what did u mean by the Revenant point? As in he couldn’t get his superpowers without being a revenant?
@@mikemike7326 There's nothing wrong with Raiden getting his Powers from the amulet, what are you talking about?
@@scottchaison1001 it’s preference. I prefer the universe where these characters have the magic and ability to use those powers without an item to do it through like the previous canon
Subzero have his ice power, maybe Kuai Liang learn fire instead.
The ending ruined it
They overdid it with the timeline shit
Only two timelines
One with liu kang and one with shang tsung were enough
the final chapter with the war part is A reference to the 3D era game Armageddon which I think it was kind of cool to see
Would have had more weight if the properly worked towards it. The whole multiverse thing is too overbearing with not enough new positives on the story
@@Timquan. I couldn’t agree more that’s pretty much all of our opinions too! They was on track on the writings halfway of the game
@jeffdcgamer1077 They really was too. Those first 6 or 7 chapters are good despite the chapter system and the first 5 chapters were absolutely great. I guess all I can hope is that they drop the timetravel/multiverse shenanigans fully for the next game. I don't mind them referencing it and stuff but they gotta stop revolving the story around it.
At this point anyone who played the old game knew about this point
I feel like the whole multiversal battle at the end was done just to justify the video game logic of why you have different versions of the characters fighting each other.
but that first 65% of the story was great, if they ever did a high budget hbo style series, that should be the template on how the story should begin
Loved, loved, LOVED the first 3/4 of the story. All these characters had great moments. The Johnny Cage/Kenshi bromance was awesome, they brought back Ashra who I thought had a good backstory back in deception but was ultimately unexplored.
But, the game REALLY jumped the shark in the third act. I'm really starting to get sick of the multiverse trope. One the one hand, yes, the possibilities are infinite. You can have any variant or mashup of any character at any time which is awesome. But on the other hand, nothing matters anymore. I mean, 90% of Rick and Morty jokes are about how things become hollow and meaningless when you really start to grasp the possibilities of infinite realities. The Johnny Cage we've been following the whole game dies? Who cares! There's litterally 10 others with the exact same backstory right around the corner, just with different cool designs.
At first, the multiverse seems to scale the antes to the max, but it ultimately becomes an ouroboros of meaninglessness. The story ultimately should have kept being more down to earth.
i believe they did too much with the ending i love that beginning it was nice and felt good I think that Shang the new time line one should've just been the main bad but I also think that they should've worked their way up to relive there two times lines in later games. and just have Shang from the main timeline just mess with liu timeline from time to time
The grounded restart was nice. Personally i'd rather have had the previous timeline completely ignored. No tie ins. Just a standalone timeline.
Have two tournaments or so. And then either have a cliffhanger or move briefly to Outworld. And setup war with Shao Kahn.
Instead the story comes across as a 'greatest hits' mangled together in the last part of the game.
They negate all the work they did before.
So the clusterfuck is maintained making the sacrifice of the past of and fundamental changes to beloved characters a useless sacrifice.
Also exposition bad guys giving away their schemes when talking face2face. A darn shame that these brainfarts are back to curse the storyline.
Would've been cool if instead of an all out war, we got another mortal kombat tournament between the two timelines. Wouldn't have been so chaotic, which would make sense because of the Havik reveal later.
The ending was confusing. But I enjoyed it. Love me some madam Bo.
The only thing I hate they didn’t mentioned is how did King Jerod died they said he was killed who killed him and how plus they blame Ali Mei because she was the guard of him plus even King Jerod say it himself Mi lei wasn’t to blame like we need more of this we need comics or a new DLC for the story PRONTO the story I love the game ever since MK9 Raiden reboot the story
I like the whole multiverse fight, but I would love for the whole multiverse thing to be built up upon instead of having a big jump into it.
Also I want to point out that the general isn't dead as liu kang mentioned that he was imprisoned along with shang and quan
Edit: I have a feeling that this whole multiverse idea was inspired by snow blind's final segment of the movie
MK1 doesn't actually start the "anyone can beat Kronika and get the hourglass" cause there's also Kano in SnowBlind who has the hourglass. A Kenshi mirror intro also mentions it.
Also in Lui Kangs chapter he actually says their is a version of Kano that became keeper of time making snow blind officially Canon
@@NaveRellim34He didn’t “straight up” that there IS a Kano who’s a keeper of time. He was telling Kitana that there’s many possibilities for each timeline to be ruled by someone we know. So it may be true or not. It’s not directly confirmed
The last quarter of this story feels like the culmination of a trilogy battle, and we skipped 1-2 movies. As soon as it was revealed "Kronika" was Shang Tsung from Aftermath, I thought it was so cool that maybe we would see characters pulled from the MK11 timeline to help fight against Aftermath Shang Tsung and maybe some evil version of characters from his timeline. Having Hanzo Hasashi Scorpion and Kuai Liang Scorpion meet and fight together would've been sick. I was NOT expecting hundreds of random ass people pulled from the now infinite timelines out of thin air. Also upset that they brought back 3D-era characters only to give them barely any character development and focus on the mainline characters (I am so sick of Kung Lao, for example). I'm glad they at least gave Jax, Kano, Sonya, and some other mainline characters the backseat for a change.
truth to be told, even Liu Kang find it impossible that there is more than two timeline (him and shang, since the two of them are the only one possible that he knows can defeat Kronika). but with the power of friendship anything can be possible XD.
As far as the story, I’m just pissed that they threw out all of these hints and Easter eggs and STILL not even a hint of Onaga. Dragon Army…No Onaga… Armageddon temple.. No Onaga… Dragon Crown….. No Onaga… I REALLY hope that Titan Havik is just story DLC that actually leads into Onaga returning as the big bad.. maybe Blaze too..
I loved the story mode in this game. Up until the multiverse stuff. Was really hoping going in to the game that we were done with all that, bit still enjoyed it afterwards. Dare I say, the lack of special forces involment played a part in it being so good. My favourite story mode so far of all the NRS Mortal Kombat games
Honestly, I prefer the way to be able to do the Fatal Blows of Mortal Kombat 11 more than that of this one.
I also don't find normal that we can't do them in a duel, or even in the Story Mode.
And I also find that there are a lot of important characters missing in it and especially in the Story Mode (except of course Hanzo Hasashi after seeing the end of Smoke in the Klassic Tower): Fujin, Sonya Blade, Jax, Kurtis Stryker, Kabal, Bo' Rai Cho, Shujinko, the Great Kung Lao (while I thought that he would be the one we would see after seeing the end of Liu Kang, god of thunder and fire in the Story Mode of Mortal Kombat 11, and that he is supposed to be the champion of the Earthrealm as Liu Kang says in this same ending), in addition to his descendant, Nightwolf, Jade, General Kotal, Sheeva, Erron Black, Ferra/Torr, Skarlelt, Kollector, D'Vorah, Kintaro, Cyrax, Sektor, Frost and the Elder Gods.
If this game must have secondary characters and Kameo, it is all the characters who should be able to be, and not only Sonya Blade, Jax, Stryker, the descendant of the Great Kung Lao (if that is him), Shujinko, Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Kano, Cyrax, Sektor, Frost, Sareena, Darrius, Motaro and Goro.
I would even add that some characters are supposed to have chapters with 1/2 character to choose and control in the Story Mode like in Mortal Kombat 11 and Injustice 2: Fujin, Geras, Sonya Blade, Jax, Stryker, Kabal, Bo' Rai Cho, Shujinko, the Great Kung Lao, his descendant, Kitana, Nightwolf, Smoke, Cyrax, Jade, Kotal, Sheeva and Sareena, in addition to all those who already have it in solo.
As I noticed that there were strength tests in chapters 5, 8, 9 and 15, I find there should also be QTE in some like in those in Mortal Kombat X.
And finally, I find that this game should also be able to be played on PS4 for those who don't have the PS5.
mk11 story mode >> mk1 story mode
but i enjoyed both and the future is even more limitless now shoutout to the multiverse
I'm getting muliverse fatigue. Seems like everyone is doing it now
Bro straight up there is TOO MANY people to differentiate who the good guys are vs the bad guys garuntee that after they clashed together nobody could tell the good guys apart from the bad so its basically endless slaughter
What doesnt make sense at all is that Geras said if a titan dies, they cannot be resurrected or even exist. So how the hell is Titan Shang Tsung even a thing if he was killed in the aftermath dlc! “But its a branching timeline” Nah bro he died, period. He shouldnt even exist according to Geras. Biggest Plothole and honestly worst MK story ending ever. So many missed opportunities and amazing character build and story build to a very very disappointing ending
I enjoy the entire story, it’s not boring at all.
Lets see. We get the MK11 story, the purpose of which is obviously to create a fresh start for the franchise. Then we have the MK11 DLC plot which re-hashes the MK11 story again and leaves us in the same place. Then we have the new game which once again re-hashes the MK11 story and leaves us in the same place. Yea... the lead writer obviously needs to be let go - they were handed a clean slate and couldn't create anything new. And the number of times a character would be introduced and give their full exposition immediately was ridiculous.
the fusion characters was awesome in the last chapter!!! i had fun wit it u know i had to pick liu kang as my final warrior ima pick raiden next and then kitana when i play the last chapter again
Soon as i saw that the titan shang tsung looks exacty like liu kangs shang tsung the story completely fell flat
I don't like anything about the story mode (haven't finished yet though). I am rationalizing it in my mind that it is just a movie that Johnny Cage convinced Liu Kang, Kenshi and Kung Lao that co-star with him in it, but the rest of the characters are played by actors cause they're nothing like they should be.
Enough of fucking multiverses in everything.
I agree with you that it made sense to have Mk 11 have two endings. In turn, it made shang the logical choice for the big bad to force the story and paths of certain characters such as himself and quan chi.
I wish they would have kept it to two timelines. It was way too quick, as you said, how fast both Shang and Lui gathered characters from different multiverses.
Would’ve been dope to have seen havik get his powers a lot of it’s chapters were rushed too.
Though the transition to the all-out Titan battle may have been visually jarring, I chose to assume that it happened at least a few hours, or even days, later. He needed a realistic amount of time to recruit all those people.
I just wish that we got to see some of those recruitment conversations. See Liu in shock when he discovers a good Shang Tsung or good Quan Chi, or an obnoxious Titan Johnny. Maybe an alternate Liu who fell in love with Mileena, or an evil Titan Madame Bo. 😂
And I'm really wondering if the Titans truly died? And what does that mean for their timelines - billions of beings snuffed out of existance, or just timelines left without a Keeper to guard the hourglass? So many questions!
Also, Titan Tsung said it took him "eons," not a few hundred years. So we're talking about millions of years here.
There's a hidden timeline between 12:00am and 12:01am...they abandon the war on both sides earlier in the big fight...
After seeing so many fighters stand to their feet after getting balls crushed and brains smashed that was it...
The fighters from that timeline have no idea what a fatality is because no one ever survived an X-Ray move....
I think the mystery of the plot was what kept the 3/4 acts engaging. When the final act comes in it and mystic of whats going on is unveiled... Well it gets a lil weird BUT it makes sense following story and lore.
They basically canonized fandom at the end because in no way shape or form could they had pulled the last chapter without a multiverse (which again... was put into motion since 9)
9 touched the SAME timeline but giving it different outcomes. If Raiden never killed Liu Kang then 10-11
wouldn't have happened. This all starts with Raiden trying to fight history.
Thats actually even more evidence to why Kronika shows up because from time and time again is a war on Earth Realm which Shao Kahn has never EVER done in any timeline. 9 is the first time i ever saw Earthrealm REALLY invaded. Mind you.. He won in a timeline that never happened basically (When he kills all and leaves Raiden last).
Liu Kang repeatedly defied and questioned Raidens decisions, hence why in a 11 Raiden gave his elder powers to him (also for killing him).
Shang Tsung is the anti-thesis of Liu Kang. Im pretty sure Liu Kang pulled a MK9 Raiden but instead of sending a message thru time he went thru SIMILAR timelines while Shang went to DIFFERENT.
Meaning Liu picked those similar to the world he made, everything else is Shang because he's technically a god just like Kang but he didn't create any timelines, he just snaked around for multiple variants of himself and build an empire for those years he was hiding. To even go further in it, the fact Liu Kang didnt know of other timelines suggest a Geras from Shang's time helped him. He just had to conquer enough Earthrealms to get a Geras.
The story we follow in one is the middle ground where things could go Liu's way or Shang's way. Imo its the climax of everything til 9.
I believe Titan Shang Tsung was done to show how Liu Kang's Perfect New Era became flawed (villains rising) without making Liu Kang and Geras into idiots. MK2 will possibly continue exploring the New Era and how the heroes will work hard to undo the damage Titan Shang Tsung created (General Shao, Shang Tsung, Quan Chi, Onaga, Havik, etc.). The ending introduced Onaga as a new threat General Shao unleashed and Havik's destruction of Orderrealm. Also, Titan Havik might be involved in creating chaos between the gods and titans of the Mortal Kombat universe. Havik being the new main threat is awesome because he is the embodiment of Mortal Kombat and its carnage.
im excited for the dlc story mode
So I've enjoyed what they did. Essentially, eventhough fire god liu kang changes everything it still happens. Deadly Alliance happens, Deception happens, and the end part with whole clash is an omage to Armageddon!
I respect your opinion king I haven’t played it yet because I have to wait to cop it but I honestly think the ending was really cool obviously it has it’s probably the story especially through out but i still personally think its one of the better stories so far so yeah i loved the premise. I obviously respect everyone’s opinion as long as you don’t come at me with hate towards my opinion so yeah everyone and Alex I understand and respect your opinions. Great video by the way.
They definitely just wanted to go through all the 3d era games just like the last few games went through the old 2d era. They definitely rushed through getting from new era deception (the Shang Tsung reveal and the hourglass attack) to Armageddon with the pyramid fight again.
So In the beginning of the game kronika was the real Shang tsung?
This opens up so much more problems than it solves, like for example if all other time lines exist then its just as logical to suggest Kronika was victorious in a timeline so will she be showing up at some point? Does she not care? Would that not also dimish the point of MK11? Shang Tsung, if he didn't reveal himself at all and just went straight for hourglass with his army, subduing Geras in the process, he wouldve won without Liu Kang knowing. Does it matter anymore if characters die if they can just be replaced easily from another timeline? You know they are going to go down that path. Is yet another game to have an Armageddon war scene? By my count this game makes 3, MK Armageddon, MK11, and MK1. Its essentially the same story told over again.
The ending felt very rushed, it was pretty ass ngl
I was hoping that they went with a story of Order realm and Chaos realm and someone that we know from the previous games mentions an artifact that can reset the final battle with Shang Tsung and Lui Kang and Kronika. After finding this out they go out on the quest to get it but then in Chaos Realm Havik is after this too but he wants Titan Shang Tsungs power and it’s gets messy and betrayals happen someone was working with Havik the whole time leading those who were from order realm and then everything goes fucking crazy. Big battle is where Titan Shang Tsung is. The arena is the fallen elder gods temple
Kronika comes back (She comes back by Havik doing with the artifact that has time essence and the ability to send one back in time or in the future, but if they mess with either it will affect the present time like and alter the future.) but she is back and tries to have a final battle with Shang and Lui Kang reclaiming her power but tells them that by winning the last battle she was destroyed and all timelines were lost and it was irreversible to make the new era possible but Shang Tsung managed but Kronika knew this would happen cause she made Shang Tsungs destiny and she failed to tell them that this was all planned and failed to tell them that she never really needed the crown but only to see how far Shang Tsung will go to become ruler of the realms. Her power has been within her and she could’ve stopped this but since Lui Kang and raiden merged she didn’t expect that. Anyways Kronika wins in the end by saving the ultimate weapon hidden from Shang Tsung and that was the Kamidogus ( spelling is bad ik) she merged them and used the artifact the Havik had and absorbed its power and defeats Shang Tsung if lose everything is reset and Raiden is gone and the realms are exactly the way she wanted and if you win against her a new story line appears and the Titans are no more and chaos realm has merged with order realm leaving only the Netherrealm to want to merge with outworld and bring nothing but Carnage across all realms
There should have been branch story lines retreaving ppl from each time line for each side and held off the armageddon ending for part 2 addition
The fabric of time splits during the fight between LiuKang and Shang Tsung. everything happen before is of a single timeline
it makes sense Shang Tsung took time to find out this fact and believe there is only 2 timeline.
How other timeline come to be? Like Kitana as a titan?. L.K and Shang fought to a draw and both dead leaving the crown free ? Kitana found her way to the chamber and became a titan?
They could have kept it simple with only two timelines, the final fight being versus the dragon army and reintroduce Mortal Kombat as a war between the two timelines.
My only complaint is I wish they would've used the Mk11 Shang tsung at the end other than that it's amazing. Tis each their own
I agree that the twist of both MK11 endings was cool and they could've done something with it. But everything after that was a nonstop mess of callbacks to an MK era best left in the past. Not only did it rehash the extremely convoluted Armageddon, it made a worse version of Armageddon because it threw a hundred new random goofy characters at us instead of focusing on ones we already knew. The formerly badass villains like Shao and Goro were already getting clowned on throughout the campaign, but by the time I fought Ninja Mime and Klockodile during a final battle, I was ready to check out entirely. Fun gags for a non-canon spinoff, not a main story "reboot".
Same here, I was really on board with it and then the (hugely overused) multiverse thing dropped and I literally rolled my eyes and said "but of course!". It just ended up for me lazy and boring because it's been done to death now and most importantly it seriously hurts Liu Kang's status as the chosen one. Even worse it made him less significant because in MK11 Raiden fused with the Revenant form of Liu Kang who had possessed his past self's soul, so it was basically like a double boost. Now did the same thing happened to other characters in those different outcomes? If yes then still I don't know if anybody else would have been able to defeat Kronika unless they had her crown to give them a big boost or something else...maybe? It just creates more questions than answers and makes you care less (at least in my case). And you know what I think I would be ok if there was only another timeline with the Shang Tsung's ending from the Aftermath.
Personally I agree but I also really like what was done. What I’m hoping is once the aftermath dlc thing with havik is done I hope they get back to more grounded threats
What I appreciated about this universe is that it wasn't nearly as cynical as past MK storylines. Sometimes it felt as if the writers were almost shackled to just trying to one-up the "shock value" of betrayals, deaths, and impossibly twisted alliances that made nearly every character's motivation and place in the universe muddled. This leaves a lot more room for a straightforward story to follow in subsequent games.
also, just to dovetail off your note about the infinite timelines extension from MK11....I think what the writers were trying to show is that each of the endings in single-player mode from MK11 is a canon-ending of MK11. It's just that MK1 only focuses on the Liu Kang timeline as the story. I guess it's assuming though that FIre God Liu Kang had the ability to conscript all those other Titan versions of characters because he was the only God that recognized that possibility. Had Titan (Time Keeper) Kitana recognized it, she could've theoretically done it and so forth. Titan Shang Tsung recognized it, and therefore did it in his parallel set of infinite timelines, hence why everyone is an evil version of themselves in that "mirror-verse."
I loved everything besides the multiverse stuff when Shang said meet damshie I though it was ONEGA 😂
This commentary is 1,000% on point.
One big thing I want to know is are we going to get Cyber Smoke as a playable character since they already had him in the freaking game with a full move set and everything???
Great video Alex and I already hit the like button to support you channel and I glad you get a code for this game and because I don’t want to know who the game end I watch the rest of the video when I play it myself and I being loving you MK videos lately man
I was really enjoying the story until act 3. Especially, the final battle ugh!!! I rolled my eyes alot. The minute they said Liu Kang needed his time keeper powers again, so he could lead an army again, and fight over the hourglass....AGAIN!!! Smh. Who wrote this bs!?
Thank you!!!!
I loved the story from 9/10/11 and had high hopes for this one. I was not disappointed until the last part to the story… and it kept getting worse…
Also no one mentions how they builded up these characters even from the trailers and when the story comes they really worked these characters to be very charismatic, but it all ends really flat because almost after all these characters own chapters they completely disappear from the story, you see later other variations, but these are not the same characters that you got to know through the course of the game. Baraka disappears before the festival begins, Reptile and Ashrah after they get to Earthrealm, Li Mei after Shang Tsung's laboratory(Even though in that chapter she doesn't even speak) and etc... The villains are just punchbags in the story as always, if they don't have a redemption route or are wunlingly working for the forces of good like Quan Chi and Shang Tsung. Talking about punchbag there's one of the most failures of characters in this story and it is Tanya, They took everything from that character from apearence to role, personality and even fighting style to some extent, you expect for them to also work on her new persona and then the only thing that she does the entire game is getting her butt kicked and applying serum to Mileena, she's just Mileena's girlfriend/nurse now. The only thing that makes Tanya TANYA is the fact that she wears yellow. I hope the ending means that there will be a second story passing in realms like Chaos and Order and they give a chance to a lot of characters who didn't had a chance in the story mode, the problem is that good part of them are villains. Nitara's case is complicated because paying Megan Fox must not be cheap and even if they go through the effort, not judging her career as an actress, but at least in this game's voice acting she didn't do a good job. Maybe is the lack of experience in voice acting, maybe it's the direction they gave her, nevertheless must be a lost cause, but not that much important except for Nitara fans. Wich is interesting because her character suffers from a lot of the same points that i talked about Tanya, but i think i'm most disappointed with Tanya because i liked the character since the ps2 era and MK X did such a perfect job with her, it is really a mess. Even with all this, just like people are saying, i liked 3/4 of the story just the last part was the major mess. The visual design of the character variations are really good anyway, congratulations to those who worked to bring the concepts to life.
Part of the issue is the nature of the game. Because MK1's story is told in a fighting game, and one with very expensive production values, it limits the way the story can be told. Injustice 1 and 2 demonstarte this clearly as the games really skip through much of the content and context in order to accomodate the fights and gameplay. Wheras the comic was able to really take its time and explore and build up to stuff.
MK1 is in a rough place. It can't expand its story as doing so would require way more resources and also reasons for the player to fight.
Wasn’t Kitana supposed to live through the eons with Lui Kang at the end of 11? Where was she throughout the creation of everything? Wasn’t Lui Kangs hair white & he controlled both fire & thunder? Idk. Too many inconsistencies. The insane artifacts like raidens that give him electrical power. What? So why not make multiple amulets for everyone to use against the enemy?
The Best ending of MK 11 isn't canon because of Aftermath dlc.
@@paragon1172000 what about Lui Kangs white hair? Dyed it over the eons? How about other fighters getting magical amulets that let them control elements. Or tracking devices
@@tgonzalez1983 The out of universe answer is that it's a change in character design they do that a lot. The in universe answer is he probably changed it back to black once he gave up the time keeper role. That artifact is probably what he put Raiden's power in once he was done with it. Remember he also had Raiden's lightning power in 11. If he can give up the time keeper power he can probably also give up Raiden's.
@@paragon1172000 oooooh. Kung Lao just learned to teleport from madam bo & Shang Tsung only found out about 2 timelines & not the others I’m guessing. It all makes sense now. They just make up literally anything now
@@tgonzalez1983 I don't entirely disagree with what you are saying. There are elements I take issue with in the game as well. I was simply answering your points that clearly had answers.
The story actually felt decently paced for about 70% The final act was quite a mess, just felt like it was super rushed as it got to that point. The armageddon section, while a cool throw back, just felt to early to introduce in what is supposed to be a new fresh start for the franchise. It would be a better idea to build up to that for a future title.
My only other gripe is a lot of previous jobber characters got great glow ups and better changes. Then they gave sub-zero a bad change. I really didn't like is how sub-zero (Bi Han) was inherently turned evil in the most random way for this game. I would have just preferred him being this super angry serious grandmaster who is still good than almost power hungry for generic bad guy reasons. He was kinda just left out after the scorpion chapter as well, so his whole threat level was basically pointless.
Loved the game up until the 3rd act. Wasn’t looking forward to the crazy timeline nonsense. Went into this game hoping they put all that in the past. Reptile is by far my favorite character from the story mode. There was a bunch of weird choices they made in the story. Lui kang should have swept dark sindel and most of the foes in this story
My favorite part about the ending is if you pick Liu Kang, Shang Tsung still asks "if Liu Kang couldn't finish us, how possibly could You?"
Story is flawless to me,,, coz my question is was the multi-verse bad or yall dont like multi-verses
I was with the story until the part where they were trying to destroy the portals in the snow and I was like wtf is happening
Also I had no idea the story of aftermath existed so I was super confused when Shang Tsung revealed himself.
I get what you’re saying with being confused with other characters as titans. They made that cannon through the towers story’s in mk11. Cause in towers everyone has their own ending as becoming a titan. So the help you get during the story before chapter 15, it’s the ppl that won against kronica in their tower story’s amongst other alternate versions of the characters you see and fight against during ch.15
Oh yeahhh I forgot in MK11 each character has control of the hourglass
I liked it honestly and I been around since deception yea multiverse is annoying but the potential is good this story is a multiverse story so let’s see how it goes
Felt the end couldve been stretched over two games to really pay tribute to Armageddon for example.
Its escalating so quickly out of nowhere that you dont really know whats Happening and why but its good the Charakters you play how they split up and stuff its pretty good but it has its flaws but i would say best story mode so far
I hated how they made it seem like Havik is a big deal in the end credit scene when he’s literally in this game as a useless grunt. He should have been the one pulling the strings and the main villain for this game and then set up the next game for Onaga.
Mk9 has yet to be topped
My biggest problem that got some reason no one brings up is that shao khan (the big bad and one of the most iconic villains ever) keeps getting his ass beat by side characters and Shang tsung what happened to Shang tsung and almost everyone being terrified of shao khan ? Didn’t shao khan rip literally RIP through raiden (A LITERAL GOD) why have the writers forgot how powerful this guy is?
The last chapter was underwhelming. IMO, Armageddon was the absolute worst Mortal Kombat mainline game and it was not any kind of nostalgia I wanted to revisit. Sure, it had a ton of characters but that was definitely quantity over quality. I wish 1 was a complete refresh with no dots connected.