Mortal Kombat 1

callaway92

I'm delighted they're doing a full reboot of Mortal Kombat. The game just went too far with resurrections etc., that the storylines didn't make any sense anymore. Kinda reminded me of how convulted MGS got.

With the game getting a full reset I'm tempted to give it a go.

Anyone played yet? Also hoping fighting mechanics aren't too crazy. The simpler the better to be honest. Each fighter having 3 fighting styles in MK X bugged me

Penn

I've only played a bit of the story so far, but resurrections and stuff have always been part of the MK story. You kinda can't have such brutality in the story without incurring deaths, while also wanting characters to come back and still be in the next game. But yeah the premise of the story in this at least wipes the slate clean a bit and allows a bit of a fresher start. I will say though from the off, it's not a full reboot either, it still carries on from the ending of MK11 with Liu Kang being a god instead of Raiden. It just means time has developed differently and now various things have changed completely.

The fighting is simpler in some ways, but also complicated in others. A lot of characters have special abilities or stances which mean they work in different ways to others (eg. Johnny Cage has a star meter which you can build up by taunting and get access to better attacks, Shao can lay his battleaxe in the ground and get different attacks without it in his hands), but also the biggest change to the fighting system is the Kameo system, where you pick a second special character (many not from the main roster but another seperate roster) and you can have them pop in for certain attacks. But each of them also work in different ways too (some might be designed to help you get distance, some might bring the enemy closer, some might be more ranged damage).

bugs

I noticed this was on the shelves in Smyths yesterday, but only the premium edition. So the standard edition isn't out till next week.....is this a thing now?

johnny_ultimate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121117543#Comment_121117543

Unfortunately yes. The ‘premium early access’ model is slowly becoming the norm for a lot of AAA releases.

Potential-Monke

Ah, makes it easier to decide what I'll pick up today so (Crew Motorfest). I've only interest in the story/campaign so would be stupid to pay premium for something I'll be trading in soon after.

bugs

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121117633#Comment_121117633

I had heard the early release stuff before but naively assumed it was digital related only. Given that games have for the longest time been released on a Friday, this is quite the money grab. I'll wait for the inevitable, ultimate/complete/definitive edition.

Retr0gamer

Man the celebrity actors they probably paid bank for sound absolutely atrocious. Really phones on compared to the actual voice actors.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121119418#Comment_121119418

Yeah. Disappointed Megan Fox ended up being a dud. Really goes to show the difference between actors and voice actors. VAs put so much urgency and stuff in their voice where they really sound like they're in the situation. Megan Fox just sounds like she's reading the lines while also on her phone scrolling Instagram.

At least not as bad as the last game, where they had Ronda Rousey voice Sonya Blade (in a prominent story role too). Just listening to her trying to voice act had me tapping out.

Kiith

The Switch version is a disaster it seems 🤣

https://www.ign.com/articles/mortal-kombat-1-for-switch-review

Potential-Monke

I don't know what people expect. It's not even on last gen consoles, but they had to get it to work on an even less powerful console... they probably just shouldn't have made a Switch version.

RobbingBandit

32gb minimum space required for Switch version definitely won't be touching it myself based on that alone

Penn

Finally got some proper time with this today. Spent the most of it playing the Invasions mode; the mode that replaces and essentially combines the Krypt and Towers from the previous game, and is planned to have "seasons" where the content is refreshed around a new theme every two months or so.

Gotta say... it f*cking sucks. It's the most bland, boring, repetitive nonsense. On each of the maps, you pretty much fight the same 5 fighters over and over and over again.

Penn

Unfortunately, this game feels like a bit of a dud. The story mode was fine, probably not as good as the last three though (though the last chapter was actually a lot of fun). Invasions mode is awful, it just doesn't work at all and is just a repetitive, boring grindfest.

The Kameo system is okay. There are good ideas in it and they did do a lot to try to make all the different Kameo characters unique, so the choice of which Kameo you choose can really enhance your playstyle or combos, or counterbalance weaknesses your main fighter might have. That said, it can be so circumstantial, particularly when trying to develop combos or learning which Kameo works best that it really doesn't seem worth the effort. And it seems like they were added at the expense of the likes of environmental interactives, or Krushing Blows, both of which have been removed. Krushing Blows are something I particularly miss from the last game, I thought they were a great addition to MK11 and really worked well.

But Invasions mode is definitely the thing that has just sapped all my interest in playing the game, because it's the main single-player thing to do outside of the story mode, and it's just not worth spending any time with. You can't even use it to learn or develop new combos because pretty much all fights have modifiers such as projectiles that will f*ck up your combo, or the CPU fighter having super armour which turns on and off meaning they're invincible while performing some moves.

Potential-Monke

Picked this up 2 days ago, I've only played the story so far, up to Chapter 10. Took a while to get going, story is alright so far. Some hammy acting, even for Johnny who annoyingly keeps making movie references and it falls flat every single time. I'm also assuming Ms Fox played Nitara, because she's the worst so far. Some of the voices don't seem to suit or match the characters actions. But it's stunning looking imo. Looks photorealistic for split second shots at times. I'd love to see these lads make a full CGI movie, which is basically what this is, but without the requirement for it to work as a game. Also, why do they keep cutting short when a swear word is about to be said, but has gratutious violence as it's core? *Jackie Chan meme*

I'll give the other non-multiplayer mode a go once I finish the story, maybe play the arcade mode once or twice. But the tutorial section confirms I'll never play this online. I got bored of reading the headings with all the counters, and specials, and counter specials, and partner specials and throws, and breaks... maybe I'm getting old, but that's just too much for me. I'm also assuming there's a lot of cust... kustomisation going on with all these things I'm getting rewarded during the story. And no doubt you can buy koins with real money? Won't be for me.

But, it plays just as good as the last few. It's the best looking one so far and is smooth as butter to play. Will kontinue for now, but can see me trading it fairly soon after finishing the story.

Potential-Monke

And I'm done. Story ended poorly, but wasn't exactly great to begin with. I feel like they've run out of ideas. Tried out a tower with Sub-Zero, got the ending, meh. No interest in online. Invasion doesn't seem like something I'll enjoy. Tried a bit of it but got bored. I'm basically done with it now. Seems like it would be great for those who are really into technical fighting games, but there's far too much effort required in there now, not just to learn one character, but all of them and all their combos, moves, etc so you can react. Young me might have enjoyed it, middle aged me sees it as too much effort!

Graphically, again, really good. The jump from 30fps to 60 fps when going from cutscene to fighting is obvious to me, but never noticed any drops during combat at 60 so really smooth. Overall, I feel like it's a stepping stone of a release, like the next one will be bigger. For a reboot, I think it fell flat. It needs a complete reboot now, start again from scratch and ignore everything before it. Make it darker maybe. Also lol at the entire story not having a single player controlled finisher in it. Also not a lot of characters at the moment, but you just know they're holding out for DLC to pad it out. But Boon allegedly said it will have a 2 year support plan...

Edit: Had a look at the customisation and store. So yeah, MT's galore! You earn gold Koins by playing the game, used to unlock cosmetics, art, videos and other stuff, randomly from a Shrine. Then you also earn silver Seasonal Koins just by playing, which are used to purchase Seasonal cosmetics from the store. I have 780 SK from just finishing the story, playing 4 Invasion levels and 1 novice tower. Cost of things far outweighs what I earned, and there's a lot which will change each season. Strong push to just play, play, play to get these because you can't get SK any other way. Then you have the purchasable only Dragon Orbs for even more rotating non-seasonal cosmetics, most of which are weapon skins or colour palettes. A Tanya pack, which has 1 weapon skin and 6 colour palettes, costs 800 DO and a bundle of 5900 DO costs €40.

I see now why the game feels bare. NRL catching up with Rockstar and 2K for MTs!

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121206826#Comment_121206826

Regarding the story ending:

Spoiler Warning

I don't think it's necessarily that they ran out of ideas, but rather that the end of the story serves a non-story purpose; Invasions Mode. The story ending is the justification/explanation for the premise of Invasions mode, which is all these multiverse variants of other characters trying to take over your world, and an excuse to have them in different outfits/gear which is ultimately the sales hook for the cosmetics.

For what it's worth, I didn't mind the story ending. When they revealed Shang Tsung had his own universe where everyone was evil, I really thought that's what the MK tournament going forward would be; rather than Outworld trying to take over Earthrealm like previous games, from now on it'd be Shang Tsung's universe trying to take over Liu Kang's. And I thought that would be a great idea. Then when they went full Multiverse with countless universes, I thought that was stupid. But I have to admit, the final chapter, fighting some weird combinations of characters like Frostbite (Nitara/Sub-Zero), Screen Demon (Cage/Ashrah) and female Scorpion with her "Get over here!", I just thought it was a bit of fun, and there are apparently over 50 different fighters you can go up against in that final chapter. The devs were having fun with it, it took itself less serious than previous games, I loved all the references to the PS2 era of MK games, and it was just a bit of a laugh.