MK1 "might" be the game we all really wanted, if it manages to check all the boxes

[Eddy Wang]

As someone who wasn't as hype on release, take this post as someone coming from an honest opinion and not blindly hop on the bandwagon, i had my concerns and i still do, but so far, i think NRS did enough to convice me to pre-order the game which i already did and finally excited to play next, this might not be your case so, hopefully this post/list can give you a hint on how the game feels so far from all the feedback that has been gathered, what we've learned since release, what has changed, and of course the expectations which are high.

So far this is all i noticed.

1. The studio is very open to communication and listening more, putting our concerns as their concerns, and even addressing them whenever they have a chance to talk about
2. They have announced the entire DLC lineup even before the game launches (This is good because now everyone can choose if they like the bundle or not before purchasing and don't feel scammed)
3. Community members working at NRS like Big D, Dragon and More, a possible "Balancing team" just like Namco and Capcom have assembled one, so Devs can make a more educated game with feedback of members that have played the game outside of the scope of just one or 2 persons, this is huge MK1 might be aiming to cather the competitive audience as well, not just the casuals
4. No Krushing Blows to be seen, moves that do 30% damage off one single hit, that is gone, the only reminiscent being Uppercuts combo cancels at the cost of 2 bars
5. Meterless Launchers for mostly every character and a variety of ways to do combos
6. So far no one seems to have Coast to coast traveling strings or normals, which is a design that came along with Injustice with F23 (supermans) and carried over since then (MKX, MK11 Kotal etc), the characters feel more like MK9 when using ranged attacks
7. No more Variations, and Characters feel full fleshed out, full of great ideas and designs gameplaywise, it feels like you can even have non-kameo mode on the play and the game would still feel incredible
8. Return of Meter for main characters with traditional buil up, passive active meters are now Kameo only, those being auto regenerative
9. Flawless block finally does what it was always meant to do, Negate chip and that's it
10. Kameos seem to be defined by archetypes, each one having a different impact when paired with each character, curious to see how this pans out.
11. Breakers cost 3 bars, use all you meter to escape or get fked, and Kameo has to be ready to enter the stage, in a certain way, both sides get that they want
12. After majority movement backlash, MK9 dash block added
13. Assists meter might deplete differently depending on how strong is the move they use
14. Casey Edwards (DMC 5 composer) Joins, Dan Forden, Rich Carle, and Nathan Grigg(I need to confirm this last one) who composed some of the great thematics of MK11
15. Fatal Blows don't have immediate armor on startup and freeze the screen
16. Characters do have a nod to some of their former versions in past games, but still staying true to what they've represented before.

I gave you 16 reasons, some of you might resonate with them a lot, some not, I know some like MK games far more aggressive, while others do prefer a more slow placing of the match, if the game manages to unite every faction into one, this game has already won.

The Good
NRS might have a blue print for the next 5 years of MK if this runs well, and might even update the chars for MK2 or so without changing much of it's core.


The bad
My Only concern so far being thar we haven't seen a roadmap of development update, when patches and DLCs will be handed out?
Does Ranked mode still resets every month? Can we still counter pick in ranked?
Do we have a rank for each character/Team?

 

[Liquid Swordsman]

The bad
My Only concern so far being thar we haven't seen a roadmap of development update, when patches and DLCs will be handed out?
Does Ranked mode still resets every month? Can we still counter pick in ranked?
Do we have a rank for each character/Team?

Will Ed Boon and NRS ghost the community again?

 

[zerosebaz]

17. No Sonya.

 

[Agilaz]

No KB's isn't necessarily a good thing. Conditional mechanics can be fun, and KB's were a good way to implement them in MK which doesn't traditionally have things like counter hit properties.

The idea was great, but the execution could have been better, and it would have been great if they took that opportunity with MK1.

 

[xenogorgeous]

Amazing put you did here, Eddy .... outstanding macro analysis indeed

I happen to agree with all your points here, and yeah, I believe this game, will be better than MK9, MKX and specially, MK11 ..... the combo creative possibilities seems to be almost endless, and I see potential in all characters, and with the amount of kameos, everyone can find a combination of character + kameo that fits and attent all personal preference , regarding gameplay taste

Of course, there is always a worry preocupation regarding the unseen broken stuff that , a game like this, with a lot of mechanics that seems to favor a lot of corner combos strategies and rushdown gameplay , can bring with it , but, I will give a trust vote that NRS probably will fix majority of it, and the game maybe will not suffer as MK9, where the support ended , letting broken and unbalanced stuff existing forever, so ....

Anyway, I believe majority of us here, and the MK community in general, are all excited and cannot wait for this game to be officialy released, so, let's not forget the beta test next week !

 

[zerosebaz]

No KB's isn't necessarily a good thing. Conditional mechanics can be fun, and KB's were a good way to implement them in MK which doesn't traditionally have things like counter hit properties.



The idea was great, but the execution could have been better, and it would have been great if they took that opportunity with MK1.

Yeah, it was 100% the execution. Soul Calibur 6 has an identical mechanic but it works great there. But NRS implemented it very very poorly.

 

[Eddy Wang]

No KB's isn't necessarily a good thing. Conditional mechanics can be fun, and KB's were a good way to implement them in MK which doesn't traditionally have things like counter hit properties.

The idea was great, but the execution could have been better, and it would have been great if they took that opportunity with MK1.

Yeah, it was 100% the execution. Soul Calibur 6 has an identical mechanic but it works great there. But NRS implemented it very very poorly.

I get you both feelings.
I did a survey last year about MK11, might be a thread worth checking out to compare how the current game is translating coming from that survey general opinions, i will leave the link here, in case anyone wants to revisit:

MK 11 Gameplay survey. | Test Your Might

 

[CrimsonShadow]

I think holding something up to be "the game we all really wanted" is too much pressure, honestly. Like every game, it will have strengths, it will have flaws, some people will love it, and for some people it won't be their cup of tea.

It's way better to just be reasonable about this, than to set expectations that no game can match, for disappointment and anger to follow. So I just hope that people finally keep an open mind, and encourage the people who do participate in the community/play it, even if it's not their thing.

 

[ImpostorOak]

I have had pretty major concerns with the Kameo system. From balancing to just personal taste, I've felt the Kameo system may ruin the game for me, but they've honestly made every other aspect of the game so great seeming, I'm sold.

I like the concept of KBs. I wish they returned, had a cost, and none of them were one touch 30% as you mentioned. I like that Uppercut pops up for 2 bars. I wish a few more universal moves gained unique properties on kounter or punish, or something, and I kinda enjoyed the cinematic and saw them as the natural evolution of the Xray attack.

As long as Kameos are reasonably balanced, intuitive, and most of all, fun, I think this will be my favorite MK of my 30 years playing.

 

[Shania Twain]

Sometimes, what you may not want ends up being... not bad. sorta like a movie or book or whatever. You can't always get what you want....but sometimes you get what you need! hehe

 

[Eddy Wang]

I think holding something up to be "the game we all really wanted" is too much pressure, honestly. Like every game, it will have strengths, it will have flaws, some people will love it, and for some people it won't be their cup of tea.

It's way better to just be reasonable about this, than to set expectations that no game can match, for disappointment and anger to follow. So I just hope that people finally keep an open mind, and encourage the people who do participate in the community/play it, even if it's not their thing.

Kameos are definitely one of the concerns, being how they are built, they present an unfathomable variant in the game, i really just hope this game bring us all together (though some may end up hating it as well) we'll see.

 

[xWildx]

I think the biggest strength of this game seems to be that it’s literally MK9, but taking everything they’ve learned since MK9 and incorporating and refining it into the gameplay.


It’s literally like they’ve addressed almost every single thing people have complained about in each MK and provided a fix for it here, while also allowing the game to be crazy in and of itself. It’s actually quite impressive, and given that I have notebook full of things to test (something I haven’t done since…. week 1, MKX), I’m very excited to see how it all plays out.

 

[Jynks]

No variations? This entire game is built around the new variation system they call kameos....

 

[xWildx]

No variations? This entire game is built around the new variation system they call kameos....

Ok, but each character is designed as fully fleshed out kits. Not broken up in different forms to appease a design philosophy.

 

[Jynks]

Still, functionally identical to variations. It is simply the latest implementation of it. The only difference between this and mk11 is that anyone can use any variation and the moves are linked, not individual

 

[Juggs]

Still, functionally identical to variations. It is simply the latest implementation of it. The only difference between this and mk11 is that anyone can use any variation and the moves are linked, not individual

This isn’t remotely true.

 

[Jynks]

It's a system that adds moves to your charicter. It IS the variation system for this edition of the game. You choose a charicter and then you choose additional moves for it. How can anyone argue this? Boon even said in the interview that the entire kameo idea came from them brain storming variations and the idea was floated "why should only Sonya get a drone, how cool would it be if anyone could use it"

Kameos are just a new take on variations, as mk11 was different to mkx

 

[thesacrifist]

It's a system that adds moves to your charicter. It IS the variation system for this edition of the game. You choose a charicter and then you choose additional moves for it. How can anyone argue this? Boon even said in the interview that the entire kameo idea came from them brain storming variations and the idea was floated "why should only Sonya get a drone, how cool would it be if anyone could use it"

Kameos are just a new take on variations, as mk11 was different to mkx

Your not sacrificing your characters identity or fantasy to add functionality here, as all characters are feature complete.

If MKX/11 had «complete» characters you could complement with variations it would functionally be more similar. This aint a 2d stick fighter though, and saying kameos add nothing but «press R1 to shoot fireball» is unfair, as they add a ton of feeling to the game

 

[Amplified$hotz]

I didn’t read but I agree with the title. The game doesn’t have to even be perfect or tick all of the boxes.

As long as it’s fun, unique, interesting and not too scrubby thats a win in my book. I think it might be played past the 2-3 year cycle if they play their cards right.

 

[kabelfritz]

I didn’t read but I agree with the title. The game doesn’t have to even be perfect or tick all of the boxes.

As long as it’s fun, unique, interesting and not too scrubby thats a win in my book. I think it might be played past the 2-3 year cycle if they play their cards right.

"playing their cards right" meaning supporting it with DLC and patches until the next MK like every other FG Studio does nowadays.

 

[Amplified$hotz]

"playing their cards right" meaning supporting it with DLC and patches until the next MK like every other FG Studio does nowadays.

True. But people played MK9 for years without much support.

In my opinion, people drop games for glaring issues more than they drop them for lack of content.

 

[kabelfritz]

True. But people played MK9 for years without much support.

In my opinion, people drop games for glaring issues more than they drop them for lack of content.

but dealing with glaring issues is also a benefit of long-term support.

 

[narshkajke]

I just need to know will this game have rollback netcode...

 

[Juxtapose]

I just need to know will this game have rollback netcode...

It does. This is in the official FAQ.

 

[Trini_Bwoi]

MK1 is shaping up to be a game that will take a while to unpack, the meta will evolve over time, new tech will constantly be discovered and lab monsters will feast for years. It's very exciting.