Initial impressions of the gameplay so far?

I've only spent a couple hours playing through the story and practice, but coming from MKX and even 9, it feels like some characters feel a bit stripped down from previous iterations. I'm sure that was the intention with the customization, but the tournament legal variations, at least for the characters I've messed around with like Sub-Zero, feel like they have half a set of useful moves. Does anyone else get the same impression, or do I just need to play around with more of the characters?

I like the feel of it a lot. I agree with Brad, on the bombcast he talked about X being not a snappy as 9 (which this feels just like) so I'm right at home with 11. I like the slower pace of things, def not missing the run button from X. As for useful moves or finding a good use of character, I would suggest checking out folks on youtube. People like HoneyBee, shujinkydink, ahmz1404, they all do really really good breakdowns on individual characters. Shujinkydink finally described to me frame data in a way where I actually understand it and now I'm looking at start up moves in ways I never had before. Really really good stuff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UjoTRArdlc

I don't have it yet, but i wish they would have just added the variations instead of letting you pick and choose ( i think x did this?) So then you can play with the character and movesets you like instead of having to use the default in ranked or tournaments etc. Same issue i had with injustice, i made some cool characters but couldn't use them really if i wanted to play foreal.

I'm loving it so far. I've never played fighting games online, and the MK series is really the only one I've had any real time with(love the lore and the characters).

The change in how the systems work allows even beginners like me to really explore the various mechanics. I rarely ever amplified moves(partly because I think it used to be on RT/R2 which is awkard imo) or breakers(because I couldn't really do them reliably). I'm starting to get into the habit of just slowing down, so I can get getup attacks down and I've reliably been enhancing moves.

It just feels like you are doing more, because of the relative streamlining of the mechanics.

I’m digging it a lot. The story has been fun so far and the few 1v1 fights I’ve played have been cool.

In the early going, it feels like everything is faster, more crisp, and more jovial than in MKX. I think there’s maybe more humor in the gore this time? I feel like they maybe lost some of that in MKX, Cassie’s Facebook fatality aside...

From what I’ve played of MK11, it seems to be winking at you again. It’s mixing horror and comedy well. I think I like MK most when it’s super brutal and also wryly winking at you.

I played through the story, did a few towers, did some of the Krypt, and messed around with the other stuff to varying degrees, and I'm loving the hell out of it. Gameplay-wise, this is the best of the current trilogy I think. The game still needs a lot of work and tweaking done to the overall package (especially on PC), but where it matters most, MK11 is fucking fantastic.

One thing that's a little odd is that it feels weirdly stripped down in terms of finishers. I really hope they add stage brutalities/fatalities and such. It's fine, just feels weird after the full MKXL package (or even MKX at launch) offered so many ways to end a match. And given how stingy this game is with the Heart currency, grinding out Hearts would be more enjoyable if you could mix it up a bit more.

(and it's still strange that the Kustomization mode has a slot for fatalities. In any other game I'd say "Oh hey, that's confirmation that they'll be adding more!", but NRS likes their red herrings, so...)

I think it is by far NetherRealms best game and has one of the best story modes and best tutorial systems in any fighting game.

Man I must be missing something. It's so slow compared to MKX which I love. I guess that just means I need to get used to it. The praise in this thread makes me really wanna play this game "right," so I will try to do that. It seems like it will be super rewarding and methodical once I get used to the slowness

This game has helped me understand fighting games. I absolutely love it.

In the past I've never really been into them, I figured a lot of the content was basically not available to me as I lack the skill. But I've learned a lot with this game and it's clicked finally.

The last Mortal Kombat I played before this was 4. So a lot of the plot points go over my head a little but it doesn't really matter. All that matters is.... FIGHT!

Still loving the gameplay, but HOLY SHIT UPDATES ON XBOX ARE TERRIBLE!

I happened to be on yesterday for an update and tonight for another. Both times I was in towers, both times I was fucked out of a reward. Tonight was an endless tower, over 30 fights deep.

Fucking annoying, especially since I was grinding for fatalities to unlock more towers.

Gameplay, still great. Losing 30 rewards, kinda sucks.