Just wondering what people thought of todays event. I liked that it doesn't seem as dark brown and grey as MKX and the characters don't really blend into the background, this one pops more. Customization, something I'm not super into, looked really neat. The quick x-ray/brutal attacks in the middle of a match versus the longer supers of MK9 and X is a cool touch. Not sure if the fatal blow mechanic will make end of matches more predictable because it's not a separate bar but an automatic thing you can do when low on health, but they do look cool.

Boy it sure does fucking suck that a well known transphobe like Rousey can get a major casting and be a highly marketable figure, with no consequences whatsoever. Anyway I hope someone at GB mentions it for even 5 seconds but what does that matter when its a fun video game (and it might cut off access to Ed Boon if they make a big enough deal out of it).

@xdeser2: If they haven't brought it up in all the talks about her in WWE I doubt they will here. I haven't seen the transphoic comments (not doubting that they exist) but even entertaining the idea that school shootings are staged is real fucked. Ultimately though for me, I'm not going to allow one person playing one character get in the way of enjoying this game. But I like MK games a lot so everyone is going to have their own decisions to make in those regards.

Never been much of a MK guy and haven't seen the stream but I like how the MK11 logo reminds you of MK2. Good job marketing, very good job!

Well thats your prerogative but as a trans person it makes it extremely fucking hard to consider even touching it. Also a good write up is here https://www.salon.com/2015/10/17/since_when_is_ronda_rousey_a_role_model/

It looks great, I just wish I enjoyed playing these games more. I'll probably end up playing through the story mode at some point but I just cant stand how stiff and projectile spammy these games are. I used to be irritated by people doing it but Netherealm have only doubled down on this playstyle through the subsequent sequels so it seems like it's by design and I just need 'git gud' or whatever, but I just dont find ducking, dodging and teleporting constantly with very narrow windows fun when my competitors just throw shit at me with impunity which requires a lot less skill.

Anyway, i'm done venting. I think i've come to terms with the fact that I just prefer 3d fighters but I know MK will never go back to that.

@xdeser2: Yeah I understand why you would feel that way, it's a very shitty situation.

I tuned in about ten seconds before the Rousey annoucement, typed "huh" and left.

Still looking forward to the game.

It looks like a modern MK game that's for sure. I didn't really like X and this looks more of the same, so I will probably pass.

My thoughts on the event; I really hope this isn't a future trend. We've seen a handful of games having these kinda events now, and I'm not a big fan of having to sit through 20 minutes of "thick" marketing to see a trailer. Tbh, it reminds me of church. I get why they want to do it, but ... yuch.

As for the game, looks fine. I dunno if they showed actual gameplay or not at some point (as I obviously didn't stay to watch for too long), but what I saw was pretty much what you'd expect from MK11. Hopefully the story is a bit more interesting and the characters a bit more charismatic this time around.

I thought the event was probably awesome for the super fans in attendance. I only watched the 30 minutes of game show-and-tell and it seems like another fantastic one from that team. Cheering at every little thing made me chuckle, but again... I don't have the passion to attend such a thing. (though I did drive an hour to try MK9 during their truck tour!) They had their fun, while I got a condensed informative preview.

Kind of reminded me of the Doom Eternal reveal. A half hour of various things for an excited audience. Or when Bethesda introduces a Fallout game. Seems cool to me, wouldn't mind seeing these sorts of events pop up more often. Especially during down times like these January doldrums.

The Ronda Rousey really sucks. Even without getting into all the ways that she's not very good as a person, she's also not very good as an actress, and is certainly going to do a much worse job than her predecessor. Hopefully there's no other stunt casting going on.

Also, I'm really surprised Sonya is even in it. I thought the point of the Kombat Kids was to phase out some of the old characters but let aspects of their moveset live on without pissing off fans by changing too much. It was a problem in MKX too, to be honest, since it caused a bit of redundancy on the character roster. I really wish they had shown at least one MKX character.

I really don't like the design of the new characters. They look like some 2006 era mmo characters, or someone that would be on the box for a graphics card. They just don't fit the aesthetic, while all the new characters from X not only fit the aesthetic but were entirely unique within it. Gameplay wise, the dude looked pretty cool (and little bit like Tremor), so hopefully you can totally change his aesthetic with all those loadout things.

But, I'm still excited for it. I thought the story of the last one sucked, but this one is supposedly being written by the guy that wrote the MKX comic, which was actually pretty good, so that gives me hope.

If Kotal, D'vorah and Kung Jin aren't back I'll be super disappointed. I liked Ferra/Torr too, but I understand they're a bit more controversial.

I wasn't a huge fan of MKX but I'm down for anything MK.

VERY excited for it. MK characters with squishy Injustice 2 faces look weird, but the other stuff they took from IJ2 looks great in MK-land (the slow-mo endings, character customization, lighting, etc.). I'm not entirely sold on the constant mid-fight cinematic cuts or the fatal blow thing, but since I only play these games for the SP content, I'm not overly worried. I wonder how competitive players feel about that stuff.

I do love that X-rays are now quick little things. They were getting way too long in X.

I also wonder: If MKX was "Who's Next?", and MK11 is "You're Next", will MK12 be "I'm Next" and just be Ed Boon fighting Scorpion?

"We're next." is getting used for the inevitable tag game.

Looks awesome. Loved MKX so hyped for 11

Looks cool, I'm super impressed by the graphics and I like the emphasis on weapons.

I'm not too brushed up on the Ronda Rousey thing, but what I heard is that she didn't want to fight a trans woman who'd gone through puberty before transitioning. I've heard some people like Joe Rogan argue that this is unfair due to changes in bone density, hand size, etc but I have not heard any counterpoints and have no expertise myself.

In any case, I think the game looks great but I can understand someone not wanting to engage with a game if they feel insulted by its cast.

@darkmoney52: I can tell you that it isn't fair especially if you sex changed after puberty, if you do it before you where 11 it could totally be a fair fight but after puberty, the other competitor would have to many advantages. Not defending Ronda Rousey, she's up there with flat earthers for me.

From a fighting sports perspective that fight would be unfair.

I still think the animations are pretty awful, sad.. the graphics otherwise are great, though some of the character designs are a bit iffy in my opinion.

I saw SOME of it. I’m a casual MK guy. I liked what I saw.

As a casual MK guy, the customization seems like a lot to process in a fight. Aside from that, it looks cool.

My only other issue is the event format itself. Streamers, fans, emcees...just give me Boon and gameplay footage.

I'm annoyed that it looks like it plays so similarly to MKX, that the backgrounds are drab and brown, that Sonya keeps getting uglier, that everyone has Injustice superhero costumes, that Baraka has lost most of his martial arts influences, that there are even more and longer cutscenes in the middle of fights to take control away from the player, the animations have improved overall but are very stiff, MK has always had projectiles but the annoying zoning from both Injustice games is still very much alive here.
It's not looking great.

Just wondering here, is it me or are fatalities boring now? Honestly even in X they were kinda boring and just felt like they ran out of ideas. I remember being amazed by them in MK9, but after that, not so much. I guess there is only so much bodily harm you can inflict on the human body. Maybe we've just seen it all?

@casepb: It's less that and it just felt like (in X) they were often less creative? Like, they got their really involved dismemberment tech and rely on that a little too much. There are still some cool ones (one of the sub-zero ones and one of scorpion ones looked pretty cool), but a lot of them are just "I punched him real good".

I'm WAY into a lot of the mechanical changes they've made, especially the separate meters for offense, defense, and basically having Tekken rage arts instead of the traditional X-Rays. And I dunno, I've never had a problem with the length of the supers, they don't seem much different than Tekken for instance.

Skarlet looks rad. Celebrity voices are bad and Ronda is especially bad also.

I'm surprised just how much Injustice made its way back into Mortal Kombat. The customization, chiefly, and the ways in which custom items provide added boosts or different abilities.

On that note, Injustice had an option for competitive play where players could only use the default versions of the characters. That way, people couldn't unbalance the experience with their supercharged favorites.

@inevpatoria: Man, having 200 loot boxes that I just don’t want to bother opening would be a bummer. Hopefully they clean-up any sort of loot/inventory management. That made parts of Injustice a chore.

@nutter: A billion percent, agreed.

@nutter: Man I had almost forgotten how annoying that was. And how freemium all the grinding systems in Injustice felt.

Hopefully this also has a ranked mode where everyone's on even footing.

@darkmoney52: just watched a video from a YouTube guy who plays a bunch of neatherrealms games, who went to the event, said customization options aren’t altered by gear stats, anything that does is offline. He made it sound like the tediousness wouldn’t be there for grinding gear. I really hope that’s the case, that this is an overwatch model for only cosmetics (still not perfect). As long as the grid isn’t too bad, which it could be, I’m semi hopeful it won’t be as bad as injustice 2.

Here’s the video for full context for any that are interested

https://youtu.be/2mY5qx_riBI

It looks like another new MK game, so I'll probably enjoy watching some GB content and science featuring it.

It looks like exactly what Mortal Kombat games are - which are completely uninteresting to me. Of all the fighting systems out there something about the Netherrealm Studios ones just don't do anything for me. MK, Injustice, it's just the same bad skin with a fresher coat of paint.

@xdeser2: I don't like Rousey at all she's always seemed like an asshole, but from what I saw in that article she didn't show any hate or fear towards trans people. Most people, even more so globally, would probably agree that doing procedures and taking hormones to switch genders isn't the same thing as being born that way - being a woman and being a transwoman aren't the same things. A transman fighting women could possibliy have an advantage over them. If someone thinks differently that's fine, but it's the people who are trying to discriminate and be hateful are the ones who are transphobic IMO.

Looks like the animations took a slight step back from injustice but it still looks really good. I like they took the customization stuff to another level too. Didn't see all of it but it definitely looks like it's going in the right direction.

Spent a chunk of this snow day playing MK X, and I forgot how much fun it is. The story mode and game modes are all well and good, but the core gameplay kicks ass.

So I'm far more excited after today.

It looked good, but the previous games from Netherrealm have been so uneven, performance wise, on PC, that I am not going to jump the gun on this one.

@liquiddragon said:

Never been much of a MK guy and haven't seen the stream but I like how the MK11 logo reminds you of MK2. Good job marketing, very good job!

That is intentional. With the story basically going back in time (again..for the 3rd time) and basically changing the events post MK1 (again) I would bet almost ALL of the MK2 kharacters will be in the game.

MK2 is still regarded as the best of the series by most.

I loved MK9 and I don't remember having any ill will towards MKX...but I also don't recall finishing the story mode which is all I really come to MK for. I also vaguely remember feeling overwhelmed by the Krypt or whatever it was called and all the unlockables as well as finding the X-Ray stuff a fun gimmick that quickly overstayed its welcome. I always find myself excited for a new MK (other than the brief 3D period on PS2, anyway) but something about this one just isn't grabbing me yet. I'd say I need more nostalgia plays in the casting but I guess it's easy to forget just how many characters they had in MK9.

I guess I'm going to redownload MKX today and give it a spin to see how I feel about the series or fighting games in general these days. It was the last one I bought so it's been a while and maybe a quick dip back into the genre will be what I need to rediscover my MK love.

I will say I found the event kind of insufferable, but I suppose they probably got what they wanted out of that. The crowd noise soundtrack for all of the footage was way too much for me, and they stretched a ten minute reveal into a thirty minute event with so much board room talk it drove me nuts (in a way that always draws me into these conferences because it's such a weird alternate universe to me). I do think they showed enough to let people know what they're getting into, although I could tell they were holding back on just how detailed the monetization aspect of the customization was going to be. I can see that being a very fun - and very dark - rabbit hole to go down.

Ronda Rousey as sonya seems like a bad idea

I’m a pretty big MK fanboy (is that the correct word to use these days?) I personally liked the event and can honestly see the industry moving towards these smaller, more intimate events where they don’t have to share the stage and I’m actually fine with that. The entire thing was less than an hour, so that’s was also good. It was well paced and had enough new videos to make it feel like it was worth your time.

As far the game itself and what was shown, the heavy influence of Injustice will turn more than a few people off, I don’t mind it, and the customization/load outs wasn’t that big of an issue online for the most part of you were a serious, competitive fighter (as they had lobbies where they disabled buffs). I haven’t played it yet obviously but it seems MK11 is going more for closer Kombat instead of the range/zoning spam its more akin to (I’m sure there will still be some). Skarlet being shown was a HUGE surprise, as this will be her first game proper. (She was DLC in MK9) & Baraka is always a fan favorite. Scorpion actually looks more varied this time around and seems he has some of Takeda moves, Sub Zero looks like Shredder from the first TMNT movie (he resembled him some in Deception), Geras is interesting with his time mechanic. Sonya looks gross. With the list of Kharacters already konfirmed and the ones that are in but not konfirmed, the list of potential new Kharacters is slimming. While I love the old Kharacters, I do enjoy the potential of new ones. The Kombat Kids from MKX weren’t well received and outside of Cassie, the other 3 likely won’t make the base roster. I’d bank on at least 8 DLC (9 with Shao Kahn) , the base roster is almost kompleted and we basically know over half.

Konfirmed

Scorpion

Raiden

Sub-Zero

Skarlet

Baraka

Sonya Rousey (very gross)

Geras

Kronika (not confirmed playable)

Shao Kahn (DLC, but will be in the story too)

Not Konfirmed, but seen in gameplay

Cassie

Liu Kang

Kitana

Kung Lao

Johnny Cage

Not Konfirmed, but hinted

Kabal

Noob Saibot

Rain

Kano

Shang Tsung

That’ over half the roster. I’d like a least a few post-Trilogy Kharacters to show up other than Kenshi, Quan Chi, & Shinnok

@xdeser2: lol shes not a transphobe. Her only comments were how unfair it was for a person born as a man to fight women. Fallon Fox was fucking tossing these women around like children. If you want to be a woman now more power to you. But just because you are a woman now doesnt mean you should be allowed to get into a cage and fight people born as women. That is just not fair or right.

What is gained by having Ronda Rousey do voice acting because, from everything I have heard thus far, she is fucking terrible. Just god awful. Is there really going to be an increase in sales from die-hard Rousey fans? Is she lending the franchise some kind of credibility?

Also, the response I've seen for Skarlet having short hair are just the worst and reminds me how much of the FGC straight out sucks.

MK11 looks solid. Very pumped about it shame about the Rousey stuff though. Id rather not have her transphobic sandy hook denying ass anywhere near this project and... I don't understand why NRS felt they needed this?

MK has always been for a fighting series extremely mainstream.

Just in case ya'll don't know; Ronda Rousey is a Sandy Hook Truther. She thinks a mass shooting where 20-some young children died was a hoax put on by the deep state so they could make a good case for gun control. The ignorance of people like Ronda has directly resulted in the families of those kids being terrorized and chased out of their homes because people thought they were actors working for Obama/Hillary/the boogeyman. Granted, Ronda has been silent about the matter ever since her initial statements back in 2013, but it should be easy for someone to come forward and say "School shootings are bad and a very real threat, Sandy Hook definitely happened". Her ignorance is dangerous and I want nothing to do with her.