This game is really bad so far.

[An R Key5993]

Oh NRS. One step forward two steps back.

I'm not sure what the internet consensus on this game is but I'm sure I'll get some defenders. Heck my knee jerk reaction is to like this game because I'm a huge MK fanboy and over the course of my life have put countless hours into the series. There is a major problem with NRS games though and I really think 1(2) is really showing how bad their games can be.

Before I get into this rant I do want to extend an olive branch, the game can very much be saved. I think it plays closer to a traditional MK then say 11, a lot of the issues are very fixable, but its just the fact that we've gotten it in this state, and that features tend to get gutted for features no one asked for/cares about.

So. Again, I truly hope my opinion changes and REALLY want to give more chances, but this is possibly the 2nd worst MK mainline game to hit the "shelves."

Here we go.

1. Featureless. Seriously I was actually pretty shocked by HOW featureless but my initial stroll through the menus made me go.... this is it? Unfortunately this is KIND OF the state of fighting games in general, this gatekeeping mentality that adding more features will somehow be bad? Its crazy that in main line fighting games NRS games innovated the scene with a decent story and SF 6 innovated the scene with a decent "adventure" esque mode. Features games have had, even games that aren't centered around them for decades. This unfortunately I doubt will be fixed but hey don't worry some day one FOMO for you. Oh I'm sorry day -5 FOMO.

2. Oh the stutters. This one you can read about anywhere else but no its not a "machine" issue/spec issue. It totally is a game issue. Its at best tolerable and at worst fight breaking. This should not be acceptable from a studio owned by WB but hey they're not known for their PC ports so maybe console players are amazed by the seemless experience.

3. Balance. Already the balance is laughable. Kameos (oh Kameos we'll get to you) have multiplied how obvious these issues are. I would argue this is the worst balanced NRS game at release but wouldn't die on that hill, I would die on the hill that MK 9 ended up being pretty balanced so NRS CAN balance a game. Saving Kameos specifically for the next point just the hitboxes are VERY misleading. Maybe this is just an online lag thing (I doubt, I will at least say the netcode is good) but lows have hit me out of the air, moves that look like they can't go far hit from afar, moves that look like they have reach have a very short reach. I understand this will eventually be "understood" to know whats hitting where but hitboxes and hurtboxes should be intuitive, I've seen smaller fighting games wither and die because of bad hit/hurtboxes. On top of this their attempt to make air kombat a thing again, at least at this point has just made juggling 3 hit BnB combos able to hit 3(ish) times.

4. Kameos. No one asked for this very poorly implemented feature. The good thing Kameos did was bring back lesser known characters but the implementation is just really bad and unfortunately I saw it coming. I had my concerns about Kameos from the announcement, basically suggesting they would be poorly balanced and a meta with them would be clearly defined probably from day 1. The issue with almost ANY assist fighter is these aren't fully fleshed characters with tech and playstyles, it literally just comes to who has the safest assists, and who can extend my combo the longest, unfortunately the balance around these two things is very much lacking. This might have been able to be fixed if maybe there were negatives around certain things but so far the clear winner of Kameos seems to be Sareena but hey at least she gets her day in the sun I guess.

5. Flow. The flow of this game is so. bad. you. really. notice. every. throw. every. fatal. blow. every. fat.al.i.ty. This may as well be an extension of stutter but it really is so noticeable that I think it deserves its own point.

Feel free to jester me up or post that hip new meme of the Duke Nukem fellow telling his unsuspecting victim that he has not the time to READ but DOES in fact have the time to look up a link, copy it, paste it, and revel in the glory of knowing he has defeated his opponent in wits, heck I hope to be laughing at this one day too. I want to one day call this my favorite MK game, heck at LEAST in the top 5, but that day is not today.

I really want better from my AAA game studios, this is the last big series I had any hope for despite 11 being pretty mid, but hey at least the microtransaction store works pretty well.

[Zavi ☯]

People like to trash the 3D Era games but I feel like even those games had a lot more thought put into them back in the day. Yeah the combat wasn't the best, but you had awesome game modes like Konquest, Chess Kombat, Puzzle Kombat, Motor Kombat, Kreate-A-Fighter that made the game actually worth buying if you like single-player stuff. The newer games lack that type of depth.

Not going to say that it's a bad game so far because I played through the Story Mode and actually enjoyed it for a bit. I'm going to try the other game modes tomorrow but man I wish modern fighting games put more emphasis into single-player content, rather than just daily challenges and infinite CPU towers.

[My Name is Mud]

Originally posted by Zavi ☯:

People like to trash the 3D Era games but I feel like even those games had a lot more thought put into them back in the day. Yeah the combat wasn't the best, but you had awesome game modes like Konquest, Chess Kombat, Puzzle Kombat, Motor Kombat, Kreate-A-Fighter that made the game actually worth buying if you like single-player stuff. The newer games lack that type of depth.

Not going to say that it's a bad game so far because I played through the Story Mode and actually enjoyed it for a bit. I'm going to try the other game modes tomorrow but man I wish modern fighting games put more emphasis into single-player content, rather than just daily challenges and infinite CPU towers.

11 actually had a chance to do something amazing with the AI fight mode but they really half assed it and it died on the table, sadly.

[An R Key5993]

Those game modes were actually pretty fun too. Chess Kombat was an (albeit out of place) fun change of pace to play multiple characters at once. Deception Konquest was still one of my all time favorite gaming experiences, ever. Seriously if someone reading this hasn't played through that please do, take your time and explore it.

Maybe its all just nostalgia but I really don't think it is. Heck again I'd still say this game on release is more disappointing then 9, 10, and 11.

[An R Key5993]

Originally posted by My Name Is Mud:

11 actually had a chance to do something amazing with the AI fight mode but they really half assed it and it died on the table, sadly.

I actually have a soft spot for "gear based" fighting games, or at least modes. I loved the gear system in Injustice 2. There were problems with the game sure but it did give me incentive to grind characters out. I'm not gonna die on this hill either, I'll openly admit no gear is better for fighting games but I wish a subgenre would solidify itself around the concept.

AI mode was cool because it gave a gear system use but wasn't something used in "real" fights to give you an advantage. But I'd agree it was pretty meh.

[My Name is Mud]

Originally posted by An R Key5993:

Originally posted by My Name Is Mud:

11 actually had a chance to do something amazing with the AI fight mode but they really half assed it and it died on the table, sadly.

I actually have a soft spot for "gear based" fighting games, or at least modes. I loved the gear system in Injustice 2. There were problems with the game sure but it did give me incentive to grind characters out. I'm not gonna die on this hill either, I'll openly admit no gear is better for fighting games but I wish a subgenre would solidify itself around the concept.

AI mode was cool because it gave a gear system use but wasn't something used in "real" fights to give you an advantage. But I'd agree it was pretty meh.

The biggest issue with it was that at some point they put out a major patch that changed how the gems (I forget what they were called) worked, but if people had set an AI team and then never played again their characters didn't get patched. So you could end up in fights in the AI mode against teams that could literally deal 2-3 times the damage they're supposed to, which killed the fun.

[An R Key5993]

Oh NRS never change. Or do. Please change.

[人定胜天]

MK9 balanced?

[Proboscis Monkey]

games not even out yet for a full day and you are complaining about balance. Never change FGC

[An R Key5993]

Originally posted by Oracular Spectacular:

MK9 balanced?

Had a feeling someone would argue about that. Much more than any other NRS game to date. Outside of Hat tier (which got nerfed to a respectable tier overall but not as crazy dominant as it once was) the game was very fair if you knew matchups. Can't think of a single EX rushdown move that didn't get armor, wake ups were varied and unique, losing to an X-Ray felt earned (as opposed to the awful Fatal Blow system that I guess is just here to stay).

Honestly not really sure how the game is poorly balanced, again if you knew the matchups. Even bottom tier characters like Baraka, Sheeva, and Stryker could hold their own with people who knew what they were doing. Balance doesn't mean everyone is S-tier just means everyone is playable at a high level and matchups WERE winnable.

I am aware there's new tech now with the X-Ray system I believe that I'm not familiar with discovered not long ago so maybe that's thrown balance out the window.

[An R Key5993]

Originally posted by one piece live action:

games not even out yet for a full day and you are complaining about balance. Never change FGC

Its a very fair complaint. Again if you notice my argument on the topic wasn't match ups or even certain characters are bad, although I DO feel like certain characters are bad and we could debate that if you'd like. I specifically mentioned unnatural hit/hurtboxes which shouldn't be a thing. Again I've seen games literally die because of how their hit/hurtboxes were handled. This is a very fair day 1 criticism of balance.

[Proboscis Monkey]

Originally posted by An R Key5993:

Originally posted by one piece live action:

games not even out yet for a full day and you are complaining about balance. Never change FGC

Its a very fair complaint. Again if you notice my argument on the topic wasn't match ups or even certain characters are bad, although I DO feel like certain characters are bad and we could debate that if you'd like. I specifically mentioned unnatural hit/hurtboxes which shouldn't be a thing. Again I've seen games literally die because of how their hit/hurtboxes were handled. This is a very fair day 1 criticism of balance.

mk1 will not die just because you got hit by a kameo atk that you thought should have not connected. give me a break. You cannot say characters are bad on day 1. Its simple as that. The game will develop and metas will arrive, not on day 1 tho.

If you want to talk broken, just wait till a dlc fighter is out. I bet either homelander or takeda will be completely busted

[An R Key5993]

Originally posted by one piece live action:

mk1 will not die just because you got hit by a kameo atk that you thought should have not connected. give me a break. You cannot say characters are bad on day 1. Its simple as that. The game will develop and metas will arrive, not on day 1 tho.

If you want to talk broken, just wait till a dlc fighter is out. I bet either homelander or takeda will be completely busted

We can definitely find common ground on the DLC fighters. NRS have a... hard time balancing those for some reason....

Funny enough I was going to write in my response that MK will not die to bad hurt/hitboxes but I thought that was implied due to it being the most popular fighting series of all time. In my original argument for this I said I've seen smaller fighting games literally die because hit/hurtboxes weren't addressed (among other things of course) but yes MK will be fine.

Also again you criticized me for putting balance as a negative due to it being day 1 but again my balance complaints were almost exclusively based around hit/hurtboxes which again is a fair day 1 complaint. You may not AGREE with the sentiment but it is entirely fair for day 1 criticism.

I can't 100% disagree with your statement you can't call characters bad on day 1 but I can definitely say there are some characters that feel bad to play right now. They could develop tech that makes them good sure. So yes no one can claim day 1 tier lists and anyone who does is being very misleading but you can definitely say characters feel bad to play.

[smokeymcpot]

First of all, you're a ♥♥♥♥♥. Stop this "I know you'll downvote me but anyway" and just say what you want.

Originally posted by An R Key5993:

Balance

Day one balance talk - opinion disregarded.

[An R Key5993]

Originally posted by smokeymcpot:

First of all, you're a ♥♥♥♥♥. Stop this "I know you'll downvote me but anyway" and just say what you want.

Originally posted by An R Key5993:

Balance

Day one balance talk - opinion disregarded.

Dang man you got me.

[Proboscis Monkey]

Originally posted by An R Key5993:

Originally posted by one piece live action:

mk1 will not die just because you got hit by a kameo atk that you thought should have not connected. give me a break. You cannot say characters are bad on day 1. Its simple as that. The game will develop and metas will arrive, not on day 1 tho.

If you want to talk broken, just wait till a dlc fighter is out. I bet either homelander or takeda will be completely busted

We can definitely find common ground on the DLC fighters. NRS have a... hard time balancing those for some reason....

Funny enough I was going to write in my response that MK will not die to bad hurt/hitboxes but I thought that was implied due to it being the most popular fighting series of all time. In my original argument for this I said I've seen smaller fighting games literally die because hit/hurtboxes weren't addressed (among other things of course) but yes MK will be fine.

Also again you criticized me for putting balance as a negative due to it being day 1 but again my balance complaints were almost exclusively based around hit/hurtboxes which again is a fair day 1 complaint. You may not AGREE with the sentiment but it is entirely fair for day 1 criticism.

I can't 100% disagree with your statement you can't call characters bad on day 1 but I can definitely say there are some characters that feel bad to play right now. They could develop tech that makes them good sure. So yes no one can claim day 1 tier lists and anyone who does is being very misleading but you can definitely say characters feel bad to play.

I have not noticed the hitbox issues, but i have only been playing in story. no labbing or online yet, so cant discredit your takes about hitboxes. you have to be fair tho, most fighting games have some moves where the hitbox is pretty weird. IE: see sol badguy 6P in strive or luke lv3 super in sf6. (ones i can remember off the top of my head). It might be something that you just get used to, but not gonna say it doesn't exist.

You take on kamoes is fair, they seem tacked on, but you may be oversimplifying by just picking the safe assists. I'm sure that with time, there will be stand out assists for each characters with their optimal combos. if not, than you are right.

and haha yes, dlc will be funny to see in this game. homelander winning evo would be funny