Recently our members were asked about what their worst fears are for the upcoming Mortal Kombat 8. They are as follows...

Omni-[N|E|O]-Scorpion

Worst Mortal Kombat 8 Fears?

I'd say some of the characters, which really do have potential to expand in the franchise, will be removed. If not temporarily, permanently. If Mortal Kombat would learn something from other fighting games, in terms of roster, for example Tekken, then I wouldn't have to fear about that.

The storyline is another greater fear, as we don't know which characters will be returning, and of course, not knowing that, makes us wonder what Ed Boon & Co. will have for us in MK8.

It would be a shame, that the fighting style engine from MKDA-MKD-MKA would still run on, even though It has been somehow confirmed a new fighting engine will take the lead from MK8.

If Kreate-A-Fatality will be kept, at least It has to be evolved, become more customized, more individualistic, more innovative, which is the contrary of what MKA offers - a generic Fatality system. I believe the old school Fatalities will return.

In general, these are some of the worst fears. There are others, but let's leave some space for the others, and their fears.

airborneranger

I don't know if it's my worst fear,but if the new characters are nothing but the old characters mixed up with identical or similar moves and the same concept.

reversemarin

Everything what Omni said + :

=> I hope they improve the Arcade mode drastically because the one in MKA is terrible (you can just fight 1 on 1, the ladder randomization level is so low that you can actually memorize all the versions which sucks if you got no one to play with)
=> More modes in general are needed, for example, team battle mode
=> Characters should be more balanced in terms of moves, at least standard characters
=> All the "Kreate a ..." features are totally unnecessary, IMO
=> I don't ever want to see endings made in MKA style

There's probably more, but that's all that I can think of right now...

ForestDemon

My worst MK8 fears are pretty much the following:

Overly shallow and broken gameplay

This is a problem that's been going on in MK probably since MK4. I'm glad that they are making MK8's fighting system from scratch and are trying to do something new and innovative. However, despite the knowledge they apparently have, the fighting systems still seem to be failures, simply because they lack all of the essentials that other 3D fighters have already had for several years now.

I'm talking about things like throw escapes, counter hit, frame advantage/disadvantage, etc. These are things that MK has never had before and should've had already by now. I know that Ed Boon doesn't want to make MK like other fighters, which is a good thing, but he shouldn't be afraid to put in what's really needed in the fighting mechanics.

I do hope they still incorporate real martial arts styles and weapons but do them in a much better and more accurate way. If they're going to put in a style like Tai Tzu Chang Chuan (Shao Kahn's style), then put it in, not some slow, rigid, brute force style nonsense. The same goes for many other styles. Accurate spelling would be nice too. So that means I don't want to see spellings like "Chou Jaio" and definitely not "Ninjitsu".

So my worst fears for the gameplay is for it to still be shallow, broken, and lagging behind.

Characters

I like that they are getting rid of some of the characters forever. I just hope that they don't get rid of too many, and I hope they don't get rid of ones that I'd like to see continue on, such as Sareena, Ermac, Li Mei, Havik, Nitara, etc.

I also hope they don't bring back characters like Liu Kang, Kano, Baraka, Moloch, etc. as they are a waste and should be done with. So overall, I hope the decisions as to which characters stay and which characters go is wise.

Then we have the issue of new characters. There are still many who seem to be attached to a lot of the old school characters and not like that many of the newe ones. I actually think that a lot of the newer characters, such as Kira, Li Mei, Nitara, and Drahmin, are much better than the likes of Sheeva, Baraka, Kai, and some others. They just have more substance to them as well as better potential.

So when creating new characters, I hope they can have some original and unique ideas for cool characters that can fit into MK and have a nice appeal to them. The same thing goes for their personalities, looks, etc.

My worst fears for the characters are bad choices of who gets to stay and who gets to live, badly done new characters, things like that.

Bad Storyline

I'm glad that Ed Boon wants to take MK in a darker direction, and I hope that will also apply to the style of the storyline. I want to see some good storytelling and nothing boring, 1-dimensional, and hokey.

One thing they need to do is be careful of bad retcons, such as Shaolin Monks' entire crock of shit of a story. Story consistency is important, especially since a lot of people are confused by a lot of things in the MK story and don't get much or any real explanation.

Plotholes are another issue. The stuff with Shinnok's Amulet really comes to mind. They are things that need good explanations for, otherwise, the stories might fall apart or seem incomplete.

Another element to the story that really needs to be implemented is the impact and significance of death, namely because resurrecting so many characters takes away seriousness and credibility of the story UNLESS doing something like that leads to great consequences.

Death in MK should have consequences. I don't want to see bullshit like Scorpion dying, going to the Netherrealm to brush off, and then quickly come back to the living realms. That is very bad storytelling, period. Not my opinion this or that. It's simply bad storytelling.

Then we have the issue of story directions and character development. They should make the most out of each character, even if the character has a more minor role. Some characters, such as Jade, should be stepped up, imo. In her case, she needs to step out of Kitana's shadow and maybe even the Edenian sub-plot so that she can really develop into her own character and not be seen as "Kitana's sidekick".

Also, I don't want to see redundant and 1-dimensional stories such as Baraka's and post-retcon Scorpion's. Again, that's just bad storytelling, period. Not all of the characters need character development, but some of them do, and GOOD story development is important.

So my worst fears for the story are bad retcons, plotholes, bad story directions, lack of character development, etc.

Quantity over Quality

This is a huge problem with MK, and a good number of fans are partially to blame for this actually. The focus of the MK games should be quality over quanity, not the other way around. So this means I want to see quality gameplay, story, characters, ambience, etc. etc.

I don't want to see an MK game with a bunch of cheesy gimmicks and fluff to cover up for broken gameplay, lousy storytelling, and boring characters.

Overall, Boon and co. need to step up BIG time in order to really bring out MK's potential, otherwise, the series will be dead.

Reppy-H2

My MK8 fear, is that they use the same Fatality system that they used in MKA. I thought it was horrible, and that they need to bring back the "Character Specific" Fatalities.

frkonalsh2003

I don't look at Mortal Kombat: Armageddon as a huge game, I think of it as a transitional game (kind of like what MKT was to MK4).

I don't want to see the Kreate-A-Fatality feature because I like character-specific fatalities better. If MK8 does have another Kreate-A-Fighter mode, then it should be a lot more advanced in terms of customization and above all else it shouldn't come to the point where you can make an all-powerful character to use online. So one of my fears is that it will have broken gameplay online.

If a mini-game is involved it should fun to play like Puzzle Kombat and not so much as a great idea on paper such as Motor Kombat.

I don't want MK8 to not take advantage of the next-gen hardware and I don't want to see a fighting engine that is simple, it should be fun but complex like from Tekken 3. So one of my fears is that the engine is not as advanced or fails to reach it's potential because Ed Boon doesn't want to take ideas from other fighting games and put into Mortal Kombat 8, as FD stated earlier.

Lord Paragon

Ill list mine in reverse ordder.

Bad/Broken Fighting System - Things like no throw escapes, lack of wake up options, too many similar fighting styles, counter hits and glitches. These need to be sorted out before the game can be taken seriously.

Ignored Past - Things like Shinnoks Amulet, returning characters location and intinerary before and during MK:A (before for those whos bios are not out yet). Most importantly for me, how those who died in MK:A died. I dont want an "These survived, these died, moving on" situation. I want to know who battles who, who killed who ect ect.

Characters - Some deserve to return, some could do with more fleshing out, some just need to make an exit from the game. When it coems to new characters, im worried that they will just replace older ones and just have rehashed stories, with nothing creative and new.

Bad Storyline - Worst fear of all... they do a Tekken 6 and just do whatever for the hell of it without thinking of character personailities and continuity.

kaligoddess

I think my greatest fear for MK8 is that the emphasis will be too much on Kreate-A-Fighter and Kreate-A-Fatality and not on actual characters, their original moves, and interesting, original fatalities. New characters are fine, but I don't want to see old characters rehashed and called "new".

I also don't want to see a new storyline that doesn't at least connect with the old one. We don't need the continuing adventures of Sub-Zero and Scorpion, but we need to at least see that the creators are keeping with the overall continuity and canon.

Thibideau

My fear is that it will be too much like Armageddon. I disliked most aspects of that game. KAF, KAK, the lack of story behind all but 2 of the characters.

I'm also worried they're going to get too carried away with the 'killing off' of characters and a lot of fans are going to be put off. There's a lot of characters and most if not all at least have some fan base no matter how small or large they might be. No matter who they kill off there's going to be some pissed off people out there and I hope they realise that.

Holy Grail

I pretty much agree with everything Kali said.

If MK8 turns from a "reboot" into a "clean slate" than what is the point of building up the wonderful universe that currently exists? Make it happen before MK1 or 40 years after Armageddon, but don't cut off all ties to the rich history that has passed.

Characters, well, Midway really haven't made too many good characters since Kenshi in my opinion so I'm not not even gonna go there. However even the worst characters can become fan favourites with the right storyline. (Which leads me to wonder why Chameleon has the fan-base he does...)

End of the day, Mortal Kombat is a fighting game. Not a create-your-own-whatever game, not a Mario-Kart or Super Puzzle Fighter rip off, but a fighter. I'd much rather forgo all the bells and whistles for a Mortal Kombat game that is really great at it's core mechanic - fighting.

Angel Gonzales

Well since Holy and Kali pretty much nailed my main concerns for the next game, there is another that I've heard a little about recently and hope that it doesn't come to fruition. The absence of Fatalities! I would like for them to either really flesh out the "Kreate-a-Fatality" idea and if they just can't... then scrap it early and work on the "Cinematic Fatalities" that the fanbase has grown accustomed to.

FlawlessVictory

Fears for October, eh? I like it. My mind instantly heads towards the old cliches: people fear change, or people fear the unknown.

Sort of sums it all up, huh? Of course I'm not one for such brief answers. What I fear is not in regards to the game its self, but the public reaction. That people seem to have so many fears in the first place concerns me. With the exception of Mortal Kombat Annihilation, I've yet to see something with the MK name fully dissapoint me. And, believe it or not, I have been rejoicing the bold move to break away from a repetitive plotline that just seems to be fraying at its edges.

Barring the odd chance they back down on the premise put forth at this point, MK 8 will be released to at least one very happy person (i.e. me). What I fear is that I will be in the minority of those that appreciate the game and the tide of public opinion will just carry Midway back into its old machinations as the franchise moves further into the future.

The only worse outcome in my opinion? There's nothing preventing the developers from perusing the messageboards on the web as they have done in the past, and seeing that a significant opposition is already growing. As sparse as any updates for the game have been, who's to say that retiring the majority of the roster is not being reconsidered?

Thankfully for this industry, concrete details prior to the final release won't be few and far between. Thus, I hope that our first sneak peaks of MK8 will live up to the information that's been provided thus far.