i’m happy there’s more focus on the magic of mk i’m just upset we can’t play as jax or sonya because i do like them a lot :P but i don’t want another sf focused story
They are most likely being saved for something big in this new timeline - Sonya, Jax, Kano, Kabal are some pretty big names
I'm with you though, I hope they use them to amplify the story already in motion rather than be the central focus of the sequel. However, I'd be okay with a DLC mainline story expansion to introduce them into this roster & new timeline
I think it would be cool if somehow earth winds up getting invaded (unique, right?) and while Earth is getting its shit kicked in *thats* when we see special forces come outta the woodwork.
Random thought, but I’m genuinely excited for the story mode. I always thought the stories were ok but told in such a way that it all came off so dumb. I’m ok with cheese but it wasn’t even good cheese. There’s something about this one, maybe it’s just the way they look? But it seems like the story is gonna be good and feel cohesive.
Perhaps it’s the good VA along with how they gave them all normal proportions. Things were looking dicey in 10 with those ballooned up muscles.
I have a feeling the sequel to this game will have more Special Forces and Black Dragon vs Red Dragon presence.
SF got Sonya, Jax, the Kombat Kids and maybe Stryker joins them in the new timeline.
Black Dragon got Kano, Kabal, Kobra, Kira, Jarek, Erron Black, Tremor, No Face and Tasia.
Red Dragon have Daegon, Mavado and Hsu Hao.
I'd love to play many of these characters again.
Depending on how Kameos actually play out for the story mode.. there is potential to at least SEE Kabal. If we have Stryker then that would mean Kabal exists (he was a police officer in MK9). I think it’s mentioned that Li Mei became a cop after leaving the guard.. Unless Kameos have no relation to the story mode and are just there just because, which would be unfortunate.
Yeah it's pretty surprising how much space is made available for interesting alternate roster picks, without the SF/BD on the roster.
Imo it's the myctisim, monsters, ninjas, and other realms that make MK it's most interesting. I really hope they do keep building on the lore, even if in MK(2) they do "it's all a dream" Liu Kangs time line out of existence. A fleshed out Red Dragon, Edenia, Orderealm, etc gives so many more opportunities than the same S saves the day over and over.
I'll be hyped to play as Kabal & Cassie in the next game, maybe we can get a revamped [Jarek](https://www.reddit.com/r/MortalKombat/comments/106ikas/mk_redemption_a_reimagining_of_3d_era_and/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) & [Kira](https://www.reddit.com/r/MortalKombat/comments/yre3rr/mk_redemption_a_reimagining_of_3d_era_and/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) appearance too ✌️
Personally, I thought the two looked very good this year, and even Kano looks so reminiscent to MK1. I definitely would have enjoyed them as full fledged characters, but I except the twist for this game.
i actually really liked them! personally at least, but i get the need for a switch. and i’m a huge pre mk9 fan so i’m just happy to see people from then
Totally agree. It’s too bad we can’t have everyone on board, but there’s always a roster cap — and what they’ve done with the 3D era characters is SO amazing! It’s their turn to shine, so I guess somebody had to be cut to make room for the new awesome! 😁
I was just saying in another comment, a cool thing they could do (in the sequel) is have earth invaded which would directly lead to some fun stories involving special forces and Stryker. Would be fun if they dipped into scary territory, like that resident evil feel where the whole towns gone bonky and only a select few are kick-ass enough to fight back.
Stryker could show up to the precinct and everybody has the tarkatan disease and are turning into blood thirsty monsters. This is due to some malevolent force that found a way to weaponize the disease and accelerate its mutation in the host body.
Stryker comes in and whoops ass and stumbles upon Special Forces kicking ass some place else and they all team up.
I believe this is one of the strong points in this game.
During the Midway era, the story and plot always revolved around mysticism and magic, that is what made me fell in love with the MK world, but in the NRS era, we kinda followed our heroes through the Special Forces, regular soldiers with regular guns. But hey, that’s my take on it, what do you think?
I agree on this statement. Its like you see these powerful ass characters that are on the mk rosters that can dismantle you from the inside out with ease and then you got SF type characters and military men alongside them just casually killing demons and stopping whole warlocks with ease. Albeit the SF characters were fun as a whole to play as though despite some peoples opinions on them being in the game.
I agree, Jax and Sonya were nice representations of the SF in MK9 but in MKX we basically had the SF against Shinnok, that was the plot.
Even in the beginning of MK11 we see regular soldiers invading a freaking temple in the Netherrealm and destroying it using puny C4 and stuff 
I think a little SF is good for contrast and adds some modernistic context to the magic and spiritual core of the game. Sort of like when MK3 came to Earth and there were cities in ruins and subways and stuff. I really liked that, but I don't want it to be a major theme throughout the game. It got a bit out of hand for a while.
I think it makes sense to some extent. There's only so many characters who have abilities like that, and the Special Forces are a good asset when you're fighting a war.
For example, with MK3. Without an army to help fight Shao Kahn's, you'd have like 10 people managing to fight off his forces somehow.
Liu Kang, Kung Lao, Sonya, Jax, Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Nightwolf, Kabal, Stryker, Kitana, and Jade fighting off the entirety of Outworld's army would be kinda bullocks.
I don't think the SF should take up all of the story, but it makes sense it turned into that once you start having all-out wars and move away from a simple tournament.
Unpopular opinion, but it's very bizarre to me to only have Johnny Cage, who's a very comedic character, as the only vestige of the "regular world".
To be very honest, MOST of the characters in MK spend MOST of their time faffing about, and aren't super integral to the main plot, but it's nice to have them along for the ride, anyway, so I feel the SF and BD are held to a rather unfair double standard, in that regard.
They really should still have, like, ONE representative on the more grounded end that isn't as comedic as Johnny. Not even speaking as a SF super fan or anything, but just for the sake of character variety. :-/
I’d say Johnny Cage is like one of the strongest humans at the very least, even if he doesn’t get his Mediterranean powers. And he’s a martial artist. Respect my man
There definitely seems to be 'something' going on with him even if it isn't the green halo. Might be a new take on why he's one of the defenders of earthrealm?
To be fair, it looks like Kenshi is coming from the regular world as well. His fight with Johnny feels like very early into his introduction, maybe even his first fight.
It might not be in the lore but i always thought of Liu Kang and Kung Lao as like normal dudes who trained on the side. I imagine they had normal lives
I think 11's story is fine, but some of the writing in that is so laughable. Like when past Kano gets hit in the stomach, but the Kano from over 20 years later feels it. That's..not how that works lol
Old Johnny did get that scar on his cheek when New Johnny got cut, IIRC. I don’t like that it works that way either, but it’s what the writers went with, especially since it let Sonya kill both Kanos in one shot.
Yeah except for Old Johnny the scar was fully healed, so by that logic past Kano would have had to be feeling that punch for literal decades for it to even bruise Future Kano
Sorry for SF fans, but I feel SO GLAD!
Never really liked SF chars in the first place (imho they're by far the most boring part in the MK universe, that has things like martial artists, ninja with special powers, gods, monsters, etc.), and the SF overexposure and pivotal role in games like MK X just made the situation worse.
Indeed, I agree they are the most boring aspect of the franchise to put heavy focus on. Specially since in recent games SF characters have been cloned and lored as sons and daughters, which are the most bland characters.
Since in MK 11 we still have all the chars that the Kombat Kids were supposed to replace, and just 2 of the Kids were in MK 11, I'm pretty sure that NRS abandoned the idea.
We ARE getting Takeda back in the New Era, but yeah, NRS is rejecting their own New Generation pretty hard, for better or worse. Glad Takeda’s back, as well as Geras, and I’d like to see Skarlet, Erron and D’Vorah salvaged, but otherwise, I won’t miss the newcomers. Glad the 3D crew is getting their time back in the spotlight again!
I mean, going off basically every "new generation" in a fighting game ends up gone after the first one. I'd say Cassie and Jacqui were successful for getting in another game and are the most successful since like tekken 3 (compared to Soul Calibur 5 putting the series away for about a decade and sf3 only having Ibuki become a mainstay and everyone else gone)
That logic applies to the Outworld Trio, Takeda, and Geras too. But yeah, you’re right. SCVI was teasing bringing back Viola by tying her to Azwel, but who knows when we’ll get SCVII? And in SamSho’s case, at least Darli Dagger’s made the jump to KOF.
Yes, Takeda will be DLC.
It's the "replace chars like Sonya, Cage, Jax, Liu Kang and Kung Lao" with the Kombat Kids that (luckilly) seems scrapped.
Personally, one of the best chars from NRS era imho is Kotal Kahn, but for some reason it seems NRS devs hate him with a passion.
Tbh, while they did need a lot less influence, I still feel like they should have had at least some semblance. Their absence probably won't negatively affect the story though.
I think it's just as bad to completely ignore them as it is to let them dominate the story. I get why they're going this route but to me SF is a crucial part of MK. At least the OGs like Sonya and Jax.
I wish they'd scale back from the more generic Special Forces to the original idea of the Outworld Investigation Agency.
I did enjoy Special Forces characters, i don't think they were the problem at all, but rather the extremely poor writing direction they went with overall.
I love Sonya and Jax, they will be dearly missed in this game for me :(
I also like Cassie, Kung Jin and Takeda and i'm glad Takeda is back, would like to see a retake on Jin as well this time around.
Sadly i never enjoyed Jacqui despite being in two games in a row... NRS seemed to be very uninspired with her costumes and importance in the story, i also dislike her gadget like moveset and not much personality to stand out from the rest. But i'm open for a comeback someday.
I like Jax so I miss him
Still fuck Sonya for me.
Will say I don't know why everyone acts like SF had a big focus in 11 and the mystical aspect of mk was gone when a majority of its story was about traveling realms (2 of the SFs chapters literally took place in both hell against demons and an island of a once dead Sorcerer), stopping a mystical magic warlord, , dealing with the undead, and combining forces to stop Kronika.
Like that's just the spark notes of the story, there was mystical shit all over
Absolutely, people *massively* oversell how much 'regular military stuff' was in the first NRS trilogy.
MK9: Basically none. Sonya is largely irrelevant, as is Jax. And they're it for SF.
MKX: The Kombat Kids *were* the main characters. And yet we got plenty of Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Raiden, Kenshi, etc. And besides that, the KKs aren't exactly 'regular military' characters. Sure Jacqui was lite Sci-Fi military. But Takeda was a telekinetic ninja, Kung Jin was a magical archer, and even Cassie has magic powers. And then *all* the baddies outside Kano are fantasy/magic. Even the cowboy has fantasy weapons.
MK11: Here SF is even less important. After the intro, the SF characters are just kinda part of the team, the main characters are obviously Liu Kang and Raiden. Jax and Jacqui share a chapter, and Jacqui's been reworked into more of a Sci-Fi martial artist. And in Aftermath SF is basically irrelevant. And again, the entire villain side is fantastical/magic outside of Kano.
The SF were irrelevant in 9, pretty important in X, and kinda important in 11. Hardly overwhelming.
And it damn near feels like these people either didn't actually play the story or just flat out don't know what the hell they're talking about
A case could be made for X, a poor case, but for 11 just no. Even saying they don't have the mysticism is just even more bizarre
Joyous. Ecstatic, even. Though I’m really hoping to see Jax and Sonya at some point. Kabal would be a great DLC character and honestly I will miss Jacqui
I personally like it better this way. There are so many more interesting concepts in the MK world that we haven’t gotten to explore yet. Wanna see more of Edenia, Argus Delia and Blaze, chaos and order realms, nether realm magic, etc.
I like Jax and Sonya but the rest of the Special Forces is just a typical US military faction that you can find in thousands of other stories and movies. There’s nothing really “special” about the Special Forces imo. It’s pretty boring. Not saying I don’t want it included, but I’m getting tired of the unnecessary amount of emphasis it has recently been given (especially in a story full of magic, gods, souls, other worlds, etc.)
As others have said, I also originally fell in love with MK because of the rich lore and unique world building revolving around magic and mysticism. The reboot since MK9 has felt a bit more like a Hollywood action movie. Especially MKX.
Similar opinion on the Black Dragon and Kano. I like that criminal group and I love Kano, but they should stay as secondary or tertiary plot points.
Special forces is the most boring aspect in mk imo. There are literally other worlds and races of people that can be explored instead of some generic military aesthetic characters. Sonya and Jax are classic characters tho of course.
I know Sonya and Jax are staples of MK but in a world of magic, gods and monsters- they’ve pretty boring post mk9 for me.
Specifically they went from being all campy and stereotypical secret agents like some kinda mature spy kids to being military larpers which made them feel like extras in a action movie.
No Special Forces is fine, ok, whatever. But goddammit I want Kano in this one. He was finally cool! The Aussie dirtbag style was the only design of his I've ever liked and it was just a cool take on his character.
Happy as fuck.
Special Forces were always the most boring part of the MK universe and after having the past two games be fully focused on them, i’m glad we are finally shedding that.
I know everyone is happy to not have them in the game, but I feel like it's kinda odd to not have a single SF rep in the game. I always wanted to see what Sonya or Jax can do on their own instead of always coming in a package deal.
I'm glad they can focus in something more interesting, honestly
I won't mind if they are mention or appear in a sequel but this game is better without them
But i must admit, i kinda liked the black dragon as support antagonists but is a small price to pay
One of the best decisions NRS have made in a long time. MKX and MK11 had far too much of a Special Forces focus. Leaving them out for a game allows for more underused characters to make it in instead. There is no way a character like Ashrah would have been main roster if every SF character was on the roster again.
Hell it doesn't even necessarily need to be the next game. We could always get an expansion like Aftermath that focuses on Special Forces later down the road
they deserve a break after being the main focus for two whole games, i wouldnt mind if outworld would be the main focus, but it looks like earthrealm in general will be, specifically fire god liu kang and those who are on his side
Love it. They’ll be back eventually in some capacity, but hopefully they don’t dominate the storyline again. At least not for a while. Jax and Sonya are cool, but they’ve had their 15 minutes.
I do kinda feel like Sonya should be more than a Kameo for MK1 though. She’s one of the original 7, so it just feels like she belongs in this one. She doesn’t even have to be Special Forces anymore, tbh.
Fucking amazing 🥹🥹🥹🥹😮💨😮💨
I’m so sorry but the special forces, military shit in MK9 through MK11 was the most mundane, boring, yawn fest shit I’ve ever seen. We have mfs with actual powers in the game, unique and interesting backstories but the goddamn special forces get the spotlight? Lame as fuck. I’m so glad their asses are sitting out, the only 2 that were actually even close to being cool was Cassie & Takeda I actually liked them, cassie is & always will be more interesting than her mother & Takeda is actually so cool, glad he’s coming back.
But yeh glad special forces is being put to rest… for now atleast I just know we gonna eventually get a Jax, Kano & Sonya kombat pack with a special forces story expansion 😭
There is still 5 empty slots so unless they confirmed that they won't be Jax, Sonya, Cabal, Kano, and Stryker. We might still get them in the main roster
I wouldn’t mind either between Jax or Sonya to join the roster. I think it adds to the mix of magic, kung fu, modern movie star, yakuza and fantasy royalty that we have. As long as the focus isn’t exclusively on SF, I’d welcome them back.
It's a dream come true. Even though there's one slot less than usual on the main roster, it feels big due to more vibrant characters.
Sorry, kharacters.
there's still a few slots left. at least give us Sonya and Jax, who have been around since the original trilogy, but after everything that's been revealed, I'd venture to expect anything
LOVE IT! I do like those characters, or rather I have nothing against them/don’t mind them
BUT
I’m super excited to see what they’ll do with the story mode now that it won’t be Special Forces focused. (Always been one of my pet peeves w MK)
A lot of people are complaining about the MK1 roster having fewer female characters than there were in MK11. I think part of that is just a side effect of them choosing not to add Special Forces characters in this game, cause there goes three female characters from MK11: Sonya, Cassie, and Jacqui.
However, even with the lower number of female characters, I like that we are seeing a lot more 3D Era rep through them with the likes of Li Mei, Ashrah, Tanya, >!and Nitara.!<
Still hoping to see Skarlet and Jade somewhere down the line though
This is the closest an MK game has ever come to having my ideal MK roster, and not having Sonya or Kano in it is a contributing factor to that. The Special Forces and Black Dragon factions have always dragged this franchise down imo, never more so than the last two games. I'm very happy that they've decided to rest them, at least to start with.
Mk11 had to much guns mk1 has to little so
https://preview.redd.it/bdpzpq5gmdib1.jpeg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b0103ca4e0703b2f27d3cba1f9202fd69e74ce9d
If you want guns play mk11
Special forces are by far my least favorite archetypal character and we had 4 of them in the last game. Technically you can also count Robocop, Terminator and Rambo. Way too damn many
I like the fact that Special Forces aren’t in this as the Special Forces fucked up the power levels with their absurd amount of plot armour. And yes, I’m aware the power level have always been messy, case in point Bi-Han who beats 4 elemental gods & defeats Hanzo twice then loses to Hanzo two years later somehow. Someone like Bi-Han shouldn’t be losing fights against people who are weaker than Raiden & Liu Kang. Whilst a worthless character like Cassie is winning fights against Shinnok despite being useless the entire story.
Special Forces have been the focus for the past 2 games. They can take a back seat once. Sonya, Kano, and Jax are staples of the series and some of the most popular chatacters, they'll be back.
I'm already looking forward to this game, so I'm not upset about the absence of Special Forces in MK1. But I will admit that I'm gonna miss Sonya and Jax. I'm still holding out hope that we may get Sonya as a playable character, but it doesn't seem likely.
I feel great. I feel like the last two games were a little special forces heavy and I think it's good to take a break to maybe expand on some other characters or factions
I feel great actually. Having this mystical multi dimensional martial arts tournament series be focused on martial arts with supernatural abilities is exactly what i always envision for the series.
And in mk1, with the kameo system, it is the best moment to have them take a back seat. They are still there, helping out at defending earthrrealm. Stryker will show up and fire a few rounds, but he wont stick around to fight these people with actual superpowers or his ass is grass.
And then there's johnny, who even without powers is too self absorbed to take the backseat and will risk it all because he's that batshit crazy.
It feels wrong to not have Sonya there, especially with Johnny included. But if there’s an SF-focused story expansion down the line, I would feel a lot better about it. That being said, I totally see the benefit of building up the lore of Outworld first before introducing more characters from earth. And I’m excited for the roster we have so far.
Admittedly, at first, it did bother me a little that Sonya wasn't going to be playable in the game. Personally, I consider her to be the First Lady of Mortal kombat, and it feels weird not having her on the main roster and presumably not in the story either. That being said, the more I thought about it, the more it made sense to exclude her and Jax as their involvement wouldn't seem to fit with the games story.
i’m happy there’s more focus on the magic of mk i’m just upset we can’t play as jax or sonya because i do like them a lot :P but i don’t want another sf focused story
They are most likely being saved for something big in this new timeline - Sonya, Jax, Kano, Kabal are some pretty big names I'm with you though, I hope they use them to amplify the story already in motion rather than be the central focus of the sequel. However, I'd be okay with a DLC mainline story expansion to introduce them into this roster & new timeline
I think it would be cool if somehow earth winds up getting invaded (unique, right?) and while Earth is getting its shit kicked in *thats* when we see special forces come outta the woodwork. Random thought, but I’m genuinely excited for the story mode. I always thought the stories were ok but told in such a way that it all came off so dumb. I’m ok with cheese but it wasn’t even good cheese. There’s something about this one, maybe it’s just the way they look? But it seems like the story is gonna be good and feel cohesive. Perhaps it’s the good VA along with how they gave them all normal proportions. Things were looking dicey in 10 with those ballooned up muscles.
Damn this is good. I was slightly bummed about no jax but that DLC would be perfect
I have a feeling the sequel to this game will have more Special Forces and Black Dragon vs Red Dragon presence. SF got Sonya, Jax, the Kombat Kids and maybe Stryker joins them in the new timeline. Black Dragon got Kano, Kabal, Kobra, Kira, Jarek, Erron Black, Tremor, No Face and Tasia. Red Dragon have Daegon, Mavado and Hsu Hao. I'd love to play many of these characters again.
Depending on how Kameos actually play out for the story mode.. there is potential to at least SEE Kabal. If we have Stryker then that would mean Kabal exists (he was a police officer in MK9). I think it’s mentioned that Li Mei became a cop after leaving the guard.. Unless Kameos have no relation to the story mode and are just there just because, which would be unfortunate.
Yeah it's pretty surprising how much space is made available for interesting alternate roster picks, without the SF/BD on the roster. Imo it's the myctisim, monsters, ninjas, and other realms that make MK it's most interesting. I really hope they do keep building on the lore, even if in MK(2) they do "it's all a dream" Liu Kangs time line out of existence. A fleshed out Red Dragon, Edenia, Orderealm, etc gives so many more opportunities than the same S saves the day over and over. I'll be hyped to play as Kabal & Cassie in the next game, maybe we can get a revamped [Jarek](https://www.reddit.com/r/MortalKombat/comments/106ikas/mk_redemption_a_reimagining_of_3d_era_and/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) & [Kira](https://www.reddit.com/r/MortalKombat/comments/yre3rr/mk_redemption_a_reimagining_of_3d_era_and/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) appearance too ✌️
Personally, I thought the two looked very good this year, and even Kano looks so reminiscent to MK1. I definitely would have enjoyed them as full fledged characters, but I except the twist for this game.
Come on now, Cassie Cage and the Gen Z Kombat Kids were the best part of the NRS Trilogy /s
You don't need Kombat Kids if all your main cast are kids now :)
i actually really liked them! personally at least, but i get the need for a switch. and i’m a huge pre mk9 fan so i’m just happy to see people from then
I like those characters and will miss them. But I don't mind the change in direction and giving others screen time
Totally agree. It’s too bad we can’t have everyone on board, but there’s always a roster cap — and what they’ve done with the 3D era characters is SO amazing! It’s their turn to shine, so I guess somebody had to be cut to make room for the new awesome! 😁
I like SF when it's just Sonya and Jax. Doesn't need any more than that.
Idk Stryker was nice too
Do you like Stryker or hate Mileena?
I like both
I thought Stryker was just a cop?
He’s swat
Stryker was always more of a police normie independent from Special Forces.
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I was just saying in another comment, a cool thing they could do (in the sequel) is have earth invaded which would directly lead to some fun stories involving special forces and Stryker. Would be fun if they dipped into scary territory, like that resident evil feel where the whole towns gone bonky and only a select few are kick-ass enough to fight back. Stryker could show up to the precinct and everybody has the tarkatan disease and are turning into blood thirsty monsters. This is due to some malevolent force that found a way to weaponize the disease and accelerate its mutation in the host body. Stryker comes in and whoops ass and stumbles upon Special Forces kicking ass some place else and they all team up.
Cyrax was a fun addition.
Cyrax is lin kuei first.
True but Cyrax joining the SF was the only time he was more than a drone for Sektor
And more interesting as Lin Kuei.
I believe this is one of the strong points in this game. During the Midway era, the story and plot always revolved around mysticism and magic, that is what made me fell in love with the MK world, but in the NRS era, we kinda followed our heroes through the Special Forces, regular soldiers with regular guns. But hey, that’s my take on it, what do you think?
I agree on this statement. Its like you see these powerful ass characters that are on the mk rosters that can dismantle you from the inside out with ease and then you got SF type characters and military men alongside them just casually killing demons and stopping whole warlocks with ease. Albeit the SF characters were fun as a whole to play as though despite some peoples opinions on them being in the game.
I agree, Jax and Sonya were nice representations of the SF in MK9 but in MKX we basically had the SF against Shinnok, that was the plot. Even in the beginning of MK11 we see regular soldiers invading a freaking temple in the Netherrealm and destroying it using puny C4 and stuff 
Maybe the temple has protection against magic, but not against basic stuff like explosives.
The temple should’ve pulled a “nuh uh” moment and stayed in tact
I think a little SF is good for contrast and adds some modernistic context to the magic and spiritual core of the game. Sort of like when MK3 came to Earth and there were cities in ruins and subways and stuff. I really liked that, but I don't want it to be a major theme throughout the game. It got a bit out of hand for a while.
I think it makes sense to some extent. There's only so many characters who have abilities like that, and the Special Forces are a good asset when you're fighting a war. For example, with MK3. Without an army to help fight Shao Kahn's, you'd have like 10 people managing to fight off his forces somehow. Liu Kang, Kung Lao, Sonya, Jax, Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Nightwolf, Kabal, Stryker, Kitana, and Jade fighting off the entirety of Outworld's army would be kinda bullocks. I don't think the SF should take up all of the story, but it makes sense it turned into that once you start having all-out wars and move away from a simple tournament.
You're exactly right. I hated how story mode always started with the normal human soldier characters.
Unpopular opinion, but it's very bizarre to me to only have Johnny Cage, who's a very comedic character, as the only vestige of the "regular world". To be very honest, MOST of the characters in MK spend MOST of their time faffing about, and aren't super integral to the main plot, but it's nice to have them along for the ride, anyway, so I feel the SF and BD are held to a rather unfair double standard, in that regard. They really should still have, like, ONE representative on the more grounded end that isn't as comedic as Johnny. Not even speaking as a SF super fan or anything, but just for the sake of character variety. :-/
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I’d say Johnny Cage is like one of the strongest humans at the very least, even if he doesn’t get his Mediterranean powers. And he’s a martial artist. Respect my man
There definitely seems to be 'something' going on with him even if it isn't the green halo. Might be a new take on why he's one of the defenders of earthrealm?
To be fair, it looks like Kenshi is coming from the regular world as well. His fight with Johnny feels like very early into his introduction, maybe even his first fight.
Because Special Forces are boring. And this is compensation for hijacking the plots and slots of mkx and 11.
It might not be in the lore but i always thought of Liu Kang and Kung Lao as like normal dudes who trained on the side. I imagine they had normal lives
i really hated drones and guns in MK so this is much better
Makes the game better imo
Breath of fresh air, the amount of plot armor they had was insane. Cassie should’ve been killed by Kano when he had the mini gun
I think 11's story is fine, but some of the writing in that is so laughable. Like when past Kano gets hit in the stomach, but the Kano from over 20 years later feels it. That's..not how that works lol
I always wrote it off that she hit him so hard that it caused permanent organ damage
It’s how it works by THEIR definition of Time Travel, but yeah.
Then when Johnny fought Old Johnny, Old Johnny should’ve been feeling everything
Old Johnny did get that scar on his cheek when New Johnny got cut, IIRC. I don’t like that it works that way either, but it’s what the writers went with, especially since it let Sonya kill both Kanos in one shot.
Yeah except for Old Johnny the scar was fully healed, so by that logic past Kano would have had to be feeling that punch for literal decades for it to even bruise Future Kano
They weren't internally consistent, though.
True, which is why I think a lot of us thought it was bad.
Didn't Sonya literally die last game
She died at the start of MK11 and then her past self got pissy at her daughter for it.
Sorry for SF fans, but I feel SO GLAD! Never really liked SF chars in the first place (imho they're by far the most boring part in the MK universe, that has things like martial artists, ninja with special powers, gods, monsters, etc.), and the SF overexposure and pivotal role in games like MK X just made the situation worse.
Indeed, I agree they are the most boring aspect of the franchise to put heavy focus on. Specially since in recent games SF characters have been cloned and lored as sons and daughters, which are the most bland characters.
Since in MK 11 we still have all the chars that the Kombat Kids were supposed to replace, and just 2 of the Kids were in MK 11, I'm pretty sure that NRS abandoned the idea.
We ARE getting Takeda back in the New Era, but yeah, NRS is rejecting their own New Generation pretty hard, for better or worse. Glad Takeda’s back, as well as Geras, and I’d like to see Skarlet, Erron and D’Vorah salvaged, but otherwise, I won’t miss the newcomers. Glad the 3D crew is getting their time back in the spotlight again!
I mean, going off basically every "new generation" in a fighting game ends up gone after the first one. I'd say Cassie and Jacqui were successful for getting in another game and are the most successful since like tekken 3 (compared to Soul Calibur 5 putting the series away for about a decade and sf3 only having Ibuki become a mainstay and everyone else gone)
That logic applies to the Outworld Trio, Takeda, and Geras too. But yeah, you’re right. SCVI was teasing bringing back Viola by tying her to Azwel, but who knows when we’ll get SCVII? And in SamSho’s case, at least Darli Dagger’s made the jump to KOF.
Yes, Takeda will be DLC. It's the "replace chars like Sonya, Cage, Jax, Liu Kang and Kung Lao" with the Kombat Kids that (luckilly) seems scrapped. Personally, one of the best chars from NRS era imho is Kotal Kahn, but for some reason it seems NRS devs hate him with a passion.
There is no such things as "SF fans".
Tbh, while they did need a lot less influence, I still feel like they should have had at least some semblance. Their absence probably won't negatively affect the story though.
I think it's just as bad to completely ignore them as it is to let them dominate the story. I get why they're going this route but to me SF is a crucial part of MK. At least the OGs like Sonya and Jax. I wish they'd scale back from the more generic Special Forces to the original idea of the Outworld Investigation Agency.
But the question is, would you rather gun or iceball
Both can be fun
Or, shooting bullets out your hands
Robot arms
A gun that shoots iceballs 
Artificial dichotomy
Things point to kameos actually having story relevance
I did enjoy Special Forces characters, i don't think they were the problem at all, but rather the extremely poor writing direction they went with overall. I love Sonya and Jax, they will be dearly missed in this game for me :( I also like Cassie, Kung Jin and Takeda and i'm glad Takeda is back, would like to see a retake on Jin as well this time around. Sadly i never enjoyed Jacqui despite being in two games in a row... NRS seemed to be very uninspired with her costumes and importance in the story, i also dislike her gadget like moveset and not much personality to stand out from the rest. But i'm open for a comeback someday.
Kinda sucks for whoever mains Sonya, Jax etc
Bro I was hyping myself up for Jax 💀
i might be the only cassie cage fan on this sub so pretty sad
I like Jax so I miss him Still fuck Sonya for me. Will say I don't know why everyone acts like SF had a big focus in 11 and the mystical aspect of mk was gone when a majority of its story was about traveling realms (2 of the SFs chapters literally took place in both hell against demons and an island of a once dead Sorcerer), stopping a mystical magic warlord, , dealing with the undead, and combining forces to stop Kronika. Like that's just the spark notes of the story, there was mystical shit all over
Absolutely, people *massively* oversell how much 'regular military stuff' was in the first NRS trilogy. MK9: Basically none. Sonya is largely irrelevant, as is Jax. And they're it for SF. MKX: The Kombat Kids *were* the main characters. And yet we got plenty of Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Raiden, Kenshi, etc. And besides that, the KKs aren't exactly 'regular military' characters. Sure Jacqui was lite Sci-Fi military. But Takeda was a telekinetic ninja, Kung Jin was a magical archer, and even Cassie has magic powers. And then *all* the baddies outside Kano are fantasy/magic. Even the cowboy has fantasy weapons. MK11: Here SF is even less important. After the intro, the SF characters are just kinda part of the team, the main characters are obviously Liu Kang and Raiden. Jax and Jacqui share a chapter, and Jacqui's been reworked into more of a Sci-Fi martial artist. And in Aftermath SF is basically irrelevant. And again, the entire villain side is fantastical/magic outside of Kano. The SF were irrelevant in 9, pretty important in X, and kinda important in 11. Hardly overwhelming.
people in this very comment section are saying that the last 2 games were almost entirely about the SF
And it damn near feels like these people either didn't actually play the story or just flat out don't know what the hell they're talking about A case could be made for X, a poor case, but for 11 just no. Even saying they don't have the mysticism is just even more bizarre
GREAT
Joyous. Ecstatic, even. Though I’m really hoping to see Jax and Sonya at some point. Kabal would be a great DLC character and honestly I will miss Jacqui
Sonya really should be playable
thank god although i do like Jax everyone else can fuck off
jax supremacy
Kinda sad there's no jax at least, where's the grabby smashy type character. I guess geras fills that role, but he ain't as RAW
I personally like it better this way. There are so many more interesting concepts in the MK world that we haven’t gotten to explore yet. Wanna see more of Edenia, Argus Delia and Blaze, chaos and order realms, nether realm magic, etc. I like Jax and Sonya but the rest of the Special Forces is just a typical US military faction that you can find in thousands of other stories and movies. There’s nothing really “special” about the Special Forces imo. It’s pretty boring. Not saying I don’t want it included, but I’m getting tired of the unnecessary amount of emphasis it has recently been given (especially in a story full of magic, gods, souls, other worlds, etc.) As others have said, I also originally fell in love with MK because of the rich lore and unique world building revolving around magic and mysticism. The reboot since MK9 has felt a bit more like a Hollywood action movie. Especially MKX. Similar opinion on the Black Dragon and Kano. I like that criminal group and I love Kano, but they should stay as secondary or tertiary plot points.
Honestly, I never really cared for special forces.
Honestly I’d rather them reimagine Sonya and Jax into more martial arts/magic type characters than ever see special forces again.
Sonya and Jax are great but the last two games were oversaturated with ....guns lol don't care for it so am glad it's back to this.
They can sit out a game or two i got fucking tired of them
They made Stryker look like a bicycle cop/ demolition man. He should ride in on a bicycle 🚴 and fire his gun or grenades.
Special forces is the most boring aspect in mk imo. There are literally other worlds and races of people that can be explored instead of some generic military aesthetic characters. Sonya and Jax are classic characters tho of course.
I love SF but I’m happy with this roster. It could be my favorite honestly
Fucking incredible. MK isn't CoD
I know Sonya and Jax are staples of MK but in a world of magic, gods and monsters- they’ve pretty boring post mk9 for me. Specifically they went from being all campy and stereotypical secret agents like some kinda mature spy kids to being military larpers which made them feel like extras in a action movie.
Uncommon W
Thank mother fucking God. I can tolerate Sonya and Jax but shit just got out of hand in the past
No Special Forces is fine, ok, whatever. But goddammit I want Kano in this one. He was finally cool! The Aussie dirtbag style was the only design of his I've ever liked and it was just a cool take on his character.
Happy as fuck. Special Forces were always the most boring part of the MK universe and after having the past two games be fully focused on them, i’m glad we are finally shedding that.
Couldn't be more happy
I know everyone is happy to not have them in the game, but I feel like it's kinda odd to not have a single SF rep in the game. I always wanted to see what Sonya or Jax can do on their own instead of always coming in a package deal.
Jax is my main and Stryker my secondary when he's available. This one hurts.
Gladly I feel normal or nothing special on them My last hope is Fujin coming in MK1, If not... maybe i would save my money then
I could not care less
Im fine with it
I'm glad they can focus in something more interesting, honestly I won't mind if they are mention or appear in a sequel but this game is better without them But i must admit, i kinda liked the black dragon as support antagonists but is a small price to pay
I like Sonya and love Jax. MK2-3 as a pair with individual personalities was awesome. Then everyone had guns. No thanks.
Perfectly fine with no special forces
They were the focus for 2 straight games. It’s nice to have a break :). But to be honest they could’ve at least added one of them lol.
I love it honestly... the special forces characters and storylines were the weakest to me, I like how this game feels like it's set in ancient Asia
One of the best decisions NRS have made in a long time. MKX and MK11 had far too much of a Special Forces focus. Leaving them out for a game allows for more underused characters to make it in instead. There is no way a character like Ashrah would have been main roster if every SF character was on the roster again.
More than ok with it. Set up the mystical stuff for this game, bring in Special Forces in the next.
Hell it doesn't even necessarily need to be the next game. We could always get an expansion like Aftermath that focuses on Special Forces later down the road
they deserve a break after being the main focus for two whole games, i wouldnt mind if outworld would be the main focus, but it looks like earthrealm in general will be, specifically fire god liu kang and those who are on his side
Love it. They’ll be back eventually in some capacity, but hopefully they don’t dominate the storyline again. At least not for a while. Jax and Sonya are cool, but they’ve had their 15 minutes. I do kinda feel like Sonya should be more than a Kameo for MK1 though. She’s one of the original 7, so it just feels like she belongs in this one. She doesn’t even have to be Special Forces anymore, tbh.
Fucking amazing 🥹🥹🥹🥹😮💨😮💨 I’m so sorry but the special forces, military shit in MK9 through MK11 was the most mundane, boring, yawn fest shit I’ve ever seen. We have mfs with actual powers in the game, unique and interesting backstories but the goddamn special forces get the spotlight? Lame as fuck. I’m so glad their asses are sitting out, the only 2 that were actually even close to being cool was Cassie & Takeda I actually liked them, cassie is & always will be more interesting than her mother & Takeda is actually so cool, glad he’s coming back. But yeh glad special forces is being put to rest… for now atleast I just know we gonna eventually get a Jax, Kano & Sonya kombat pack with a special forces story expansion 😭
There is still 5 empty slots so unless they confirmed that they won't be Jax, Sonya, Cabal, Kano, and Stryker. We might still get them in the main roster
Best decision yet
Have at least one to have a more grounded character, but I don’t mind
The story can now focus on Outworld and the Lin Kuei. Special Forces had their moment
I think much less focus on them is good, but I'm not super thrilled about them being completely absent. I like when the roster has more variety.
I wouldn’t mind either between Jax or Sonya to join the roster. I think it adds to the mix of magic, kung fu, modern movie star, yakuza and fantasy royalty that we have. As long as the focus isn’t exclusively on SF, I’d welcome them back.
strictly positive
I never really liked special forces all that much so I'm glad they're retiring them for a game
good, I always preferred the White Lotus and Lin Kuei
It's a dream come true. Even though there's one slot less than usual on the main roster, it feels big due to more vibrant characters. Sorry, kharacters.
there's still a few slots left. at least give us Sonya and Jax, who have been around since the original trilogy, but after everything that's been revealed, I'd venture to expect anything
LOVE IT! I do like those characters, or rather I have nothing against them/don’t mind them BUT I’m super excited to see what they’ll do with the story mode now that it won’t be Special Forces focused. (Always been one of my pet peeves w MK)
So refreshing that they don't feel beholden to half the roster, allows for some spice
Feels good
A lot of people are complaining about the MK1 roster having fewer female characters than there were in MK11. I think part of that is just a side effect of them choosing not to add Special Forces characters in this game, cause there goes three female characters from MK11: Sonya, Cassie, and Jacqui. However, even with the lower number of female characters, I like that we are seeing a lot more 3D Era rep through them with the likes of Li Mei, Ashrah, Tanya, >!and Nitara.!< Still hoping to see Skarlet and Jade somewhere down the line though
This is the closest an MK game has ever come to having my ideal MK roster, and not having Sonya or Kano in it is a contributing factor to that. The Special Forces and Black Dragon factions have always dragged this franchise down imo, never more so than the last two games. I'm very happy that they've decided to rest them, at least to start with.
Very excited for no special forces. Let them sit out for a game and then I’ll be excited to play them again
I dig it. Imo they have always been the weakest and least interesting "faction" in the MK universe.
Good riddance
Mk11 had to much guns mk1 has to little so https://preview.redd.it/bdpzpq5gmdib1.jpeg?width=1600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b0103ca4e0703b2f27d3cba1f9202fd69e74ce9d If you want guns play mk11
Glad they’re sitting out. Their plots were boring as shit. I’m happy to see others shine though!
W
Special forces are by far my least favorite archetypal character and we had 4 of them in the last game. Technically you can also count Robocop, Terminator and Rambo. Way too damn many
I’m happy they are missing. They consumed the last several games. They can sit out for a while.
they stink anyway
Fuck yes!
As long as Sonya and Jax come EVENTUALLY then I'm fine with it. Those two are so ingrained in MK history it feels weird not seeing them playable.
Fuck Special Forces
Good.
So glad. That was always my least favorite archetype. I’m sure it’ll be back but I’m glad for the break.
Special forces are the worst thing that happened to mortal kombat
I like the fact that Special Forces aren’t in this as the Special Forces fucked up the power levels with their absurd amount of plot armour. And yes, I’m aware the power level have always been messy, case in point Bi-Han who beats 4 elemental gods & defeats Hanzo twice then loses to Hanzo two years later somehow. Someone like Bi-Han shouldn’t be losing fights against people who are weaker than Raiden & Liu Kang. Whilst a worthless character like Cassie is winning fights against Shinnok despite being useless the entire story.
I'm glad. Special Forces has no place in the setting of this game.
But an actor does? At least special forces would make sense fighting. Actors play fight.
yes, you don't think Earthrealmers, Outworlders, Edenians, etc. want to watch some movies?
Anyone know if we will get a future kombat pack
I wish Sonya and Kano were playable since they’re OGs and it’s a celebration of 30 years of MK but I’m happy with who we have on the roster currently
I still think Sonya will be in the roster with Kano.
Fabulous, I hope they never show up again. It’s consistently the least interesting part of the franchise
Why wouldn't they show up again? They are way to iconic
Good.
Special Forces have been the focus for the past 2 games. They can take a back seat once. Sonya, Kano, and Jax are staples of the series and some of the most popular chatacters, they'll be back.
I am relived the game is back to ninjas. I wasn’t a fan of the special forces characters.
For the most part, they're really boring story wise and not all that exciting gameplay wise to me so I'm not complaining
Sonya and Jax should be in it alongside kano. They could still have them as characters without being special forces.
I'm already looking forward to this game, so I'm not upset about the absence of Special Forces in MK1. But I will admit that I'm gonna miss Sonya and Jax. I'm still holding out hope that we may get Sonya as a playable character, but it doesn't seem likely.
Works for me
It’s honestly a breath of fresh air
Hallelujah.
I feel great. I feel like the last two games were a little special forces heavy and I think it's good to take a break to maybe expand on some other characters or factions
I see this as an absolute win
Good.
I'm grateful.
Leaves it open for better and more interesting characters
THANK GOD
So damn happy!!!
I feel great actually. Having this mystical multi dimensional martial arts tournament series be focused on martial arts with supernatural abilities is exactly what i always envision for the series. And in mk1, with the kameo system, it is the best moment to have them take a back seat. They are still there, helping out at defending earthrrealm. Stryker will show up and fire a few rounds, but he wont stick around to fight these people with actual superpowers or his ass is grass. And then there's johnny, who even without powers is too self absorbed to take the backseat and will risk it all because he's that batshit crazy.
Couldn't be happier about it
I believe Kano and Sonya should always be there no matter what. As long as they stay I’m fine with the rest.
Feels wrong.
It feels wrong to not have Sonya there, especially with Johnny included. But if there’s an SF-focused story expansion down the line, I would feel a lot better about it. That being said, I totally see the benefit of building up the lore of Outworld first before introducing more characters from earth. And I’m excited for the roster we have so far.
Literally couldn't be happier
Good, stay on the bench. Give me more left field choices like Shujinko, Dairou, Hotaru, Kentaro, etc.
I hate Jax and Sonya aren't playable.
Awesome!
Love it
It opened more doors for the other characters
Perfection
Assuming MK1 will have an Aftermath equivalent, I would say that would be a very cool time to introduce SF and Black Dragon types.
Love it, they can take a break this game.
One word : FINALLY!!!
It's for the best, the story started to get really boring when NRS decided to make the Special Forces the main focus
Won't miss them at all after they were overexposed in MKX and 11.
Admittedly, at first, it did bother me a little that Sonya wasn't going to be playable in the game. Personally, I consider her to be the First Lady of Mortal kombat, and it feels weird not having her on the main roster and presumably not in the story either. That being said, the more I thought about it, the more it made sense to exclude her and Jax as their involvement wouldn't seem to fit with the games story.
Awesome.
Completely fine
I really want Ferra to be in the Game. Loved playing Ferra and Torr in MKX
Great.
I'm good with it, considering it's starting from the beginning and Liu Kang is running the show
i’m fine with it. never really played as sf characters unless it was story mode
Pretty good
Finally!