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What did you think of NRS' handling of Liu Kang?

R

Rymuth

Member
Edit: Oops, meant this to be on the gaming side. Blame the string of news over there that kept me glued to that tab, haha. Little Mod help, please?

So now that Injustice 2 is out and its story mode proves that NRS truly mastered their craft, I can't help but wonder why they took a proverbial big-ass dump on Liu Kang. I mean, it's gotta be deliberate as opposed to bad storytelling.

Let's take a walk down memory lane:

Mortal Kombat 9


  • Gets denied his destiny as champion of Mortal Kombat
  • Constantly told to pipe down/shut up by Raiden
  • Gets fried to death by Raiden, not even killing after a fight or something
Mortal Kombat X


  • Is not revived as opposed to others like Jax Briggs, Scorpion etc
  • None of the main trio (Cage, Sonya or Raiden) reminisce about him
  • Heck, his fellow Shaolin Monks don't even mention him (not even Bo Rai Cho, his master)
  • Gets strangled to death by his own intestines by Jason Voerhees
And finally, THIS wonderful exchange:

Liu Kang Mirror Match

Liu Kang(1): The creator sends me doubles?
Liu Kang(2): The creator cares naught for you.

Harsh...This is the equivalent of replacing Ryu with Guile...only now it's canon.
 
Corpsepyre

Corpsepyre

Banned
Liu's a horrible character. It's no wonder they lost interest in that character several years back. Should have just kept him dead.
 
I

ItIsOkBro

Member
He won MK1-4, he had his time.

HOWEVER, that his sidelining was a byproduct of Raiden being a fuck up is the worst. Raider sucks.
 
SolVanderlyn

SolVanderlyn

Thanos acquires the fully powered Infinity Gauntlet in The Avengers: Infinity War, but loses when all the superheroes team up together to stop him.
I was really bummed about it. I always loved Liu Kang, even if he was sort of generic.

NRS made Johnny Cage interesting, they could make Liu Kang interesting too. They chose not to.
 
?

>:)

Member
SolVanderlyn said:
I was really bummed about it. I always loved Liu Kang, even if he was sort of generic.

NRS made Johnny Cage interesting, they could make Liu Kang interesting too. They chose not to.
Click to expand...

NRS made goddamn Stryker interesting. That's a godlike feat right there. What's going on with Liu is probably the most interesting thing they done with him in years.
 
A

Arttemis

Member
Liu was my favorite character in MK9. His absence in MKX is very disappointing, especially because of how disappointing the newbies were handled in the sequel's story. MK9 had a fucking awesome time-travel plot, and it was followed by a bizarre escapade in DBZ-type fluctuating power levels.

I wish they'd just remake MK9 in MKX's engine and re-release it.
 
A

Aiii

So not worth it
Liu Kang was always the worst character in Mortal Kombat, so I'm good. At least Kung Lao had his hat. Kang had a bicycle kick. He was the worst.
 
S

Sephzilla

Member
Liu Kang was always a kind of boring character. I openly cheered when Deadly Alliance opened with him getting murdered and I loved that MK9 and MKX took him out of the spotlight.

Sub Zero was always the real draw for me. Scorpion and he had the better stories.
 
G

Griss

Member
I like it.

a) He was boring as fuck
b) The main man shouldn't remain the main man for decades on end. You've got to switch things up.
 
T

Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku!

Member
They did kill him in Deadly Alliance and then turned him into a zombie for two games so I guess you can say NRS hasn't exactly been fascinated by the guy for 15 years now.
 
R

Rymuth

Member
Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku! said:
They did kill him in Deadly Alliance and then turned him into a zombie for two games so I guess you can say NRS hasn't exactly been fascinated by the guy for 15 years now.
Click to expand...
Except we see that the Shaolin monks have built a tomb in his honor. Even in death, they remember him fondly.

Here, he's more like a black mark on their order.
 
E

Eidan

Member
I like the direction they've taken with him. He's much more interesting as a fallen hero than an actual one.
 
C

ColonialHawk

Member
I liked the old Liu Kang,
straight from the go Liu Kang
.
They should have just kept him dead and have him remembered as a hero and not the whiny little jobber in MK9/X.
 
K

Kai Dracon

Writing a dinosaur space opera symphony
I like it in that the MK universe now has no real "chosen one" idol around which every character orbits. Liu Kang as a "denied hero", sabotaged before his rise by time shenanigans, is much more interesting.

Now it feels as if nobody can predict what's going to happen in MK and every character has the potential to step up.
 
T

TaterTots

Banned
Liu Kang is a crappy character. He was never the face of MK like Ryu is for SF. I'd say that goes to either Sub or Scorp.
 
H

HomerSimpson-Man

Member
They screwed with his character for over a decade. NRS can really kiss my ass on that.

It's one thing to branch out the series focus unless you become like Tekken which are all slobbering over the Mishimas, but this really just feels like that a massive dump on the character, just because. They can handle it better.
 
L

Loona

Member
RiggityRice said:
It also opens up a chance for Liu Kang to seek vengeance as the new evil overlord. Perhaps it's all story build up..
Click to expand...

IIRC the same actor (Ho Sung Pak, I Think?) played both him and Shang Tsung in the original MK - I don't care that much for MK, but working that detail into the canon could be interesting...
 
N

NEO0MJ

Member
ItIsOkBro said:
He won MK1-4, he had his time.

HOWEVER, that his sidelining was a byproduct of Raiden being a fuck up is the worst. Raider sucks.
Click to expand...

Come on, don't bully poor Raiden. He's trying his best :(

33894986974_1877291f55_o.gif

Llln6HC.gif
 
M

mindsale

Member
Rymuth said:
Edit: Oops, meant this to be on the gaming side. Blame the string of news over there that kept me glued to that tab, haha. Little Mod help, please?

So now that Injustice 2 is out and its story mode proves that NRS truly mastered their craft, I can't help but wonder why they took a proverbial big-ass dump on Liu Kang. I mean, it's gotta be deliberate as opposed to bad storytelling.

Let's take a walk down memory lane:

Mortal Kombat 9


  • Gets denied his destiny as champion of Mortal Kombat
  • Constantly told to pipe down/shut up by Raiden
  • Gets fried to death by Raiden, not even killing after a fight or something
Mortal Kombat X


  • Is not revived as opposed to others like Jax Briggs, Scorpion etc
  • None of the main trio (Cage, Sonya or Raiden) reminisce about him
  • Heck, his fellow Shaolin Monks don't even mention him (not even Bo Rai Cho, his master)
  • Gets strangled to death by his own intestines by Jason Voerhees
And finally, THIS wonderful exchange:

Liu Kang Mirror Match

Liu Kang(1): The creator sends me doubles?
Liu Kang(2): The creator cares naught for you.

Harsh...This is the equivalent of replacing Ryu with Guile...only now it's canon.
Click to expand...



At least he was strangled by his intestines within a game, and not at company HQ.

Like Capcom did to Mega Man.
 
O

Ordinaryundone

Member
On one hand, total character assassination.

On the other hand, now he's a lot more interesting and it frees up the "main character" slot for other characters to get some limelight.

So I don't mind, too much anyway. They did Kung-Lao super dirty though. A shame because his "good" version they use in multiplayer is really cool.
 
V

Veedot

Member
Growing up as a kid Liu was my favorite character. But also growing up the main character with fire powers was always my go to character in most fighting games and as I got older my taste in variety started to develop. But I still have a nostalgic soft spot for Liu and him going evil is the most interesting he's ever been.
 
S

Sinatar

Official GAF Bottom Feeder
Any time a fighting game screws over the lame ass generic "hero" character I'm a very happy man.
 
P

PSqueak

Banned
Well, they seem to be building up for the next MK now that he reigns the netherealm and Raiden basically declared war on him.
 
T

TreIII

Member
What they did with Liu Kang doesn't bother me as much. He had his time in the original trilogy and MK4. Turning him into a vengeful zombie in the later games and then setting him on a path of a vengeful Lord of Netherrealm, with Kitana FINALLY ruling at his side, in the new timeline? The best thing that's happened to him, in my opinion.

It's Kung Lao that I'm a bit more salty about, honestly. Guy finally got a chance to be the hero and out of Liu Kang's shadow for a brief moment, then got killed and pretty much serves no real purpose, otherwise besides being a lackey.
 
F

fernoca

Member
Rymuth said:
Edit: Oops, meant this to be on the gaming side. Blame the string of news over there that kept me glued to that tab, haha. Little Mod help, please?

So now that Injustice 2 is out and its story mode proves that NRS truly mastered their craft, I can't help but wonder why they took a proverbial big-ass dump on Liu Kang. I mean, it's gotta be deliberate as opposed to bad storytelling.

Let's take a walk down memory lane:

Mortal Kombat 9


  • Gets denied his destiny as champion of Mortal Kombat
  • Constantly told to pipe down/shut up by Raiden
  • Gets fried to death by Raiden, not even killing after a fight or something
Mortal Kombat X


  • Is not revived as opposed to others like Jax Briggs, Scorpion etc
  • None of the main trio (Cage, Sonya or Raiden) reminisce about him
  • Heck, his fellow Shaolin Monks don't even mention him (not even Bo Rai Cho, his master)
  • Gets strangled to death by his own intestines by Jason Voerhees
And finally, THIS wonderful exchange:

Liu Kang Mirror Match

Liu Kang(1): The creator sends me doubles?
Liu Kang(2): The creator cares naught for you.

Harsh...This is the equivalent of replacing Ryu with Guile...only now it's canon.
Click to expand...
Some of your points are off.

His not denied his rile as champion, he just never fulfills it. In none of the games. There was always an invasion, a tournament or just his actual death.

Heck, there's a whole scene/flashback in MKX of Raiden reminiscing about Liu Kang and Kung Lao and how they were like sons to him.

Then you have Sonya and Johnny Cage which after the encounter with Quan Chi that freed Jax, Scorpion and Sub-Zero, realized that he was the key to return Liu and the others back, they made capturing Quan Chi their focus...to the point of Sonya ruining her marriage and even a bit of relationship with her daughter.

Among other things, in top of not mentioning the first 8 games and even Liu Kang having his own spinoff. :p

His handling over the years is just varied. They tried turning him "evil" after Deadly Alliance, his death in that game was supposed to represent a new start too. Now after the 2011 reboot, they went back to that, except no zombie this time.
 
R

Rymuth

Member
PSqueak said:
Well, they seem to be building up for the next MK now that he reigns the netherealm and Raiden basically declared war on him.
Click to expand...
He didnt come across as threatening tho. He basically looked at Kitana like he's "uh....wtf crawled up Raiden's butt"
 
J

JusDoIt

Member
Liu Kang was always a generic afterthought. He didn't even have a legit fatality in MK1. That's how out of place he was. Scorpion is the iconic character of Mortal Kombat and always has been. Liu being written out of the narrative is good riddance.
 
A

AColdDay

Member
JusDoIt said:
Liu Kang was always a generic afterthought. He didn't even have a legit fatality in MK1. That's how out of place he was. Scorpion is the iconic character of Mortal Kombat and always has been. Liu being written out of the narrative is good riddance.
Click to expand...

Sub Zero is the icon of Mortal Kombat.
 
P

Pizza

Member
I dig it; it's a stark change from the old timeline and now the Cage family are the heroes as he's king of the netherrealm
 
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