Month: March 2015

The variation system, which gives each character three unique fighting styles with different movesets and priorities, is perhaps the biggest feature introduced by NetherRealm Studios in Mortal Kombat X. These allow characters to have different tools to deal with specific matchups and greatly expand the way they can be played by competitors.

Venture Beat’s Stephen Kleckner (also known in the fighting game community as Sosage) recently got a chance to talk to lead designer John Edwards about this new feature and as well as their reactions to how cast members ended up being ranked in the franchise’s previous installment.

Regarding Mortal Kombat 9’s balance, Edwards acknowledged the fact that creating a cast of characters with unique moves and tool will mean that every tier list will be surprising to some degree. No character is ever made to be top or bottom tier, they just fall into those positions based on how the game develops.

Additionally, Edwards stated that watching the game and its tier list develop and change over time as players develop new strategies is one of the “more enjoyable” aspects of competitive fighting games.

Regarding Mortal Kombat X’s variations, Edwards mentioned that one of the reasons for implementing this feature was to allow players more freedom of choice when it came to character selection. This way, a player who preferred a fighter would also likely be able to find a playstyle that they liked. That said, it does make the game harder to balance.

To read more on this and Edwards’ other insights on the balancing of both Mortal Kombat 9 and Mortal Kombat X, head on over to VentureBeat for the full interview.

Source: VentureBeat