Info about MK1: Kombat Pack:

Official game description:
The Kombat Pack includes the Johnny Cage character skin featuring voice and likeness of actor and martial artist Jean-Claude Van Damme, along with 6 playable Fighters and 5 Kameo Fighters, all available now.  
Fighters  
Omni-Man (Invincible)  
Quan Chi  
Peacemaker (DC’s Peacemaker)  
Ermac  
Homelander (The Boys)  
Takahashi Takeda  
Kameos  
Tremor  
Khameleon  
Janet Cage  
Mavado  
Ferra

Release date: Sep 19, 2023

Categories: Fighting Game, Character-based Combat, DLC, Competitive Multiplayer, Single-player Story, Character Customization

Feature scans:
- MTX: score 35; verdict: Standard Monetization with Minor Transparency Issues; summary: The game features traditional DLC (Kombat Pack) and a premium currency store for cosmetics and consumables. User feedback focuses on DLC pricing and misleading labeling, but there is no evidence of pay-to-win, gacha, or aggressive monetization. The premium currency store is standard for modern games, with consumables described as quality-of-life items. Overall, monetization is not predatory, though transparency issues exist.

- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price:
  - Community fair range: $20.00 - $40.00
  - Reasoning: The community consistently criticizes the high price of the game and its DLC, recommending waiting for sales. One review suggests the game on sale for $30 is a good deal, while another states the game is worth at most $15. This indicates a fair price range between $20 and $40, with $30 being a common sale price.
- Playtime Metrics:
  - Game completion: N/A
  - Story completion: N/A
  - Session length: N/A
  - Endgame: N/A
  - Reasoning: The reviews for the Kombat Pack DLC focus exclusively on character roster, pricing, and release schedule. No review provides any playtime figures for completing DLC content, story progression, session lengths, or endgame activities. The only playtime mentions in the dataset refer to the base game or other games, which are excluded per instructions. Therefore, all playtime metrics are unsupported and set to null.
- Time-to-fun: No data
- Player Archetypes:
  - Competitive Meta Player (sale)
    - Motivation: Exploring competitive depth, character mechanics, and meta evolution
    - Playstyle: Analyzes character movesets, plays ranked, follows meta shifts
    - Experience: veteran
    - Purchase stance: sale
    - Labels: N/A
    - Reference games: MKX; MK11
  - Story and Presentation Seeker (buy)
    - Motivation: Experiencing the story, visuals, and cinematic moments
    - Playstyle: Plays through story mode, watches cinematics, values presentation
    - Experience: familiar
    - Purchase stance: buy
    - Labels: N/A
    - Reference games: N/A


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Excellent guest character choices (weight 0.25): Guest characters like Omni-Man, Homelander, and Peacemaker are highlighted as excellent and great fits for Mortal Kombat. They are considered amazing licensed characters.
- Great DLC character value (weight 0.22): The DLC is praised for bringing a good set of characters at a good price, with high value from six characters and five kameos. The Kombat Pack roster is considered great.
- Incredible story mode (weight 0.22): The campaign story is incredible, with top-notch writing and visuals. The story is amazing, captivating compared to MK11, and worth the price alone.
- Excellent overall gameplay (weight 0.2): The game is described as awesome, excellent, and with very good gameplay. The core mechanics are well-received and considered impeccable.
- Omni-Man is fun (weight 0.17): Omni-Man is specifically noted as fun, easy to pick up, and with an insanely aggressive and fast playstyle. He is considered a good guest character with good air combos.
- Kameos add unique value (weight 0.16): Kameo DLC is cool, with characters like Khameleon and Tremor bringing unique things. Khameleon is one of the strongest kameos, changing styles between Kitana, Mileena, and Jade.
- Takeda is mobile (weight 0.14): Takeda is very mobile with long attacks and plays well through air combos. He is fun to play and will probably be good DLC, with lore changed to fit the story.
- Homelander is fun (weight 0.11): Homelander is described as an annoying zoner with quick flight canceling dash moves and combos. His flying tactics and laser-based attacks are fun, and he is voiced by his actor.
- Well-crafted dialogue (weight 0.11): The dialogue is well crafted, and the fight sequences are well-executed. The game has great dubbing and cinematic story elements.
- Extends meta deeply (weight 0.1): The pack deeply extends the meta, and each character arrives with distinct mechanics and personality. The DLC roster brings six strong new fighters.

Common complaints:
- DLC overpriced for content (weight 0.49): Players consistently report that the DLC costs as much as a full game and is not worth the price. The value is seen as especially poor when compared to the base game content.
- DLC characters delayed release (weight 0.45): Many players complain that DLC characters are released months apart, with some arriving about a year after launch. The lack of immediate availability and unclear release dates frustrates buyers.
- Base game characters sold as DLC (weight 0.43): Several characters already present in the base game or story mode are locked behind the Kombat Pack, making players feel cheated. This includes characters like Quan Chi and Ermac who appear in the story.
- Story characters locked behind paywall (weight 0.3): Characters that are mandatory story fights or heavily featured in the story are sold as DLC, which players find unacceptable. This includes Quan Chi and Ermac, who should have been in the base roster.
- Purchased characters remain locked (weight 0.2): A significant number of players report that after purchasing the Kombat Pack, characters like Takeda, Ermac, Peacemaker, and Homelander stay locked in the character select screen. Restarting the game or completing story mode does not fix the issue.
- DLC characters lack cosmetics (weight 0.08): Kombat Pack characters receive very few cosmetic options and do not get seasonal cosmetics, reducing their perceived value. Players feel the DLC is incomplete without proper customization.

Gameplay feedback:
- Kombat Pack contents (weight 0.14): The Kombat Pack includes 6 main roster characters and 5 kameo fighters, providing a substantial amount of post-launch content. This is a common expectation for fighting game DLC.
- High difficulty level (weight 0.08): The fights are challenging, generally tougher than Tekken 7, and the game is difficult overall. This may appeal to hardcore fighting game fans.
- Character leveling system (weight 0.05): Characters have a leveling system, which adds progression elements. This encourages long-term engagement.

Performance notes:
- Game requires optimization fixes (weight 0.04): Reviewers report that the game suffers from performance issues and needs optimization patches to run smoothly. This likely includes frame rate drops, stuttering, or other technical problems affecting gameplay.
- Long load times without SSD (weight 0.04): Players note that load times are significantly long unless the game is installed on an SSD, indicating a potential optimization issue for HDD users. This can disrupt the gaming experience and may require hardware upgrades to mitigate.

Recommendations:
- Wait for a sale (weight 0.28): Many reviewers suggest waiting for a discount before purchasing the game, as the full price is considered too high. Sales are seen as the appropriate time to buy.
- Avoid buying DLC separately (weight 0.17): Multiple reviewers advise against purchasing DLC characters and kameos individually, recommending the Kombat Pack instead. Buying separately is seen as poor value.
- DLC characters not immediately available (weight 0.11): Reviewers warn that paid DLC characters are not available right away, which may disappoint buyers. Some suggest waiting a few months or refunding if this is an issue.
- Not worth buying at all (weight 0.08): A few reviewers state that the game is not worth buying, with one saying 'Do not buy it' and another 'Not worth it'. This indicates strong dissatisfaction.

Other player notes:
- Poor value compared to predecessors (weight 0.19): Reviewers note that MK11's Ultimate Add-On Bundle offered more content for the same price as this Kombat Pack. The DLC is also seen as overpriced relative to MKX and MK11's packs.
- Premium edition pricing criticized (weight 0.16): The premium edition costs over $100, and some players paid that price only to find the standalone game later cheaper. The premium edition was also removed from stores, causing confusion.
- Skins and fatalities sold separately (weight 0.11): The game sells skins and fatalities as individual purchases, with story-mode skins priced at $5-10 each. Seasonal skins are also sold separately, adding to the overall cost.
- DLC price nearly equals base game (weight 0.1): The DLC and kameo pack add significant cost, with the DLC alone costing about 90% of the original game's price. This makes the total investment very high.
- Refund period ends before issue (weight 0.07): Players discover the DLC is not available after the refund period ends, leaving them stuck with a purchase they cannot use. This is seen as a deceptive practice.

Emotions:
- Frustration (weight 0.41): Players are frustrated by DLC characters being locked or delayed despite purchase, with unclear release schedules and high prices. Many feel the game's monetization is greedy, with story characters paywalled and content not available at launch. Technical issues like unchangeable motion blur and poor character design add to the dissatisfaction.
- Disappointment (weight 0.17): Players are disappointed that the premium edition and DLC packs do not deliver expected value, with characters like Ermac and Quan Chi locked behind paywalls despite appearing in the story. Guest characters lack skins, and the game misses features from previous titles, leading to a sense of reduced content and quality.
- Anger (weight 0.08): Anger stems from perceived misleading marketing about DLC availability and release schedules, with characters locked behind paywalls and no grind option. Players are also upset about toxic community behavior, unfair balance changes, and changes to beloved characters like Rain.
- Satisfaction (weight 0.07): Satisfaction arises from the Kombat Pack characters being fun and unique, with good gameplay and aesthetics. The story is praised as great value, and the game meets expectations, improving on previous entries in graphics, audio, and overall experience.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.04): Enjoyment comes from the well-crafted campaign story, cutscenes, and fight sequences, as well as fun characters like Omni-Man and Takeda. The Kombat Pack characters are interesting, and the game overall is considered great.
- Confusion (weight 0.04): Confusion arises from purchased DLC characters remaining locked in the character select screen, with unclear reasons and no known release dates. The game's status as sold but requiring extra payment for certain characters adds to the uncertainty.
- Annoyance (weight 0.03): Annoyance is caused by DLC characters being the same as base game ones, non-guest characters being capped at level 20, and negative reviews downvoting content not yet released. Some reviewers are also annoyed by others' complaints about the announced wave release schedule.
- Approval (weight 0.02): Approval is given to the DLC roster for bringing strong new fighters with distinct mechanics that extend the meta. Guest characters are seen as great fits for Mortal Kombat, enhancing the game's appeal.
- Disapproval (weight 0.02): Disapproval is directed at publisher greed and the high price of the game, which players feel is not justified by the content provided.
- Excitement (weight 0.02): Excitement is generated by the upcoming DLC characters, particularly Omni-Man and Homelander, with players eagerly waiting for their release.
- Hope (weight 0.02): Hope is expressed for Takeda to be a good character and for optimization issues to be fixed, indicating a desire for improvement in gameplay and performance.
- Dislike (weight 0.01): Dislike is specifically directed at the design of the character Ermac, which is strongly criticized by players.
- Amusement (weight 0.01): Amusement is found in the irony that the DLC price is higher than the price paid for the game with the DLC included, highlighting perceived absurdity in pricing.
- Love (weight 0.01): Love is expressed for the characters and the game overall, indicating a strong positive attachment to the content.
- Criticism (weight 0.01): Criticism is leveled at the DLC pricing and content structure, which are seen as poor value for money.
- Shock (weight 0.01): Shock is expressed at the high price of the DLC, which is considered excessive by players.
- Disbelief (weight 0.01): Disbelief is triggered by the high cost of skins and fatalities, which players find unreasonable.
- Exasperation (weight 0.01): Exasperation arises from people not understanding how kombat packs work, leading to frustration with the community's lack of knowledge.
- Relief (weight 0.01): Relief is felt upon discovering that others have the same issue with DLC characters not appearing, validating that the problem is not isolated.
- Concern (weight 0.01): Concern is raised by the thought of being scammed because DLC characters do not appear, causing worry about the legitimacy of the purchase.}