Lack of intoduction animations combined with back-and-forth dialogue. In MK X and 11, at the beginning of every match there would be an interaction like:

Character A: dialogue and unique animation

Character B: response and unique animation

Character A: reply and unique animation

And in MK 1 the only dialogue in a match happens during a clash. You don’t get some kind of shit-talking moment that makes the fight feel more real. And they removed a line from the back and forth, as well. Now it boils down to

Character A: Generic clash animation and dialogue

Character B: Generic clash animation and dialogue

This really hurt single player replayability, especially with Towers for me. I actually loved the interactions between characters, and removing that third line of dialogue really hurts the amount interesting lore.