As I think back on this weekend, I remember nothing but fond memories. I hanged out with some good friends, met some new people and met some new but not new people (Hi Cinn). You see this weekend specifically Saturday was Cincy Clash. Technically it was the second one but it was the first one at the new Arcade Legacy location in Sharonville and it had a great atmosphere for tournaments and everything.
There was multiple fighting games being played and even tho I am competent in a couple of them I only played one game and that was Tekken 7 and its the only fighting game I've been playing competitively for 8 years now. Before that it was Tekken 6 and Tekken 5, Tekken Tag 1 and 2. I guess the main point I am making is, I play Tekken. So it might come to a surprise to some people when I say this out-loud and with much authority, I will not be playing Tekken 8. I will not invest anytime in it and definitely will not be playing it competitively like I've done with every previous Tekken mentioned above, going ALL the way back to Tag 1.
I won't lie, this is not a decision I came to easily, after all I have dedicate a good chunk of my life to Tekken and for me to not be excited when a new installment comes out might sound a bit ridiculous but it is the truth. Every single trailer, every piece of information, every character art shared keeps telling me this game is not for me and it was not made for my sensibilities.
Breaking it down, we can go with the petty things first. I do not like how it looks. This upgrade Unreal engine has given the graphics an upgrade but I personally felt nothing was wrong with the graphic fidelity of previous Tekkens. Now all the men are grossly muscular in a way that I associated more with NRS games and that is not a compliment. On top of that, the default outfits they have are just overly busy with way too many accessories and un-necessary clutter. The women do not have the overly muscular look thankfully but their outfits too unfortunately suffer from the same aesthetic of being too busy and trying to do too much with the accessories. Before Tekken 8, we had some complex outfits but they were always reserved for special 'Player 3' slots. Now, Tekken 8 they make the overly messy outfits the default ones and if you want the regular outfits similar to the ones of Tekken past, you'll need to actual choose them they are not the defaults. I guess they want to again flex the graphic fidelity of the new engine but having more details but to me personally, it is too much and very off putting.
Also in the same department, Tekken 8 seems obsessed with hit sparks and making them even bigger and more flashier then before. It is even a meme now and of course Tekken has always been known for it more visual flare wherein it's fighting game cousin Virtua Fighter steered away from it going all the way back to the original games but this one, they have gone into maximum overdrive with the particle effects, the hit sparks and just everything. Its a mess and I really feel it will detract from the game in a way competitors will not enjoy. Now I know, I know, there is supposed to be an option to turn it down coming with the game but I can only go with what I have seen and what I have seen, I do not like. The backgrounds now have an almost Dead Or Alive look to them with more hyper realism but that realism is thrown out the window when a man is flying at you with sparks coming out of every hole.
Some people are aware and some are not but Tekken 8 is the first Tekken to be out-sourced to other people. Normally the Tekken project handles most of the work but this time Namco Bandai has saw it fit to bring in Arika of Fighting EX Layer fame to 'help' and you can clearly see their influence in design and more. Now some people say its to help with online infrastructure which Arika has made progress with especially with their version of rollback netcode but you can clearly see Arika's influence has also rolled over (pun intended) to character designs and even how the game plays.
With that note; we have reached the crux of the matter and the main reason why I will not be playing Tekken 8. From what I've seen so far, I do not like how it will play and listening to the main head behind Tekken, Harada say he does not like footsies and proper spacing. Harada seems to looking at Tekken from a spectator's point of view so he wants more engagement, more aggression on both sides to the point where the new system 'HEAT' is focused completely on that. They want this focus to be so much on aggression that certain stapes of previously Tekken that stopped aggression are completely removed. Now counter hit wake up kicks no longer knockdown or cause a juggle, counter hit standing kicks (aka the Magic 4) no longer juggle for any character, all tools you could use to stop overly aggressive players from constantly pushing the advantage is now gone. It almost comical how they could remove such core elements from so many previous successful games and want us instead to play with a game that encourages a quick low hitting kick that can trigger Heat into more combo options into a juggle starter. This is the type of stuff that made Akuma and Eliza reviled and now they are giving it to everyone? I guess since they can't balance it for them so they will just give it to everyone else.
This focus on constant rush-down would have appealed to Phil of the past where I really liked to play a 'pit-bull' playstyle but as I got better at Tekken I realized how important spacing was, the thrill of a good whiff punish and most of all, the knowledge that I could now play both styles of an aggressor or a defender and I could switch on the fly. Tekken 8 does not want me to do that. It wants me to play the aggressor and push me away from playing a more compact defensive minded game. Heat on activation on hit or even block cause you to rush towards you opponent into a mix-up and you can tell it heavily borrows from Street Fighter 6 'Drive' system but again not something Tekken did before for all characters. Sure Claudio had something similar with his 'Rage Drive' but now everyone can do it and it takes away from Claudio's uniqueness. In the more extreme example, Akuma and Geese also had meter based offense that caused them to rush forward on activation and continue the offense and a lot of people did not like that so what does Tekken 8 do? Double down on it. You can see Arika's influence because their own franchise Fighting EX Layer also has a system based around rushing down on hit or block and gives more credence to my belief they are helping with more then just the netcode.
Now do not get me wrong. I was once very interested in playing Fighting EX Layer, heck I still want to pick it up one day eventually. However FEXL is its own franchise, its own beast and if I wanted to play with FEXL systems or Street Fighter 6 systems I would play those games. I do not need those systems baked into a game which did not have those systems before and only put in because the game director does not like footsies. Just like how I do not mind Mortal Kombat's aesthetics in a Mortal Kombat game or Dead or Alive's wall explosions causing more extended combo routes. Those elements in those games give them an identity and I personally feel Tekken is losing its identity to keep up with these games. Instead of focusing on what made Tekken a great game and even a successful game (the sales figures for Tekken 7 do not lie) they are borrowing from others to keep up with the masses and it is clear and obvious Tekken 8 is a Tekken only in its name and characters.
Ever since I have resurrected my blog, most of my posts have been pretty positive with a lot of RAVES about games I have really enjoyed or are enjoying. However this blog series also had RANTS before and those were reserved for when I did not enjoy something or did not like something. It is sad but my first RANT for this new format is all about Tekken 8, a game series I have dedicated a lot of time and even enjoyed playing but now I can honestly say I will not anymore.
Will I change my mind once it actually becomes playable for the masses? Maybe but I also feel that is unlikely. This Tekken journey has been a ride but I believe with Tekken 8 I've reached my stop and I am fine with that.
AV
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