This shit sucks ass.
Played T7 competitively back in like 2017-2018, dropped it due to moving countries/not having time to play. Went to a local FGC meetup tonight, figured I may as well give T8 a shot while I was there.
It felt... kinda okay at first - I remembered (roughly) how to play Asuka and Ling, some of the buttons were different and I couldn't combo, but it was basically the same game that I remembered
Then I played an actual competitive player, a Victor main, who somehow made Tekken feel like an Anime fighter. I couldn't KBD away, I couldn't sidewalk without getting blown up, I couldn't jab without getting CH launched. I could land the occasional poke but it didn't matter - what's the point of hitting a df+1 for 10 damage when the downside is eating a 15 second block string just for being minus? Spent the whole time wondering when my turn was and eating 2/3 HP for guessing wrong. At one point I thought I'd escaped, as I sidewalked for what must have been nearly a second, and still got caught by what absolutely looked like a linear move, some anime sword slash move (which Tekken apparently has lots of now?). It's not like earlier Tekkens didn't have a bunch of strings that you had to learn how to beat - but there was usually enough in the way of consistent patterns or visual cues to make decent guesses on the fly even if you hadn't labbed it. It didn't feel like I had any way of knowing, here, and the people I was playing with were just saying "Look you can't use movement to escape, you just have to guess". It wasn't exactly fun.
Played another guy who wanted to prove a point, picked up Eddy and just mashed 3 for the whole game (literally just mashed 3. no directions or timing or anything). I press a button, I get launched. I don't press a button, I get knocked down. I'm aware that I could probably head to the lab and find the correct punishes, but still - he's just pressing 3. The oldheads I was playing with just seemed resigned to it. They talked openly that they thought it was shit, like they weren't even trying to deny it. They just kept playing because Tekken was what they knew. Nobody was excited about the game.
Anyway I'm probably not saying anything here you don't already know, just felt like ranting. I think maybe yall have been frogs boiling in the pot for a little too long, like almost every substantive change to the gameplay since even season 1 of Tekken 7 (or honestly, since Tekken 5 DR) has been moving in a direction that actual Tekken players don't want. Nobody playing Tekken a decade ago was thinking "You know what this game needs? A meter that makes all your mids plus on block. Every character should have long range safe homing mids. Movement isn't very fun and should be replaced by armor moves as the best way to beat aggression. KBD sucks and should be made worse. Let's make the whole game about 50/50s at range 1."
I don't think it's just a season 2 thing - the fundamental mechanics that made Tekken fun have just been incrementally stripped away for more than a decade now, and the core identity of T8 is essentially anti-Tekken. Tekken didn't need chip damage, because lows existed. It didn't need power crushes, because evasion existed. It didn't need big +ob mids, because offense based around movement and spacing was fundamentally more fun than hard-coded 50-50's. There were so many other ways they could have moved the game forward. Game feels too defensive? Nerf combo damage and CH launchers so people can press buttons more safely. Buff offense by giving chars stronger movement options on block, by nerfing power crushes, buffing low pokes. Add characters that have interesting movement options and weaknesses that match their strengths.
It's like the game was developed for what looks cool with minimal attention to the actual gameplay. The animation, sound, character design remains incredible - Bamco still has the best character animations, moves, martial arts of any fighting game, IMO (although the particles are getting a bit too much lol). If you watch the game it's like watching a fight scene in a movie. But playing it just feels like you're stuck in place.
I gave it an honest shot but there's no way I'm going to get back into Tekken if this is what Tekken is now. Might run T7 with some friends, or pick up SF6 or GBFVsR or something. Just wish there were more movement heavy 3D fighters that could capture what peak Tekken was like. RIP to the GOAT.
P.s if yall are having fun with T8, that's great for you, I'm not stopping you. It's just not for me.
