Tekken 8 Official Thread

[Amatsubu]

So, Tekken 8 is finally happening and, if this is truly more or less in-game, it looks insane compared to 7. The trailer is most probably a part of story mode (which I hardly care about in this game and the story is trash anyways but well) so obviously normal matches won't have such amount of detailed slo-mo close-ups and effects but just give me those character models, block stun/hit animations and stages of this quality. Oh, and a better netcode One thing that worries me is the absolute lack of sidestepping in the trailer so I hope they haven't moved into 2d territory and all the technical movement options are still there.

Would've preferred VF6 because it's less over-the-top but I can't play VF anyways so I'll take what I can. Tekken is still one of the hardest games ever for competitive play and I think VF is even a bit harder so would've been too much for me even if it was announced

Coming god knows when to current gen consoles and Steam. I'd guess late 2023/2024.

 

[Amatsubu]

Have you ever noticed that martial arts like Kung fu have never been replicated accurately in a game?

Yeah, most fighting games, including Tekken, go way over the top with the moves but Tekken does actually feature a lot of real attacks and I think Lidia Sobieska's karate was the closest:

Still, martial arts are so complex that I don't think any game can simulate that to the extent that would fully satisfy an actual martial artist when it comes to techniques alone, let alone physics and interactions.

 

[Amatsubu]

I will wait to see in game footage to be sure. I liked Tekken 7 but something felt missing. Hopefully Tekken 8 will be much better.

Edit: Apparently it is in game footage running 60fps on a PS5. Look forward to it. Will pick it up on Steam if I can get a steam key for £35 or less.

Tekken 7 released in a weird state where it missed quite a few of legacy chars and I feel there wasn't enough content for people who enjoyed single player modes, there weren't even arcade stories.

Then they went overboard and the game ended up with multiple seasons and 50 chars with many mechanics changes and poor balancing decisions along the way. Season 2 was the best and it should've stayed that way, with a couple of tweaks maybe.

At this point, even many tournament players are tired of the game.

As for the trailer, yeah, Harada said it's in-game footage of the story mode captured on the PS5.
Hopefully turns out great and will be fun even for prople who aren''t interested in the competitive scene.

I also have a price sweetspot around yours but I might make an exception for this, we'll see I definitely hope for something more focused and better realised than 7.

 

[Amatsubu]

Tekken 7 was amazing....but the constant balance tweaks were tiresome, obviously not helped by the ridiculous roster.
Hopefully they can reign it in a little here with the characters.
I dont care about single player stuff really people always say they do but they will play it for a few hours and never touch the game again.
A decent online ranked with crossplay is where its at.

So much this, no 50+ roster or 2d guest chars please. Just keep the fan favourites and deliver solid balancing and netcode on release. I don't mind tweaks along the way, that's pretty much a given, I just hope they won't go overboard this time.

I don't care about SP content either (haven't even played 7's story, lol) but if they can deliver on that front as well, then I'll be happy for the people who do. I don't mind either way as long as the core gameplay is good.

 

[Amatsubu]

I am not into the competive side of things and do want more single player content. As you said they did not even have a proper arcade mode with stories at the end. I used to love completing the game to unlock new characters back in the day.

Oh and making tekken bowl a DLC...

I reckon they decided to do the State of Play reveal because TWT is back and they'll probably have more features and gameplay to show after the Amsterdam finals (4-5 Feb) so we'll most likely have to wait until then for more info. Honestly, I didn't expect the reveal itself before TWT finals so that's a good sign.

They'll obviously focus on the competitive side as that's what keeps these games alive for so long but I think the SP part will be more substantial this time round.

Is Eddie Gordo still in it? Remember winning via button bashing with him back in the day

No worries, Eddy is 100% in the game

 

[Amatsubu]

So, apparently Harada is the chief producer of T8 and not Murray, which I think bodes well for the game. Or at least I hope so.

For those who care about SP, he said that they're not looking to shrink that portion of the game, including modes etc. as the fans are naturally expecting everything to be bigger and better in the next installment.

I also think they might want to compete with SFVI on that front as that seems to have pretty robust SP content and the T8 reveal trailer made it pretty obvious they're going all out.

For me, the most important thing is that Harada confirmed all the T7 models/animations/assets were scraped and rebuilt from scratch and that he doesn't seem to intend to reduce the technicality of the game, at least judging by how he speaks about the project. Generally, the interview made me think he understands what he's dealing with in terms of gameplay better than Mr Michael "why sidewalk when you can duck and punish" Murray

 

[Amatsubu]

Wonder if they will implement rollback or some equivalent. Never played T7 online, but soul caliburs netcode was poor. Guilty gear strive is basically the gold standard in online play of the recent fighters released.

I'm hoping for proper rollback this time. Harada said he can't comment on it yet but he said that about other elements like story mode so hopefully it doesn't mean it won't be implemented.


No matter how great T8 is, it won't have any long-term success outside offline tournament play if the netcode is hot garbage. SP people will most probably play it for 20h and never touch it again so it's entirely dependent on the quality of its online component. It's a big deal for a series that can take close to a decade for the next installment to be released.

T7's online was wonky, I even remember doing a safe move that put me at -9 frames on block and eating a 10f punish for it a couple of times Dash blocking and sidestep blocking were rather unreliable and the connection quality indicator straight up lied.

Strive is indeed the gold standard for now but with the entire game being rebuilt from scratch, I think they'll put more work into T8's online. I'll remain casually optimistic.

For now, I can't wait to see how other characters look like, wonder if they'll show anything before February (TWT finals is most likely where we'll get to see an extended trailer and the release date).

 

[Amatsubu]

ThIs new Heat mechanic from the trailer worries me. When Jin does fF2, he instantly closes the gap with a dash cancel and Kaz is minus million frames on block by the looks of it so you get a free mix-up Normally, it wouldn't be possible because of pushback. The move was safe on block but that's it, everything resets to neutral.

If this means everyone has a meter now that allows to dash cancel certain moves on block into heavy + frames, then oh boy, it's gonna be a cluster****

That'd still be better than already very good moves like fF2 having this permanently built-in though but, ideally, I hope it's just single-use like Leroy's cane or something.

Anyways, roll on, T8: Geese Howard Edition

 

[Amatsubu]

 

[Amatsubu]

I watched the entire presentation during TWT finals, not a good look IMO. As I feared, the gameplay changes appear to be utterly dumb.
The game's also nowhere near the reveal trailer visually but that was a given.

I called it, everyone has meter. You'll basically get punished for defensive play which used to be the core component of Tekken. They're pushing agression so hard with chip damage from even jab strings and the new Heat system allows for so many + on block situations it's not even funny. Also wiith chip dmg of course. You can get two cancels into dash during Heat when fully charged that are + on block or do some other shenanigans like guard breaks with guaranteed followups, everyone is indeed Geese Howard now. Every char has around FIVE moves that engage Heat automatically, god.

It's nice they're tying in this system in a way that emphasises different characters' strengths but it's bound to be a mess. They think they're giving new players a chance to have an easier time when it's going to be the exact opposite. Newbies will be bombarded with even more +on block situations and will be forced to guess against 50/50s more often while being actively punished for something as fundamental as defending because of chip damage. Let's see how fun it'll be to guess against a King in Heat who can do an armored + on block run-up tackle to mix you up with a grab or a mid when the majority of newbies won't be able to break even generic throws on reaction

AND the more you attack the longer you stay in Heat.

It'll be fun for combos probably because bound is back (most likely replacing screw because if they're both in... oh boy) but that's all.

I'll keep an eye on this but thank god 7 is still played competitively by so many people. Closed alpha will be available for tournament players around April, seems the game is ways off still.

With each new gameplay footage, it looks more and more like an anime fighter..

 

[Amatsubu]

So its not just square square square triangle anymore.... Wowzers.

Anymore? Never was, unless you're talking about mashing with friends after a couple of beers

There are fairly basic techniques in this that are done via JUST the directional inputs that would've been enough to give you carpal tunnel if you tried

And the complexity of each character extends way beyond square and triangle, especially that Tekken uses lp, rp, lk, rk so four buttons are needed for limbs alone in combination with the directions, many of which have a strict time window, hence characters can have movelists that exceed 100+ commands.

It's fairly complex, really, just on the movement side, and then there's all the rest you have to know. But I'm pretty sure T8 will be very fun for drunken mashing judging by the new system
 

 

[Amatsubu]

For me I lost a bit of interest as the graphics did not look anything special at all anymore. That reveal trailer looked awesome and had it stayed that way it would have been a day one purchase from me. As it is I won't be in a rush. If I can get it for around £30 might buy it.

Was more excited for tekken with the reveal trailer, now more excited for street fighter 6.

Also disappointed with the visuals. I mean, I can live with it since I'm more interested in the gameplay but that also looks like it's headed in the wrong direction so...

Not only does it look worse but it just looks... weird and too over the top even for Tekken? I can't quite put my finger on it but that's the impression I get.

Look up Law's rage art on YT, that face... Everything looks plasticky and artificial.

The only hope is that's still early alpha by the looks of it so maybe they can make it look better but reveal trailer it won't be most probably.

 

[Amatsubu]

Always been out of my league to play anything else apart from the basic`s my hands do not do controller combinations well at all especially with the nano second timing that is required. I can maybe manage it on the main buttons but throw in the front two and forget it.

International Karate was still the best game.

International Karate is a classic

 

[Amatsubu]

Tbf there is still time to polish things up, might look better in later builds. After the first trailer was released everyone got a little silly with the "omg looks awesome, its abviously in game graphics". I wont be getting it either way, never really been into Tekken

Yeah, I never believed it'd look as good as the reveal but better than this. The reveal is most likely in-game judging by the analyses I've seen but it's just a part of story mode so they'd souped up everything for that one story moment to hype everyone up and later showed the actual alpha footage, if normal fights ended up being at least close to this level of fidelity it'd be bonkers. And probably way too distracting. There's too much clutter as is, it really reminds me of a 2d fighter and had it not been for that super clean sidestep into wallsplat by Nina I'd have taken it for one

Still, it looks better than SF6 to me even in alpha and it's the only fighting game I started playing more seriously because I like 3d movement and emphasis on stuff like footsies and stepping.
I even like the fact that stuff like effective backdashing had an execution barrier.

Tekken was IMO the most movement-heavy fg before they added unnecessary tracking/homing properties to many moves and introduced a galore of safe on block strings and mid launchers.

Who knows, with the current direction I might actually switch to something else as it seems to be losing its identity, maybe I'll even try SF6 even though it's not exactly my thing. Already played a bunch of 2ds on stick.

The Heat System has the potential to turn the game into a massive cluster**** and people are already having doubts. I won't judge till the closed alpha but so far it's not what I had hoped for.

Well, unless lateral movement has been buffed immensely or they tone everything down, then it might work but we just don't know since they're so hell-bent on showing off aggression, +frames into buttons and not much more.

Can I haz VF6 please?

 

[Amatsubu]

I'll take a VF6, only 3d fighters I've properly played are VF2 and Fighter Megamix on the Saturn, Soul Calibur on the DC. Other than those its all 2d baby

Played VF2 with my cousin when I was a kid, those were the days

 

[Amatsubu]

Kazuya trailer dropped out of the blue. Have to say the visuals look pretty damn good here considering this is a normal fight and the fact that Harada said the lighting is unfinished and the graphics will be tweaked further.
Questionable gameplay choices aside, still too much clutter for my taste but a decent trailer overall. Just please, change the announcer, I can't listen to this with a straight face.

 

[Amatsubu]

It does look a bit better. But again not like what I was hoping for. Hope they improve before launch.

I think it'll look decently close to that reveal once they show that particular stage in those conditions. Lighting and lots of shiny surfaces go a long way, the models and animations are already miles better than 7.

I'm more concerned about gameplay and the new systems which look a bit too bonkers.
Graphics don't mean that much in a fighting game to me, especially that T8 still seems to be the best looking one around.

 

[Amatsubu]

Also, regarding graphics, I think we've forgotten how old 7 is at this point 8 doesn't exactly look like the reveal trailer (hopefully will get tweaked as promised) but to think there are people who argue it's Tekken 7.5 visually...

 

[Amatsubu]

Thery're really going at it, huh. Harada wasn't lying about rebuilding animations and everything from scratch, I wanted to analyse some stuff but I don't know what's happening on the screen for half the video Is this Jin or what?
On a positive note, the character models are pretty excellent and practically of the same quality as the reveal, the lighting on this stage is also way more complete than on the other one they showed. Looks pretty close to reveal actually, with the camera further back and way more colour. The reveal had a lot of rain particles, way darker lighting, close-up camera and lots of motion blur with some cinematic bits in-between. The animations were also different, they were completely changed as the screw state isn't in the game anymore, there's that new "flipover" thing. Wonder how it'll look when they show that stage from the story mode. Not 1:1 probably, but well, the game looks good, IMO.

 

[Amatsubu]

That does look better. Yeah, I will probably buy it on release as long as they don't price it silly. £35 is fair imo.

These companies need to remember that there is no second hand market which they lose sales to and keep pricing under £40. As soon as I se £40 I get well put off. £30-£35 is fair considering they will be selling tons of season passes and other dlc tat.

Wondering about the release date and the base roster, seems we'll be getting character trailers every week or so, probably a couple more of those.

As you say, they'll probably release a bootload of season passes as usual and cash in on those. Ireckon the price of the base game will drop pretty fast.