Selling over 3 million copies over the past year since it’s launch, Tekken 8 took the fighting game world last year. Especially after the success Tekken 7 was. Unfortunately, the release of its second season back in April of this year has brought some controversy for the game. Especially in the competitive scene that has impacted the history of the game. But why has this update changed how the community feels about Tekken 8?
What Season 2 Has Added?
Before Season 2, Tekken 8 had a few balance issues with some characters either being too powerful or underpowered. And with gameplay that is focused on offence over defence. The new update instead doubles down on these aspects, making characters all strong and lean more on offensive gameplay, making even more issues for the game rather than fix them, this has caused players like Knee to speak out towards this change.
The Changes to Heat Dashes in Tekken 8 Season 2
One change involves an alteration to Heat Dashes. For context, a Heat Dash is when you enter Heat Mode, immediately go for a Heat Engager move and hold going forward. This allows you to extend your combos and push forward onto your opponent. Causing pressure and forcing them into a defensive playstyle, all this at the cost of your Heat Mode. However, with the Season 2 update, players can perform more than one Heat Dash one after another, turning it into a guessing game for the opponent if they should continue blocking or suffer major damage for it.
Player Reaction To Tekken 8 Season 2.
Pro players began to complain about this new update. Saying how the game doesn’t feel like Tekken anymore, and how they considered ditching the game entirely because of it. This has caused the game to be negatively reviewed on platforms like Steam, showing that the public opinion, both casual and competitive, are not in favour of the changes to the game and it’s characters. As shown in this video of all character changes.
And while the update before had its issues, it was far more composed and balanced to what Season 2 has done to the game. It’s gotten so bad that the players who have ditched the game have moved on to different fighting games like Street Fighter 6. Although that game also has its problems like drive rush and drive rush cancels. It all shows that unless the developers, Bandai Namco and Tekken Project go back and fix the changes. Not just in the next season, but in a new update. Then Tekken 8 will become one of the most controversial games in the franchise.
How Could Tekken 8 Devs Fix?
Months after Season 2 came out, Tekken 8 has had small updates to the game that has changed the game dramatically. Including buffs to defensive stats and characters getting nerfed. However the game is still aggressive. Even with stuff like side stepping being strengthened but tracking on certain moves has also been increased. The developers are aware of the impact Season 2 has brought to the game. And that they originally believed that this would balance the game. So they are now planning multiple patches to hopefully bring the game into the hopes that the competitive scene wants the game to be.
Words from Tekken 8 creator, Katsuhiro Harada
For the game’s creator, Katsuhiro Harada as he noted in this interview, Tekken 8 was different to what they knew. Considering they usually made arcade versions of the games first, then made home releases after a few years to make a better form of the game. With Tekken 8 they only made the console version as the first version of the game.
What Happens Now?
With all of this, all we can do is wait and see what the dev team, Harada and the community will do when it comes to fixing the game. This has shown that players voices can be heard. And that change can happen when a game has diverged from what made it great. And that this is an example towards changing a game too much from what it originally was. Who knows where Tekken 8 will go from here.
