Tekken 8 | Season 1 Trailer

[Mr EliteL]

I think I saw that leak when I wasn't even looking for it, ugh stupid people making a video/short/community post, I forgot which of those I saw it on, and those who were in it did not look like the T8 model style/deisgn so I disregarded what I saw, thankfully. I only remember one character in there anyway.

T7 introduced Leroy, Fahkumram and Lidia as brand new Tekken characters but those were in later Seasons and not 1 or 2 which were planned. I'm doubting a new character for the first Season for T8 anyway, likely all veterans but if not then a single guest character.

[Moonface]

I think I saw that leak when I wasn't even looking for it, ugh stupid people making a video/short/community post, I forgot which of those I saw it on, and those who were in it did not look like the T8 model style/deisgn so I disregarded what I saw, thankfully. I only remember one character in there anyway.

T7 introduced Leroy, Fahkumram and Lidia as brand new Tekken characters but those were in later Seasons and not 1 or 2 which were planned. I'm doubting a new character for the first Season for T8 anyway, likely all veterans but if not then a single guest character.

I didn't see anything image based for the leak and if any of them tried using an image for a new character that's just stupid. Unless the official art leaked in any way how would anyone know what that character looks like to make a convincing image?

A new character straight out of the gate for DLC would be awful I think for any fighting game. After some time sure because ideas can happen after a game ships but anything in S1 will likely already be planned and getting developed, so a new character should be base roster and not in that.

Also looks like Yoshi might be the next trailer. Just saw an image of someone asking for him next on social media and an official account replied with "Soon".

[Mr EliteL]

I just uh watched a video or two, they've let some people including content creator TheMainManSWE try out the retail version of Tekken 8. There's videos coming out too by other people, by IGN, other content creators and one was on the costumes of all characters. I was adamant at first but once I saw TMM's video which I bet if they didn't want anyone posting videos there wouldn't be anything except like a quick impression. Watched TMM's overall thoughts where he mentions he got some time with Story Mode, only four chapters or something and obviously didn't spoil any of that (others are spoiling Chapter 1 I've seen so far but don't want to keep looking), as well as Arcade Quest plus trying out characters and saying it's going to be the best Tekken game yet. He also did a video on Lee which I couldn't resist....and well damn I am so excited to play Lee.

Oh, no wonder there's an announcement for everyone to play the first Chapter.

Tekken 8 demo PS5 - Thursday 14th December
Tekken 8 demo Xbox/Steam - Thursday 21st December

Now why Xbox and Steam have to wait a week is a mystery, but whatever. I shall be playing then this Thursday!

[Moonface]

I doubt I'll buy the game but stuff it, I'll try out the demo on Thursday. Were any details given as to what the demo includes?

[Moonface]

Tekken 8 | Yoshimitsu Trailer



Guess the person who asked for Yoshimitsu to be next on social media got their wish.

Decent trailer, but everyone trying to use a gun against Yoshi just kept reminding me of this:

[Mr EliteL]

Ah, you beat me to it.  

Found out the demo will include the first Chapter of Story Mode as well as play through (I believe some of) Arcade Quest and will be able to play local Versus Mode, however only Jin, Kazuya, Nina and Paul will be the only characters available for those two modes.

Darn, only four characters tomorrow to play as, I may as well use Jin here. Yoshimitsu looks great though, new moves plus new animations for existing moves too, I was wondering if the sword would possess him more this time seeing how he has red special effects and the armour design but guess not.

[Moonface]

Tekken 8 | Story Trailer
Hope. Power. It's time to finish this, once and for all.

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Okay, it didn't have the music to be on par with T7's Rage & Sorrow trailer but I do think it was a far better story trailer than what T7 got and managed to actually get me a little excited despite having been checked out of playing Tekken games after T6 (I never really played much of TTT2 so view T6 as the last game I was fully in on).

I'm surprised it didn't mention once the stipulation Kazuya gives for the new King of Iron Fist Tournament but I guess that only matters for why he's holding another tournament and not so much a factor in the actual story going on.

Kazuya's Devil form looks sick and seems to be new? I don't recognize it from any of the other games where his Devil form was given an upgraded look.
I already disliked that Azucena's character is just "I drink/promote coffee" but now I just see her as a total piece of shit for siding with Kazuya and G-Corp just because it helps her coffee brand. I'd play the story of this game just to see her canonically get her shit shoved all the way in and out the other side for that line alone. XD

[Mr EliteL]

Kazuya's Devil design was update in T7 and now even further for T8, perhaps more of what they were aiming for this time? If you haven't played the demo yet he gives the reason why another tournament is held, just something along the lines of (not an actual quote) "if you're strong enough to stand against or with me, then come here and prove it."

I was kinda surprised to learn Azucena is randomly siding with Kazuya like that. Leroy being her partner in business, think he'll have something to say about it as he's against Kazuya. Given how many characters there are, I guess they've made her side that way because Jin/Lars rebellion side will have more than Kazuya's, unless there's other really random turns out of nowhere. Nina even though she never was good and is an assassin for hire, just very easily switched despite recently working alongside Jin to likely against him now.

[Moonface]

Oh I knew the reason why he holds a new tournament before I played the demo and that it gets shown in the demo, which is why I was surprised the trailer didn't cover it or even just use the line of him announcing the next tournament, given how it's the sole reason anyone fights in these games.

I do love how everyone on the roster has canonically entered the tournament but are all "Jin is our only hope to beat Kazuya" as if none of them could win, yet entering and not winning means your country gets nuked.
I also assume that means no one is going to lose a fight in the tournament unless it goes so far with the story to actually delete a country. I like to think that the reason some characters aren't in T8 is because they heard that rule and went "well fuck I ain't that good" and noped out. XD

[Mr EliteL]

Haha that's a good in-game reason some characters could have pulled out. Got too big for them, even though they took part in T6/T7 which was part of the war going on.

Anyway next trailer;

Tekken 8 | Shaheen Gameplay Trailer



Time to surf, boys! No really, it's time to surf boys, girls and bears.  Shaheen makes his return and he certainly does look better than his T7 self at least. I still won't bother using him much or not at all though.

[Moonface]

I saw comments on the Shaheen trailer when it first came out but didn't watch it myself until now, and a vast majority were expressing a very strong dislike for the character. Watching the trailer I can see why, because as a character he has nothing going for him when it comes to personality. Shaheen wanting revenge on Kazuya for his friend is rather dull when Eddy already had that plot line but done way better.


Also, I played the demo and here are my thoughts:

• Story Mode was definitely the highlight and the only thing I had no criticisms for. Unfortunately, everything was downhill for me after finishing it and going into the other modes.
  
• Arcade Quest as it was presented in the demo is fucking atrocious. From a raw gameplay standpoint, it's fine, but what I hate is the excessive amount of dialogue. Move prompts on the left side of the screen that I couldn't turn off, a stupid pop-up every time I did a combo, Heat move or won a round that looks like it was plucked straight from Facebook Live, and every time my health was low enough to enter Rage a dialogue box had to accompany it telling me to be careful and obscuring the lower third of the screen, which was wonderful when trying to read attacks from characters who were using low kicks that got obscured by the dialogue box. If everyone could just shut the fuck up and let me play instead of covering my screen with garbage the mode would've been significantly more fun for me.
  
• The mode to train your own ghost is good, but seems very buggy at the start when the AI doesn't know much. I had one fight where the AI ghost chose to take a nap and just lay on the floor permanently once it was taken off its feet, which then highlighted that very few attacks (at least for Paul) will connect with an opponent doing that. I had this happen for a few rounds before the AI finally learned how to pick itself up, but it was painful having to deplete most of a health bar with weak low attacks because it wouldn't get up.
  
• Heat Engagers are irksome. I may be wrong but I got the impression the face button combo to trigger it isn't the same per character because I found I'd trigger it even when trying to actively not use X and Triangle at the same time. I'd rather it just be only tied to L1 so it can't be triggered by accident.
  
• I think I know what my gripe is with Tekken in general since T6, which is the complete lack of any sense of progression in the game anymore. Having everyone unlocked right away feels like entering a cheat code in an old school game to unlock everything, and it just isn't for me. I prefer characters being locked and each one having a full Arcade mode run to unlock their endings, not just for the satisfaction but also because for me it gave me a reason to actually try every character. I don't care to try out all 32 characters off my own back and the Story mode seems to be the only thing that will give me different characters for an actual reason.
  
• Although the demo is limited, I can just tell the lack of mode variety would kill it for me. Tekken Ball would be neat, but besides that most of the other modes are all just the same thing. By this, I don't mean I expect something other than fighting. What I mean is that for me, Arcade, Time Attack, and Survival are all different in that the goal isn't the same in each. You can play the classic style, see how fast you can clear an Arcade run, or see how many rounds you can survive endlessly until you lose. T8 is just basically all fight to increase a rank and get some currency, and I found myself getting bored with the demo rather quickly just doing the same thing over and over again.
  

[Mr EliteL]

Eh, yeah I do agree with some of your points, the no more unlocking characters and Arcade Quest having Max comment on almost everything you do during gameplay got annoying. I can see why they made Arcade Quest to try and bring back the feel of an Arcade but doubt people acted like the avatar characters, so a story is shoe-horned in just so you can build to up to play against Orochi...think his name was. The Online Lobby was enough for the Arcade feel and you could actually play with real friends/players. Something for the newer players I suppose, but also a sort of twist for training too, kinda. I'd still prefer Practice though. Perhaps a choice for Max's speech can be turned off in the release version, but won't get my hopes up. Just maybe there'll be DLC for a different mode like Bowl was for T7, even though I'd rather any other modes be included from the get-go like they used to be.

I'm not 100% on Heat Engagers yet so can't confirm anything myself, I also had that with my ghost at first too. Surely the default would have the ghost get up normally but nah. I should try the demo again some time before the full game comes out, I know I didn't fight all the Avatar characters in Super Ghost Battle so must do that at least.

[Moonface]

The story for Arcade Quest doesn't bother me; it's there to serve as a way to keep things moving forward and I guess wants to try and emulate the feel of getting into the fighting game scene or something. That said, if that's the tone it wants to try and capture it needs to provide the consequences that also come with it, by which I mean make a loss mean something all the time. If you lose against a regular ghost/opponent it doesn't seem to matter much but at least you do lose, whereas the tournament you get put into at the end of the demo AQ makes it impossible to lose. When I can lose in that and just get to redo the fight until I win it loses all the feel and risk of an actual tournament where a loss means you're out. Even if the game just makes you restart the entire tournament, that would be better than just letting you retry without losing progress.

You having the same problem with your ghost means it definitely needs fixing for release then. Even if the AI has to start off utterly brain dead it can at least have the knowledge to get up off the floor.

[Moonface]

Tekken 8 | Kuma Trailer

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That finisher at the end of the trailer had me in the first half, not gonna lie.

[Mr EliteL]

Seeing Heihachi moves mixed in with Kuma's moves, wondering if he'll get it and he did, they really gave Kuma Electric Wind God Fist....or rather without the Electric part, so it's really Bear God Fist...or Wind Bear Fist. They also made the Salmon part of his moveset too instead of only in his Rage Art, as if bear claws aren't already considered a lethal weapon.

I'm now thinking trailers will be normal until the last week where the rest (two or three) will release then, because there was only one last week and one this week, where I thought one of them could have two as an Xmas treat. Ah well. Panda should be next.