Will Tekken Soon Get The Crown For "King Of Story Mode In Fighting Games"?

One of the ever-evolving (though not necessarily always progressive as there's always something to correct and improve along the way) innovations ever presented in fighting games is that you get more than just the bare minimum that fighting games should have. Tekken is definitely not an anemic franchise compared to Virtua Fighter. Sure Tekken 1-2 may have already aged badly due to better Tekken games but the franchise itself is still strong as a whole. I could talk about how Tekken 3 tried to keep things fresh with Tekken Force Mode, Tekken 5 had that cool Devil Within mini-game that had interesting bits and pieces of the Tekken Universe. Now it's time to think about the upcoming Tekken 7 for the Playstation 4 and XBox One with its upcoming Story Mode. I guess all the delays is not just for the sake of having more PS4/XBox One units sold so we'll get a huge sale then but also polishing the Story Mode to make sure it's not half-baked!

Let's take a look back at the Playstation 3/X Box One era. Tekken 6 stared the Scenario Campaign which for me wasn't that good. I felt like they could have tried to improvise Mortal Kombat Armageddon's redeemable factor called Konquest Mode. You know have Lars Alexanderson act out like Taven, beat up enemies and fight bosses like Taven fought them in Armageddon rather than the faulty way they were fought in Scenario Campaign. The concept had potential but it wasn't really that great. As said, innovation comes up with something new but it doesn't always mean progress. Sure the first light bulb got invented but it wasn't energy efficient just yet. It took several tries before energy saving bulbs were invented. In between, some of them tend to cost more then modern methods allowed lesser costing more energy efficient bulbs to be made. So always think innovation doesn't get better all the time but we'll find ways on how to make up for the mistakes that come along the way.

After Tekken 6's success, Mortal Kombat VS. DC and later Mortal Kombat (2011) released the Story Mode. It's not just pages of text but you get a lot of rendered cutscenes. It's an interactive Mortal Kombat movie. It's the greatest Mortal Kombat never made for the cinematic universe. The whole cinematic experience was badass in its own way. It was just the beginning of the craze. Four years after Mortal Kombat's reincarnation there was Mortal Kombat X with more content. As much as I think Mortal Kombat X's story is somewhat lacking but the interactive cut scenes (which were taken from Soul Calibur's Arcade Mode way back during the Playstation 2/X Box days) might be a good idea for some player (but not for me) which Netherrealm still understood how to do proper innovation and taking advantage of what modern technology has to offer. It makes Crapcom really look bad ever since they started screwing up post Street Fighter IV series. Oh, Street Fighter V's Story Mode cutscenes sure do look stupid for a new generation game proving that not everything new school is better. Whatever happened to the competency that was present during the Street Fighter IV days?!

Now let's take a look at what Tekken 7 has to offer. I was really reminded of my wish last June 2, 2016 that Tekken 7 will get a Story Mode then it happened. On August 17, 2016 it's revealed that Tekken 7 will get its own version of Story Mode but it will be improvised. Here's what Gamescon said about it:

TEKKEN 7’s engaging story mode is composed of several hours of gameplay (including side stories that players can unlock progressively). Not only can you play as the Mishimas in Story Mode, but there are other arcs that involve fighters outside of the Mishima clan, such as Claudio Serafino, and his group of exorcists.

The Archers of Sirius are a group of exorcists who have been banishing supernatural entities from this world since ancient times. A highly secretive organization, its existence is unknown to the public. Although it is not known how their existence was revealed, the Archers of Sirius were suddenly approached by the Mishima Zaibatsu. They were heavy-handedly requested by the Mishima Zaibatsu to join their conglomerate, but naturally refused. This did not stop the persistent pressure from Mishima Zaibatsu, however.

Eventually, the news of this approach from the Mishima Zaibatsu reached the de facto leader of the Archers of Sirius, Claudio Serafino. Determined to uncover the motives behind the Mishima Zaibatsu’s actions, Claudio begins to investigate the powerful conglomerate.

I think it will be a huge improvement than what Mortal Kombat introduced last 2011 and redid in 2015. After all think of the time that passed by from 2011 up to right now. There's at least five to six years to think, "Mortal Kombat did it! It's an incredibly brilliant idea to keep the fighting game franchise fresh! So how are we going to improvise it!" I guess it's just like how people in later electronic companies just kept thinking, "Now we've got an energy efficient light bulb! We just need to freaking make it better!" While Mortal Kombat X went a little backward with Story Mode's cut but it was still engaging in its own way. But Tekken's trying to think of improving it like they're probably saying, "Mortal Kombat last 2011 actually put everything back in time. Maybe we should do so in our own way by taking us back to past events in our old school era and let players have a better experience!"

Yup, taking back in time in its own way. Just think about it you might actually play Story Mode exclusive characters and not just fight them like it happened in Mortal Kombat X's Story Mode. Mortal Kombat X also had some playable flashbacks during Kung Jin's chapter (which hinted he may be have been a woman in a past life before he was born in the modern era), Sub-Zero's chapter (with his meeting and truce with Scorpion) and Raiden (which revealed more about D'Vorah's involvement some time ago). I guess it won't use the linear storytelling method when we're going to get to play as a younger Kazuya or a younger Heihachi in Story Mode. It may try to improvise Mortal Kombat X's use of flashback in some of the chapters of its Story Mode.

Right now, it's too early to judge but it's highly possible Tekken 7's already got a better Story Mode than what was first introduced during the reincarnated Mortal Kombat game last 2011. What are your thoughts? 

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