It's no secret that I'm a Tekken fan. Now I'm playing Tekken 7 and how does it fare for me as a single player? Was the wait worth it? I keep hearing praises for the game's new mechanics such as the Rage Art system (which can give people a chance or at least to lose gracefully in many ways) or it's beginner friendly while going to levels of deep. It has good controls but I thought about it that perhaps Angry Joe wouldn't be too pleased with Tekken 7. Is it me or is the Japanese entertainment industry declining? If so then it's pretty sad considering Japan revolutionized the world with various innovations only to decline later.
I could talk about what I didn't like about Tekken 7. I remembered the 90s and what made people like Tekken -- the intuitive/instinctive gameplay where you used one button per limb (and this was later copied by Mortal Kombat's reboot), the 3D graphics which evolved overtime, the characters and not to mention the animated endings you get rewarded with. Tekken won awards for best endings because of not one not two but almost every character had an animated ending from Tekken 2 onwards. The first game only had endings for the first eight characters but later we get a lot. But what really happened?
I thought about going back to look at Tekken 6 and Tekken Tag Tournament 2 on the seventh generation consoles and compare the contents of Tekken 7. What made me eventually like Tekken better as an adult? Well, it was Tekken 5 of the sixth generation consoles that introduced new stuff such as a story mode for each character (similar to Street Fighter Alpha 3) and the endless mode for those who want to beat up as many opponents as possible. Tekken 6 had the Scenario Campaign but you had to play it to unlock character endings. Tekken Tag Tournament 2 brought back some old school methods to new levels such as returning what Tekken needed -- defeating the arcade mode and having that cool ending play in the end.
I thought about a couple of stuff I was excited about such as the Story Mode. However, I always found that stupid narrator of a reporter FLAT OUT BORING in the English version. Yes, I skip them a lot and watch the cool CGI movies instead. There were some stuff that actually made it interesting such as the quicktime events similar to Soulcalibur 3's endings and Mortal Kombat X's story mode. It was interesting to have a Story Mode with cool CGI scenes. It was interesting to play certain events back in the first game, fight against a couple of NPCs and get into the Tekken lore. I just wish that those idiotic narrration cutscenes which feel like Mortal Kombat's reboot character endings weren't there. IMHO, the narrator of Mortal Kombat's character endings from MK (2011) to MKX has way more power than that! But it was still interesting to get into the Mishima lore but I still prefer MK (2011)'s story mode better.
I thought about going back to look at Tekken 6 and Tekken Tag Tournament 2 on the seventh generation consoles and compare the contents of Tekken 7. What made me eventually like Tekken better as an adult? Well, it was Tekken 5 of the sixth generation consoles that introduced new stuff such as a story mode for each character (similar to Street Fighter Alpha 3) and the endless mode for those who want to beat up as many opponents as possible. Tekken 6 had the Scenario Campaign but you had to play it to unlock character endings. Tekken Tag Tournament 2 brought back some old school methods to new levels such as returning what Tekken needed -- defeating the arcade mode and having that cool ending play in the end.
I thought about a couple of stuff I was excited about such as the Story Mode. However, I always found that stupid narrator of a reporter FLAT OUT BORING in the English version. Yes, I skip them a lot and watch the cool CGI movies instead. There were some stuff that actually made it interesting such as the quicktime events similar to Soulcalibur 3's endings and Mortal Kombat X's story mode. It was interesting to have a Story Mode with cool CGI scenes. It was interesting to play certain events back in the first game, fight against a couple of NPCs and get into the Tekken lore. I just wish that those idiotic narrration cutscenes which feel like Mortal Kombat's reboot character endings weren't there. IMHO, the narrator of Mortal Kombat's character endings from MK (2011) to MKX has way more power than that! But it was still interesting to get into the Mishima lore but I still prefer MK (2011)'s story mode better.
Another one I'd like to tackle is the Arcade Mode. Tekken 7 in the arcade only had what? Five stages! Seriously? I know arcades to supposed to eat quarters but having a very much less engaging game is stupid. Did Katsuhiro Harada's partnership with Capcom cause this travesty? What I wanted to happen was to actually improve and innovate the Arcade Mode like they did before. Remember when you bought a classic Tekken game for your console for the fifth and sixth generation consoles? Remember when Tekken was once a Playstation exclusive? You defeated the game and you freaking get awarded with a good CGI ending. It was really one of those reasons why Tekken got so popular. They evolved that concept overtime with better CGI endings as the games went by. You beat the final boss and you get it. I just loved how those aspects of Tekken 7. But now the Arcade Mode is just a blunt joke of a game. Why didn't they decide to expand the Arcade Game with let's say ten character fights and you get the ending that way like they used to? Instead, you had to play through Character Episodes which I think is a dull addition to the game just like the Arena Mode in Tekken 6.
I could also talk about the Endless Mode which was renamed as Treasure Hunt. I'm quite disappointed at it for these reasons -- gone is the select your next opponent gig and two -- is it me or is it a dumb version of MKX's living towers? I thought about how MKX actually let you try out certain paid downloadable characters for a week though I still hate how "on your face" it was you needed to purchase said characters! For example you had the Goro Premier Tower, the Predator Premier Tower for starters. But here? I wish they had these try out the characters mode because it would really make people think if they wanted said characters! Also, I think Treasure Hunt could have had these alternatives such as Test Our Character out week, a series of challenges like landing seven left kicks in a fight and win more money or something like that along with the Ghost Battle. But no, I wonder if people in Namco are now getting complacent over their past victories that they failed to think on how to innovate for the better?
It had me thinking I hope Harada decides to really reconsider his actions. Some of the changes are good such as the Rage Art system, better graphics, smoother gameplay and the addition of a Story Mode. Yet, one can't deny that sometimes people can get lazy in the digital age. I mean, release a broken game and fix it later and worse make people pay additional for content when they bought the game? I guess Harada unfortunately took some tips from the fictional Corporate Commander. Also, people should stop being made to pay additional just because they could. After all, you freaking bought the game already so why pay more for additional content?
Comments
Post a Comment