How it Feels to Play Tekken 7 (Again)

I know I should be using this space to talk about Indivisible some more, especially since I more or less implied that that was next on the docket.  But I’m shoving the docket aside for now, and not just because it means I can live up to the blog’s title by talking about fighting games some more. 

It’s been a long time coming, but I’m finally back at it again with Tekken 7.  How has the experience been?  Refreshing, to put it simply.  Having dealt with the grind of Smash Ultimate for months on end, and having braved the general inanities of Street Fighter V semi-recently, I’ve been long overdue for a change of pace.  We’re still months away from Guilty Gear 2020, after all (though I’m down to party with Granblue Fantasy VS when it drops).  What other options did I have but to get back into Tekken 7?

I mean, besides like half a dozen other fighting games I could play at this very second.  But I’m in a Tekken mood -- and it’s getting some decisive feelings out of me.

I forgot how much I love Tekken.

I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s worth repeating for context: back in the day, Tekken was my jam.  Relatively speaking; my first experience was with Tekken 5 a while after its original release on the PS2.  But to compensate for not playing Tekken 1-4 -- and Tag Tournament 1, I guess -- I played the crap out of 5.  I pushed deeper and deeper into its various modes and countless battles until I brought my Jin up to the level of Deity.  Granted, I did so in such a way that embedded stupid, horrible habits and strategies into my DNA -- meaning that I’m an ace at Bad Tekken -- but those hours didn’t go to waste.

The thing that’s probably worth keeping in mind is that Tekken is a franchise that means a lot to me. More than Street Fighter, as blasphemous as it sounds. I was barely cognizant back when SFII was making the rounds, and I didn’t touch any version of SFIII until I picked up a cheap copy of the anniversary collection in 2008.  Honestly, I knew Ryu best from Capcom vs. SNK 2, and that should tell you plenty.  The only franchise that rivaled my investment in Tekken was Smash Bros.  And while I’ve played fighters before and after those happy days, it says a lot when it’s the latter I’m playing consistently week after week, and it’s the former I’ve come back to after what might in fact be years of inactivity.

Maybe it’s just because Tekken is there for the rebound after my break-up with Street Fighter.  It’s not outside the realm of possibility.

Here’s the thing about me and Tekken 7 right now: I’ve barely done anything with it so far.  The most notable work I’ve put in is downloading it for my PC -- a 43 GB, 4-hour endeavor, stat-wise.  After that?  I’m in no way ready to tackle the online battlefield yet, because I didn’t even do that when I messed around with the game during its PS4 release window.  I’ve got more dust on me than Kansas in the 1930s; I need to start all over again at step one if I’m going to compete in the online space, or even gain the slightest level of competency.  Real competency.  Not just me facerolling my way through matches thanks to my time as a Bad Tekken lord.

In order to facilitate that, I’m getting out of my comfort zone.  For sure, I hopped into training mode with my mainstay Paul Phoenix to test how well the game would run on my PC.  And for sure, the “best in the universe” is someone I can fall back on as needed (*Death Fist intensifies*).  But I have to do this right.  I have to learn and evolve, not just do the same old thing and rely on crutches.  So I’m diving headfirst into the deep end.  Back in the day, she scared the hell out of me.  Now, until proven otherwise, she’s my new main.

Yep.  I’m trying to pick up Xiaoyu.

Xiaoyu’s different stances give her extra tools in her kit, for sure.  The tradeoff is that you have to know what those tools are, when to use them, and how.  The game AI did back in the day.  I didn’t.  Now, years after the fact, I’m trying to fix that by co-opting her powers as my own.  Here’s my reasoning: from where I’m sitting, Xiaoyu seems like one of the harder Tekken characters to play because (presumably) you have to tap her stances, and thus leave yourself open to attack, for maximum damage output -- as opposed to others who can just keep on swinging. 

But my theory is that if I can learn how to play Xiaoyu, then learning how to play the other characters should be much easier.  Thinking back, there was a time when I thought I could never use Rosalina in Smash because of the skill wall keeping her out of reach; flash forward to the present, and not only is she my best character, but ranked #1 on my Switch with 5.1 million GSP.  I’m looking forward to making lightning strike twice with this new girl.  Failing that?  I’m hoping that I can bewilder future opponents with Xiaoyu’s options and shenanigans.  If I don’t know what I’m doing, then surely, they won’t either.  And that, my friends, is what’s called perfect play.

Like I said, I haven’t done much in Tekken 7 as of writing.  My most substantial activity?  Taking Xiaoyu into training mode so I can, you know, learn her moves.  Kind of an important step, if you ask me.  As I thought, going in with her for the first time was daunting, and not just because of my long absence from the franchise.  What’s her launcher?  What’s her combo filler?  What’s her combo ender?  How do I attack from range?  How do I set up her…uh…setups?  Plenty of questions need answering -- and as is the franchise standard, the answers are somewhere among a move list that reaches over 100.  Per character.

A funny thing happened along the way, though.  The dismay and trepidation slowly gave way to comfort -- a sense that, given enough time and effort, I could crack the code.  That sense came a LOT faster than I expected.  Not only was I putting my own combos together, but trying harder and harder to push myself -- to find optimal ways to squeeze in more hits, more pressure, more chances for BIG DAMAGE.  It stopped being a trial and more of a puzzle I wanted to solve.  Did I succeed?  I’m no Tekken genius, but I made more strides than I thought I would, at least not without a guide on YouTube or a wiki.  The fact that I was able to make that progress, again and again, with little more than cursory knowledge and ingenuity, was a delightful reward.

The game -- no, the franchise in general -- just plain feels good to play.  Having gained ground with Xiaoyu, I feel like I’ve had more fun in training mode than with decisive victories in plenty of other fighting games.  Granted that’s probably because of the low-sodium nature of the single-player experience, but still.  It’s hard to downplay the fact that Tekken as a whole is a masterclass in the “impact factor”, audiovisual tricks and techniques that make you feel every hit, even if you’ve got a dimension or two between you.  Paul’s infamous Death Fist hits harder than the supers from plenty of other games, and it’s not even an irregularity among the cast.  (In terms of raw damage output, maybe.)

I’m wary of using words like “grounded” or “realistic” to describe the game, because it’s part of a franchise where you bat people in the air like they’re helium balloons.  But outlandish characters aside (along with their moves), there’s at least an attempt to make Tekken’s battles feel…well, let’s go with “credible” for expediency’s sake.  There’s not going to be a lot of flying around, or teleporting, or other shenanigans.  You’ll have to walk or run up to your foe, making use of sidesteps and backsteps to play defensively and offensively.  That up-close-and-personal approach is something I appreciate -- which is saying something, coming from a zoning dilletante. It makes battles feel rawer, which works wonders with the dynamite blows you’ll be trading in every match.

Also, I don’t know who got paid to add those slow-mo effects to Tekken 7, but whatever the amount?  It wasn’t enough.

I don’t know what’s in store with me and Tekken.  Probably a lot of loses.  Like, a metric ton of them.  And like Street Fighter and Smash before it, I’m guessing it’s only a matter of time before the honeymoon’s over and I start poking holes in all the niggling little details keeping me from the experience I’m hungry for.  That said, for now it seems like there’s one advantage Tekken will have over its contemporaries: there’s a lot to learn.

I can see it already.  I can feel it.  It’s not just the fact that these characters have over a hundred moves; it’s the application of those moves, the variations of which mean that no two players are guaranteed to fight the same way.  At some point, I’m going to have to learn through countless trials by fire what it means to take on a human opponent, i.e. figure out how to properly attack and defend.  For now, though?  It’s on me to figure out what kind of fighter I want to be.  What kind of fighter I can be, through the sheer freedom of expression and exploration afforded by a game as satisfying as Tekken 7.

And I’ve got to say, it feels so good.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to play dress up with my new main.  As one would.  And should, if we’re being honest.