Declining the T7 character for Tekken 8 balance is a double-edged sword

first year of Tekken 8 is closing in, and the 3D fighting game is off to a strong start. DLC practice and controversies in the first context Tekken 8 The Tekken World Tour iteration is hot on its heels, but the game is generally in good shape. Fans are enjoying this entry's improved netcode compared to before, and its focus on aggression through the heat system is even better than some veteran players feared. With another Season 1 DLC character on the horizon, Future Tekken 8 Looks bright.

Helping matters along is Bandai Namco's action/fighting game lead producer Katsuhiro Harada. However, he has resigned from the post Tekkenwith the director's chair T8 After that he became the primary director of the series Tekken 3He is still involved in internal and external affairs. That includes public relations, and Harada has spent the last few years not only running podcasts and attending major events, but also posting development insights on social media, including important information that might help some. Tekken 8The worst controversies. One of his November 2024 tweets also revealed a remarkable rationale behind it Tekken 8 Roster cut, but following that logic in future games could be risky.

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Tekken 8's roster may be bigger, but it's still missing a lot of fan favorites

While the latest Tekken's 32-character base roster is one of the most impressive in the entire series, several fighters still had to be left out.

Why Tekken 8 left Tekken 7's Eliza behind

On November 18, Harada addressed a fan asking Tekken Revolution and Tekken 7 Join the character Eliza Tekken 8. Although Harada also loves the narcoleptic vampire, she is unlikely to return due to development challenges. ELIZA is widely regarded as a test Tekken 7The guest fighters, Akuma and Geez, all three had meter-based mechanics and accessible projectiles. She wasn't a competitive terror like the other two “2D characters”, but sharing their quirks gave Eliza a unique challenge with some tuning of her own. Tekken 7Long life.

Eliza's ability added unnecessary work to Tekken's updates

Changing Eliza's parameters also risked making her too weak or too strong compared to the rest Tekken 7Roster of. The Tekken The franchise has always included unnecessary elements in fighters to improve balance and development flow, so making such a big departure was bound to cause problems. Eliza frequently angers the battle tuning staff and some tournament players for not being labeled as broken like her meter-using peers, which Harada implies is the reason she doesn't get to play it. Tekken 8. Some argue that losing Eliza is a fair price to pay for giving up Akuma and Geez as well, but this argument could be dangerous if it sticks around.

Future Tekken games may not allow balance character slots to be determined

If Eliza is left behind because she's unique in a problematic way, one has to wonder if other characters can be cut. Tekken 9 For the same reason. It is a sensible and easy solution to relieve headaches TekkenThe long-term balance is tight, but those fighters kill every problematic character who risks becoming even more controversial than they were in their prime. Eliza was only meant for a live-service spin-off Tekken Revolution And then a mainline game, but developer frustrations can also hurt with unnecessary returns Tekken characters if they are bad enough.

Tekken 8's Dragunov is in danger of chasing Elijah

is Sergei Dragunov Tekken 8The current goal of He is a silent Russian soldier who joined Tekken 5But his strike hit inside Tekken 7. Dragunov's atypical moveset uses a straight poking approach, but his versatility and high damage make him dangerous in skilled hands. Tekken 7 After years of discomfort made him humble, but Tekken 8’s heat system synergized so well with the aggressive Dragunov that he topped the tier list for several months. And yet, as of late October, Harada pegged him as the fifth most used character worldwide. Fixing Dragunov will probably come later Tekken 8's life, but his repeated crimes may have long-term consequences that his fans will feel the most.