I gotta say, Tekken CAN be fun... However, most of the time it isn't. Don't get me wrong, getting good and learning to improve can be a great deal of fun. It takes a really long time to learn movement, punishment, knowing when to sidestep, mastering your character, knowing ground game, and throw breaks. The moment you start to get better at those things, it becomes addictive, and you don't want to put the game down.

Problem is... They buffed EVERYONE when the whole community was asking for nerfs. "Let's focus on defense," they said. They certainly did with the sidestep stuff, but the UNGA BUNGA BUFFED offense made the defensive changes irrelevant. Let's say you lose a single neutral interaction: get ready for STANCE RUSHDOWN! PLUS FRAME HOMING MIXUP!!!!!! AUTOPARRY STANCE MIXUP!!!!!! I LOVE MIXUPS!!!!!! OH, YOU'RE KNOCKED DOWN AT THE WALL??? GET READY FOR YET ANOTHER OKI MIXUP!!!! Guess wrong and you die :) Call this ♥♥♥♥ Mashin 8. Trackin 8. Guessin 8. Because this part of Tekken sure ain't Tekken, that's for sure.

The meta is this: Win 1 single interaction: Use that to either snowball the opponent with plus frames/option select moves that cover most options, OR, you launch the opponent. EVERYONE has good combo damage and length, too. Don't worry about the execution being so hard because that's actually not the hard part. The hard part is just waiting for the combo to end, they REALLY CAN last forever. And get this... INSANE WALL TRAVEL ON EVERYONE TOO!! Once you reach the wall, the health bar will have almost nothing left. Oh, and I almost forgot. The wall combo will usually put you at frame advantage and put you right in front of your helpless opponent, so just do another oki/stance mix-up!! Yippee!! Fun, right???? Or if you're feeling frisky, do a plus frame homing move and THEN apply your mix!!! Great game design, truly.
Oh, and if you end up losing that 1 single interaction, you're probably just straight up dying lmao.

I play Kazuya, a solid A-tier, and they buffed him. HE DID NOT NEED BUFFS. If anything, he needed nerfs! Why not nerf Kazuya's D1+2? Jin's D2 (Basically same move) got nerfed, but not Kazuya's? And don't even get me started on the "adding to heatbar" mechanic that Season 2 brought. Especially on Kazuya who DOES NOT NEED THAT, he is already strong enough, it feels UNFAIR getting another Heat Interaction after landing an enhanced hellsweep, wtf were they thinking???? smh. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥, the buffs on some of these characters are MIND BOGGLING (Bryan, Jun, ♥♥♥♥♥-rang, Asuka, King, etc) They make Jin "balanced" by nerfing the OP stuff like D2 and 214, then BUFF him with WR 3 into plus frame mixup??? His 2 4 STILL being a straight blender move with stance pressure????

I went back and played Tekken 7; it still has some cheese, but defense is WAY more rewarding. The concept of "Playing your Turn" feels way more interesting and respected. And the crazy Vortex of PlusFrame/WallSplat/Heat Engager/God Moves aren't there either, which is a plus!!! Characters don't have the same amount of power creep as in Tekken 8, and MOST characters have weaknesses in Tekken 7, WHICH TEKKEN 8 NEEDS!! Characters simply do too much in Tekken 8.

This was Bandai-Namco's philosophy for Season 2: Let's add more homing wall-splat plus-frame mix-up moves on half of the cast. It's too many 50/50s bruh I can't. 1 step forward, 10 steps back.
Season 3 better nerf (I ♥♥♥♥ you not) 75% of the whole roster. ♥♥♥♥ is just too scrubby. Please change this joint Bandai-Namco. NERFS PLEASE!!!!!!!!!

I gotta say, Tekken CAN be fun... However, most of the time it isn't. Don't get me wrong, getting good and learning to improve can be a great deal of fun. It takes a really long time to learn movement, punishment, knowing when to sidestep, mastering your character, knowing ground game, and throw breaks. The moment you start to get better at those things, it becomes addictive, and you don't want to put the game down. Problem is... They buffed EVERYONE when the whole community was asking for nerfs. "Let's focus on defense," they said. They certainly did with the sidestep stuff, but the UNGA BUNGA BUFFED offense made the defensive changes irrelevant. Let's say you lose a single neutral interaction: get ready for STANCE RUSHDOWN! PLUS FRAME HOMING MIXUP!!!!!! AUTOPARRY STANCE MIXUP!!!!!! I LOVE MIXUPS!!!!!! OH, YOU'RE KNOCKED DOWN AT THE WALL??? GET READY FOR YET ANOTHER OKI MIXUP!!!! Guess wrong and you die :) Call this shit Mashin 8. Trackin 8. Guessin 8. Because this part of Tekken sure ain't Tekken, that's for sure. The meta is this: Win 1 single interaction: Use that to either snowball the opponent with plus frames/option select moves that cover most options, OR, you launch the opponent. EVERYONE has good combo damage and length, too. Don't worry about the execution being so hard because that's actually not the hard part. The hard part is just waiting for the combo to end, they REALLY CAN last forever. And get this... INSANE WALL TRAVEL ON EVERYONE TOO!! Once you reach the wall, the health bar will have almost nothing left. Oh, and I almost forgot. The wall combo will usually put you at frame advantage and put you right in front of your helpless opponent, so just do another oki/stance mix-up!! Yippee!! Fun, right???? Or if you're feeling frisky, do a plus frame homing move and THEN apply your mix!!! Great game design, truly. Oh, and if you end up losing that 1 single interaction, you're probably just straight up dying lmao. I play Kazuya, a solid A-tier, and they buffed him. HE DID NOT NEED BUFFS. If anything, he needed nerfs! Why not nerf Kazuya's D1+2? Jin's D2 (Basically same move) got nerfed, but not Kazuya's? And don't even get me started on the "adding to heatbar" mechanic that Season 2 brought. Especially on Kazuya who DOES NOT NEED THAT, he is already strong enough, it feels UNFAIR getting another Heat Interaction after landing an enhanced hellsweep, wtf were they thinking???? smh. Holy shit, the buffs on some of these characters are MIND BOGGLING (Bryan, Jun, Whore-rang, Asuka, King, etc) They make Jin "balanced" by nerfing the OP stuff like D2 and 214, then BUFF him with WR 3 into plus frame mixup??? His 2 4 STILL being a straight blender move with stance pressure???? I went back and played Tekken 7; it still has some cheese, but defense is WAY more rewarding. The concept of "Playing your Turn" feels way more interesting and respected. And the crazy Vortex of PlusFrame/WallSplat/Heat Engager/God Moves aren't there either, which is a plus!!! Characters don't have the same amount of power creep as in Tekken 8, and MOST characters have weaknesses in Tekken 7, WHICH TEKKEN 8 NEEDS!! Characters simply do too much in Tekken 8. This was Bandai-Namco's philosophy for Season 2: Let's add more homing wall-splat plus-frame mix-up moves on half of the cast. It's too many 50/50s bruh I can't. 1 step forward, 10 steps back. Season 3 better nerf (I shit you not) 75% of the whole roster. Shit is just too scrubby. Please change this joint Bandai-Namco. NERFS PLEASE!!!!!!!!!