Needless to say the reveal of Lei Wulong made me lose my shit!
Anna Williams and Lei Wulong are among the LEGACY characters that have made the primary cast of "Tekken" characters, and it was a shame that they weren't in the first release, but I am glad to have them nonetheless.
To briefly speak of the characters in Tekken, they comprise a wide range of nationalities, cultures, and fighting styles aside from the fantasy fighting style of the Japanese Mishima fighters. From Hwoarang's Taekwondo fighting style (fun fact: Hwoarang-Do is the name of an alternative from of Taekwondo, hence the character's name) to Lei Wulong's character being inspired of Jackie Chan and his utilization of various Chinese Kung-Fu styles to Forrest/Marshall Law's obvious inspiration of Bruce Lee using a Jeet-Kun-Do style.
The Chinese Feng Wei with Chinese Kenpo.
The British Steve Fox with his Boxing style.
The Brazilian Eddy Gordo/Christie Montero with their Capoeira style.
The America Paul Phoenix with his Judo.
Most of these characters are extremely well-crafted and designed, and a personal favorite detail of mine is that in the latest games, they speak their native languages. In "Tekken 7" Eddy Gordo and Katarina Alves speak Portuguese, Hwoarang speaks Korean, Dragunov would probably speak Russian if he had any spoken lines.
I'm just waiting for the day that Ling Xiaoyu speaks Chinese instead of Japanese for once, but it may coincide with the story, so that's irrelevant.
But "Tekken 7" has been making some interesting changes to the franchise.
First off, it has continued the trend of introducing guest characters with Akuma from "Street Fighter" being part of the initial release, Geese Howard from "Fatal Fury" and Noctis from "Final Fantasy XV" being Season 1 DLC releases was really interesting to see.
Personally I am frustrated with Akuma and Geese specifically because I don't feel as if they are properly integrated with the "Tekken" system. What bothers me is they still have their projectile attacks, they also have a Super Meter exclusive to them that alters the properties of attacks in a way that just seems unnatural. Noctis doesn't really have this issue because his weapons are a part of his moveset, he doesn't have a Super Meter, and his 1 projectile isn't unblockable and doesn't do chip damage even if you block it.
Plus I don't like using them because they have weird jump animations that are stiff and don't offer the standard jump-attacks that every "Tekken" character has.
Over time and after playing online quite a bit I realize that isn't too much of an issue regarding game-balance, so it's fairly easy to overlook.
HOWEVER AKUMA'S FOCUS ATTACK NEEDS TO GO! THAT SHIT AIN'T FAIR!
Seeing Geese Howard made sense because fans have compared Heihachi to Geese.
Noctis was a wild card and made me believe that Katsuhiro Harada (the producer of "Tekken" games) was just putting in guest characters that he likes, which is okay.
With the recent introduction of Negan from "The Walking Dead" (something I don't know anything about) I am skeptical of whether or not Harada is trying to mimic Capcom by having a character from a zombie-themed series in "Tekken."
Until the character comes out I will withhold any criticism, in fact I think this is an amazing thing!
Many people believe that the inclusion of these characters from different mediums is meant as a means of cross-promotion, and I think that's awesome! At one point I saw a fan-made speculation of Kenshiro from "Fist of the North Star" as a possible candidate for the next inclusion of new characters.
Part of me believes that the 3 characters that are still a mystery for Season 2 of "Tekken 7" will be LEGACY characters since they have a Black/White color-scheme in the trailer.
Initially I didn't think that "Tekken 7" was the best point in the game's serialization to try this stunt, but if we're being brutally honest, "Tekken 7" is kicking ass right now and all of the risky decisions that they've made have paid off exponentially! I don't think "Tekken" has gotten this much traction in years, and no matter what I personally think about the characters, I am overjoyed to share this series with new people who probably never even heard of "Tekken" before!
So as long as the game doesn't become completely unplayable with the inclusion of characters that come from different mediums and the gameplay doesn't favor characters like Akuma and Geese like they have before, I am on board for whatever ventures await us in this next season.
I'm glad that something like this is coming because it adds onto "Tekken 7's" life span. By this time I was worried if Tekken 7 would be considered dead or if the notoriety was going to die down, but now we are essentially getting a second game with the added game mechanics and characters...Hopefully new stages or modes, maybe?
Personally I would love to have Tekken Force mode return, it was an awesome game mode and it would be hard to see that they can bring back Tekken Bowling but completely disregard Tekken Force.
As far as characters go, I have a few theories on which characters are going to be in this Season 2.
Apparently the Tekken mobile game includes characters like Bruce, Christie, and Craig Marduk, popular characters that weren't in the initial release of "Tekken." They are complete with their own movesets, costumes, and Rage Arts, but for some reason they weren't implemented in the game.
Personally I wouldn't like Bruce or Christie to be in "Tekken 7" because Josie, a new character, has a fighting style that is far too similar to Bruce and Christie would virtually be a clone of Eddie, who is already in the game. Sure she has her own Rage Art, but other than that it's basically the same character. Maybe for the sake of story they would want to add something to her considering that cliffhanger at the end of "Tekken 6" and Eddie's character ending in "Tekken 7" was a straight-up joke (ANOTHER REASON TO HATE LUCKY CHLOE).
As far as LEGACY characters go I really want to see Julia/Michelle (Really just Julia since Michelle's...she's dead right?), Kunimitsu, maybe Ogre/True Ogre or Jun Kazama.
There's a world of possibilities for returning characters including Ganryu, the Sumo Wrestler, Bruce Irvin the kickboxer, etc.
(Legit looked it up, Michelle's not dead)
Considering that this is the conclusion of the Mishima Saga, I would be disheartened if they just completely wrote off Jun and Ogre, considering they were very important to the story at one point.
Even if they don't appear in Season 2 of "Tekken 7" I still think that with this much popularity there is a chance for "Tekken 7" to possibly get a Season 3 or some more special stuff to extend it's life cycle and longtime fans can probably get some more love.
As far as guest characters go, I really don't care, nor do I have any personal interest in seeing any fighters from other games, comics, or even anime appear in "Tekken" because I'm so used to the classical characters in that franchise.
Not gonna lie, I did think that Kenshiro was a cool idea, but I personally would rather have more of the LEGACY characters before I even think about new additions.
-END
Thus concludes my Feat of Fandom for my Favorite Fighting game of all time, so until I start making unnecessary rants again, enjoy yourselves and
Get Ready For The Next Battle!
P.S: I'm gonna have Devil Jin as my main again, so if you see me get ready for an ass-kickin.
P.S 2: Or if Harada-san is listening to me and brings Angel back because I like the idea of playing as a good character rather than a demon and her moveset is already similar to Devil Jin I can rock that too.
Seriously, I know she's not canon and is only in the Tekken Tag games but PLEASE bring Angel to Tekken 7!!
