The developers of Tekken 8 will release an “emergency patch” later this month, in response to players furious over the balance changes brought to the game’s second season.
Even before the second season, Tekken 8 was criticised by players for its aggressive gameplay that lacked the more technical aspects of previous entires. In the patch notes for the latest update, released earlier this week, Bandai Namco acknowledged the prevalence of “one-sided match developments” and detailed a string of changes intended to re-balance the game.
However, community feedback to the changes has been overwhelmingly negative, leading to an “emergency patch” and other fixes on the way.
The patch – scheduled for mid to late April – will tweak two moves in particular for Paul and Jack-8, which both have unintentional uninterruptable effects.
“The causes of the two high-priority issues shown in the image have been identified, and fixes are currently underway,” a thread on social media reads.
“Additionally, we are also working on identifying and fixing the causes of other behaviour-related character issues and a malfunction in the Options settings.”
The patch will additionally “include some of the adjustment items previously announced in the patch notes under ‘Future Adjustments’, notably the throw break chip damage change.”
Further changes are also promised, based on feedback from the community.
Tekken boss Katsuhiro Harada wrote on social media: “In any case, it is clear to me that the result is a disconnect between what the community wants and the tuning results. I understand that whatever words I may be accused by the community about it, that is not the essential issue and it is not the time to worry about it. We have our Battle & Tuning team working around the clock to read through all the feedback logs from the community and work on future policies and changes for the better.”
Perhaps, though, these changes are arriving too late. Many pro players are already threatening to leave the game entirely due to the balance issues (thanks IGN).
“I have been optimistic about this game and the balancing direction since release but it feels like enough is enough and we’ve definitely reached that point. This does not feel like Tekken AT ALL,” wrote pro player JoKa on social media.
“Characters getting buffed even in the slightest is not the way along with more stance-based transitions where 50/50 situations are enhanced. Some of the new moves added are insane with little to no counterplay. Characters getting their weaknesses patched and identities being removed by homogenisation is lazy balancing. Oki being gutted and heat just getting buffed makes no sense. Combo damage is too much across the whole roster. I definitely think the sidesteps are better but does that really matter when moves exist with crazy tracking/hitboxes? Chip damage is still excessive with most heat smashes remaining the same. Removing strategy in favour of more 50/50 situations isn’t interesting gameplay and is moving away from the foundation of Tekken.”
Other players have described it as the “worst patch in Tekken history”, or have been left “really sad” as they consider the future of the game.
Over on Steam, recent reviews have dropped to “Overwhelmingly Negative” due to the changes.
“No one literally no one asked for these changes, even new players never asked for more offense in a game that clearly lacks defensive options and is easy to mash button and win like in most Tekken games,” reads one review. Another describes it as “the most disappointing iteration of the franchise”.
Season Two also sees Anna Williams return to the roster, as the first new fighter of this season’s Character Pass.
When Anna’s design was first revealed, Harada responded to fan feedback to curb toxicity.