Tekken legend DRX Knee has voiced major concerns over Season 2 of Tekken 8, breaking down 9 key issues from overpowered combos and homing mids to casual-friendly design. His insights have sparked agreement across Twitter and Reddit.
DRX's Bae "Knee" Jae-min has posted his honest feedback of Tekken 8's controversial Season 2 update, explaining the nine key areas which require improvement.
Knee is widely regarded as the biggest competitive player in Tekken 8's modern history alongside ArslanAsh. Knee was the highest earning player in Tekken 7, and the 2nd highest earning player in Tekken 6. So it's fair to say his opinion of Season 2 is definitely worth listening to.
Knee’s Tekken 8 Season 2 Feedback Summary
While Knee is only one of many players to voice concerns over Season 2, his recap of the issues perfectly summarises the main issues the wider community has with it.
Knee broke down his analysis of Season 2 into 9 categories on Twitter:
- Combos
- Mind Games
- Heat Moves
- Removed Legacy
- Stances
- Range and Plus Frames
- 50/50s
- Chip Damage
- Beginner advantage
Below you can find his exact quote for each of the 9 issues, as well as additional context provided by myself - a fellow Tekken player. If you're unfamiliar with the extent of the changes, check out our Tekken 8 Season 2 patch notes article.
1. Long combos hurt game balance
"In the past, the combo was simple and short, but it wasn't fun? no it was easy to teach beginners. But now, I have to teach them the tailspin, but it's also difficult. And the tailspin is so strong that it goes in twice, and it makes the combo long. How about tailspin only once?"
Context: By tailspin, Knee is referring to special attacks that expand combos after a tornado property attack. For example, Feng's uf 3, Nina's db 2 or Dragunov's df 3+4. In Tekken 8 Season 2, new strings have been discovered and moves added that capitalise on tailspin. For example Kazuya now has ss 4,1 tailspin.
Overall these additions mean players have more options to deal over 100 damage, which is more than 50% of total health. For example this Jun string shared by @R17uyu deals 110 damage (assuming you can reach the wall).
2. Sidestepping is too risky now
"Kazuya, he's main moves was weak to left ss, so high level skill is holding the axis and catch left ss, but now you don't care left ss, They added mid safe homing. Simple concepts in this way seem simple to look at, and they're less fun. Fighting games are boring if they're easy. They get bored of it early. Too many mid safe homing has been added. It would be nice if the player had a sidestep option."
Context: Knee's next point is a common complaint of Season 2 from other creators such as PhiDX, MainManSWE and K-Wiss. In the lead-up to the Season 2 launch, the dev team mentioned that they would be buffing sidestepping, allowing players to even buffer it while in recovery frames.
Furthermore, characters can now sidestep right while crouching, previously impossible in older Tekken titles. That said, while sidestep is more possible, the devs added far more homing moves that will still hit players if they sidestep. On top of that many are mid-safe homing moves, discouraging sidesteps. This has caused major frustration given the promise to buff defence in Season 2.
3. Heat Moves: Now Too Imbalanced to Be Competitive?
"Now the heat is unbalanced. Someone recover the heat bar, someone too much heat bar, someone have too much strong move in the heat. There are a lot of moves with less risk, but the rewards are big. Just because it's a heat moves. I hope it's consistent. heat recovery is unfair."
Context: For Season 2, many characters were given the option to perform Heat Smash or Heat Burst from their unique stances. This was previously not possible, and as result it has made these moves easier to perform and harder to predict. Furthermore, certain characters who had "limited tactical options during Heat" were given new Heat-exclusive moves to "make their Heat state more appealing and dynamic".
4. Legacy knowledge is being ignored
"The legacy knowledge has been removed. air moves can't be low parry or hold move can't parry. There are more besides this. So we have no way to tactic with certain situations. Did it have to be removed?"
Context: This issue of legacy knowledge is one of the most common complaints from seasoned players. Due to the increase in homing moves, the skill of knowing weaknesses of characters from playing Tekken 8 and previous titles is now less relevant. Kazuya for example, has historically had a weakness to sidestep left, learning this was part of mastering the match-up. However, Season 2 has given Kazuya options to mitigate that weakness. Changes like these have been seen as a dumbing down in the complexity of Tekken.
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5. Too many stance mix-ups and heat burst
"It's making the game complicated and ridiculous. It's looks unnatural. dev team think players would like it? Rather, it looks unnatural. It's an excessive change. I think it brings a limitation of style because I only use it."
Context: Stances are not new in Tekken 8, but for Season 2 characters were given more options from stances. In addition, they can now enter a crouching state after activating Heat. On top of being able to use Heat Smash or Heat moves from stance as mentioned earlier.
The stance changes are so powerful that it seems counter-intuitive to not use them all the time. This has led to a lack of diversity in style, plus a bigger learning curve for new players to learn what's coming.
6. Too many plus frame and long range moves
"Characters with weapons have a very long range. It needs to be adjusted. Plus frame is too much when block. +7 +9 There are a lot of things like this. These things only produce selfish play. People got a lot of stress."
Context: When Tekken 8 launched Yoshimitsu was the only weapon character. However, both of the last two DLC characters Clive and Anna are weapon wielders, boasting incredibly long range attacks against enemies typically without an equivalent outside of Heat. Knee shared the opinion that he feels characters with weapons need to have their range adjusted.
He also voiced concerns over characters in Season 2 having too many plus frames even when their enemy blocks the attack. Plus frames leave little option for counter play, and just encourages the attacker to keep mashing. Ultimately leading to one-sided battles.
7. Forced 50/50s break defensive play
"There are a lot of 50/50 situations after the heat engager or block +7 or +9 frame heat engager is damage to opponent and recovery health bar. I think this is a big reward. But is there a reason to give it +17? I think it's an excessive reward. It's too forced mid between low start frame of 50/50 is often the same. or 1~2 frame difference It is too difficult to block this in a forced situation."
Context: In terms of 50/50 situations, Knee is referring to the oppressive nature of Season 2 for the defender. The extreme plus frames of new moves in Season 2, such as Steve's Fire Fox Fury, means the defender's only option is to continue to block low or block high. Especially as mentioned earlier, that sidestepping is now more risky with the increase in tracking moves.
8. Chip damage feels excessive: "Worse than 2D games"
Many players said they don't like it. but it's unlikely to change. To be honest, if T8 don't have a chip damage, we can hold out even if it's forced. So hopefully they would reduce the chip damage even a little bit. Honestly, the chip damage is worse than 2D games.
This is an interesting comment by Knee, especially given Season 2 did already reduce chip damage overall. However, perhaps still not a sufficient change now there are many new moves with plus frames on block.
9. Game too balanced towards casuals
"The direction in which a beginner or rookie beats a veteran I don't know why they make it with this direction, but I don't think it's gamely good. Veterans have invested a lot of time and put a lot of effort into it. So it's a fun game to play when you increase your knowledge and learn your skills. Actually I don't know why a veteran should have a high probability of losing to Beginner or Rookie. Isn't that contradictory?"
For his final point, Knee discussed that the direction of the game is too tailored to casuals over veterans. This is obviously part of a bigger trend in fighting game titles over the last decade or more.
Tekken 8 Season 2 has "dumbed down" the game to a certain extent, in particular by directly fixing characters weaknesses. The increase in 50/50 situations also means more guesswork, increasing the role of luck.
Community Reactions to Knee's Feedback
Knee's social media post drove a lot of engagement initially on Twitter but also later on Reddit. We combined the responses to understand overall community sentiment.
The three key points Knee shared in his feedback of Tekken 8 Season 2 that resonated with the community were:
- Forced 50/50s hurt skill gap
- Season 2 design too casual-player focused
- Season 2 mid safe homing moves oversimplify mind games
What’s Next for Tekken 8?
Bandai Namco have promised an "emergency patch" in Mid-April. What form that will take is unknown. However, it's fair to say Knee's comments hit home and perfectly summed up how players are feeling after the launch of Season 2.
