One of the best Tekken players of all time criticizes the newest game and clarifies his opinion.
Bae "Knee" Jae-Min reached top placements in multiple Tekken esports tournaments and won quite a few of them. He is an authority in the community without any doubt. But his recent tweet caused confusion and disagreement.
Knee proclaimed that Tekken 8 is not a fun game. His pretty short post caused an emotional reaction, and the player had to explain his opinion in detail.
Knee: “Tekken 8 is not fun”
It’s certainly a good idea to take a look at the original tweet.
The discussion around aggressiveness of modern fighting games is not new. A while ago, the community survived a wave of hot arguments. Positions of two groups may be summarized by these statements:
- Modern fighting games reward aggressive offense and nerf defensive options significantly. It’s made for a more spectacular show and to treat new players.
- There are lots of fighting games, and we can play any of them. UNI2 rewards defense like older games. Classic games are still here for defensive warriors.
In a way, Knee continues this discussion, but focuses on his main game.
"Aggressive is actually just an absurdity."
Apart from the “aggressive” part, Knee highlights his difficulties in adapting to the newest game. The community asks for an explanation and gets it.
Knee specifies that a defensive style in Tekken 8 forces disadvantages on the player due to chip damage from some attacks. It’s a new feature compared to Tekken 7.
Some people in replies agree with Knee, claiming that Heat attacks in corners are overpowered.
"Balance between attack and defense is tilted to one side."
The reaction of the pro community is quite interesting. Arslan Ash, another Tekken esports legend, simply reposted Knee’s original tweet and then made his own. He is tired of complaining about the game.
SonicFox, one of the best Mortal Kombat competitors, agrees with Knee. They say Tekken 8 and MKX are fun to watch, but not fun to compete in.
Rip, one of the most prominent Tekken commentators, voices out a different opinion. Some people say that only legacy players feel Tekken is weird, while those who came from other titles and newbies to the fighting genre just enjoy Tekken 8 as it is.
Tekken 8 Knee reacts to backlash
The wave of discussion surprised Knee, and he decided to make a longer tweet about his Tekken 8 opinion.
Knee articulates another common trend in modern fighting games — developers make them more accessible for beginners, easy to learn and easy to play. Legacy players who have been in the genre for a very long time often disagree with this direction.
"I think T8 [is] made to learn quickly. This means something different from knowing [how] to beat your opponent."
In the end, Knee even apologizes for sharing his negative opinion.
"Sorry for the negative opinion as it's [Tekken 8] just been released."
The Tekken 8 community is huge, and people certainly have different opinions.The game grows and evolves. For example, the most recent patch brought players some impactful changes. We can expect Tekken 8 to get better with new updates and new DLC characters.
Meanwhile, esports.gg will remain a source of info on everything interesting and exciting in Tekken 8 and fighting games.