Tekken 5

[Jer 0]

I got a chance to play T5 over Thanksgiving break, and I have to say, I absolutely love it. It seems like every change they made was for the better. The graphics are nice, especially the stages, which are beautiful. The gameplay's just like they said it would be, a refined version of TTT with some of the better stuff from T4. Backdash and step are stronger, so movement is more useful, jabs aren't as dominant and the whole game feels faster. Position change is gone, so 1+3 throws again, so there are actually throw mixups again, yay. Elevation and obstacles and all that other unnecessary silliness is gone. The whole game just felt tight and fast, much more so than T4. I was really impressed.

 

Raven and Feng both seem totally badass. Awesome character concepts, and they both seem pretty strong, although it's too early to tell. Feng had some very nasty scrub-killing strings that I was having a lot of trouble dealing with. I messed with Raven some, and I like the way he plays, although I'm really bad with him. His crouch dash mixups seem really solid, and it seems like he could play a pretty good spacing game. Cool looking teleport stuff too, but it seemed pretty bad. Jack 5 seems pretty ridiculous too, his moves all look imposing. A big character that plays big, nice. And my scrub ass was very pleased to see that Julia is looking damn buff, with ff3, ss3+4, f3~4, and u/f4,3 all looking fun. It looks like Law got a lot of cool new stuff too. That's about all the characters I've seen so far, others either weren't used or were used by scrubs that thought we were playing T3 (yay for for SS into multipart with King, no one will ever see that coming!1!). But I'm impressed with the new characters and with what I've seen that they've given the old ones.

 

The card system is awesome and elegant, and rewarding you for winning in versus rather than having a dedicated mode for it is excellent, since it means that the machine won't be wasted by smelly otaku dorks playing conquest. My only complaint is that Namco didn't make it clear enough that you're not supposed to put quarters in the card slots. I don't know how they'd have done better, but people are really fucking stupid and every machine I've heard about has been shut down at least once because of people putting quarters in there. Ours was down over an hour for that. Bah.

 

Anyway, anyone else played it yet?

[Use Your Illusion 0]

You mean Raven isn't the Jin-T4 v 2.0 that everyone I've spoken to has made him out to be?

[Anya 0]

I think the consensus right now is that Steve is tops, but it's too early for any serious talk of tiers. The TRCs are not even out.

 

 

I haven't been able to play it yet. The arcade keeps saying they'll get it in "any day now".

 

 

I really want to try out Feng.

[Jer 0]

People were making a big deal out of Raven's u/f4,4 and qcf3+4 being broken during the beta, but while they're still strong, they didn't seem all that overpowered. I haven't really heard anyone talking about Raven being broke since the full version came out. If people are complaining about anyone right now, it's Steve.

 

But yeah, it's way too early to talk tiers, especially with the new characters. How people do against them is going to change a lot once people start to recognize their move animations.

[EricMM 0]

unless this game has the strongest online features EVER, it's going to get shitted on in the reveiws.

 

Taking out such "progress" as the interactive levels? Travesty!

 

I wonder where there's a machine near me...

[Jer 0]

Heh, most reviewers shitted on the interactive levels as a ripoff of DoA, so I don't think they'll mind losing those too much. I think T5's reviews probably depend the most on whether there's a tutorial mode to spoonfeed people how to play. If there is, the mags will rave about all the "new" features that they just didn't know about before. If there's not, it'll still be "all about ten strings and multiparts". Lack of online play won't help though, and from everything I've heard it's not going to be online.

 

There are machines at Springfield Mall, Ballston Commons Mall and City Place. All Metro accessable, so go play.

[Thoth 0]

STEVE is tops? Wow, what a world.

[tbondrage99 0]

unless this game has the strongest online features EVER, it's going to get shitted on in the reveiws.

 

Taking out such "progress" as the interactive levels? Travesty!

 

I wonder where there's a machine near me...

I read in Game Pro that there would be no online feature....quite the shame but it wont stop me from buying it.

[Anya 0]

Yeah, how the casuals and press take to it just depends on what they add to the PS2 port. I'm guessing they'll load it up with gimmick modes and novelty characters. If that's the plan it's pretty smart. Build the core gameplay to suit the high level scene and then add in all the stuff the press rave about later.

 

 

Have you seen Devil Jin and Jinpachi yet? I saw the movie of the Korean guys fighting them. They both look cool. It'll be interesting to see how Jinpachi works. He surely won't be playable in his boss form. Maybe only on PS2.

 

 

 

And I don't know if you're being sarcastic or what, but Steve was top tier in T4....

[Jer 0]

All I've seen of Jinpachi and Devil Jin was that Korean video. The machine I was playing at over Thanksgiving break hasn't been empty long enough for someone to play through the game on single player yet. A nerfed Jinpachi seems like he could be a pretty nice character. Jinpachi in his current form would obviously be banned from tournies, heh. I love all his ridiculous blockstun and that like instant backdash into fireball. Fun.

 

Online play would be fun, but not having it is no big deal. Someone likened it to playing at the arcade, but with graphics that randomly skip, buttons that randomly don't register and an off button that either player can push at any time, heh. It not being there won't hurt the tourney scene at all.

[EricMM 0]

but what about the PS2 controller aspect???

[Use Your Illusion 0]

Online play or not does nothing in affecting whether I'll buy it or not either. MK:Deception is really the only fighter I've seen go full force without too many hiccups during online play, and I fucking hate MK:Deception.

 

Has there been any concrete confirmation on an actual home PS2 port release yet? Around mid-2005 sound right?

[Special K 0]

Do you have a fighter list? I LOVED T3 and TTT, but T4 left me somewhat cold. My friend was wfully good at Jin. I could only beat him with Nina or Xiayou. As long as Xiayou's in this I will have some fun, though. I truly think she is the most fun character be in a fighter ever.

 

I would like some stuff added to Paul's moveset as well. He and Nina were obviously godly in T3, but they really neutered Paul in t4, IMO.

 

Steve was really fun to play in T4, but he wasn't close to being top fighter.

[Ced 0]

I've got Tekken 5 access at my local Golfland and Sac State. I've picked up Asuka and love catching people with her b+2+4, especially those button-mashing Hwoarang players.

 

I saw the Devil Jin and Jinpachi models when I fought them. Devil Jin looks quite awesome. Jinpachi's crazy eyes and stomach mouth didn't do much for me.

 

And did Marduk have those sick-looking juggle throws in Tekken 4?

[Anya 0]

No, he didn't. Marduk's juggling ability was pretty weak in T4. The air throw stuff is all new.

 

 

 

Everyone from T4 is back except Combot and Heihachi, who might be hidden. Plus there's new characters Raven, Asuka, Feng Wei and Jack-5. There's also the time release characters, who haven't been revealed yet.

 

 

Nina and Paul were toned down for TTT. Their T4 incarnations were improvements(compared to TTT). Even though they're not as good as they were in T3 both are some of the best characters in T4.

 

 

Steve IS top tier in T4. There is basically a universal censensus among the best players in the world for that. Some even say he's better than Jin. FLK stance is like the best alternate stance in the game.

[Jer 0]

What PS2 controller aspect? You can use them at the arcade, just plug them into the sides. No mapping the top buttons though, so you'll actually have to do the multiparts legitimately.

 

It sounds like the only mag that's really had concrete info on the console release is GamePro, and I wouldn't touch GamePro with a ten foot pole, so I don't know much. I did hear that Namco is planning not to wait as long as normal, so I'd expect Spring 2005 for the Japanese release and Summer 2005 for the American release.

 

I'm pretty sure that everyone that was in T4 is in T5, except for Combat and possibly Heihachi. Raven, Asuka and Feng are new, Bruce, Kuma, Anna, Devil Jin and several others are going to be time released, but no one knows the exact time release list yet. So yeah, Ling is back.

 

Steve was unquestionably top tier in T4, probably number two overall, and he probably had a favorable matchup against Jin. They neutered Jin in T5 but didn't weaken Steve, so it's no real surprise that he's near the top again.

 

Marduk and King's juggle throws are both new, and pretty badass.

[Special K 0]

Anyanka, I'll definitely take your word for it. I was a very good TTT player (Brian Xiayou team is a monster.) and a really, really good T3 player, but besides Xiayou's fuck 'em up game, and Nina's general dominance, I couldn't much get into T4. And I still say Paul was weak in T4. He had very few horizontal moves. He was fucking ridiculous in T3 though, but I was never a Phoenix Crusher player. Wouldn't work against my friends anyhow. It just seems all his deceptive combos you could easily sidestep and probably get a back throw on him. He has a lot of feints, but they're all very side-steppable.

 

EDIT: What characters typically win tourneys? My love of Xiayou's subtelties are (now) well documented, but my friend was tremendous with Kuma, for one.

[AndrewTS 0]

Any chance in hell of an X-Box home version?

 

They did it for SCII, but in general--lousy bias against the gaijin console...

[Anya 0]

The latest famitsu says PS2 only for now.

 

 

Jin was by far the biggest tournament winner in T4.

 

 

I like Kuma a lot. He's bad compared to the others, but it's really funny to use him. I've been playing him "seriously" since T3. Rock N Roll Circus!

 

 

OMG....reports from Korea are saying 3 time release characters were unlocked at once today. Baek, Roger Jr. and Anna! ROGER IS BACK~! Speaking of funny characters, Roger is so awesome. Love his animal noises.

 

So far all of TekkenZaibatu's "predictions" have been right....so that probably means Bruce, Ganryu, Wang, Devil Jin, Heihachi and Mokujin are left. I can't say I'm too interested in Ganryu or Wang, but I'm hyped for the others. Cool to see Bruce again. Hopefully the knees still own.

 

 

Also, Eddy was released last week as an alternate outfit for Christie.

[AndrewTS 0]

Love his animal noises.

Did I stumble into a Yuna post by mistake?

 

Mokujin, though? Laaame.

 

Well, I guess it's inevitable to include one of those characters, since it probably takes next to no memory to program in and is a way for experts to show off.

[Anya 0]

I like the random characters. They're good fun to use when I can't decide who to play as. I especially like how Mokujin changes styles every round.

 

Besides, there's no random select in T5 so Mokujin is needed.

[Ced 0]

Any word about whether or not you can put Mokujin and the other time release characters on a card?

 

I'm still trying to learn more of Asuka's moveset. I've relied heavily on her b+3,2 and 1,1,4 juggles way too much and probably pissed off the higher-tier players in the process.

[Anya 0]

I'm sure you can. Maybe not with Mokujin, but surely with the others.

[Use Your Illusion 0]

Good news on Bruce. Wonder how they'll work him into the official storyline though?

 

*Bruce is shown sitting at home, on his couch. Suddenly, he sits up right as he comes to a shocking realisation*

 

Bruce - Hey....that bastard Lei owes me 20 bucks!

 

*Bruce runs out door*

[Anya 0]

Maybe he was in a coma for 20 plus years.

 

I really want to see how they explain Baek being alive. Oh, and Wang too. Is he going to be like 100 or what?

 

 

One thing I hate about the Tekken story is that after the 20 year gap between 2 and 3 a bunch of the characters are too old. Paul, Lei, Lee, ect. are like 50! It's silly how half the cast is middle aged, yet they look and act like they're in their 20s or 30s. They really need to start replacing the older guys, like how they did with Michelle to Julia. It'd be a good way of making characters like Paul more fresh. Replace him with a student, who uses the same style but a bit differently.

[Guest BDC]

It's frustrating for me that in every Tekken, my favorite characters are either hard to get good with or can't break into the plataeu of really awesome.

 

People like Hwarong (sp?), Eddie Gordo and so on are some of my favorite guys, namely because I practice the same styles that they do, but it's like they're kind of second-tier.

 

As for the point about guys being old, couldn't they just retire or die or something? Fighting Lee in 5 versions of Tekken is frustrating.

[AndrewTS 0]

Although, truthfully, most martial arts are supposed to take 20-30 years before somebody can truly "master" them. Naturally, it isn't just Tekken that's unrealistic that way.

 

Christy mastering Capoeira in 2-3? PFFFFFFT. Yeah, right. But there it was, on her bio, in T4...

[Anya 0]

Yeah, that is dumb. In T5 it's only 2 months after T4, so like everybody has learned all these new moves in such a short time. At least most still look the same and haven't gone through any drastic changes in appearance, unlike MKD....

 

 

Baek, Roger Jr. and Anna's stories were in Famitsu this week. I was right...Baek really WAS in a coma all this time. That's funny.

 

 

Roger is AWESOME in T5. You actually control the original's wife, Roger Jr. is in her pouch. I can't wait to play as him.

[Anya 0]

Finally got to play today.

 

Awesome, awesome, awesome.

 

Throws are good again! Thank god the throw escape is gone and 1 escape throws are back. I like how you can hold forward to do a lunging throw and the new escapes are very cool looking.

 

I played a ton of Kazuya. I love how they reanimated moves like 112 and Twin Pistons. The new CD+4,1 is cool. I wish they couldn't escape from the WS+2 stun though.

 

I am in love with Feng. He really is like a chinese Paul.

 

I am not too into the cards. I like to switch up characters every match. Not to pick counter characters, but just because I play like 8 different characters and it's fun to switch up. Also, there doesn't seem much that you can actually DO with them. Basically just buy 3 or 4 pieces of clothing for each part of their body. The ghost thing sounds cool, but I doubt the AI will actually work right.

[AndrewTS 0]

I was right...Baek really WAS in a coma all this time. That's funny.

It must have taken a whole week to work those atrophied muscles back into shape.