I have many thoughts about Tekken 7 that need more time to develop, what I'll share though is my thoughts on Ranked Matches.
I think that the idea of ranking up the entire roster to a rank that you've achieved in ranked, makes demotion matches a little less heartbreaking and less of an ordeal. In a way this influences me to be more patient, as to where if the character I was playing Ranked with was the only person at that certain rank (highest rank among the roster), I would be more prone to getting antsy and throwing out random hopkicks and rage arts.
I still do that, but what I realized earlier tonight is that I'm playing a fighting game, and that I'm fighting another opponent. What this signifies to me is that it's not all about me. As far as attacking is concerned, sometimes playing defense is as simple as holding back. I lost twice in a row to a player in Ranked and we were the same rank. During these matches, instead of just holding back and then punishing after, I hopkicked instead, and got jab floated into a juggle.
Whenever I did this, the person I was fighting against actually threw out an unsafe mid string that I could have just blocked and then punished. I admire the mental fortitude required to wait and see what the opponent is going to do and not, I'm too afraid to see what the opponent might do, so to escape this fear as quickly as possible, I'm going to do a hopkick, because then I wouldn't have to face this fear head on. You see it in tournaments, one person is standing and blocking, waiting to see what happens (while anticipating). If that person waits, instead of throwing out a mid that might get interrupted, sometimes the person that is blocking and waiting will win in the end due to his/her patience.
I like the idea of revenge match. It's a very human aspect. Like it works for either participant. I revenge match-ed twice after I lost a promotion match, I was willing to revenge match to the point where I didn't care if I got demoted, I just wanted to see if I could improve my gameplay.
Only doing Ranked Matches with one character has made me confront the question of what strategy do I use to open up my opponent. A lot of what I was doing was whiffing d/f+1, because I was too scared to get in my opponents face. Maybe they'll hopkick me if I dash forward is what I was thinking. I was also thinking that I can't allow myself to backdash forever, at some point...I'm going to have to attack. That's the point, if I'm not attacking, why am I playing this game.
The fear of playing straight-forward defense is very real, sometimes I might be better off by just blocking instead of trying to mash my way out of a situation that hasn't happened yet.
