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FGC GAF, so what was wrong with TEKKEN 4 ?

X

Xpliskin

Member
tekken4_logo.jpg


I only remember playing it locally with friends when youtube and twitch weren't a thing yet.


From what I've read online a while ago, I think it was hated because of the wall mechanic.

Can you guys shed some light.

EDIT:

I forgot, can people posting in this thread rank their favorite tekken games in terms of:
-Balance
-Roster
-Command lists
-Fun gameplay
 
S

Skilletor

Member
Jin, just frame laser scrapers (jfls)

Lee SS 2, 1,2~4

Shitty movement, uneven levels causing hitbox/detection issues, wall infinites, terrible balance
 
L

Leafhopper

Banned
I play a lot of fighting games and I may not be the biggest Tekken fan but going from 3 to 4 felt like a let down. Felt slower and sluggish. I wasn't a fan of the new characters at first either. I like them now though.

It doesn't help that it came out after Tekken Tag Tournament. Which is what made me start liking Tekken and made me play 3 more seriously. Tekken 5 though seemed like it fixed everything wrong with 4 though imo and I liked it more than TTT. 5 is probably my favorite Tekken game.

Basically it was really hard act to follow of T3 and TTT.
 
De-mon

De-mon

Member
For me, the nearly nonexistent air combat killed part of the fun. And is the slowest Tekken (except T1 and 2). But I'd loved some arenas/music and the realistic touch in the clothes. Was refreshing to see classic fighters with a new skin.

T4 is not a bad game, the problem is that was launched after T3/TTT and before T5, my favourites.
 
S

Secret Character

Member
Jin killed the game.

It's a real shame, too, because the art direction and presentation was the highest it ever has been. The incredible changes made with characters and graphics really felt like a giant step forward followed with the huge step back that Tekken 5 was.

I love me some Tekken, but it's interesting to think of where it could be if 4 wasn't botched.
 
S

SomedayTheFire

Member
Casual as hell fighting fan but I remember being very salty I had to unlock Jin! And Eddy not being a main roster character!

Should be noted I've no idea how to actually play fighting games haha
 
B

Brian_FETO

Banned
I remember that beat 'em up side mode being pretty fun for what it was.

I understand where you're coming from though OP, Tekken 4 was the only game in the series I actually owned (played others via renting, friends houses, or arcade) and was surprised to see people saying it sucked on GAF (granted, my fighting game knowledge back then was solely mashing)
 
G

Garrett Hawke

Member
Secret Character said:
Jin killed the game.

It's a real shame, too, because the art direction and presentation was the highest it ever has been. The incredible changes made with characters and graphics really felt like a giant step forward followed with the huge step back that Tekken 5 was.

I love me some Tekken, but it's interesting to think of where it could be if 4 wasn't botched.
Click to expand...
Out of interest, why is T5 considered a step back? I've only played Tekken casually but this stuff is interesting :p
 
G

Gren

Member
Heh, I remember that my arcade actually switched back to Tekken Tag not long after getting 4. That doesn't sound very remarkable in & of itself, but I had never seen it happen IRL before. Usually they get the newest iteration & just run with it, occasionally bringing back popular older versions on a side cab.

I did like the re-designs though. Best Xiaoyu outfit ever.
 
G

genjiZERO

Member
Personally, I just thought it wasn't terribly great when compared to how awesome TTT was. Sure there were balance issues, but there were balance issues in T3 too.

SomedayTheFire said:
Casual as hell fighting fan but I remember being very salty I had to unlock Jin! And Eddy not being a main roster character!

Should be noted I've no idea how to actually play fighting games haha
Click to expand...

That's one of the things they did right!
 
S

Skilletor

Member
Garrett Hawke said:
Out of interest, why is T5 considered a step back? I've only played Tekken casually but this stuff is interesting :p
Click to expand...

They had some decent ideas for T4, but after they failed with it, they went back to the TTT/T3 formula and haven't looked back. Whether or not that's a step back is entirely dependent on what you want in your Tekken games.

For me, T4 always felt like Ergheiz with more restrictive movement. It was not a good fighter in the least.
 
S

Secret Character

Member
Garrett Hawke said:
Out of interest, why is T5 considered a step back? I've only played Tekken casually but this stuff is interesting :p
Click to expand...

It returned to the gameplay formula of T3 rather than refining the new systems they made for T4. Granted, there isn't anything wrong with that, as T3 and T5.1 (and T5DR) are incredibly solid fighters. I just wish they tweaked some things rather than going back on it all.
 
A

AAK

Member
Bad balance (Jin vs Jin Top 8's everywhere), broken terrain mechanics (glitches and stage infinites galore), and a completely limp movement system (Just doing jabs with your character had more lateral movement, was safer, and faster to move forward than actually dashing forward or walking)....

BUT Tekken 6.0 and TTT2 Vanilla both had broken characters as well before they got fixed with Bloodline Rebellion and Unlimited that were ported to consoles.

Tekken 4 was never given a balance patch for people to experience. Unfortunately ever since then Namco haven't tried anything new like it did with Tekken 4 which is a true pity.

But the art direction of Tekken 4... was unparalled. This and Tekken 5 were the last games where the game had an ounce of respect for itself. It's just gone way too far into banana-cray-cray-animeow rabbit whole with every iteration afterward. (NOTE: only talking about art direction and narrative here. When it comes to gameplay Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is the supreme magnum opus of the series)
 
C

Cheddahz

Banned
Garrett Hawke said:
Out of interest, why is T5 considered a step back? I've only played Tekken casually but this stuff is interesting :p
Click to expand...

After 4, they went back to Tekken 3's formula and for the better or worse, they haven't looked back yet (which really has made the series dull at this point, aside from Tag 2)
 
D

Deps

Member
Terrible gameplay, Jin, uneven stages

Unfortunately, because T4 failed Namco has been afraid to make drastic gameplay changes and won't even change the default outfits of the characters.
 
P

Perro

Member
I was teenager when I tried T4 and didn't know shit about FGs.
- TTT had a big roster and the Tag system, the reduced roster for T4 was a let down for me.
- T4 looked more grim(?), I remember Tag being more colouful.
- Button mashing with Christie didn't felt right. (not even my hormones could make me accept that they replaced Eddie with Christie)
- I learned that Paul wasn't the hero of the series. (Everything I knew was a lie! Doesn't help that Namco made him a joke character :/)

Those were my reasons why I didn't like it, as you can see I was a scrub.
Now, I think T4 was a step in the right direction and the bad rep it got made the series be in the state it is now. Stagnant.
 
L

LCGeek

formerly sane
It was stupid and broke.

Basically Jin and Steve took over tournies to my recollection. I didn't mind it but god compared to T3 or TTT the balance or lack of it was worse than it normally was.
 
Z

ZeroTheShadow

Member
AAK said:
Tekken 4 was never given a balance patch for people to experience. Unfortunately ever since then Namco haven't tried anything new like it did with Tekken 4 which is a true pity.
Click to expand...

Tekken 4 recieved 4 balance updates in arcades. It was just at the time you didn't advertise your balance patches with a new title release. Version D is the one that ended up going to console.
 
A

AAK

Member
ZeroTheShadow said:
Tekken 4 recieved 4 balance updates in arcades. It was just at the time you didn't advertise your balance patches with a new title release. Version D is the one that ended up going to console.
Click to expand...

Was this before or after console release?

EDIT: Quoted the wrong person
 
Z

ZeroTheShadow

Member
abstract alien said:
It didn't have a few iterations to polish what it brought to the series. Still irritates me how they regressed backward after that.
Click to expand...

Tekken 4 was the regression. They removed features from the game to cater to scrubs & as a result they made a terrible game with busted new mechanics that the team redesigned & made better in the sequel.
 
M

MikeMyers

Member
I enjoyed the game itself, but the content on the PS2 version felt like a stepdown from Tekken 3. No guest stars, no Tekken Ball (or even Tag's Bowl), and wasn't too big on the T4 version of Tekken Force. Might have been better if Tekken Force was co-op at least.
 
X

Xpliskin

Member
How did the uneven ground affect gameplay ?


Like did a Low become a High all of a sudden ?

EDIT:

Ah there are some great examples in the Nimby's video, thanks
 
S

Secret Character

Member
AAK said:
Just something to add:



Tekken 2 advertised its re-release:

tekken2ub.png
Click to expand...

Also Street Fighter Alpha 2' (or Gold, whatever you wanted to call it.) Tekken also did it after 4 with 5 and 5.1.
Tekken 5 on release was also really badly balanced. Steve everywhere. Then they very heavily promoted 5.1 and it was great.
 
Z

ZeroTheShadow

Member
AAK said:
Just something to add:



Tekken 2 advertised its re-release:

tekken2ub.png
Click to expand...

That's not an advertisement. I meant like marketing an update as a new game. It says the version on the screen of Tekken 4 cabs too, smaller. Same thing with 5.1 & the multiple versions of Soul Calibur 2 that were out in arcades.
 
M

MaxwellParrish

Member
As a complete shit player at fighting games, I loved Tekken 4 and I found it more visually impressive ( relatively to the time frames,obviously) than its successor, tekken 5 (that, anyway, has been the last Tekken to seriously impress me, visually)
 
I

Inuhanyou

Believes Dragon Quest is a franchise managed by Sony
You don't have to be a FGC guy to know T4 gameplay wise was a step back. It did some nice things like non infinite stages and a pretty unique Jin skillset, but it took steps back making those stages completely unelevated, as well as easy to take advantage of when backed into a corner.

Even worse still they took out the second block and replaced it with some lame "switch places" grapple thing that doesn't even make sense.

(i was mostly pissed because they took out a lot of xiaoyu's moves from T3, even though T5 added them back in with the moves they added from T4 which was nice)

In terms of non gameplay stuff, i thought it was pretty cool, since it actually tried to make the storyline of the games actually matter somewhat, and the more serious feel was great, along with the major revision to both costume and design wise to many of the characters. It really felt like a step up thematically.

T5 and T6 and T7 by comparison are all too samey in that department from what i've seen
 
Z

ZeroTheShadow

Member
Can we cut it with the "mechanics from Tekken 4 were abandoned & the series regressed to Tekken 3" BS? Side-Walk & Walls the two major gameplay additions to 4 were improved on & added to Tekken 5.

The position change throw system was dumb. No one argues that should come back.

Uneven floors are dumb, that's why they don't exist in fighting games at all anymore.

Having your fighting areas have objects that can get in your way like piller was dumb.

All the good ideas from Tekken 4 gameplay wise survived & are in Tekken right now.
 
Space Runaway

Space Runaway

Member
Well for starters they nerfed(Putting it lightly) the backdash which put everyone with good jabs at a major advantage and screwed up the entire footsie game. Then Jin time unlocked.
 
notworksafe

notworksafe

Member
As mentioned, Jin was pretty broken. However I did find that a good Nina was a reliable counter-pick. Also uneven stages lead to some real messes and infinites.

However there were some bright points of the game. The music was some of the best in the series, Airport theme and character select being some of my personal favorites.

Also Position Change is only in this game and that's a bummer because it's a cool mechanic. It replaced the 2+4 throw for everyone but it was a great way to get in and out of the wall and added some cool combo potential.

Third, Kuma was hella good in T4. Pair some of his attacks with the parking garage stage and he was unstoppable!
 
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