Some Aussie Dude

Trying to wrap my head around how to make this statement all day has been tiresome to say the least. While there is a lot I’d like to say, I will do my very best to keep this as direct as humanly possible. I’ve been playing Tekken my entire life, since I was 4 years old to be exact. 20 Years now has passed since I have been playing at a competitive level with the help of the ATL scene I was close to via Dark Resurrection Online and discovering TekkenZaibatsu. I went under the tag known as “assassinx21” until I eventually changed it to Victim_of_Ritual by Tag 2. I was more than happy to continue doing this for the rest of my life given that TEKKEN was still alive and well. TEKKEN absolutely changed my life for the better. It always got me out of my darkest times. Without a shadow of a doubt if you know my story and how far I have come, I really think that without it, I wouldn’t be typing this at this very moment. Right now, I understand that the wound is still fresh from season 3 launching, but the first wound was season 2 and now it’s just salt being rubbed in it and has brought me to this situation here and in the now. TEKKEN got me out of my dark times, but now since season 2 it has brought me to a place I do not want to continue in. I wanted to get a sponsor at the end of season 1 because given Bamco’s track record since TEKKEN 5 of rolling out balance updates, it has generally been positive. (until S3 of 7, but I had hopes after all of that mess and I will say I think they cleaned it up good enough) Without going into details that I’m sure you all know where I’m going with it. I was ready, I wanted to win. Changed my main for the first time ever and soldiered on without a single complaint all throughout season 2. Half-way through I was already burnt out. I even considered giving my spot up as the finalist for TWT but my peers and Sol talked me down and I heeded it. I fought hard and no one can take that away from me. I was not excited to go to finals, not one bit. I did not want to be there. The writings were on the wall, all of my instincts told me that based on what was happening, this was it. I changed my name back to Victim_of_Ritual and switched back to Nina not to sandbag or hide data from the finalists. I did it because I wanted to go out with dignity. I was so upset with the state of the game I didn’t care whatever the result would be. I wanted to close this out just like how I started my journey. I knew it was going to be the end subconsciously. I am always self aware of who I am, what I am doing, and where I came from. Anyone at the finals or during the last world tour in the community that may have perceived me as abrasive, or passive aggressive in our interactions I just want you to know that I am very sorry if my body language portrayed any of those signs. Those of you who know me personally, and outside of the FGC is aware that I wear my emotions on my shoulder, and it is something I struggle with day to day. I went through a lot of traumatizing events in my childhood, and I still have a lot of trouble with relationships whether it be friendly, or intimate. It has never been my intention to create or cause ill will towards anyone. I was just suffering trying to juggle all of this, while also trying to build Kanme’s brand and give back to the community with what we have accomplished thus far. Back to TEKKEN: It has become apparent to me that the direction the developers are taking with this IP does not align with what I recognize it to be, at all. There seems to be an intense disconnect, dysfunction and overall miscommunication between Bandai Namco Entertainment USA/Japan, the marketing team and the developers of the game dishing out what is happening before our very own eyes. TEKKEN 8 would have not had such a successful launch had it not been carried off the backs of hard working local/major TOs, Event Organizers, and the Fighting Game Community as a whole that supported TEKKEN 7. They were actually very lucky that Street Fighter 5 had a rocky launch, which also helped. Casuals will buy the game for a vast majority of reasons, but what I listed above KEEPS THE GAME ALIVE AND WELL! If the marketing is good, the casuals will come, but more than likely it gets shelved and they move onto the next thing. However, they already got their $ from them so the budget is already there for the next. (Example, Mortal Kombat) Correlation between Project Soul and TEKKEN Project: I quit Soul Calibur 6 because the very thing that destroyed that game was not COVID, do not get it twisted. The game failed because of these same reasons that have destroyed TEKKEN’s reputation to its competitive scene now. Updates that made absolutely no sense, that did too much, but too little to address major faults in the battle system and focusing on things that did not affect competitive play. (Sounding familiar here?) They catered to casual players that didn’t care about the battle system anyways because they bought and played the game for many different reasons which in a nutshell, I’ll say it, DOPAMINE. Whether playing with friends to goof around, liked the story, characters etc. I’ll give you an example of each: In an update for SC6 they made Sophitia’s 1A (which was already very slow by the way, like 24 frames or something) SLOWER due to the fact that “Players could not block in time due to online playing conditions” Explain this to me like I am five years old. You cannot, with a straight face, give me a good enough reason to PRIORITIZE that over legit issues in the battle system. Let’s go to TEKKEN, For a solid year, people complained about Nina’s b2,2,2 on CH being a homing, 12 frame, wallsplating, CH confirm move, so what do they do? Nerf the last hit only on CH…. TONE. DEAF. Feng’s db+2,2,2. Reminds me of the exact change they made to Sophitia’s 1A. Probably bad example, but you get the point. Do you notice how there is no explanation for each move, and no nerf, or buff arrow indicators in the latest patch notes? Yeah, they KNOW, are trying to hide the fact they are doing damage control, they are guilty and should be ASHAMED. As soon as I saw that “Feedback Portal” announcement I knew that it was six feet under. Back when testing used to be a thorough, investigative endeavor by testers or even high level players, this is now their way of using US for FREE to compensate for the laziness and budget cutting of paying passionate, dedicated individuals who are determined to give people like us a good product. (I believe location tests back in the arcade days made a huge impact by the way in balancing direction too) They had 8 months to hear us out, what makes you think that portal at the end of the day is going to make a difference when it's catered to people who can’t react to Feng’s db+2,2,2? Here’s what I would like to know, the battle system team who led development from T5DR all the way to season 3 of Tekken 7, where are they? Who are they? I would love to hear their take on this. This has Project Soul written all over it and I am inclined to believe that those individuals I mentioned that worked on previous installments did not inflict these atrocities to us in season 3. These people have shown us that after all of this time, they do not care about us and are basically spitting in our faces and laughing about it at this point. I cannot and will not support a product that has done irreparable damage to me, its loyal fans and the Fighting Game Community as a whole. Promises were made, promises were not kept. I feel betrayed, lied to and fooled. Fool me once, shame on them. Fool me twice? Shame on me. And I feel the shame. CONTENT CREATORS: I understand that it is within your best interest to keep people engaged and playing the game, but I am letting you know now. Do not be disingenuous to your audience and followers. This is wrong and you know it. Speak your mind, protest, do whatever you can to get the message out because I’m letting you know right now your viewers like YOU FOR YOU. Anything YOU do they will follow because they love you. Aris as the perfect example knew this, was smart about it, saw the writing on the wall before all of us and GOT THE HELL OUT while he could. I promise you this will not hurt you. Do the right thing. @nkt_dreamer & @mykeryu , if for some reason this gets to you, and you’ve managed to read the entire thing from a die-hard fan and competitor. Use whatever power you have to convince your staff, the team, your shareholders, your investors, Bandai, etc. I am BEGGING you PLEASE with whatever is left before it is too late to re release previous TEKKEN installments like TEKKEN 5 Dark Resurrection Online and Tekken Tag Tournament 2 with proper online functionality for modern consoles so we can cherish what once was that made all of us love TEKKEN so deeply forever. I will continue to do my work with Kanme and support my community. My last hoorah for keeping fighting games as a hobby is putting all of my faith and hope into Virtua Fighter. The FGC has changed my life, and I want to change everyone who is involved in it in a positive way as well. To close this out. How I am feeling right now is like I was in a committed relationship for 20 years and my significant other decided they wanted to just be friends. I cannot be friends with that person. They’ve changed and I love them too much to stay with them. I have to let them go. I cannot be friends with TEKKEN at this time. Victim_of_Ritual is completely dead.