Are Tekken 8's Combos Too Long? Yes, Say Devs

pcmag.com:

Tekken 8 is coming. When? That's uncertain. However, there's a lot of hype surrounding the fighting game due to its super-detailed graphical style, new Heat system, and (optional) simplified controls.

At Evolution Championship Series 2023, I spoke with Bandai Namco's Katsuhiro Harada (game director and producer) and Michael Murray (producer and translator) about the upcoming title. The responses are translated from Japanese to English, and lightly edited for clarity. The interview was conducted before Bandai Namco revealed Tekken 8's new characters, Azucena and Raven.

PCMag: One of biggest new features in Tekken 8 is the Heat system. What kind of reception has it received?

Bandai Namco: So, there are a few changes that we wanted to make after people played the Control Network Test (CNT). Many people said they felt the combos were too long. So to address that, we plan to make some changes to the Heat system because it was what caused combos to be a little bit long at times. We think we can alleviate some of this by addressing when you go directly into the Heat system with the Heat Burst. Maybe give it another method to be used, too. For example, rather than just putting in an aerial juggle, maybe we'd add Power Crush properties to it. So rather than just using it to continue combos, you can use it to change the tide of battle when someone's attacking. That's one way we're thinking of to shorten combos a bit.

Were players simply trading long combos?

Right. Normally, you'd launch an opponent, do some techniques, then finish it. Now, you launch an opponent, do some hits, do a Heat Burst, do a Heat Dash, finish.

I watched a lot of CNT footage and it appeared as though people were so focused on rushing in that there was