First off... let me say that I apologize to all Ling players. Neoshinji found XMTS today. You have to hold 1, the do ff+2, 1+2. It kinda sucks because you can't just whip it out whenever you want. It's not possible (that we know of) to do it any other way. In juggles it's not too bad since you go right from RDS 2,1, holding the 1, right into XMTS. Still, not having it whenever you want (without buffering 1), makes it somewhat toned down. When I mentioned this to WCMaxi he said that it might just be a glitch.
On a lighter note, Ling has another 50% juggle. ss+3, ff+3, 2,1 (hold), XMTS. It's nice that Ling has a 50% damage juggle like everyone else, but you can only get it off ss+3 (or aop d+1+2 as I mentioned yesterday). SS+3 is slow, can be interupted with ease, and WILL be low parried/blocked on reaction within a month of the game releasing. Meanwhile, everyone else gets 50% damage juggles off easy to hit launchers.
df+2~1 seems a lot safer in T5 than it has been in any other Tekken. It knocks far enough away that you can't be punished with jabs, but against Paul, he was able to connect with 4. In T4 that was 12 frames, so hopefully a deathfist (13 frames) isn't guaranteed, but we still need to test it more. It definitely felt a lot safer just throwing it out though.
Moving on... we found another new move for Ling. Shouji found it actually, then Neoshinji refined the movement. It's uf+3+4, which does a jumping 3 hit aerial kick combo. The first two hits are high and the last is mid, but they come out too fast to worry about the two highs being ducked. If you hit, it knocks down and Ling jumps back similar to ff+4~4. If it's blocked, it appears to be safe, leaves you out of range for jabs, and in RDS. It looks to have a decent use for just a mid mixup that avoids all lows and maybe some mids, but it won't be an abusable attack or anything.
Neoshinji was testing out 4~3, d+1+2 and said it didn't seem any different than it was in Tekken 4. I was able to put people on lockdown with my standard issue Anti-Flash game from T4, so I was happy. But b+3 still has NO use other than the aop d+1+2 juggle I mentioned yesterday, ub+3+4 has very minimal use, and we were really trying to find something... ss+3 is just too slow. It was getting interupted regularly, it was getting blocked after people saw it enough... it just isn't going to be very good it seems.
Players today of note... Panther and Hetfield, Mirai (STL), Mick... Antonio, Shadow Hado and the WI crew... JannaKaz and Bugger Off from MN, and JK found some mean new Steve stuff (he's broke, lol)... Brahma was here and finding good shizl with Jack-5... Hatman is here, but I guess he arrived too late to play today, so expect further Jun/Lei info tomorrow or soon.
Character usage on the machine (official stats) showed Ling in the number one usage spot. Bob was number 3, and we think Julia was 2, but we don't remember. Nina was at the bottom with 0 plays, sorry. This is mainly because myself, Shouji, Neoshinji, Kabhler (sp?), and a few other random players were using Ling almost exclusively. FoxstepCEO, Tomek (Headchaser) and Shadow Hado were using Bob almost exclusively.
We'll try to get as much info as we can, but you have to remember that it's pay to play, most of us are going all out to really test the characters (not just trying out moves), and if there's no one there playing Nina, or Lee, or whoever else is in demand, it's very difficult to test things with them since we don't know how to play as them.
General thoughts on T5... It feels different from Evo. At Evo I couldn't use my poking strings with Ling to put someone on lockdown. Here I can do that with relative ease. However, the movement feels very fluid. I don't feel confined to range 0 like I do playing T4. As someone else mentioned, it feels like a slightly toned down movement system of T3, with T4 characters.
A few more custome items... Craig has a boomerang on his back, Lei has a gold fan on his back, Law has nunchaku (sp?) around his neck... that's probably about all of the items. You can buy a squirrel for Julia, a Chinese Hammer for Ling, a bowl haircut for Law, a new hairstyle for Ling, and a few others. Custom color mode doesn't seem to be active though. I've played almost 100 games and still can't access any of it.
We may or may not play tomorrow. Nearly 20 hours of T5 in two days is more than enough for most of the crew up here. We'll probably stop by the mall, but I wouldn't expect a huge update from me tomorrow. I will compile something for Mon/Tues, and we MAY... MAY have a pleasant surprise pending approval from the people in charge.
After a long and enjoyable day playing Tekken 5, I have come to the following conclusion: Marduk is a beast.
First, I’m going to clear up any confusion about his Tudo Tackle. I got a few PMs asking about it, so I’ll just get right to it.
From the Tackle, Craig has the following options:
1 (broken with 2)
1+3 (broken with 2)
2 (broken with 1)
2+4 (broken with 1)
2~1 (Broken with 2)
1~2 (Broken with 1)
1+2 (Broken by pressing nothing) Note: if a player gets tackled who doesn’t know how to break it tries to press 1+2 to break this, the tackled character will in fact break it, only because the game won’t accept the 1+2 input as either a 1 or a 2 input.
1 and 1+3 have the exact same properties but just give different finishing animations, the same goes for 2 and 2+4. The tackled opponent no longer presses 1+3/2+4 to throw Craig off or 1/2 to block. If Craig does 2 OR 2+4 and the opponent presses 1, Craig is thrown off. No more Re-Reversals (at least not in this version). While I think that they could re-reversals back in, I was able to connect with a Tackle punch around 75-80% of the time, so I won’t be crying if they don’t.
Craig gets to do any ONE of his 7 options (although it’s really only 5 options since as explained, 1/1+3 and 2/2+4 have the same properties) and then a finisher comes out. In my opinion, and I know this is shared by at least a few players, this is a welcome change. It keeps the action going and still gives Craig plenty of damage.
The Tackle itself seems like it was broken a bit more than normal, so they may have increased the break window on it by a frame or two, I know XCTU was surprised at how frequently he was able to break it, but for the most part it’s the same and then of course unbreakable version is still there.
Craig’s Air-Throw has been toned down too much. I still used it because it just looks so damn cool, but off a d+1+2 or other launcher (not including d/b+1+2), there are other juggles he has that do roughly the same damage and offer better wake ups, without using the air throw. Off d/b+1+2 however, u/f+4, 1 ,2+4 still works for some big damage, although it can be difficult to time the 4 properly.
One of the most powerful tools at his disposal is his new d/b+3+4 Vale Tudo Stance Backdash. Aside from having a super cool auto-taunt on it, he gets a massive backdash that easily takes him out of harms way. If he avoids a move with it, he can almost always get a free tackle, otherwise it puts him at the perfect range for a FC,d/f+4 or if they try to quickly run in, a VTS+2.
The vts+1, 1, d+2,4 juggle no longer works off the f,f+1+2 throw. The most damaging follow-up I’ve seen so far is either his new F+3+4 or f+2,1 (it may have been f,f+1,2).
Even though he no longer gets a guaranteed ground throw after it, his new FC,d/f+4 is amazing (although its not any safer on block than the T4 version). The only time it doesn’t knock down is if they are at the absolute end of its range, so you’ll rarely see it not cause a knock down. Another FC,d/f+4 is guaranteed afterwards, and as far as I know, his new (and very useful) f+4 stomp can also be done after it. His new stomp is actually quite similar to Jack2/Jack5’s f,f+3 stomp. It compliments his oki-game which is already quite powerful.
Both Craig’s VTS/WR+3 and +4 have been removed. His WR/VTS+3 is now a weird looking kick that juggles (although it juggles them with their face towards Craig, so no air-throw). The VTS/WR+4 is a knee that I have yet to experiment with. I personally liked the T4 versions, but testing still needs to be done to determine which is better.
His f,f+3 is no longer the flipping body-slam type move. Instead it’s a slow mid hitting knee that juggles on counter hit and has big knockback on block (its completely safe). So far, I’ve only see his flipping body slam thing done from while running, but it may have a new notation like f,f+3+4 or something, I didn’t really have time to look for it.
Veteran Craig players will know that his d/b+1+2 in Tekken 4, especially if done out of a sidestep/sidewalk, could be highly evasive and hit pretty often. While you can still do it directly out of a sidestep, since sidestepping evasiveness is pretty much not really there anymore, he usually gets interrupted. However, I did find that doing it out of a sidewalk to the right gave it similar evasiveness to that of the T4 version, if spaced correctly.
I didn’t really experiment with his new punch moves that much, there was one quick hitting mid-jab move that I did twice and couldn’t figure out how I did, so more info on this stuff later.
His 1+2, no longer has the same block stun, it now knocks them back on block. Other than that though, it can be used in pretty much exactly the same way as his T4 version.
People have been saying that his d+1+2 whiffs when it should hit (similar to T4 Paul’s d+1+2), and I found this to be partially true. Whenever Craig does a d+1+2 and it should actually hit (as in not be blocked), it will function properly; however, if your opponent is blocking, sometimes the move will whiff entirely when it should have at least connected with the blocking opponent (not that its safe on block anyways).
His F+3+4 shoulder tackle from T4 has a new animation. I actually liked this move in T4, because if timed right, you could often connect with it (despite the obvious startup). His new version I think will probably end up being better though, as it does good damage and has a less obvious startup. He kind of just stands there for a second before thrusting his chest at the opponent. Safe on block.
I’m not sure as to whether or not a ground throw is guaranteed after a CH b+2.
His d/f+1+2 looks like it hits mid, although I never tested it.
When the match opens, Craig’s mouth is shut; however, a few seconds before the announcer says “fight,” Craig bears his teeth. Badass.
His new-taunt is awesome looking and like all cancelable taunts in T5, can be backdashed canceled to create quicker backdashing.
Seems like all of his throws have the same animations as those in T4.
If Craig is laying face down, head towards the opponent, he does have a punch move, although I only did it once on accident. It seems to come out pretty quick, I’ll try to get it some more when I play again.
d/b+1+2 seems to knockback a bit further on block, but it I’m sure some characters can still get free hits.
Didn't really play much Jack-5, but Brahma was there with notes so I'm sure he'll be posting a nice update for the Jack-5 players.
Alright that’s all I can think of for now, if anybody has any questions; feel free to post them here or PM me.
