I wonder how they're gonna do DLC characters this time around? I think since they're gonna try to shoot for about 20 to maybe near 30 for the main roster, I think they'll try to make the legacy characters they had in Tekken 7 the main roster focus and hopefully, maybe like how SF6 is doing and KOF they'll make the less prominent or less well received new characters DLC
I think it could work, I think they'll obviously make Lidia, Kuni, Fahk, maybe Eliza(she's apparently Lili's sister which is apart of her ending), Claudio, and likely Katarina the main new returnees with maybe some slight redesigns and more story and style evolution
For characters like Gigas, Lucky Chloe(I think they're going to go the Sylvie route with her and give her a more dramatic redesign and play up more of her bitchy mean spirited nature she revealed to Eddy in his ending to make her more likable. Her updated move set changes have already helped with that however), Josie(They'll have to since her design is solid but her personality and style are very forgettable), Shaheen(he'll need a major overhaul and up to date design since he's too forgettable, good style but very bland design that they played it too safe with), they should make them all probably early DLC assuming they don't try to give them proper story additions but they could
Anna, Lei, Julia, Zafina, Armor king, marduk, Ganryu, and any other returning legacy characters from Tekken 7 should be bumped up to main roster, and hopefully Christie will finally return since i think they can make her take a reformed vengeful route alongside Eddy. We'll have a ton of space assuming they leave out any pallete swaps like the bears
I forgot about Eliza. She’s also likely as I think she fits T8’s system. Plus I hear she’s really popular as well.
I really doubt Gigas is returning if T8 is aiming for a 30-35 slot base roster. Still gotta think through Feng, Bryan, Yoshi, Alisa, Lili, Steve, Hwo, Lee, Raven (Master Raven or og raven), Bears (though I kinda hope not) etc. Plus whichever new characters they announce. Characters like Gigas, Kat, Josie (cause I really feel like Fahk overshadows her and even him I kinda predict him to be curved for Bruce) to me might get curved. I’ll give the benefit of the doubt that I can be 100% wrong and they put them in, especially Kat cause I can see her story progressing more. But we’ll see.
Thinking through legacy, outside Ganryu, I think everyone else has a decent chance. Anna, Lei, and Zafina (kinda hope not but I think she’ll fit this storyline) are high up for me. AK’s likely but I can also see them pull off a T7 again where he doesn’t make it initially. Marduk’s kinda 50/50. Another uncertain one for me. He should, but similar to AK, I can see him become legacy dlc. And though Julia’s also likely, ngl due to Jun’s return, there can be a slim chance of Michelle. I kinda hope they trash the streamer gimmick (though she did kinda become a good “don’t forget to subscribe” notification for YouTube).
Christie’s another uncertain one. And it’s because of Lucky Chloe, who’s also uncertain for me. LC to me ruined Eddy’s character (story wise) and I feel like if she and Eddy return, it’d possibly be a running gag (similar to Paul who became a running gag w/ the bears). So Idk where Christie would fit in all of that. One thing I hope Tekken changes with some characters is for some running joke gags to be done with, or at the very least have it mature as I’d hope Asuka & Lili’s would.
DLC probably gonna be all over the place. The very least I can predict is there probably will be a couple of legacy characters. But after that, I really can’t tell. Having Noctis & Negan was already out of nowhere for T7. I can only imagine what T8 would have.
I agree with the Shaheen assessment (though I think he’s possibly returning). Though to be fair to him, during the arcade days of T7, it looked like the slide character dynamic was gonna be just him & Law as Lee wasn’t announced. Law being more intermediate and Shaheen for beginners (similar to Kazumi in a way but Kazumi had a better design, even with the gimmicky tiger). Once Lee came into play, it felt like Shaheen got curved for the other two, especially since Shaheen’s design was rather mid compared to Lee (excellent) & Law.