Summary
- There is disappointment from fans that Tekken 8’s final character is Clive, and not Tifa.
- Harada says they could always have two Final Fantasy characters in Tekken 8.
- Next year’s lineup of expansion characters has yet to be revealed.
Clive Rosfield from Final Fantasy 16 was announced as 2024’s final guest character for Tekken 8, delighting many but also disappointing quite a few people who expected the character to be Tifa Lockhart from Final Fantasy 7. There aren’t too many characters with swords in Tekken, so fans anticipated that the hand-to-hand fighter Tifa would be an ideal fit for the series.
Tekken executive producer Katsuhiro Harada recently participated in an interview with IGN where he addressed the “controversy” (nice spot, GamesRadar+). “It’s not like we’re only limited to one character from Final Fantasy,” Harada said, laughingly. “It would be cool to have two, but it’s not something we can decide alone.” The Tekken team worked closely with Square Enix on this collaboration, and Square would have to be an active participant in any future inclusions from Final Fantasy.
Harada also explained how the team chooses guest characters for the series, saying they factor in fighting styles, the “brand” of Tekken, the character’s personality and how effective the timing is to maximise the positive marketing effects for both Tekken and the collaboration title.
Tifa, A Remote Possibility?
Clive is an obvious inclusion given that he’s the protagonist of the most recent mainline Final Fantasy game, but Tifa is a hugely popular character that fans have been begging Bandai Namco to add for some time. You could also argue that Tifa’s addition makes the most sense as she starred in a 2024 Final Fantasy game (Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth) and her story is ongoing, as the third and final Final Fantasy 7 remake game is yet to be released.
Clive is Tekken 8’s fourth expansion character and the final character in the game’s first season pass. The other expansion characters are Eddy Gordo, Lidia Sobieska and Heihachi Mishima, none of which are guest characters.
The characters in next year’s season pass have yet to be revealed. If the same release cadence that was used in year one is maintained for the upcoming year, they will be released in April, July, October and December. We can expect the first reveal to be early next year. There are a plethora of predictions for the upcoming season, with Miguel and Julia Chang being popular guesses.
4.5/5
Tekken 8
Tekken 8 is the next-gen evolution of the long-running fighting game series from Bandai Namco. It brings back several popular characters and adds new, while it also introduces the new ‘Heat’ mechanic.