Last Days To Enjoy Using Dragunov Before The Nerfs!
3An update to the game expected to make Dragunov significantly weaker is coming soon, so I played a bunch of battles before he loses the advantageous properties to some of his most widely used moves. Better spam db3+4 and wr2 while they still work!
I haven't played any online Tekken until this game, having played solely PvE since I got Tekken 3 together with my PS1, so it's been an exciting experience facing real, intelligent opponents, some of whom naturally own me.
At the tier I currently reside, things like having unsophisticated movement, being unable to block and parry lows, and other faults are extremely well-pronounced, so I generally have decent chances to beat my opponents and vice versa, which is more than what people who got into high tiers claim (or so my impression has been). I've learnt a few juggles for Dragunov, none of which I really get a chance to use, as just launching somebody with df+2 isn't easy to pull off.
A big obstacle I overcame here was the surprisingly damaging low kick strings from Asuka, which put more of a dent into me than I'd thought would be possible for a character who's not associated with being an offensive juggernaut, methinks, though Tekken 8 has been argued to be the most aggressive entry to the series to date. I started blocking and punishing her moves after being humiliated in my second match with a score of 3-1.
I'm kinda happy I can engage real players and win much of the time, as I thought the only thing I knew how to do was learn juggles and execute against the computer. In a match like this, you hardly get a chance to practice them, and when your foe does leap into the air, you forget which buttons to press despite having trained different combos in Practice Mode or while waiting for your next online opponent.
Kind of a symbolic video, considering Asuka is said to be rising in her prowess with Monday's update, so maybe I'll try out her next. But by now I've learnt so many of Dragunov's moves that I think I'll keep playing him every now and then.