I honestly believe it's more then that. I agree with the haircut deterring new players but I don't believe Paul mains who loved the character dropped him because of the hair. And clearly from these stats lots of people have dropped the character. Also from most newcomers I've talked to his hair before was pretty jarring as well lol
His hair ain’t got shit to do with him not being played ..He has a simple neutral game ,and he can’t be flo chart like the other S tier characters.iv mained Paul since T2 and most of my wins come from the lack of experience people have against him because no one played him ..
This is the reason I picked him up, as my 1st tekken I was getting rolled playing Lili, she had way too much for me to try and keep track of, Paul was super straightforward and I'd figure I could learn more using a few tools instead.
I like the fact that he's just a dude without the flares and flash. Heres the rest of the Tekken cast doing all these flippy dippy stuff and now here comes Paul doing the honest and basic move that hits hard. Also, his lore back in T1-T3 makes him more awesome.
There are only 3 things I dislike about TK8 Paul: his new hair, his lackluster Rage Art, and his lack of presence in the story mode. Aside from that, the reason why I stick with Paul is because his moves feel good to use and land.
well he was designed in the ps1 era, where computing power was more limited and realism more emphasized, so yeah i guess this is to be expected. he's an og without major reinvented traits, the same thing smash bros veterans suffer from.
It’s not just the hair, it’s his entire look. He looks like a hobo. If you’re a new player and you see Lars flying around with lightning everywhere, Jin and Kazuya transforming into demons, Bruce Lee lookalike flipping and kicking, King doing WWE moves etc. why would you go and pick the slow, lame homeless guy? This is coming from someone who always had Paul in his top 3 since Tekken 3
I think it's a mix of multiple little annoyances with Paul. His kit has a lot of similar looking attacks, which makes it feel even more restrictive. His look lacks intimidation, nobody sees him as dangerous. The base haircut limits hats and headbands to the awful haircut since tekken couldn't be bothered to allow multiple hair types with head items. His customizations are very limited and don't help with his goober persona.
They dropped his iconic slimjim hair for the "can I talk to your manager?" cut and isn't a very flashy character in a game full of people with fancy flips, powers or weapons. He's super easy to crush people, especially early on in ranks. You only half to press half the buttons to do the same, if not more, damage than most other characters
Yeah I cough to players in lower rank and notice Paul does alot of damage. He also has a heat combo they used to that kept getting me caught in it but I heard they gonna nerf it in the next patch.
As a Paul main comming from Tekken 7 I agree that the biggest reaason is not the hair. The bigger reason is that Paul moveset doesn't cutting it for Tekken 8. It just not enough in turms of animation and new cool moves also its not flashy enough. When you pick other characters it feels they have supers and spamable stuff and paul feels too stiff and you have to work harder, cause you cannot spam almost anything.
Haircut aside, I think he’s become less popular because of his defensive playstyle. Deathfist spam only carries you so far in ranks, and after that point you have to slow down and start playing defensively which I think turns a lot of new players off when they realize that. Personally, he’s one of my personal favorite characters to play, and from what I’ve seen from other legacy Paul players the majority of them agree that he’s a great character in Tekken 8
I love Paul he is my favorite character. I even represented him a little bit in a big local tournament. My man is struggling really really hard. His jab punishment and ws4 are a joke. His gimmick with the guard breaks has very dominant counterplay. Most other characters do guard passing way better than him amd are way more flexible. His damage can be super high but it can be pitiful too. Deathfist against some stances cant hit at all or will not hit clean. For example vs Kumas hunting bear stance. Try that out! His moves are not too reliable. Shoulder at the wall for a low slump unscaled hit will often miss if the axis is a little off. Most shocking is how shredder kicks tend to let you down after even a slight side step. I have in no other installment of the series witnessed shredders first kick hitting and the second missing afterwards. Paul struggles to find a good wallsplat from mids if the opponent is not pressed up against the wall. Paul also struggles to get in and earn some frames in a reliable way. You most likely will need to dash block into your opponents face at some point if they defend well beforehand. His 50/50 is non existing apart from some specific scenarios. F2 is not a viable way to enter heat through a punisher. The special animation means Paul is only +5 afterwards eith some space in between. That a waste of resources right there. ub2 was for some reason neutered to the point of being absolutely useless any capacity. qcf3 had a high execution combo route on ch that was taken away while introducing a clean hit range to qcf3. His unblockable deals way to low damage for what you need to do to make it land. The big man apart from a handful of tools Pauls strikes are super linear. and thats enough bitching for now. TL DR: BUFF PAUL
Paul's simplicity is the reason WHY I play Paul. I don't feel like I'm just hitting buttons at random and watching the screen explode. Paul, to me, is the Guile of Tekken. He's really only needed two moves to be successful over his career: Deathfist and Demo Man. The trick is figuring how to hit them consistently when everybody knows they're coming, and that's what makes him fun.
As a person that is completely new not only to tekken but fighting games in general, I'd say that it mostly is his design, not only his hair (although its probably its probably the main reason) but also his clothes. The reason I think that is because the first piece of advice you hear as a new player in picking out a character is "pick someone you think looks cool" or something along those lines, sure the way their gameplay looks and feels (as well as if their kit is good or not) matter but I think that first impresion was vital to me, and I would guess most other players. Finally I looked at him a bit recently and didnt love the customization options he had. I mostly also agree with all the other reasons you stated, but I stand by that being the main reason. I recently finished the story mode and that kinda made me interested in playing him, cause I found him pretty entertaining/cool in what little they show of him (also knowing the context helps, since i watched a story recap) I dont think I'll pick him up any time soon since I'm still struggling to be good with my main, and if/when I pick up another character I'd rather pick up one thats pretty op, just to get a taste of how easy it is.
to be fair customization in t8 is a55, period. Regardless of the character. Although i managed to make my mains look quite sick. There are ways to make Paul look cool still. Hotline Miami Biker cosplay on Paul's huge frame rocks
Paul is like a secondary character. People that do play him are specialist and probably most likely sitting in the higher purple rank and beyond. Tekken 8 has alot of flair and sparkle now and it makes people want to try newer character, therefore people who were Paul players in 7 are most likely trying newer characters and make switches. I was a Paul main in 7 but now Paul is my "Blowing off steam" pick.
8 is my first tekken and the only reason i stuck with Paul was because i had experience with him in the demo. Other characters look way more flashy and fun but it's such a chore to learn how to use a character in this game. I'd rather stick with death fist and a simple gameplan than lab for another 5 hours learning a new character
Damn, u are my polar opposite, one reason im addicted of this game is theres so much to learn, after hitting garyu or shiryu on a character i move on to a new one to learn and start fresh (will took me 1-2days studying a new one), btw im garyu on paul, he's quite fun to play, i dont want to push higher for now but i can see myself hitting blue ranks easily using him. Paul heat mode + big guard breaks are so fun to use.
Want to know the fun part? Paul can also be labed to learn some pretty neat in dept stuf, like the triple truster, the 3-2 sway cancel deathfist as a combo ender. IS THANKS TO PAUL that i learned how the walls wortk, cos of the many interaction you can create. So cheerio
I was completle new to Tekken, Tekken 8 is my first game and I main Paul. Resoning is that my friend said that he is easy to understand, but very hard to play well with. So I took on the challenge, plus he is just a cool dude. I have most of his core moves down now, I still need to work on my fundimentals, low blocks and sidesteps. I'm taking it nice and slow, while sometimes I wish he was more flashy, the old hair makes up for it. Slow but steady progress. So yeah... I really love playing Paul and I'm not dropping him. Great video. You just earned a sub.
I have played Paul in the betta of Tekken 8 and I played him when I got the game. I can say he's very cool and interesting to play gameplay wise and personality-wise something about him, just screens awesome dude! And I thought people were complaining about Eddy's haircut.
I do think we might be selling short just how much a design or redesign impacts popularity though. I remember seeing a video about how Hwoarang is suddenly much more popular than he’s ever been, and he’s already a wildly popular character, and I honestly think it comes down to his appearance, being, imo, probably the best he’s looked in any game. He looks straight up like THEE main protagonist in T8. So Paul’s odd new design choice is definitely offputting for past Paul players and I can definitely see that being the case for newcomers too.
Exactly, first thing that comes to mind is AK in Tekken 7. He became of the the most played characters strictly based on his visual design which is one of the best if not the best base outfit in T7 imo.
Ok, absolute new guy here to tekken 8, have not touched T7 or any other game yet (though i do wanna play T7) I'll give some context as to why I picked Paul as my first character: Death fist. Is there any other character who just hits raw damage as hard as paul? NO. I saw a character with a "high on life" smile and saw that he had great fundamentals and picked him because I dont NEED to know how to KBD. I dont NEED to know how to do electrics. I dont NEED unique mechanics or flashy moves to get easy wins on my less experienced friends because all I need is 3 deathfists and a demoman and you die. as for the hair thing, i know you as a legacy guy have been saying "its not his hair there's something wrong here fundamentally" but i feel the hair is a big part of it, its part of the puzzle. I like paul so I looked him up on tekken wiki and found a character who started in this series as a man with fists so strong he rivaled the main characters. Now he's been left behind as a literal joke, getting into fights with bears, pandas, and never having any money. At least my man Ken from SF may be down in the dumps but they didnt turn his character into a sidelined useless fighter outside of in game. THAT feels wrong tldr: tekken newcomer picks paul for FAT fucking damage, gets upset that guy doesnt look like a guile ripoff anymore and isnt treated with respect
I must be the only person in the world that actually picked this guy as a newcomer because he looks cool and the hair is actually pretty cool. Not to mention the customization is right there.
Newcomer to Tekken 8 here, picked up Paul as my character in the demo and I'm sticking with him I think the reason Paul has a lower pick rate is exclusively because you need incredibly good fundamentals to keep up with a lot of the things people are throwing out. Most of my early online matches (and even some now) end up being matchup and knowledge checks because people have so many strings and extensions that Paul doesn't really have an answer to.
Absolutely agree with all your points. I have been a Paul player since t3. And I have to say playing him on T8 online has these nostalgic feels, but if i want to keep up with the times, I'm trying a different character now. I think in a competitive standpoint, I'm having a hard time poking, and punishing. Probably a skill issue on my end as my moves are still stuck in T5
I was a Heihachi main since about Tekken 3/4. And when he didn't come back for 8 I moved to Paul. As soon as you said his kit feels outdated and like it hasn't really changed like how literally everyone has become super flashy. I was like "holy shit that is exactly how it feels!" But I still love Paul. Part of it feeling like he'll always be Paul brings me comfort. So yes I agree that his kit feels like it didn't change or really transition from 7 to 8. It makes me in a weird way feel better that he hasn't changed
I really do appreciate that they kept him more grounded to be honest. I used to main Kazuya and got really turned of by the whole devil look and lasers. The same with Jin. People may call it cool and flashy, but to me it just looks edgy and over the top. Paul staying Paul is something I'm very happy about as he seems more grounded in an increasingly ridiculous universe. Balance wise compared to the real big hitters his damage even seems lackluster. Yeah deathfist does a lot of dmg, but compare that to a full launcher from someone like Drag or Feng it's just not the same. Take away the fact that he doesn't have strings up his arse like Azu and other popular characters and suddenly it makes sense. In a game where defense is harder compared to flowcharting your opponents forever, it's just way easier to pick someone who will destroy people with much less requirement.
He's really simple, but he hits as hard as a fucking truck. That makes him really appealing to me, though I just picked Xiaoyu and I'm not changing any soon lmao
I have fever dream memories of old tekken from my youth, and I remember Paul's ridiculous standing hair. So seeing his redesign is kinda jarring yeah, but his og skin/hair is still in game. So I don't see an issue with that, same as Eddie when he comes out. As a Tekken newbie I picked up Paul for a bit after getting overwhelmed with tryna play Lili. Just cause his kit is super straightforward and rewarding for mixing up your opponent. But it got boring kinda quick so I switched to Alisa. I'm sure Paul has a lot more depth, but surface level, he just death fist, demo man, and there's a lot more unique characters aside from strongest in the universe. Even though I do love Paul.
As someone who really jumped into Tekken at 8 and have played the others but never really picked a main because I was terrible at them. Paul really made me understand the game better than the two weeks I spent with King on T8 release. He's fun and his damage is amazing but yes I feel the same way. I wish I had cool flashy combos and shit. Thats why Im trying to learn some other characters too.
As someone that has been playing Paul for 20+ years, you're spot on with the feeling left behind. He still feels like the Paul I played with in Tekken 3 while all the other characters have evolved with the game systems. Why the hell would I charge a deathfist if I will get punished so fucking hard? Also lol at "thousands of people dropping the character because of the tiny head next to the health bar is a bit of a stretch"
I played a bit of Tekken 2 as a kid and that's been my only exposure with the franchise to date. I've been playing Tekken 8 for a few days now and I'm having so much fun with Paul. In a game where every other character is pulling off combos you'd see in an anime (I'm looking at you, Viktor), it feels bizarrely refreshing to play a somewhat basic character. Paul's simple and easy moveset helps a lot when getting into the game. It also feels incredibly satisfying when you land a deathfist. With that in mind, "OSU"
I'm a newish player who came into tekken during the end cycle of the game (like in 2022-23). Paul was one of the characters that i was drawn to. I think the reason he was popular previously was because he was easy and had big reward. Just look at how much damage death fist did in 7, especially on counter hit. Even if death fist gets harder to land in higher ranks, in lower ranks it was always fun to just throw the unblockable or a deathfist and take off 50-100% health. Other characters being strong don't matter In tekken 8 he's more well balanced compared to the rest of the roster and also tekken 7. Deathfist doesn't do nearly as much damage. The Unblockable doesn't work the same way. So there's less reason to pick Paul if you want that quick and easy reward. Further all other characters have been buffed in tekken, especiallly with heat. So almost everyone can do crazy damage and play as a "power" class.
with tekken 8 as my first tekken game, i scrolled trough every character in the game to figure out how each character plays, what the gameplans are like. how the combos feel on them. and generally if i would like to play them. looking at paul i saw a guy who's kinda in the middle of everything. i'm not picking him for being flashy. if i want that i'll rather play reina or lars. if i want to play as a huge dude with big punches i like to go over the top with jack. i mainly play Law & i just picked up Asuka/Steve since i am learning how the game actually plays out. Paul just doesn't stand out to me. luckily my friend who got me into tekken mains Paul so i see what he does otherwise i would never learn him. i am sorry if i said something wrong. this is purely my own opinion to reply to the question in the video how a complete new player looks at Paul.
As a new player in Tekken , who plays Paul, i can say, that there is really a ton of annoying stuff with plus frames, that people do on other characters, while Paul has just simple buttons, no crazy flashy stuff to press
I’m a new player, I main Paul cause he’s a badass hard hitting biker dude. I like that he’s pretty straightforward, and few things feel better than hitting back to back death fists.
I agree with the flashiness. Just recently installed T8, and I've always mained with Paul since T3. The thing I feel could be better is his juggles. With most characters, stringing moves together to form a wall-to-wall juggle is possible. I have still to find a move set that can do this with Paul; even center-to-wall juggles does not look flashy enough until you hit heat engagers and such. It's getting a bit boring to play, that I'm seriously considering playing another character with more possible combos. The Karen haircut definitely does not help.
Paul being Paul works great for me, having a character not become bonkers with new systems is also kinda nice. And comparing kazuya and Paul, well Pros play a lot more Paul than Kazuya for a reason
THIS. So much this. I've been a Paul main since forever and I've had the same feeling. I agree with you, I think it's because he is not flashy, nothing about him is. His main costume is meh, he doesn't have impressive gimmicks, etc. I still like him, but even other legacy characters like Law make me raise my eyebrow higher.
I'm one of those few people who mained only Paul and fell in love with the character since the old days (i started at Tekken 2). And in the older Tekken games, Paul was cool. He wasn't a goofy character. He beat Ogre, and his hair down in Tekken 4 looks super cool. He only started losing his brain in 5. So as a legacy Paul user, the one thing he lacks now is is coolness/ badassery image. In 5-7 he is stupid in the story / endings and I hated that, but at least in his gameplay, he still looks cool and badass. Now in 8, he is goofy even in gameplay. He smiles and while i like that but the smile isn't cool. The smile is goofy and more towards clownly smile. Plus the karen haircut. He doesnt show his seriousness/ love for martial art anymore. So the more reason people left him. Data agrees that NOBODY wants to play a clown. More so for newcomers. People wanna pick character that looks cool, and T8 Paul doesn't reflect that. Too much goofyness and clown aura even in gameplay, is what killed T8 Paul popularity. Visual attracts people and nobody is going to pick Paul if his new look is bad AND he also acts goofy in the gameplay. If Namco wants people to love Paul then they need to make Paul looks cool. That's just it. As a long time Paul fan of course I stayed loyal and even embraced his new look. As I showed on my art here, I tried to make him look cool with the new hair. twitter.com/dippypradipta/status/1743934664266662198 But I still kinda cringed everytime i see him doing the clown smile. Is asking a cool Paul design and attitude for Tekken 9 is too much to ask?
I play paul He may look like a hobo, but the personality is still great! Nothing screams the strongest like hitting hard. No devil gene, no weapons, no secret techniques. All he does is hit hard with a smile on his face
I mean look at his pals… Law and Steeve… Law has cool nunchucks and Steeve is also designed very good but Paul really disappointed me. Bamco actually. Great content tho. Really enjoyed the video. Subbed!
jeah, paul plays extremely similar to t7 paul, theres not a lot to discover about the character. he feels like a t7 character in t8. he cant sustain pressure and be in your face all the time with + frames and strings like other characters. he relies on landing a ch or df2 or deathfist to do serious damage. he also doesnt have a easy approach tool like most of the characters like azucena wr3,2 or drag wr2. the character feels a bit out of place in the game.
As a guy who picked up the game 2 days ago (destroyer rank atm), his running 2 (RKO) is a really satisfying combo finisher for me. It looks and feels cool, and it gives me some room to death fist punish a potential getup sweep.
Paul's biggest land of dominance was stages with walls. He still hit as strong without them, but my god... He'll make sure you and the wall are INTIMATE.
I know I’m super late but you perfectly described why I didn’t like Paul. Now I haven’t played tekken for like 7 years tekken 8 is my first tekken and I was interested in Paul but when I played him he just didn’t feel right because he just felt boring but I’ve picked him up recently after playing drag for awhile and honestly he’s a breath of fresh air ngl so I think a legacy character kinda has a place in a game like this but hey I’m just a guy in warrior what do I know.
Well I just started to play with Paul considering the fact that I can't play that well with kazuya I like Paul's basic technique I've gotten so used to that so people don't have to like him or pick him but I like him with his power and defense which still makes him a powerhouse fighter
The new design definitely sucks. But I tried Paul a little bit in the last half of the year of 7. And felt this “connection” in terms of movement (which sadly I don’t have with Feng yet😅) And his design from 7 (Road Warrior-like) and classic gi still rules. I hope our boy will get some nice threads in Tekken Shop🙏
It’s like what tendo XI said in his video “what your tekken 8 main says about you”. He says phoenix players been playing the same thing for the last 2 decades plus.
Change his hairs in customization, give him some stylish clothes with cool colors and enjoy his heat system, it’s the best in the game 💪🏼 I‘m a Paul fanboy since the beginning and I still love him in Tekken 8 a lot and I like to see him lucky and smiling in the cutscenes 😍😁
I recently picked up Paul and dropped him as soon as I got to know his best combo routes are locked behind a just frame input that comes out even less than ch df2 pewgf It's just way too hard for what it's worth
I agree bro, Paul got left behind. It's sad, and i'm not talking about his hair. His playstyle is for old tekken games. Look at the other legacy characters like Kazuya - he perfectly fits in the tekken 8 system. And another, look at Yoshimitsu. LOOK AT YOSHIMITSU! Man, his redesign is on a different level. He was meant for Tekken 8 while Paul still plays like Tekken 6. They did Paul dirty.
My biggest complaint with Paul is that every other character has some sort of running, long range, somewhat tracking mid that gives around 5-6 frames of advantage and have a df1 that frame traps out of it. Meanwhile Paul's main +frame mid is only +3 and the fastest safe mid he has is 14 frames, you could consider uf2 as it gives +5 on block but its high and has some of the worst tracking in the game. Also please harada give ub2 tracking again, f4 being the only tracking mid sucks as its super slow. All the top tiers in t8 turn the game into a single player game meanwhile Paul has to work for just about every hit, yeah he gets good reward for landing a hit but demoman still has 0 range and will not clean hit even at the wall sometimes. I've taken Paul to tekken king, switched to playing Azucena and got tekken king in legit half the games just by spamming wr32. Overall, paul is still playing t7 compared to a lot of the roster. Kazuya has the same problem, why would you play Kazuya when Reina, Jin, and Devil Jin are just straight up better at the moment
As a first time player who picked paul this all makes sense. Initially I picked paul because I was told he’s an honest character that is good to learn tekken fundamentals with. That said, amongst the flashy characters, I’ve learned to love the simplicity of punching really hard 😤
i jumped from tekken 3 to tekken 8. i was a dr b champion in my childhood days in local game parlours . my next favourite was howrang, lee, gunjack , tru ogra , king ,, nina , anna, yoshimitsu paul least favourite were xiaou , julie and jin nvr played much and nvr won brayan was also good but difficult player
Paul has been my main since Tekken 3. I honestly have been tone deaf to his popularity because I've actually never seen him too much since Tekken had online. I've looked it up from time to time and saw that he's popular and considered top tier, but I've never felt that way about him. Tekken 8 was the first time I looked for a combo video or guide because I was like...I must be missing something. Majority of the roster has these insane transitions with their combos so I thought maybe I just didn't know what Paul's was. He just doesn't have one lol. I've been playing mostly Feng but just started really using Paul and I can say at least in the early ranks it feels like if I don't bully the opponent and put fear into them immediately...its an uphill battle. His mix-ups feel predictable his options seem predictable and I'm not one to spam deathfist so maybe that's my fault. It just feels like he can't open up the opponent and some of the sway tech I used to use seems obsolete now because of some of the changes they've made to his moveset.
I haven't played any part of the series intensively since Tekken 5. Paul was always my main character until then. So I naturally chose him again in Tekken 8 and immediately had fun with his fighting style again. I agree with your analysis. He's just too straightforward with his moves. The whole thing seems downright boring compared to many other characters. However, I also think that his iconic tower hairstyle should have been part of his P1 standard outfit. That would definitely have motivated some newcomers to try him out. 😉
It's the hair. Paul has benefits from heat; he has a pretty good heat system. Jin is not even aware that heat is a thing in Tekken 8; he doesn't get anything from it, yet Jin is way more popular than Paul.
I feel like I wish you had discussed why you picked up Paul in Tekken 7. There's plenty of well communicated speculation on why players might not be feeling Paul in 8, but it's harder to grok without the context for why he was so popular even in 7. "people just love this guy" falls flat for me as an explanation because if it were true, it should have carried through to 8.
As Tekken pro player. Paul is my best character but I have to admit that It’s all about the frames.. Paul has the slowest or lowest frame attacks in tekken 8. While most characters has high + frames and speed which gives them the priority to hit you at first no matter what you do. The equation is simple. high + frame means priorty to hit first and punish.. Unfortunately, Paul was left behind by tekken developers.. It’s really frustrating when try to hit someone and he easly break through your attack .. %90 of his moves and combos are useless against other characters, you will get easily punished. Moreover, his attacks are easy to read. Paul has been wronged in Tekken
Im kinda of a newcomer, I played tekken since tekken 2 but I didnt really focus on getting good and competitive play until now with tekken 8. Honestly Paul never once caught my eye throught all of those games... I've always played the flashy charaters like eddie, yoshi, kuma, roger the kangaroo. Now in tekken 8, I wanted to start fresh and learn all the aspects of the game, so I use him because his toolset is basic and easy to understand but hard to implement together in a match. Learning how to implement each tool can help me understand how to use other characters... Also killing your opponent with only death fists is hilarous 🤣 But I honestly think its because the character is just stale, Paul has done the same thing in the past four games.Now comes a new game with new characters, that do cooler shit than the older characters... thats just gonna make old players and newcomers pick the cooler, flashy options.
As a Paul player myself i have to agree with basically everything in this video i’ve been playing Paul for about 3 years so due to character loyalty i’ve stuck to basically all characters i played in Tekken 7 but as good as he is, he feels like a struggle to play with everyone being able to fly across the screen or hitting you from a football field away it’s been tough playing neutral and him not being flashy and cool doesn’t help his case. It also doesn’t help that Paul has been treated like a joke since Tekken 4 he hasn’t had anything interesting since then He’s gone from being the only one to rival the Mishimas in strength and the one to defeat Ogre to a Joke character. But despite all that Paul is still one of my favourites in the series along with King and Kuma so i’m always gonna stick to them no matter what and i seriously hope more people pick up Paul he’s fun and strong once you get over the weaknesses and he’s also a character which you can spend years learning cause he has combo routes with difficulty that rivals the Mishimas’ electric (QCF+1 pickup and Sway cancel into death fist at the wall)
As a new player there are a few things. First off his entire aesthetic is awful in this game. I saw him in the last games and he looked cool and tough, now he just looks poor. He has a fantastic movelist and is actually a good character but I can’t get past the aesthetic and character personality that doesn’t fit me.
Man i main paul in this tekken and i couldnt put my finger on what was wrong with him. You are right, it feels like they really didnt do anything with him.
Honestly, scares the shit out of me facing one. They're the OG Pauls that persist popularity & serve to trip you & destroy your health bar. Forgot the matchup already so its gotten worse 🙃
I’m a Lars main and I picked up Paul exclusively for the fact he slows the game down. I find myself thinking about too much what I have to do so Paul being simple and outdated lets me focus on what my opponent is doing. He is good but he definitely feels like he lacks stuff. Also great take and explanation, I couldn’t agree more.
Bro, your premise is faulty...case in point, Raven. He looks amazing, easy to use, flashy, and powerful, yet one of the least picked characters. I think Paul just looks goofy now and has too many expressions. It's off-putting.
Raven was never that popular, Paul has been in every tekken game since the original and was the most played character in tekken 7. I dont know how you would possibly try and make the comparison between those two characters.
@Boogard you said Paul is played less because he is boring compared to the treatment bamco gave the other characters and that's why he fell off. I disagree because Raven got a hell of a makeover and didn't become more popular.
While i definitely agree with the outdated point and being "not as flashy" therefore not as appealing as say, Jin or Kazuya. And while i have played Tekken dark resurrection as a kid and enjoyed paul a lot, a lot of characters had cool stuff to look at, so i played everyone terribly. Point being, while i know about and like the character in general, its hard to say hes "cooler" than heihachi, jack, yoshimistu or king. And for gameplay purposes i wouldnt day i have legacy bias since i was just button mashing 15 years ago. I decided to play Paul in tekken 8 because hes still my guy sure, hes simple as well making it easier to get into the game properly but more importantly, death fist is EASILY enough for me to play this character. The MASSIVE amount of oomph on the engaging hit especially, and how far they get sent with df.1+2 throw is hilarious every time. Also being able to charge b.2, 1 and d.1, deathfist to guard crush or kill them is super satisfying. The big bonks are the sickest thing jn this game for me. But the voice actor sells the character well with the heat smash/dash and the goofy flip, plus hes an absolute goober in this game which just means hes enioyable to see on my screen. While you're right in many ways, id say he still definitely attracts an audience for both character and gameplay reasons casually, even if less so
I main Paul and love it. People don't play him probably because there are lots other cool(er) characters like Reina, Victor, and Azucena. Shaheen falls under that too just plane Jane vanilla gameplay. Players like characters that look and do cool things.
As i was just saying to myself, all of what he says applies to Kazuya and he's popular (Although I rarely meet him at Ruler ranks) and you mention Kazuya! I think what differentiates them is Kazuya has a lot of character, while Paul's character is very simple imo (Just a generic tough guy).
I say it avtually is because of the hair. Even though you can choose the classic look easily, just that the default hair and outfit and design is so gross, just navigating to that character makes them go past Paul. You would be surprized how many choose their characters just by scrolling through the select screen.
Paul player here since tekken 3, I totally agree with you, pauls feels really outdated, sure they gave him some new moves, but compare it to other characters in Tk8, he only feels like Tk7 season 5 addition. its really hard to use him especially now Ive reached blue rank. Its really very tiring to use him compare to ither tekken characters here in TK8, I only got him to blue rank thism week, compare it to my other main, Hwoarang, I can clearly see its much easier to rank up. I have also tried using other characters like Dragunov, Kazuya, Jin, King and Azucena, to test my theory, didnt get them to blue rank, but playing with them was a much easier experience compared to Paul
Nah I completely agree with you Paul feels like a chore to play it’s hard to turtle in this game with so much focus on aggression. I got to Fujin with King yesterday and now trying to do the same with Paul it feels so difficult because of his defensive play style and with so many great long range moves that a lot of these characters have Paul is probably the most prone to being kept out and ironically as much as T8 is focused on aggression going in feels much more difficult with Paul than my other characters like King, Kuma, and Jack
I like that Paul isn't that different. We NEED a Legacy character. and Paul is still playing Legacy Tekken. I feel Tekken needs a reminder of where it started. I also feel Kazuya still is also Legacy. Paul,Bryan and Kazuya imo are 3 characters that needs to be like this
Doesn't matter if you can customize, as a new player you still look at a character and think immediately, "Is that fighter cool?" and if they aren't you do not want to play them until much later in your tekken career. With the large amount of new players whatever pauls popularity was before gets diluted because people look at him, think he looks uncanny and then pick some jaguar mask man, a shoe collector or the one they want to bang.
paul's classic haircut being available as an alt costume and as an equippable item, for free, pretty much invalidates the aesthetic angle for why people aren't playing him. it's more likely that he's seen so much play time in the closed beta that he's basically been solved. wallbreak shenanigans aside, he basically is too vanilla. paul and law both were the most played in arcades by a mile. it's changed now.
Bruh his qcf 3 is just dying to be a db3 What on earth is going on? He’s got such weak lows that don’t make people wanna duck. How can I ever mix people properly? There’s no risk for standing
![[UA] Eternal Fire проти NAVI | EPL Season 20 Malta](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/chvlsDygrZM/mqdefault.jpg)
Why does everyone think I invented the Why NO ONE Plays video format lol 😂
bruh who
Who tf r u tho
That karen haircut destroyed this dude
I honestly believe it's more then that. I agree with the haircut deterring new players but I don't believe Paul mains who loved the character dropped him because of the hair. And clearly from these stats lots of people have dropped the character. Also from most newcomers I've talked to his hair before was pretty jarring as well lol
@@Boogard Nah, it's the Karen haircut.
His hair ain’t got shit to do with him not being played ..He has a simple neutral game ,and he can’t be flo chart like the other S tier characters.iv mained Paul since T2 and most of my wins come from the lack of experience people have against him because no one played him ..
@@Boogardnah. It’s really that simple. I think you are the only one that doesn’t think so. Lol
Lol
In fact his lack of flashiness it's what make me play Paul, I feel that he teach you more about the game because of his simplicity.
This is the reason I picked him up, as my 1st tekken I was getting rolled playing Lili, she had way too much for me to try and keep track of, Paul was super straightforward and I'd figure I could learn more using a few tools instead.
I like the fact that he's just a dude without the flares and flash. Heres the rest of the Tekken cast doing all these flippy dippy stuff and now here comes Paul doing the honest and basic move that hits hard. Also, his lore back in T1-T3 makes him more awesome.
There are only 3 things I dislike about TK8 Paul: his new hair, his lackluster Rage Art, and his lack of presence in the story mode. Aside from that, the reason why I stick with Paul is because his moves feel good to use and land.
well he was designed in the ps1 era, where computing power was more limited and realism more emphasized, so yeah i guess this is to be expected. he's an og without major reinvented traits, the same thing smash bros veterans suffer from.
Paul is an honest character in a dishonest game.
TMM alt spotted.
Shaheen just joined the chat
@@syahrulesI forgot he was a character.
@@syahrules shaheen in tekken 8 is a monster. What are you talking about?
He was always honest. Even in T7. One thing that is fun with the character is to beat people's ass Old School style.
This vid drops legit after I faced 4 Paul's in a row lmao
Must be in the lower ranks ! Because in blue ranks and above,Paul’s are like seeing a unicorn
@@kriscotd76yea I agree, it was mostly tenryu and shinryu the ones I fought. Never seen one at blue or above so far
@@kriscotd76 let gonna try be that unicorn them
It’s not just the hair, it’s his entire look. He looks like a hobo. If you’re a new player and you see Lars flying around with lightning everywhere, Jin and Kazuya transforming into demons, Bruce Lee lookalike flipping and kicking, King doing WWE moves etc. why would you go and pick the slow, lame homeless guy? This is coming from someone who always had Paul in his top 3 since Tekken 3
Even when you want to customise him, he just looks like an old dude in costume.
He looks like his clothes are too tight for him.
He always had the hobo look, dirty gi, rides a bike, it’s not that at all it’s literally the HAIR and that’s it
Lame homeless guy 😂😂😂😂
@@JustSendMeLocation
Nah he looked rebellious in the older games
Now he legit looks like a dirty ass crack addict
Because Paul is the OG of Tekken.
He’s been in every Tekken, not even any of the Mishimas can say that and they’re supposed to be the main characters
@@cukkucake That's why harada should make Paul die in the next game
@@philgamer9499L take.
I think it's a mix of multiple little annoyances with Paul. His kit has a lot of similar looking attacks, which makes it feel even more restrictive. His look lacks intimidation, nobody sees him as dangerous. The base haircut limits hats and headbands to the awful haircut since tekken couldn't be bothered to allow multiple hair types with head items. His customizations are very limited and don't help with his goober persona.
Paul wrestled a bear once… no twice… okay a lot of times
Strongest in the universe 💪
Canonically the only non-Mishima character to have won against the Mishimas.
@@watcherman222Akuma, Hwoarang, Ogre.
They dropped his iconic slimjim hair for the "can I talk to your manager?" cut and isn't a very flashy character in a game full of people with fancy flips, powers or weapons. He's super easy to crush people, especially early on in ranks. You only half to press half the buttons to do the same, if not more, damage than most other characters
Yeah I cough to players in lower rank and notice Paul does alot of damage. He also has a heat combo they used to that kept getting me caught in it but I heard they gonna nerf it in the next patch.
As a Paul main comming from Tekken 7 I agree that the biggest reaason is not the hair.
The bigger reason is that Paul moveset doesn't cutting it for Tekken 8.
It just not enough in turms of animation and new cool moves also its not flashy enough.
When you pick other characters it feels they have supers and spamable stuff and paul feels too stiff
and you have to work harder, cause you cannot spam almost anything.
Haircut aside, I think he’s become less popular because of his defensive playstyle. Deathfist spam only carries you so far in ranks, and after that point you have to slow down and start playing defensively which I think turns a lot of new players off when they realize that. Personally, he’s one of my personal favorite characters to play, and from what I’ve seen from other legacy Paul players the majority of them agree that he’s a great character in Tekken 8
Cause hes too honest in a very dishonest game. Hes strong if he guesses right though
I like his new style. It looks cool.
He is a good character for (new) players, who want to learn the basics.
His new style looks horrible
He looks anything BUT cool
Your fashion style is in question right now…
I love Paul he is my favorite character. I even represented him a little bit in a big local tournament. My man is struggling really really hard.
His jab punishment and ws4 are a joke.
His gimmick with the guard breaks has very dominant counterplay. Most other characters do guard passing way better than him amd are way more flexible.
His damage can be super high but it can be pitiful too. Deathfist against some stances cant hit at all or will not hit clean. For example vs Kumas hunting bear stance. Try that out!
His moves are not too reliable. Shoulder at the wall for a low slump unscaled hit will often miss if the axis is a little off. Most shocking is how shredder kicks tend to let you down after even a slight side step. I have in no other installment of the series witnessed shredders first kick hitting and the second missing afterwards.
Paul struggles to find a good wallsplat from mids if the opponent is not pressed up against the wall.
Paul also struggles to get in and earn some frames in a reliable way. You most likely will need to dash block into your opponents face at some point if they defend well beforehand.
His 50/50 is non existing apart from some specific scenarios.
F2 is not a viable way to enter heat through a punisher. The special animation means Paul is only +5 afterwards eith some space in between. That a waste of resources right there.
ub2 was for some reason neutered to the point of being absolutely useless any capacity.
qcf3 had a high execution combo route on ch that was taken away while introducing a clean hit range to qcf3.
His unblockable deals way to low damage for what you need to do to make it land.
The big man apart from a handful of tools Pauls strikes are super linear.
and thats enough bitching for now.
TL DR:
BUFF PAUL
Paul's simplicity is the reason WHY I play Paul. I don't feel like I'm just hitting buttons at random and watching the screen explode.
Paul, to me, is the Guile of Tekken. He's really only needed two moves to be successful over his career: Deathfist and Demo Man. The trick is figuring how to hit them consistently when everybody knows they're coming, and that's what makes him fun.
As a person that is completely new not only to tekken but fighting games in general, I'd say that it mostly is his design, not only his hair (although its probably its probably the main reason) but also his clothes. The reason I think that is because the first piece of advice you hear as a new player in picking out a character is "pick someone you think looks cool" or something along those lines, sure the way their gameplay looks and feels (as well as if their kit is good or not) matter but I think that first impresion was vital to me, and I would guess most other players. Finally I looked at him a bit recently and didnt love the customization options he had.
I mostly also agree with all the other reasons you stated, but I stand by that being the main reason. I recently finished the story mode and that kinda made me interested in playing him, cause I found him pretty entertaining/cool in what little they show of him (also knowing the context helps, since i watched a story recap) I dont think I'll pick him up any time soon since I'm still struggling to be good with my main, and if/when I pick up another character I'd rather pick up one thats pretty op, just to get a taste of how easy it is.
I just think American characters don’t get picked😂
to be fair customization in t8 is a55, period. Regardless of the character. Although i managed to make my mains look quite sick. There are ways to make Paul look cool still. Hotline Miami Biker cosplay on Paul's huge frame rocks
@@NekMinuteGfym
Nina getting picked all day
@@jkthegreat5687 Nina is Irish and middle of the pack in the pick rates as of the last usage charts
lol I made Paul look like triple H in a suit during his “BEST FOR BUSINESS” era with Kane and the shield ☠️
Paul is like a secondary character. People that do play him are specialist and probably most likely sitting in the higher purple rank and beyond. Tekken 8 has alot of flair and sparkle now and it makes people want to try newer character, therefore people who were Paul players in 7 are most likely trying newer characters and make switches. I was a Paul main in 7 but now Paul is my "Blowing off steam" pick.
8 is my first tekken and the only reason i stuck with Paul was because i had experience with him in the demo. Other characters look way more flashy and fun but it's such a chore to learn how to use a character in this game. I'd rather stick with death fist and a simple gameplan than lab for another 5 hours learning a new character
Respect sometimes simplicity is a great thing
Damn, u are my polar opposite, one reason im addicted of this game is theres so much to learn, after hitting garyu or shiryu on a character i move on to a new one to learn and start fresh (will took me 1-2days studying a new one), btw im garyu on paul, he's quite fun to play, i dont want to push higher for now but i can see myself hitting blue ranks easily using him. Paul heat mode + big guard breaks are so fun to use.
@@Boogard boogard I like Jun kazama Reina mishima ling xiaoyu lili rochefort asuka kazama but I play Jun more jun🕊 is my main in tekken 8
Want to know the fun part? Paul can also be labed to learn some pretty neat in dept stuf, like the triple truster, the 3-2 sway cancel deathfist as a combo ender. IS THANKS TO PAUL that i learned how the walls wortk, cos of the many interaction you can create. So cheerio
I was completle new to Tekken, Tekken 8 is my first game and I main Paul.
Resoning is that my friend said that he is easy to understand, but very hard to play well with. So I took on the challenge, plus he is just a cool dude.
I have most of his core moves down now, I still need to work on my fundimentals, low blocks and sidesteps.
I'm taking it nice and slow, while sometimes I wish he was more flashy, the old hair makes up for it.
Slow but steady progress.
So yeah... I really love playing Paul and I'm not dropping him.
Great video. You just earned a sub.
I have played Paul in the betta of Tekken 8 and I played him when I got the game. I can say he's very cool and interesting to play gameplay wise and personality-wise something about him, just screens awesome dude! And I thought people were complaining about Eddy's haircut.
I do think we might be selling short just how much a design or redesign impacts popularity though. I remember seeing a video about how Hwoarang is suddenly much more popular than he’s ever been, and he’s already a wildly popular character, and I honestly think it comes down to his appearance, being, imo, probably the best he’s looked in any game. He looks straight up like THEE main protagonist in T8. So Paul’s odd new design choice is definitely offputting for past Paul players and I can definitely see that being the case for newcomers too.
Exactly, first thing that comes to mind is AK in Tekken 7. He became of the the most played characters strictly based on his visual design which is one of the best if not the best base outfit in T7 imo.
Hwoarang's new design is ass.
Ok, absolute new guy here to tekken 8, have not touched T7 or any other game yet (though i do wanna play T7) I'll give some context as to why I picked Paul as my first character:
Death fist. Is there any other character who just hits raw damage as hard as paul? NO. I saw a character with a "high on life" smile and saw that he had great fundamentals and picked him because I dont NEED to know how to KBD. I dont NEED to know how to do electrics. I dont NEED unique mechanics or flashy moves to get easy wins on my less experienced friends because all I need is 3 deathfists and a demoman and you die.
as for the hair thing, i know you as a legacy guy have been saying "its not his hair there's something wrong here fundamentally" but i feel the hair is a big part of it, its part of the puzzle.
I like paul so I looked him up on tekken wiki and found a character who started in this series as a man with fists so strong he rivaled the main characters. Now he's been left behind as a literal joke, getting into fights with bears, pandas, and never having any money. At least my man Ken from SF may be down in the dumps but they didnt turn his character into a sidelined useless fighter outside of in game. THAT feels wrong
tldr: tekken newcomer picks paul for FAT fucking damage, gets upset that guy doesnt look like a guile ripoff anymore and isnt treated with respect
makes sense. and Paul's deathfist damage was so brutal that it literally k.o. in 3 or 4 of them.
I must be the only person in the world that actually picked this guy as a newcomer because he looks cool and the hair is actually pretty cool. Not to mention the customization is right there.
Newcomer to Tekken 8 here, picked up Paul as my character in the demo and I'm sticking with him
I think the reason Paul has a lower pick rate is exclusively because you need incredibly good fundamentals to keep up with a lot of the things people are throwing out. Most of my early online matches (and even some now) end up being matchup and knowledge checks because people have so many strings and extensions that Paul doesn't really have an answer to.
They gave him the ken treatment 😭
he is visually a ken expy (considering his t1 design) so☠☠☠
Im so glad u made this video.. hit TGS with law but am struggling to no end with Paul
Absolutely agree with all your points. I have been a Paul player since t3. And I have to say playing him on T8 online has these nostalgic feels, but if i want to keep up with the times, I'm trying a different character now.
I think in a competitive standpoint, I'm having a hard time poking, and punishing. Probably a skill issue on my end as my moves are still stuck in T5
I was a Heihachi main since about Tekken 3/4. And when he didn't come back for 8 I moved to Paul. As soon as you said his kit feels outdated and like it hasn't really changed like how literally everyone has become super flashy. I was like "holy shit that is exactly how it feels!" But I still love Paul. Part of it feeling like he'll always be Paul brings me comfort. So yes I agree that his kit feels like it didn't change or really transition from 7 to 8. It makes me in a weird way feel better that he hasn't changed
I really do appreciate that they kept him more grounded to be honest. I used to main Kazuya and got really turned of by the whole devil look and lasers. The same with Jin. People may call it cool and flashy, but to me it just looks edgy and over the top. Paul staying Paul is something I'm very happy about as he seems more grounded in an increasingly ridiculous universe.
Balance wise compared to the real big hitters his damage even seems lackluster. Yeah deathfist does a lot of dmg, but compare that to a full launcher from someone like Drag or Feng it's just not the same. Take away the fact that he doesn't have strings up his arse like Azu and other popular characters and suddenly it makes sense. In a game where defense is harder compared to flowcharting your opponents forever, it's just way easier to pick someone who will destroy people with much less requirement.
Also, Paul's new hairstyle, I thought I was all right but in customization I will try to get his original haircut for some of the costumes I make.
He's really simple, but he hits as hard as a fucking truck. That makes him really appealing to me, though I just picked Xiaoyu and I'm not changing any soon lmao
I have fever dream memories of old tekken from my youth, and I remember Paul's ridiculous standing hair. So seeing his redesign is kinda jarring yeah, but his og skin/hair is still in game. So I don't see an issue with that, same as Eddie when he comes out.
As a Tekken newbie I picked up Paul for a bit after getting overwhelmed with tryna play Lili. Just cause his kit is super straightforward and rewarding for mixing up your opponent. But it got boring kinda quick so I switched to Alisa. I'm sure Paul has a lot more depth, but surface level, he just death fist, demo man, and there's a lot more unique characters aside from strongest in the universe. Even though I do love Paul.
As someone who really jumped into Tekken at 8 and have played the others but never really picked a main because I was terrible at them. Paul really made me understand the game better than the two weeks I spent with King on T8 release. He's fun and his damage is amazing but yes I feel the same way. I wish I had cool flashy combos and shit. Thats why Im trying to learn some other characters too.
As someone that has been playing Paul for 20+ years, you're spot on with the feeling left behind. He still feels like the Paul I played with in Tekken 3 while all the other characters have evolved with the game systems. Why the hell would I charge a deathfist if I will get punished so fucking hard? Also lol at "thousands of people dropping the character because of the tiny head next to the health bar is a bit of a stretch"
I played a bit of Tekken 2 as a kid and that's been my only exposure with the franchise to date. I've been playing Tekken 8 for a few days now and I'm having so much fun with Paul. In a game where every other character is pulling off combos you'd see in an anime (I'm looking at you, Viktor), it feels bizarrely refreshing to play a somewhat basic character. Paul's simple and easy moveset helps a lot when getting into the game. It also feels incredibly satisfying when you land a deathfist. With that in mind, "OSU"
I feel the exact way about Bryan in T8. Everyone is crazy as hell in this game but Bryan is just same old Bryan
I’ve been saying to make Paul’s 2 3 his new 10f punish
Good idea actually
fully support this
Wait. 2,3 is guaranteed?
@@TimeWarrior14 only on counter hit.
I'm a newish player who came into tekken during the end cycle of the game (like in 2022-23). Paul was one of the characters that i was drawn to.
I think the reason he was popular previously was because he was easy and had big reward. Just look at how much damage death fist did in 7, especially on counter hit. Even if death fist gets harder to land in higher ranks, in lower ranks it was always fun to just throw the unblockable or a deathfist and take off 50-100% health. Other characters being strong don't matter
In tekken 8 he's more well balanced compared to the rest of the roster and also tekken 7. Deathfist doesn't do nearly as much damage. The Unblockable doesn't work the same way.
So there's less reason to pick Paul if you want that quick and easy reward. Further all other characters have been buffed in tekken, especiallly with heat. So almost everyone can do crazy damage and play as a "power" class.
with tekken 8 as my first tekken game, i scrolled trough every character in the game to figure out how each character plays,
what the gameplans are like. how the combos feel on them. and generally if i would like to play them.
looking at paul i saw a guy who's kinda in the middle of everything.
i'm not picking him for being flashy. if i want that i'll rather play reina or lars.
if i want to play as a huge dude with big punches i like to go over the top with jack.
i mainly play Law & i just picked up Asuka/Steve since i am learning how the game actually plays out.
Paul just doesn't stand out to me. luckily my friend who got me into tekken mains Paul so i see what he does otherwise i would never learn him.
i am sorry if i said something wrong. this is purely my own opinion to reply to the question in the video how a complete new player looks at Paul.
As a new player in Tekken , who plays Paul, i can say, that there is really a ton of annoying stuff with plus frames, that people do on other characters, while Paul has just simple buttons, no crazy flashy stuff to press
I’m a new player, I main Paul cause he’s a badass hard hitting biker dude. I like that he’s pretty straightforward, and few things feel better than hitting back to back death fists.
I agree with the flashiness.
Just recently installed T8, and I've always mained with Paul since T3. The thing I feel could be better is his juggles. With most characters, stringing moves together to form a wall-to-wall juggle is possible. I have still to find a move set that can do this with Paul; even center-to-wall juggles does not look flashy enough until you hit heat engagers and such. It's getting a bit boring to play, that I'm seriously considering playing another character with more possible combos.
The Karen haircut definitely does not help.
Paul and asuka are my old reliables. Yeah both their looks got skewered but in a weird way it kind of fits their personalities
Paul being Paul works great for me, having a character not become bonkers with new systems is also kinda nice.
And comparing kazuya and Paul, well Pros play a lot more Paul than Kazuya for a reason
I love Paul and been playing him since tekken one! But you are 100% right its hard to keep up with the new players with basic Paul
THIS. So much this.
I've been a Paul main since forever and I've had the same feeling. I agree with you, I think it's because he is not flashy, nothing about him is.
His main costume is meh, he doesn't have impressive gimmicks, etc. I still like him, but even other legacy characters like Law make me raise my eyebrow higher.
Much better video execution than Vars' incomprehensible ramblings
I played Paul in Tekken 3 and it felt very different in a way I couldn't put into words, this video does a good job of explaining it!
7:13 oh how this has aged like fine wine
I'm one of those few people who mained only Paul and fell in love with the character since the old days (i started at Tekken 2).
And in the older Tekken games, Paul was cool. He wasn't a goofy character. He beat Ogre, and his hair down in Tekken 4 looks super cool. He only started losing his brain in 5. So as a legacy Paul user, the one thing he lacks now is is coolness/ badassery image. In 5-7 he is stupid in the story / endings and I hated that, but at least in his gameplay, he still looks cool and badass.
Now in 8, he is goofy even in gameplay. He smiles and while i like that but the smile isn't cool. The smile is goofy and more towards clownly smile. Plus the karen haircut. He doesnt show his seriousness/ love for martial art anymore. So the more reason people left him. Data agrees that NOBODY wants to play a clown. More so for newcomers. People wanna pick character that looks cool, and T8 Paul doesn't reflect that. Too much goofyness and clown aura even in gameplay, is what killed T8 Paul popularity. Visual attracts people and nobody is going to pick Paul if his new look is bad AND he also acts goofy in the gameplay. If Namco wants people to love Paul then they need to make Paul looks cool. That's just it.
As a long time Paul fan of course I stayed loyal and even embraced his new look. As I showed on my art here, I tried to make him look cool with the new hair. twitter.com/dippypradipta/status/1743934664266662198
But I still kinda cringed everytime i see him doing the clown smile. Is asking a cool Paul design and attitude for Tekken 9 is too much to ask?
I play paul
He may look like a hobo, but the personality is still great! Nothing screams the strongest like hitting hard. No devil gene, no weapons, no secret techniques. All he does is hit hard with a smile on his face
I mean look at his pals… Law and Steeve… Law has cool nunchucks and Steeve is also designed very good but Paul really disappointed me. Bamco actually.
Great content tho. Really enjoyed the video. Subbed!
jeah, paul plays extremely similar to t7 paul, theres not a lot to discover about the character. he feels like a t7 character in t8. he cant sustain pressure and be in your face all the time with + frames and strings like other characters. he relies on landing a ch or df2 or deathfist to do serious damage. he also doesnt have a easy approach tool like most of the characters like azucena wr3,2 or drag wr2. the character feels a bit out of place in the game.
As a guy who picked up the game 2 days ago (destroyer rank atm), his running 2 (RKO) is a really satisfying combo finisher for me. It looks and feels cool, and it gives me some room to death fist punish a potential getup sweep.
Paul is the Garen of Tekken
perfectly said good to see another league player here
lol
Paul's biggest land of dominance was stages with walls. He still hit as strong without them, but my god... He'll make sure you and the wall are INTIMATE.
I know I’m super late but you perfectly described why I didn’t like Paul. Now I haven’t played tekken for like 7 years tekken 8 is my first tekken and I was interested in Paul but when I played him he just didn’t feel right because he just felt boring but I’ve picked him up recently after playing drag for awhile and honestly he’s a breath of fresh air ngl so I think a legacy character kinda has a place in a game like this but hey I’m just a guy in warrior what do I know.
Something being easily change is no excuse for it. And you still see the hair every loading screen
Bring back Tekken 5, Tekken 6, Tekken Tag 2 looks for everybody! Those are peak looking characters!!
Well I just started to play with Paul considering the fact that I can't play that well with kazuya I like Paul's basic technique I've gotten so used to that so people don't have to like him or pick him but I like him with his power and defense which still makes him a powerhouse fighter
The new design definitely sucks. But I tried Paul a little bit in the last half of the year of 7.
And felt this “connection” in terms of movement (which sadly I don’t have with Feng yet😅)
And his design from 7 (Road Warrior-like) and classic gi still rules.
I hope our boy will get some nice threads in Tekken Shop🙏
But answering your question - if 8 was my first Tekken, most probably I would not pay attention to him at all
It’s like what tendo XI said in his video “what your tekken 8 main says about you”. He says phoenix players been playing the same thing for the last 2 decades plus.
Change his hairs in customization, give him some stylish clothes with cool colors and enjoy his heat system, it’s the best in the game 💪🏼
I‘m a Paul fanboy since the beginning and I still love him in Tekken 8 a lot and I like to see him lucky and smiling in the cutscenes 😍😁
I recently picked up Paul and dropped him as soon as I got to know his best combo routes are locked behind a just frame input that comes out even less than ch df2 pewgf
It's just way too hard for what it's worth
Simplicity is my reason playing Paul, Law and Bryan Fury.
Sonic mania music in background is a Win for this legend of Paul Phoenix
I never played Paul until tekken 7, now i use him most of the time.
I agree bro, Paul got left behind. It's sad, and i'm not talking about his hair. His playstyle is for old tekken games. Look at the other legacy characters like Kazuya - he perfectly fits in the tekken 8 system. And another, look at Yoshimitsu.
LOOK AT YOSHIMITSU! Man, his redesign is on a different level. He was meant for Tekken 8 while Paul still plays like Tekken 6.
They did Paul dirty.
My biggest complaint with Paul is that every other character has some sort of running, long range, somewhat tracking mid that gives around 5-6 frames of advantage and have a df1 that frame traps out of it. Meanwhile Paul's main +frame mid is only +3 and the fastest safe mid he has is 14 frames, you could consider uf2 as it gives +5 on block but its high and has some of the worst tracking in the game. Also please harada give ub2 tracking again, f4 being the only tracking mid sucks as its super slow. All the top tiers in t8 turn the game into a single player game meanwhile Paul has to work for just about every hit, yeah he gets good reward for landing a hit but demoman still has 0 range and will not clean hit even at the wall sometimes.
I've taken Paul to tekken king, switched to playing Azucena and got tekken king in legit half the games just by spamming wr32. Overall, paul is still playing t7 compared to a lot of the roster. Kazuya has the same problem, why would you play Kazuya when Reina, Jin, and Devil Jin are just straight up better at the moment
As a first time player who picked paul this all makes sense. Initially I picked paul because I was told he’s an honest character that is good to learn tekken fundamentals with. That said, amongst the flashy characters, I’ve learned to love the simplicity of punching really hard 😤
i jumped from tekken 3 to tekken 8. i was a dr b champion in my childhood days in local game parlours .
my next favourite was howrang, lee, gunjack , tru ogra , king ,, nina , anna, yoshimitsu paul
least favourite were xiaou , julie and jin nvr played much and nvr won
brayan was also good but difficult player
Paul has been my main since Tekken 3. I honestly have been tone deaf to his popularity because I've actually never seen him too much since Tekken had online. I've looked it up from time to time and saw that he's popular and considered top tier, but I've never felt that way about him. Tekken 8 was the first time I looked for a combo video or guide because I was like...I must be missing something. Majority of the roster has these insane transitions with their combos so I thought maybe I just didn't know what Paul's was. He just doesn't have one lol. I've been playing mostly Feng but just started really using Paul and I can say at least in the early ranks it feels like if I don't bully the opponent and put fear into them immediately...its an uphill battle. His mix-ups feel predictable his options seem predictable and I'm not one to spam deathfist so maybe that's my fault. It just feels like he can't open up the opponent and some of the sway tech I used to use seems obsolete now because of some of the changes they've made to his moveset.
Paul is the only character I have touched since buying the game. Soon as i figure out each characters combo weaknesses it will be game over.
I haven't played any part of the series intensively since Tekken 5. Paul was always my main character until then. So I naturally chose him again in Tekken 8 and immediately had fun with his fighting style again. I agree with your analysis. He's just too straightforward with his moves. The whole thing seems downright boring compared to many other characters. However, I also think that his iconic tower hairstyle should have been part of his P1 standard outfit. That would definitely have motivated some newcomers to try him out. 😉
I actually like Paul’s new look. I personally have always found that 90’s Vanilla Ice flat top 2b a little awkward.
It's the hair. Paul has benefits from heat; he has a pretty good heat system. Jin is not even aware that heat is a thing in Tekken 8; he doesn't get anything from it, yet Jin is way more popular than Paul.
I feel like I wish you had discussed why you picked up Paul in Tekken 7. There's plenty of well communicated speculation on why players might not be feeling Paul in 8, but it's harder to grok without the context for why he was so popular even in 7. "people just love this guy" falls flat for me as an explanation because if it were true, it should have carried through to 8.
As Tekken pro player. Paul is my best character but I have to admit that It’s all about the frames.. Paul has the slowest or lowest frame attacks in tekken 8. While most characters has high + frames and speed which gives them the priority to hit you at first no matter what you do. The equation is simple. high + frame means priorty to hit first and punish.. Unfortunately, Paul was left behind by tekken developers.. It’s really frustrating when try to hit someone and he easly break through your attack .. %90 of his moves and combos are useless against other characters, you will get easily punished. Moreover, his attacks are easy to read. Paul has been wronged in Tekken
Im kinda of a newcomer, I played tekken since tekken 2 but I didnt really focus on getting good and competitive play until now with tekken 8. Honestly Paul never once caught my eye throught all of those games... I've always played the flashy charaters like eddie, yoshi, kuma, roger the kangaroo. Now in tekken 8, I wanted to start fresh and learn all the aspects of the game, so I use him because his toolset is basic and easy to understand but hard to implement together in a match. Learning how to implement each tool can help me understand how to use other characters...
Also killing your opponent with only death fists is hilarous 🤣
But I honestly think its because the character is just stale, Paul has done the same thing in the past four games.Now comes a new game with new characters, that do cooler shit than the older characters... thats just gonna make old players and newcomers pick the cooler, flashy options.
As a Paul player myself i have to agree with basically everything in this video i’ve been playing Paul for about 3 years so due to character loyalty i’ve stuck to basically all characters i played in Tekken 7 but as good as he is, he feels like a struggle to play with everyone being able to fly across the screen or hitting you from a football field away it’s been tough playing neutral and him not being flashy and cool doesn’t help his case. It also doesn’t help that Paul has been treated like a joke since Tekken 4 he hasn’t had anything interesting since then He’s gone from being the only one to rival the Mishimas in strength and the one to defeat Ogre to a Joke character. But despite all that Paul is still one of my favourites in the series along with King and Kuma so i’m always gonna stick to them no matter what and i seriously hope more people pick up Paul he’s fun and strong once you get over the weaknesses and he’s also a character which you can spend years learning cause he has combo routes with difficulty that rivals the Mishimas’ electric (QCF+1 pickup and Sway cancel into death fist at the wall)
Yeah here's hoping they do something more interesting with him in tekken 9 lol
As a new player there are a few things. First off his entire aesthetic is awful in this game. I saw him in the last games and he looked cool and tough, now he just looks poor. He has a fantastic movelist and is actually a good character but I can’t get past the aesthetic and character personality that doesn’t fit me.
Man i main paul in this tekken and i couldnt put my finger on what was wrong with him. You are right, it feels like they really didnt do anything with him.
Honestly, scares the shit out of me facing one. They're the OG Pauls that persist popularity & serve to trip you & destroy your health bar. Forgot the matchup already so its gotten worse 🙃
I’m a Lars main and I picked up Paul exclusively for the fact he slows the game down. I find myself thinking about too much what I have to do so Paul being simple and outdated lets me focus on what my opponent is doing. He is good but he definitely feels like he lacks stuff. Also great take and explanation, I couldn’t agree more.
Sometimes all you need is a simple character so you can focus on the game more
Nah bro, Paul was on Tekken8 in Tekken7 now we are on T8 it felt like nothing new😂.
Lol that might be true
wow, so the tekken series in 1 year older than me
Bro, your premise is faulty...case in point, Raven. He looks amazing, easy to use, flashy, and powerful, yet one of the least picked characters. I think Paul just looks goofy now and has too many expressions. It's off-putting.
Raven was never that popular, Paul has been in every tekken game since the original and was the most played character in tekken 7. I dont know how you would possibly try and make the comparison between those two characters.
@Boogard you said Paul is played less because he is boring compared to the treatment bamco gave the other characters and that's why he fell off. I disagree because Raven got a hell of a makeover and didn't become more popular.
While i definitely agree with the outdated point and being "not as flashy" therefore not as appealing as say, Jin or Kazuya. And while i have played Tekken dark resurrection as a kid and enjoyed paul a lot, a lot of characters had cool stuff to look at, so i played everyone terribly. Point being, while i know about and like the character in general, its hard to say hes "cooler" than heihachi, jack, yoshimistu or king. And for gameplay purposes i wouldnt day i have legacy bias since i was just button mashing 15 years ago.
I decided to play Paul in tekken 8 because hes still my guy sure, hes simple as well making it easier to get into the game properly but more importantly, death fist is EASILY enough for me to play this character. The MASSIVE amount of oomph on the engaging hit especially, and how far they get sent with df.1+2 throw is hilarious every time. Also being able to charge b.2, 1 and d.1, deathfist to guard crush or kill them is super satisfying. The big bonks are the sickest thing jn this game for me.
But the voice actor sells the character well with the heat smash/dash and the goofy flip, plus hes an absolute goober in this game which just means hes enioyable to see on my screen.
While you're right in many ways, id say he still definitely attracts an audience for both character and gameplay reasons casually, even if less so
I main Paul and love it. People don't play him probably because there are lots other cool(er) characters like Reina, Victor, and Azucena. Shaheen falls under that too just plane Jane vanilla gameplay. Players like characters that look and do cool things.
I still use Paul as a main. Been that way since Tekken 3.
You’re right, but the hair plays a big roll in liking or disliking a character, take DMC Dante look in that game and the hate he got
As i was just saying to myself, all of what he says applies to Kazuya and he's popular (Although I rarely meet him at Ruler ranks) and you mention Kazuya!
I think what differentiates them is Kazuya has a lot of character, while Paul's character is very simple imo (Just a generic tough guy).
I say it avtually is because of the hair. Even though you can choose the classic look easily, just that the default hair and outfit and design is so gross, just navigating to that character makes them go past Paul.
You would be surprized how many choose their characters just by scrolling through the select screen.
Paul player here since tekken 3, I totally agree with you, pauls feels really outdated, sure they gave him some new moves, but compare it to other characters in Tk8, he only feels like Tk7 season 5 addition. its really hard to use him especially now Ive reached blue rank. Its really very tiring to use him compare to ither tekken characters here in TK8, I only got him to blue rank thism week, compare it to my other main, Hwoarang, I can clearly see its much easier to rank up. I have also tried using other characters like Dragunov, Kazuya, Jin, King and Azucena, to test my theory, didnt get them to blue rank, but playing with them was a much easier experience compared to Paul
Nah I completely agree with you Paul feels like a chore to play it’s hard to turtle in this game with so much focus on aggression. I got to Fujin with King yesterday and now trying to do the same with Paul it feels so difficult because of his defensive play style and with so many great long range moves that a lot of these characters have Paul is probably the most prone to being kept out and ironically as much as T8 is focused on aggression going in feels much more difficult with Paul than my other characters like King, Kuma, and Jack
I like that Paul isn't that different. We NEED a Legacy character. and Paul is still playing Legacy Tekken. I feel Tekken needs a reminder of where it started. I also feel Kazuya still is also Legacy. Paul,Bryan and Kazuya imo are 3 characters that needs to be like this
They just need to make the legacy characters faster. They are too slow for T8
Doesn't matter if you can customize, as a new player you still look at a character and think immediately, "Is that fighter cool?" and if they aren't you do not want to play them until much later in your tekken career. With the large amount of new players whatever pauls popularity was before gets diluted because people look at him, think he looks uncanny and then pick some jaguar mask man, a shoe collector or the one they want to bang.
paul's classic haircut being available as an alt costume and as an equippable item, for free, pretty much invalidates the aesthetic angle for why people aren't playing him.
it's more likely that he's seen so much play time in the closed beta that he's basically been solved. wallbreak shenanigans aside, he basically is too vanilla.
paul and law both were the most played in arcades by a mile. it's changed now.
As someone new to the series he seemed super cool, and then his story is hes just late to the tourney
paul in tekken 8 insane, I'm play him a lot at ranked, my favourite char. it to slow , but the damage probably insane
Bruh his qcf 3 is just dying to be a db3
What on earth is going on? He’s got such weak lows that don’t make people wanna duck. How can I ever mix people properly?
There’s no risk for standing