I can't get over the "proper fighting game" bit. I like the old, more grounded martial arts movesets a lot (although it bears mentioning that Kuma and Roger/Alex were in from the first two titles) but we're long past any semblance of whatever that description is supposed to mean. Right now in Tekken 7 we've got idolmaster dance-fighting (literal dance fighting, and not just Capoeira) a lady who wields a magic tiger, a dude who fights with "
Sirius-Style Purification Sorcery", Alisa, Lars, Yoshimitsu, Devil Jin, etc.
Tekken 4 was probably the most grounded game in the series atmospherically, with it's cool-mundane stages and darker thematic tone. It still had
this (which, imo, is still the closest they've ever come to giving
Kuma a dramatic story).
Slightly related, but I really miss those super atmospheric tracks that played during prologues and epilogues in Tekken 4 (
prologue epilogue) and 5 (
prologue epilogue) (sorely SORELY missing in Tekken 6). There's something about their understated mystery that seems to give the story so much more depth.