Eliza: The Tekken 7 Vampire With The Biggest Potential

One of the first things you'd notice about Eliza is her allure. To be fair, this is the same for most characters in Tekken, but her design is unique as it has been called 'un-Tekken' in nature. The undead vampire has all the classic goth girl looks that a section of the fanbase is crazy about, but she also seems to have caught a lot of flak.

As one of the more popular characters in Tekken, Eliza doesn't particularly have a robust storyline, and for this reason, a lot of fans deem her dispensable. The opinion is split about Eliza, with some believing she isn't very good or exciting, while others are encouraged by what she brings to the table. I am on the latter end of the spectrum and was pleasantly surprised by some of the ways the character was used in a recent edition of the Bud Light Beer League. But, she keeps getting nerfed to the point that there is a genuine debate as to whether she will be included in Tekken 8 (it seems evident that she will be), and for such a strong character, it did bother me how she gets treated.

Here's the thing, when looking at a character in fighting games, the design, fighting style, and so on are very important to me, but above all is the story. And with Eliza, even though her story isn't fully fleshed out, it has so much potential that it feels like such a shame that she isn't more utilized in the Tekken universe.

Story

Very little is known about Eliza's past, and this lends itself well to continuity as there is so, so much more that can be done with this fact. What we do know is that she has narcolepsy (a disorder that causes some pretty interesting sleep patterns), and she is allegedly over 1000 years old. This doesn't matter much to her fans as she retains the appearance of a younger lady.

Her story is fascinating as it is said that she intended to take a nap and inadvertently slept for over four centuries. She arose from her slumber, feeling vastly weaker than she used to be and realized that she was out of power. Being a vampire and all, human blood is important for her sustenance, and she proceeded to procure a large amount of it. While she ended several lives, she realized, to her dismay, that the power the blood provided was simply not enough.

After some deep thinking, she came to the conclusion that she perhaps needed the blood of someone with intense spiritual energy to get herself to optimum condition. With this thought, she proceeded to make her way to the 'Archers of Sirius,' a powerful group of exorcists with whom she had clashed with quite a few times before in hopes of finding someone to prey on.

She set her sights on Claudio Serafino, a mean-spirited, but powerful exorcist. In her Tekken 7 ending, the vampire goes home in hopes of getting a good nap (another 400 years perhaps) only to be cornered by Lili, who makes the shocking claim that they are sisters. Eliza, of course, finds it hard to believe as she points out to Lili that she is over 1000 years old. As mentioned before, Eliza's past details are sparse, but it has been speculated that she is Romanian. She is also possibly a polyglot, which makes a lot of sense considering how long she has been alive.

While we don't know much else about Eliza, Tekken 7 is a much better fighting game with her in it. She is one of the characters with the most potential, and Namco Bandai will be missing out if they don't utilize her properly.

Did patch 3.31 do enough for her?

Eliza first appeared in Tekken Revolution as an unlockable character, and since her introduction in Tekken 7, she has suffered a couple of downgrades. While patch 3.31, released earlier in the year, gave her some buffs, can they really be said to be enough? The buffs are:

• Her recovery time during moon glide was shortened by four frames
• Her back 1, 2 tracking was increased
• Opponent's behavior is different during moon glide 4

From the preceding, we can come to the conclusion that she wasn't buffed all that much, and for many, she remains a difficult character to use. It would be interesting to see what Namco Bandai does for her in subsequent installments of the game. Review the full Tekken 7 roster to compare characters' characteristics in detail.

Conclusion

I really like Eliza as she brings something different to the Tekken games. Being a vampire isn't something you would immediately associate with the Tekken universe, and the possible ties to Lili, along with her mysterious history with the Archers of Sirius, make her story so intriguing. With such a history, it seems unfair that she isn't more powerful, but it is understandable, seeing as she lacks a lot of her power due to lack of nourishment. Perhaps we will be in for a much stronger Eliza in subsequent Tekken games Namco Bandai ever allows her to regain her full powers. What I can say is that from a storytelling perspective, that will be dope.

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