My best friends growing up had always played Tekken (starting with either 4 or the original Tag, I believe). I had never heard of the game until Tekken 5 (actually, I don't think I had ever played a non Smash Bros fighting game until Tekken 5 came out). However, because they were so much better than me, (and because Tekken's learning curve is smurfing ridiculous) I had never really learned how to play and decided fighting games weren't for me. It doesn't help that the friend I played with was more happy to whoop me over and over again without ever really explaining how to play the game. That being said, flash forward about a half-decade, during which I had been introduced to Guilty Gear, Blazblue and Third Strike (games which, despite their complexity, felt a bit more intuitive to me), and I understood the basics of a fighting game just well enough to hold my own in Tekken Tag 2, even if I only knew 3 or 4 combos and couldn't figure out how to sidestep when I wanted to.

Anyway, all of this has been leading up to me saying that once I have a bit more spending money, I'm excited to buy Tekken 7 as the first game in the series I'll really sink my teeth into.
I can't really say anyting about characters/themes, but I really like the Snow Palace from TT2. Go Shiina has become one of my favorite composers, and it's nice that Namco doesn't only assign him to niche RPGs and Monster Hunter-likes.