Suppose it wasn't there... what would be the most likely outcome if one player lost a team member or 2 and is now outnumbered 3 to 1 ?
Rage is alot trickier because Tekken has no other Metered Mechanics outside the Health Bar, so for the most part, fights stay more or less even throughout... this means Rage does infact Reward Players for losing.
As for how I feel about them...
X-Factor is a necessity, so how I feel about it is irrelevant.
Rage... I don't particularly dislike Rage but I do feel as though it doesn't introduce enough depth in exchange for how many people it might piss off.
the only comeback mechanics i like are bursts like in GG, nitroplus, MK style breakers, etc, but those are more get out of jail free cards that you have access to once per round, which I think is good design . but in terms of more traditional comeback mechanics like rage, ultras, v trigger, powerblows and xfactor, not a fan, why should the player who's losing become more powerful?
i understand why developers do it, but I still don't like it. on the flipside, games that make the players who's winning more powerful make even less sense. Yuyu hakusho on gameboy did this, if you were winning the match the game would reward you (the one who's winning) with a high damage super attack that did mad damage, which looked cool but really didn;t make a whole lot of sense.
if im already winning why make me even more powerful? something like that would never happen in todays market, but i say screw all this comeback mechanic hand holding BS, just give both players access to the same tools and let the player who utilizes the tools better win, simple as that
Generally not a fan of giving damage boosts to the player getting their ass kicked, but I'm fine with Rage arts & Rage Drives because they can be used once per round, aren't win buttons against a semi-decent opponent and technically both players can have them available under the same conditions. With that said, SF4 Ultras are stupid, especially since there are already SUPERS.