I'm probably gonna sound a bit like a cranky old man, and I'm pretty sure some of the things I'm mentioning aren't really what you wanted to do with this mod, but I still just want to put it out there.
I'm not really into DOA4 and 5's heavy focus on the stun game, and I think this mod is getting too close to that now for my taste. To me the game just isn't fun when everything leads to guessing in stun, and DOA2 has a much shorter stun threshold anyway, making it kind of hard to actually utilize all those hit properties. It also just looks plain weird to me when moves like Ayane's 4K, Kasumi's 9K and Tina's 66K stun instead of knocking the opponent down/away. (I'm being a bit of a hypocrite here, though, seeing as I myself changed Ein and Hitomi's knockdown kicks into limbo stuns in my DOA3 mod...)
Kind of the same thing with string mixups, not a fan of DOA4's way of doing them. DOA4 introduced a lot of longer strings and multiple different string enders (e.g. Gen Fu's 3KP6P/3KP46P) to mix-up with in the stun-game, but this doesn't use DOA4's stun system, so it really just feels out of place to me.
There were also a couple of nerfs that just left a sour taste in my mouth, like Kasumi's 3PP no longer stunning and Ayane being unable to do her signature BT PP6P, 7K juggle because of the lower relaunch on BT PP6P. Kasumi and Ayane are almost entirely different characters in DOA4, so having them being a mix of DOA2/3 and DOA4 just feels a bit "schizophrenic" to me. (Basically, I'm biased as hell and want them to play like in DOA3
)
Kind of the same thing goes for Hitomi. I personally prefer her old 66PK animation instead of the jump-kick one, but that's mostly just a matter of aesthetic preference. I'm not really seeing any use for her new 8P, I liked her DOA3 8P a lot better. Her PP6K-strings and her 6P-string mixups are once again too DOA4-like for my taste. Also don't think 6P really needs the speed buff. Not too keen on her new 6KKK/7PKKK string either, but that's mostly because I'm so used to how it worked in DOA3 (can't seem to do 7PK, 7PKK as a juggle anymore).
Regarding Ein, it always seemed to me like an intentional weakness that he didn't have great lows outside of his strings, so I don't really know about giving him 2F+K and 1P. 2F+K is probably alright, he technically already had the move after jumping, but I don't think he needs 1P, and its properties now functions like a DOA4 1P, not a DOA2/3 1P. Ryu/Hayate also have that move, and it doesn't put the opponent in a sitting stun. Same thing goes for Hitomi's 1P.
I'm a bit conflicted about the parries. They're really cool, but Ein and Hitomi just don't really feel like parry characters to me. Ein's parry feels too strong to me right now. I think if he were to keep it, it would be better with just frame advantage, like Hitomi's, if possible.
Also conflicted about the DOA4 2P animations. They do look pretty neat, I guess, but they were designed with DOA4's ground game in mind, which we don't really have here. They also have longer recovery than their DOA2/3 counterparts, which means you won't be able to pressure as well after a counter-hit. Right now I'm leaning towards keeping the old ones.
Bitchin's over, here's some of the stuff I like:
- Bass's 2PP string from DOA4 seems like it'd be really useful. Having a low jab with a follow up seems like it would make it a lot easier for him to deal with characters jabbing away at him.
- Ein's 3_PP feels pretty good, and I think giving it that input was a pretty good choice, instead of having it be 3PP where you would have to free cancel all the time to just to regular 3P's. Also really nice to be able to use his 4PPP with 214P, even though I can't really think of a use for it. Looks cool though, so who cares.
- I like Hitomi's new 3PP, but mainly because her old 3P was not that useful.
- Probably more stuff I forgot to mention 'cause I'm kind of tired right now and can't remember shit.
Anyway, that's just what I think, but this is your mod, so do whatever *you* feel the best about doing.
