News Emperor Cow Meets Tomonobu Itagaki!

[Jyakotu]

DOA is more popular than it has ever been. It is accessible to a broad audience and plenty more technical than it had been in the past. Yes, it is more erotic but it is not like the gameplay is taking a shaft. As long as people have a choice of whether or not they want to buy the DLC, it shouldn't be an issue. Honestly, it seems like the "4 pillars" that he spoke of have been built-upon and strengthened, if anything.

Coming from someone who had played all iterations of DOA, I will defend DOA5 as being the best in the series. I only hold 2 in higher regard solely because of nostalgia, but I recognize it as such.

I respect Itagaki and I am beyond thankful for him. That being said, his time is over and he ought to quit the complaining.

Basically how I feel. While I do think DOA2 is amazing, in terms of gameplay, DOA5 is arguably the best in the series thus far. At the end of the day, I don't play DOA for fan service (it's just a bonus), I play DOA because I like the fighting system.

 

[Matt Ponton]

Guy makes it seem like mashing Punch with Jann Lee or Kick with Helena is completely different from DOA4 and DOA5 in terms of "seeing cool moves happen for new players".

 

[His Reverence]

Basically how I feel. While I do think DOA2 is amazing, in terms of gameplay, DOA5 is arguably the best in the series thus far. At the end of the day, I don't play DOA for fan service (it's just a bonus), I play DOA because I like the fighting system.

Exactly. The aesthetics are the hook & the gameplay is what keeps us playing this game for +1000 hours. I've never played any other DOA as often aa DOA5.

 

[Jyakotu]

Exactly. The aesthetics are the hook & the gameplay is what keeps us playing this game for +1000 hours. I've never played any other DOA as often aa DOA5.

DOA5 has become my most played 3D fighting game. I've probably put more hours (and money) into DOA than I have Tekken, Soul Calibur, or VF combined. It goes to show that great gameplay keeps us gamers coming back.

 

[Xhominid The Demon Within]

Okay after taking a MUCH needed break from the MMO grinding, look at what I see, another Itagaki review...

Except this time he's not acting like a jackass and he's actually telling what he sees as core issues. Now I can respect that, in fact, I respect that alot.

But sadly, while he and COW does bring up some good points...others still baffle me:
- Of course I understand the sexual issues the game has and still do for DOA5, even though I feel completely indifferent to them past the few that catches my eye. So I'm not gonna go with that one, but what I am is these "pillars" he speaks of. In the past DOA games, there STILL has been sex marketed towards those games, hell, The "I'm a Fighter" campaign is the cleanest the series been advertisement wise. And gameplay wise past the bikinis, The DLC is similar to what the past ladies wore before. Yeah the old costumes showing off Side and Underboob is bleh but I don't really give a shit about those but I do know some do, atleast we got the costume back.

- This game being hard for newbies to get into? Uh Itagaki, what game you played, because it must have been VF..

Otherwise, it was a pretty decent interview despite the fact none of that STILL lets me clamor back to wanting Itagaki back for DOA...but NG is still a mixed bag for me(The combat is TERRIBLE in NG3, even RE barely made it adequate enough to NG2...but at the same time, having more people to choose from outside of Story Mode and a possible showing up of Hayate in NG4 makes me not want Itagaki to come back since he'll make it the Ryu show completely again...)

 

[Kohlrak]

Basically how I feel. While I do think DOA2 is amazing, in terms of gameplay, DOA5 is arguably the best in the series thus far. At the end of the day, I don't play DOA for fan service (it's just a bonus), I play DOA because I like the fighting system.

This here.

Guy makes it seem like mashing Punch with Jann Lee or Kick with Helena is completely different from DOA4 and DOA5 in terms of "seeing cool moves happen for new players".

I don't feel so. Mashing moves makes you realize that some moves are different. Then you find out which ones make this magical "stun" effect (which, compared to 5, was closer to every move). I don't see it as a bad thing, but it clearly means we can't learn the game like we were meant to in the old days. I'm still smashing attacks, not knowing why i'm winning or loosing. Ever since i started noticing patterns between characters, that has gotten alot better. And with characters i main, i can actually win a round or two against a random on the net, as long as i use the shennanigans. However, the people that beat me all the time are put to shame when people from this site join in.

The way he's describing it, you were meant to learn the game by mashing and figuring out when to mash each thing. Now, mashers win simply because they mash, and they have no idea why their mashing won, other than their mashing was better than the next guy's mashing. And i can say with a clear conscience that in dimensions, i could predict what kind of move my button was going to do. 1 usually had me doing a long range low attack. 2 was your basic low crush. 3 was your basic low-crush mid. 4 was you mid long range attack. 5 is your standard jab or kick. 6 was your mid (usually short range and knee). 7 usually was a sabaki strike, a roll back, or some other kind of escape to attack idea. 8 and 9 were highs (not sure what separated them yet). Your P+K was strong attacks and punches/elbows that were normally in the middle of strings, as well as your guard break. Your H+K was usually kicks from your strings. Not rocket science.

 

[Skilletor]

I don't understand how he says it's too technical when a person button mashing wouldn't know anything about the technical aspects of the series and the inputs are almost exactly the same as they've always been.

The logic behind the company name is legit as fuck, though. That's awesome stuff.

 

[FakeSypha]

I completely disagree on what he thinks/says about DOA5 direction. Seriously, on his standpoint, any FG like VF or Tekken would be totally trash because they're not "noob friendly". I just think about they ways of getting up in Tekken, the okizeme itself is quite vast to explore, the "pickup" properties of some moves when the opponent gets up in some way, the sidestep/sidewalk mechanics... In comparison with DOA, those aspects are kinda "dull" or simplified (not saying worse or better, just saying different).

Any FG that consider itself serious and competitive won't feed you the wins by pressing random buttons. You gotta learn the game, practice, react, read your opponent and EARN your win by using your brain (well, there are exceptions, lol).

 

[Kohlrak]

I don't understand how he says it's too technical when a person button mashing wouldn't know anything about the technical aspects of the series and the inputs are almost exactly the same as they've always been.

The logic behind the company name is legit as fuck, though. That's awesome stuff.

Not really. Now you have stuns that last a limited amount of time, and you have to get to threshhold somehow without being predictable enough to get held, but not accidentally knock your opponent down, then you have to burst, then you have to launch just to get max damage. And to make matters worse, fewer moves get the ball started. Before, it was basically stun, stun well enough, launch.

That's probably actually a good thing, but it does make the game harder to learn. Sure, the moves are the same, but they have totally different effects now.

I completely disagree on what he thinks/says about DOA5 direction. Seriously, on his standpoint, any FG like VF or Tekken would be totally trash because they're not "noob friendly". I just think about they ways of getting up in Tekken, the okizeme itself is quite vast to explore, the "pickup" properties of some moves when the opponent gets up in some way, the sidestep/sidewalk mechanics... In comparison with DOA, those aspects are kinda "dull" or simplified (not saying worse or better, just saying different).

Any FG that consider itself serious and competitive won't feed you the wins by pressing random buttons. You gotta learn the game, practice, react, read your opponent and EARN your win by using your brain (well, there are exceptions, lol).

He's saying that mashing is how you get started. Mashing is how you learn, since you start by playing mashing. I did notice this with dimensions, when i started watching my opponent (the computer), i started learning that i needed to respond to things. I knew that when the computer was on the ground, that he was going to wakeup kick, and that my attacks would not connect. So i learned to backoff, since a 33% chance at guessing a hold isn't good enough.. Eventually i learned to block, which worked out better. And now, i know to force tech, which allows me to just keep going. I learned that by mashing until my opponent was on the ground. The same thing does not work with 5.

 

[FakeSypha]

In any case, good read.

But go be a perverted somewhere else Itagaki. Get you ass in that Devil's Third development and stop complaining.

 

[Skilletor]

Not really. Now you have stuns that last a limited amount of time, and you have to get to threshhold somehow without being predictable enough to get held, but not accidentally knock your opponent down, then you have to burst, then you have to launch just to get max damage. And to make matters worse, fewer moves get the ball started. Before, it was basically stun, stun well enough, launch.

That's probably actually a good thing, but it does make the game harder to learn. Sure, the moves are the same, but they have totally different effects now.

I don't think it's that different, and I also don't think people mashing even know what threshold means. They're not worried about max damage and critical bursts. They're doing pppppp and pkpkpk and ppppk.
And I'm talking as far back as DoA2, since most of the basic moves from the cast haven't changed that much. DoA4 is the outlier as far as stun reliance goes, and again, I doubt a person mashing has even noticed that much.

So, yeah, I don't buy it.

 

[Xernuht]

Funny thing is, I kind of understand his mentality.

That said, I disagree with him as far as 5's accessibility is concerned. You can still do cool shit by just jamming on buttons, but if you want to take the next step, the game gives you damn near everything you need to learn it, other than another body in the 2P position. Hell, this has IMPROVED since Vanilla 5.

 

[Pupi18]

So DOA has been ruined for rewarding people who bother to learn the game? PLS

DOA5 is still a very accessible game as before but it has gotten better in the competitive area because the mechanics have been tightened up for competitive play from every aspect. DOA still has things to improve but DOA5 has been taking DOA into a better direction compared to the mediocrity that was DOA4. Itagaki can whine all he wants about the series but doesn't change the facts that DOA is alright without him. (Ninja Gaiden on the other hand is another story)

Let the bitter Betty be bitter.

 

[Kasumi]

Loved the interview, but you should remove the business card, I don't think they will like to have their info available for spam.

 

[Rikuto]

Loved the interview, but you should remove the business card, I don't think they will like to have their info available for spam.

Quick! Who wants to prank Itagaki with some skype tokens?!

 

[Force_of_Nature]

YOU say that because you are a pro hardcore player! But I look at it from a game designer standpoint. It is almost impossible to attract new players with the way the game plays now. Look back at the older DOAs. When a new comer tries out the game for the first time, his first instinct is to just press the buttons randomly. But, those button presses usually lead to some very visually pleasing moves and even at some points lead to that beginner’s first victory. When a new player experiences this, in his mind he would think, “Hey, I think I can play this game” and would start to play it more and maybe even attract more players to play it. When you compare this to the state DOA5 is in, a new comer has virtually no chance at all. The technical gap is so huge to the point that the game will feel too awkward and this new comer will never be able to play effectively or ever get a win. A game like that would never sell.

And this is why I'm thankful Itagaki has nothing to do with DOA5's "balance" now. I'm more convinced that DOA5 would just be another DOA4 if he helmed the project. In terms of core gameplay DOA5 is one of the most accessible FG's IMO. When I watch two casuals play this game, I always see cool shit happening compared to two casuals playing something like KOF13 for example. However, when you begin to dive into DOA5U and try to teach it to others, you quickly start to see how much depth the game has. The game is incredibly underappreciated in the FGC. However, TN has done a solid job with trying to provide the tools to help people improve with the excellent Move Details box, a tutorial mode and a very solid Training Mode.

This was a very enlightening interview Emperor Cow, thank you very much for setting it up! I still respect Itagaki for creating Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden, though I haven't really been valuing his opinions on the current TN's DOA games because he really doesn't understand or appreciate how much DOA5 has greatly benefitted from its current direction and position. He just comes off as sore that his "daughter" is thriving without him. I've played DOA5 more than DOA4 for a reason.

 

[DestructionBomb]

How many daughters does Itagaki have.

 

[Force_of_Nature]

How many daughters does Itagaki have.

Too many. Dude's spreading his seed too much.

 

[Kasumi]

He just comes off as sore that his "daughter" is thriving without him.

I don't think the word to describe the status of the franchise is "thriving".

 

[Force_of_Nature]

I don't think the word to describe the status of the franchise is "thriving".

The franchise is doing pretty damn good for itself for this iteration compared to any of the previous DOAs. The game's in one of the best positions that it's ever been. But of course, there's always room for growth and improvement.