I think up DOA suggestions during to weirdest times. Today I was running to the gym and listening an old episode of the podcast and new ideas for DOA were going through my head for some reason. Some of these have been fueled with my recent dealings with the original DOA on the PSX and its guide, which the frame data from will be up on the wiki shortly.
:Link: Does every character need six counter-holds?
People on here have been suggesting that the current counter should become a four or six double-direction hold system. In DOA1, there's a single hold, the mid-kick hold, and not every character has it. Sure, every character has a high-mid and low parry but they typically don't do damage as they're a defensive measure. So why is it that the counter-hold in DOA2-on does both defend you and gives damage? It does it for all characters to boot. Why do strikers have access to defensive option that does significant damage? Not having played DOA1 before, I hadn't questioned it but now that I've dabbled in it a little the whole idea seems ludicrous. Does every character need six counter-holds? I'm not referring to a three or four point hold like you may think. What I mean is that you technically have two holds for highs, they just happen to have the same input but they're still two separate holds. You have six holds, not including the ones for air specific moves. Cut all of those for striking characters. Give maybe one, two or maybe even three (though that's pushing it) to grapplers. Bring back the defensive measure that makes sense: the DOA1 parry. I would suggest as far as to increase it to three levels; one for high attacks, one for mids and one for lows. In addition, have it leave you at an advantage of one or two frames or something like that. For grapplers? The frame advantage plus like 10 points of damage. Isn't this exactly how it was done before? Anyway, in addition to that. Give Gen Fu or Bass a mid-kick counter and maybe another. You see where I'm getting at here? A big issue with DOA4 was that every character played the same with the string mix-ups and counters. Take away the counter-hold from most characters and give a few of them to a handful of characters. This would make each character much more unique. How was Hitomi unique in DOA4? She had a parry that caught both high and mid punches, did damage and left her at an advantage. How many other characters had that? None. It made her unique.
:Link: I often read about other fighting game communities complaining about inescapable throws in DOA. Aren't they escapable as it is? I'm still a fairly scrubby player to be perfectly honest. Mr. Wah once mentioned that certain grapplers or throws they had in DOA1/++ had a one frame advantage so that, with proper timing, they would be guaranteed. This should be explored further.
:Link: "The Breaker"
I sort of talked about this idea in my last podcast; what if you had the DOA3 wall game but you could tech the bounce? Give the opponent a one or two frame window where they could tech the wall bounce into the foreground () or background (). It's hard enough to still give the attacker an advantage while still not destroying the usefulness of the wall. Should this also be able to tech ground bounces a la DOA1 or is that too much? Mr. Wah has also mentioned his frustration with the lack of an air tech system. This could be potentially used for that, sort of like the combo-breakers in MK. Of course, those have a meter associated with them and I don't quite like the idea of implementing any more meters into DOA but being able to break a combo every time is stupid. This idea needs to be explored carefully.
:Link: Slow-Escaping and Stuns
This idea kind of conflicts with the idea of limiting the number of holds but anyway, humor me. Picking the wrong counter-hold during a stun gives you the opposite effect of slow-escape. That is, it increases your stun length. Punish people for just guessing.
:Link: "Replay Mode"
"How did I just lose? How do I beat that?"
What if immediately after an online match you and whoever in your lobby could go right into a replay of your match? Not just replay it but pause, move frame-by-frame and take control of either character or even both? The people that want to participate in the replay hit a button to signify that while in the lobby and the people that aren't interested continue on to their matches. It doesn't disrupt the flow of play and the loser has an opportunity to learn how to get around areas they're lacking in rather than crying "Cheap!" Use this same feature for tutorials in the sparring mode to teach people how to perform the more difficult items.
:Link: Does every character need six counter-holds?
People on here have been suggesting that the current counter should become a four or six double-direction hold system. In DOA1, there's a single hold, the mid-kick hold, and not every character has it. Sure, every character has a high-mid and low parry but they typically don't do damage as they're a defensive measure. So why is it that the counter-hold in DOA2-on does both defend you and gives damage? It does it for all characters to boot. Why do strikers have access to defensive option that does significant damage? Not having played DOA1 before, I hadn't questioned it but now that I've dabbled in it a little the whole idea seems ludicrous. Does every character need six counter-holds? I'm not referring to a three or four point hold like you may think. What I mean is that you technically have two holds for highs, they just happen to have the same input but they're still two separate holds. You have six holds, not including the ones for air specific moves. Cut all of those for striking characters. Give maybe one, two or maybe even three (though that's pushing it) to grapplers. Bring back the defensive measure that makes sense: the DOA1 parry. I would suggest as far as to increase it to three levels; one for high attacks, one for mids and one for lows. In addition, have it leave you at an advantage of one or two frames or something like that. For grapplers? The frame advantage plus like 10 points of damage. Isn't this exactly how it was done before? Anyway, in addition to that. Give Gen Fu or Bass a mid-kick counter and maybe another. You see where I'm getting at here? A big issue with DOA4 was that every character played the same with the string mix-ups and counters. Take away the counter-hold from most characters and give a few of them to a handful of characters. This would make each character much more unique. How was Hitomi unique in DOA4? She had a parry that caught both high and mid punches, did damage and left her at an advantage. How many other characters had that? None. It made her unique.
:Link: I often read about other fighting game communities complaining about inescapable throws in DOA. Aren't they escapable as it is? I'm still a fairly scrubby player to be perfectly honest. Mr. Wah once mentioned that certain grapplers or throws they had in DOA1/++ had a one frame advantage so that, with proper timing, they would be guaranteed. This should be explored further.
:Link: "The Breaker"
I sort of talked about this idea in my last podcast; what if you had the DOA3 wall game but you could tech the bounce? Give the opponent a one or two frame window where they could tech the wall bounce into the foreground (
) or background (). It's hard enough to still give the attacker an advantage while still not destroying the usefulness of the wall. Should this also be able to tech ground bounces a la DOA1 or is that too much? Mr. Wah has also mentioned his frustration with the lack of an air tech system. This could be potentially used for that, sort of like the combo-breakers in MK. Of course, those have a meter associated with them and I don't quite like the idea of implementing any more meters into DOA but being able to break a combo every time is stupid. This idea needs to be explored carefully.:Link: Slow-Escaping and Stuns
This idea kind of conflicts with the idea of limiting the number of holds but anyway, humor me. Picking the wrong counter-hold during a stun gives you the opposite effect of slow-escape. That is, it increases your stun length. Punish people for just guessing.
:Link: "Replay Mode"
"How did I just lose? How do I beat that?"
What if immediately after an online match you and whoever in your lobby could go right into a replay of your match? Not just replay it but pause, move frame-by-frame and take control of either character or even both? The people that want to participate in the replay hit a button to signify that while in the lobby and the people that aren't interested continue on to their matches. It doesn't disrupt the flow of play and the loser has an opportunity to learn how to get around areas they're lacking in rather than crying "Cheap!" Use this same feature for tutorials in the sparring mode to teach people how to perform the more difficult items.
