Team NINJA's Official DOA Series Summary Released

[NightAntilli]

For here, I'll keep it brief: I did finish the game, which is how I know that it handles its themes of consequence, bullying, and entropy in abysmal fashion. The characters are unlikable until the very end. The problem with sacrificing everyone for Chloe is that Chloe and Max don't die. The problem with sacrificing Chloe is that Max and everyone else don't die. It's sort of like the ending of Mass Effect, except we only get two colors and both of them are undesirable for the wrong reasons (and you have to let go of any head-canon involving the consequences of any other decisions you made). As someone who touted Dragon Age: Origins' storytelling, you obviously have exposure to how this can be done better.

Oh I never said LIS was perfect. And it's quite obvious you dislike Max so much that you want to kill her in every ending lol. Many people disliked the ending choice, but I thought it was fine. For me, the life of one was not worth the whole town, so, I let Chloe die, like she was supposed to from the beginning. No ending is fully satisfactory, and it's supposed to be like that. Some people don't like it, and that's fine. But we have been pampered too much in video games to have only heroic endings.

You are also expected to care about people for no reason, and since they fail to provide good reasons, this makes me utterly apathetic to the decisions about their fate and circumstance. They were obviously touching on depression, but it's a pretty bad way to handle it when you're depressed because you're a bland piece of shit who somehow remains that way despite being blessed with deus ex machina powers for no fucking reason. I'm aware that there are some people who believe that all life is precious, and if you ascribe to that philosophy you can probably find some merit here. But I do not. I value stories that focus on people who are exceptional in some way of their own doing, not characters who are blessed by fortune. You can have fortune befall you, but there has to be something extraordinary about the individual and what they do with that fortune for me to care. Max doesn't do anything remarkable except having magic powers. Take those away and she's nothing.

After playing Before the Storm, Chloe is very likeable compared to the original, and Rachel is amazingly loveable. Is even Kate unlikable?
Yeah. We get it. You hate Max. And that's fine. She's as normal and boring as can be, and she was designed that way on purpose. The whole point of the "fortune" of max was that it wasn't a fortune at all, hence the unsatisfactory ending. Well, I guess it's simply not your thing. This is a game about life drama, not heroism.

While I do think that if DOA had more consistent characterizations then it may influence your choice(s) more strongly, I also believe that fighting styles are tied to story-telling (if it's done properly). A proper story would give Leifang redeemable traits outside of her visual fighting style, and you would probably appreciate that addition. But conversely, if they added a character you adored a great deal (such as in DBZ), I can imagine you would play that character a good amount even if you considered their visual fighting style less impressive than to Lei's.

The ninjas have a direct correlation between their style and their story. Most of the rest of the cast have a fighting style, just because. And that's another reason DOA's story sucks.
Tina is a wrestler because her father is. Bass is a wrestler because....?
Jann Lee has JKD because he was an orphan living in poverty that apparently had enough time and money to watch enough martial arts on TV to learn it. Yeah right. Not buying it.
Leifang has Taiji Quan because she's Chinese and had her ego stamped on by Jann Lee. Meh.
Helena has piquaquan because...?
Kokoro has bajiquan because it's symbolic in correlation to Helena being her half-sister, and the styles being 'sisters' as well. Meh..
Zack has muay thai because...?
Hitomi has Karate because her father taught her.

Not going to tackle everyone... But it's quite obvious that this is all extremely shallow.

And yes, if they add a character I like (I would love to beat you with Max from Life Is Strange LOL!!), I will play it. Inevitably, it's not hard for other characters to have more interesting back-stories than the ones from DOA.

 

[Jadeinchains]

I liked that on the official website the stories through DOA1 - DOA5, getting ready for the story to continue in DOA6. Wonder If we'll get any snippets at all of the story in the future or If we'll have to wait until release.

Also maybe that other thread could have had a title change to just "general doa6 discussion" etc cause that thread was getting pretty popular fast.

 

[Onryoki]

Oh I never said LIS was perfect. And it's quite obvious you dislike Max so much that you want to kill her in every ending lol. Many people disliked the ending choice, but I thought it was fine. For me, the life of one was not worth the whole town, so, I let Chloe die, like she was supposed to from the beginning. No ending is fully satisfactory, and it's supposed to be like that. Some people don't like it, and that's fine. But we have been pampered too much in video games to have only heroic endings.

After playing Before the Storm, Chloe is very likeable compared to the original, and Rachel is amazingly loveable. Is even Kate unlikable?
Yeah. We get it. You hate Max. And that's fine. She's as normal and boring as can be, and she was designed that way on purpose. The whole point of the "fortune" of max was that it wasn't a fortune at all, hence the unsatisfactory ending. Well, I guess it's simply not your thing. This is a game about life drama, not heroism.


The ninjas have a direct correlation between their style and their story. Most of the rest of the cast have a fighting style, just because. And that's another reason DOA's story sucks.
Tina is a wrestler because her father is. Bass is a wrestler because....?
Jann Lee has JKD because he was an orphan living in poverty that apparently had enough time and money to watch enough martial arts on TV to learn it. Yeah right. Not buying it.
Leifang has Taiji Quan because she's Chinese and had her ego stamped on by Jann Lee. Meh.
Helena has piquaquan because...?
Kokoro has bajiquan because it's symbolic in correlation to Helena being her half-sister, and the styles being 'sisters' as well. Meh..
Zack has muay thai because...?
Hitomi has Karate because her father taught her.

Not going to tackle everyone... But it's quite obvious that this is all extremely shallow.

And yes, if they add a character I like (I would love to beat you with Max from Life Is Strange LOL!!), I will play it. Inevitably, it's not hard for other characters to have more interesting back-stories than the ones from DOA.

I don’t think everyone needs a deep reason in order to be a fighter. Learning Karate or wrestling because your father taught you isn’t necessarily a bad reason to be a fighter, they don’t gain depth simply because of the reason why they fight. Hitomi might not have that much a deep reason but her connection and interaction with other characters can make her story just as deep as someone who fights for a deeper reason. Some fighters just fight to hone their skills and to show off, others fight because of revenge and something more deep and personal, and some just fight to prove themselves. Not every character has to have a deep story in order to be interesting. Naotora has a deep story but she isn’t interesting, while Tina doesn’t really have a deep story but she’s interesting. It’s all about how the characters present themselves.

I liked that on the official website the stories through DOA1 - DOA5, getting ready for the story to continue in DOA6. Wonder If we'll get any snippets at all of the story in the future or If we'll have to wait until release.

Also maybe that other thread could have had a title change to just "general doa6 discussion" etc cause that thread was getting pretty popular fast.

I hope they wait with the story until release since I want them to keep me in suspense and let us speculate a little bit longer.

 

[NightAntilli]

Raidou died in 1 and wasn’t playable until a update of 5. If characters die, become paralysed or disappear for whatever reason it’s reasonable that they’re not playable. Ein and Leon don’t really have a story anymore, they’re only filler characters that are here solely for the gameplay. If I a game follows a story and the story moves forward it’s normal for characters to leave, die or something else These characters already had their story to be told. Alpha died in 5 it would be really strange to let her return to 6 when she has no purpose in that game besides gameplay.

Considering we can have characters in the game that died in the 16th century...

I don’t think everyone needs a deep reason in order to be a fighter. Learning Karate or wrestling because your father taught you isn’t necessarily a bad reason to be a fighter, they don’t gain depth simply because of the reason why they fight. Hitomi might not have that much a deep reason but her connection and interaction with other characters can make her story just as deep as someone who fights for a deeper reason. Some fighters just fight to hone their skills and to show off, others fight because of revenge and something more deep and personal, and some just fight to prove themselves. Not every character has to have a deep story in order to be interesting. Naotora has a deep story but she isn’t interesting, while Tina doesn’t really have a deep story but she’s interesting. It’s all about how the characters present themselves.

I hope they wait with the story until release since I want them to keep me in suspense and let us speculate a little bit longer.

I don't disagree, but it needs something. Some characters are well done in DOA, despite having no real in-depth background story. Helena is well-known for her elegance, Christie has that extremely high bad sexy girl appeal, and so on. This is generally good enough to attract certain people to certain characters. That's fine, but, I would love to have more impactful stories. You know, like the previously mentioned Ayane story in the DOA2 intro. Ayane is probably the most fleshed out character in the DOA series.

I don't find anything about Tina interesting to be honest. Although she was the reason I got into DOA, because I was a teenager that loved blondes lol. I see no difference between her and Naotora, other than one being overly apologetic and one being overly concerned with her looks.

 

[NewWestFan]

I don't find anything about Tina interesting to be honest. Although she was the reason I got into DOA, because I was a teenager that loved blondes lol. I see no difference between her and Naotora, other than one being overly apologetic and one being overly concerned with her looks.

It's actually not her looks. Tina fights to get noticed and put her face and name to a brand. Her motives for involving herself in the tournaments have always been selfish but she maintains a positive attitude. She's only fighting for popularity and so that she can attain her own personal financial goals and success and yet the only people she ever mistreats are Bass (Daddy is a big dummy so they always wind up getting along in the end anyway) and Zack (Once again for comedic relief). She is the personification of the "You dont have to be an asshole to reach the top" trope and Tina's goals are always very very high.

 

[Onryoki]

Considering we can have characters in the game that died in the 16th century...

I don't disagree, but it needs something. Some characters are well done in DOA, despite having no real in-depth background story. Helena is well-known for her elegance, Christie has that extremely high bad sexy girl appeal, and so on. This is generally good enough to attract certain people to certain characters. That's fine, but, I would love to have more impactful stories. You know, like the previously mentioned Ayane story in the DOA2 intro. Ayane is probably the most fleshed out character in the DOA series.

I don't find anything about Tina interesting to be honest. Although she was the reason I got into DOA, because I was a teenager that loved blondes lol. I see no difference between her and Naotora, other than one being overly apologetic and one being overly concerned with her looks.

Naotora is a guest character that has no purpose in the game. This was just a marketing stunt, same with all of the other guests in the game with the exception of Sarah and Akira whom actually participated in the story. I wish the rest of the cast wasn’t as bland but some characters don’t really have the chance to shine since they’re new to the series.

 

[deathofaninja]

Raidou died in 1 and wasn’t playable until a update of 5. If characters die, become paralysed or disappear for whatever reason it’s reasonable that they’re not playable. Ein and Leon don’t really have a story anymore, they’re only filler characters that are here solely for the gameplay. If I a game follows a story and the story moves forward it’s normal for characters to leave, die or something else These characters already had their story to be told. Alpha died in 5 it would be really strange to let her return to 6 when she has no purpose in that game besides gameplay.

I don't think any developer actually believes that. Just look at the history of fighting games... and I certainly know Team NINJA doesn't believe that way which is completely and utterly absurd thinking that's what competitive players would want.

If they have the budget, they will add whichever characters they want... if they don't I guess we will get a limited roster. With DOA a story has never determined the overall outcome of a roster... and it never should.

 

[KwonJigglypuff]

After a sinister incident in a village...
Kasumi, a successor of the legendary Mugen Tenshin ninja clan, abandoned her clan and became a "runaway ninja," secretly living in a hermitage in a mountain village.

The village was attacked/burnt ?

Meanwhile, Helena Douglas, president of the new DOATEC, is involved in an incident...
The sudden ----- of an individual with special powers sent shivers down her spine...

The sinking of Freedom Survivor ?
The sudden rise of Phase-4 ? Or Christie ? Or Cyborg Lisa ?

And yet another....
A so-called genius chuckles at a mysterious light emitting an aura...

Victor Donovan watching the birth of a new project ? Or the transition from Alpha-152 to Phase 4 ?

Behind a quiet time, a sinister plan is set in motion.
The passing days are about to be unduly overturned due to an open desire.

Christie planning to take control of MIST and betray Donovan (and or Rig) ?

As Kasumi writes to her mother, her pen overflows with hesitation.
...It's not over yet.

Ayame didn't die during the ninja village assault.

These really looked like description from various scenes of DOA6, don't you think ? Could it just be teasing a story mode trailer with these exact extracts (the attack of the ninja village, Helena's incident, something with Donovan, Christie having a plot in this game, some ninja family moment) ?

This could actually be interesting.

 

[LordBrightman]

Another eye catching on the profile is that Helena's occupation... General of DOATEC? Shouldn't it be Chairman of the Board or President and CEO, like in the previous installment? Now, this leaves me a question, I thought DOATEC have stopped its military operations. Does Helena considered and decided to bring back DOATEC's military unit after the 5th tournament?

 

[Tina2040_]

Another eye catching on the profile is that Helena's occupation... General of DOATEC? Shouldn't it be Chairman of the Board or President and CEO, like in the previous installment? Now, this leaves me a question, I thought DOATEC have stopped its military operations. Does Helena considered and decided to bring back DOATEC's military unit after the 5th tournament?

It's probably something lost in translation.
"Fortune's heiress" doesn't really make sense either.

 

[NewWestFan]

Another eye catching on the profile is that Helena's occupation... General of DOATEC? Shouldn't it be Chairman of the Board or President and CEO, like in the previous installment? Now, this leaves me a question, I thought DOATEC have stopped its military operations. Does Helena considered and decided to bring back DOATEC's military unit after the 5th tournament?

Maybe to combat MIST and Donovan?

 

[Jadeinchains]

It hit me that E3 is officially over now.. This was such a great one though so many great reveals ( most of all obviously being DOA6. ) so now we wait anxiously for the next reveal, I hope it comes soon.

 

[Tina2040_]

It hit me that E3 is officially over now.. This was such a great one though so many great reveals ( most of all obviously being DOA6. ) so now we wait anxiously for the next reveal, I hope it comes soon.

It was so out of the blue. And here we thought DOA was dead (apparently). But at least it isn't sharing the same fate as Lisa.

 

[DestructionBomb]

EVO and Tokyo Gameshow will likely have more DOA6 news.

 

[werewolfgold]

Another eye catching on the profile is that Helena's occupation... General of DOATEC? Shouldn't it be Chairman of the Board or President and CEO, like in the previous installment? Now, this leaves me a question, I thought DOATEC have stopped its military operations. Does Helena considered and decided to bring back DOATEC's military unit after the 5th tournament?

It's a mistranslation. The English main site says "Head of DOATEC", so I assume they'll fix the in-game version eventually.

It's probably something lost in translation.
"Fortune's heiress" doesn't really make sense either.

It's not awful. But maybe "Fate's Inheritor" is another way to translate "Unmei wo Tsugu Mono".

 

[Matt Ponton]

I agree that gameplay is more important, but to say the story sucks is almost kind of offensive to me. I found the opening to Dead or Alive 2 to be an extremely engaging piece that is one of my favorite cinematics of all time.

If you're a fan of that, like me, you can't not hear the voice work whenever you hear Dream On.

Also, the DOA3 summary seems to imply that DOAD, as I expected and hoped, wasn't canon/cannon(?). As DOAD stated Genra wasn't kidnapped but instead was just always evil and unleashed Tengu on his own, where the summary seems to suggest that he turned into OMEGA as part of being kidnapped by DOATEC. Also doesn't mention anything about Hayabusa helping Kasumi, Ayane, or Hayate in DOA1 or DOA3. Though it is far from a detailed summary, I'm just going to keep believing that DOAD f'd up more than it should (see: Hayabusa wins.) and shouldn't be considered canon/cannon(?).

Also, if this is what they're going for, they completely ignored the major retcons with Dead or Alive Dimensions, i've heard from people that TN dropped it as canon due to fans hating it, but could never find a source, now there it is.

I wouldn't say it was said before that they dropped it, but I was reporting that the Japanese fans seemed to also dislike the story changes as much as the West was disliking them.

Tina is a wrestler because her father is. Bass is a wrestler because....?
Jann Lee has JKD because he was an orphan living in poverty that apparently had enough time and money to watch enough martial arts on TV to learn it. Yeah right. Not buying it.
Leifang has Taiji Quan because she's Chinese and had her ego stamped on by Jann Lee. Meh.
Helena has piquaquan because...?
Kokoro has bajiquan because it's symbolic in correlation to Helena being her half-sister, and the styles being 'sisters' as well. Meh..
Zack has muay thai because...?
Hitomi has Karate because her father taught her.

Those are very awkwardly worded in a way to make sure they sound confusing so I don't know if you're actually using them as examples of poor story or suggestions on how they could be interpreted in a vague sense.

For example, "Bass is a wrestler because..." has no bearing on the story. He's an over-protective single father looking (at the time) out for his only daughter. He happens to have been a wrestling blockbuster legend who (I presume) is now retired (but never say never in the world of pro wrestling), and Tina is part of that dynasty. Tina is a fun and flirtatious woman, looking to expand not only her career opportunities but also prove (at time of DOA1) she isn't in her father's huge shadow (literally and figuratively I guess). She feels she's got the looks and smarts to be able to tackle anything she wants to do, and using her wrestling lineage she is able to rise to further heights of stardom. She's just as stubborn as her old man, and together they tend to always be at clashing heads.

Jann Lee was raised on the streets, homeless, having to scavenge for food. He trained in Jeet Kune Do (either from just watching bootleg martial arts movies or transitioning into a formal study) from a young age as he survived on the streets. He seeks out to only challenge those who are strong and become stronger in the process. This is referenced in DOA5's story when Jann Lee (the winner of the DOA5 tournament) is beaten by Rig, and he doesn't even bother attending the festivities because he's so bothered that Rig bested him.

Leifang doesn't "know Taiji Quan because she's Chinese and had her ego stamped on by Jann Lee". I'll admit her story isn't well fleshed out, but you know that she <for some reason, and there can be many including just wanting to learn self-defense of herself and people around her> studied the art Taiji Quan. Then, when defending herself from an attack, her fight is interrupted by Jann Lee who takes care of it. Upset that he didn't let her handle it on her own, she set out to prove to him that his actions were unnecessary because he thought she was weak. I would presume she has yet to prove it, as Jann Lee even comments on the annoyance of having to continue dealing with her even in DOA3.

I mean there's story there for the characters, it's just a matter of observance and piecing things together. It isn't as one-dimensional as "Oh this character has Muay Thai because we need a fighter who has Muay Thai, and he shall be named Muay Thai guy because nothing else even matters."

 

[Arnell Long]

Story time with Antilli.

I enjoyed "Life is Strange", it certainly drew me in. Didn't care for Chloe though, she was definitely Max's demon, the bad seed.

Anyway, DOA has a solid story ON PAPER, but hopefully it can be executed properly through animation in DOA6.

 

[Cadaveri]

Man, DOA2 Ultimate intro cinematic was 5/5.

Wish they could make the story more erm serious & mentally engaging like that rather than the more goofy/humorous stuff we had in DOA5, in my eyes DOA5's story was very bad :|

I rly enjoyed playing the story through DOA: Dimensions

 

[Awesmic]

I don't know what kind of vendetta you have against that game that you have to spend a single post only to shoot it down, and it's not the first time you've gone out of your way to spout your hatred of that game. But the story and plot in that game are great, and the critics and the majority of players agree. You'll find it among most lists made of best stories in gaming. Either you haven't played it fully, or you're focusing on the sub-par performance of the voice actors, which is another issue entirely.

In any case, if you dislike that game, fine, I can mention others... Dragon Age Origins, Telltale's The Walking Dead, Mass Effect, Deus Ex Human Revolution, Spec Ops: The Line, The Last of Us, even Gears of War and COD 4 MW. These are all games that tell great stories where no fighting game, including DOA, comes close to. But let's try and keep this about DOA itself rather than about other games.

Don't let @Brute get to you, man. He almost always goes against the grain when it comes to things that are popular. That's just how he is. After a while, you get used to it.

 

[Derock]

Leifang doesn't "know Taiji Quan because she's Chinese and had her ego stamped on by Jann Lee". I'll admit her story isn't well fleshed out, but you know that she <for some reason, and there can be many including just wanting to learn self-defense of herself and people around her> studied the art Taiji Quan. Then, when defending herself from an attack, her fight is interrupted by Jann Lee who takes care of it. Upset that he didn't let her handle it on her own, she set out to prove to him that his actions were unnecessary because he thought she was weak. I would presume she has yet to prove it, as Jann Lee even comments on the annoyance of having to continue dealing with her even in DOA3.

For Leifang's story, its seems like the writers are subtly adding hidden romantic tones providing that she wants to defeat Jann Lee after he somehow saving her from an attack that she felt confident and handle the situation during their youth, not to mention stealing her thunder. But then they added stuff that doesn't made any sense into her character and background, such as the "we don't need another primadonna" attitude shown during Helena made her announcement speech for the second tournament. It felt way off but its probably extended from their fight in 2 (initially I felt they became friendly rivals because of their respected martial arts: one is Tai Chi, other is Pi Gua Quan). Then came that silly scene during 3's storyline in Dimensions: using their scene from 2, resulting Jann Lee tossing her to a table?! The hell was that?! If he was that annoyed, wouldn't he told her to bug off during 2's events?! It was out of character from both sides, knowing that Jann Lee was arrogant but not in that level towards almost being "abusive". It doesn't made sense judging that their fight in 4 where she finally won against him, and then was saved by him once more when facing Alpha-152 (I'm not sure how was that canon, was that Itagaki's doing?). And let's not talk about what happened in 5 which was boosted up to 11!