ikodomo
Well-Known Member
"Learn to love the Move Details box, understand how it works, and appreciate how it greatly enhances the DOA learning experience."
- Force of Nature
We are back at it again with another interview, this time a player hailing from Canada. His name is Force of Nature. As one of the Canadian Representatives in the DOA community, I had the chance to speak to him and ask him general questions of the game and what he thinks about his own Canadian scene.
If a DOA character were to be become a real person in real life, who would you want to hang out/date? Why? GOOOO!!!!
Who would I want to hang out with? I'd have to say Rig because he's a Canadian and us canucks have to stick together eh? Yeah he's got the "mysterious" thing going on with the tattoos and shit but he seems like a rather chill guy anyway. Who would I want to date? That's a tough one, but I'd have to go with Momiji. She has that tender heart, big sister type thing going on that makes her a total sweetheart. Definite wife material for sure! Also, every time she says "Better luck next time, huh?" I'm just putty in her hands lol.
….are you a otaku? lol
Lol, I like Japanese culture but unfortunately (or fortunately…) I’m not immersed in it enough to achieve “otaku” status.
Name? Gaming alias?
Gary Whittaker, Force of Nature
Country of Origin?
Canadian born Jamaican. Yahmon!
Oh you’re Jamaican!? I don’t hear that many DOA Jamaican players on the scene? Do you know any other Jamaican players?
Haha, there are West Indian players in the scene here such as Guyanese but not really many Jamaicans. But being Canada, naturally it’s very multicultural here in Toronto. Anyone can fit in practically!
How did you come up with the name Force of Nature?
There isn't any fancy backstory behind my name. I always had a thing for nature and spiritual forces when I was younger and sometimes pictured what it'd be like if I was some "great" force in nature impacting how the earth has been evolving and progressing. So the name "Force of Nature" just stuck out in my mind. And no, the name doesn't have any relation to the song of the same name by Pearl Jam in one of their later albums lol.
Main characters in DOA5LR?
Primary: Ayane
Secondary: Christie, Momiji, Kasumi
According to your characters of choice, you seem to like the female ninjas a lot? Anything to it?
Hmm, I’ve always had a thing for female ninjas. In SoulCalibur V I play Natsu (formerly Taki in older SoulCaliburs) and have dabbled a little bit with Ibuki & Kunimitsu in SF4 & TTT2 respectively. Seeing them roll, dash, teleport or dart around is always eye-catching to me.
How long have you been playing DOA casually? Competitively?
My first exposure to DOA took place at a local arcade near my high school (when those kind of places still existed in Canada...) and my eye caught sight of an arcade cabinet labeled: Dead or Alive 2: Millennium Edition.
Naturally I gave a glance to the colourful looking demos on display featuring gorgeous-looking multi-tiered stages and character models. Basically no fighting game had anywhere near the level of detail or quality to their stages like DOA2 had done so my interest was definitely piqued and decided to pony up the $0.25 required to play the game.
I selected the story mode and was treated to little cute pre-fight cutscenes followed by one-round matches. Kept making it to Tengu and always getting my ass-handed to me. 'B***h kept countering everything!' I thought to myself and before I knew it, I was dumping a s**tload of quarters into the machine lol. Though, it didn't help that all I did was mashing P+K~ with Ayane because I thought her spinning was epic LOL. Couple that with the big bow on her back and my degenerate teenage self was sold! I also mashed PPP with Jann Lee & KKKK with Zack, because... Buttons.
At a local game store, I caught a glimpse of a PS2 game that read DOA2: Hardcore on the cover of the case with a mostly black & teal colour scheme. 'That couldn't be what I think it is, could it?' I then looked at back of the case and was delighted to see that it was indeed a console version of DOA2! I didn't hesitate and picked it up and haven't looked back since. I didn't really learn how to play until DOA5 though, just... Buttons at the time LOL!
TL
R;
I started playing DOA in 2002 with the DOA2: Millenium Edition arcade cabinet and started playing DOA competitively on September 25, 2012 with DOA5, spending 2 hours in the lab with Ayane before being treated to laggy goodness! So 3 years competitively and the rest casually.
If you were to describe your play style in 3 words; What would they be?
Adaptive, Rush-down, Zoning
Is there any weaknesses in your game that you need to work on?
I need to work on my overall pressure game (both offensive and defensive) in the sense of finding ways to stay on the attack as long as possible without giving the opponent too many opportunities to mount a comeback, along with being more patient during the neutral game or while on the defensive. These are two challenges that I have been working on.
What's your typical routine when preparing for an upcoming tournament? Do you have any players you spar or train with for an upcoming tournament?
My general routine for preparing for an upcoming tournament generally involves practicing and reviewing my character's tech starting with my main then working down to my subs. Once I'm comfortable with my tech and setups, I work on match-up knowledge related things such as breaking down the characters that are used often or give me the most trouble (or are just bullshit lol). I attempt to seek any vulnerabilities that I can exploit. I don't have any consistent sparring partners at a similar level as me but do take any opportunity I can to get in offline sparring practice. I also make sure to attend all weekly casual sessions at the "gaming dojo" here.
What are the tournaments you have attended? What were those results you had on those tournaments?
I have attended a few tournaments in the past including:
Toronto Series XIII (T-13) - 3rd place (Ayane)
Canadian East Coast Championship (CECC)- 3rd place (Ayane, Kasumi)
TORYUKEN 3 - 2nd place (Ayane, Kasumi)
Canadian East Coast Championship 2 (CECC2) - 1st place (Ayane)
TORYUKEN 4 - 1st place (Christie, Ayane)
Along with several monthly local tournaments. I also attended TFC 2013 & Summer Jam 8 in the past and would like to attend some US tournaments in the future, but the Canadian dollar has been quite shitty against the US dollar compared to a couple years ago, so it'll be a larger strain on the funds.
Any upcoming Tournaments you will be participating in the near future?
Two big tournaments are coming to Toronto in the near future: CANADA CUP 2015 & Enthusiast Gaming Live Expo (EGLX).
Best of Luck to you!
Thank you!
Which version of DOA do you like and hate the most? Why?
I like DOA5LR the most and DOA4 the least. I love the updates that DOA5 & DOA5LR had done to the combat mechanics, and character models. The matches look just as intense to watch as they are to play with how the danger zones really came into action with regards to environmental combos. Strategically and competitively, DOA5:LR is an outstanding game that I feel is considerably underrated in the general FGC.
As beautiful as DOA4's stages looked, the character models looked a little bland in the faces and I personally started to tire of the "doll-face" look. I also feel that DOA4 is too "random" as a fighting game and made the series look really bad from a competitive sense, tarnishing its already floundering reputation. The balance and risk/reward in DOA4 is atrocious compared to DOA5LR.
Is there anything you would like to see changed, added or deleted in DOA5LR such as character balances, more characters or stages?
By and large I say DOA5LR is mostly fine as is, and doesn't really need any new characters or stages. 30+ characters and 30+ stages is an ample amount for any fighting game. A criticism could be that there aren't enough interesting stages like the Forest, Lorelei, Hot Zone, Temple of the Dragon/Sakura or Scramble for instance. But of course I wouldn’t mind if a certain, *ahem*, Aerial Gardens stage was added in the near future!
An addition that I would like to see is the ability to put on the move details box during Command Training. It would be an incredible assistance with both learning the properties of a given character's moveset and with match-up knowledge. Feels like the inability to do this was a massive oversight by the developer.
I would like to see how DOA5LR would fair if the ability to move at the start of a round was eliminated because I feel that it gives clear advantages to certain characters and allows close range characters to get in on their opponent for free at the start. I would like to see this along with both characters having a neutral starting position (i.e. not having a danger zone behind the Player 2 side constantly). I also feel that linear, "non-tracking" strings shouldn't be able to "retrack" into characters so easily (I.e. should have the ability to go off-axis), because it skews the risk/reward of sidestepping making it a bit too risky at times. The way how the system is now makes some characters come off as having a little too much tracking ability, thus undermining the utility of the sidestepping system. Also I think in DOA5LR that the amount of invincibility frames on a downed opponent may be a bit too excessive at times. I wouldn't necessarily say bring back DOA5 Vanilla's ground game, but there needs to be a balance somewhere. Moves should never physically go through the opponent's body. Angled wall hits could use an adjustment because it feels at times that the “range” of getting an angled wall hit feels a bit wide in comparison to other 3D fighters. Doesn’t help that angled wall hits are very unfavourable to get in DOA5LR despite them looking good from a visual perspective. Lastly I feel that low crush frames could use a big improvement because, in my opinion, a low attack should never hit an airborne opponent or an opponent in an airstate condition. It doesn't help that it looks jank as hell when a low sweep swats someone out of the air.
As for stuff to be deleted, if I had a choice I'd delete Alpha-152. Not because I think she's overpowered or anything of that sort but because I personally think she's dumb and she makes the game look dumb. Being one of the more "mashier" characters doesn't help matters and can really make her turn off more novice players of DOA5LR. TFC 2013’s Grand Final match was a good example of how dumb Alpha can look to onlookers.
Any players you enjoy watching or would like to play against?
SweetRevenge, RIG Kwiggle, MASTER, Gehaktbal, CrazySteady, Hoodless, FLACK, TERU-ROCK, & HajinShinobi
How is the DOA Canadian scene? Can you tell us more about your scene and the players you have over there? Are there any ways you can think of improving your scene and its growth?
The Canadian DOA scene is still quite young. It is mostly composed of players that started with DOA5, DOA5U or even DOA5LR. There are a couple players that have extended experience in DOA4 and earlier, but a lot of them (such as XDest, and AngryWorm) have moved on from DOA. At the moment the scene is doing quite decently with a weekly tournament series being hosted by TorontoTopTiers including points that get put towards an "invitational" at the December monthly tournament (Likely called "Final Impact"). Basically you get a certain amount of points based on where you ranked in the weekly and monthly tournament, which accumulate after each subsequent event contributing to your overall ranking at the end of the year.
As for growing the community, the DOA scene has got a nice boost by attracting the attention of majority of the VF players here. In a productive move, both the DOA & VF scenes support one another, thus increasing the strength of both scenes. As a suggestion, I think all DOA players should at least try VF5FS. The game can do wonders for your 3D fundamentals.
I also am proud that DOA has been getting some solid tournament inclusion here in Toronto with the upcoming CANADA CUP 2015 at the end of October being the third major this year featuring DOA5U/DOA5LR.
Who are the players that people need to be aware of in Canada?
The Canadian players that I feel are the most well-rounded are NanhouDrops, Jefffcore , and myself. Their commitment to their main characters makes them an authority on them in my opinion. There are a few more players that are fairly strong too including Yurlungur, RoboJoe, and a Lisa player in particular that has the potential to be great at DOA5LR with more experience.
Does Canada have a particular play style that's completely different than the US or do you agree that Canada plays very similar to the US?
Canada indeed plays very similar to the US, though American players are more pressure-heavy, where Canadian players are a bit more on the conservative side.
Do you have a personal tier list on DOA5LR?
I do have a bit of a tier list but it is far from finalized. Too many characters don't seem fully explored enough.
S-Tier: Christie, Genfu
A-Tier: Helena, Ayane, Leifang, Akira, Sarah, Kasumi, Mila, Zack, Rig, Rachel, Hayabusa, Hayate, Momiji
B-Tier: Jann Lee, Hitomi, Lisa, Leon, Bayman, Bass, Kokoro, Jacky, Marie Rose
C-Tier: Tina, Alpha-152, Pai, Eliot, Brad Wong, Phase-4, Nyotengu, Raidou
D-Tier: Ein, Honoka
If you were to pick one moment that defines you in DOA, what would that be and why?
The moment that defines me the most in DOA would be my tournament experience at TORYUKEN 4: Stronghold held in the Greater Toronto Area earlier this year. I wrote up a piece on it on FreeStepDodge dubbed: "Battle in the North". This was one of the biggest fighting game events held in Canada in a while and the atmosphere was something else! Winning this event for DOA was the icing on the cake! Too bad a power failure occurred on the finals day that effectively bumped DOA5LR off of the stream schedule. That kinda pissed me off.
Any other games you play for fun or competitively?
I have a fairly prolific game library spanning across my PS4, PS3, PSVITA, XBone and Xbox 360 with 100+ games. I have games ranging from The Last Us Remastered, Tomb Raider: Definite Edition, Shadow of Mordor, Dragon Age Inquisition, Killer Instinct 3, Rare Replay, Forza 5 Motorsport, Hatsune Miku Project Diva f & Project Diva f 2nd, Tales of Xillia 2, Valkyria Chronicles ,Mass Effect Trilogy, Danganronpa 1 & 2, Persona 4 Golden Child of Light and Tearaway Unfolded, Gravity Rush and many others.
As for fighting games, I mostly only play 3D fighters competitively. Before training in DOA5, I played SoulCalibur V competitively while it was still popular back in 2012. I feel that that game is incredibly underrated competitively (like DOA5LR to an extent), and is a shame that some questionable design choices hurt the game in the long run. Doesn't help that Namco-Bandai stopped giving a shit about it back in July 2012 to focus on Tekken Tag Tournament 2. I personally didn't like TTT2 in the least and couldn't stand the tag gameplay. On a different note, I don't mind Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown, and do participate in the tournaments here in Toronto, but I will admit that I'm not exactly at the same level in it that I am at in Dead or Alive 5: Last Round.
If you could create a DOA character from scratch for DOA6, How would you make that character?
I honestly don't think I'd be able to do this but I'd really like to see a Judo or Capoeira fighter in a DOA game. These two fighting styles would look awesome in DOA's gorgeous visual style.
Gender? Martial Arts? Default Costume?
Female, because it's DOA duh! Judo. Probably a relatively simple Judo gi showing a little cleavage with track pants and sneakers. Colour scheme would consist mostly of red and white.
If you could give an advice for the aspiring competitive DOA player, what would you say?
1. Learn how to play without mashing attacks mindlessly.
2. Learn how to not attack from disadvantage without any knowledge of abare or yomi.
3. Learn how to not mash holds or "panic hold" when put in critical stun or when left at negative frames.
4. Learn what footsies, spacing and neutral means.
5. Learn what punishment means, including throw & whiff punishment.
6. Learn how to slow escape stuns.
7. Learn to love the Move Details box, understand how it works, and appreciate how it greatly enhances the DOA learning experience.
8. Learn frame data for your characters.
9. Understand the Fuzzy Guard.
10. Learn your chosen character's effective offensive setups and commit them to muscle memory.
11. Check out the Top Tier Tips guide! http://www.freestepdodge.com/threads/toptier-tips-guide-for-help-with-doa5-including-lr.5500/ (#shamelessplug)
Do you have a Twitter, Facebook or Youtube channel people can follow you on?
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ForceofNature99
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gary.whittaker.92
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ForceofNature99/featured
Any last messages? Shoutouts?
I want to say that I have been thoroughly impressed with how Team Ninja along with Tom Lee and Big E Gaming, Spooky, MASTER, etc. have done an outstanding job of supporting the DOA offline scene in the US. I can't wait to see how things go down at the epic conclusion of the Battle Royal at NEC at the end of this year! Especially with the solid side tourney at EVO this past summer, I really hope that DOA5LR can finally get a chance at being a main game on the EVO 2016 roster *fingers crossed*.
Although I know they will probably not read this, I want to give props to TorontoTopTiers' (TTT) NeoRussell & Teevo for their support of the 3D scene in Toronto for the past few years. NeoRussell in particular. If he didn't lay down his support for the scene, there may not even be a full-fledged FGC in Toronto. I also want to give a shoutout to each individual that comes out to offline casuals each week with the intent of levelling up! Here's to many more successful years for DOA in the future!
Cheers!
Thank you for your time!
- Force of Nature
We are back at it again with another interview, this time a player hailing from Canada. His name is Force of Nature. As one of the Canadian Representatives in the DOA community, I had the chance to speak to him and ask him general questions of the game and what he thinks about his own Canadian scene.
If a DOA character were to be become a real person in real life, who would you want to hang out/date? Why? GOOOO!!!!
Who would I want to hang out with? I'd have to say Rig because he's a Canadian and us canucks have to stick together eh? Yeah he's got the "mysterious" thing going on with the tattoos and shit but he seems like a rather chill guy anyway. Who would I want to date? That's a tough one, but I'd have to go with Momiji. She has that tender heart, big sister type thing going on that makes her a total sweetheart. Definite wife material for sure! Also, every time she says "Better luck next time, huh?" I'm just putty in her hands lol.
….are you a otaku? lol
Lol, I like Japanese culture but unfortunately (or fortunately…) I’m not immersed in it enough to achieve “otaku” status.
Name? Gaming alias?
Gary Whittaker, Force of Nature
Country of Origin?
Canadian born Jamaican. Yahmon!
Oh you’re Jamaican!? I don’t hear that many DOA Jamaican players on the scene? Do you know any other Jamaican players?
Haha, there are West Indian players in the scene here such as Guyanese but not really many Jamaicans. But being Canada, naturally it’s very multicultural here in Toronto. Anyone can fit in practically!
How did you come up with the name Force of Nature?
There isn't any fancy backstory behind my name. I always had a thing for nature and spiritual forces when I was younger and sometimes pictured what it'd be like if I was some "great" force in nature impacting how the earth has been evolving and progressing. So the name "Force of Nature" just stuck out in my mind. And no, the name doesn't have any relation to the song of the same name by Pearl Jam in one of their later albums lol.
Main characters in DOA5LR?
Primary: Ayane
Secondary: Christie, Momiji, Kasumi
According to your characters of choice, you seem to like the female ninjas a lot? Anything to it?
Hmm, I’ve always had a thing for female ninjas. In SoulCalibur V I play Natsu (formerly Taki in older SoulCaliburs) and have dabbled a little bit with Ibuki & Kunimitsu in SF4 & TTT2 respectively. Seeing them roll, dash, teleport or dart around is always eye-catching to me.
How long have you been playing DOA casually? Competitively?
My first exposure to DOA took place at a local arcade near my high school (when those kind of places still existed in Canada...) and my eye caught sight of an arcade cabinet labeled: Dead or Alive 2: Millennium Edition.
Naturally I gave a glance to the colourful looking demos on display featuring gorgeous-looking multi-tiered stages and character models. Basically no fighting game had anywhere near the level of detail or quality to their stages like DOA2 had done so my interest was definitely piqued and decided to pony up the $0.25 required to play the game.
I selected the story mode and was treated to little cute pre-fight cutscenes followed by one-round matches. Kept making it to Tengu and always getting my ass-handed to me. 'B***h kept countering everything!' I thought to myself and before I knew it, I was dumping a s**tload of quarters into the machine lol. Though, it didn't help that all I did was mashing P+K~ with Ayane because I thought her spinning was epic LOL. Couple that with the big bow on her back and my degenerate teenage self was sold! I also mashed PPP with Jann Lee & KKKK with Zack, because... Buttons.
At a local game store, I caught a glimpse of a PS2 game that read DOA2: Hardcore on the cover of the case with a mostly black & teal colour scheme. 'That couldn't be what I think it is, could it?' I then looked at back of the case and was delighted to see that it was indeed a console version of DOA2! I didn't hesitate and picked it up and haven't looked back since. I didn't really learn how to play until DOA5 though, just... Buttons at the time LOL!
TL
R;I started playing DOA in 2002 with the DOA2: Millenium Edition arcade cabinet and started playing DOA competitively on September 25, 2012 with DOA5, spending 2 hours in the lab with Ayane before being treated to laggy goodness! So 3 years competitively and the rest casually.
TTT: Northern Battles 21 (Grand Finals Start at 5:48:43):
If you were to describe your play style in 3 words; What would they be?
Adaptive, Rush-down, Zoning
Is there any weaknesses in your game that you need to work on?
I need to work on my overall pressure game (both offensive and defensive) in the sense of finding ways to stay on the attack as long as possible without giving the opponent too many opportunities to mount a comeback, along with being more patient during the neutral game or while on the defensive. These are two challenges that I have been working on.
What's your typical routine when preparing for an upcoming tournament? Do you have any players you spar or train with for an upcoming tournament?
My general routine for preparing for an upcoming tournament generally involves practicing and reviewing my character's tech starting with my main then working down to my subs. Once I'm comfortable with my tech and setups, I work on match-up knowledge related things such as breaking down the characters that are used often or give me the most trouble (or are just bullshit lol). I attempt to seek any vulnerabilities that I can exploit. I don't have any consistent sparring partners at a similar level as me but do take any opportunity I can to get in offline sparring practice. I also make sure to attend all weekly casual sessions at the "gaming dojo" here.
What are the tournaments you have attended? What were those results you had on those tournaments?
I have attended a few tournaments in the past including:
Toronto Series XIII (T-13) - 3rd place (Ayane)
Canadian East Coast Championship (CECC)- 3rd place (Ayane, Kasumi)
TORYUKEN 3 - 2nd place (Ayane, Kasumi)
Canadian East Coast Championship 2 (CECC2) - 1st place (Ayane)
TORYUKEN 4 - 1st place (Christie, Ayane)
Along with several monthly local tournaments. I also attended TFC 2013 & Summer Jam 8 in the past and would like to attend some US tournaments in the future, but the Canadian dollar has been quite shitty against the US dollar compared to a couple years ago, so it'll be a larger strain on the funds.
Any upcoming Tournaments you will be participating in the near future?
Two big tournaments are coming to Toronto in the near future: CANADA CUP 2015 & Enthusiast Gaming Live Expo (EGLX).
Best of Luck to you!
Thank you!
Which version of DOA do you like and hate the most? Why?
I like DOA5LR the most and DOA4 the least. I love the updates that DOA5 & DOA5LR had done to the combat mechanics, and character models. The matches look just as intense to watch as they are to play with how the danger zones really came into action with regards to environmental combos. Strategically and competitively, DOA5:LR is an outstanding game that I feel is considerably underrated in the general FGC.
As beautiful as DOA4's stages looked, the character models looked a little bland in the faces and I personally started to tire of the "doll-face" look. I also feel that DOA4 is too "random" as a fighting game and made the series look really bad from a competitive sense, tarnishing its already floundering reputation. The balance and risk/reward in DOA4 is atrocious compared to DOA5LR.
Is there anything you would like to see changed, added or deleted in DOA5LR such as character balances, more characters or stages?
By and large I say DOA5LR is mostly fine as is, and doesn't really need any new characters or stages. 30+ characters and 30+ stages is an ample amount for any fighting game. A criticism could be that there aren't enough interesting stages like the Forest, Lorelei, Hot Zone, Temple of the Dragon/Sakura or Scramble for instance. But of course I wouldn’t mind if a certain, *ahem*, Aerial Gardens stage was added in the near future!
An addition that I would like to see is the ability to put on the move details box during Command Training. It would be an incredible assistance with both learning the properties of a given character's moveset and with match-up knowledge. Feels like the inability to do this was a massive oversight by the developer.
I would like to see how DOA5LR would fair if the ability to move at the start of a round was eliminated because I feel that it gives clear advantages to certain characters and allows close range characters to get in on their opponent for free at the start. I would like to see this along with both characters having a neutral starting position (i.e. not having a danger zone behind the Player 2 side constantly). I also feel that linear, "non-tracking" strings shouldn't be able to "retrack" into characters so easily (I.e. should have the ability to go off-axis), because it skews the risk/reward of sidestepping making it a bit too risky at times. The way how the system is now makes some characters come off as having a little too much tracking ability, thus undermining the utility of the sidestepping system. Also I think in DOA5LR that the amount of invincibility frames on a downed opponent may be a bit too excessive at times. I wouldn't necessarily say bring back DOA5 Vanilla's ground game, but there needs to be a balance somewhere. Moves should never physically go through the opponent's body. Angled wall hits could use an adjustment because it feels at times that the “range” of getting an angled wall hit feels a bit wide in comparison to other 3D fighters. Doesn’t help that angled wall hits are very unfavourable to get in DOA5LR despite them looking good from a visual perspective. Lastly I feel that low crush frames could use a big improvement because, in my opinion, a low attack should never hit an airborne opponent or an opponent in an airstate condition. It doesn't help that it looks jank as hell when a low sweep swats someone out of the air.
As for stuff to be deleted, if I had a choice I'd delete Alpha-152. Not because I think she's overpowered or anything of that sort but because I personally think she's dumb and she makes the game look dumb. Being one of the more "mashier" characters doesn't help matters and can really make her turn off more novice players of DOA5LR. TFC 2013’s Grand Final match was a good example of how dumb Alpha can look to onlookers.
Any players you enjoy watching or would like to play against?
SweetRevenge, RIG Kwiggle, MASTER, Gehaktbal, CrazySteady, Hoodless, FLACK, TERU-ROCK, & HajinShinobi
How is the DOA Canadian scene? Can you tell us more about your scene and the players you have over there? Are there any ways you can think of improving your scene and its growth?
The Canadian DOA scene is still quite young. It is mostly composed of players that started with DOA5, DOA5U or even DOA5LR. There are a couple players that have extended experience in DOA4 and earlier, but a lot of them (such as XDest, and AngryWorm) have moved on from DOA. At the moment the scene is doing quite decently with a weekly tournament series being hosted by TorontoTopTiers including points that get put towards an "invitational" at the December monthly tournament (Likely called "Final Impact"). Basically you get a certain amount of points based on where you ranked in the weekly and monthly tournament, which accumulate after each subsequent event contributing to your overall ranking at the end of the year.
As for growing the community, the DOA scene has got a nice boost by attracting the attention of majority of the VF players here. In a productive move, both the DOA & VF scenes support one another, thus increasing the strength of both scenes. As a suggestion, I think all DOA players should at least try VF5FS. The game can do wonders for your 3D fundamentals.
I also am proud that DOA has been getting some solid tournament inclusion here in Toronto with the upcoming CANADA CUP 2015 at the end of October being the third major this year featuring DOA5U/DOA5LR.
Who are the players that people need to be aware of in Canada?
The Canadian players that I feel are the most well-rounded are NanhouDrops, Jefffcore , and myself. Their commitment to their main characters makes them an authority on them in my opinion. There are a few more players that are fairly strong too including Yurlungur, RoboJoe, and a Lisa player in particular that has the potential to be great at DOA5LR with more experience.
Does Canada have a particular play style that's completely different than the US or do you agree that Canada plays very similar to the US?
Canada indeed plays very similar to the US, though American players are more pressure-heavy, where Canadian players are a bit more on the conservative side.
Do you have a personal tier list on DOA5LR?
I do have a bit of a tier list but it is far from finalized. Too many characters don't seem fully explored enough.
S-Tier: Christie, Genfu
A-Tier: Helena, Ayane, Leifang, Akira, Sarah, Kasumi, Mila, Zack, Rig, Rachel, Hayabusa, Hayate, Momiji
B-Tier: Jann Lee, Hitomi, Lisa, Leon, Bayman, Bass, Kokoro, Jacky, Marie Rose
C-Tier: Tina, Alpha-152, Pai, Eliot, Brad Wong, Phase-4, Nyotengu, Raidou
D-Tier: Ein, Honoka
If you were to pick one moment that defines you in DOA, what would that be and why?
The moment that defines me the most in DOA would be my tournament experience at TORYUKEN 4: Stronghold held in the Greater Toronto Area earlier this year. I wrote up a piece on it on FreeStepDodge dubbed: "Battle in the North". This was one of the biggest fighting game events held in Canada in a while and the atmosphere was something else! Winning this event for DOA was the icing on the cake! Too bad a power failure occurred on the finals day that effectively bumped DOA5LR off of the stream schedule. That kinda pissed me off.
Any other games you play for fun or competitively?
I have a fairly prolific game library spanning across my PS4, PS3, PSVITA, XBone and Xbox 360 with 100+ games. I have games ranging from The Last Us Remastered, Tomb Raider: Definite Edition, Shadow of Mordor, Dragon Age Inquisition, Killer Instinct 3, Rare Replay, Forza 5 Motorsport, Hatsune Miku Project Diva f & Project Diva f 2nd, Tales of Xillia 2, Valkyria Chronicles ,Mass Effect Trilogy, Danganronpa 1 & 2, Persona 4 Golden Child of Light and Tearaway Unfolded, Gravity Rush and many others.
As for fighting games, I mostly only play 3D fighters competitively. Before training in DOA5, I played SoulCalibur V competitively while it was still popular back in 2012. I feel that that game is incredibly underrated competitively (like DOA5LR to an extent), and is a shame that some questionable design choices hurt the game in the long run. Doesn't help that Namco-Bandai stopped giving a shit about it back in July 2012 to focus on Tekken Tag Tournament 2. I personally didn't like TTT2 in the least and couldn't stand the tag gameplay. On a different note, I don't mind Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown, and do participate in the tournaments here in Toronto, but I will admit that I'm not exactly at the same level in it that I am at in Dead or Alive 5: Last Round.
If you could create a DOA character from scratch for DOA6, How would you make that character?
I honestly don't think I'd be able to do this but I'd really like to see a Judo or Capoeira fighter in a DOA game. These two fighting styles would look awesome in DOA's gorgeous visual style.
Gender? Martial Arts? Default Costume?
Female, because it's DOA duh! Judo. Probably a relatively simple Judo gi showing a little cleavage with track pants and sneakers. Colour scheme would consist mostly of red and white.
If you could give an advice for the aspiring competitive DOA player, what would you say?
1. Learn how to play without mashing attacks mindlessly.
2. Learn how to not attack from disadvantage without any knowledge of abare or yomi.
3. Learn how to not mash holds or "panic hold" when put in critical stun or when left at negative frames.
4. Learn what footsies, spacing and neutral means.
5. Learn what punishment means, including throw & whiff punishment.
6. Learn how to slow escape stuns.
7. Learn to love the Move Details box, understand how it works, and appreciate how it greatly enhances the DOA learning experience.
8. Learn frame data for your characters.
9. Understand the Fuzzy Guard.
10. Learn your chosen character's effective offensive setups and commit them to muscle memory.
11. Check out the Top Tier Tips guide! http://www.freestepdodge.com/threads/toptier-tips-guide-for-help-with-doa5-including-lr.5500/ (#shamelessplug)
Do you have a Twitter, Facebook or Youtube channel people can follow you on?
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ForceofNature99
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gary.whittaker.92
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ForceofNature99/featured
Any last messages? Shoutouts?
I want to say that I have been thoroughly impressed with how Team Ninja along with Tom Lee and Big E Gaming, Spooky, MASTER, etc. have done an outstanding job of supporting the DOA offline scene in the US. I can't wait to see how things go down at the epic conclusion of the Battle Royal at NEC at the end of this year! Especially with the solid side tourney at EVO this past summer, I really hope that DOA5LR can finally get a chance at being a main game on the EVO 2016 roster *fingers crossed*.
Although I know they will probably not read this, I want to give props to TorontoTopTiers' (TTT) NeoRussell & Teevo for their support of the 3D scene in Toronto for the past few years. NeoRussell in particular. If he didn't lay down his support for the scene, there may not even be a full-fledged FGC in Toronto. I also want to give a shoutout to each individual that comes out to offline casuals each week with the intent of levelling up! Here's to many more successful years for DOA in the future!
Cheers!
Thank you for your time!
Last edited:
