DOA5LR Tom Lee discusses Raidou, Honoka, and the Casual audience

In a recent article on Dead or Alive 5 Last Round by Siliconera, Tom Lee is interviewed and discusses some of the reasoning for Raidou's return and Honoka's selection. Be sure to read the whole article for full details, but here are some notable quotes by the Creative Director of Team NINJA:

I asked Lee why Team Ninja brought Raidou back. "Raidou was brought back because he is a fan favorite. Team Ninja definitely wants to see more villains in the line up. I personally love seeing more characters like this it brings balance to the cutesy girls [in Dead or Alive]," Lee replied.

Lee explained Team Ninja looks at stats and player feedback when creating new Dead or Alive fighters. Team Ninja’s data says in the Western market people have been playing wrestler type characters like Rig while in Japan they favor the female characters. "There are many guys on our team. I would like to see more characters like Raidou, for instance. But at the end of the day I think the numbers support the Honoka type of character," Lee said when talking about creating Honoka. "Maybe its a cultural difference, but sometimes in the East it’s dictated by aesthetics first and then the story is developed through character design. Rather than saying, the sister of so-and-so just got messed up by him, so let’s create a revenge story. Lots of times we review character designs and she seems like a 15 year old school girl, she’s coming home from school, let’s create a story about that."

"Interactive touch points have been switched up and added. Hot Zones have changed for some stages. There may be an addition to existing hot spots and it won’t be in all of the stages. Without telling you exactly where they are, we want fans who have been with us for the last two years to enjoy finding new things," Lee said.

Tom Lee also discussed the casual audience, sometimes eerily seeming like a direct response from Tomonobu Itagaki's recent comments towards the fifth entry of the series.

While it might feel broken for competitive players, one of the reasons why Danger Zone, a stage from the original Dead or Alive with explosive traps, was added was to appeal to casual players. "I think we learned is one of the things we wanted to do better is we’ve focused on giving competitive players. Making sure it’s balanced not just for players in the East, but players in the West. That was one of our biggest focuses in the last couple of years," Lee answered when I asked how Dead or Alive 5 evolved from from 2012 to now. "With Last Round, one of the things we wanted to do is not lose focus of our casual audience as well. When it comes to game balance and even the presentation of the stages we wanted to reel back and make the experience enjoyable for casual fans."

"We want to maintain that DOA has an easy point of entry for beginners. We want it to be an intuitive sort of experience instead of learning the move list for 30 different characters or whatnot. They can come in the beginning and button mash their way through, not only having success but looking good while you’re doing it. We want people to have a great time whether they understand a character or not. In mastering it, they will learn in trial and error," Lee elaborated.

Be sure to read the full article from Siliconera for further details.

 

Looks like Famitsu gave DOA5LR 8/9/9/8 score

 

*arrives with party hats and snacks*
Guess I was late to the party.

 

Looks like Famitsu gave DOA5LR 8/9/9/8 score

Isn't that lower than it got initially?

 

Isn't that lower than it got initially?

Yes.
DOA5 got 9/9/9/9 (36) but it's still a pretty good score.

However, it doesn't mean much coming from Famitsu.

 

5.5 / 10 - IGN
"Doesnt feel like an FPS, but you can still do 360 No Scope panty shots"

 

To me Honoka looks like a likable character. But her biggest problem like most people mentioned on here, she's lacking originality. First off, the face is pretty much Marie Rose with a different wig. Second she's a cliche high school girl which been seen so many times, in fighting games. Her third down fall, she's a copy and paste character with most of the characters move set. That kinda brought her hype down. I will try her out never the less. But I'm not gonna over look the facts. Now about Tom Lee saying, people from the west side prefer mostly men characters and people from the east side prefer mostly the women. From my experience living in the west side, he's right. Most guys who are sexist I've encountered, looks down on the girls characters as weak and below the men. For a perfect example Lucky Chloe from Tekken 7. She's cutesy, very girly and friendly. Yet she's able to beat the crap out of you. While the guys looks tough, sweaty and buff. To most guys who have a problem with cutesy or beautiful women who can win while looking good doing it, find it as an insult. Let's make this "clear" I didn't say all guys, I said most of the one's I've encountered from my experience. Anyway, I wish it wasn't that way, but it is..

 

5.5 / 10 - IGN
"Doesnt feel like an FPS, but you can still do 360 No Scope panty shots"

7.8 / 10 - IGN
"Too much fighting."

 

You guys are funny.

 

Honoka is a stupid character. I am glad she is being introduced because it gives me an opportunity to snap her neck.

That's really all that needs to be said on the topic.

 

Both this article and the comments are really funny.

 

Honoka is an interesting and great character, and I can't wait to play as her.

I am considering making her my main as well.

 

i'm just happy we don't have a jello ayane clone who can spin around and do four 4ps in a row and make the 5th one a positive guard break

 

i'm just happy we don't have a jello ayane clone who can spin around and do four 4ps in a row and make the 5th one a positive guard break

Really? Sounds right up your alley.

 

Really? Sounds right up your alley.

excuse you

 

#oop #caught

 

excuse you

My apologies. I just assumed you'd be all on another way to troll. I forgot that situation is far too stupid. Much better to just bait B.U.R.S.T.s.

 

My apologies. I just assumed you'd be all on another way to troll.

See, what i said would be borderline broken
Trolling is funny when people can react to things but choose not too
Trade secret

 

I must be playing the wrong version of this game because Rig shows up like a Shiny in Pokemon. All I see is a bunch of Ayane players, other femninjas and then Tina.

 

I must be playing the wrong version of this game because Rig shows up like a Shiny in Pokemon. All I see is a bunch of Ayane players, other femninjas and then Tina.

That's cuz you play online.
TLDR

(Ayane, Kasumi, Christie, Rachel, Momiji, Lisa, Pai, Leifang, Nyo, Phase-4, Alpha, and Kermit)
and then tina