I try to make you a general recap of everything, hoping to be helpful and not too much confusing:
So far DoA5LR was promoted as a game including new characters, stages, outfits, hairstyles, intro/ending poses and gravures compared to the old version of the game, so for the most what is called "casual" content.
Be sure that the game will include even new differences in the gameplay (as general balancement, different properties of character's moves, new addition of Tag throws), but the head of the team have already clarified that we will not see drastical differences in the mechanics of the overall game (as happened in some extents from DoA5 vanilla to the Ultimate version). The reason is because they think that the formula of Ultimate already works pretty well (and generally the players appear to agree with them), so instead to risk to break this balance they prefer to keep new ideas already in development for the sequel of the series.
DoA5LR will include 34 characters, so the entire roster of DoA5U (Marie Rose, Phase 4 and Nyotengu included) + 2 the new additions:
- Raidou, the boss of Dead Or Alive 1, owning a moveset made of original moves (especially throws) and other stolen from the various characters of the roster (in Dural style);
At this link you can see the trailer depicting him:
- A new original female character that will be revealed in three days (15th January). It's rumored that she could be the outcome of a collaboration with the Senran Kagura series.
The game will see even 2 new stages added to the game:
- A remake of the "Danger Zone" stage from DoA1 (Kasumi' stage): this stage is an infinite multi-tiered one, with different kind of grounds owning explosive properties. It's still unknown if the stage will be available in tag mode.
- A remake of "The Crimson" stage from DoA2. This is a stage with 2 different tiers (with the possibility to fall in the second one through a standard falling or a cliffhanger way), and interactions with explosive walls in both the levels. The small secret room included in the DoA2U version is missing.
As already premised,
the game will include even many outfits at the time of the release (a part included freely in the game, another made of preorder bonus that later will become DLC), and new customization hairstyles options for the girls. For a general overview on the new outfits showned so far I post to you these links:
http://www.freestepdodge.com/threads/new-costumes-of-last-round.5098/page-23#post-231845
http://www.freestepdodge.com/threads/new-costumes-of-last-round.5098/page-23#post-231846
The preorder packs available on the West are associated to different retailers (according to where you pre-order the game, you will get a different set of outfits, what remain constant is that they will be always 8 extra outfits). Make exception to preorder the game on Steam - where you will get 12 outfits - or to particular regional retailers (as German Amazon).
About the DLC support, this is officially ended for DoA5U, but we can be sure that it will continue for at least 1 year for DoA5LR (just as happened for DoA5 and DoA5U). In additions to a plethora of new outfits, the developers so far hinted that even new DLC characters and modes could come (and personally I don't exclude new stages too, considering how both DoA5 and 5U ended to get at least 1 additional stage after their release)
Finally, about the way to get the game, this is a matter slighty complex. First of all DoA5LR will be available on both old generation consoles (Xbox 360 and Ps3 as digital release), on the current ones (Xbox One and Ps4) and finally even on Steam.
The onwers of DoA5U on X360 and Ps3 will have the possibility to play Last Round without necessarily to buy the complete game through digital release. Indeed it will be availabe for them a FREE update that will act just as a patch, bringing on their copy the mechanical changes and improvements of Last Round (animations included, I suppose), in order to make their game in par with the most recent changes and balancement.
In addition to this update, such people will have even the possibility to get a PAID "Last Round Pack" that will add in their game the new characters and outfits included at the release of the game. I suppose that these people will have even the possibility to buy eventual new DLC outfits and characters.
IMPORTANT: the new stages and the new hairstyles (and the option for customizing the character during the selection screen) will NOT be available for X360 and Ps3 users, so keeping such characteristics an exclusive of the current generation (PS4 and Xbox ONE). It's currently unknown if the PC version will get them too.
About the "restricted versions" of the game:
- The game will be out with a Core Fighters version for Ps3 and Ps4 that will be the equivalent of what already made for DoA5U;
- On Xbox one there will be 2 different restricted versions of the game, a called "Trial" one (the equivalent of the "Core Fighters" for Sony EDIT : but with the difference that it will be impossible to add new characters buying them) and a "Core Fighters" One that actally will cost 4.99$ but will make possible to play with 8 characters (Kasumi, Ayane, Hayate, Ryu, Hitomi, Tina, Jann Lee and Bass). EDIT :This version will be expandable buying the additional parts of the game left outside (characters, story mode).
- Nothing of similar will be available on Xbox 360.
About the online compatibility:
Tied to the technical problems, people will be able to play only with other players owning the game on the same console (so Ps3 players only, Ps4 players only, and so on...) and not on the same family of Sony or Microsoft consoles. By the way people that own an upgraded version of DoA5U on the old gen will be able to play with people that own a digital release of DoA5LR on the same consoles.
For the last matters, in any cases I suggest you to give a look to the infos present on the official pages of the site:
http://teamninja-studio.com/doa5/lastround/us/productInfo.html
http://teamninja-studio.com/doa5/lastround/us/ftp.html
About the Steam version:
So far TN still need to give us official confirmations about the characteristics of it (as contents or online playability). The only thing that we know are the minimal requirements (however no mention is made on the GPU) and that the online game will not be immediately available at the release but only through a further patch inside the first three months of life of the Steam version.
- System Requirements, Minimum:
- OS: Windows 7 Professional 64bit Service Pack 1
- Processor: Intel Core i5
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Additional Notes: Online modes for Dead or Alive 5 Last Round will be added in a patch within 3 months of release.
Official page of the game on Steam:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/311730/
