d3v
Well-Known Member
I was thinking about whether DOA's hold system had a analogue in 2D games when the thought struck me - holds out of stun are somewhat analogous to Counter Exchanges in Marvel 3. Okay, you guys are probably thinking "that SRK gus has been smoking up again" but it actually makes sense. Holds out of stun, when compared to 2D game mechanics, are basically bursts. The main difference is that, most bursts mechanics have some for of limitation, they either have a separate meter, or take from the main super meter. Holds however are basically free, meterless bursts, the only limitation is that that they require your opponent to use a move that puts you in Critical State. The only other free, meterless burst in any modern 2D fighter is Counter Exchange from MvC3/UMvC3, their limitation is that they can only be done when an attacking player attempts to do a TAC. In fact, just like holds out of stun, Counter Exchange also uses a 3 point system, upwards exchange, downward exchange and side exchange.
The question now is, why is Counter Exchange acceptable in Marvel but holds out of stun are looked down upon. The answer is really simple, you don't need to TAC to kill an opposing character in Marvel 3. There are benefits to doing it, but most of the time, you don't need to. What needs to be done in DOA 5 (if they're not taking holds out of stun out of the game) is to make it so that the game's metagame doesn't really require you to keep comboing into attacks that lead to Critical State. In other words, allow players to do damaging combos that don't require putting your opponent in Critical State, yet at the same time, put some reward for doing it so that it's not entirely useless.
The question now is, why is Counter Exchange acceptable in Marvel but holds out of stun are looked down upon. The answer is really simple, you don't need to TAC to kill an opposing character in Marvel 3. There are benefits to doing it, but most of the time, you don't need to. What needs to be done in DOA 5 (if they're not taking holds out of stun out of the game) is to make it so that the game's metagame doesn't really require you to keep comboing into attacks that lead to Critical State. In other words, allow players to do damaging combos that don't require putting your opponent in Critical State, yet at the same time, put some reward for doing it so that it's not entirely useless.