Free Step Dodge

Meanwhile her 12i mid gets interrupted by a jab even after being +3.

then you're doing something wrong considering she'll stuff out any i9 jab with her mid being stronger at +3. Git gewd maybe?

Or frame advantage is just bonkers in doa.

Hmm... If I'm not mistaken high attacks get priority over mid attacks regardless of the "damage". Think of it as a bit of a triangle system: High > Mid, Mid > Low, Low > High. So at +3, an i9 high will beat out an i12 mid if the mid doesn't high crush in anyway.

If that's the case then its about time TN make changes to the neutral. Honestly, i'm about ready for everyone to have a i10 jab, i12 mid, and a i13~i14 low jab. I think it's ridiculous for characters to have such drastic differences in neutral. Maybe its to force different play styles or so that everyone doesn't feel the "same". But it's annoying having a i11 jab and i13 mid going up against Christie lol.

That's why I got good in VF @Radiance More clear, honest strats that you have to know the fundamentals of first before you even get to the nutty stuff.

I think if they give everyone standard options in neutral then people won't rely heavily on SSA. People are sidestepping to get out of pressure to reset neutral, and not because attacks are linear. Imagine if everyone had a i12 mid. You wouldn't have to worry about people free canceling in your face because they'd get counter hit blown up all the time, as it should be.

That was the biggest issue in DOA5 with slower characters. The Sidestep attack in DOA6 resolved issues for characters like Brad and Bass but created more issues.

DOA would get boring if every character was i10, i12, i13. SC would be boring too if every character was i12, i14, i12. I like the differences in the characters in DOA & SC. Though I also study the character's frame data so I tend to know those things (and why I hate Tekken & SC not displaying their frame data in-game).

What I would recommend is getting rid of 95% of the delay shenanigans and getting on-block & on-hit frames more akin to the VF characters in DOA5LR. I.e. More safe & +frames on block, in exchange for removing majority of the string delays.

I suspected people would saying every character having a default set neutral would be boring, I felt the same way a first, but this works flawlessly in both VF and Tekken. But I would like your approach as well, remove the excess amount delayable strings, in exchange, more safe and + moves. If keep the current neutral, then we need better tracking moves for everyone.

Honestly I've never been a fan of delayed strings. Free cancel or commit to the string. Delayed strings have always felt terrible and it really fucks over grapplers dealing with speedy characters that are fast and can delay their strings.

Delayed strings are fine. I just think SSA kinda clouds its purpose a bit.