Free Step Dodge

Ah, damn, the guy should have compared base DOA5U to DOA6 1 year later, not DOA5LR. That'd be more fair. Someone's gotta redo this. I'll try it myself if I get time.

I was about to comment "Tea..." until I also figured out that this was a comparison between 5LR (released a good 3 years into the game's lifespan) and the first year of 6. 5 was definitely not that packed a year in but it was muuuch better than what we have now. Plus tag. Plus team battle.

Hard to believe the game has only been out for a year with everything going on. I doubt we'll see a rerelease given everything they're doing.

I honestly remember being a little frustrated with DOA5 for the first year, but when DOA5U hit a year later, I was willing to even drop my complaint that they went Super Turbo in literally just a year. It helped that I hadn't bought much DLC up to that point and Ultimate basically was like a major discount for, I think, everything up to that point.

I actually got really hyped for this trailer and the hype actually payed off:

I had no real complaints about 5 when it first came out and got really excited for 5u due to Rachel's debut so much so that I was mostly content with the game even up to the release of last round. My major frustrations really began with Tina's exclusion in DOAX3 and I've been angry ever since. I was hoping 6 would make things better and besides Rachel's return late last year, NOTHING has improved.

@P2p1mbs - yeah it was around that time for the downhill for me too. That poll where they basically shat on most of the non-japanese women, the Season Passes started up, and Marie Rose first showed up. I can't remember the order or timeline, but they were all around that time before and after LR came out, where things were still mostly great but seeds were being planted.

In terms of content DOA6 after 11 months isn't that bad compared to DOA5 vanilla (and DOA5U to a lesser extent, though that came out almost a year later with another price tag). The lack of Tag is the biggest omission of course (Team Battle was added in DOA5U), though DOA6 has 30 characters before 1 year, whereas DOA5U had 29 (more added down the line months later)...

DOA6 has 30 characters, with 15 of them having 15 costume choices (yes recolours count as costumes, because they did in previous DOA's and people ignore that), 12 characters with 6 choices, 2 characters with 3 choices and 1 character with 9 choices. This excludes DLC costumes. DOA6 currently has 15 stages. Something like SCVI has 25 characters & 13 stages, and GBVS has 11 characters & 8 stages for some perspective.

Visually DOA6 looks miles better than DOA5U, SCVI or GBVS for instance, making it one of the best looking FG's on the market easily. DOA6 also has one of the best tutorial systems out of any 3D fighter with only VF4 being arguably better. However, where DOA6 falters is in its obnoxious DLC practices and just this general feeling of "they still could have done A LOT better overall".

And yes, DOA6 falters heavily with regards to stages compared to DOA5U, though TBH, most fighting games have around 15 stage give or take. Older DOA's spoiled people with its stages, which Itagaki focused on heavily, though he wouldn't receive a similar budget if he made a DOA today.

The thing is, with DoA5 after 1 year they basically allowed you to catch up to most of the content up to that point by buying DOA5U, for around the cost of a single DoA6 costume pack. That's the way I'm looking at it. Sure, one less character (and you can argue that even with one less, DoA5U's roster was more satisfying for fans than DoA6 now), but tag, team, and more stages.

How DoA6 compares to other FGs is another story. I'm the first to admit DoA6 still tops other FGs in a lot of ways, otherwise I wouldn't even be playing it, lol. But my concern is with how the development after one year of both DoA5 and DoA6 compare.

DOA5U actually started the more obnoxious focus on costume DLC (I'll never forget the stretch of fetish DLC from Feb. 2014 up until about DOA5LR's launch in 2015). DOA5U shouldn't even really count in the comparison because DOA6 has no equivalent to "DOA5U", it's still DOA6 vanilla. Compare DOA5 in 1 year to DOA6 in 1 year. DOA5 is actually pretty meh before DOA5U (and don't get me started on that online rap song...)

Prior to DOA5U, DOA5 had 24 characters, including ALPHA-152, no team battle, no way to change music, no equivalent to DOA Central, 3-6 or so costumes per character barring any swimsuits and maybe one or 2 characters with 7-ish outfits (again including recolours), smaller overall movelists, inferior sound effects, the list could go on. DOA5 mainly had better stage selection, and tag mode.

If they could have released an Ultimate version 1 year into DoA5's development then the same should be possible for DoA6's development. I see DoA5U as just DoA5 but with a lot of the DLC up to that point thrown in at a discount, plus more. To make the Ultimate version of DoA6 we would have to buy the game and all the DLC up to this point (with any sales). I think it's fair to compare that with DoA5U.

If DoA5 never had an Ultimate release, never even had one planned, then I think it's fair to say that all or most of the Day 1 content in Ultimate would have been released/updated for DoA5 vanilla as DLC instead by the 1 year mark. Instead they decided to save that content for an Ultimate release at a great price. Smart. Wish they had done it again.

The cost of DOA6's content is irrelevant besides the cost of DLC characters. Both DOA5U & DOA6 have asinine amounts of DLC costumes to the point of who cares? DLC costumes are never mandatory. Most people have their go-to costumes. Also with regards to "Ultimate versions", people do tend to bitch about having to "buy" a game again. Who knows? A DOA6U could still come out in a year.

My point is that DOA5 was still mediocre for its first year until DOA5U released. I honestly would take DOA6 over DOA5 vanilla.