Free Step Dodge

DOA2 and VF3 are definitely not trapped on a 2D plane. But that was an evolution back in the late 90s, 2000... I was hoping DOA6 would make the next leap for the FG genre and do something crazy, like a Jackie Chan film where you're throwing people in and out of places and onto things all over the place. Like those classic western bar fights.

Its kinda the fault of FGs that they seem to be stuck in the past from the perspective of the mainstreme even though evolutions have been made before. Just consider how Tekken 4 decided to go DOA2 and VF3's route with more realistic, open, 3D stages with slopes and all that, but with TTT and Tekken 5 they decided to go back to how Tekken 3 was.

They surely have interesting opinions but it also makes sense, they don't see fighting games the way we do. If you think about it on a super basic level, the 2D Street Fighter games are simple, you can move forward, backward, you can duck or jump and you have 6 buttons/attacks. However, the things you can do with them is where it really gets complicated and exciting for us.

@inochinagi There's a reason for that though, Harada said that at the time the feedback was mostly negative, towards the serious tone of the story and the gameplay. Casually, it was a great game. Competitively, my god, super small juggles, uneven stages, which most if not all Tekken players didn't really like, infinites due to invisible walls or side wall splats

@inochinagi Jin was strong af, few were able to challenge him. Some things didn't make sense in the game either, for instance, Kazuya: 1, 1, 2 wasn't a natural combo, (p)ewgf needed a counter hit to launch, Lee: out of a ss2 on either normal or counter-hit into mist step had a guaranteed 1,2,4 which was one of the reasons why he was so strong, outside of him being the best wall carrier

Maybe it was an idea that just wasn't implemented well into Tekken, or maybe part of it is because Tekken's gameplay style had already come into form over the first 3 games. Maybe it worked with DOA because it was implemented only in the 2nd game in the series, and DOA1 was heading in that direction anyways. Even VF4 went back to old ways after VF3.

@inochinagi in the game. The negative feedback was why they decided to make Tekken 5 the way that Tekken 3 felt like and that was the start of the decline in quality when it comes to Tekken's story overall unfortunately.

I see it as the same reason most Tekken fans can't get into DOA. They're really traditional/conservative when they come to how they want their game to be. A drastic change like Tekken 4 did is unforgivable. But I mean, that's why I guess it's fair to call it the black sheep of the series, a lot like Zelda 2 for the Zelda series and Ys 3 for the Ys series. They had good ideas but fans were upset when they were made.

Thing with DOA is, their stages have always been more interactable than the Tekken stages are in Tekken due to the danger zones and just the fact that they are varied when it comes to design and length starting with DOA2 while Tekken had infinite stages up until 4, and they went to square and circle stages along with infinite ones from 5 onwards. Stages are a big part of the game in DOA

while in Tekken, they're not too different from one another, only in looks, or they have floor and/or balcony breaks. Even if DOA5's stages look uninteresting and uninspired (for me) for the most part, the different danger zones, falls, cliffhangers, special danger zones make positioning key and can make the difference between a win and a loss and thats why they're better than 6's stages

which look more interesting but they have either only either falls or danger zones that 99% of the time are just juggle extenders.

Tekken 4 receives praise these days especially when it comes to the story but back then it was considered a bad game in every aspect, thats what Harada said at the very least. About Tekken players not liking DOA, think about it this way: Street Fighter or Samsho are vastly different games compared to the anime 2D fighters with airdashes. Some players won't like one or the other

some like 2D fighters that are more about fundamentals, poking, whiff punishing, a more patient type of gameplay while some like 2D fighters like Blazblue or Guilty Gear where solid offense, pressuring is more preferred.

Not all casual fighting game fans are like this. To me, it sounds like they simply don’t like the genre.