A Brute Perspective on Sidestepping

[Brute]

@Brute Going to your main post a bit since it's about your perspective for it:

So, in conclusion, I think players’ perception of the sidestep system is greatly influenced by the character(s) they’ve been playing,

This could be true, and I most definitely don't disagree since this can apply to something such as tier lists or match ups, but I would like to say that the same can be very much said for the players who played characters that killed people for trying to step accordingly in 5 to where they just take it and absorb it. I've noticed and know a ton of Christie, Helena, Kasumi popular players where they are simply not fond of it. Then I watch countless videos of such popular players and noticed that 40-60% of their situations involves them beating out people who step and ate up like 45% of their health because of a mistake that was never meant to be a mistake in the first place when hit by linear strings that magically align again. People have been playing in that same habit for 3 iterations already in 5 to where it becomes oblivious to them. I mean, it's an opponent so why should it matter to them right? it's precisely for that moment that they simply didn't give a shit if the game ends up bad as long as they get to keep hitting buttons for mindlessly tapping with no thought process behind it. Winning is important right? least to the majority and what makes them comfortable. Now they have to literally perform a single-two attacks and short pauses to where they have to think and being patient while trying to keep some degree of aggression and pressure than a mindless one.

I agree that a player's viewpoint can get indoctrinated by the type of character they play, but yet this also can be factors and variables being placed to where it's also based on how they play. I know Ayane players that love spacing, and yet I also know Ayane players that hate it that just go ballsy up close (weird kek right? I mean it's real), while having their experience of the game changed compared to the ones that love spacing. An individual could of had a good run playing the game like that without realizing he's been playing it wrong, but he's been winning against players in that fashion and made him/herself comfortable to it. Course, who are we to tell someone he/she been playing a character wrong, because if it works for them and makes them happy, then that's what it is.

I suppose the step system can also be used as the test dummy to how I experience the game, but this is more universally no matter which character I played. I even played Akira in 5 and I get happy that people step him despite how much I shit on 5 stepping, at times forces me to think and then I force people to no longer step because of throws or baits and then it becomes my favor again. It's different for everyone, but this is something of a situation that realistically shouldn't happen but DOA lets it happen no matter which character people play via 5 from the whole step topic until DOA6.

So yeah, it can be argued that "Well, just because you don't like that playstyle doesn't mean it's bad." I mean, you could rework Ayane to not be a spacing character and make her a close-range poke character and some people might like that. Where I'm concerned, however, is that it seems to be pretty universal among players of certain characters. I don't know a single Kokoro player that is in love with the current SS functions, for example.

Hell, I don't even like Kokoro, and the character's intended function (aggressive guard pressure) is pretty much my least favorite gameplay style in DOA. I like having more consistent methods of combating it. But I just don't understand the logic of making a character that gets so aggressively punished for attempting the playstyle that the character was clearly designed around. Again, you can use Kokoro very well, and you can out-play any top tier character using her. But... like... why? It just feels more like an oversight in hastily applying a new universal system change without considering all the ramifications.

 

[crapoZK]

I feel like the sidestepping would be less of a problem to most if the startup for the SSA was a little bit slower, while still containing invulnerability to non-tracking strings. Sometimes you do a safe string/leave a string unfinished, see your enemy panic sidestep, try to beat that step with something tracking but you get bodied by the SSA. I think this is the issue some people are having. You can't really wait and make a read in the heat of it. People who shun others' complaints by just saying some crud like "just do a tracking attack lol" or "just block" are failing to realise that 7/10 times your read will be beaten by the SSA unless you've done a tracking attack as a precautionary option select.

I also think the enemy shouldn't be pushed back to the other end of the screen either. The pushback should knock them back to like range 1.5 so that neutral can ensue faster. But I also think that this was done so that both players lose momentum.

There's a lot of stuff that needs fixing with the current DOA6 SSA, but truthfully I don't know what the solutions could be without breaking it.