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Another Preview That Doesn't Tell Us Anything

grap3fruitman

grap3fruitman

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http://www.ripten.com/2012/02/09/tecmos-dead-or-alive-5-kicks-high-crumbles-beautifully-hands-on/
Tecmo’s Dead or Alive 5 Kicks High, Crumbles Beautifully (Hands-On)
FEBRUARY 9, 2012 4:00 PM MICHAEL FUTTER


Ninja Gaiden wasn’t the only thing that Tecmo Koei was showing off this week. As you may know, gamers are poised to get their hands on Dead or Alive 5 for the first time with pre-orders of Ryu Hayabusa’s third adventure, or in the Ninja Gaiden 3′s Collectors’ Edition.

The DoA 5 Alpha features two stages and four different fighters, and for fans of the series, it’s going to serve as confirmation that the fifth time is the charm. In the latest iteration, fighters move faster and battles aren’t over until one fighter is down. There are no foregone conclusions, with luck turning on a dime. A well-timed counter or whiffed punch could mean the difference between a comeback from near-death and an embarrassing defeat.

I’ve always had a hard time getting into the Dead or Alive series. It always moved to slow for me, weighted too heavily toward the technical. My experience with this iteration, though, was a pleasant surprise. I had the opportunity to use Hayabusa and Ayane, both sporting graceful animations and brutally powerful strikes. Each fighter continues to have his/her own fighting style and learning not only your own strengths, but that of your opponent, is key.

I was extremely impressed by the visual fidelity, especially when it came to Dead or Alive’s “third combatant,” the stages. Wall hits and dynamic stages return bringing the same level of strategy and jockeying that past entries featured. A single well-placed wall hit can turn the tide, blasting an opponent over your head, slamming them face-first into the ground. Instead of the fighters moving in front of a moving background, though, the stages bleed all the way to the front of the arena. You won’t be fighting in front of a crumbling building, you’re on top of it, contributing to it’s utter destruction. The world explodes around the action, creating gorgeous scenes as the two human fighters engage in their deadly dance, hurtling toward the ground only to dust themselves off and continue.

When I had finished playing five or six fights and put the controller down, only one question lingered, “How long do I need to wait for my next match?”

Why you should care about Dead or Alive 5:
- Stunning visuals with the most dynamic stages in series history
- Your favorite characters return with moves both new and old
- Quick matches that can turn on a dime require you to play like you’re at the end of your lifebar
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grap3fruitman

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I lied; it does tell us one new bit of info and that is that the second stage is confirmed as playable.
 
Rikuto

Rikuto

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Assuming that the lower level of the first stage is still what he considers one stage.

He doesn't appear to know much of anything about fighters.
 
grap3fruitman

grap3fruitman

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Rikuto said:
Assuming that the lower level of the first stage is still what he considers one stage.
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Well the menu screen TN tweeted the other day did showcase a war-zone area. I'm under the impression that's the second stage being referenced here and hopefully I'm right.

DrDogg said:
Wow... talk about terrible journalism.
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Honestly, it is. Do I expect the guy to know the ins-and-outs of the series? Absolutely not. I do expect to gain some new knowledge or insight based on this person's time with the game? Yes. Instead, it looks like he copied and pasted the text from a write-up of the last TN event.
 
Berzerk!

Berzerk!

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DOA was too slow to him? Too technically weighty?

DOA4 is still one of the fastest moving fighters and every DOA particularly from 2 has been very accessible. This streamlining and push for accessibility that people are saying is a new thing in fighters, with SC5 being the latest example, DOA was mindful of that years ago. Know your history, game writers.

I'd like to think if someone hasn't played much of a game series for which they are about to preview the new version, that maybe they should pop the earlier versions in and give them another go to refresh their memories (or become familiar for the first time).

Certainly, they don't have to, but then shouldn't act like they know anything about the game.

As for questions, there were some interesting discussions about PowerBlow and Sidestep on twitter today with PL myself and Grape3. Let's put that to them...

- Is there recovery after stepping to cancel a power blow?
- Can a defending player avoid a Power Blow by SideStep?
- Do they track? How prominent is tracking in general now there is a sidestep? Is it move specific like Virtua Fighter's circular moves?
- Are Power Blows just the F+P+K buttons mapped or a new button? Are they just more powerful reversionings of the old charge attacks?
 
grap3fruitman

grap3fruitman

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I sent the guy a fair amount of questions at the last minute, and still managed to forget some, with the understanding that he would pick and choose out of them and I also asked him to verify his mention of two different stages in the demo and I got a response:

I was able to incorporate your questions. Never fear!

I only got to play on the single skyscraper level, but we were told (and this has been communicated directly by Team Ninja and Tecmo) that there will be a second level in the alpha.

I pared all of the questions down to 10 for Team Ninja to respond to, focusing most on the ones that popped up a lot (more detail about Power Blows, side-step canceling, netcode, etc.) As soon as I have responses, we'll publish.

Thanks!
Mike
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So a lot of good came out of this article despite most of us coming off as assholes initially...
 
Raansu

Raansu

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grap3fruitman said:
I sent the guy a fair amount of questions at the last minute, and still managed to forget some, with the understanding that he would pick and choose out of them and I also asked him to verify his mention of two different stages in the demo and I got a response:



So a lot of good came out of this article despite most of us coming off as assholes initially...
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It's not a party unless your an asshole and drag Xino to them to laugh at him.
 
Rikuto

Rikuto

P-P-P-P-P-P-POWER!
I guess the the moral of the story is if you keep acting like an asshole you'll eventually get what you want.

huh...
 
grap3fruitman

grap3fruitman

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Not too exciting of an update but the author commented on the article and said
Wanted to give you guys an update. We'll have answers later this month. We're trying to get them a bit earlier, but we WILL have them.
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Rikuto

Rikuto

P-P-P-P-P-P-POWER!
I hit team ninja with the question of holds in stun. That should get an interesting answer, if not a depressing one.
 
Relius Starkiller

Relius Starkiller

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I just want to point out that as disappointing as some of these write ups are none of them are as disappointing as the fact that Mass Effect 3 has 3 endings that are virtually identical.
 
ShinMaruku

ShinMaruku

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If you expect the gaming media to give you what you want you will be terribly disappointing.They are at the mercy of the PR people, the PR people are scared for bad reactions, it's a bad feedback loop. You want to really see what's going on you need to find out yourself. You must engage the developers and ask the real questions. Sadly the industry does not work this way. So all you can do it throw rocks at them until they listen. You make the old style of media obsolete.
 
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