DOA5: An outside look at the DOA5 trailer

Here at FSD we can be found looking from inside the box at times. It's always refreshing to see other people who aren't a part of the immediate community to discuss how they interpret the footage and news we see. In that manner, The Fading Genres blog has posted an article breaking down his take on the Dead or Alive 5 trailer. Below is an excerpt, otherwise feel free to visit the original article here

Very impressive indeed, but here are my thoughts:

The Good

1) The attention to character detail is rather impressive. With such visuals, DOA5 will comfortably compete with and even surpass Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Soul Calibur 5 and Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown graphically. Please take into account this is the pre-alpha version. Just imagine how the finished product will look . . . Exactly. With such visuals, DOA5 is poised to be a graphically monstrous game.

2) I really like how Team Ninja have made modifications to Hayate's default appearance. Seeing as he is my favourite character from the series, I can safely say Hayate looks even " sicker " and battle ready than ever before. I look forward to seeing the modifications that have been made to the other characters (if any).

3) From the looks of things, Team Ninja are placing emphasis on destructible environments and highly interactive environments with movable and deform-able environmental objects. This is something which if done well, could set DOA5 apart from the competition. If the environment Interaction was completely random in nature (not scripted physics), it would certainly make fights unpredictable. And yes, that particular arena in the trailer looked beautiful.

4) I have always loved the side-stepping/evasion in the Virtua Fighter series. Although it seems as though you can sidestep in DOA5, no 3-D game (so far) has successfully implemented evasion and side stepping as effectively as the Virtua Fighter series. It will be extremely interesting to see how Team Ninja can make side stepping/side walking/evasion effective in DOA5.

5) The arena demonstrated in the pre-alpha trailer seemed rather huge. I really like this. Huge arena's are always welcome and can always provide some breathing space for less experienced players. Im not saying all arena's should be of that size, but huge arena's are always welcome.


The Bad

1) One thing I noticed in the trailer was the presence of something that put me off the DOA series: lack of distinctive move sets and how things eventually boil down to a counter and advanced poking and button mashing fest. It was nice seeing the Izuna drop, but Team Ninja need to realize the fact that players need to be able to define their characters past moves that look lackluster. Put players in control of the moves, and truly amazing fights will surface. Aside from the Izuna drop, all I saw was two characters hitting each other in a rather boring manner. The moves didn't seem definite and recognizable. If DOA5 is serious about competing in the 3-D fighting game arena, Team Ninja need to completely overhaul every single characters move sets. Make them meaningful! This will add an incredible amount of depth to a game that has the potential to rival Tekken and Virtua Fighter. Boring moves and mechanics lead to boring fights.

 

Itagaki never intended sidestepping to work the way it did in doa2/3, which is why it doesn't really work at all in doa4. He wanted sidestepping to be more about positioning and evasion to be implemented into attacks. When he added evasion attacks in 3.1 he kind of accidentally stumbled onto a system that a lot of us loved.

 

I like Berzerk's take on all this.
Here is mine

1|DOA never disappoints when it comes to graphics. I must say though that Im REALLY pleased with the new look. I just hope its not ALL dark and gloomy like that stage in the trailer. Kyoto in Bloom is my favourite stage and I would love to see something like that in DOA5

2|There are always small modifications made in each iteration of the game. Character overhauls are not really favorable so its mostly just tweaks. What I would love to see is a change in the way the ladies' hair flows, this is a common complaint and they may as well fix it now.

3|My view on incorporating environments into gameplay has less to do with DESTRUCTION and more to do with FUNCTIONALITY. In DOA4 each character had a variety of situational moves such as "When next to a wall" or "Off a Forking cliff!!". That is what I want to see more of in DOA5 - Next to a wall, Off a cliff, In the bathtub, All over your granny's ass. Make the environs DYNAMIC. DOA as a series sets itself apart by being deep and engaging. We dont need flashy shit

4|This has always been a bit of a problem for the system of DOA as a whole. IMO this "MAY" be incorporated into DOA successfully if it is made a part of the Counter System. Characters like Lei-Fang, that have non-damage counters [her mid-kick counter for ex.], already exhibit certain aspects of this in that those counters are used solely for positioning. As for the side-stepping, I think what we currently have aint so bad. Its best not to overwhelm the system with too many additions.

5|Now, this I agree with fully. Also, I would like to see the stages become MUCH more dynamic. Battles that start in one area of a stage, and then end up in any one of a number of different locations, still within the same stage. For instance, a battle takes place in an abandoned factory. It starts off on the main floor. Hayate knocks Ryu through some glass onto the conveyor belt on the floor below. The battle rages on and Ryu Izunas Hayate's ass through a broken part of the ceiling. Now the fight is on the roof. lol, im getting a bit exited here but this is more or lees what I want DOA to be one day.

6| "The Bad"
Go stab yourself in the nipples you fluffy little fairy bitch! I know EXACTLY what your trying to say here you asshole. You want Kasumi to shout crap like "Hadouken" and shoot beams from her hands. "Definitive" my ass! DOA has entire movesets built off fighting styles [real or fictional] and each move is a part of that style. The moves may not individually seem to be "Definitive" but that is because the character is defined by their moveset in its entirety.
That being said, a little touch-up in terms of the movesets is an obvious WANT. I want DOA to surprise me with this one, do whatever you like here guise. Im a fan of Ayane, and over the years she has grown into a fine-ass ninja, but im not totally against seeing her [or ANYBODY] change a bit.