DoA6 impressions: first week

Akumasama

Active Member
So, game has been practically out for a week, impressions?
Noticed anything you'd like to change? Unbalancements?

I can't talk much about the latter, didn't notice anything big between character's strength, it's way too early for that imo.
Concerning the game I'm already starting to see one small thing which I wish Tecmo will address in the future, it's about damage.
There's something that doesn't feel "right" about damage done/received, but I can't nail down what exactly it is.

Default health bars being smaller? Some moves doing too much damage? (I've seen a hi-counter wall specific Bayman throw doing ~80% damage o_O)
Some combos take ~90% of health. Granted they're very specific setups, some are completely unescapable, some are escapable only with a Break Hold.
They're all pretty nichey stuff that rely on stages.

Regardless, I think it's way too much damage, they need to do something about it. Maybe a better scaling of damage after a certain amount of hits, or better scaling if your opponent gets caught in an "environment combo".
Likewise something about hi-counter throws. I'm glad to have throws being so dangerous on hi counter to punish people who hold too much, but it's a bit too much at the moment.
When for a single error you can see >75% of your health bar go it gets frustrating quickly. That's how it works in other games, some people seem to like it, I personally didn't.

Really hope they will "fix" this in the future. Doesn't need any major overhaul, just some very minor tweaks would be enough to make it perfect, imho.
Maybe even just raising the default health bar a bit would be enough, I dunno, we'll see when the lobbies are released, supposing there you can change health bar to 5 different values like in past games.



Aside from this and from other minor lacking things, I'm incredibly satisfied by the game and so far it's the best 3D fighter of the generation, for my tastes at least ;-)
 

Akumasama

Active Member
The high damage feels fine to me for the most part.
Out of curiosity do you mean that you are seeing higher damage on average, but it feels good to you for the most part, or that you're not seeing higher than average damage (compared to past games) and it's mostly just a biased impression I'm getting?
 

d3v

Well-Known Member
Out of curiosity do you mean that you are seeing higher damage on average, but it feels good to you for the most part, or that you're not seeing higher than average damage (compared to past games) and it's mostly just a biased impression I'm getting?
I'm seeing high damage, including some high situational damage, and I am fine with it.

Higher damage, makes for faster, more exciting games, and when coupled with the right systems (as I believe we do here), helps emphasize the neutral game more as the punishment for doing bad in the neutral is harsher.
 

Strangerinmytub

Well-Known Member
Losing 60-80 percent of your health off of one throw or counter can be a bit frustrating. Sidestep attacking is also super aids, sure you can punish it if they throw it out haphazardly but you can literally do an attack while people are mid combo, sometimes even if you are being hit by said combo. It really just destroys the flow of the game. It's a little bit too strong. Some of the maps with shit tons of environmental hazards can be obnoxious (the street fight one, the pirate ship, chinese fireworks). Otherwise the game is pretty good.
 

Raansu

Well-Known Member
I love the neutral game. Feels like DoA3.

I love the lowered threshold so that you mostly don't need to play the stun game

I love the damage. Tina might be doing a tad too much on a single throw, but overall I love the fear of the damage and I think its great the grapplers have a real threat in that regard.

I love the soundtrack.

I think the visuals are great. Not really sure why people think the game visually looks bad. My only gripe honestly is the hair. It looks weird, like they took a single texture and made it like a blob that moves around. Hitomi's ponytail for example just looks like liquid flowing instead of actual hair. There's no strands or anything, its just one block texture. It looks weird.

I dislike how fast you recover from stuns. Even stuns that would be long enough in doa3 for a launch you recover from into a block now.

I dislike that they removed so many unholdable stuns.

I think sidestep attacks are a bit too good atm. They went from extremely situational in DoA5 into a glorified "get off me" in DoA6. I've even seen it completely dodge a tracking move. Rikuto can attest to that as it was me that SS'd his tracking move.

I absolutely despise the break hold mechanic. I understand its purpose for fatal rush and break blow cancel, but I'd like to see it restricted when it comes to fatal sit down stuns to where you either can't use it, or in that situation it must require full meter to use it. As it stands right now I think its available far too often and hurts the flow of the game far too much. So basically I'd like to see FSDS's be the critical bursts. A stun you cannot get out of.

I'm fine with break blow's. I think they are overall a better mechanic than power blows and have much better involvement in the match. I do wish they would decide on them either being a sabaki or a guard break, not both.
 

MegaMegaMike

Active Member
I think mechanically the game is totally fine. I don’t think anything is in need of adjustment. All the meter stuff is balanced, easy to understand, and is able to applied on offense and defense which is great game design
 

Cerberux

New Member
Coming from DOA5 I think the new systems are great. They add a lot more depth and ways for newer or more casual players to have an easy to go to answer for some of the things they might not have been able to answer before. It also adds a new layer of depth for returning players too.

I feel like the Break Holds in general are great when used sparingly. I typically only use them when I don’t know which hold to use to get out of certain combo strings, and as a mid-level player it helps me out a lot in that regard and adds to my enjoyment. I don’t feel I get punished as easily if I can’t read my opponent as well as I had to in DOA5. On that note, I can see where at higher level gameplay it could be a different story.

As far as Break Blows, I like them a lot but I agree they feel like something isn’t quite as fluid with them. I’ve wiffed a fair few of them due to weird mechanics where I felt it should have connected but didn’t. Probably just my noob skills lol.

Now sidestepping I can see as a major problem in the higher tiers. But for me, being a D+ right now, working my way up steadily, they’ve been a game changer, especially against those people who play Jann Lee and just spam his 236+K over and over hoping for the best.

TL;DR I agree with your post wholeheartedly but I also like the new systems for what they bring to the table for us players who don’t have as much time as they’d like to dedicate to being a top level master.
 

candynarwhal

Active Member
I do feel that damage scaling and/or health bar sizes need (only a very slight, in my opinion) revision, too...

Of course, as a Tina main, it feels great to land a HiC throw, and I like how fast matches tend to be - but overall, to me, the rounds themselves end up feeling a bit one-sided, as there isn't really room for the opponent (whoever doesn't get the first hit in, basically) to recover and change the tide of the battle.

I'm either getting walloped, or my opponent is. There's not much tension there, outside of needing to learn the opponent's behavior fast in anticipation of the next round up - which I guess is fine, but it feels to me like the game is at odds with itself, being paced in such a way that it would feel more natural to simply be trading blows IMO. Not taking turns tearing each other new assholes and just hoping in the meantime that you can keep up the momentum that you didn't really work for.

As far as the Break mechanics go, I either use them or I don't. I don't mind their inclusion.

Break Blows in particular feel a bit useless to me though, unless you're cancelling the final hit - but that might be because I don't necessarily know what difference there is between a Break Blow cancel, and simply performing a Fatal Rush. Is there one, have I missed something?

Also, while I suppose it's not the point for them to do more than the bare minimum, Break Holds, while nice to get the pressure off you, only delay the inevitable, in my experience - but I might not be using them right.

I don't really have an opinion on sidesteps or sidestep attacks, since I haven't got around to playing with that mechanic yet, but it feels different from DOA5 for sure - and judging by the fact I got my whole ass handed to me by a Marie that did little other than sidestep attacks and KKK, probably a bit overpowered. Unless I'm just dumb, which is absolutely possible LMAO.

It's easy enough to retaliate against once you learn to expect it, sure, but they're a bit too "accessible" as-is, IMO.

There's a weird reliance on Close Hits too, for me. I don't mind how short the bound stun is and how little time you have to execute your Close Hit to follow up out of it, but the distance at which you have to be from the opponent feels a little inconsistent sometimes. The controls don't really facilitate, in my experience, dashing forward one-and-a-half times and buffering your attack input from there.

I love everything else about the gameplay.

The graphics are great, aside from very flat lighting in some places - and, of course, the way hair is rendered.

The soundtrack, I actually like. It's better than DOA5, which really isn't saying much I guess, but there are some tunes on there I genuinely enjoy listening to.

What I'm missing from DOA6 is mainly, content. There's so little variety in stages or costumes, and the way you unlock, well, unlockables - has so obviously been adapted to make it seem like there's more longevity there than there really is, which is aggravating.

The fighting is really fun though, on a whole. o_O
 
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KasumiLover

xX_APO_Prince_Xx
Premium Donor
I think the game is good as is, it's way better than DOA5 since it's not so stun heavy, it's more centered around the core game rather than stun combos which is nice. The fatal stun is a good mechanic and I like the combo possibilities the game allows with bounds and break blow cancels

The stage danger zones that allow combo follow ups can be a bit heavy but every character can get monster damage unlike DOA5 where in stages like home, Leon and a few others could deal that level of damage, now in DOA6 everyone can be a heavy hitter in certain areas.

The sidestep doesnt bother me tbh, I think as long as you use attacks that have the tracking property you're fine, I just wish there was more depth to side steps since its a bit darkly shallow imo. You just step and attack to knock an opponent back but idk why they don't have other options besides knock backs, it would be neat to be able to do more from that

The only problem I don't like is the random costume unlock system atm, it takes forever to unlock costunes and its random even when you're using a certain character. I also don't like how strange unlocking music is in this game, instead of unlocking only one track per condition, they could have made whole game BGM be unlockable like DOA5LR did, including costumes too since you can do 100+ arcade runs and online and you may never get a specific costume.

Overall the gameplay is great imo, the only thing the game sacrificed is story mode and actual content, recolors that make up a bulk of costumes and only basically 2 outfits for male characters can only get you so far xD
 

Akumasama

Active Member
I do feel that damage scaling and/or health bar sizes need (only a very slight, in my opinion) revision, too...
Absolutely VERY minor fixes.
I think a minor damage scaling for combos that go over X hits and/or involve environment.
A small % damage boost reduction for throws on Hi-Counter (on an average throw you wouldn't even see a difference)
Maybe a small health bar boost too, but that realistically only affects Ranked games, I assume you'll be able to pick between the usual 5 values in Lobby matches.
 

Raansu

Well-Known Member
I think mechanically the game is totally fine. I don’t think anything is in need of adjustment. All the meter stuff is balanced, easy to understand, and is able to applied on offense and defense which is great game design

Its horrible game design and its the reason why DoA4 was so bad.
 

Raansu

Well-Known Member
It’s horrible because you can’t adapt to it? If you hate the game, go play something you enjoy. There is nothing wrong with the meter mechanics. Get over it

I've obviously adapted to the mechanics just fine, as I had no problem beating you when you popped up in ranked. And I can dislike a mechanic and still love the franchise and be critical of things that I think are bad for the game. Heaven forbid I hope for the franchise to once make two steps forward instead of one step forward and two steps back.

Saying to adapt is not a counter argument in this scenario either, nor does it magically excuse a poor mechanic that caters to bad players.
 

MegaMegaMike

Active Member
I've obviously adapted to the mechanics just fine, as I had no problem beating you when you popped up in ranked. And I can dislike a mechanic and still love the franchise and be critical of things that I think are bad for the game. Heaven forbid I hope for the franchise to once make two steps forward instead of one step forward and two steps back.

Saying to adapt is not a counter argument in this scenario either, nor does it magically excuse a poor mechanic that caters to bad players.
I don’t recall ever fighting you. The mechanic is perfectly balanced, and is a great thing for the franchise to introduce new players. Considering I haven’t seen a single person agree with you about the Break Holds should give you a hint. Accept the game as it is, or play something else. Or just keep screaming on a forum. Whatever floats your boat
 

Raansu

Well-Known Member
I don’t recall ever fighting you. The mechanic is perfectly balanced, and is a great thing for the franchise to introduce new players. Considering I haven’t seen a single person agree with you about the Break Holds should give you a hint. Accept the game as it is, or play something else. Or just keep screaming on a forum. Whatever floats your boat

"Balanced". DoA4 was "balanced" too and that turned out horrible for that game competitively. DoA6 isn't as bad as DoA4, but it has the same problem where everyone plays the same, everyone has the same options, you can escape out of practically everything minus danger zones. Being "balanced" and a design to target new players does not make it a good mechanic. Great for the casuals, but its terrible for high level play. Adding another random element to a game that is too random to begin with is not a good thing.
 

MegaMegaMike

Active Member
"Balanced". DoA4 was "balanced" too and that turned out horrible for that game competitively. DoA6 isn't as bad as DoA4, but it has the same problem where everyone plays the same, everyone has the same options, you can escape out of practically everything minus danger zones. Being "balanced" and a design to target new players does not make it a good mechanic. Great for the casuals, but its terrible for high level play. Adding another random element to a game that is too random to begin with is not a good thing.
If only that “random” thing could be baited and punished hard, and the reward for landing the “random” thing was so minimal that it doesn’t matter... I don’t see how it’s terrible for high play either. They seem to be doing just fine handling the mechanic. I have yet to hear a single pro complain about Break Hold. Also, if you’re arguing to make the game more unbalanced, then I’m sorry but your opinion doesn’t matter.
 
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