In defense of DOA6

[Sexy Momiji]

I've seen quite a bit of hate for this game, and I don't really understand it. So what I'm going to do is go over the main arguments against the game and refute them.

"The unlock outfits system is horrible"

Only at first, it was. You can unlock outfits much faster now.

"Lack of single player modes"

Not really. You have arcade, time attack, survival, story and quest. That's a lot, and more than what Street Fighter V and Tekken 7 has offered. The only thing missing here is the tag battle.

"The outfits aren't sexy enough"

I admit, when the game was first announced, it did look like it was going in this route, but have you guys kept up to date? There's some revealing outfits in here. Like Christie's bondage outfit. I'm sure we'll see more as DLC too. That's more than what you can say for Mortal Kombat 11, which is totally devoid of fanservice.

"The story mode was horrible"

Okay, I can agree that it wasn't so good. But most fighting games has lackluster stories, because that was never a huge focus in them.

"DOA6 is just DOA5.5"

This play a bit different from DOA5. But at it's core, it has that tried and true DOA formula, and I see nothing wrong with that. And to be fair, all the mainline DOA games are rather similar to each other, aside from DOA1.

"The season pass is too expensive"

It is, but the season pass for DOA5 was much more expensive, so its a step up. And either way, it's all just bonus content, which you don't even have to buy.

I'm convinced at this point that this is mostly just blind hate.

For the record, I've been playing DOA since the very first one. DOA5: Last Round is my favorite DOA game, but this is a close second.

 

[Kuga]

I love when people are hating fighting game for all the wrong reasons.

 

[KING JAIMY]

Most people are criticizing the game because it's an unfinished product. No lobbies and missing classic intro/win poses is a big oof.

 

[P2p1mbs]

"The unlock outfits system is horrible"

Only at first, it was. You can unlock outfits much faster now.

I personally don't believe saying "It's better now than when it first released" is a very good defense for bad design. The fact that they were able to fix the issue relatively quickly means this was not a big issue to fix anyways so for me, it just makes them look bad that they didn't realize how poorly done the initial unlock system was.

I agree with you on your other defenses though; for all my own issues with the game, I's still really enjoying my time with the game.

I'm hoping once lobbies come, things might get better but the missteps already made clearly hurt the game for many though.

 

[Ninoasker]

"The outfits aren't sexy enough"

I admit, when the game was first announced, it did look like it was going in this route, but have you guys kept up to date? There's some revealing outfits in here. Like Christie's bondage outfit. I'm sure we'll see more as DLC too. That's more than what you can say for Mortal Kombat 11, which is totally devoid of fanservice.

I mean yes????? Why would Mortal Kombat 11 have any kind of fanservice????? The gore is MK’s trademark, just like the eye candy is for DOA, being the “father” of fighting games is for SF and being one of the first 3D fighters that went popular is for Tekken. Not every fighting game has to have sexual fanservice lol.

 

[RayBellion]

I can agree with much that Sexy Momiji said.

"The unlock outfits system is horrible"

Only at first, it was. You can unlock outfits much faster now.

I think they made the unlocking process slow to hide the fact that there are so few outfits included yet. This way one is "entertained" and has an feeling of "achievement" while the DLCs with more outfits are in the making. It takes much longer this way before you've got everything the game has to offer. I do not like the extremely slowed-down outfit unlocking process and I think it's only a cheap cover-up. ATM I do not have enough money to buy all costumes that I've already unlocked, that sucks. But the system is not "horrible", agreed.

"Lack of single player modes"

Not really.

agreed.

"The outfits aren't sexy enough"

I am sure there will be more sexy outfits. And yeah, the wedding costumes were nice, but all quite similar to each other, so I was a bit disappointed. Some more revealing and more creative outfits would be nice, but I am not worried about this coming soon at all.

"The story mode was horrible"

Okay, I can agree that it wasn't so good.

So what? The story mode is an appetizer for noobs to have a go at each character. For others it's just nice eye candy ("oooh, look, Marie Rose and Honoka are walking around, how cute!"). For others it's giving the characters some fantasy background, full of clichés and what not, because tropes transport big chunks of information easily. All three missions goals are met. Great. But is there really someone looking for a great story instead? It's just an incomprehensible story for the reasons stated above and I am fine with that.

"The season pass is too expensive"

Yep, it is expensive. At the end of the life cycle, you could easily have spend a four-digit number in cash for DOA5LR DLC. I expect it to be similar for DOA6. Looking at the competition, I think with SFV we are currently at more than 500 bucks just for DLCs (and still counting). As most of the DLCs are truly optional, I am fine with it. If I can afford it, I will probably buy most of the DLCs to come. It helps keeping the game successful in the eyes of the publishers and more cute and varied in my own eyes. But if you are low on money, go with the free core fighters, buy your favorite 1-2 additional fighters and you are good to go for around 10 bucks. That's a lot cheaper than most of the competition... AFAIK nobody is complaining about that.

Most people are criticizing the game because it's an unfinished product. No lobbies and missing classic intro/win poses is a big oof.

Unfortunately, I totally agree. Damn, where are those...

 

[Onryoki]

Seasonpasses are much more expensive he said... they’re literally the same price as in 5, but alright. That guy’s username already make me take him less seriously, sorry.

 

[prototypetom]

"Lack of single player modes"
...The only thing missing here is the tag battle.

team battle

 

[zoo]

I don't see too much hate for it here or even on Reddit, maybe in the general sense? Most of the negative reviews stem from the business decisions with the game and lack of lobbies. With DOA already being viewed as a lesser fighter the game did piss all to improve its image with that. I've been vocal about how I prefer 5 but 6 is definitely still solid. Without lobbies it's just kinda boring rn since I don't really go out locally for the game and ranked is dry. It'd be ok if the single player modes were fun but nah.. story was trash and quest drags in the most unpleasant way.

 

[Jyu_Viole_Grace]

More than hate, people is disappointed with how the game has been released.

No lobbies (and we still have to see if they release them this month), few costumes and stages, strange graphical issues (hair physics an UV mapping, lighting reflection in materials, lack of skyboxes in some stages, really bad image quality on consoles ... ) and around 6-8 frames of input delay for consoles.

The game feels super rushed ... like almost all recent Koei releases.

 

[Brute]

First, the lobby situation is absolutely inexcusable, especially when considering the situation regarding the PC version of DOA5LR. The vast majority of players are primarily playing online, and most players I know find ranked an abysmal experience.

If you have offline locals, great. But what are the chances they're playing the game on several PC rigs, all of which have the Day 1 DLC bullshit installed? See, I considered making my way out to an offline event until I realized that I probably wouldn't get to play my main due to infuriatingly stupid DLC practices and that I'd probably be playing with input delay given the ineptitude of the console versions. I'm not going to travel offline to torture myself with sluggish input delay while being restricted to my subs.

"DOA6 is just DOA5.5"

This play a bit different from DOA5. But at it's core, it has that tried and true DOA formula, and I see nothing wrong with that. And to be fair, all the mainline DOA games are rather similar to each other, aside from DOA1.

Being DOA 5.5 would not necessarily be a bad thing. The issue, at least for me, is that in many ways the differences feel regressive from 5 rather than progressive. This isn't universally applicable. I do appreciate some changes. However, in many other ways, it feels worse. DOA5.5 would suggest using 5 as a base and then building on it, whereas in DOA6's case, it's like they took DOA5, then abused it for a couple hours with a hammer and hacksaw, and then punched it in and went home, leaving a butchered mess of a previously commendable system behind.

So Leon is gone, and in his stead we have NiCO and Diego.
Two Day 1 DLC characters, with the next batch announced already to be guest characters while wonderful legacy characters are shafted.
The lighting is so bad it literally gives me a headache and obstructs my vision in certain stages.
Character toolkits are often poorly considered and unsatisfyingly regressive.
Meters are dumb.
The sidestep system, while welcome in theory, was not thoroughly considered before it was hastily forced in.
I have to grind for hours with characters I have no interest in playing just to unlock certain character themes when I fight against them.
The new costume customization mode is more limited than the customization options in 5, not even considering costume count.
The game feels like shit on consoles due to input lag.
And, to top it all off, I feel like I've never even played the game properly yet because lobbies, something I consider a fundamental feature of fighting games in 2019, are still missing as KT is pumping out fetish costume DLC.

The game is only tolerable on PC, and the game is on life support there. Ranked queue is an absolute nightmare, so most of the time I have logged on this game is probably playing the shitty survival mode trying to unlock character themes.

It's not "blind hate." This game is a mess.

 

[Ninoasker]

Seasonpasses are much more expensive he said... they’re literally the same price as in 5, but alright. That guy’s username already make me take him less seriously, sorry.

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[Sexy Momiji]

I mean yes????? Why would Mortal Kombat 11 have any kind of fanservice????? The gore is MK’s trademark, just like the eye candy is for DOA, being the “father” of fighting games is for SF and being one of the first 3D fighters that went popular is for Tekken. Not every fighting game has to have sexual fanservice lol.

Well, I said that, because Mortal Kombat has always had some fanservice with the female characters, especially in MK9.

Most people are criticizing the game because it's an unfinished product. No lobbies and missing classic intro/win poses is a big oof.

Yeah, fair enough about the lobbies. But I wouldn't call the game "unfinished".

First, the lobby situation is absolutely inexcusable, especially when considering the situation regarding the PC version of DOA5LR. The vast majority of players are primarily playing online, and most players I know find ranked an abysmal experience.

If you have offline locals, great. But what are the chances they're playing the game on several PC rigs, all of which have the Day 1 DLC bullshit installed? See, I considered making my way out to an offline event until I realized that I probably wouldn't get to play my main due to infuriatingly stupid DLC practices and that I'd probably be playing with input delay given the ineptitude of the console versions. I'm not going to travel offline to torture myself with sluggish input delay while being restricted to my subs.


Being DOA 5.5 would not necessarily be a bad thing. The issue, at least for me, is that in many ways the differences feel regressive from 5 rather than progressive. This isn't universally applicable. I do appreciate some changes. However, in many other ways, it feels worse. DOA5.5 would suggest using 5 as a base and then building on it, whereas in DOA6's case, it's like they took DOA5, then abused it for a couple hours with a hammer and hacksaw, and then punched it in and went home, leaving a butchered mess of a previously commendable system behind.

So Leon is gone, and in his stead we have NiCO and Diego.
Two Day 1 DLC characters, with the next batch announced already to be guest characters while wonderful legacy characters are shafted.
The lighting is so bad it literally gives me a headache and obstructs my vision in certain stages.
Character toolkits are often poorly considered and unsatisfyingly regressive.
Meters are dumb.
The sidestep system, while welcome in theory, was not thoroughly considered before it was hastily forced in.
I have to grind for hours with characters I have no interest in playing just to unlock certain character themes when I fight against them.
The new costume customization mode is more limited than the customization options in 5, not even considering costume count.
The game feels like shit on consoles due to input lag.
And, to top it all off, I feel like I've never even played the game properly yet because lobbies, something I consider a fundamental feature of fighting games in 2019, are still missing as KT is pumping out fetish costume DLC.

The game is only tolerable on PC, and the game is on life support there. Ranked queue is an absolute nightmare, so most of the time I have logged on this game is probably playing the shitty survival mode trying to unlock character themes.

It's not "blind hate." This game is a mess.

I have the PS4 version, and I certainly don't notice any "input lag". But other than that, I can see what you're saying. The games has its flaws. I never said it didn't it. I was just defending against most of the major criticisms I've seen towards the game. But at least you actually gave some decent arguments against the game. I still think it's a good game, just a bit flawed.

 

[GarryJaune]

Most people are criticizing the game because it's an unfinished product. No lobbies and missing classic intro/win poses is a big oof.

oh and move lists are unfinished too
plus so many small bugs

 

[N1ce Dreams]

I came to defend my manhood.. Oh wait wrong forum.

 

[Akumasama]

Only at first, it was. You can unlock outfits much faster now.

I think now it's ok. I never was particularly concerned even with the old one to be fair, but I can acknowledge it sucked.
My only small complaing is about how slow it feels to unlock all stuff with the 2000 confirmation boxes (which aren't even instant, each takes several seconds).
I hope in the future they're gonna add a mass unlock option or something like that or it's gonna take me a day to unlock all costumes for all characters >_>

"The story mode was horrible"

Okay, I can agree that it wasn't so good. But most fighting games has lackluster stories, because that was never a huge focus in them.

It lacks a drive, a push, and it's so incredibly frustrating with its structure.
The DoA5 Story Mode was pretty cool imo, this one is... ungh.
Not a big deal I guess, but still it's a disappointment.

"DOA6 is just DOA5.5"

No more than DoA4 was DoA3,5 and DoA3 was DoA2.5 and so on.
This is such a stupid point.
Most of all it's based on the wrong premise that each sequel has to be completely different from the previous title, I disagree and one of the reason I love DoA is because of that, if you ask me.

"The season pass is too expensive"

It is retardedly expensive, but then again no surprise given how things worked in DoA5.
Honestly if you look at all the things you get, it's much cheaper than, say, season pass / costume pass for SF5, just to name an example.
It's still a lot of money but it's not mandatory to buy it to play the game, is it?


Personally I'm enjoying DoA6 wholeheartedly but a few things feel definitely off.
There is no way they could've saved the Story Mode, but a lot of the rest could've been saved by delaying the launch a couple of months.
I've seen worse launches don't get me wrong, but I've clearly seen better too.

 

[Kuga]

No no no, retail DoA4 is not DoA3.5.
I wish it was.

 

[CrayRaven]

No no no, retail DoA4 is not DoA3.5.
I wish it was.

All fighting games are this way though. You should know that. The only exception I can think of is Soul Calibur 1, which was a significant departure from Soul Edge/Blade. Every other fighting game (particularly 3d ones) are relatively the same each entry.

 

[Akumasama]

All fighting games are this way though. You should know that. The only exception I can think of is Soul Calibur 1, which was a significant departure from Soul Edge/Blade. Every other fighting game (particularly 3d ones) are relatively the same each entry.

Granted it's not easy to find a difference as big as the Soul Blade > Soul Calibur one (they're two completely different games, truly) the difference between SC1/2 and SC3 is pretty big.
Likewise with SC4 and then SC5 and then again SC6.

They play very very very differently. Some people are happy with that, personally I prefer the approach DoA had all these past decades, with every new title mantaining a very strong connection to the previous one, but I wouldn't dare to say one approach is better than the other.
They're just different, period.

 

[KING JAIMY]

oh and move lists are unfinished too
plus so many small bugs

Yup, I don't like the fact the moves don't even have names. >_<