Itagaki talks DOA, thrashes DOA: Dimensions

Pointed out to us by @grap3fruitman and posted on popular gaming forum NeoGAF, Tomonobu Itagaki, our long-favorite and past DOA producer, had some recent words to share in regards to his thoughts on the current state of DOA and what he thinks of Team Ninja in their current state.

Let's just say, he didn't really have anythinig quite nice to say about DOA: Dimensions.

Here's what Itagaki had to say:

There are a couple points that we do seem to disagree on though, "user X".
You say that DOA5 was the start of the problems (or nightmare?), but I think it started with DOAimensions. I could sense it just minutes after turning the power on, and I immediately had to turn it off. Combos aren’t something that you do with a touch panel.

There is not an official publication of this discussion. The NeoGAF poster reports that this came from a Facebook reply to a user from Itagaki himself, dating back to about a month ago.

Read the full discussion over on NeoGAF.

 

I really enjoy DOAD and still play it to this day. Actually if it weren't for this game I probably would have never even picked up 5. It's cool to have all of the characters stuffed into one game with many of the iconic stages from previous games. The story mode, although altered from the original canon is still enjoyable to play through and at least the gameplay was better than 4 imo. And I will echo what everyone else has said that NO ONE uses the touch pad to execute combos.

Funny you say that. DOAD was the one game I had the most confidence playing.

 

Funny you say that. DOAD was the one game I had the most confidence playing.

And I'm sure this was an additional plus. XD

Spoiler

 

Three point holds will do that.

 

From what you guys have been saying DOA3 utilized the three-point hold system which a lot of members claim as one of the best DOA games. Not saying that DOAD is in any way even close to being the best but I'd prefer that over the guessing game that was 4.

 

I agree and disagree with Itagaki... but like he's said before you could throw 100 people in a room with him and he would likely only be able to have a conversation with a few of them.

DOAD... I'll be honest, I agree with the touch stuff not being the way to pull off combos... I own the game sealed, and I will never open it because I'm not interested in that game. I know a lot of people that like it though... and still play it because of the roster and innovative controls.

I also completely agree that there is stuff that the staff doesn't know that he does. I would assume he understands the characters a lot better than the current staff, but that just doesn't matter at all. I feel like I understand the characters well enough to take them in a story-lined production of my own. Robert Jordan's books are a perfect example of these being done in other entertainment mediums.

That along with stage design, and character is probably the best point he has when discussing DOA.

He also said that active members of the community were displeased with DOA5... how many other than @grap3fruitman and the English Dragon from DOA World?

The stages aren't as good in DOA5, but that's the only problem. I would rather be with DOA5's stages than Tekken's or Mortal Kombat's stages.

My question for the community:

Is Itagaki actually aware of how displeased fans were with DOA4? Nobody wanted DOA to end there because DOA4 wasn't a great game. Is he aware that DOA5's mechanics trump DOA4's in every possible scenario?

I can hardly play the older DOA games because of DOA5, and that's the sign of a good sequel that needs a little bit more tweaking to be the perfect fighting game.

I respect Itagaki, but he's not proprietary to Dead or Alive anymore.

Agree with all this. I still love the past DOA games and have fond memories of them and their pasts before the revamp(FUCK DOA DIMENSIONS SET UP, RYU ISN'T SHIT AND ALL UP IN EVERYONE'S BUSINESS) but I feel like DOA5 and Ultimate completely curbstomp the past series combat wise to the point I see ZERO reason for me to buy DOA4 again(and pray tell, that game is above DOA3 and only contested by DOA5U and DOA2U).

The combat is WAY too counter heavy and most of the time, throws feel like the best way to go on all levels.

With some actual balance and reasons to study moves this time, DOA5U is the best fighting game for the series bar none and I'll stick with the crappy stages hoping that TN brings them back to their former glory for DOA6.

If theres anything I'd want itagaki back for it'd be ninja gaiden. If there's one thing he can do right its make awesome action titles.

Fuck no. That would mean no Kasumi and you can go straight to Tartarus if you are gonna deny Kasumi in NG again...I want to see her be a damn badass. Not to mention Hayate may FINALLY get his due in NG4, I REALLY want him to matter.

 

Well I met him ...
Had a sort of interview with him ...
will be writing it up soon .. we talked about DOA ... among other things.
but I gotta focus on a few real world things which Ive been putting off ..
Work related, flat related .. etc...

week or 2 maybe ? we'll see

Interesting, looking forward to it.

 

From what you guys have been saying DOA3 utilized the three-point hold system which a lot of members claim as one of the best DOA games. Not saying that DOAD is in any way even close to being the best but I'd prefer that over the guessing game that was 4.

DOA3's stun game was not the same as DOA4's. In DOA3 you didn't want to hold since throws were half the speed of DOA4's slowest throws. Throw damage was high in DOA3 if you were caught holding, at the same time you were put into a lot more forced guess situations in DOA3. It would have been a bit too much if you had to have differring mid holds. DOA4 on the other hand was practically allowing you to hold at any point in the game and you were forced to play the stun game to get a decent launch. Different overall system.

 

DOA3's stun game was not the same as DOA4's. In DOA3 you didn't want to hold since throws were half the speed of DOA4's slowest throws. Throw damage was high in DOA3 if you were caught holding, at the same time you were put into a lot more forced guess situations in DOA3. It would have been a bit too much if you had to have differring mid holds. DOA4 on the other hand was practically allowing you to hold at any point in the game and you were forced to play the stun game to get a decent launch. Different overall system.

Interesting then how drastically it changed from 3 to 4 (I started with 4 so although the nonstop holding was annoying I didn't think anything odd about it). Don't you feel though that dimensions played better than 4?

 

Maybe we shouldn't blow this out of proportion. I've seen far worse said about DoA5 and Dimensions by fans of the game.

 

Interesting then how drastically it changed from 3 to 4 (I started with 4 so although the nonstop holding was annoying I didn't think anything odd about it). Don't you feel though that dimensions played better than 4?

Personally? Yeah, DOAD is better than DOA4 in some respects. I think the only thing I'd take from it is the 3 point hold system implemented with the DOA4 stun system just was too much. I don't own it anymore so I can't test it out, but I believe that was the first game that made it so sit-down stuns weren't holdable, or it was only in environment danger zones. The game also implemented the idea that if you started a stun as a hi-counter blow then you could stun-launch.

 

Say what you will, but Itagaki understood presentation, showmanship, and entertainment a lot more than whoever was in charge for 5.

New guy(s) just have absolutely no artistic sense at all.

 

Three point holds will do that.

I dunno what you're implying there, but competitive players held DOA 3.1 in high regard despite having 3-point holds.

And yes, I'm aware it has frame advantage, unholdable stuns, no universal OH, guaranteed follow-ups from wall stun, and all that jazz.

 

I'm implying that 3 point holds give everyone confidence because the guessing feels easy. It felt that way in 3.1 as well. The difference is that when you guessed wrong in 3.1, you got blown up in an incredible way.

We both felt confident in our holds, and we certainly did so enjoy abusing them, but look what happens at 1:20 all the same.

 

Oh man Itagaki said just the truth. I really love DoA, but when he left Tecmo DoA died with him.

 

Itagaki, if I wanted any crap from you id squeeze your head.

I just really don't care though. Im not a cry baby who is gunna get bent out of shape over previous installments that tried other things when im currently playing DoA5 anyway.

The other ones took risks and made bad decisions and of course good decisions but its ultimately how we got to DoA5 which in my opinion is straight up the best in the franchise. Are their mistakes? Yes. Are their good traits? Yes. Is their room for improvement? Yes!

Im just gunna continue the movement forward and make current and future installments better. Tell them infinities and so forth in tag. How to improve stage design, something Master has been dealing with personally. asking for a atmosphere that caters to fighting/fighters

If you cant help provide good feedback, I believe you should just shut your mouth Itagaki. Hes just shaking a rattle like its a sceptre. Hes acting like a baby I personally think.

 

I'm implying that 3 point holds give everyone confidence because the guessing feels easy. It felt that way in 3.1 as well. The difference is that when you guessed wrong in 3.1, you got blown up in an incredible way.

We both felt confident in our holds, and we certainly did so enjoy abusing them, but look what happens at 1:20 all the same.

Round 3 was beuatiful. Is DOA3 accurate on a 360? I noticed some weird graphical stuff happening.

 

So many scrubs dickriding 4 in that thread.

Also, sad to only see one mention of 3.1

 

So many scrubs dickriding 4 in that thread.

Also, sad to only see one mention of 3.1

I love 4.

Also a scrub is a cleaning utensil because clearly you don't know that.

I also like 2U.

O I also like 3.

I also like 5..

Guess Im a mega "scrub" for liking DoA....

 

The stages in DOA5 being mostly square is most likely the team being conservative due to concerns about competitive balance and not knowing how they would affect the meta. I mean, look at how much drama there is in the Injustice community over counter-picking with stages. But now that they have more experience, they're getting a bit "braver" which is why we're seeing alot of the classics come back.

Also a scrub is a cleaning utensil because clearly you don't know that.

A scrub is also a guy who thinks he's fine, also known as a buster...

 

The stages in DOA5 being mostly square is most likely the team being conservative due to concerns about competitive balance and not knowing how they would affect the meta. I mean, look at how much drama there is in the Injustice community over counter-picking with stages. But now that they have more experience, they're getting a bit "braver" which is why we're seeing alot of the classics come back.

A scrub is also a guy who thinks he's fine, also known as a buster...

Who thinks hes "fine".. Ya you didn't get the definition from no Dictionary buddy.. Also the square stages are also for tag.. We get it, you people don't like them, remove tag and they would probably be FAR less like DoA4.. Or maybe they suck at stage building in the beginning. I don't know./ Sky scraper seemed alright to me but.