MeanMrMustard
Active Member
When DOA5 was first announced, I have to admit, I was hardly excited. I wrote it off as an iteration on DOA4 where nothing was guaranteed and fear of the hold would permeate the entire game. As time went on, however, I started seeing more footage of things that caught my eye. After seeing wall hits that guaranteed follow up attacks, my interest was piqued. Maybe the developers, sans Itagaki, have figured something out. Maybe they saw the value in having guaranteed damage, situations where the hold was not available, and strong (I'll get into what I mean by “strong” later), unique characters that were fun to use.
My excitement was building, and pretty soon the DOA alpha demo was released. Unfortunately, my interest again started to wane. The 3 point hold, cliffhangers, limited guaranteed situations in stun, and the lack of frame advantage on block and the plethora of unsafe attacks once again reinforced my original point of view that DOA5 would just be a prettier DOA4 with the same old shortcomings.
This lasted until E3. After tuning into the stream and listening to the joy in Rikuto's voice about the game once again grabbed my interest, even before seeing a second of gameplay. As players, Rikuto and I share similar mindsets, so I didn't need much evidence that the game was shaping up to be good if he said it was. However, minutes later, I got my proof. The introduction of the critical burst, not being able to hold out of sit down, lift, and limbo stuns, and a real side step system made my eyes wider than a kid on Christmas morning staring at his brand new Red Ryder BB gun sitting under the tree. I just couldn't wait to tear it open and play for three days straight. Bayman looked very strong and fun to use, Kasumi looked like she could finally be played in a solid way, and many other characters looked relatively safe with strong, unique tools of their own. My feelings for the new game had never been better, and I was ready to plop down my $60 for the game right there. The game was a true advancement of DOA2 and 3, with a bit of 4 sprinkled in for a mixture that made it the best DOA game to date, and the DOA game that I and many others have been waiting for.
My next encounter with the game was at an IPL event in San Mateo, California. This time though, I actually got to play the game. At this point, a few things had changed since E3, and unfortunately they weren't for the better. Specifically, sit down stuns were much harder to come by, critical bursts took 1-2 more hits in stun to activate (which to me made them all but worthless), and some characters seemed quite unsafe. This was ok though since the step system was in tact, there were still stuns that did not allow one to hold, and there were plenty of guaranteed situations.
One situation in particular was Bass getting a free 2f+p (pick up) after his 6kp juggle ender. This is something we haven't seen since DOA3, and was a fantastic addition to Bass' gameplay. It made him actually seem dangerous, and gave him some viability that he was sorely lacking in DOA4. This tool was not overpowered by any means, as it was difficult for bass to get into this situation due to his slower speed compared to the rest of the cast. In other words, this tool is something Bass needed to actually be a threat and it made him very fun to use. These situations were not given to Bass, instead they were earned, and when you earned one of these situations it was very satisfying and gave you a chance to win. This is what I mean by a “strong” character, and my dream is for a DOA to be full of “strong” characters with unique tools of their own to help them win matches. Now this is only one example from a character than I had extensive time with at the IPL event. There were other characters with similar tools, and the game felt balanced in a sense that every character could put you in a scenario that you didn't want to be in, but if you played smart you could turn around and put your opponent in a similar position. It was quite a refreshing turnaround from the stale, copy/paste gameplay of DOA4 where characters could only play one style because of the universality and hold friendly nature of the system.
Having left the event with high hopes of the game to come, I was looking forward to watching the next week's Summer Jam tournament which had the same build of the game for the east coast players to try out. From what I could tell, all of the feedback was positive, and the tournament even had over 128 players (which is the most for any DOA ever). However, the build they were playing was at least a month old, and Dr. Dogg, the author of the game's strategy guide, had already been playing an updated build of the game, and during his commentary he had pointed out some changes that were already made. One of these changes (ie nerfs) was that Bass' 6kp juggle ender no longer guaranteed a 2f+p pick up. This one little change makes Bass dramatically weaker, and puts him back in his DOA4 class of hardly being able to compete. In my opinion, nerfs like these should not be made until after the game is played for several months, if not a whole year. One month of closed testing is not nearly enough to decide if a tool like this should be taken out. It makes even less sense that this has been taken from Bass, when Jann Lee keeps his massive advantage after a dragon gunner (with guaranteed 66k, dash up p6p, dash up 6f+k, and possibly more). I'm not implying that I want Jann to lose his dragon gunner, because that is not the case at all. My only wish is that characters keep their strengths that make them unique, and the more strong characters with great tools like pick up, dragon gunner, Ayane's 3f+k, and Eliot's parry, the better, more fun, and competitively viable the game is.
Right now I am seeing a trend in DOA5's development that is all too familiar to long time DOA fans. One month before DOA4 was released, the game was looking fantastic. Reports from early hands on time were all positive. Stepping was in the game, frame advantage on block was in, many guaranteed situations were there. However, when the game was released one month later, all that had changed. Gone were instances of frame advantage, gone was any guaranteed damage, replaced by players being able to hold whenever they wanted, and gone was the “3D” aspect of my favorite 3D fighter, with stepping being all but useless. I really hope this does not happen to DOA5, but unfortunately from my outside perspective, it just might be. Characters are getting nerfs where they should be getting buffs, and as many players know, nerfing results more in watering down than anything else. It is my hope that Team Ninja sees that strong tools and characters add variety, fun, and challenge to a game. Rather than take the “this is too strong, let's nerf it” approach, I'd love to see a “where can we improve other characters to make them this strong in their own way” approach that would make Dead or Alive 5 one of the best fighting games ever.
About me for those who don't know: Former CGS DOA4 pro and long time DOA fan.
My excitement was building, and pretty soon the DOA alpha demo was released. Unfortunately, my interest again started to wane. The 3 point hold, cliffhangers, limited guaranteed situations in stun, and the lack of frame advantage on block and the plethora of unsafe attacks once again reinforced my original point of view that DOA5 would just be a prettier DOA4 with the same old shortcomings.
This lasted until E3. After tuning into the stream and listening to the joy in Rikuto's voice about the game once again grabbed my interest, even before seeing a second of gameplay. As players, Rikuto and I share similar mindsets, so I didn't need much evidence that the game was shaping up to be good if he said it was. However, minutes later, I got my proof. The introduction of the critical burst, not being able to hold out of sit down, lift, and limbo stuns, and a real side step system made my eyes wider than a kid on Christmas morning staring at his brand new Red Ryder BB gun sitting under the tree. I just couldn't wait to tear it open and play for three days straight. Bayman looked very strong and fun to use, Kasumi looked like she could finally be played in a solid way, and many other characters looked relatively safe with strong, unique tools of their own. My feelings for the new game had never been better, and I was ready to plop down my $60 for the game right there. The game was a true advancement of DOA2 and 3, with a bit of 4 sprinkled in for a mixture that made it the best DOA game to date, and the DOA game that I and many others have been waiting for.
My next encounter with the game was at an IPL event in San Mateo, California. This time though, I actually got to play the game. At this point, a few things had changed since E3, and unfortunately they weren't for the better. Specifically, sit down stuns were much harder to come by, critical bursts took 1-2 more hits in stun to activate (which to me made them all but worthless), and some characters seemed quite unsafe. This was ok though since the step system was in tact, there were still stuns that did not allow one to hold, and there were plenty of guaranteed situations.
One situation in particular was Bass getting a free 2f+p (pick up) after his 6kp juggle ender. This is something we haven't seen since DOA3, and was a fantastic addition to Bass' gameplay. It made him actually seem dangerous, and gave him some viability that he was sorely lacking in DOA4. This tool was not overpowered by any means, as it was difficult for bass to get into this situation due to his slower speed compared to the rest of the cast. In other words, this tool is something Bass needed to actually be a threat and it made him very fun to use. These situations were not given to Bass, instead they were earned, and when you earned one of these situations it was very satisfying and gave you a chance to win. This is what I mean by a “strong” character, and my dream is for a DOA to be full of “strong” characters with unique tools of their own to help them win matches. Now this is only one example from a character than I had extensive time with at the IPL event. There were other characters with similar tools, and the game felt balanced in a sense that every character could put you in a scenario that you didn't want to be in, but if you played smart you could turn around and put your opponent in a similar position. It was quite a refreshing turnaround from the stale, copy/paste gameplay of DOA4 where characters could only play one style because of the universality and hold friendly nature of the system.
Having left the event with high hopes of the game to come, I was looking forward to watching the next week's Summer Jam tournament which had the same build of the game for the east coast players to try out. From what I could tell, all of the feedback was positive, and the tournament even had over 128 players (which is the most for any DOA ever). However, the build they were playing was at least a month old, and Dr. Dogg, the author of the game's strategy guide, had already been playing an updated build of the game, and during his commentary he had pointed out some changes that were already made. One of these changes (ie nerfs) was that Bass' 6kp juggle ender no longer guaranteed a 2f+p pick up. This one little change makes Bass dramatically weaker, and puts him back in his DOA4 class of hardly being able to compete. In my opinion, nerfs like these should not be made until after the game is played for several months, if not a whole year. One month of closed testing is not nearly enough to decide if a tool like this should be taken out. It makes even less sense that this has been taken from Bass, when Jann Lee keeps his massive advantage after a dragon gunner (with guaranteed 66k, dash up p6p, dash up 6f+k, and possibly more). I'm not implying that I want Jann to lose his dragon gunner, because that is not the case at all. My only wish is that characters keep their strengths that make them unique, and the more strong characters with great tools like pick up, dragon gunner, Ayane's 3f+k, and Eliot's parry, the better, more fun, and competitively viable the game is.
Right now I am seeing a trend in DOA5's development that is all too familiar to long time DOA fans. One month before DOA4 was released, the game was looking fantastic. Reports from early hands on time were all positive. Stepping was in the game, frame advantage on block was in, many guaranteed situations were there. However, when the game was released one month later, all that had changed. Gone were instances of frame advantage, gone was any guaranteed damage, replaced by players being able to hold whenever they wanted, and gone was the “3D” aspect of my favorite 3D fighter, with stepping being all but useless. I really hope this does not happen to DOA5, but unfortunately from my outside perspective, it just might be. Characters are getting nerfs where they should be getting buffs, and as many players know, nerfing results more in watering down than anything else. It is my hope that Team Ninja sees that strong tools and characters add variety, fun, and challenge to a game. Rather than take the “this is too strong, let's nerf it” approach, I'd love to see a “where can we improve other characters to make them this strong in their own way” approach that would make Dead or Alive 5 one of the best fighting games ever.
About me for those who don't know: Former CGS DOA4 pro and long time DOA fan.
I don't want DOA5 to fall in a dark evil place where DOA4 fell threw. Please TN, don't let us down! 