Opinion: Stellar Blade Raises Old Questions

The marketing of Stellar Blade has not only been genius, but it has created a compelling conversation to bring back sexualized content to the West. Dead or Alive has always been at the center of this discussion. It’s impossible to ignore it and this is the way it’s always been for both serious and casual players of the game.

Zakkurye & Punishere had been at the forefront of a battle pertaining to this topic across social media that went on and on for several days. It’s a battle of not only the game controversy but has shown the defined split within the community. The debate has not been pretty to say the least. What are your thoughts pertaining to this debate and also Stellar Blade and the hope that it is instilling to some gamers out there with censorship getting in the way of their entertainment.


Emery Reigns did a great job of taking all of this controversy and tying it up into one great video with a few disagreeable guests that provide their insights as well. The disagreeable guests went on to say that you should go play the volleyball game if you want sex appeal which is odd to me as sexualization is one of the four pillars of the Dead or Alive franchise. Every pillar is protected by Team NINJA's firewall and I myself have never found the sex appeal in Dead or Alive to be distasteful or gross. The most debatable thing about the sex appeal are the physics which can be fine-tuned to your liking in the best fighting game ever made; Dead or Alive 5.

Dead or Alive Xtreme: Venus Vacation has once again (through numbers and interest of characters) shown what the market for Dead or Alive desires. There are some oddities to the game such as the new Kitsune Venus, Shizuku or the Yokai Kanna or even Nyo-Tengu that will make some purists shake... but even this title is more subject to Maxim magazine compared to the provocative vulgarity of other titles in the video game market. Overall, it would be nice if both interests would consider one another better because the DOA fighting game does need competitive players just as much as it needs casuals that are more connected to the storylines and characters specifically.

The conversation has been stimulated by the emergence of Stellar Blade, and the developers have fully embraced it and have gotten maximized advertising for an otherwise average looking game from a mechanical standpoint. Now that developers are seeing the ratio you can expect that games like Dead or Alive and SC will continue their old values once more without fear.

Current Banner by @Lorenzo Buti whom can be followed here at FSD & Twitter!
 
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Goddamit why there's no Jap dub in the western release. Her Japanese VA (Reina Mishima VA) is my sole reason to buy this game :confused:
 
The crime R -> could be a great easter egg. When you look at the crime R graffiti then you turn to your right you see a look a like of Yohei Shinbori, Katsuhiro Harada, and Mike Murray as npcs walking towards you in unison.
 
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Hyung Tae Kim Response


At a 04/26 stellar blade launch event, Director Hyung Tae Kim reveals they're aware of the issue "We are aware of the issue The version we ended up showing was a day-one patch version It's not an answer that will satisfy users anyway Internal discussions are ongoing"
 
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@Kasumi-Phase-X you know what's interesting is the "Ocean Maid" costume DestructionBomb posted earlier.

You notice how she has the same undergarment as the "Holiday Rabbit" but its peach colored? It's almost like she was supposed to have a really revealing swimsuit but they decided to cover it up with a peach undergarment.

Definitely smacks of Sony's doing for sure. They are more censorious than Microsoft.
 
@Kasumi-Phase-X you know what's interesting is the "Ocean Maid" costume DestructionBomb posted earlier.

You notice how she has the same undergarment as the "Holiday Rabbit" but its peach colored? It's almost like she was supposed to have a really revealing swimsuit but they decided to cover it up with a peach undergarment.

Definitely smacks of Sony's doing for sure. They are more censorious than Microsoft.

PC is all that matters at this point.
 
We have bear sex on Baldur's Gate 3, a self insert of Anita Sarkeesian and Neil Druckman having sex in Last Of Us 2, Cyberpunk Sex, and Witcher 3 sex. Yet Stellar Blade is where Sony tows the line and says nope! WTF Sony?

To me the hard R buolshit is what I interpret as if you wanna go to Roxanne's shop, you take a HARD RIGHT! How is that racist? Hard R could mean different to a lot of people. Trying to build mountains out of mole hills reminds me of the 90s cartoon Don Coyote. Its where the MC sees monsters out of windmills. Almost like inventing problems out of thin air to find oppression. Makes me curious how can people wake up in the morning angry just to inject and transfer pain onto others?

First world problems I swear. I m very disgusted by this. There is a ESRB rating for a reason! Have you heard of it?! No thin skins aloude!

Also take a look at this! This could be very useful in planning out a message so that the corporate suits will hear your message.


Credits to Kuriishi in steam chat. Info passes through the chat frequently in the doa 6 group steam chat. Whether I like it or not! >.<
 
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Long rant ahead; speaking of my experience and views on the history and outcome of our decisions. Some of this may sound rather broken up and unstructured, but bear with me please.

I have been around a long time, been in the UK scene for a few years (probably more than a decade and a half by this point), interacted and played with the US, German, French, Italian (shoutouts to Tom and @WAZAAAAA) and other European players, even had one lodge with me for two years and we played every day, so I'm no stranger to this dialog and topic. I'll just say my piece and be on my way.

I do recall when we all had this discussion here and in events, in person, regarding this topic on how we should all put on cleavage hijabs on characters despite the fact that both 5 and 6 had dresses and bikinis. Eventually, discussion was had between prominent members of the dev team, including Hayashi and Shimbori himself and people on this site and in events. (I myself have spoken to Hayashi in person on occasions, but mostly we spoke about AI and Graphics chat and never about gameplay, nice guy)

To give context, this was during the time when some of the top players in the 5U and LR era, who were winning regularly in events, were both underage if I am not mistaken. Under 16, one was about to turn 16, if I remember correctly. I also know one event somewhere I believe in either Releigh or Jersey (correct me if I'm wrong) had a young child point the game out to his mother and apparently people playing felt embaressed. I'm sure if you go back in time, you'll find the relevant articles covering this story.

I think what we asked of TN and what TN did was wrong. It was not good for business. I should have been louder in protest in toning down the game for DOA6, but my view on the matter was indifferance and thinking it will sort it self out. This was a bad move.

DOA was always reliant on normies and casual players to bring in money; I was one, so were each and every one of us at one time when we were young. We bought the game, we liked the cartoonish violence and sex appeal. None of the other games offered this package. Tekken 5.0 was just out in the arcades and that scene rightfully gatekept anyone who couldn't beat the local Capo player. Tekken was always tight-nit and gatekept, DOA was not.

Trying to appease ourselves and 'balance' the game was not a good idea. I think we all remember when it took up until the half-way point of 5U where the game felt 'reasonable' and we still had Gen-Fu back-turned infinites and broken hurtboxes on moves that took half-way through LR to fix. Story mode was awful, it couldn't sell itself even if you gave it the checkbook. We lost Tag and DOA6 did the same mistakes DOA3 made by offering zero to no single-player modes. It was no surprise that it failed after a year.

Objective for the development team should have been to sell the game. We helpled killing it. Focusing on filling in seats at majors for a prize pool was a microcosmic remedy to a non-existant problem. It's like trying to stop venice by flooding by dumping water from the walkways back into the canal while it's high tide.

Another important to consider was that after the Koei-Tecmo merger, the holding company hated us, hated DOA and were waiting for Shimbori and CO. to resign. Hayashi towed the company line and he was already high enough in management that he had a job for life. They did not care about DOA and knew it was a money sink that it was. It was too expensive and the profit margins were low.

Another thing was that they hated us. Anyone who knows the stories knows the only thing that is left to run is XVV/XX ("volleyball") and that gets zero marketing outside of its own social channels. Why give money to people that hate you? Just maintain the volleyball live-service gacha game, that would make you more money.

North America and Europe only account for ~15% and 5% of their sales respectively on average. Even if we account for all the people using VPNs to connect to Volleyball's asian servers, that should be indicator enough. If people asked me if they should financially invest in KT, I'd laugh and tell them you can find more gold if you take a boat trip to the middle of the ocean.

We can go all the way back to 2022 up til now.

For KT to make a fighting game would be ill-advised and frankly, quite a backwards financial move. The risk is too high.

I have listened to Emery and Zakkurye, but I respecfully disagree with both of them. I would say it was frankly embaressing. I also respect Emery for what he does, but the competitive and esports scene for the series is so miniscule, it would not account for much in the grand scheme. More power to you, but you also have be pragmatic and see reality. You can't push the boulder up the hill, get flattened and complain about it. You can't start a fire and complain you're getting burned.

If people actually want DOA7, they should look no further than Tekken 8. This is in fact a Shimbori game; meter implementation, unbreakable throws as super punish (DOA mechanic), counter throws (DOA mechanic), universal guard break meter moves (DOA mechanic), universal heat bound moves as combo extenders (DOA mechanic), danger zone walls and floors (DOA mechanic with identical animations). I'm pretty sure I won't be surprised to see half you folks playing and streaming that game if I looked you all up.

I would argue that Bamco is making the same mistake KT made; go after fan content, take down and DMCA strikes against fan content like doujins, fan comics and quite a lot of mods (quite a lot of DOA modders back in the day were banned a few years ago). They can walk it back, but KT have done too much damage.

Correct me if I was wrong about some historic events.

TL;DR: We were wrong in trying to make DOA competative and need to go back. Turn back the clock. Let's just go back to DOA3/4 era design approach with minor tweaks. DOA3++ is the step in the right direction. Bring the TNA back. Bring the dark, moody, bloody, genuinely mature M-rated tone back. Let people buy the game. Bring T&A back. Let's not be a bunch of puritans. The only thing that is keeping this series alive at this point is actually softcore gacha and fanmade pornography, not the competative scene.

If all else fails; go out, touch grass, join me in the gym for couple reps, eat good food, eat good supplements, up your testosterone levels. You'll be happier and live longer.

Shoutouts again to @Matt Ponton , @WAZAAAAA @grap3fruitman , @Gultigargar and others who have stuck around and kept the site alive. Thank you. :bass::jannlee::genra:
 
A game that has Private Paradise videos, extremely revealing bikinis combined with sexy babes, being able to jiggle boobs with sixaxis controls on PlayStation, etc if anything 5 made the stigma surrounding DOA even worse. It's hard for people to take it seriously on a competitive level when you have that kind of fanservice in your game.

And note that Shimbori and co wanted DOA5 to be a "serious" esports fighting game. The marketing reflected that direction.

But the game failed because of it as that's not why people play DOA in the first place. Then they pivoted towards fanservice to make money from the series.
I agree... DOA5 is overrated and actually STARTED the oversexualzation in the End with "Sexy Outfit DLC X" or whatever lol

Always disliked that direction... No wonder even DOA5 albeit all it's "serious advertisement" and Tourneys never got respect from other FG Communities.
If I was in charge I would go BACK in Time and Focus on the Days when DOA at Least stood for more than expensive Sexy Characters DLC...
Intuitive Gameplay()which both DOA5&DOA6 lack mAn) and Console Defining Graphics! A new/old Beginning for DOA7 and then let the FG Communties of the World decide for themselfs if the Game is also "for them" and Not cause Tecmo says so
 
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@UncleKitchener I disagree with you Gramps! Sure tekken 8 has the mechanics that doa needs to be. If we buy Tekken 8 now, we also support the bad that comes with it like the MTX shops, battle pass, and seasonal dlc set that will increase in price per season! Only to be slapped to the face with the GOTY/Definitive edition that will come later! Like the sword of Damoclese, Tekken 8 still has a chance to bend the knee to Capcom's globalization standards just stay relevant in Tournaments. You know how it is nowadays? If you censor one thing, you have to censor the rest including the voice of the fans.

DOA 7 can be a financial risk but if you look at the trends, Stellar Blade is doing well in this insane injected world we live in! DOA7 might thrive now if they listen to the fans! Not just the tournament regulars but everyone in the doa community. All it has to do is avoid the pitfalls of the modern day fighting game trend.

We both know as fighting game players that if you take risks is 2 fold! Either you are punished or you will be rewarded in the long run. Its just the way it is!
 
Objective for the development team should have been to sell the game. We helpled killing it. Focusing on filling in seats at majors for a prize pool was a microcosmic remedy to a non-existant problem. It's like trying to stop venice by flooding by dumping water from the walkways back into the canal while it's high tide.

I have listened to Emery and Zakkurye, but I respecfully disagree with both of them. I would say it was frankly embaressing. I also respect Emery for what he does, but the competitive and esports scene for the series is so miniscule, it would not account for much in the grand scheme. More power to you, but you also have be pragmatic and see reality. You can't push the boulder up the hill, get flattened and complain about it. You can't start a fire and complain you're getting burned.

If people actually want DOA7, they should look no further than Tekken 8. This is in fact a Shimbori game; meter implementation, unbreakable throws as super punish (DOA mechanic), counter throws (DOA mechanic), universal guard break meter moves (DOA mechanic), universal heat bound moves as combo extenders (DOA mechanic), danger zone walls and floors (DOA mechanic with identical animations). I'm pretty sure I won't be surprised to see half you folks playing and streaming that game if I looked you all up.

Thank you for posting your thoughts, completely agree and what I've been trying to get across to DOAN and others.
TL;DR: We were wrong in trying to make DOA competative and need to go back. Turn back the clock. Let's just go back to DOA3/4 era design approach with minor tweaks. DOA3++ is the step in the right direction. Bring the TNA back. Bring the dark, moody, bloody, genuinely mature M-rated tone back. Let people buy the game. Bring T&A back. Let's not be a bunch of puritans. The only thing that is keeping this series alive at this point is actually softcore gacha and fanmade pornography, not the competative scene.

Preach brother.

If all else fails; go out, touch grass, join me in the gym for couple reps, eat good food, eat good supplements, up your testosterone levels. You'll be happier and live longer.

I already do all that but I still love me some sexy pixels on the screen.
 
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