Overall, Dead or Alive 6 is a hard game?

[t1Rabbit]

Hey there!

This is my first DOA game, im playing since sunday. I played a few fighting games before like Mortal Kombat, Killer Instinct, Tekken, but honestly, Dead or Alive is DAMN hard. The defense options are so complex and CONFUSING i absolutely cant find my place in it. Purchased DOA because reviews (blah, i never should listen to reviews) said its an easy fighting game. But holy sh', there are high, med, low attacks with confusing animations ( some high attacks looks like mids, low attacks looks like mids etc etc.), and the whole Hold system is really really hard to do. High, Med, Low holds and a med-kick hold for whatever reason. I just did a training mission where i had to hold 3 attacks, but the frames and animations is so fast, basically i guessed for 30 minutes because its impossible to just hold these fast attacks (some of them are less than one second). How a human brain can react to that? And none of the attacks were slow ones, it was a training mission. After a few hours of single player and training, i tried online mode and it was a disaster.. people are playing like gods. There are no matchmaking in DOA6? I cant play against players on my own level? Purchased for relaxing, but damn.. Playing against the AI is not really fun after a while because the AI sometimes doesnt really do anything.

EDIT: The game is really good by the way. Im just scared by this high learning curve. I know every fighting game needs lots of training but i feel i dont even have a chance here, never felt this before.

 

[Mayor-Of-Mustard]

I legit understand how you feel with the holds, im the same. Force OF Nature has a YT channel and he does character guides and stuff, and there's a beginner's guide video I found and I think it was shared here a couple of weeks ago (not watched it yet but i'll get around to it lol)

in single player versus (and i think easier modes of arcade and time attack idk for sure) you can start out with 3-way hold which is more suited to beginners (never tried it out myself personally tho...i should), and then gradually move onto 4-way hold. command training, tutorial and combo challenge really help me refresh my crappy memory haha

the way you feel about online in doa is how i feel about online in senran kagura, but ig all i can say is practice don't stress yourself, have some tea and biscuits and mess around offline for a bit (the story is trash, but it's still hecking fun imo). do you have online anxiety cause I do a wee bit myself. me heart starts pounding when i get a match lol

 

[KasumiLover]

Hey there!

This is my first DOA game, im playing since sunday. I played a few fighting games before like Mortal Kombat, Killer Instinct, Tekken, but honestly, Dead or Alive is DAMN hard. The defense options are so complex and CONFUSING i absolutely cant find my place in it. Purchased DOA because reviews (blah, i never should listen to reviews) said its an easy fighting game. But holy sh', there are high, med, low attacks with confusing animations ( some high attacks looks like mids, low attacks looks like mids etc etc.), and the whole Hold system is really really hard to do. High, Med, Low holds and a med-kick hold for whatever reason. I just did a training mission where i had to hold 3 attacks, but the frames and animations is so fast, basically i guessed for 30 minutes because its impossible to just hold these fast attacks (some of them are less than one second). How a human brain can react to that? And none of the attacks were slow ones, it was a training mission. After a few hours of single player and training, i tried online mode and it was a disaster.. people are playing like gods. There are no matchmaking in DOA6? I cant play against players on my own level? Purchased for relaxing, but damn.. Playing against the AI is not really fun after a while because the AI sometimes doesnt really do anything.

EDIT: The game is really good by the way. Im just scared by this high learning curve. I know every fighting game needs lots of training but i feel i dont even have a chance here, never felt this before.

DOA itself isn't a hard game to play since command moves and combos are way easier than say Tekken and Soul Calibur but the hard to master part is the hold system. In DOA you can hold to escape situations but you can't just abuse it and mash hold each and every time you're stunned, you should only hold when you absolutely know what your opponent will do or if you have a good guess since in DOA6, you'll get throw punished hard for guessing wrong.

Learning to read and hold comes with experience, when you first play its expected that you won't know what to do initially but as you play longer and recognize what's a high, mid and low attack, you'll start to be able to hold more accurately although it takes practice, even the most skilled players aren't gonna always accurately hold their opponents, especially if you play as unpredictable as possible which is what DOA is all about, being able to dominate a match and avoid getting countered.

To make things easier I would do the tutorial and just go in character command training and if there's a character who's giving you trouble, look at their data to see the gist of what they're about, like with Ayane she's more about spin feints and mix ups so with her you'd have to learn to watch her carefully and know when to approach her since she's notoriously a nuisance to fight, but she's still beatable. There's also the break hold as well so when you know something is coming but don't know which hit level to hold from, break holds can hold anything for small damage. Break blows are also really good striking through an opponent's attack if you're being pressured and the side step is really good as a get off me when you know you're opponent is doing a string that doesn't have a tracking move to hit you

 

[EternalMelody]

It does have it's own unique kind of difficulty. Execution is easy in DOA. But juggles are short, and you can hold out of a stun. Those two factors contribute to faster turnovers compared to other fighting games.

It should get easier when they patch lobby match mode in. With that you can arrange for training sessions with the helpful community members here.

 

[d3v]

there are high, med, low attacks with confusing animations ( some high attacks looks like mids, low attacks looks like mids etc etc.), and the whole Hold system is really really hard to do. High, Med, Low holds and a med-kick hold for whatever reason. I just did a training mission where i had to hold 3 attacks, but the frames and animations is so fast, basically i guessed for 30 minutes because its impossible to just hold these fast attacks (some of them are less than one second). How a human brain can react to that?

Learning which attacks hit high, mid, or low is something that you'd have to learn in any fighting game, let alone 3D fighters, which in general have more varied moves, especially when it comes to standing mids.

Also, for the most part, you're not really supposed to just be reacting to things. Rather, you're supposed to be reading your opponent, recognizing their habits and the moves they prefer to use, and then making decisions based on that,

. There are no matchmaking in DOA6? I cant play against players on my own level?

There is, matchmaking is based on rank. You only get matched against people at, or close to your rank.

 

[Shining_Wave]

DOA is really the only fighting game I've ever played so it feels natural & easy to me.
I have the opposite problem, I go play VF or Tekken, and those games feel really weird to me. I just can't get into them for some reason. SC is okay I guess...

 

[Kayseur]

Coming from Tekken, I actually don't think it's *that* different. Knowing if your oppent is throwing a safe/unsafe high-mid-or-low attack is just as key, except in DOA you can parry it with any character and at any heights. In Tekken, you'd just guard it and punish it - you can still do the same in DOA if you're startng out and aren't too familiar with the system yet. One thing you really must know is that in this game, basic throws are faster than jabs (mostly i9~i10+), that's one of the big differences between Tekken and DOA imo.
5T is i5, 6T is i7 (except for grabbers which have their 6T at i6) — punish unsafe stuff the way you would in tekken with those throws, use your habits of reading into your opponent's gameplan/spam and you should be on the right track. If they spam guard, since lows in this game aren't as efficient as in Tekken I feel (don't quote me on this though), throw them. 6Ts can't be broken iirc. At least that's what I did, DOA6 is the first DOA I play online/a bit more seriously and I got to rank C without knowing much of the game, just using my Tekken habits and learning one character's moves (my main).

I do agree however that it's hard at first to know if the characters are throwing mids or highs, the animations are not super readable, but that will come with experience - either lab the strings or learn the hard way by failing your holds a few dozen of times before you get it right. Just like with everything.

 

[d3v]

Instead of just trying to block or hold out of strings, you can also sidestep out of them.

 

[HHH816]

tbh , i'm a RPG guy, DOA is the only fighting game for me.

 

[d3v]

TL: DR, fighting games are hard.

 

[RyuHayabusa]

Mehhhhh DoA5 was my first DoA game and i really didn’t play it that much... which means that I still suck at 6 lol
my first fighting game was Tekken and I absolutely feel you :/
I tried playing online since my friends don’t play that game and even the „lowest“ online rank people kick my bubbly ninja butt.
To be honest I started the DoA series because Tekken lost its spirit to street fighter and I wanted to get more of Ryu Hayabusa xD

Back to topic: I’m just a really casual DoA player since I play Warframe most the time and I think that I’ll never be good enough to play online :/ *shrug*
It’s super frustrating.... but hey: at least I can play against the COM....

 

[LeiFang009]

Coming from Tekken, I actually don't think it's *that* different. Knowing if your oppent is throwing a safe/unsafe high-mid-or-low attack is just as key, except in DOA you can parry it with any character and at any heights. In Tekken, you'd just guard it and punish it - you can still do the same in DOA if you're startng out and aren't too familiar with the system yet. One thing you really must know is that in this game, basic throws are faster than jabs (mostly i9~i10+), that's one of the big differences between Tekken and DOA imo.
5T is i5, 6T is i7 (except for grabbers which have their 6T at i6) — punish unsafe stuff the way you would in tekken with those throws, use your habits of reading into your opponent's gameplan/spam and you should be on the right track. If they spam guard, since lows in this game aren't as efficient as in Tekken I feel (don't quote me on this though), throw them. 6Ts can't be broken iirc. At least that's what I did, DOA6 is the first DOA I play online/a bit more seriously and I got to rank C without knowing much of the game, just using my Tekken habits and learning one character's moves (my main).

I do agree however that it's hard at first to know if the characters are throwing mids or highs, the animations are not super readable, but that will come with experience - either lab the strings or learn the hard way by failing your holds a few dozen of times before you get it right. Just like with everything.

I did play Tekken as well but haven't played it that much either tbh since I recently got it (but I plan to master Jin when I feel like it). Tekken is amazing but not sure it's "easier" than DOA. It's just as hard if not harder.

DOA has a great tutorial but I agree that the 4-hold system is pretty hard so I can't blame OP at all for finding the game hard. I can only do mid holds and most of the times I predict wrong because it's so hard to distinguish between a mid and a high. I usually block like I do in Tekken or special parry. One of the reasons I main Leifang is because I get to use her special parry instead of normal holding. Her special parry covers 2 things at least. But still, even using that properly requires lots of practice.

That said, improving at the game is not impossible I feel. I downloaded the game 2 days ago. I only played 7/8 hours with Leifang and 2 of them are online and I'm D- at the moment in online ranked. I beat a C- player already. Practicing the fundamentals repeatedly will make you improve. The good thing is that normal holding isn't the only defensive option in DOA. I use SS often and it's pretty good. As you mentioned, blocking and punishing/throwing like in Tekken is possible in this game. Plus mastering the wake-up game is not too hard (much easier that master holds for sure). So yeah, with enough practice, getting decent at the game is possible. I just want to be decent enough to enjoy the game. So far, I'm enjoying it despite having more losses than wins online. It's because I noticed some improvement with practicing.

Also I feel, the more you practice with one character the better. Specializing with one character is better imo. Makes it way easier to remember what to do exactly when playing online. This is why I will stick with Leifang.