Whats the best DOA game from a competitive standpoint?

Personally my favourite is DOA4 but I heard that the community doesn't like it at all, it's actually considered to be the worst haha, but anyway what DOA game is the most competitive one?
 
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DestructionBomb

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DOA3(++), DOA5U/LR.

People think it's DOA6 being the worst (which from a consumer standpoint sure), but DOA4 was arguably the worst one from a competitive format.
 
So it's between DOA5LR and DOA3? Should I bother learning DOA5LR at this point, considering how old the game is, or is it basically dead online and there's no one that plays the game anymore?
 
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DestructionBomb

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So it's between DOA5LR and DOA3? Should I bother learning DOA5LR at this point, considering how old the game is, or is it basically a dead online and there's no one that plays the game anymore?

It's a bit of a tough one because there is also a community split sorta. The game isn't dead online but it's most likely less active than it has ever been due to:

- Most will only play the latest titles (DOA6) even if they don't like it.
- Tournament scenes for DOA5LR is officially over. Only ones active is in Japan which is via online play (unofficially) and become more rare these days, and their arcade scene for DOA5 were recently closed officially. If you want tournaments for it these days, you have to "actually" gather people for it with locals or online.
- Topics regarding DOA5LR have become more scarce lately here or general social media.
- People moved on from DOA entirely.

The DOA community is pretty small and very niche in general, if DOA was as big as Smash for consistency and number of people of playing, i'm sure you could learn it whenever and however you want it in this time and age. You could still commit and have fun learning with it i'm sure on your own pace right now, it's definitely not dead but I wouldn't keep hopes up for consistency with learning or getting matches via DOA5LR (if that's perfectly alright with you).

In my own opinion, on the long run of things you could just stick with DOA6 to be on pace with everyone else on a basic competition gaining, but this varies by how you want to explore DOA competitively. If it's consistent competition, DOA6 is currently the only one that's giving it even if official game support has stopped.
 
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inochinagi

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Despite DOA4's competitive reputation, it seems that it still having online servers that are still going after all these years, combined with DOA4 just getting added to Xbox's BC, has caused a resurgence of people playing that game online (haven't checked it out myself yet though). People who went to and won tournies back when the game was released are showing up on there again now, apparently. If anyone's a fan of DOA4, despite or maybe even because of it's gameplay, looks like now is the time to be playing it.

In a way, it's almost like DOA4 has just been rereleased.
 
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It's a bit of a tough one because there is also a community split sorta. The game isn't dead online but it's most likely less active than it has ever been due to:

- Most will only play the latest titles (DOA6) even if they don't like it.
- Tournament scenes for DOA5LR is officially over. Only ones active is in Japan which is via online play (unofficially) and become more rare these days, and their arcade scene for DOA5 were recently closed officially. If you want tournaments for it these days, you have to "actually" gather people for it with locals or online.
- Topics regarding DOA5LR have become more scarce lately here or general social media.
- People moved on from DOA entirely.

The DOA community is pretty small and very niche in general, if DOA was as big as Smash for consistency and number of people of playing, i'm sure you could learn it whenever and however you want it in this time and age. You could still commit and have fun learning with it i'm sure on your own pace right now, it's definitely not dead but I wouldn't keep hopes up for consistency with learning or getting matches via DOA5LR (if that's perfectly alright with you).

In my own opinion, on the long run of things you could just stick with DOA6 to be on pace with everyone else on a basic competition gaining, but this varies by how you want to explore DOA competitively. If it's consistent competition, DOA6 is currently the only one that's giving it even if official game support has stopped.
So DOA6 is the way to go, despite the fact that it's worse than DOA5LR i guess?
 
Despite DOA4's competitive reputation, it seems that it still having online servers that are still going after all these years, combined with DOA4 just getting added to Xbox's BC, has caused a resurgence of people playing that game online (haven't checked it out myself yet though). People who went to and won tournies back when the game was released are showing up on there again now, apparently. If anyone's a fan of DOA4, despite or maybe even because of it's gameplay, looks like now is the time to be playing it.

In a way, it's almost like DOA4 has just been rereleased.
Unfortunately I don't have a 360 anymore, I wish that DOA 4 and DOA 3 were available on PS3/4, but oh well.
 
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KasumiLover

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I think it's DOA5LR and Ultimate and also maybe 2U and DOA3 that's been updated to the Japanese version. I think 6 could be good competitive wise if the break hold wasn't so easy to just mash to get out of situations since it really kills the momentum, it should cost one full meter like a break blow if they're gonna make it +.

Worst games imo would be 4, it's fun to play but the game itself has very little viable competitive nature since it's so messy to play and everything is like a 50/50 and everyone has tools like OHs that some dont even need and the ground game was meh. And I didn't really like the random hazards like cars, tiger, and the pterodactyl that could suddenly come at any moment and really screw over either player who was more focused on the opponent and not these random gimmicks that you also have to be wary of
 

DestructionBomb

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@KasumiLover Nailed it. Experimental Playground was pretty bad yeah lol.

I legit think Itagaki just hated how standard fighting games work, so he decided to be a rebel and change everything to what makes a fighting game and boom: DOA4 lol.
 

Awesmic

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I'm gonna play it safe and say DOA5LR and DOA3++, even though I didn't play the latter.

If you want my real answer, send a PM.
 
So I decided to purchase DOA5LR again for PS4, cause the one that I have on PS3 is linked to a different account, so I can't import saves from my PS3 over to PS4
 

Derock

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@KasumiLover Nailed it. Experimental Playground was pretty bad yeah lol.

I legit think Itagaki just hated how standard fighting games work, so he decided to be a rebel and change everything to what makes a fighting game and boom: DOA4 lol.

He also messed up by deciding to get rid of easy difficulty and boost up the AI. Don't get me started with Alpha-152 having SNK Boss Syndrome.
 

DestructionBomb

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What's the most active DOA online right now? Is DOA6 still active? Cause I am trying to get into the series again.

DOA6 is the most active and currently the only one in the west that's doing unofficial tournaments, streamed the most at present time, as well as traveling to offline events and locals for it.

Unless you are in Japan where DOA5LR and DOA6 are both played at the same time (well, the arcades for DOA closed over there so that might change), in the US DOA6 is the only one being pushed because it's the newest.

There's also DOA4 (which is very old, but at present new for new players to try out), but I believe that classic hype isnt' going to last long considering the majority chunk of players are on Playstation, lack of PC players, and arguably the least favorite among the competitive squad. If you are into getting back into DOA for consistency, DOA6 is probably the way to go.
 
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DestructionBomb

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I am wondering if the EU scene is active

Ah, didn't know you were in the EU (I probably should of asked first ahaha).

That's a good question, wish I knew the answer to that. I'd like to say yeah (?) but definitely best to ask anyone from the EU scene.
 
Besides it being essentially an unfinished game:
  • Meter gains too quickly
  • Free step worse than 5 (which wasn't great either)
  • Lacking a real ground game
  • Meter use for sidestep attack
  • This one's debatable as its personal preference but I don't like how you can't get creative much with combos when a launch into bound into close hit (or break blow) being the optimal combo ender.
  • ^ this goes with the above point but I think they've oversimplified DOA at the cost of depth.
  • Another one that's debatable is I think the game tips the scales too much in favor of fast characters. My gut feeling is the ninjas should be the favorite in most matchups.
Quick meter gains are probably the #1 issue, besides the existence of a meter. (Which I don't think is problematic in itself, just the implementation of it)

Personally I don't mind Break Blows or Holds.

DOA3++ is great and its the only one I could take seriously as a competitive fighting game. There are still some kinks left to iron out but it's a lot better than the janky shit you find in DOA5 and 6.

FWIW I wouldn't bother with 4 if you only are interested in online play because the netcode is abysmal. And if your main isn't Hayabusa or Helena.
DOA3 better than DOA5? I thought that the general opinion was that DOA5 is the most polished game.
 
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