Let me put it this way fellas... let's pretend we're soul calibur players, and the current argument is "if you don't wanna deal with guard impacts, dont play soul calibur".
Well in SCV at least, there is meter that GI's are dependent upon. So if you wanna take one out of the picture completely, you make them drain their meter, or you whiff punishment them with a nasty stun so its never going to affect your strategy. But they are still a big part of the game. They exist, and if you put yourself in a situation where they can affect they, they do their job.
Now we take the same kind of situation and go over to DOA. In DOA, you have the hold. The difference is a lack of meter and that most stuns don't affect the ability to hold. The problem here is that now every time you want to avoid the hold you can't use any real strategy, you just have pray you pick rock over scissors every single time you strike.
Thats not a strategy, thats just manifesting your guess. Strategy would be if you chose set of tactics with its own set of drawbacks that avoided the hold entirely. For example, choosing only to use slower attacks that created unholdable stuns. This removes the hold from the equation, but it is still a part of the game and it is preventing you from using faster options. It is there, doing its purpose.
In fact, if you come in and start wailing on me with some kind of psuedo frame trap that forces me to use a faster attack, then I HAVE to deal with it there too. And I'm ok with that, so long as I have my opportunity to get around it.
So we're still playing DOA. Holds are still there. We just have a way to disarm them. If you choose not to play that way, you'll have your own set of advantages... you'll be much faster and more likely to form an offense.
Right now, Bayman gets a sit down stun off of P+K and it leads into around 40% damage on average. It works up to counter-hit. The catch is that it only does the sit down on the very first hit and its like a 20 frame attack with no range whatsoever. So it can't be gone into from a faster attack or anything. Your opponent either has to walk face first into it or attack from a major disadvantage, in both cases fully deserving to take as much damage as they were dealt. It won't work on high-counter either.
Personally I would like to see more situations like this one. Moves that deal incredibly high, inescapable damage from a slow first-hit setup. Moves that punish stupidity and keep your opponent honest. Because at the end of the day, these attacks are not overpowered. They can be overcome with faster attacks provided your opponent isn't being a fool and attacking off the wall or from wakeup or something.
This gives us what we want, and it keeps the hold situation in the game for faster brawling strategies. There is absolutely no reason both elements cannot exist in one game.
