The truth is inbetween both of your arguments...
The game is more competitive than it was before, but it is also still really, really, really not fun at high levels. A step in the right direction that Team Ninja likes to view as a bigger stride than it was. Then again, go back and play DOA 4 and it sort of really does feel like a massive stride.
It's like adding more and more great ingredients to make a badass pizza, but forgetting the dough. Yea there's a lot that's good but it doesn't hold together so you kinda feel like, what's the point?
But DOA also isn't a titty fighter. That's fanservice crap tossed in from the side and from a marketing viewpoint. Rumble Roses, now that game is a titty fighter. Very very big difference in the presentation of the two games if you ever need a reality check.
DOA, as it is right now, is having an identity crisis. It wants to be a hardcore competitive western fighting game. It wants to be a crazy Japanese yomi oriented game that nobody wants to play. It wants to be a titty fighter. It very recently attempted to be an anime-esque QTE fighter. It has tried to be a lot of things.
The trick is finding what, among all of that crap, is actually functional. DOA as a titty fighter is not functional -- Half the cast is male. As a solid 1v1 fighting game I would also say the game is not functional... any other 1v1 fighting game would have throw breaks and better spacing, not forcing you to take such high-risk guesses in damn near every situation.
As a tag fighter, however, the game appears to actually function somewhat. The damage is right, and when two of the right characters come together you have all the tools you need to actually play a fighting game in earnest. There aren't throw breaks, but between regenerating healthbars and the risk of instant death from a high-counter launch, it is far more manageable. Having two characters also means you can afford to pick up one of the heavy death dealers for last-stand situations and juggle ending, while your faster and more spacing friendly character takes the starting position.
And the good tools get better. That's the most important thing.
People need to get over the stigma of "but its taaaaaaaaaaaag" and just play the damn thing. Your knowledge WILL carry over and there is even more to learn on top of it. It is infinitely better than singles in every way shape and form. The only theoretical downside is that there are fewer stages and... really? Who cares. You fight in a box, or a circle, or a fucked up rectangle. Or you play in a box on top of a box on top of a rectangle. Who gives a shit?
