MeanMrMustard
Active Member
Hello everyone, this is Jared just in case you didn't know. I've been doing a lot of thinking and I decided to write something up to create some discussion on what effects small tweaks in design philosophy can change DOA for the better. Most of these ideas were though of before the most recent announcements so some of them have already been (sort of) announced for DOA5. Hopefully you guys take the time to read it and let me know what you think!
The possibility of another installment in the Dead or Alive franchise has tantalized fans of the series for a few years now. The very thought begets many feelings out of players, the foremost feeling being hope: Hope that mistakes made in design of DOA4 would be remedied, hope that with the new title, and air of legitimacy will be brought to the franchise, and most importantly, hope that a stronger, more populous community will rise from the ashes and come together to play the fresh, much improved game. I, too, have these hopes, and with these hopes comes ideas. While I have no actual input on the production and design of the game, I thought it would be fun to share these ideas with the rest of the community too spark discussion and see what others thought, and maybe some of this will find its way back to Team Ninja, and they can consider some of the ideas put forth, and form their own opinions of them.
How the Universality of DOA4 Actually Worked as a Tool of Imbalance:
The first thing I would like to discuss is the universality of character tools in DOA4. One of the biggest changes from DOA3 to 4 was that much of the gameplay systems and tools that were unique to certain characters were spread out to the entire cast. One may say then, that this would help to balance the game, seeing as how each character possesses the same tools as any other character. However, I would argue that this design philosophy actually works to provide more imbalance than anything else. For example, catch throws (later termed “offensive holds” in DOA4) in DOA3 were unique to a select few characters. Most of these characters were grappling characters*, who, while having the advantage of possessing throws that would beat attacks (thus bending the rules of the triangle system, but more on that later), would be balanced out in other areas of the game by having a slower striking speed and not being as offensively capable as some of the more striking-oriented characters. (*I understand that characters like Hayabusa, Jann Lee, Ayane, and Kasumi had catch throws in DOA3, but with the exception of Jann Lee's, all were easily avoidable and not essential to their core gameplay) This fit from a design perspective, and allowed players to have a different play style with these characters than others in the cast. Now take DOA4's design philosophy and spread out this tool to the rest of the cast. Now, primarily striking characters with quick moves and various strings also had this once grappler friendly tool to add to their arsenal. However, while quicker, striking-oriented characters obtained offensive holds, giving them advantages once unique to the grappler, the grappling characters were left slow and offensively inept, comparably. This shift of DOA4's core design automatically put characters like Bass, Bayman, and Leon at a lower standing than the likes of Hayabusa, Ein, Gen Fu, and Ayane, and created “jack of all trades” characters in the process. It is my belief that if offensive holds were taken out of the universal tool set of Dead or Alive, it would not take away from the game itself, but instead add much needed uniqueness and originality to the character selection that was painfully lacking in DOA4.
This may sound like a “DOA4 is bad, make it like DOA3!” sort of thing, but there are a lot of things I actually liked in DOA4 that I feel were the right direction for the series. For example, giving Hitomi a parry that would parry all mid and high punches was a very nice addition. It created strategy and added more to the meta game than there would be in other matches. To expand upon this, I would like to see Hitomi given more options after a successful punch parry, possibly dependent on the timing of her parry, be it normal, counter, or hi-counter class.
I also liked that Helena's Bokuho stance became more robust, and it really became essential to maximizing her potential. The fluidity with which you could transition between standing and Bokuho, and the added options that being in Bokuho gave her really turned her into a unique and fun character to use.
With added variability between character tools comes diversity in strategy and the ability to balance characters against each other instead of just giving them all similar tools and hoping for the best. It is my opinion that addition by subtraction would do wonders for the series, and each player will more easily find a character that fits their play style and strength, rather than the player having to fit the game's mold.
The possibility of another installment in the Dead or Alive franchise has tantalized fans of the series for a few years now. The very thought begets many feelings out of players, the foremost feeling being hope: Hope that mistakes made in design of DOA4 would be remedied, hope that with the new title, and air of legitimacy will be brought to the franchise, and most importantly, hope that a stronger, more populous community will rise from the ashes and come together to play the fresh, much improved game. I, too, have these hopes, and with these hopes comes ideas. While I have no actual input on the production and design of the game, I thought it would be fun to share these ideas with the rest of the community too spark discussion and see what others thought, and maybe some of this will find its way back to Team Ninja, and they can consider some of the ideas put forth, and form their own opinions of them.
How the Universality of DOA4 Actually Worked as a Tool of Imbalance:
The first thing I would like to discuss is the universality of character tools in DOA4. One of the biggest changes from DOA3 to 4 was that much of the gameplay systems and tools that were unique to certain characters were spread out to the entire cast. One may say then, that this would help to balance the game, seeing as how each character possesses the same tools as any other character. However, I would argue that this design philosophy actually works to provide more imbalance than anything else. For example, catch throws (later termed “offensive holds” in DOA4) in DOA3 were unique to a select few characters. Most of these characters were grappling characters*, who, while having the advantage of possessing throws that would beat attacks (thus bending the rules of the triangle system, but more on that later), would be balanced out in other areas of the game by having a slower striking speed and not being as offensively capable as some of the more striking-oriented characters. (*I understand that characters like Hayabusa, Jann Lee, Ayane, and Kasumi had catch throws in DOA3, but with the exception of Jann Lee's, all were easily avoidable and not essential to their core gameplay) This fit from a design perspective, and allowed players to have a different play style with these characters than others in the cast. Now take DOA4's design philosophy and spread out this tool to the rest of the cast. Now, primarily striking characters with quick moves and various strings also had this once grappler friendly tool to add to their arsenal. However, while quicker, striking-oriented characters obtained offensive holds, giving them advantages once unique to the grappler, the grappling characters were left slow and offensively inept, comparably. This shift of DOA4's core design automatically put characters like Bass, Bayman, and Leon at a lower standing than the likes of Hayabusa, Ein, Gen Fu, and Ayane, and created “jack of all trades” characters in the process. It is my belief that if offensive holds were taken out of the universal tool set of Dead or Alive, it would not take away from the game itself, but instead add much needed uniqueness and originality to the character selection that was painfully lacking in DOA4.
This may sound like a “DOA4 is bad, make it like DOA3!” sort of thing, but there are a lot of things I actually liked in DOA4 that I feel were the right direction for the series. For example, giving Hitomi a parry that would parry all mid and high punches was a very nice addition. It created strategy and added more to the meta game than there would be in other matches. To expand upon this, I would like to see Hitomi given more options after a successful punch parry, possibly dependent on the timing of her parry, be it normal, counter, or hi-counter class.
I also liked that Helena's Bokuho stance became more robust, and it really became essential to maximizing her potential. The fluidity with which you could transition between standing and Bokuho, and the added options that being in Bokuho gave her really turned her into a unique and fun character to use.
With added variability between character tools comes diversity in strategy and the ability to balance characters against each other instead of just giving them all similar tools and hoping for the best. It is my opinion that addition by subtraction would do wonders for the series, and each player will more easily find a character that fits their play style and strength, rather than the player having to fit the game's mold.
