Ok .. so by watching the vids I can tell you .. Sarah is a monster.
- They gave her the stun that makes the opponent fall on the floor backward (face up) slowly.. To my knowledge you cannot hold out of this stun. It happens after the just frame (from Flamingo) P
KKK (on hit ) you can see it in the sarah vs kasumi vid at 3:15. From the looks of it, it also seems that this same move is actually a 3 in 1 from the kick onwards to compensate for it being a just frame (I could be wrong).
- You will notice right after the just frame P
KKK, her (from flamingo)
KK causes a relaunch from knockdown the exact same way it does in VF5FS. This means more guaranteed damage and possibly the same VF combo would work [ (from flamingo) P
KKK,
KK,
KK ]
- Her forward slide and backward slide stances are still there mid combo. It is yet to be confirmed if they can be done outside of combos like in VF. If she can however, this will make her wake up punishes insanely lethal because if you quick stand you would be stuck in her 50/50 (MrMoon experienced this first hand the other day
). I'm wondering if they decided to leave them out particularly because of their input
H+P+K which is a tag input ... If it is in however her wake up would be so strong in a sense that even if you don't quick stand and do (forward slide)
K, because of the way knockdowns work in DOA5 it will mean that you will still get hit, where as in VF one way of punishing it is delaying your quick stand and punishing Sarah on her recovery). so it kind of almost forces you to quick stand and attempt 1 of the holds at 50/50 which is insane.
- in the Sarah vs Rig match, you will notice that she has the ability to combo off of her flash kick, a property she does NOT have in VF except maybe near the wall after the wall slam. This is gonna be an insane launcher and a new property to her.
- her
P+K launch on counter hit changed in this game and it gives her a a float as opposed to her VF launch into straight drop. This means that she can even further extend her air juggle combo a lot more than she can in VF from this move. It is worth mentioning that this move not only launches but also goes under HIGH strikes. its almost like a true MID.
- because of the overall float in the air-juggle system she is gonna benefit tremendously from this. At several points in both vids it seemed that she had a combo potential not possible in VF off of even normal hit launchers. I think her "guaranteed" damage output is going to be insane.
- Her biggest downfall will probably be her large amount of MID kick attacks. She has too many and they are all really good and key moves. This will make her a lot easier to punish. Particularly in Flamingo stance where she doesn't have a MID punch attack at all.
- one thing worth noting that her transitions into flamingo stances are alot safer in DOA5 due to the stun system ON COUNTER HIT. The main reason for this is that in VF even though you had frame advantage it was only enough to give you a HIGH attack that would beat any HIGHs or MIDs, but it always loses to lows (particularly) low punch no matter what you dish out from flamingo (unless you do the transition from
K which puts her at +7 from max range .. this maybe also why the guy playing vs Kasumi loved the move so much and was spamming the
K transition) . In the DOA stun system however, If you get any transition into flamingo on counter hit, then you got advantage vs. everything and you can even go for a LOW or a MID attack alot safer (at the risk of being held of course). The downside again is that all transitions into flamingo are again MID kick [with the exception of
G+KK and (from flamingo)
KK, which is basicly the same move, and
P
K ]. This disadvantage is gonna be a lot more troublesome than anything else when shifting from VF to DOA. But this will also make her NON attack transitions a lot more valuable (like her
KK.G or her
KK.G)
Overall I am very impressed with how she is playing in DOA5 and how smoothly she transitioned
I am looking forward to using her, even considering maining her in fact if she stays this good and has all her tools.
On a side note: Hayashi uses pad ...