DOA5LR Tom Lee discusses Raidou, Honoka, and the Casual audience

In a recent article on Dead or Alive 5 Last Round by Siliconera, Tom Lee is interviewed and discusses some of the reasoning for Raidou's return and Honoka's selection. Be sure to read the whole article for full details, but here are some notable quotes by the Creative Director of Team NINJA:

I asked Lee why Team Ninja brought Raidou back. "Raidou was brought back because he is a fan favorite. Team Ninja definitely wants to see more villains in the line up. I personally love seeing more characters like this it brings balance to the cutesy girls [in Dead or Alive]," Lee replied.

Lee explained Team Ninja looks at stats and player feedback when creating new Dead or Alive fighters. Team Ninja’s data says in the Western market people have been playing wrestler type characters like Rig while in Japan they favor the female characters. "There are many guys on our team. I would like to see more characters like Raidou, for instance. But at the end of the day I think the numbers support the Honoka type of character," Lee said when talking about creating Honoka. "Maybe its a cultural difference, but sometimes in the East it’s dictated by aesthetics first and then the story is developed through character design. Rather than saying, the sister of so-and-so just got messed up by him, so let’s create a revenge story. Lots of times we review character designs and she seems like a 15 year old school girl, she’s coming home from school, let’s create a story about that."

"Interactive touch points have been switched up and added. Hot Zones have changed for some stages. There may be an addition to existing hot spots and it won’t be in all of the stages. Without telling you exactly where they are, we want fans who have been with us for the last two years to enjoy finding new things," Lee said.

Tom Lee also discussed the casual audience, sometimes eerily seeming like a direct response from Tomonobu Itagaki's recent comments towards the fifth entry of the series.

While it might feel broken for competitive players, one of the reasons why Danger Zone, a stage from the original Dead or Alive with explosive traps, was added was to appeal to casual players. "I think we learned is one of the things we wanted to do better is we’ve focused on giving competitive players. Making sure it’s balanced not just for players in the East, but players in the West. That was one of our biggest focuses in the last couple of years," Lee answered when I asked how Dead or Alive 5 evolved from from 2012 to now. "With Last Round, one of the things we wanted to do is not lose focus of our casual audience as well. When it comes to game balance and even the presentation of the stages we wanted to reel back and make the experience enjoyable for casual fans."

"We want to maintain that DOA has an easy point of entry for beginners. We want it to be an intuitive sort of experience instead of learning the move list for 30 different characters or whatnot. They can come in the beginning and button mash their way through, not only having success but looking good while you’re doing it. We want people to have a great time whether they understand a character or not. In mastering it, they will learn in trial and error," Lee elaborated.

Be sure to read the full article from Siliconera for further details.

 

To be fair Raidou was the next because one of the characters owning a serious chance to become part of the game (completely or just through his moveset). Genra and Shiden are less popular and now we enter in the field where the new characters have to be interesting for calling arcade players and DLC purchaser. But of course I really hope that we will see at least a male character and I would be glad if he was just Genra or his moveset for completing the boss legacy (but I would like even a new male character with an original moveset).

I liked Shiden's character in Dimensions and the idea to use an old ninja (more now DoA5 include also his counterpart Raidou in the game, the equivalent to get Kasumi and Ayane), but unless to create a clone of Hayate there is no reason for bringing him back, especially when parts of Hayate's moveset are already in other characters (Kasumi, Ein and Raidou).

I merely say Shiden, because he's a badass. He's an angry, manly Gen Fu.

 

Irene for DLC please.

 

im so tired of the DLC waiting game =_=

 

Didn't know Rig was a "Wrestler type".

Look at the bright side. We may likely obtain more furniture for Home stage and likely some secret room in there where it's just full of furniture. (Hopefully.)

 

it would be cool if they expanded the actual hotzone. i always felt you should have been able to fight inside that building. i also hope they made the shield soldiers do something. i feel like they should push you off of them like the ring ropes.

Hotzone should feel like a cramped chaotic place where you are never safe.

 

15 year old school girl, she’s coming home from school, let’s create a story about that.

THE TRUTH!!!

 

ffs, I forget to browse frontpage too often :|

Anyhow, stage dlc!

 

I don't think that Genra is off the table now.

 

I don't think that Genra is off the table now.

Spoiler

For real doe, is there any girl from TN's old games that could rock his moveset?

 

The west loves big sweaty guys.

At least...it certainly sounds like it each time a female fighter is announced.
Ha

Spoiler

I mean these gifs in the best way possible.

But in all seriousness, I really appreciated the article. It's a good read. However, I just don't like how Lee framed it. Sure it's frustrating having another underage looking female in the cast but it's even more frustrating having recycled moves. Tekken already exists. I don't want the character line-up to look like a Tekken game. I was hoping for a fresh move-set with a lot of imagination. I remember how cool the adjustments to Ayane and Helena in DOA4 from DOA3. That's the minimum kind of imagination I expect from Team Ninja. I don't want a character directly hijacking BKO or Brad's stances; that just seems lazy.

 

I´d love to see VF Vanessa as DLC!

 

"Lee said when talking about creating Honoka. "Maybe its a cultural difference, but sometimes in the East it’s dictated by aesthetics first and then the story is developed through character design. Rather than saying, the sister of so-and-so just got messed up by him, so let’s create a revenge story. Lots of times we review character designs and she seems like a 15 year old school girl, she’s coming home from school, let’s create a story about that."

Obvious people instantly jumps to conclusions and either ignore the "she seems like" part of the wording or deliberately joke about it...

So are we now gonna play the "Atleast Marie is not a pedo anymore but Honoka is" game now? Or are we still gonna act like a good chunk of the roster wasn't pedo bait at all before DOA5?

Either way, it really brought nothing new(Americans like "badasses"...seriously, I hate how that's USUALLY what most people ask for and Japanese like cute women)

@Argentus

well not really. Leifang, Hitomi, and Mila all had their initial characterizations dropped to be turned into generic "cutesy" girls, as well.

Okay seriously, I'm not sure if you played this series from DOA1 to 5 like I did because you keep saying that they got turned into cutesy characters...yet ignored the fact that:

A) Hitomi was mainly playing dead serious during DOA3 because her father's dojo was in failure of closing. And even during parts of 5 took herself pretty seriously on top of that(being in the DOA finals apparently isn't serious enough...) and unless I remember, I think she had streaks of her current personality in her win quotes in past DOA games on top of that.

B) Lei Fang was basically a total bitch, okay over-exaggerating, but she definitely wasn't pleasant. How dare she bonds with Hitomi, she should still be an unpleasant shrew.

C) Mila only had ONE GAME and you ASSUMED she would be anything but cute...because. Hell, I remember you using COSTUMES as the reason she became "cutesy", not the fact she geeked the fuck out meeting Tina or how she acted in her few scenes in the story mode. Fact like Hitomi having a brutal fighting style doesn't mean you are as hard as steel.

I swear it seems like more and more people want Ayane/Hayate-type characters

 

For real doe, is there any girl from TN's old games that could rock his moveset?

Ayane (PHASE-GENRA)? I mean she got the saber.

 

I imagine they delayed the game because of how well it did preorder wise on Steam. They've said nothing in regards to which version it would be and what has caused a separate delay on the netcode on top of the game itself. My guess is they thought this wouldn't be a worthwhile venture and were about to release the basic version of Last Round (last gen doesn't have any of the new stages, textures, and hair styles).

A modder with a few hours of spare time can make an entire costume pack(which is basically 2 to 3 different costumes with slight alterations or colors for the same 10ish charactars) for every single character for free vs the outrageous $15 to $20 per pack. I'd go as far as saying they can make even better costumes with higher quality details and textures in the same time frame. They can even make them fully nude, as the crappy string bikinis they've been releasing for the same prices.

Besides the Legacy and casual collection where every character got real detailed and unique costumes. They've been especially underhanded with most of these packs, but it's also been a great source of revenue for such little effort. Modding would pull the rug under that. It would also expand their player base. The whole modding comment by Team Ninja is really shitty when you think about. They'd rather prioritize their short term income at the cost of their player base and long term income.

Last Round is a very lazy update in itself. 2 stages, 2 pallate swap characters(Honoka is literally using Marie Roses model), minimal next gen updates, PS3 and 360 missing the majority of the new content, PC release with no solid information or release date. Of course Capcom has done worse with Ultra SFIV, literally ripping content from a forgotten fighter. There's actually some new content in DOA5 LR.

There's no reason DOA5 couldn't be the premier 3D fighting game. Very high quality gameplay with tons of depth done in a very cohesive and understanding way that most people could pick up and play. With tons of flashy stages and cool costumes with easy to pick up deep gameplay. DOA has always been an progressive innovative fighting game that marched to the beat of it's own drum. But the emphasis on sex and bikinis takes so much away from that. It's not the fact that these things exist in the game that's an issue, it's the fact that it's so front and center. DOA is like being the most qualified applicant, but showing up to an interview in a string bikini.

It's so jarring to watch DOA on streams. You'll tune into a stream and the grand finals is a character in a bunny bikini fighting a character missing half her costume.

DOA5 was supposed to be about fighting and being a fighter. Taking combat to the next level. Taking all the ideas of past DOAs and streamlining them into gameplay. Taking the female characters, making them look more unique and relatable, dressed to fight. Virtua Fighter was being collaborated to help cement this new era of DOA and celebrate the series for its roots. Then A few minority pervert otakus start screaming the loudest and Team Ninja does the biggest 180 in history. Ayane and Hitomi get severely altered faces and bigger tits and more revealing costumes than they did in the beta. I'm a fighter started becoming a soft core porn slogan. With greater emphasis on sweat and breast jiggle and female models becoming a focus for the development team and marketing. All that said they still managed to make a really solid engine inspite of the increased focus and priority on sex.

The first and only new female announced was Mila, dressed like a tomboy, decently proportioned (as are the added Pai and Sarah from VF) unique relatable look and a fighter with her own personality. She represented everything DOA5 was supposed to become. Here we are with Last Round and all the new females are progressively worse and worse, but Honaka is especially offensive given the original direction of the series. No thought or personality, the whole idea of the character isn't even thematically coherent. She's advertised as being a clone with the biggest pair of tits(soft engine redeemed said no one). Using another characters model and with nothing unique to add to the series. She represents everything DOA5 was butchered into. A soulless pair of oversized tits.

/rant

My thoughts on this whole debacle with DOA5 that I posted on Gaf earlier.

 

The east loves sexy girls. The west loves big sweaty guys.

At least...it certainly sounds like it each time a female fighter is announced.
Ha

Yes it's really weird. I like sexy girls a lot, and I don't really understand (hetero) men who say they don't like sexy girls.

 

I said it before and I'll say it again, if this was a JP exclusive game they would not be listed as 18. That just gives me more evidence.

 

Ayane (PHASE-GENRA)? I mean she got the saber.

And you know people will go livid at Genra becoming a female, even IF they bring Genra as well(see Raidou and Honoka)

 

Basically, all this article and the comments to the articles are telling me that it's hard to please everyone. Obviously, different player cultures have different tastes, but it's not always absolute. Fact of the matter is, Team Ninja brought DOA5 to next gen because the fans asked for it and we got our wish. Team Ninja was also gracious enough to not leave out last gen players and even made the current gen versions worth the purchase, because they are the premium versions that will most likely get new DLC while last gen versions get left in the dust. Team Ninja has done a lot to support the game over the years and while we, the players, may bitch about costumes and the like, let's just be grateful with what we have and that the company is supporting the game we love in a huge way. And it's clear from the article that support for DOA5 isn't going to stop anytime soon. What I hate is people who keep bashing costumes and sex appeal, thinking that DOA5 hasn't turned into a competitive fighter. The gameplay system in DOA5/5U/5LR has made the game more competitive than ever before and at various tournaments, DOA has had higher entrants than other 3D fighters. All we can do, as a community, is continue to give Team Ninja CONSTRUCTIVE feedback and support our game by attending tournaments.

 

Ayane (PHASE-GENRA)? I mean she got the saber.

Oh I like that. Maybe they could also do a jello Ayane with his moveset and call her Omega... Alpha and Omega tag team *Kreygasm*

 

Obvious people instantly jumps to conclusions and either ignore the "she seems like" part of the wording or deliberately joke about it...

So are we now gonna play the "Atleast Marie is not a pedo anymore but Honoka is" game now? Or are we still gonna act like a good chunk of the roster wasn't pedo bait at all before DOA5?

just because a character is underage doesn't make them pedo bait. the youngest characters prior to MR was Ayane when she was 14 in NG which took place two years prior o DOA1, she was actually designed as a 16 year old in DOA which is considered an adult in a lot of places. 12 is the age of consent pretty much nowhere and that's how MR was designed both appearance and personality wise.