Lets talk about redesigns

[Tyaren]

They didn't redesign anything. Just upped the poly-count and texture resolution like they have with literally every other character.

I was waiting telling them exactly this until I could show them, lol

In 95% of all cases when people claim a character model has been changed, it's actually not the case. Different lighting, different angle/perspective and different expression can make a big difference.
As with Leifang the eyes seem a bit narrower/differently shaped here, but I think that is also due to more animated facial expressions, not because the eyes are actually differently shaped.
She got new eyelashes though... The new ones are thinner and longer.

 

[Chapstick]

I made a direct comparison of Hitomi:

Hitomi discovered lip gloss

 

[HHH816]

they just give her the angry eyes

 

[UpSideDownGRUNT]

I don't know... her mouth looks less weird though... even with that comparison I see a very small difference.

I was also mostly referring to her CG render because that looks noticeably different to in game.

 

[KnacKrover]

Hitomi's design are more sharp while her eyes brown and her lip slightly different.

 

[just_me]

from the 4gamer interview:

4 Gamer:
Regardless of old and new characters, it takes a certain amount of time to develop.

Shimbori:
Yes. Furthermore, regarding the expressions unique to the DOA series, we are planning to throw away the old engine and change to the next generation engine, but the performance of the old engine is too high, so we can not develop the new version yet. Therefore, although this exhibition version is so, the movement is still a little unnatural. The old engine is made by researching and making day and night, because I and other colleagues programmers and artists poured blood, sweat and tears, so I can not get over it easily.
I myself feel strongly that I want to see the completed version as soon as possible, and I think that everyone in the faire has the same feelings. I am sorry to have you wait, but I believe you can trust the engineers and support us with me.

“the expressions unique to DoA”?… that's a whole paragraph about boob jiggle, isn't it? lol

Spoiler: original Japanese

4Gamer：
新旧キャラクター問わず，開発にはある程度の時間を要すると。

新堀氏：
はい。さらにDOAシリーズならではの表現についても旧エンジンを捨てて次世代エンジンに差し変わる予定なのですが，旧エンジンの性能が高過ぎて，新バージョンのものがまだ開発できていないのですね。そのため，今回の出展バージョンもそうですが，まだ少し動きが不自然になっています。旧エンジンは私や歴代のプログラマやアーティストが血と汗と涙を注ぎ，日夜研究して作ったものですから，そう簡単には越えられないんですよ。
私自身も早く完成版を見たいという気持ちが強く，ファンの皆さんも同じ気持ちを抱いていると思います。お待ちいただいてすみませんが，私と一緒にエンジニアたちを信じて応援していただければと思います。

It's also interesting that they wanted to show female chars at Evo but didn't make it in time XD

 

[UpSideDownGRUNT]

Wait, so they're making a new jiggle engine and the reason there's no jiggle shown off yet is because it doesn't look good enough? lol

 

[HHH816]

is it that hard? seems like an excuse to delay the boob jiggle. i get it showing it early will make the new audience become disinterested with the game.

 

[Onryoki]

Hit a wall and the boat starts moving. Hit a wall and the raft starts moving. Only difference is the danger zone. One has an octopus and the other the cliff. The cliffhangers seem to be gone so we got the other type.

The raft is balancing on a edge, the boat is moving because it’s a wreck and because there’s a kraken near the boat. Your comparisons are really far fetched

when the game gears towards e-sport , there will be limitation and restrained on creativity on stages because good e-sport title favors consistency in game-play.

are you trying to say the forbidden fortune stage has limited creativity? Tekken’s stage might have been its inspiration but the stage looks far more developed and has a lot of creativity.

I made a direct comparison of Hitomi:

I’m happy Hitomi got dark brown hair and bluer eyes instead of the weird color she has in 5. The dark brown really makes her eyes stand out,

 

[Fantailler]

They went from a 8% in June to a 20% in just two months. I know nothing about gaming creation but I'd say this is pretty fast for a game development. Deadline is March 2019, so they have plenty of time if they keep working like this.

I'd say too fast honestly. It sounds really short to me.If the game is lacking in term of content...

If we end up with a reduced roster, low number of stages, costumes and characters,i'll be pissed.

 

[Jadeinchains]

Thanks for the Hitomi comparison @Tyaren , I thought that they'd maybe changed her face model somewhat because her eyes look more mature but I guess thats actually the lighting which looks really good. However their faces do have a lot more expression now so i think it could be a mix of both.

 

[Ceviche]

In the end, they both look better now and that's all that matters .

I'd say too fast honestly. It sounds really short to me.If the game is lacking in term of content...

If we end up with a reduced roster, low number of stages, costumes and characters,i'll be pissed.

I think this is what's going to happen anyway. Seeing how other fighting games are handling DLC, a season pass is inevitable, and I wouldn't be surprised if some characters like Genfu, Leon, Ein and the Ninja Gaiden girls were locked behind it on purpose with maybe some stages too and swimsuits and other fan service outfits.

 

[SaihateDYNAMO]

where are these differences everyone's arguing about? some of you people swear these girls went under the knife because their eye colors are .00075% brighter than before

 

[Fantailler]

@Ceviche honestly my expectactions are reaaaally low with this one.I smell some BS of epic proportions is coming.

If we get three Kasumi but no Leon/Gen Fu...Why is everyone thinking Gen Fu won't be in ?

But we'll see...I just want them to prove me wrong.

 

[prototypetom]

They went from a 8% in June to a 20% in just two months. I know nothing about gaming creation but I'd say this is pretty fast for a game development. Deadline is March 2019, so they have plenty of time if they keep working like this.
For now, they probably are busy in making the new assets (and retouching old ones they are porting) and messing with the actual game mechanics. After that's done (it clearly is their priority since it is the base of the game after all lol), they'll be able to work even faster since all they'd have to do is just model things like the new costumes and stages, mess with the models' rigging to perfect them for the release fix Hitomi's hair ffs and just do some things here and there.

It very much depends on the criteria - is he talking about the total volume of work to be done, or is he talking about how much of the brief is complete? or has he just said a number that sounds good because he was asked?

 

[Leclair]

I made a direct comparison of Hitomi:

ported model?

 

[Raansu]

where are these differences everyone's arguing about? some of you people swear these girls went under the knife because their eye colors are .00075% brighter than before

You've gotta be joking.....

 

[SaihateDYNAMO]

You've gotta be joking.....

Besides lighting changes, better detail in the skin textures, and more expressive faces (in lei's case at least) the faces look almost exactly the same. Where was the joke at??

 

[Hayabusiness]

I really love the new Lei Fang design and how they made her expression more cool.

 

[Tyaren]

ported model?

Team Ninja does not simply port the DOA5 character models to DOA6. There are changes to the models, some more apparent to the naked eye than others. Let's get textures and shaders out of the way:
They are mostly completely new, even on the reused costumes. The hair seems to use higher resolution and less compressed versions of textures that were created for DOA5.
Regarding the polygon models:
Here TN did a mix of reusing without improving, reusing with improving and creating new assets from scratch.
The base body models are completely new, especially on the male characters that's clearly visible. They don't just feature significantly more polygons, but they are also differently shaped/proportioned.
Faces and hair may look superficially the same, but they got a polygon boost to look even rounder.
New costumes are obviously newly modelled from scratch. Some of the reused costumes got a significant polygon boost, like Zack's muay thai gear, Rig's and Hitomi's costumes seem however to be mostly reusing the same assets of DOA5. But even there I noticed slight improvements. Rig's hoodie has a couple more polygons on the lower part of his hoodie, which now also moves during combat.
Last but not least animation and physics:
They are significantly improved on all models. One example are lower eyelids now moving, making the characters' facial expressions much more believable. They do now also smile with their eyes and not just the mouths.

So, they clearly didn't just rip the character models from DOA5 and reused them in DOA6. They completely reworked them, made bigger changes where they were necessary and smaller changes, or no changes at all, where unnecessary. That's imo a good and productive approach, no shame in that.
Also, not all completely new assets are better than the old stuff,... Leifang's new top for example is completely new, but weirdly low polygon, showing very visible polygon angles, and the new male bodies, while finally featuring highly detailed polygon meshes, look stylisticially less natural and more plastic action figure-like, and not only because of the missing navels...

I'm going to reuse this post, or at least parts of it, when the question or claim of fully ripped character models comes up again in the future.