Ok let's talk wall and especially Ground Game / Oki
As for the wall, my early impressions are I don't really like the implementation they are going for in 6. For a game they are trying to make more accessible by removing certain options, primarily slow/stagger escape, adding a convoluted system like different wall splats for different attacks doesn't make much sense, nor does it really follow the design philosophy that lead to prior decisions. Now you will have to know what move does what wall splat for each character, and that adds a lot of pseudo-depth to the game, and unfortunately this isn't the kind of depth that makes the game more interesting.
This is a good point, however I thing having two different wall splats doesn't wholly go against the philosophy of making decisions clear. Stagger escape was very ambiguous. Whereas having two wall hits, is not too much of a leap to learn and its nice to have SOME nuance.
On the surface, its just "get hit into the wall and you're in trouble". How much trouble and how to deal with pressure is ALWAYS going to be a deeper conversation with a new player, so I don't mind this. Previously it was "avoid the wall", now it's that AND, "watch the reset attempt".
Also, from the video demonstrations on Twitter (our only reference source as of now), the damage difference between the guaranteed DOA5 style wall combo, and the more risky DOA4 style wall combo, were not significant enough to ever go for the non-guaranteed version. Of course with the DOA4 wall style I'm sure there will be room to play with the stun system if you really need the damage, but I'm not sure if that would be worth it most of the time.
Totally agree here. But then I think the damage is too low on strikes (life setting too high). See the first post on the thread on this.
Something else I'd like to see, although it is surely too late, is a more fleshed out Oki system. After a wall combo in DOA2 and 3, the character on the receiving end of the combo would end up slumped against the wall, and a wake up kick was not possible. However, in DOA3 (NTSC-J and PAL only), if a character teched off the wall in either the up or down direction, and the offensive player continued to attack, the defender would end up behind the attacker because the attacker would be off-axis. However, if the attacker read the direction, he could free step with them and still keep their opponent's back to the wall. I always thought this was a very subtle yet interesting mind game, and allowed other defensive options rather than the hold or wake up kick, while at the same time created a counter to this option that didn't directly lead to damage, but allowed a good read to leave you in an advantageous position.
Totally agree there needs to be a real oki game. I don't think its too late either. This is supposedly one of the final things they're deciding on implementation (in the ground game anyway). So..
1. Agree there needs to be a No Wake Up Kick Wall Slump.
- As they've now implemented two types of moves to cause WALL HIT, how about if you juggle someone into the wall and land with the harder wall hit, they slump and can't Wake Up kick?
- Personally, I'd rather just keep it simple and any juggled Wall Hit means No Wake Up Kick!
2. Hard Knockdowns need to lead to the wake up game. This is the same idea as having an option in Wall hits to risk more for a reset.
- If you juggle the opponent there is no reason not to do a full damage combo
- Lets add an option - and the moves already exist - to do a smaller damage combo after a juggle, which leaves the opponent in a hard knockdown (no techroll). This would lead to the below, as a way to reset.
3. Ground game / Forced Wake up (no wake up kick)
- From a hard knockdown, provide each character with 1-2 moves which progress a Forced Wakeup.
- One could be a short/quick move that causes a roll back and wake up
- One would be a slower move that causes Wakeup standing. This would be a string ender or single move with no followup, usually a standing attack with a downward hitbox, like an axe kick.
- the opponent forced up cannot wakeup kick but can block. In fact, there should be meaty attack follow ups that force them to block or get hit.
Adding an alternative strategy to lead to more potential damage by forcing a hard knockdown, another path to damage, opens up strategy. 2 leads to 3 above.
This could be great for players aiming to build momentum for a comeback.