Team NINJA Social Media Updates for DOA6

[inochinagi]

@human013 - I think you're confusing people wanting and hoping for things with saying that this stuff is needed. I mean, of course they don't need us. They can throw away any desire to improve gameplay or give oldschool fans what they want and just go full waifu simulator even with the base game if they want. We're talking about what we'd like to see, what we hope and wish TN would do, and why we think it would be beneficial to them and for us. It wouldn't be diversity for the sake of diversity, it would just likely open up the game to international audiences more, but more than that it's just something fans here would like to see. We're not saying it needs to replace or change existing content, but be in addition to what DoA has already.

Yeah, TN has always prided its self on making very Japanese styled games as opposed to focusing on the west like other developers have, and I think even most international fans are glad about that and like it that way. But not everything about DoA in the past pandered to or only appealed to a niche Japanese market, it's only moved more in that direction recently. You can argue DoA is going after the same audience as Senran Kagura now, not the larger but harder to please audience of past games as much. If one audience wasn't being neglected in favour of the other maybe no one would be disappointed. It's fine to say KT or TN took a "risk" (not really, I'm sure they knew it'd be a hit with a certain audience) with DoA's direction recently and in some ways it probably payed off (financially, I guess, thanks to VV and DLC sales... yeah great, lets be fine with them putting profit before anything else), but why is there a problem with us being critical about that direction?

 

[zoo]

Well tbh the older DOA games, while clearly Japanese, had a western edge to them especially when the games were on Xbox.. Aerosmith, Dennis Rodman, some of the fashion tropes, even the main theme of Xtreme was in English. Vanilla 5 was one of the most American feeling DOAs with its urban tone and music. A lot of people in the west grew up on DOA and it's easy to think that was sorta abandoned when Xtreme 3 started to carry the franchise. DOA4, one of the more popular games in the series, gave us 3 new types of characters with Lisa (though technically an Xtreme character), Eliot and Kokoro. Lisa and Eliot broke new ground for DOA in terms of character design and they were incredibly fun to play imo. It was clear Itagaki was trying to diversify the roster a bit at the time and though Lisa isn't too popular in Japan she's a cool addition that didn't hurt sales of the game. Not saying Diego and the lolipuff girls aren't new, cause they are, I just personally didn't care for them is all, sans NiCO... I mean she attacks with lightning it's clear they had fun making her

I don't really see the harm in adding POC or different nationalities to the game as long as they're appealing and have a fun fight style, I mean it's a fighting game after all. In DOA's universe you would want different faces of people in your "world tournament." Diego flopping really had more to do with the fact that the character was half assed and DOA6 having such shit marketing that not even SNK could save it. Besides it's not like they couldn't have just added multiple women to the base game like DOA4 did. If they have so little confidence in a black character selling the game anywhere (one TN would actually want to incorporate) then add some other waifu they know will get traction in Japan. No one was racing to play Kollector in MK11 but the creative intent was there and he added to the roster. Legitimately think that's the only way to do it though since the game is completely doubling down on the Japanese fanbase currently. Not trying to extend some aimless debate about representation but I'm more on the side of it'd be refreshing, different types of people play DOA. Does it objectively NEED it? likely not.

 

[werewolfgold]

As for the diversity thing, I get where people are coming from, but why does DOA need to do that? It's a Japanese game created by Japanese people with a story revolving around a Japanese setting designed for a Japanese audience.

Then don't sell it outside of Japan. Otherwise, actually have some characters from around the world in your world fighting tournament.

 

[Awesmic]

Why would they get rid of Mai? She's--

An old maid who needs to retire and settle down with Andy before he starts playing with Woody and Buzz.

*runs*

 

[Ninoasker]

An old maid who needs to retire and settle down with Andy before he starts playing with Woody and Buzz.

*runs*

ANDYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

 

[dashingcometstarchaser]

I like the new costumes. Marie Rose looks like Chun-Li

Now, Marie just needs to get to the gym and work on her legs.

 

[Dionysus]

NiCO's dress makes her look so thin, I start to get worried about her health.

 

[UpSideDownGRUNT]

"new" costumes

 

[dashingcometstarchaser]

"new" costumes

I know I know, but we have to find some light in the darkness.

 

[P2p1mbs]

"new" costumes

Technically new for NiCO

 

[Project Bokuho]

I know I know, but we have to find some light in the darkness.

lma0

 

[Awesmic]

I like the new costumes. Marie Rose looks like Chun-Li

Now, Marie just needs to get to the gym and work on her legs.

And age up 30 years.

 

[human013]

I think you're confusing people wanting and hoping for things with saying that this stuff is needed. I mean, of course they don't need us. They can throw away any desire to improve gameplay or give oldschool fans what they want and just go full waifu simulator even with the base game if they want. We're talking about what we'd like to see, what we hope and wish TN would do, and why we think it would be beneficial to them and for us. It wouldn't be diversity for the sake of diversity, it would just likely open up the game to international audiences more, but more than that it's just something fans here would like to see. We're not saying it needs to replace or change existing content, but be in addition to what DoA has already.

The only thing we NEED more of in DOA is dark/darker skin fighters...

I don't know where you got the gameplay thing from but I lol'ed at the waifu simulator line though. DOA definitely didn't have that reputation before.

Yeah, TN has always prided its self on making very Japanese styled games as opposed to focusing on the west like other developers have, and I think even most international fans are glad about that and like it that way. But not everything about DoA in the past pandered to or only appealed to a niche Japanese market, it's only moved more in that direction recently. You can argue DoA is going after the same audience as Senran Kagura now, not the larger but harder to please audience of past games as much. If one audience wasn't being neglected in favour of the other maybe no one would be disappointed. It's fine to say KT or TN took a "risk" (not really, I'm sure they knew it'd be a hit with a certain audience) with DoA's direction recently and in some ways it probably payed off (financially, I guess, thanks to VV and DLC sales... yeah great, lets be fine with them putting profit before anything else), but why is there a problem with us being critical about that direction?

Well tbh the older DOA games, while clearly Japanese, had a western edge to them especially when the games were on Xbox.. Aerosmith, Dennis Rodman, some of the fashion tropes, even the main theme of Xtreme was in English. Vanilla 5 was one of the most American feeling DOAs with its urban tone and music. A lot of people in the west grew up on DOA and it's easy to think that was sorta abandoned when Xtreme 3 started to carry the franchise. DOA4, one of the more popular games in the series, gave us 3 new types of characters with Lisa (though technically an Xtreme character), Eliot and Kokoro. Lisa and Eliot broke new ground for DOA in terms of character design and they were incredibly fun to play imo. It was clear Itagaki was trying to diversify the roster a bit at the time and though Lisa isn't too popular in Japan she's a cool addition that didn't hurt sales of the game. Not saying Diego and the lolipuff girls aren't new, cause they are, I just personally didn't care for them is all, sans NiCO... I mean she attacks with lightning it's clear they had fun making her

I don't really see the harm in adding POC or different nationalities to the game as long as they're appealing and have a fun fight style, I mean it's a fighting game after all. In DOA's universe you would want different faces of people in your "world tournament." Diego flopping really had more to do with the fact that the character was half assed and DOA6 having such shit marketing that not even SNK could save it. Besides it's not like they couldn't have just added multiple women to the base game like DOA4 did. If they have so little confidence in a black character selling the game anywhere (one TN would actually want to incorporate) then add some other waifu they know will get traction in Japan. No one was racing to play Kollector in MK11 but the creative intent was there and he added to the roster. Legitimately think that's the only way to do it though since the game is completely doubling down on the Japanese fanbase currently. Not trying to extend some aimless debate about representation but I'm more on the side of it'd be refreshing, different types of people play DOA. Does it objectively NEED it? likely not.

I never said DOA was 100% Japanese, just that the people who made it, the core of the series, and the audience are all Japanese. Sure, there are western influences in DOA but the game is still mainly Japanese. Take Eliot for example. His demeanor and appearance are clearly aimed towards the Japanese audience. He's not Asian but he clearly has all the traits Japanese people like to use for their characters. Compare that to how most video game males are portrayed in the west. There's also GG which has been strongly influenced by western ideas but at its core it is still Japanese. How popular are pretty boys in the west? Ky is clearly of Japanese design and for the Japanese audience even though GG as a lot of western elements.

If something isn't included then it just isn't what the creator or developer wanted. They still want the game to come out like how they imagined it. Again, look at every other fighting game, their audience, and the creator. BB is mainly Japanese and is played in the west but Mori is Japanese and he has his own vision and style for the game. He should add a POC because...?? Should Samurai Shodown add a POC too? Why? What about SC? All these games are played around the world and the developers should drop their ideas and make a POC because...??? The same applies to DOA. Fighting games aren't "POC Fighter" or "Be as inclusive as we can fighter". This reminds me of when people were complaining about anime shows not having POC in them or something like that.

Like I said, POC are fine. Just don't make their skin color the reason why they're "good". Zasalamel for example is more than just his skin color. He isn't a good character because he is black. He is a good character because of his fighting style, his story, his weapon, Abyss, and personality. The opening movie for SC3 made him good. He was a mysterious serious badass overlooking the scene who then turned into Abyss. The new character in Guilty Gear Strive is interesting not because he's black but because he has a strange mechanical mask and his debut made him look amazing.

I remember someone here telling me that Rig was not a boring character like Nico because he was a Canadian taekwondo practitioner and that was it. The combination of him being Canadian and using Taekwondo is what made him not boring.

 

[Onryoki]

I like the new costumes. Marie Rose looks like Chun-Li

Now, Marie just needs to get to the gym and work on her legs.

Chun Li, sweetie, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry that a ugly ass bitch like this would even say that. Oh my god.

Oh my god. Are you fucking insane? Chun Li? Chun Li? Chun Li? You know what she really look like? She fucking look like Mike Zakowski from Monsters inc .

NiCO's dress makes her look so thin, I start to get worried about her health.

Skinny legend NiCO,

 

[inochinagi]

@human013 - he said "WE need", not "they need" or "TN needs" or "the game needs", and that was just one person too. People tend to use the word "need" pretty loosely, and I think most people know that (like to exagerate how much they want something or how good of an idea they think it is). You can pretty much tell the tone of how someone is using the word though. I might have used the word myself that way. As for PoC, I never brought up that term, I don't think being more diverse just means skin colour, but I mean being more diverse than "focusing on young pretty girls", and all the games you mentioned saying "they should be POC?", well their rosters are already more diverse than DoA's in multiple ways. And again, someone already said this before, but fighting games are usually about world tournaments, as is DoA, so it's not right to compare it with anime in general or even other video games or fighting games that aren't about world tournaments. DoA rarely even throws a bone to male characters when it comes to costumes anymore, even compared to DoA5. It's a low bar, but Rig was Canadian, male, and did Taekwondo... that's diverse when it comes to DoA at this point, lol. Since DoA came back with DoA5 there was just 2 new male characters: Rig and Diego. Three if you count Cyber Raidou.

Again, you keep arguing the devs can do what they want to make their games, fine. Who's arguing they shouldn't? We have no power here. This is just a fan community where we can discuss and see how everyone feels about the series we all share interest in with people who care about this series and have loved playing it since its earlier days, along with new fans. Its a place to socialize and exchange/share information. All we can do is vote with our wallets, express our joys or disappointments on here, and decide whither we want to keep playing or not. The devs can do whatever they want but I can stop playing or paying once things get bad enough. I've had to do it before with some of my favorite series, it can happen again, but I really hope not. If I did, I don't think I'd be the only one at that point. I think this place collectively can at least be seen as representative of how international fans feel about the game, and you can get a sense of what that feel is by seeing what the a majority of us are agreeing about.

 

[werewolfgold]

BB is mainly Japanese and is played in the west but Mori is Japanese and he has his own vision and style for the game. He should add a POC because...?? Should Samurai Shodown add a POC too? Why? What about SC? All these games are played around the world and the developers should drop their ideas and make a POC because...???

To stop the characters from all looking the same. Marie is from Sweden and Honoka is from Japan yet they barely have different faces. SamSho literally just added Darli Dagger and up to this point had South Americans and characters from other areas from the jump, despite from the title indicating that it's a game about samurai. They also had grotesque monsters to choose from for variety. Pretty sure Nioh 2 added either actual Yasuke or a Yasuke analog in the game. No one ever has to, but it breaks up the sameness.

And especially since DOA clearly has a penchant for having everyone dress in the same outfit now. lol

 

[Anura]

@human013

Let’s not make this is about japanese creative freedom being threatened by westerners demanding token representation.

This isn’t about japanese fighting games fans and developers not liking dark skinned characters.

Zack has been in every DoA fighting game. Lisa is an american latina and she is back in DoA 6 despite the fact that she wasn’t included in the recent spinoff games.

And it isn’t about japanese people being from another planet.

Many DoA characters aren’t japanese. Eliot might not be macho but Bayman, Bass, Brad, Jann Lee and Zack represent different kinds of manliness.

I understand that companies exist to make money and rights holders can do whatever they want with their IP, but I’d like to see new characters be a combination of male, “old” and intimidating. But I suspect that won’t happened because people wouldn’t want to see them in bikini.

As for Najd from KOF, forget her ethnicity. Yes she is young and attractive, but she is also a vigilante who wears a robe-like dress, has a deep voice, her quotes are similar to Rachel’s and her animations look cool to me (her djinn can bite her opponent's head off). I guess she shares some traits with Zafina from Tekken lol.

But you are right about NiCO, she does feel like a fighter even though she was inspired by anime.

 

[candynarwhal]

NiCO is honestly excellent in every aspect except for her visual design - and my only problem with that is the fact that she looks like a Final Fantasy reject.

I don't even mind the hair, it's the fucking outfit. Why couldn't they have given her the blazer and skirt over the leotard with the cut-outs, as her default?

 

[KasumiLover]

NiCO is honestly excellent in every aspect except for her visual design - and my only problem with that is the fact that she looks like a Final Fantasy reject.

I don't even mind the hair, it's the fucking outfit. Why couldn't they have given her the blazer and skirt over the leotard with the cut-outs, as her default?

Do you mean the high waisted thong leotard? And Christie actually has her alternate original design costume as her outfit in DOA6, the one with the black boots and shorts with the fishnet like leggings and the white frilled long sleeve shirt. Her alternate hair with the spiky blue hair was also her original design concept hair too, I think they wanted to give Nico a more mature and darker Appearnace with that concept but they decided that the reward for making her design more moe would yield a greater reward and they went with that over the original one and they used that outfit as Christie's new alternate costume and just kept her old hair as alternate look.

 

[human013]

he said "WE need", not "they need" or "TN needs" or "the game needs", and that was just one person too. People tend to use the word "need" pretty loosely, and I think most people know that (like to exagerate how much they want something or how good of an idea they think it is). You can pretty much tell the tone of how someone is using the word though. I might have used the word myself that way. As for PoC, I never brought up that term, I don't think being more diverse just means skin colour

I don't mean anything bad but you did read the post I originally replied to right?

I think the characters that have made the game thus far all make sense in content, aesthetics, and variety. I will include Tamaki in this even. The boys have to stay, the mature females are a must, the new girls all work very well and feel very DOA, so they must stay. I believe everyone in the cast is quintessential to DOA. The only thing we NEED more of in DOA is dark/darker skin fighters, both male and female. POC characters are extremely lacking.The entire cast shouldn’t be 49% Asian (90% of these being Japanese specifically), 49% white (mix of European and American), 1% black, and 1% Lisa (because no one can agree on her ethnicity *smh*). I personally want Kelly Roland’s aesthetic as DOA girl to be the next new fighter, but I would settle for a dark skinned black girl in DOA. There are also so many other missing Ethnicities. I’d love a character from India.

I'm just replying to the words I see.

SamSho literally just added Darli Dagger and up to this point had South Americans and characters from other areas from the jump, despite from the title indicating that it's a game about samurai. They also had grotesque monsters to choose from for variety.

Okay then, in the SamSho roster how many POC are there? Compare the numbers like what was done for DOA. How much of the SamSho cast is Asian, white, and so on. Like I said before, each game has it's own vision for their game. Why did SamSho add those grotesque monsters in? Because the developers see them as characters that fit the game. It fits their view of what they want the game to be.