First off, I'm a huge fighting game fan (even if I'm not any good at them) and while my preference is for arcade-stylegames, I had a lot of fun with Soul Calibur 2 on PS2, Xbox and GC (I had a fierce rivalry with my friend which eventually came to a head with a four hour, ring-out only, mega-match to determine the best player. It was hell-of fun.) and I adoreDOA:D on my 3DS.

My problem lies with how technical the game is; DOA4's difficulty is way too intense for me to learn any of the basics to a degree I can feel confident using them, but the 3DS game has a nice curve, is a little bit easier to start and I've ended up being a fairly competent, and more importantly confident, Kasumi/Ayane player although I have most of the costumes available to everyone.

What I'm asking then is; did they take lessons from the 3DS game with regards to how approachable the game is or does it still demand a high bar of technical proficiency right from the off.

@Evercaptor: The systems haven't really changed that much since DOA 4 in fact they've added a few things BUT as long as you play with people in your own skill range you should be fine. DOA is a pretty accessible fighter all around. There is also 7 CPU difficulties ranging from Rookie to Legend as well.

The dead or alive franchise is technical?

Dead or Alive was never a technical game. All the command are simple to input and the systems are easy to learn. They did add some elements to it but nothing too major.

bewbs

@NinesSC2: It's the distinction I make. DOA has pre-defined combos you have to learn, which to me makes it technical, compared to Street Fighter where you have 6 buttons and you learn what moves have a hitstun longer than a cooldown.

@Evercaptor said:

DOA4 didn't have a difficulty lower than Normal

That sounds like just the kind of asinine thing Itagaki would do.

@Hunter5024: Yup! as one of the fist five games I owned, I could have been a huge DOA fan except for that.

@Demoskinos said:

@ImmortalSaiyan Well judging by my with it yesterday linking critical bursts to power blows is actually a tad hard. Its also a more advanced skill too.

How many frames is the link?

I never actually tried that. I'll do it next time I get on.

You're intimidated by DOA5 but you love BlazBlue? I find that odd!

@Damodar: Not intimidated, as such, I just wanted to make sure there is a tier for someone unused to how DOA handles fighting because it wasn't there in DOA4. If there wasn't a mode easier than "normal" (which has felt brutal every time I've tried to play DOA4) I'd have lost interest and played some dimensions instead.

Blazblue is pretty easy to learn when you can pull off QCs and Zs.

Oh, so it's more about the AI difficulty than the complexity of the systems involved etc? I'm sure there are other players here at the same skill level that you could play online with etc. Play against others and git yo mindgames on!

I'm an average skill player that just plays it for fun, I'm having trouble on Arcade Easy with some characters.

@Carryboy said:

@Demoskinos said:

@ImmortalSaiyan Well judging by my with it yesterday linking critical bursts to power blows is actually a tad hard. Its also a more advanced skill too.

How many frames is the link?

It sounds silly to me to consider frame data in a game with 60FPS and 3D models. That's just me though; I'm sure it's perfectly legitimate.

@Evercaptor said:

@Carryboy said:

@Demoskinos said:

@ImmortalSaiyan Well judging by my with it yesterday linking critical bursts to power blows is actually a tad hard. Its also a more advanced skill too.

How many frames is the link?

It sounds silly to me to consider frame data in a game with 60FPS and 3D models. That's just me though; I'm sure it's perfectly legitimate.

Personally i think frame data is more important in a 3d fighter then a 2d one.

@Carryboy said:

@Evercaptor said:

@Carryboy said:

@Demoskinos said:

@ImmortalSaiyan Well judging by my with it yesterday linking critical bursts to power blows is actually a tad hard. Its also a more advanced skill too.

How many frames is the link?

It sounds silly to me to consider frame data in a game with 60FPS and 3D models. That's just me though; I'm sure it's perfectly legitimate.

Personally i think frame data is more important in a 3d fighter then a 2d one.

I don't understand how it works :\ and I can't perceive individual frames. I do however know that I can sweep your leg, jump at you, hit you from behind and sweep you again pretty easily.

@Demoskinos: Do you know when the power blow can be used?

@Ravelle: Anytime you are under 50% health. Your health bar will be glowing red. Also, you can only do ONE power blow per match.

@rebgav: Nope. If you watch the Quick Look you'll see the default boob physics setting is already set to crazy.

I don't understand people who say DOA is NOT technical....

@Slay3r1583 said:

@rebgav: Nope. If you watch the Quick Look you'll see the default boob physics setting is already set to crazy.

While they don't behave like real breasts they are far removed from the insanity that was DOA 4 and DOAX2.

Nice discussion, been pondering on the same thing.

@Hunter5024 said:

@Evercaptor said:

DOA4 didn't have a difficulty lower than Normal

That sounds like just the kind of asinine thing Itagaki would do.

People can praise Itagaki all they want, but his notions of balance, challenge and accommodating newcomers are fucked.

I feel the difficulty curve in the story mode is well done actually, even though its ludicrously easy for the first 3/4

@Slay3r1583 said:

@rebgav: Nope. If you watch the Quick Look you'll see the default boob physics setting is already set to crazy.

it never was, it was a setting for your profile.

DOA4's boss was just a lesson in frustration for me. So if the single player difficulty is manageable, I'll most likely pick this up when it's cheaper. I can't wait to see that story mode craziness.