Dead or Alive 6

[Asura]

Hopefully it's to add Tina Though I doubt it.

[Paddy]

Although its only going to be a week before DMC5 I might still pick this up if I can find it for a good price. Team Ninja haven't really been forthcoming about any guest characters this time have they? Are they stripping the game back so its just the original series cast again? I think Diego is a welcome edition but I was hoping for a female character in the vein of Mila rather than the anime-leaning Nico (so that's 3 characters now that are returning DOA back to its creeper roots).

Hopefully they add more mature characters at a later point (its not been confirmed beyond Phase-4 and Nyōtengu whether any of the other crossover characters (Rachel, Momiji) are returning yet). It'd be a shame as they were fun to use in addition to being nice eye candy.

[Asura]

Wait, did they Street Fighter V-this one too, like Soul Calibur? I was hoping just to buy the game and have everything, except costume content which I tend to just ignore.

How has it been hacked apart to sell in pieces?

[eastyy]

I am really hoping there is a lot less of this

[Asura]

I am really hoping there is a lot less of this

To be fair, DOA6 Core Fighters is a "free" game. Like you get the base game and some (3?) characters completely free; you buy the rest of the game in small pieces, and if you buy all of the "main" content (all the fighters etc.) it only comes to the price of a normal AAA fighting game.

It only ends up costing silly money if you really must have every bikini costume.

[speedlolita]

Isn't that the point of Dead or Alive at the end of the day?

[Asura]

Isn't that the point of Dead or Alive at the end of the day?

It's a multi-faceted brand.

In seriousness they're actually good fighters, at least DOA2, 2U, 3 and 4 were (I didn't get into 5).

Even DOAX1 was actually a pretty good volleyball game, daft though that seems. The follow-ups amped up the quirky side of it and got worse instead of gameplay.

[speedlolita]

I was awful at the volleyball game, but I enjoyed the float hopping game.

[Neon Ignition]

I'll likely give DOA6 a go, would seem weird not to after this many entries, but it looks like a very bland entry and they've no chance of convincing anyone that it isn't going to have its teats milked dry via DLC. In the end though it'll be the same sense of empty sadness that it's okay.. but Sega still isn't making a new Virtua Fighter...

[Asura]

...but Sega still isn't making a new Virtua Fighter...

This is the thing. I think a lot of us former VF fans go to DoA just because whilst it isn't the same, it's the closest thing.

[Paddy]

The Dead or Alive 6 Beta is available to download from the UK Playstation Store via the following link:

https://store.playstation.com/en-gb/product/EP4108-CUSA14562_00-DOA6ONLINEBETA00

EDIT: There are 5 characters to play as - Kasumi, Hayabusa, Hayate, Ayane and Diego. I'm mainly having matches with Diego given he's new and Kasumi and she's the one I'm most familiar with out of the returning characters.

It seems fairly robust and doesn't take too long to get used to the new mechanics. It would be nice to have a greater variety of characters to play with but there you go.

[eastyy]

Tried it feels like DOA as usual, few extra stuff and changes but playing online ...only had a few matches but I do not think its roll back net code as there was a really noticeable delay with me pressing buttons and character doing stuff

[Asura]

Just saw another article where the director of this has said they've consciously toned down the clothing damage on the female characters, so as to make the game less sexist and appeal more to a female demographic - in addition to how they have the Xtreme series for fans who still want the franchise's sex-focused side.

Getting a bit concerned; I really hope Team Ninja don't salt the field on this one. I actually quite like how the Dead or Alive games play, and I'd like to see them continue, but everywhere I look online, in every news article, I see people coming out of the woodwork in the comments to say that they feel they're one of the "sexist" fans who Team Ninja don't want anymore, and they're staying away.

The thing is, this is the 6th game in a series with a highly sexual identity. It shares the franchise with a spinoff series that is the poster-child for sexual themes in videogames. If Team Ninja were really worried about the sexual content and wanted to try and become the "big man on campus" in terms of eSports fighting games (like they really wanted to try and become the 3D equivalent of what Street Fighter IV was in 2011) I think they should've kicked off a completely new fighting game series, with a new premise and new characters, and let DOA lie fallow for a few years.

Fighting games have a problem in this regard, because I think everyone likes to imagine they'd go to the finals at EVO, and that fantasy falls apart if the game isn't quite a big success out of the gate. Admittedly I feel this way too; becoming good at a fighter can require quite a lot of investment from the player, and no-one wants to invest in a non-starter of a game.

We've seen this a few times in media in recent years, as budgets have become bigger and/or publishers want a bigger slice of the pie; where elements of a franchise are changed to try and give it a broader appeal - but sometimes that comes at the expense of the existing fans. It's a gamble. It'd be like if FROM Software suddenly announced Armored Core 6 and it was a Battlefield-esque first-person shooter because the existing fanbase isn't big enough. Actually, a more relevant example - it'd be like if Senran Kagura announced an entirely "serious" game with more realistic visuals and no nudity; would anyone buy that? Probably not.

If this reviews really well I'll take a punt on it, but we might be headed for a bit of an upset.

[Paddy]

You make some great points Asura. Tbh since we've been exposed to games like Senran Kagura that push the perverted and sexual themes much more directly than DOA I'm also a little surprised that Team Ninja wants to tone things down. Players were able to change settings in DOA5 so the focus was more on the fighting and not on the voyeuristic elements of the series. I'd like to think they'd do the same this time around (don't burn the bridge with the long-term fanbase as they're more likely to be the repeat investors/spenders for your series).

On a side note, its a shame we don't seem to be getting any guest characters out of the gate this time around (I like how the VF characters and Mai Shiranui were adapted to fit DOA5). Maybe we'll get some later down the line though.

[Neon Ignition]

I have absolutely zero faith in anything Team Ninja has to say on its sexualised content. They just want to avoid any launch controversy, as soon as the initial casual wave has moved on they'll milk DOA6 to death on the series more loyal fanbase with a ton of pervy content.