DOA 4

[Johnny_Rock]

Ok, I dident see a thread dedicated to this game so i figured i would make one.

Who else has this game? I think its amazing. Im having a hard time finding any flaws in the game at all. I am truely addicted to this game.

So what do the rest of you think?

[Joker T]

I haven't played it yet but it looks like a title I need to pick up when I get my 360.

[captain nintendo]

Played it a little the other night. It looks amazing and the controls rock.

Great game.

It was a friend of mines copy, but I will buy it based on playing it the other night.

[njiska]

I went through hell to get it yesterday and i'm loving it. I'm also loving how you only have to fight Alpha-152 if it's part of your story.

The only problem i have is that the xbox D-pad doesn't have a clearly defined right, yet again. I often find myself trying to run and instead doing a spin in the air.

[PDorr3]

I plan on buying this tomorrow along with my new HDTV.

[DonMarco]

It looks plenty fine in low def.

I can't count the leaves on the trees or anything, but still.

[AKay]

cool im going to pick up this game tomorrow at CompUSA i'll see you guys on XBL!
AKay

[GrayFox]

Picked it up.

Meh. I have never liked the button-mashy feel of the DoA series. I'm not saying it is, but it just feels that way to me. It's probably because I suck at it.

It's still a fantastic looking game, and the controls are solid feeling. The collision detection is just awesome as well.

Foxtastical = Gamertag. I'm on usually getting my ass kicked.

[njiska]

Picked it up.

Meh. I have never liked the button-mashy feel of the DoA series. I'm not saying it is, but it just feels that way to me. It's probably because I suck at it.


I know what you mean, but button masher must be ware when taking on SS ranked fighters. But make no buts about it DOA4 is hard, brutally hard on Very Hard (not that i'd dare try that level). We shall have some interesting Matches Carey. Mark my words

So does any body like that the final battle makes sense storywise this time? The people who shouldn't be fighting Alpha-152 aren't.

[Eternal Tune]

DOA Online is a shitload of fun. I picked up the game on Friday evening, and played 10 straight hours that night. Played about five tonight and met tons of good people. I usually use Christie, but she's extremely cheap....

[MarkMan]

DoA4 is pretty fun... I don't think the game will be 'good' enough in competitive gamers eyes to be considered a tournament worthy game. The onlin aspect alone though is really cool.

I don't see this game making a huge splash in the competitive gaming circuit... ie EVOLUTION 2006. MLG maybe. I don't think it'll be there among the hardcore.

I'm having a lot of fun with it though, it's a good break from things until my arcade gets Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection.

[pacmanhat]

I'm really impressed by DOA4, but it isn't without a few glaring faults. I find it frustrating at the 'cheapness' the A.I. shows at times, often throwing together a lethal series of juggles that make it nearly impossible to even throw a single punch (I'm looking at you, Alpha-152). These enemies are by no means unbeatable, but can be very frustrating for no good reason.

The other sizeable issue I have with the game is that from a graphical standpoint, I don't see it as that big of a jump from DOAU. The backgrounds are improved, but the visual effects don't seem to have changed much. The character models don't seem much better, either (Eliot looks particularly dull). The biggest offense graphically, though, is the animation for characters with long hair. Anyone with shoulder-length hair or shorter looks fine, but any character with longer hair looks downright awful. Perhaps this isn't as glaring on HDTV (in fact, I'm sure it isn't), but on my regular old TV it's quite noticable.

All in all, though...the game rocks. I love the environment-sensitive throws, the great selection of interesting characters, and a combat system that's as deep as you want it to be. A must-have for any 360 owner.

[njiska]

The other sizeable issue I have with the game is that from a graphical standpoint, I don't see it as that big of a jump from DOAU. The backgrounds are improved, but the visual effects don't seem to have changed much. The character models don't seem much better, either (Eliot looks particularly dull). The biggest offense graphically, though, is the animation for characters with long hair. Anyone with shoulder-length hair or shorter looks fine, but any character with longer hair looks downright awful. Perhaps this isn't as glaring on HDTV (in fact, I'm sure it isn't), but on my regular old TV it's quite noticable.


You really think the long hair looks bad? I mean i admit that close to the head it doesn't look all that great, but just watch how it flows over Kokoros shoulder's during the intro video. It looks real.

As for the graphical level i suggest you look at DOA4 next to DOAU. I did and 4 looks considerably better. Especially Hayabusa's ninja costume. The way the light shines off the leather is amazing.

And yeah Alpha-152 is cheap but she's still a shitload better then DOA3's boss.

[pacmanhat]

You really think the long hair looks bad? I mean i admit that close to the head it doesn't look all that great, but just watch how it flows over Kokoros shoulder's during the intro video. It looks real.

Well yeah, the intro video looks amazing. I was referring more specifically to the in-game hair effects, which are far, far worse. At times, the characters' hairs seemed to split into several awkwardly flowing bunches, which looks...weird.

To be fair, though, I can say from first hand experience that hair (along with fabric, clothing and similar thin, flowing things) are ridiculously difficult to animate realistically, especially when it's being rendered in real-time as opposed to being part of a pre-rendered sequence. Perhaps my expectations were too high in spite of that.

And I'll have to try DOAU and DOA4 back to back. I'd be more than happy to be wrong about my previous analysis. :P

[njiska]

You really think the long hair looks bad? I mean i admit that close to the head it doesn't look all that great, but just watch how it flows over Kokoros shoulder's during the intro video. It looks real.

Well yeah, the intro video looks amazing. I was referring more specifically to the in-game hair effects, which are far, far worse. At times, the characters' hairs seemed to split into several awkwardly flowing bunches, which looks...weird.

To be fair, though, I can say from first hand experience that hair (along with fabric, clothing and similar thin, flowing things) are ridiculously difficult to animate realistically, especially when it's being rendered in real-time as opposed to being part of a pre-rendered sequence. Perhaps my expectations were too high in spite of that.

And I'll have to try DOAU and DOA4 back to back. I'd be more than happy to be wrong about my previous analysis. :P

Something else that's important that seems to be getting ignored now adays is Art Design. The characters look the way they look for a reason. Some people say that a lot of characters, particularly Kasumi and Ayane have almost a cartoon look to them, but this look is not because of graphical limitations, but because of a concisous choice.

Prehaps one of the reasons many people find the character's looking only mildly better then their DOAU (one of the most stunning and graphicly instensive games on the xbox) counter parts is because that's how the characters are ment to be.

It's really not the over all look that matters so much and the smoothness of animation, the lighting (look at Brad Wong and Jann Lee under Neon lights and you'll see what i mean) and the subtle detail to the textures. If you can get a close up of Baymans hat (the in game cutscenes appear to use the same assests as the during a fight) and you'll understand.

As we approach the realm of realistic graphics more and more games that choose to have a stylized look will be getting harsher and and harasher critiques for not looking, "that" impressive.

As for the hair i just played another 4 or so hours with a bunch of the characters and i still maintian that the long hair looks amazing in game. I personally haven't encountered any glitches like you have, but since the animation is handled by a physics routine any thing is possible. Physics can do strange things in games.

Honestly though after playing nearly 10 hours the only thing that really stands out to be as being a problem are the phantom punches.

I've only experienced it twice but i actually witnessed a move connect despite the fact that there was a reasonable size chunk of space between the two fighters. Gamefaqs, confirms that others have experienced this effect also.

It felt like Rumble in the Jungle all over again.

http://www2.ltlowe.com/~suprnova/DP/DOACOMP/dead-or-alive-ultimate-20041201042550435.jpg
http://www2.ltlowe.com/~suprnova/DP/DOACOMP/dead-or-alive-4-20051010060528177.jpg

[zardoz]

So is Kasumi sporting any sailor fuku in DOA4 ? :embarrassed:

[njiska]

So is Kasumi sporting any sailor fuku in DOA4 ? :embarrassed:

Would it be DOA if she didn't? :P Yeah it's there.

[DTJAAAAMJSLM]

I'm having a good time with the game so far. The lack of outfits makes me long for DOAX2! The heightened difficulty is a plus, but I still wish the AI would actually switch outfits to vary things a bit. Niki should've been a playable character...

[hezeuschrist]

I'm having a good time with this game, but being my introduction to the DOA series is probably not a good thing.

It's frustrating to a ridiculous extent. I think i've got a good enough grasp of the fighting engine to get through everyones story but it takes a long time to do so each time.

Online, I suck. I've done SO WELL that I've unlocked the "Lost 10 times in a row" achievement. Ugh :(

[njiska]

I'm having a good time with this game, but being my introduction to the DOA series is probably not a good thing.

It's frustrating to a ridiculous extent. I think i've got a good enough grasp of the fighting engine to get through everyones story but it takes a long time to do so each time.

Online, I suck. I've done SO WELL that I've unlocked the "Lost 10 times in a row" achievement. Ugh :(

I will come in time. I'm a series vetren and i'm still having a heel of a time adjusting to DOA4. Johnny_Rock even gave me the 5 losses in a row Acheivement.

But give it enough time and you'll be doing better.

[AKay]

i got it and played it for a couple of hours this game is a visual delight!
It also has tons of options. Im a newbie to the DOA world but man its a really good game.
Im usually on around 6-7pm so hit me up anyone that wants to play
AKay724-gamertag

[hezeuschrist]

I think I'm done with this game. I beat everyones story mode and after going through (or trying to go through) Hitomi's Time Attack I think I'm just going to shelve the game and be thankful that I used a Best Buy gift Cert on it.

I understand the need to make a game challenging, but I have NO IDEA why things happen in this game, and the game makes absolutely no effort to explain anything.

[njiska]

I understand the need to make a game challenging, but I have NO IDEA why things happen in this game, and the game makes absolutely no effort to explain anything.

Mind sharing what you don't understand? We might be able to help you figure it out.

[hezeuschrist]

Whats most confusing to me is the counter system. I suppose if the game weren't so blazing fast I wouldn't have such a problem, but it makes it nearly impossible to figure out whats going on.

Anyways, counters. I get what directions and X make a counter work against certain attacks. That's not a big deal, and the sparring segment illustrates it rather well.

But there are so many attacks that temporarialy stun your character and it seems to happen at random. Even further, I know I can't reverse out of a juggle. I get that when I'm in the air I'm beat and there's nothing I can do.

But for example, lets take Christie and her super quick jabs. When I was playing through story mode with her I had a lot of trouble not getting reversed to hell and back by just about everyone. I know the bigger grapple characters are more prone to reversals, but Bayman would let me hit him once and then chuck me across the level on EVERY offensive I took.

Not once have I ever been able to interrupt an opponents combo with a reversal. At least not knowingly. I know it can be done and can be done often because it was the large reason why I lost all the matches I did in story mode, but I'll be damned if i can figure out how to un-stun myself long enough to pull off a counter.

Not only that, but the games level of difficulty is just all over the place. I blow through 6 matches in time attack and get to Nicole and she rapes the shit out of me mercilessly, mostly because I CAN'T go on the offensive because she's one of those big grapple characters, and secondly because she's too fast to really know when or where to counter. Playing defense has never worked for me and I'm not even sure it can really be done. I beat her once but it took me a good 10 minutes and it wasn't 10 minutes of fun.

The controller isn't helping either. It's not really the controllers fault but how I'm accustomed to holding it. All too often I'll jump with Kasumi and fart out a bunch of flower petals and then take a boot to the face instead of running towards the opponent. I know an arcade stick would definitely help remedy this.

But all in all, I just don't understand the game, so I'll take the internet high road and say it's gay! (Not really, but I am bitter)

[njiska]

I agree that there are problems with the controller, and it does take a lot of work to get the counter system down (DOA4 is not an entry level game). I'm still having trouble with the reversal but it is something you have to work on.

If you want, i'd be happy to spar with you and try to get you better aquainted with the system. Just add njiska and msg me.

As for the controooler you may want to try using the analog stick. I myself will buy an arcade stick.

[njiska]

Wow. I just unlocked Helena's ending and all i can say is, wow. As a long time DOA fan i can honestly say that there is way there could've been a better ending then that.

[Joker T]

(DOA4 is not an entry level game

I tried it today and I would most ceraintly agree. I have played the last few of them and I had trouble. The A.I. is very good in the game, likely the best i've seen in a fighting game.

[MarkMan]

I agree DoA4 is not an entry level game, there aren't any more fighting games that are like that anymore.

This one at least has some more depth compared to previous iterations. But in the grand scale of things I still feel as if it's lacking compared to the depth in other 3D fighters(Mainly Virtua Fighter 4 EVO and Tekken 5)...

I hope the competitive community for this game picks up... there hasn't been a large tournament for DoA ever... 30 people don't count(which was the largest for DoA ever).

I do hope it is included in the World Fighting Game Championships, Evolution 2006 later this year. It's up to the people.

If anyone is looking for some reference sites for DoA gameplay, you can check out www.doacentral.com and the newly opened www.doalive.com ...

doalive.com focuses more on the hardcore competitive aspect of the game while DoA Central caters to all things DoA.

[hezeuschrist]

Well, i went back to it and I stand by everything I said in this blog post:

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/weblog_entry.php?e=2451

I can't stand this game. Took me 10 minutes to win one round against Alpha-152 in Time Attack with Kasumi, and that didn't even count towards beating time attack with everyone to get Tengu because it was on one win per character.

Fuck it.

[neo-zen]

i have it, but i suck at it, anyone have any sites with with moves on it?

[njiska]

I agree DoA4 is not an entry level game, there aren't any more fighting games that are like that anymore.

This one at least has some more depth compared to previous iterations. But in the grand scale of things I still feel as if it's lacking compared to the depth in other 3D fighters(Mainly Virtua Fighter 4 EVO and Tekken 5)...

I hope the competitive community for this game picks up... there hasn't been a large tournament for DoA ever... 30 people don't count(which was the largest for DoA ever).

I do hope it is included in the World Fighting Game Championships, Evolution 2006 later this year. It's up to the people.

If anyone is looking for some reference sites for DoA gameplay, you can check out www.doacentral.com and the newly opened www.doalive.com ...

doalive.com focuses more on the hardcore competitive aspect of the game while DoA Central caters to all things DoA.

Thank you very much, for that second link. Very interesting.

As for saying there's never been a large tourny for DOA that's a little short sighed. There has never been a large tourny for it here, but there have been large tournaments for it in Japan where the game is considerably more popular. Not EVO big, but still big.

[MarkMan]

I don't really consider tournaments in Japan for this series to be large either. The qualifiers for their Japanese National tournament only had around 30 people or so?

What keeps it from being big, I mean competitive big, in Japan, is the lack of an arcade release.

SC III has gotten tons of complaints in Japan for it not being on arcades, the fans have spoken and they will see an arcade release this year. Let's hope they can complain enough so that DoA gets the same service.

[njiska]

I don't really consider tournaments in Japan for this series to be large either. The qualifiers for their Japanese National tournament only had around 30 people or so?

What keeps it from being big, I mean competitive big, in Japan, is the lack of an arcade release.

SC III has gotten tons of complaints in Japan for it not being on arcades, the fans have spoken and they will see an arcade release this year. Let's hope they can complain enough so that DoA gets the same service.

I would doubt it. Team Ninja hasn't really dabbled in the arcades since DOA2 and despite the fact that an Arcade version of this game would be awsome, i can't see it happening.

[MarkMan]

Me neither. :(

Does anyone know if the guide for DoA4 is out yet? It's written by Bryan Dawson aka DrDogg... whos a pretty well known DoA player in the community.

I'm curious to check it out.

[njiska]

1/10 is the estimated date from what i've heard.

[DonMarco]

1/18 according to the EB computers. I checked today and then sighed a man's sigh.

Amazon says the 24th (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0761551921/qid=1136500708/sr=8-3/ref=pd_bbs_3/103-7259745-5223041?n=507846&s=books&v=glance). This is the first of me learning it's a Prima guide. I vaguely remember reading something about how there will be a limited edition of this like with Soul Calibur III? Bah, maybe that's why I thought Brady was doing it.
First Prima guide I'll buy since Shadow...

[-hellvin-]

There's something I don't understand about this game, the latency on-line. I'll be sitting there, watching a perfectly smooth match after match, nothing wrong, then I'm up. Stupid character select is sliding all over the place and when I get into a match, slow motion! Sometime's it'll be just fine. I don't seem to have any connection problems with my other live games or arcade games but this one seems way too random. Oh well, maybe I'll try it some time again in the future, I think about 15 - 20 losses in a row is enough for today.