The intention of this thread is to discuss what you feel went right with this game and what you feel went wrong. After having over a year with this game I think people should be able to pinpoint exactly what they feel about this game and what could be done to make the next game, if there will be another one like this, better.

Let me start off with what went right. Self Shadowing. This game has the best self shadowing out of all of the Xbox 360 games I have played or seen. Also wave race was a welcomed addition to the game I hope the next game would have more main game modes added to it like this.

Now for what went wrong starting with Crystal Boutique. Tecmo waited way too long to introduce this to gamers and they linked achievements to collections which gave gamers one less reason to purchase the collections. Next time they should make sure this is available from the beginning and don't link the majority of achievements to collections.

Another thing that went wrong and I don't think Team Ninja is the only one guilty of this, is tap the A button as fast as you can type game-play. Itagaki, Kojima, and Sakaguchi, that is not fun game-play. Stop using it and find something else that can be done in its place. Something that is fun. Stop using that crap.

Just going to quote myself here...

quote:

DOAX2 is a victim of it's own success. Itagaki restated over and over again about learning from the previous game yet made the same mistakes. Fans wanted to see the same style of game just fundamentaly changed with new types of mini-games and just something overall fun to play. Instead we get a game where the core is waveracing and volleyball while the rest of the game is a lesson in aggrevation. The casino is like a real casino. Your chances of winning are pretty slim. In other words, not very fun. The water slide, flag race, and hip wrestling for instance aren't fun at all IMO. Once I realized I could make money just playing the waveracing I never bothered with the others. I didn't want to waste my time in a mini-game that I had a greater chance of losing that only rewarded me a minimal amount of cash. The camera in the game is frustrating as well. You spend more time fighting with the camera than actually taking pictures and by the time you get the camera focused the time you had to take pictures is over. Itagaki had some great ideas for this game except they weren't executed well at all this time. Plus his lack of input from fans on this iteration was one of the things I think ultimately hurt the game as well.

I'd say that DOAX2 lost sight of a focus on user control and that has caused a lot of problems.

I feel DOAX2 volleyball is more frustrating than DOAX because the player has less control over the ball and less defensive ability than the 1st. Hit boxes change based on player and in some cases supply the user with a 50/50 chance on defense. (Sometime less against a full AI Kokoro). Back field spikes are less useful for the player and still give the computer the same camera advantage. Since it is difficult to maintain a high dollar game v-ball loses its spot as game of choice.

IMO pool hopping was around in DOAX so you could earn a small bit of cash and not play the same girl twice in a day and anger her. The extra complexity and time strain (opponent) do not balance out the reward.

Beach Flags is problematic in that the machine can always invoke a trigger faster than a human. So you may win a couple in a row, but the rubber band will snap back.

The rock paper scissors games don't give a good indication of times when you can act so since they are fast they often quickly frustrate the player. Plus reward is not worth it. Very fast and digital in control.

Slide requires you to be in a certain part of the screen at a certain time. Can be abstracted to a kind of a Dragon's Lair style of play. The reward is not worth figuring out where to be at what time.

IMO wave race is the best new game in that it is analog in nature. (You have constant control and work towards refining your control) It is forgiving (except Capricious Teasing) once you know the points where the AI rubber bands and when they no longer rubber band. Plus, it is possible to consistently win the morning and evening tracks while gifting a suit in the daytime slot (which is a good time to attempt gifting for any girl).

I'd say to improve for DOAX 3 the best thing to do is to focus on minigames that use constant consistent action that is above the level of button mashing.

Other things I'd suggest are having special events to rebound the player. (If they lose it all at the Slot Machine then have a gift arrive or some other event with a chunk of cash so there is at least a silver lining to the cloud). Also have a way to guarantee suit acceptance. (possibly at 2-4 times the cost of suit, but I'm sure some people would pay that to avoid having to gift, fail, and rebuild several times over).

The things that are right:

1) The graphics and art design
2) The beautiful women
3) The cameras
4) The mini-games are good additions
5) Jet ski is good

The things that are wrong:

1) The randomness of accepting gifts.
2) The lack of spreadsheets and aids. For example, when I buy a swimsuit, a list should appear as to which girls has the suit in her collection. The same goes for loved items. There should be a list of which girls love each item. You should never need pen and paper.
3) The repetition in earning money.
4) The volleyball AI is cheap and frustrating. Especially since the cost of losing a single point is expensive.
5) The cheapness of winnings. They should be ten or even 100 times more rewarding.
6) The static feel of the game. You should be able to walk around the island. If you have a partner, you should be able to walk together. The hotel should have girls up in person when giving gifts. The casino should have girls in person, too.

Some constructive criticism and hopefully helpful comments:

- DoAX is supposed to be about the beauty and aesthetics of the girls in Dead or Alive, yet most of the game consists of a small picture in a bubble and lots of text. This is really disappointing when playing poker.

- Three events a day? This game [for me] is about relaxing and doing as I please as much as I please, which brings a suggestion...

! Instead of time slots why not feature a day/night cycle to the game. That way I could spend the morning playing beach flags (several times if I like) and as the sun rises higher I decide to cool off riding the water slide (again I should be able to do this multiple times as long as the day allows). Add in a some events to do during the night as well.

- The improved graphics were really nice, as well as the self-shadowing, yet while I play volley ball if I move my character under the palm tree's shadow it doesn't cast on me? It seems like the girls project shadows on themselves, but not on other objects, nor do the environmental shadows seem to cast their shadows on the characters. Hopefully a lighting system can be implemented that factors in environments and objects within (and at 60fps).

+ The water-skiing is a nice addition to the game. For the next iteration maybe add a course made for doing tricks, and not necessarily for racing?

+ Please, please bring back local multiplayer!

+ Let me wander around the world with the camera and take pictures. Also, as this game features a day/night cycle there is no time limits for the gravure sequences or wandering around. Maybe some kind of loop animation for the girls?

As much as I'd like to see this game I think it would be better to hold off until the next Xbox system is released (one DOAX release per system). This way Team Ninja can focus on Code Cronus and Project Progressive.

Thanks!

Right. The graphics and overall presentation of the product.

Wrong. Camera control over the volleyball feild.
Not being in a open environ with the girls..ie after Kasumi gets though by the pool she should just actually "walk" to the next area she wants

More control over the action and more freedom.

Jetsking should have a stunt feature without a time limit or just a feature to let you ride it anywhere in the water.

DOAX 2 needs more freedom!

The intention of this thread is to discuss what you feel went right with this game and what you feel went wrong:

1: need more sex appeal
2: need more camera controls
3: too much work to unlock stuff - 300 goddamn hours should suffice I say!

I thought the graphics were awesome, and gameplay was ok. For example, in X1 vs X2, X2 VB the girls had different abilities not the same way to play; some jump quick, some slow; some, powerful some weak, etc.. I like the different activities in X2, vs X1 where if you didn't have a partner you played pool-hopping and that's it. I like the friendship points system, but i think I'd like it better if there was a scale instead of two grades.

I agree that the Xbox 360 unlockables are bad cause you have to get everybody to give every swimsuit away to unlock the first unlockable. And I've tried to give multiple SS to girls and they are friendly so they give them back to you. I don't like the camera of VB cause you can't see where you are unless you are in front of the net. I thought is would be better if there was a dive button instead of a " ohh I almost deficated myself" move. Along those lines if you go up to block and they volley instead of spike you can quickly press the bump/set button to still hit it.

I don't know if I like the way if you're great friends you play well together but if you give a gift to your partner and she doesn't like it andyou lose all friendship points you play bad together.

Over all I like DOAX and X2 even better, and if they would add a fight sequence or some other way to guarantee acceptance of a SS, it would be perfect. But I don't think they(team Ninja or Tecmo) should wait until the next Xbox system for a new X release.