Вставка
- Опубліковано 30 вер 2024
- A playthrough of the hidden character Ein in Tecmo/Team Ninja’s Dead or Alive 3.
Dead or Alive 3. Goddamn. This is where the series starts to shine. Maybe not so much in terms of actual gameplay; it’s a lot more forgiving and beginner-friendly than DOA2 was, and with a greater freedom of movement and less emphasis on combos is more comparable to SoulCalibur than anything else in terms of just how beginner-friendly it is. Here’s the thing though. DOA3 was a launch title for the original Xbox. Even now, with HDMI the game still manages to look absolutely beautiful. It’s incredible, and a real testament to how incredibly the original Xbox was a console.
This also marks another interesting development for the series however.
For some reason, Team Ninja decided that they wanted to make Dead or Alive an Xbox-exclusive series from this point onwards. I’ll get into this more during the DOA4 vids, but the Xbox has always struggled with brand recognition. The only two series which have really come to define it are the originally sublime (though now rather mediocre) Halo series, as well as the decent but forgettable Gears of War series. You also have Forza, which is some good shit, but not really iconic in the same way that a Mario or a Sonic is. The move towards multi-platform gaming as a standard first in the 6th and then even more so in the 7th generations of gaming has only compounded this identity crisis and ended up leaving the Xbox and the Xbox 360 as great video game consoles which ultimately felt as if they lacked a true focus or direction, especially when it came to exclusives. As a result, Team Ninja attempted to aid this by delivering a number of high-quality, exclusive titles to the Xbox in order to improve its brand recognition. Did it work? Well, yes and no. Team Ninja developed and released DOA3, as well as DOA Ultimate, and eventually their Magnum Opus, the beloved but extremely difficult reboot of Ninja Gaiden. I’ll more into that game in DOA4 (it’s a bigger influence on it than you might think), but it’s commonly regarded as one of the best games on the original Xbox, and for good reason too.
The problem, however, is that this meant that an Eastern company attempted to win over an audience of Western gamers, which has always remained the Xbox’s primary focus, and part of the reason why it’s never done that well in Japan. Sega also tried this with titles such as Shenmue 2, SpikeOut Battle Street, Crazy Taxi 3, Panzer Dragoon Orta and numerous others; all fantastic games and ones which are beloved on the system, but not ones which are really iconic per say. As a result, Team Ninja played for a team which never fully appreciated them, and as a result ended up eventually branching into multi-platform games like so many other companies.
I say all this because it’s important to contextualise what DOA3 means as a title. Team Ninja wanted to bring people to the Xbox with this game, as it did with its other titles. It not only wanted to gain a foothold in that exclusivity market, but also come to define the console itself. Which it half-did and half-didn’t, given the aforementioned Western focus which the Xbox has always had. This leaves a brilliant game being exclusive to a console which it really isn’t suited to.
DOA3’s release had other drawbacks, however. DOA3 was actually pushed out prematurely for the American market and led to lacking numerous costumes and extras it was originally supposed to have. The Japanese version and the European version (which I own) were released later and so don’t have this issue, as they had this content included by the time of their release. Given that one of DOA’s main components is its unlockable costumes, DOA3 as a result is one of those fantastic games which unfortunately is a pretty barebones experience. A shame too, considering how good a game it is. It doesn’t ruin much on the whole however, as this is easily one of the most fun fighting games I’ve ever played. As I said in DOA2U, gameplay for this engine is extremely fluid and one of the most pick-up-and-play systems I’ve ever seen for a fighting game. Couple that with even more detailed, larger stages and you’ve got a pretty amazing fighting game. I’d never played this game until I started my videos on this series, so in that way it was extra special to see something I’d known of but not about for so many years. Entering into an unknown world as it were, which is one of the greatest joys you can get from retro gaming.
[continued in a pinned comment]
[continued from description]
DOA3 is a great experience at its core, but the problem is that it doesn’t have a lot more than that. It’s a great game, but not one which would win you over for ages unless you had a few other people to compete with constantly. This expands to the hidden content of the game, which is hilariously cryptic. How cryptic? Well, the character I’m covering today remained unbeknownst to many people for years on end, simply because you’d never guess how to unlock him. You have to complete story mode with every character, then play Survival and get a high score with Hayate, while putting your initials in the high score screen as EIN. Only then will you unlock him. This is an incredibly convoluted method, it must be said, simply on the grounds that it’s more or less impossible to work out. A good unlock system is one which flows naturally and which can be accessed by playing through aspects of the game in a natural manner, such as completing arcade mode with certain characters or utilising various aspects of the core game. Ein’s unlock method is wholly unnatural however, and it’s not something you’d do unless you actively knew about it.
Ein here makes a return from DOA2 as a hidden bonus character, and is only playable outside of story mode. Tengu’s powers caused Ein (real name Hayate) to have amnesia, which was cured after Tengu was defeated. Hayate is actually brother to both Ayane and Kasumi, and generally keeps close to them throughout the remainder of the story. Given that Ein had a unique moveset therefore, they decided to keep him as a bonus, non-canon hidden character, simply as a nice extra to have, as Bayman was in DOA2. It’s also the reason why Hitomi is unlockable in DOA2U, given that she was the character who effectively replaced Ein in DOA3, not to mention that she helped with his training in karate.
Ein’s moveset is quite similar to Hitomi’s as you’d expect. In general it has quite a tendency to cause “critical hits”; certain moves or counter strikes which temporarily stun the opponent and allow for a series of follow up combos, critical strikes or a combination there of. It’s a mechanic I’ll get more into with DOA4, where it’s expanded more. Ein is a lot of fun to play as on the whole, but by all means mainly meant to be a bonus character. His mere inclusion is pretty just meant to be a small bonus, but it’s a good inclusion nonetheless. A great game which is a bit light on the content, but ultimately still pretty damn good. It’s easy to pick up, a lot of fun to play (especially in some of the larger stages) and in general I had a lot of fun experiencing it.
The only unfortunate part of this video is that you don’t get to see how the (terrible) boss battle of this game plays out. As a result, I think a bonus vid is in order.
That may be the most Midway unlocking method i've ever heard of, only really topped by Rumble Roses XX a game i would suggest if not for the fact that i'm now aware of the series days being numbered and numbered small enough to cut out an entire still-running series of fighting games let alone non-fighting games
Haha, yeah, I wouldn't touch Rumble Roses personally.
As for BlazBlue, I'll go into my reasons for doing it in the epilogue videos if I decide not to cover it. I'm not saying I'd never do it, but at this point in time I just want to finish off the videos I actually want to do, and then I'll think about adding other titles after that.
This series was always meant as a way to link to the present day, though. Covering all the bosses and hidden characters from titles up to a certain point in time to act as a frame of reference, and then knowing that from that point onwards all titles would be covered by others instead. I mean, there really isn't any need for me to do MK9 or 10 but the difference is I legit want to cover those. BlazBlue on the other hand is a series which has never really grasped my attention (as Ark System games never do), and so there isn't much I either can, want or need to do with it.
Doa 2 is still the best overall but Doa 3 is still pretty good. Better than 4 in my opinion.
0:34 Trust no one -- *not even yourself!*
Oh boy, we finally here at the Xbox age of Tecmo :v
America got the JP/PAL costumes eventually. via the unlockable booster menu in 2 Ultimate. Unfortunately it's stupidly long to unlock (Get every costume in the game) an "easier" way to unlock it is getting every survival mode item at least once (Which is still difficult as there's an item that only drops after 50 consecutive wins)
I heard something about that, yeah. Apparently you could also get them from a cd released with an Xbox magazine, from what I recall.
@@AdmiralMcFish Is the PAL version of Dead or Alive 3 compatible with the US NTSC Xbox?
@@sonic100X I can't find any proof that it is, sorry to say. That said, by this point original Xbox emulation is getting pretty good, so it might just worth trying it that when instead if you can.
Excuse me,do you know how to unlock ein?
1. Complete Story Mode with all characters
2. Play either Survival or Time Attack Mode, get a high score with Hayate and then enter your name as EIN.
3. After that, Ein will be playable in all modes except ''Story Mode''.
Courtesy of "Asch The Hated" on Gamefaqs.
@@AdmiralMcFish I see, thank you
Why dead or alive 3 and 4 not in made PlayStation 2
Exclusivity with Xbox at the time, I'm pretty sure.
glad to see my favorite DoA character for the upload today since it's a terrible day!
You alright, man?
AdmiralMcFish - Bosses and Hidden Characters yeah lol
Alright, good. Just wanted to make sure.
Thanks for the info. 👍
No problem, hope it was useful.
How do you unlock Ein
It's. In the pinned comment, innit.