zferoliE: Nah, it’s not as off-topic as you think. DOA makes significant use of sex appeal, and discussing that part of the franchise is valid. As far as “What’s wrong with looking,” that’s a good question. I’ve raised it to a variety of people out of curiosity, and as you might imagine I got a variety of answers. In some cases your Christie example fits, I seem to recall the devs getting a similar response from female players when testing… what was it, Red Lotus? A game about a seductively-clad female Japanese assassin, who used her body to distract some of her targets. Women being shown the game apparently didn’t like this aspect at first, until the devs noted it was an assassination tactic; then they warmed up to it considerably.
I’ve also heard responses on an equality standpoint, like: “Well, Game X had a strong male hero who had normal attire for his gender and life, and Game Y’s female hero is equally strong… but does she really need to be in a bikini? Game X’s hero wasn’t in swim trunks.” It’s hard to mount any real come-back to that, because they’ve got a point. On the other hand, I’ve seen women who willingly dress up as Cammy, Mai Shiranui, Celes Chere (FF6 SNES sprite form) and so on. Not as some booth babe gig at a convention or game industry trade show, but they actually wanted to.
The lesson I learned from that is that different people, of both genders, have different opinions on the topic. Maybe there is a one true answer to the question, maybe there isn’t. I sure as hell don’t know it, and unless I somehow find an irrefutable, definitely true way to view this… I’m not going to push my views on others. One supposes a decent fix in the meantime is offering a variety of outfits for the player’s character so you can pick and choose what you like.
To move to matters of the game itself: I’ve been enjoying it and look forward to getting in some more matches with a wider pool (edit: previously said ‘wider poor’, what the hell was I thinking!?) of players. I still need to improve, but some parts are very satisfying already. I’m not sure which title I’ll be able to devote significant time to at this point, but DOA5 is definitely on my list of ones I’m considering as ‘main games.’ If I do end up dropping it, it will only be with great reluctance… just don’t have enough time in the day to regularly play every good fighting game out there.
On the reviews: Glanced through a few of these, noticed one guy was upset by the sweat effects. I have news for him; it can be easily turned off through the Options menu. Sure, I would rather the series put a little less emphasis on certain things in the visuals… but when you look past them, as others have urged in this thread, there’s a good game underneath. Someone else mistaking Gen Fu for a VF character is pretty embarrassing, even if you do unlock him in the exact same way you get the VF guests.