AzrealMaximillion said:
Bushido Blade series.
Best sword fighting games in the universe (deal with it Soul Calibur)
No health bars.
No 200 hit combos.
Precise striking is needed.
Ahhh the Bushido Blade series. Think the only one I got to play was the first one, but damn I remember some good times with that game. It was the only game other than Golden Eye 64 that had friends gathering at someone's house just to play it. We used to have tournaments with that game, and just as you said: I absolutely loved how realistic it was in that it was like a real sword fight: the first person to land a deadly blow wins. I always liked using the Rapier since it was the quickest and most precise of the weapons, even though it could leave you open from the side since it was mainly just thrusting in precise jabs.
Maximum Bert said:
except the online sucks ... get predictable in DoA and you will die ok you will in others as well but not as immediately.
Funny story about that, actually, while I was working for the 300 titles necessary to unlock Alpha 151, I delved into online trying to get some of the easier/quicker ones (win 10 games as x character and such) since I only had a few titles left to get and I had already gotten nearly all the ones you can get in single player that were in my capability. I've always been a Kasumi player, myself, and so she's the one I was working on. I came up against someone playing as Hitomi and all he did was the same 5 hit combo over and over. Never blocked, never tried to throw. Never tried any other moves...just the same 5 hit combo. He won the first game 2-1 because at first I had trouble figuring out a way around the combo. The solution proved to be quite simple though. I just had to do Kasumi's spring-kick (at least that's what I call it, I don't know what it's actually called

). The one where she does a flip and then kicks her legs out at the last second, "spring-boarding off the opponent's face while sending them flying backwards. Worked like a charm, never got hit again since I was flipping over Hitomi's five-punch combo.
And so that's all I did...for 18 games straight. The guy never switched characters and NEVER tried any other moves. So he just kept punching and I just kept spring-kicking off his face. It truly was amazing, I have never before or since seen someone so hardheaded about a clearly failed attack strategy no matter what game in any genre. It was pitifully sad how he just kept throwing those punches and I just kept getting Greatest after Greatest, fight after fight.
Then there was the guy who kept using Zack's sunglasses flare over and over again. I beat the crap out of him with Bayman. :3
But anecdotes about my brief online play aside, as I said: Kasumi has always been my favorite character and I'm looking forward to Ultimate as well. Ayane's always been a close second because I like the fast-pace constant-motion rhythm you can get with her if you know what you're doing. Her spinning and rolling moves are great for psyching out the opponent as they never know just when the actual attack is going to come. And the screw-kick, while note the unstoppable torpedo of doom it has been in previous games, is still a great attack to finish off a combo with.
In general though, I try to be good with everyone because I like playing on Random. I'd have to say my best male character is a toss-up between Jan Lee and Bayman. I'm really good with Bayman's grappling (no surprise since he's a grappling fighter), and come on...Jan Lee's moves are just frickin' awesome. My favorite is the trip-kick throw that sends them stumbling, perfectly set up for a flying dragon kick to the face! Gotta love that cocky little dance he does after connecting with the dragon kick too. :3
Bass is by far my worst character. Actually, I take that back. Akira is my worst character. For the life of me I've tried but god damn I just can't understand how you're supposed to fight with him. But of the ACTUAL DoA characters, yeah, I suck as Bass.
Favorite taunt goes to Rig, however. I play with the Japanese voice acting and his "What a pain..." taunt makes me chuckle every time. He's also a pretty damn good fighter if you know what you're doing with him.
Buuuut I've rambled on long enough, just thought I'd share my feelings on it because I too think it gets a bad wrap just because it does indeed have rather ridiculous levels of eye-candy. Beneath it all though is a really fun fighting game.