Dead or Alive Xtreme Venus Vacation

Dead or Alive Xtreme Venus Vacation (also known as DOAXVV) is the fifth game in the Xtreme series, and the only game to be released on PC. The game was released in Japan on November 17, 2017.

The game was first announced in Tokyo Game Show 2016 as a browser game. In Tokyo Game Show 2017 it was announced as a full-pledged PC game. The game uses high-quality 3D models similar to the previous game, Dead or Alive Xtreme 3.The game is free-to-play with micro-transactions. The game first played using the DMM Game Player.

DOAXVV is a gacha game, a game based on luck in earning the proper outfits/accessories - which may be upgraded in a second moment and will directly affect characters' stats.

The game features the nine characters from the previous game plus a new girl, Misaki, an original character prominently seen in magazine scans, screenshots and trailers. Later, seven other new girls (Luna, Tamaki, Fiona, Nagisa, Kanna, Monica, and Sayuri) were added, as well as one of the cut girls from Xtreme 3, Leifang. When explaining the reasons for Leifang's inclusion, Sakuta D implied he may consider adding the other girls due to noting that several of the players had a deep love for the past DOA girls.^[1]

Although it was initially left Japan-exclusive, a playable beta eventually received a specific release on March 26, 2019 via Steam, which, aside from Japanese, also contained English, Korean, and two Chinese versions, thus marking the first time it got an official English release. The Steam’s Asian release is only for specific regions other than Japan, which are: Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Philippines and Macau. However, using a VPN program can allow people outside those regions to install and play the game. A Japan-exclusive Steam game was released on April 19, with notable differences including a new theme song and all the girls currently released being made available by default instead of only the original girls from Xtreme 3 and Misaki.

One of the characters added in this game was added to an updated version of Xtreme 3 titled Dead or Alive Xtreme 3 Scarlet, namely the veteran Leifang and the newcomer Misaki.

Characters

Misaki: A part-time staff member who works as the owner's exclusive assistant. She is a modern girl who shares a casual, friendly relationship with the Owner, although she is extremely shy, especially regarding exposure of skin.
Marie Rose: The pixie-like servant for Helena Douglas. She accompanied her mistress to the Venus Islands, but ended up being told by her to play on her own. Fed up with being treated like a child, she decided to participate in the Venus Festival in order to prove to Helena that she is indeed a full-grown woman.
Honoka: A sweet, easygoing kind of girl who has been raised all of her life by her gentle and loving grandmother. She won another raffle to the island, and ultimately accepts the proposition of working with the Owner due to thinking the festival was similar to the ones at her hometown.
Kasumi: A beautiful nukenin ("missing shinobi") and former member of the legendary Mugen Tenshin clan. As of late, whenever Kasumi reads her fortune, it tells her to head to the Venus Islands in order to find "something special." She accepts the request to aid the Owner in the Venus Festival, thinking that might be a lead to give her answers.
Ayane: The brilliant master of the Hajinmon sect, the "dark side" of the Mugen Tenshin clan. She arrived at the island to investigate it for unknown reasons, although she decided to enjoy herself during that time. However, the island was dull to her tastes, so she accepted working with the Owner to form the Venus Festival to kill time.
Kokoro: A positive and cheerful young lady who has mastered the martial art ba ji quan. She arrived at the island with the hopes that the island's Venus Festival would help revitalize her desire to train both her martial art and her apprentice geisha skills.
Nyotengu: A mysterious and beautiful tengu whose legends have been passed down from ages old in the depths of Japan's mountains. She arrived at the Venus Islands due to sensing the vibes made by humans regarding vacations, she lost her wings due to the island's mysterious power. She decided to participate in the Venus Festival to have an "authentic" vacation experience, especially after learning that whoever wins the Venus Festival will win over the hearts of various humans.
Hitomi: A young world-class fighter born to a Japanese mother and strict German father, who taught his daughter karate from an early age. Despite being involved in several fighting tournaments, she decided to pay a visit to the Venus Islands. Although confused by the beauty requirement, she nonetheless decided to join the Owner in helping set it up, being a natural optimist.
Momiji: A kunoichi of the Hayabusa clan and the last Dragon Shrine Maiden. She was ordered to go to the Venus Islands and participate in the Venus Festival in order to hone her training. Although she is unsure of the festival due to being left with scarce details, and found it odd that beauty was one of the requirements, she nonetheless looked forward to it, seeing it as another way to hone her training.
Helena: The youthful leader of the DOATEC conglomerate. She heard of the Venus Festival, as well as rumors that it housed a conspiracy. Deciding to investigate the festival herself to see if the rumors are true, she arrived at the island, disguising it as a private vacation.
Luna: A mysterious girl found collapsed on the beach of the Venus Islands from a bout of hunger before being saved by roasted sweet potatoes. She was delighted to accept the invitation to the Venus Festival by the owner. As a scholar, she says she wants to investigate the festival and the island, although it is unclear whether her actual motive is investigating the island or simply wanting to eat the roasted sweet potatoes that were grown there.
Tamaki: A former model who decided to arrive at the island in order to see for herself what the Venus Festival was like. She met Misaki while the latter was working and asked her to make sexy poses. As the excitement builds and she reaches out to remove Misaki’s top… the owner arrived in time to save Misaki from embarrassment. However, Tamaki is unfazed by the owner's actions, and if anything proceeded to ask nonchalantly if the owner will take her as his partner for the festival.
Leifang: A beautiful Taiji quan master hailing from an affluent family, she abruptly arrived at the Venus Islands with the intent of having a vacation. Although she was initially annoyed at no one picking her up, she changed her tune when irritably confronting the Owner, who was confused by her presence due to her not being expected to arrive until a day later, and eventually accepted his request for her services to the Venus Festival after learning of its existence.
Fiona: A beautiful European princess who for reasons unclear other than it somehow relating to her admiration for the Owner, or at the very least wanting to train to become the perfect bride, arrived at the Venus Islands. While gently dancing on the beach upon her arrival, she proceeded to spot the Owner nearby, then rushes to him and proceeds to speak highly of him, expressing immense joy at meeting the one person she admires.
Nagisa: The older sister of Misaki. She arrived at the Venus Islands to pick her sister up. She has a friendly conversation and spoke with a gentle tone, though she was trying to pressure Misaki to leave the island. After Misaki ran off and mentioned the boss's name to help out, Nagisa overheard this and became hostile towards the owner, facing him and eventually proceeding to threaten him.
Kanna: A miniscule red-headed ogre with two horns on her head. One day, she arrived and, after making her presence known to him, used her Ogre Power to possibly subdue the boss and declares her intent to take control of both the boss and the island itself.
Monica
Sayuri
Patty
Tsukushi

Unlike in prior Dead or Alive games, whether mainline or the Xtreme series, Xtreme Venus Vacation does not mention the girls' nationalities on their bio, which effectively meant that, barring veteran characters, the girls without Japanese names (ie, names transcribed in Hiragana, exempting Kanna) have an unknown country of origin, although Fiona and to a lesser extent Monica are implied to be European, while Luna implies that she hails from a very cold, poverty-struck country. In addition, Patty was indicated to have originated in the same archipelago chain that the Venus Islands reside in. Misaki's nationality, and indirectly Nagisa's nationality, was later confirmed to be Japanese in Xtreme 3: Scarlet via the former's in-game bio, while Tamaki's nationality was later confirmed to be Japanese in Dead or Alive 6 with her bio when she was announced in the February 25, 2020 livestream.

Gameplay

The gameplay is very different from the previous games. Instead of the two-week periods, there is no time limit, although day and sunset, and to a certain extent nighttime are used as backdrops for various scenes and minigames. The main game is still beach volleyball.

The game is energy-based. As long as there is available energy, the player can play volleyball games. The game has day-night cycles but it doesn't have any effect on gameplay. In this game, the characters have to be unlocked to play as them. Previously, all characters are unlocked from the start. The player only starts with two girls.

This game also has improved user interface. The player can pause the action, speed up the gameplay, change strategies, and summon a guest player.

This game is mainly in Owner mode, first introduced in Dead or Alive Xtreme 3, wherein the player does not directly control the girls. The player only does commands, like set strategy and call timeout. The player, the Owner, can level up after performing certain actions. Characters level up as well. Increasing a character's level unlocks her character episodes.

During some events, the player can also unlock extra episodes where the girls change in the bathroom, similar to the changing mechanic in Xtreme 3. Despite the trailers showing the failed result if the owner "opens their eyes" at the wrong time, the actual episodes require that the player fully awaken the necessary outfits via awakening stones before such can be accomplished.

Volleyball games are stat-based. Each swimsuit has statistics such as power, technique, stamina, and appeal.

Besides volleyball, there was also a new minigame released in late June/July 2018, called suikawari. In addition, Rock Climbing made a return in late September 2018. In both minigames, aside from the player character, it also shows up to three girls cheering on the player character. In the latter case, starting with the Love Rock Climbing Event, one of the girls is seen at the top of the cliff to cheer for the player character. On March 2019, Pool Hopping made a return, although in a heavily revised format, called Sugoroku Pool Hopping. On November 2019, the casino opened up, which started off with Blackjack, then added in Roulettes on January 2020.

Differences between versions

Aside from more languages and the platform, there are a few differences between the Steam and DMM versions.

The episode "Sparkling Outfit" was made into an Event Episode for Messenger of the Moon's second half in the Steam version. In the DMM version, it was an Extra Episode.
Honoka's Mint swimwear was an SR outfit in the DMM version. In the Steam version, it was an SSR outfit.
Due to the timing of the release of the Steam version occurring in March instead of November, the Christmas, New Years', and Valentine's Day episodes (including the episode where Nyotengu hypnotizes Luna and Misaki into acting like cats) were delayed to a later date (presumably due to their being international holidays), with the First Softening Lotion Therapy event being released in the place of the former two and the Naked Truth being released in the place of the latter. As such, the Christmas-related Event Episodes are no longer part of "First Covergirl."
- Also because of this, Hitomi has the first birthday in the Steam version. In the DMM version, Nyotengu technically has the first birthday via her "Special Day" celebration (with Kokoro having the first actual birthday).
Nyotengu's Dark Prison outfit was released as the Event SSR for Naked Truth's second half in the Steam version, in the DMM version, it was instead Honoka's Moo Moo Denim outfit. Because of this, the Steam version has Honoka's Moo Moo Denim being released alongside Marie Rose's Rose Whip for the First Tower Festival event instead of Rose Whip being the only event SSR.
Helena has a swimwear, Illusion, that is exclusive to the Steam version during the Messenger of the Moon event.
- On that note, Luna has an extra paid suit in the Steam version, called "To You", in the Steam version for "Targeted Island" that is a recolor of Thank You/For You.
Some of the SSR accessories were exclusive to the Steam version, such as the Vermillion Armlet for Leifang.
Misaki's Appetizer Pinchos outfit was replaced with a Sandwich outfit, with Ayane also getting an outfit. Consequentially, this resulted in Leifang's Sandwich outfit being cut as well as Misaki wearing the sandwich outfit instead of her Appetizer Pinchos outfit in the First Rock Climbing episodes. It did later debut during the second half of the New Years festival.
- On a similar note, Misaki, Momiji, and Leifang got Dark Prison outfits during late March of 2020, which were eventually added to the DMM version of the game during the second half of the Sugoi Dekai event. However, they had different stats (the Steam version being POW based, the DMM version being TEC based).
Nagisa was teased on November 10, with a full release in December, well before Fiona in the Steam version, while in the DMM version, Fiona came first, and Nagisa only debuted during the Christmas season. As a result, Nagisa gets some quotes for the Happy Summer Festival episodes, the Memories of That Summer episodes and Prayer to the Moon episodes that did not exist in the DMM version.
The beginning Christmas episode is significantly rewritten to appear as if it was their first Christmas in the Steam version (both English and Japanese languages). In the DMM version, the Christmas episode in question directly referenced both the first anniversary as well as Fiona (the latter being specified as having engaged in a cruise via a luxury liner by Misaki). Similarly, Nagisa's debut episodes are rewritten to appear as if she were merely participating in the aftermath party of the first anniversary (originally, she actually was participating in the set-up of New Year festivities), and also had Misaki's kimono changed to a standard Shrine Maiden outfit instead of a New Year's Yukata.
- To a lesser extent, the Way to Happiness and Melty Valentine's episodes were slightly rewritten, changing the wind direction that they were to eat sushi rolls at, and removing the reference to the past Valentine's Day celebration in the beginning, respectively.
In Leifang's debut event as well as the Rival Festival ~ Two Big Sisters event, an extra scene is added to the beginning of each episode involving the main character (Leifang and Nagisa, respectively) before showing a narration stating the following episodes took place a set time before the current day (six months and a month prior, respectively), with the latter also featuring an added ending. This is most likely because both events originally occurred close to Misaki's birthday of Tanabata.

Trivia

Mostly because of it reusing some aspects of Xtreme 3, most of the original nine girls had scenes that were taken from Xtreme 3 with reworked dialogue as well as slightly different camera angles. The only exception is Honoka, who instead gets a brand new opening sequence where she is playing on an inflatable orca only to fall into the ocean and accidentally lose her top.
- Similarly, some of the girls' final character episodes reuse their endings from Xtreme 3, namely Helena, Hitomi, Kasumi, and Marie Rose (and like with the openings above, they possessed reworked dialogue). While Ayane's Xtreme 3 ending is not reused for her ending, a similar scene was shown in her level 60 episode, barring that it was implied that the Owner had supplied her with the massage and that Ayane snaps at the Owner when he tries to remove her towel from below her.
Largely due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020,^[2] some events lacked any related event episodes, such as Otona's Bath Time^[3] and Spring of Pyeongpyeong,^[4] while others such as Patty's debut event recycled old event SSRs to act as trendy. Likewise, the Steam version on April 21-28 and May 5-11 had a rerun of First Pajama Party and First Softening Beauty Treatment, respectively, as compensation for the aforementioned pandemic-related delays.
While having similar assets to Xtreme 3, it is heavily implied to take place sometime after that game, due to Honoka in her first episode commenting that she won a raffle to a tropical island vacation again, referring to how she arrived at New Zack Island in that game. It also apparently takes place before Xtreme 3 Scarlet, or at the very least Misaki's character scenario in that game, due to Misaki's Extra Episode "Lonely?" in the DMM version alluding to her having to go on a seven week vacation, referring to Scarlet.

Notes and references

External links

[1] Famitsu 2nd anniversary DOAXVV coverage, page 103

[2] ttps://twitter.com/doax_vv_staff/status/1250058640926654469?s=21

[3] ttps://twitter.com/doax_vv_staff/status/1242783199073198080

[4] ttps://twitter.com/doax_vv_staff/status/1252535351467376640

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