Is Budokai 3 overrated?

[DBZAOTA482]

Well, it's no secret at this point Budokai 3 is my favorite DBZ game always has been ever since I first got on Christmas day of 2004 and many likely share my sentiments as well. I still play it often even to this day despite unlocking everything in the game but some thoughts had me curious to if it's acclaim and success is truly deserved.

Back in 2004, the first two Budokai games weren't amazing but as games based on the Dragon Ball series they worked surprisingly well especially after shit like Ultimate Battle 22 and Final Bout. Budokai 3 then was announced which promised to finally address the suggestions and complaints people had of the first two games. The combat was greatly fleshed-out with a totally revamped ki system, new defensive maneuvers (like dodging and Teleport Counter), more individualized moveset for all characters, and much greater speed overall. The single-player campaign Dragon Universe contains the RPG aspects and near-infinite replay value from Dragon World (only more fleshed-out) but without the tedious board game setting to bog the experience down. The cel-shaded graphics were further refined. And more...


Budokai 3 was very well-received... it instantly became a fan favorite and was actually getting positive reviews from critics... in fact, it still remains the most acclaimed DBZ game to date. Even people who weren't into Dragon Ball were all over the game.

However, there's still it's detractors... notably those BT3 trolls who call it as "Tekken with DBZ skin". There are also those believe all it's acclaim isn't deserved with Shin Budokai, Burst Limit, and Infinite World which improved the formula in several ways.... notably with customization and core gameplay.

Now do you think the praise and success of the game is all what it's cracked to be or not?

[Doctor.]

It's often considered the "best Dragon Ball fighting game", and when it comes to that respect, yes, it's overrated, especially considering that the Shin Budokai series is Budokai 3 but better in every single way besides character count.

[Anime Kitten]

Definitely. I probably could never get into it much, but I didn't find the gameplay anything special, and certainly not varying between characters (much like the Tenkaichi series). Character roster isn't very impressive either. I enjoy it, but I'd say it's far from the best game - or at least, far from my favorites.

All my opinion, of course.

[Soppa Saia People]

A bit, yeah. It's still my favorite however. Granted I find most DB games hot garbage, so that's not saying much.

[Cetra]

Budokai 3's greatest and most loved thing is not the gameplay or characters, though they also are liked.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkcE1Zl1e5g

[Lord Beerus]

Yes and no. Is it a great game, with the standard of Dragon Ball beat-em-ups, yeah. But is it the be-all-end-all golden standard for all Dragon Ball games like some fans think it is? No.

[Thanos]

I definitely think it is. It was pretty great at the time, but I can't really play it too much nowadays. If anything, the Dragon Rush system totally kills it. Also, there's nothing fun about AI opponents who, first chance they get, go into that... whatever the fuck, red glowing thingy... and suddenly they''re annoying as fuck and can't be fazed. When you're in that state and try to do an ultimate, the computer is basically psychic and you have to be super lucky to land it. Wow, fun stuff... Which is why I prefer Infinite World, honestly (aside from the silly minigames).

But of course, the music is A1. I really think that's a big part of the appeal for me, because the HD version reeeaaallly suffers without it.

[NintendoBlaze53]

When there are so many better games then Budokai 3, yes. Infinite World does not get enough love. It's Budokai 3 with a vastly improved skill system and no stupid RNG Dragon Rush.

[Jinzoningen MULE]

I liked the Budokai series, notably 3, but...

There are also those believe all it's acclaim isn't deserved with Shin Budokai, Burst Limit, and Infinite World which improved the formula in several ways.... notably with customization and core gameplay.

This pretty much sums up my opinion on it. Yeah, it's overrated. Granted, I haven't played any of them in at least 5 years, so I could be mistaken.

[DBZAOTA482]

Definitely. I probably could never get into it much, but I didn't find the gameplay anything special, and certainly not varying between characters (much like the Tenkaichi series). Character roster isn't very impressive either. I enjoy it, but I'd say it's far from the best game - or at least, far from my favorites.

All my opinion, of course.

???

I love Budokai 3, but I'd have to give the honor to both Xenoverse games. The soundfont is too good! It fits the atmosphere so well (not that the other games don't), and the overall composition of each track is done excellently.

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=36806#p1214899


Jesus girl, this is the fastest I've seen anyone change their mind in a long time!

[Anime Kitten]

Jesus girl, this is the fastest I've seen anyone change their mind in a long time!

That latter post was actually referencing the soundtrack, not the game itself. The post I made in here was about the game as a whole.

[90sDBZ]

Well I still consider it to be the best Dragonball game to date. For me it's a combination of things that make it so good such as:

-The gameplay. It's easy to pick up and play, but at the same time there's a lot of cool stuff you can do that takes time to master like the cancel combo system which gives characters a unique feel. The fact that you have to invest time in practice mode to figure out each characters combos individually means it feels really feels satisfying when you pull them off in a match. Aside from combos the game is fast paced and just has a really natural flow to it. In terms of strategy it isn't as deep as Tekken or Street Fighter, but still offers enough to keep you invested.

-The graphical style and general look of the game. I've always loved how the Budokai series has different emotional facial expressions for the characters during battle, which is something I'd say no other DB game series does as effectively. And to date no other DB game has more awesome looking Ultimate moves than Budokai 3(except for Infinite World for obvious reasons). When you look at the Ultimates in the Tenkaichi, Raging Blast, and even Xenoverse games they look okay, but compared to Budokai 3 they're kinda meh.

-The music. It may be plagiarised but holy crap does it sound awesome. Nothing beats flying around the earth with "Over the Galaxy" playing, or winning a match and hearing the "Level up theme" afterwards, or fighting it out in the Mountains stage with "Make a new legend" playing in the background.

-Dragon Universe mode. Again being able to fly around the earth and search for cool stuff was really fun. There was a sense of mystery to it, being able to discover secret capsules, hidden character exchanges, and even being able to change the course of the story on second playthroughs. I can still remember my excitement the first time I flew to that island that gave you the Super Saiyan 4 capsule, when I got to fight Broly instead of Kid Buu, when I unlocked Gogeta, and when I finally made it to Omega Shenron.

The only way I'd consider Budokai 3 to be a bit overrated is when people claim it has as much depth as more mainstream fighters like Tekken and Street Fighter. I'm actually a huge fan of both of them games and know that it can take years to even reach an intermediate level on them. But still Budokai 3 manages to be a fine balance of having some tactical depth while still being accessible to casuals at entry level. It isn't a perfect game but is still way better than most anime fighters and a classic in my book.

[RedShift]

Full Disclosure: I haven't played any Dragonball game released between Budokai 3 & Xenoverse 2. That's a long time, but every DBZ game released during that time has been ripped to shreads in reviews... So I've never bothered to look at any of them.

Now then... No, I don't think B3 is overrated. Budokai 3 definitely had some flaws, but it was a fantastic game for its time and it really captured the look and feel of Dragonball. On top of that I enjoyed the beam struggles and all the other quick mini-games, they kept you engaged. Sure the Burst Rush system sucked, and forcing players to telegraph when & where they were going to try and launch an Ultimate by going into whatever that red glowing mode was also sucked.. But the game was still good and it had solid mechanics.

But more than all of that, Budokai 3 was a game I got to play side-by-side with another Dragonball nut - all the time. My step-brother and I had our own PS2's, we got the Breakthrough's for every single character. We could obliterate the computer, on the hardest setting, with as big of a handicap we could give ourselves... Often this meant giving ourselves minimal health and jacking the COM health as high as we could. We could do this with our favorite characters and we often used Omega Shenron, Kid Buu, and Goku & Vegeta as training dummies.

So what happens when you have two people ^that good^ in the same house? You hook up two controllers, claim the big screen TV for the night, and then you duke it out for a few hours... Several times a week. The fun bit was that I mained Goku and my step-brother mained Vegeta, so we had this constant re-enactment of our favorite characters having our favorite fight in the series. Every Final Flash & Warp Kamehameha was well earned by constantly playing mind-games with each other, and we both got so good at the stupid ultimate attack mini-games that the bars would be 95-99% full every time. It was that close.

I don't think I'll ever be able to have an experience like that again, it was a great time and I won't ever forget it.

[dbs fanboy]

Huh? I thought that the most praised db game was budokai tenkaichi 3

Idk, i love the game (my first db game in fact) but i don't think it's the best.

[Xeztin]

I also got Budokai 3 the same year it was released! I had my mom go to Sam Goody's and pick it up along with a extra PS2 card (After begging for hours)
I'm very fond of the game but I do think it is "over-rated" at times, I still have it but haven't touched my PS2 in years. I think after Budokai 2 gave us that board game type story mode, it was a breathe of fresh air to be able to free-roam and fly and such, truly awesome at the time. It also had most of the good GT characters, I remembered I was dying to play as Omega Shenron who was on the DVD I believe. Its funny that you mention Budokai 3 though, I always thought BT 3 was the over rated one because it's held as the standard to all games of Dragon Ball even today.

[Gog]

From what I've seen it looks just like, all~ll dragon ball fighting games to me.

[Luso Saiyan]

Considering all the Dragon Ball video games that have been released so far, no. It isn't overrated. If it's not the best, it's very up there at least.

[ZPolk01]

I think Budokai Tenkaichi 3 is more overrated.

[LowRyder2005]

It's without a shadow of a doubt that I say: absolutely not. It was a legitimately good fighting game in the purest sense - something basically never repeated - a fun multiplayer experience, and a mind-blowing ride for a Dragon Ball fan with its great and in-depth Dragon Universe. In 2004, Budokai 3 was gold. It still aged kind of well.

I think Budokai Tenkaichi 3 (which I prefer, all in all) was a better experience for the Dragon Ball fan, but as a regular game I don't think it's as good as Budokai 3 was.

[Kokonoe]

I feel as if nothing is "overrated" or "underrated", because either or not a majority of people like or dislike something is entirely up to them and thus there isn't a right or wrong answer which is the best because it's subjective.

With that said... I think Budokai 3 came out at just the right time in the PS2 era and DBZ era for most people to have have played it, and you combine that with all of the characters from the series and overall polish- it's just something that took an enjoyable game adaption and made it better and just at the right time.

Personally, I like the Budokai series but I'm not super into it at the same time. It's fun, but for me it's tad stiff for my tastes after playing Tenkaichi 3 which has so much movement and depth to the combat I could play it forever. Budokai 3 would probably be the best OG Budokai for me but I really dislike that Rock Paper Scissors mechanic and I was so glad they removed it in Infinite World, although Infinite World has terrible single player and ultra cheap AI that puts all the previous AI to shame.

DBZ honestly has lucked out from having so many great games despite being from an manga/anime series.