Episode #0277 (06 November 2011)

[VegettoEX]

Episode #0277 (download MP3) (rss feed) (subscribe in iTunes)
76:16; 96 kbps, mono; 52.6 MB

Episode #0277! VegettoEX, Dustin, and Joe dive in to "Ultimate Tenkaichi", the latest fighting game for the franchise. Spike is back for a third round on the PS3 and 360, but they are switching things up more than ever before. Is this a fighting game, or is it actually just a glorified guessing game? Hujio pops in for the news and loaded November and December releases period, and that is a show! Referenced sites:

• Namco-Bandai Q2 Fiscal 2012 Report (PDF)
• Innagadadavida @ YouTube
• Innagadadavida @ Blogspot
• Kinectaku
• PK Bloggin'
• "DBZ: Ultimate Tenkaichi" (PS3) @ Amazon
• "DBZ: Ultimate Tenkaichi" (360) @ Amazon
• DBZ Movie Pack Collection One @ Amazon
• DBZ Level 1.1 (Blu-ray) @ Amazon
• Kanzenban Volume 17 (French) @ Amazon France
• DBZ Movie Pack Collection Two @ Amazon
• "DBZ: Ultimate Blast" (JP PS3) @ CDJapan
• "DBZ: Ultimate Blast" (JP 360) @ CDJapan
• DBZ Level 1.2 (Blu-ray) @ Amazon

Ta-dah! Somehow I managed to get this show out on-time. I don't know how that happened. I did everything in my power to *NOT* make that happen, and yet it somehow *DID* happen. Go me!

Much thanks, again, to Dustin and Joe for doing the game review with me. No thanks to Heath for anything. F' that guy.

See you next week for "Level 1.1" review!

[Pokewhiz7]

See you next week for "Level 1.1" review!

All man, I really excited for this.
I'm sorry if this is too off-topic, admittedly I don't care about this week's topic.

[Super Sayian Prime]

Hmm, if Namco Bandai's report is for the first half of calendar 2011, wouldn't Kai still be on the air?

Who knows, maybe those Bandai Blue Fin Figure Arts imports are doing tremendous? Since I've mentioned a few times how bad Bandai failed the series in the west with no mainstream lines ...

[VegettoEX]

Hmm, if Namco Bandai's report is for the first half of calendar 2011, wouldn't Kai still be on the air?

Fiscal 2012 is not calendar 2011.

[AgitoZ]

Who knows, maybe those Bandai Blue Fin Figure Arts imports are doing tremendous? Since I've mentioned a few times how bad Bandai failed the series in the west with no mainstream lines ...

Blue Fin has nothing to do with the production of those.

[Flamzeron]

I think the point of using lines from the old voice cast (Linda Young, Stephanie Nadonly, etc) was to serve as fan service for fans of the FUNimation dub of Z and aren't really big fans. The "casual fan", if you will.

[PuppetDoctor]

This weeks topic was good and I think you saved me from even renting Ultimate Tenkaichi. That is all I have done for this generation of Dragon Ball Z games is rent them and the only one I kind of enjoyed a bit was Burst Limit.

I am really looking forward to though the review of Dragon Ball Z Level 1.1 even though I already know your (VegettoEX) opinion of it from Twitter.

[VegettoEX]

I think the point of using lines from the old voice cast (Linda Young, Stephanie Nadonly, etc) was to serve as fan service for fans of the FUNimation dub of Z and aren't really big fans. The "casual fan", if you will.

Making a game piece-meal as obnoxiously confusing as possible doesn't serve any audience in any way at all. They clearly put no effort into it (whether that was because of time or resources -- I don't really know or care), and we're not going to give them a pass on it.

If they wanted to serve every single casual audience, they would have also contracted out with Ocean / AB Groupe to get some of the "alternate" English dub recordings in there, since they're distributing the game across Europe, as well.

That's not logical in the least, which means it was just terrible production.

[SpaceKappa]

Haha, I like that. "It wasn't a mistake, it's a feature!"

I haven't been playing it in English so I had NO IDEA that was even the case until Dustin mentioned it. I'm absolutely BAFFLED that it made it out the door like that.

I had a (ultimate) blast being a part of the conversation, though, and hopefully this doesn't open the floodgates for people to question my taste in video games.

[Flamzeron]

I think the point of using lines from the old voice cast (Linda Young, Stephanie Nadonly, etc) was to serve as fan service for fans of the FUNimation dub of Z and aren't really big fans. The "casual fan", if you will.

Making a game piece-meal as obnoxiously confusing as possible doesn't serve any audience in any way at all. They clearly put no effort into it (whether that was because of time or resources -- I don't really know or care), and we're not going to give them a pass on it.

If they wanted to serve every single casual audience, they would have also contracted out with Ocean / AB Groupe to get some of the "alternate" English dub recordings in there, since they're distributing the game across Europe, as well.

That's not logical in the least, which means it was just terrible production.

Point taken. That was just my interpretation. I personally didn't see the voice switches as confusing, as I enjoyed the dub and I simply didn't care. I've gotten into a habit of switching the voices to Japanese anyway, but not before listening to the English voices.

I can see where you are coming from, though. Using lines from a previous game in order to finish a game early sounds like a cheap way out.

[SpaceKappa]

Thinking about it, though, this isn't the first North American-released Dragon Ball game to have an inconsistency with its voice cast. 1997's Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout for the PlayStation featured an English voice cast (which was different than FUNimation's; Steven Blum was Gokuu!) for all of the pre-fight banter as well as win quotes, while all dialog during fights (grunts, attack names, etc) was the original Japanese cast.

Another interesting parallel is that Final Bout is also a game that pretty much everyone didn't like.

[Phred]

Wow, I couldn't put it together until you pointed it out, but yeah, the mishmash of voices really threw me off.
I knew something was going weird, but I couldn't say what.

And yeah, I had trouble with the giant bosses, too. They do just so darn much damage if you fail the QTE that I kind of cheat and pause the game as soon as they come on so I can have a look at what I'm supposed to press.
I find them really fun though, I'm a bit sad Generic Oozaru isn't around anymore for me to beat up.

[Super Vejito]

This review to me was the final push towards not getting Ultimate Tenkaichi at all. I'm kind of done with story modes for the series and a character creator doesn't make up for steps back in gameplay and the overall roster, in my opinion. The voice inconsistencies don't really bother me because I always go with the Japanese voices anyway, but it's sloppy and just adds to the feeling that they should stop pushing these games out on a yearly basis. It is beyond me how they keep having entries that are almost objectively worse than their direct predecessors.

[samuraix123]

Great episode guy's! I wish I could go on the podcast and talk with you

[ShadowDude112]

People spent $60 for what was already shown in gameplay videos that it was just going to be a rock-paper-scissors game? What has the world come to? I know you need to review this but fuck spending $60 on it. Why would you want to spend that much on something you won't have fun with? I really wish this game played as good as it looked. If this game ever becomes $5, someone tell me. I might consider buying it, but even then, I feel that $5 is too much for this game.

[Shiyonasan]

This podcast has proven to me why I haven't bought any of the Dragon Ball games past Infinite World, and also why I'm progressively getting sicker and sicker of the DragonBall fighting games. I don't own a PS3 or 360 anyway, so this is an even further indication not to buy either of those systems just to get to play this or either of the Raging Blast games. I guess I could say you guys saved me hundreds of dollars as opposed to just 60.

The only DB games that I haven't played yet that has been released within the past 3 years that I'm still considering playing is Revenge of King Piccolo and maybe Burst Limit if I ever buy a PS3 or 360. Other than that, I have no interest. I'll gladly stick with the Budokai and (original) Tenkaichi series.

[tinlunlau]

This podcast has proven to me why I haven't bought any of the Dragon Ball games past Infinite World, and also why I'm progressively getting sicker and sicker of the DragonBall fighting games. I don't own a PS3 or 360 anyway, so this is an even further indication not to buy either of those systems just to get to play this or either of the Raging Blast games. I guess I could say you guys saved me hundreds of dollars as opposed to just 60.

The only DB games that I haven't played yet that has been released within the past 3 years that I'm still considering playing is Revenge of King Piccolo and maybe Burst Limit if I ever buy a PS3 or 360. Other than that, I have no interest. I'll gladly stick with the Budokai and (original) Tenkaichi series.

That's no excuse for not getting either PS3 or Xbox360! There are plenty of cheaper games you can buy through their respective online network. NBA Jam: On Fire Edition is one helluva game!

[Son Goshen]

Thanks a lot. This just saved me money. It doesn't sound all that great to play, not even with the character creation part.

[K.O. Ken]

I just wanna say that I'm surprised they even made such a game, especially when most people where expecting Raging Blast 3. This is so far removed from those games that it seems it'd be better suited as a 3DS or PSP exclusive, like Tenkaichi Tag Team.

That said, the game itself looks for for about 10 minutes. It certainly looks fun in motion, but I can just watch gameplay videos online for free and without the awkward controls!

So I'm gonna pass on this one and just hope we get a proper game soon.

-crosses fingers for Raging Blast 3-

[MCDaveG]

Who is Heath?