"J-Stars Victory VS+" Official Discussion Thread

[Kaboom]

I wonder if it'll be easier and cheaper to pre-order a domestic PS3 version of the game in order to get the artbook, and then sell it off afterwards to make most of my money back. I feel wary about the risks of finding a good deal on eBay or whatever for the artbook alone after the fact.

Would be a whole lot easier if Bandai-Namco would just offer a physical Vita version in the US like they are for EVERYWHERE ELSE.

[Quebaz]

With only 3 days left before the release of Plus, can anyone who imported the "Anison" (the special edition that includes the vocal songs) tell me which are the songs included and which of the default themes do they replace? Since I'm pretty sure Namco won't release the Anison verion over here, I was thinking of manually swapping them in using the in-game custom soundtrack option.

[Kamiccolo9]

With only 3 days left before the release of Plus, can anyone who imported the "Anison" (the special edition that includes the vocal songs) tell me which are the songs included and which of the default themes do they replace? Since I'm pretty sure Namco won't release the Anison verion over here, I was thinking of manually swapping them in using the in-game custom soundtrack option.

3 Days? I thought it wasn't being released until the 30th.

[Quebaz]

With only 3 days left before the release of Plus, can anyone who imported the "Anison" (the special edition that includes the vocal songs) tell me which are the songs included and which of the default themes do they replace? Since I'm pretty sure Namco won't release the Anison verion over here, I was thinking of manually swapping them in using the in-game custom soundtrack option.

3 Days? I thought it wasn't being released until the 30th.

Being an European has its advantages sometimes. We're getting it on the 26th.

[Kamiccolo9]

With only 3 days left before the release of Plus, can anyone who imported the "Anison" (the special edition that includes the vocal songs) tell me which are the songs included and which of the default themes do they replace? Since I'm pretty sure Namco won't release the Anison verion over here, I was thinking of manually swapping them in using the in-game custom soundtrack option.

3 Days? I thought it wasn't being released until the 30th.

Being an European has its advantages sometimes. We're getting it on the 26th.

Ah. Lucky bastard.

[Gyt Kaliba]

I'm actually sort of hoping another meaning of the '+' in the game's title is that we're getting the songs from the Anisong edition outright, but I'm probably wishing for the moon here. Getting those songs would probably be a rights issue nightmare.

...Then again, the game itself probably was too. Hmm...still not really expecting it, but I am hoping. Just like I'm hoping GameStop will actually mail out the game in a day or two so it can actually get to me on release day.

[Darknat]

I'm actually sort of hoping another meaning of the '+' in the game's title is that we're getting the songs from the Anisong edition outright, but I'm probably wishing for the moon here. Getting those songs would probably be a rights issue nightmare.

...Then again, the game itself probably was too. Hmm...still not really expecting it, but I am hoping. Just like I'm hoping GameStop will actually mail out the game in a day or two so it can actually get to me on release day.

I really doubt we'll get the songs.... too many copyrights involved. However J Stars lets you configure your own music for the game, so you can get those songs on your system and them configure it.

[Gyt Kaliba]

The time might be nigh, guys - was checking my bank account earlier, and I happened to notice a small discrepancy between what was said to be there and what was actually available. The amount different is exactly the price for which I have the game on pre-order for from GameStop.

Please, please, please GameStop...ship this thing out by Saturday, so it has the most remote chance of actually getting here on Tuesday. Don't pull a Wal-mart.com and Xenoverse with me. Release day. C'mon.

[jrdemr]

Just got my copy in the mail



Wondered why it came in such a big envelope until I realized it was because of the huge-ass poster that came with it. Game on the lower left for comparison.

[Lord Beerus]

I've just come home from work and my PS4 copy of the game arrived at my house while I was work. Can't wait to play it!

[Gyt Kaliba]

GameStop still hasn't shipped mine, which basically means they're not gonna do it until Monday at the very earliest, which means I'm definitely not going to have the game in hand by Tuesday. I am beyond annoyed by this. When I pre-order something months in advance, the least that can be done is it ships early enough to get to me on day one.

[Brad Redfield]

Welp, seems like the Gamestop by my place will be only getting three copies of the book for their ten pre-orders. NB must not be making too many of 'em.

Ah well, the book didn't seem all that amazing anyways judging by other people's impressions.

[Gyt Kaliba]

And my copy has officially shipped! Still irked they couldn't have just shipped it Saturday or something, but maybe, just maybe, I'll get lucky and get it in on Wednesday at least. I can dream right?

[Quebaz]

So I've been playing this for 3 days and I'm loving it very much. So I decided to write a review .

TL;DR: If you like atleast 2 of the shows represented here, get it right this moment.

So J-Stars huh, who would've tought it would come to the west? Fairly of people have imported the Japanese release last year, but now that's it's here, it means that most of us can actually play it, so how does Spike's lastest effort at an anime game fair up? I'll be comparing it DBZ games of the past due to this being a DBZ forum and the developer having worked on (plenty) games before.

Spoiler:

Intro and Content:
J-Stars Victory Vs is a 3D Arena Fighter video game released by Bandai Namco for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita in March last year, what i'm revieing is J-Stars Victory VS '+' released for the PS3, Vita and PS4 this month. The game includes 52 characters from 32 different series, 38 being playable and the others being support only, and 12 stages. While I'm fine with the number, some of the choices of who got in aren't my coup of tea nor with how much some series got represented while other got under-represented (4 One Piece characters VS 2 JoJo characters), still this is me nitpicking, I'm sure there are people who are perfectly fine with the roster, but this is one of the games that make you want to have more.

Presentation:
Following the trend of Spike's DBZ games, you're instantly greeted by a cheerful, colorful and well animated GCI opening. It gets you right into the shonen spirit due to its amazing song and action between the characters. Of course the shonen doesn't stay there, the menus have a manga motif to them, be emulating a panel or written sound effects, you'll feel right at home.

In-game the graphics due their job well at creating a mix between every series style well enough, however it can feel a bit bland at times on certain stages (like Alabasta). Characters models look gorgeous, they decided to go for the anime appearances instead of the manga in terms outfits and color palletes, so you'll get the iconic cloth that Seiya used in the first half of the anime as well as Jonathan with the shoulder pads, however as is Spike's norm, face expressions and lip syncing are still kinda wonky but they're better than what they've given us in the past.

The battle stages look pretty good as well, they're big enough for you to move around in, but small enough so you never feel lost in the fight, there's plenty of stuff to destroy in each of them (and in the case of Toriko's stage, too much)as well as some little details going on in the background like Pegasus Constelation in the sky on Saint Seiya's stage or a Dragon Ball in Namek. There could have been more variety, as 4 of the 12 stages are either villages or cities, but each of them look pretty different form one to another, so I guess it's okay.

There's 24 music tracks in the game, 23 serving as themes for characters (with some characters sharing themes) and 1 being your Victory Burst theme (Fighting Stars is such a great song). The soundtrack is a (raging) blast to hear, each theme captures the essence of its series so well (and in cases like Naruto's, it feels like it was ripped straight from the show) and it makes the fast-paced battles even more thrilling. In the options menu there's an option that lets you costumize the tracks individually, swapping them out with the music you have in your console's HDD, if you're like me, you're probably going to put in each series' opening theme and sing out the lyrics .

Overall the game captures that Jump feel, it looks good, it sounds good, it's great, I wish it looked a bit more colorful, but I'm nitpicking at this point.

Game Modes:
So J-Stars offers us 5 modes to play in, J-Adventure, Victory Road, Arcade, Free Battle, and Online Battle. With the exception of Arcade and Online, all of these include local multiplayer.

In J-Adventure, you have the options to choose between 4 arcs, each of them having their own main character/team, so there's Dynamic Arc (Luffy), Hope Arc (Naruto), Investigation Arc (Toriko) and Pursuit Arc (Ichigo). All of the 4 arcs share the same time period and premise: There's this Jump Battle Tournament going on, and for some reason our heroes want to participate. The premise is the same, the main event is the same and so are most of the side-quests, so if you play one Arc to the fullest, you've played them all.

You start out with a small, slow boat and as your jouney progresses you make upgrades to it, ending up with a big fast Ship, reminiscent of Budokai 3 and Budokai Tenkaichi 2, there's this overworld you can explore, with various locations from the various Jump series and various NPCs to talk to which can assign you with side-quests with various objectives, be it defeat a certain team, gather an item for them and defeat some monsters that are in the map. By completing these side-quests you gain more team members that will stay with you during your journey, as well as some J-Points that you spend in the J-Shop to costumize your fighters and your boat.

Of course, there's different interactions and dialogue in each arc as well as some plot points and event during your journey, so if you're into that, I'd say go ahead. I did Luffy's arc to the fullest, completing every sidequest and so on, and some things were not explained correctly (like how some characters teamed up with each other or what happened to some of them later one), I proceeded to do Naruto's (altough, ignoring most of the sidequests) and I got some explanations while doing so, so it's not 100% the same.

Is this main the atraction to J-Stars tho? Absolutely not. The plot itself is nothing special, at best it's entertaining and at worst it's unecessary, what really makes this mode not such a chore is the interactions between all the characters. It's presentation is also nothing to speak leagues about, just like Budokai 3 all the dialogue is shown trough characters portraits and text (which not all of it is voiced), so those of you expecting cool cutscenes, I'm crying with you.

Victory Road, similar to Jump Ultimate Stars' J-Universe and Raging Blast 2' Galaxy Mode, pits in you in 12 arenas with 4-5 battles each, the arenas have mutiple routes to take, so you'll have a reason to dive in to complete the battles you missed in your first playtrough, some of the battles also include challenges that you can complete, such as "Use you support 3 times" or "Be the first to attack", these give you extra J-Points, so there's no need to rush and complete them, unless you really want that 100% in the menu.

Arcade is the standard mode seen in various other fighters, here you pick a team and duke it out against 6 teams while raking up score, sometimes you'll get a special aditional battle during your playtrough which if won, gives you some bonus J-Points, there's various ladders, each of them having it own theme like "Characters that have appeard in 2000" and so on, so if you want some quick fix on battles against the computer, you'll spend some time here. Unfortunately unlike other fighting games, you won't get an Intro nor Outro for you team, nor a special picture which is a shame actually.

Free Battle and Online are also the usual flare, in Free Battle you can go against the CPU or a local friend, you can configure your team how you like, so you can play 1v1 instead of the usual 2v2s. Online includes Rank Match, Friendly Match and Rankings, you can also costumize a title and player icon that you can obtain by participating in online battles, in both Ranked and Friendly Match, you can invite someone over PSN to be your team-mate. While I haven't played much to make judgement on the netcode, It seems inline with previous Spike's titles, if not a bit better, I haven't had any disconections nor did the match outright stop to "Waiting for Synchronization" once, so in that regard it's all good.

Gameplay:
Like previous Spike games, J-Stars is a 3D Arena Fighter, placing the camera behind the character and and thus allowing full controll of it in relation to the stage. Players can move around, jump (most characters can double jump, others, like DBZ characters, can even fly), sidestep and dash in every direction if they want to, using the stage for both defensive options like hiding behind a building or using it to continue their assault, like pummeling the opponent into a building.

Unlike previous Spike games, battles are taken in a 2v2 format, there's a Win Gauge at the top of the screen that needs to be filled 3 times before a team wins, so to win each team needs to either K.O 3 times one opponent or 2 times 1 opponent and 1 time the other one. Because there's no down time, there's no need for players to try and revive its team-mates, so you really only need to focus on the opponent, while sometimes helping out and strategizing with your team-mate.

Control scheme while unintuitive at first, takes maybe 2 matches to get used to. Like other fighters, you have your weak attack and strong attack mapped to [] and /\ respectively, X acts as your Jump button while O is the way to execute your special moves. Taking a page from Raging Blast R1 acts as your guard button and using it in conjuction with your face buttons grants you different options, R1+ Any direction on your analog stick lets you do a quick side-step, R1+X lets you charge your stamina, R1+[] grants you an "Area Move" which covers more range than your standard melee attacks (or adds a side-effect to the oponent) and R1+/\ is your "Stamina Break", an attack that bypasses the opponent guard, for some characters it's a charged melee, others is a throw, Gon for example uses his Fish rod, to dash, one would hold R2 in the direction they wish to travel to, use L2 to use their support attack while L1 would change targets.

Each characters has 3 special moves, O, Foward+O and R1+0 as well as Ultimate Move done by pressing R3 while the Victory Burst gauge is full. The Vitory Burst gauge is raised by sucefully attacking, defending, defeating enemies and executing team moves, team moves can be done when a prompt appears on screen after doing a tag launcher (for most characters it's /\->[] or /\->/\->[], some of them need another attack).

Now while every character has homogenous inputs, they do very different things with very different consequences. To get out of the way, every character is completely unique in the way they play and it will take some time to completely master one character, so for those that want to take the next level they'll have fun trying to master every character.

For fighting game enthusiasts, the game does feature a combo system that honestly, is not the most intuitive things in the world, some are as easy as to do a special attack during or after the standard melee attacks while others require a bit more tought and practice. Don't believe me? During its Japanese release, Bandai Namco released a "Recommended Combo" video featuring a simple basic combo for every character that people can use a starting point into learning each character.

That's not to say the combat' is perfect, It's not. Dashing can be really clunky and unresponsive at times, part of it because you can't instantly change direction of the dash so you either have to stop it completely or jump, there's also too many invincibility frames of recovery wherever you knock down an opponent, which in my opinion can sometimes slow down the fight because most players will try to run away as the opponent recovers as to not get attacked, same thing with some ultimates as some characters charge up before they uneash their attack, they have invincibilty frames during that period.

Overall tho? It's a lot of fun, I love me some team fighting games and 2v2 does not bother me at all, unlike the Raging Blast games where you had too many (sometimes un-needed) mechanics, here you'll see yourself using every single option your character your characters has to gain the upper hand, and it makes for some great spectacle when your opponents are doing the same.

Extras and Final Toughts
There aren't many extras here, in the shop you can buy cards to costumize your characters, kinda like in previous Spike games, but most people will do fine without them, in Gallery Mode, you can check your replays (that you can save after every battle) and read a brief description of every characters in the game while looking at the characters models and hearing their battle intros (both standard and special). This is kind of a missed oppurtunity as there could have been so much stuff they could have put int, special wallpapers, manga panels, bonus cards, dioramas, It's a shame a game celebrating 25 years of Jump history doesn't really go out of its way to really "celebrate it".

Ultimately, J-Stars is a fun, light-hearted fan-service game with an addicting combat system. Unfortunately its single player modes while lengthy, can fall a bit on the boring side after a while and it's a shame they didn't go out of their way to put in some more extras. Still, it's a golden oppurtunity to finally have all these characters duking it out while also getting to know unfamiliar faces, and all the interactions druing J-Adventure will put a smile on your face during the whole journey. It's a must have for fans of both anime and fighting games for sure, and hopefully they'll give us a sequel in 2019.

[Super Sayian Prime]

The game is up on PSN in NA:

PS3 ($39.99 - 3.5GB) | Vita ($39.99 - 1.6GB) | PS4 ($59.99 - 3.4GB)

The home console versions (PS3/PS4) include a digital compendium. All versions include a free system theme during the launch period.

[SSJ God Gogeta]

The game is up on PSN in NA:

PS3 ($39.99 - 3.5GB) | Vita ($39.99 - 1.6GB) | PS4 ($59.99 - 3.4GB)

The home console versions (PS3/PS4) include a digital compendium. All versions include a free system theme during the launch period.

Thanks for the update!

I was gonna buy a physical copy but now decided to go digital.

[ShadowDude112]

Does anyone know how the slot system in the store works? It kinda bugs me, but I guess it would bug me less if I understood how it worked. When does it like recharge and stuff so I can buy more characters?

[Quebaz]

Does anyone know how the slot system in the store works? It kinda bugs me, but I guess it would bug me less if I understood how it worked. When does it like recharge and stuff so I can buy more characters?

You get more slots as you level up your Friendship, Triumph and Effort bars, to fasten up the process, there's a few items in the store (things like Effor Candy, etc) that you can use during J-Adventure.

[Kaboom]

The home console versions (PS3/PS4) include a digital compendium. All versions include a free system theme during the launch period.

Thanks for the update!
I was gonna buy a physical copy but now decided to go digital.

Yeah, my only choice is the Vita, and I was going to import a physical copy from the UK... but between some concerns I'm having about online play (like, what if it always tries to use European servers or something) and the free system theme offer... I'm thinking I may just want to suck it up and get it digital. I have plenty of space on my Vita's card, and I already pre-ordered the PS3 version to get the artbook, so I wouldn't be missing out on much.

[SSJ God Gogeta]

Well I'm out of town for a week and in the middle of timbuktu, no place that sells games in sight... So now that I got a good internet connection running and psn has the game, I won't have to wait a week to play it and now have something to do! I really like the theme they give you with the game, it's really cool.