"Sparking! ZERO" Official Announcement, Pre-, & Post-Release Discussion Thread

[budokaifanatic007]

I want to talk a bit about the story mode and the 8 characters whose perspectives we will be experiencing as well as the possible alternate decisions that can be made.

I am not entirely sure of who all 8 characters will end up being but I can list the ones that I am certain will have story paths:
Goku
Vegeta
Gohan
Piccolo
Krillin

As for the other 3... I am unsure but I think it will be:
Future Trunks
Tien
Yamcha

We know that there will be what-if scenarios occurring based on certain choices the characters make during specific points in the story. I would like to predict what those will be now.

Goku:

Spoiler:

Going it alone against Raditz instead of going with Piccolo immediately.
Being early to the battle against Nappa and Vegeta.
Not sparing Freeza.
Taking the heart virus medication early.
Going first in the time chamber.
Training with someone else in the time chamber (either Vegeta or Piccolo).
Killing Majin Buu early.
Choosing different contestants for team U7 in ToP.

Vegeta:

Spoiler:

Sparing Nappa.
Sparing Ginyu Force.
Staying awake and getting a wish on the Namekian DBs (immortality).
Training with someone else in the time chamber.
Killing Cell early.
Not allowing Babidi to mind control him.
Not knocking out Goku before fighting Buu.
Becoming SSJG instead of Goku.
Killing Freeza before he blows up the planet.
Fighting first in the U6 tournament.
Something that will result in him beating Jiren instead of Goku.

Gohan:

Spoiler:

Not saving Dende.
Killing Cell before he self-destructs.
Training for the 7 years leading to the Buu arc.
Killing Super Buu.
Joining the U6 tournament.
Something that leads to him fighting Jiren alongside Goku.

Piccolo:

Spoiler:

Not kidnapping Gohan.
Not saving Gohan.
Not fusing with Nail.
Not fusing with Kami.
Continuing to fight in the U6 tournament.

Krillin:

Spoiler:

Killing Vegeta.
Detonating Android 18.
Staying in the 25th tournament.

Future Trunks:

Spoiler:

Somehow saving Future Gohan.
Staying in the main timeline and participating in the ToP.

Tien:

Spoiler:

Surviving the Nappa fight.
Entering the time chamber.
Not getting knocked out by Buu and participating against Kid Buu.

Yamcha:

Spoiler:

Surviving the Saibaman.
Staying with Bulma.
Joining the ToP.

Maybe with Tien's story we can fight these guys:

[Cold Skin]

^ No matter how big the roster gets over time, I don't think we'll see fodder characters that only appeared in one single specific episode.
It's possible that they get inspired by that and include Ten Shin Han fighting other Saiyans from the past (like Bardack's crew) that are more likely to be included.

On another subject, the inclusion of many costumes can lead to artwork costumes being included, for example as paid DLC too, leading to the greatest choice of costumes ever for each character.
You can imagine a system in which all costumes used in the story itself are included in the base game but they can sell extra costumes from artworks, like Goku's leather jacket, his costume inspired by Journey to the West, his "playing poker" suit, etc.

It's another way to have the most complete "regular game" ever and all the more money for Bandai Namco in an easy way that also pleases fans. Fans might not pay for every single costume, but they'll surely pay to have their favorite costume ever that only appeared in "that one specific artwork".

You can now have the costume you always wanted for every character if Bandai Namco gives in to the idea.

[Bardock God of Time]

Saw this on reddit, I'd love to have a customization system similar to Naruto Storm Connections/Revolution

[Almighty Majin]

What are some costumes you really want to see? There are a lot of good opportunities for different unique costumes here.

Outfits I think would be cool:
Goku's casual outfit while waiting for the Cell Games (we haven't had this in a game since Budokai 1 I think).
Goku's 28th Tournament outfit (especially for DBS Goku as well).
Goku's GT outfit (adult GT Goku).
Vegeta's "Bad Man" shirt.
Vegeta's 28th Tournament outfit.
Gohan's Z-Sword training outfit.
Piccolo with RR Army suit.
Yamcha's look from the first arc of DB.
Freeza with his training outfit from the manga.
Captain Ginyu with Goku's gi.
Android 16 RR Army Gevo outfit.

[YMK_8000]

With all this online backlash and growing number disguntled voices complaining when a Dragonball product like Sparking Zero is on these verge of beng released or has released be it a toy,anime series,video game, hell even a towel set. I've often wondered why has there never been a well organized public boycott of of a Dragonball product? Like why dont all the ones (I'm not gonna name what section of the fandom but if you look closely you'll see ) who have been whining the most about get together and say "hey until etc is fixed to our liking we arent buying this". Wouldnt that actually accomplish something & get "complaints" heard? Rather than yelling down an empty hallway cursing Spike or Bandai or whatever entity(that wont hear you) the fans have on the list to bash.

[Hellspawn28]

New prediction for the rest of the roster

Spoiler:

1. DB Kid Goku
2. Oozaru
3. General Blue
4. Tao Pai Pai
5. Tambourine
6. Piccolo Daimo
7. Cui
8. Zarbon
9. Zarbon's Monster Form
10. Dodoria
11. Captain Ginyu
12. Z Freeza 1st form
13. Z Freeza 2nd form
14. Z Freeza 3rd form
15. Z Freeza 4th form
16. Z Freeza 100%
17. Mecha Freeza
18. King Cold
19. #16
20. #19
21. Imperfect Cell
22. Semi-Perfect Cell
23. Pefect Cell
24. Super Perfect Cell
25. Babidi
26. Super Buu
27. Buutenks
28. Buuhan
29. Kid Buu
30. Uub
31. Coola
32. Coola Final Form
33. Metal Coola
34. DBZ Broli
35. DBZ SSj Broli
36. DBZ LSSj Broli
37. Janemba
38. EOZ/GT Trunks
39. GT Pan
40. GT Goku
41. SSj GT Goku
42. SSj3 GT Goku
44. SSj4 Goku
45. SSj4 Vegeta
46. SSj Gogeta
47. Super Baby Vegeta 2
48. Baby Golden Oozaru
49. Super 17
50. Super Xi Xing Long
51. Basil
52. Lavender
53. Jaco
54. Cabba
55. SSj Cabba
56. Frost (1st form)
57. Frost (Final Form)

DLC:
Beast Gohan
Orange Piccolo
Fat Gotenks
Cell Max

DBD Goku
DBD Vegeta
DBD Main Villain
DBD Major Character

[Bardock God of Time]

Vjump Spoilers:

Spoiler:

Android 18, 17, 16, Dr Gero, Android 19, Teen Gohan, Teen Gohan SSJ2, Father Son Kamehameha, Perfect Cell's Solar Kamehameha

[Rinsankajugin]

Vjump Spoilers:

Spoiler:

Android 18, 17, 16, Dr Gero, Android 19, Teen Gohan, Teen Gohan SSJ2, Father Son Kamehameha, Perfect Cell's Solar Kamehameha

Glad we finally got confirmation on DBZ 17 being a separate character from DBS 17. I know it was obvious from how the characters were named, but a lot of people really thought DBZ 17 was going to be a costume.

[Salt-sensei]

With all this online backlash and growing number disguntled voices complaining when a Dragonball product like Sparking Zero is on these verge of beng released or has released be it a toy,anime series,video game, hell even a towel set. I've often wondered why has there never been a well organized public boycott of of a Dragonball product? Like why dont all the ones (I'm not gonna name what section of the fandom but if you look closely you'll see ) who have been whining the most about get together and say "hey until etc is fixed to our liking we arent buying this". Wouldnt that actually accomplish something & get "complaints" heard? Rather than yelling down an empty hallway cursing Spike or Bandai or whatever entity(that wont hear you) the fans have on the list to bash.

I don't think that a public boycott for DB stuff is possible because the people complaining are a loud minority, for every 10 people complaining at every chance that "x character isn't in Sparking! Zero" or that "it is too expensive", you'll have another 100 people that already pre-ordered everything.

[Cold Skin]

Glad we finally got confirmation on DBZ 17 being a separate character from DBS 17. I know it was obvious from how the characters were named, but a lot of people really thought DBZ 17 was going to be a costume.

The only way it would have been possible was if changing the costume changed the dialogues too.
Otherwise, the two C-17 have such a different behavior that a simple costume switch wouldn't have conveyed the proper character between the arrogant teen who only thinks about having fun regardless of the damages he causes and the no-nonsense, respectful warrior he later becomes!

[Kanassa]

I just realized that in one of the pictures in the Custom Battle background, we see Frieza's ship in the wasteland stage. Unless the custom battle can add objects to levels, this confirms that the Mecha Frieza fight is in the game, right?

[Bardock God of Time]

I just realized that in one of the pictures in the Custom Battle background, we see Frieza's ship in the wasteland stage. Unless the custom battle can add objects to levels, this confirms that the Mecha Frieza fight is in the game, right?

Kame House and Goku's House might be locations too it seems

I think it's a good possibility that Mecha Frieza will be in because Trunks destroyed Frieza's ship which wasn't there when he fought Goku

I mean yeah it could also be objects that can be added, like Chi-Chi shows up in one of the images - is she playable or an NPC that can be added to the cutscenes?

[Cold Skin]

Speaking of the custom mode, I wonder if the hundreds of lines they offer for custom dialogues have been thought through for foreign language. A sentence like "You're an idiot." can be used against a boy or a girl. But if they translate that in French or Spanish and other languages too, we need a same sentence to be available as a version aimed at a boy or aimed at girl (in French, "un idiot" for a boy but "une idiote" for a girl, in Spanish, "estupido" for a boy, "estupida" for a girl).

If they give us only one translation, we'll have someone saying to C-18 the equivalent of "You're a surprising boy" all over the place.
I don't know if they realized that a lot of available lines will need double slots for languages that are not English or Japanese - because the notion of talking to a boy or a girl is directly stated in the adjective or noun itself -, unless the translators go to the trouble of always finding a convenient neutral way to put the sentence, which I doubt.

Everytime a line with an adjective or a noun about the other appears, like "You're very strong" or "You're not a true warrior" or "Don't be disappointed" or "Are you serious?" and countless others, we need two translations if we want to be able to apply it to any character, otherwise it's going to be everyone considered as male by default by the translators.

[HulkTySSJ5]

Speaking of the custom mode, I wonder if the hundreds of lines they offer for custom dialogues has been thought through for foreign language. A sentence like "You're an idiot." can be used against a boy or a girl. But if they translate that in French or Spanish and other languages too, we need a same sentence to be available as a version aimed at a boy or aimed at girl (in French, "un idiot" for a boy but "une idiote" for a girl, in Spanish, "estupido" for a boy, "estupida" for a girl).

If they give us only one translation, we'll have someone saying to C-18 "You're a stupid boy".
I don't know if they realized that a lot of available lines will need double slots for languages that are not English or Japanese, unless the translators go to the trouble of always finding a convenient neutral way to put the sentence, which I doubt.

Everytime a line with an adjective or a noun about the other appears, like "You're very strong" or "You're not a true warrior" or "Don't be disappointed" and countless others, we need two translations if we want to be able to apply it to any character, otherwise it's going to be everyone considered as male by default by the translators.

There's no voices. Just text.

[Cold Skin]

^ I know, but it still applies to the whole language, written or spoken.

If there's written the French translation for "You're strong!", then it's going to be "Tu es fort !" for a boy and "Tu es forte !" for a girl
If there's a text that's meant to say "Are you a warrior?", it's going to be "Es-tu un guerrier ?" for a boy and "Es-tu une guerrière ?" for a girl.

The translator has to choose and will likely go for talking to a male by default if not given the instruction to be deliberately ambiguous with a sentence that beats around the bush like "You have a lot of strength!" just to avoid the adjective.

So I do wonder how the various translations will handle those custom lines if they don't know whether it's meant for a boy or for a girl.
Hopefully, the devs will be aware of that and let them duplicate each line with a male and female variant, otherwise some dialogues might be weird.

[omegalucas]

^ I know, but it still applies to the whole language, written or spoken.

If there's written the French translation for "You're strong!", then it's going to be "Tu es fort !" for a boy and "Tu es forte !" for a girl
If there's a text that's meant to say "Are you a warrior?", it's going to be "Es-tu un guerrier ?" for a boy and "Es-tu une guerrière ?" for a girl.

The translator has to choose and will likely go for talking to a male by default if not given the instruction to be deliberately ambiguous with a sentence that beats around the bush like "You have a lot of strength!" just to avoid the adjective.

So I do wonder how the various translations will handle those custom lines if they don't know whether it's meant for a boy or for a girl.
Hopefully, the devs will be aware of that and let them duplicate each line with a male and female variant, otherwise some dialogues might be weird.

If they tie it to the character gender directly it should look clean UI-wise. Like the phrase automatically changing to the female forms if the character you refer to is 18 for example.

[Cold Skin]

I'm glad that surely the modern version of Bardack will be included as a costume now that we know they won't hold back on those!

Z Bardack is often present in video games at the stage of his life when he has already accepted his son as relevant and when he is ready to protect his people at all cost.

This means that with a simple costume switch, his dialogues could be compatible with his modern self, since it will be all about being surprised to see Kakarotto (or anyone looking like him), being angry at Freeza, protecting his son's future and his people, changing the fate he felt coming even in DBS...

[Kanassa]

The opening of this video showcases a Hercule vs the Earthling Z-Fighters custom battle. It's not in english, but interesting to note that it shows that cutscenes aren't just bound to one part of the stage, and that you can make mid-mission cutscenes. It also shows you can set the stage post-destruction as the world tournament stage used here already has the civvilians having fled the scene.

[Hellspawn28]

I want a destroyed tournament stage from the 23rd Tenkachi Budokai.

[Rinsankajugin]

Bamco representative David Edmundson off-handedly confirms Chi-Chi, Tao Pai-Pai, and the Red Ribbon Army in a recent IGN video.

While we don't have any footage yet, this pretty much all but confirms OG Dragon Ball representation in the game.