DragonBall: Raging Blast (PS3/360)

Post by **VegettoEX** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 10:47 am

Can you folks be a little less snarky? Good god. This thread reads pretty ridiculously.

(Apologies for the stream-of-consciousness post below... I realize that the sentence structure is pretty abysmal...)

I've played the demo for Raging Blast quite a few times, but I'm writing this up not JUST about that. So on a whim last night I popped in Sparking! METEOR. Other than maybe once or twice in the couple weeks/months after it came out, I really have not touched the game since then.

In the new house I have the Japanese PS2 hooked up to our old SDTV, though it's now at least done over component. I gotta say... I was shocked at how good the game still looks. The textures on the background stages were pretty laughable and the pan shots looked pretty low-frame-rate... but the in-game battling? Wow, it was pretty fluid and never took a dive... not once. Does anyone know the exact frame-rate it's running at? It's clearly not moving at 60 fps like Raging Blast can at least truthfully attest to, but it was more than sufficient for the proper experience.

Yes, the character models are obviously "blockier" than they are in the current generation of systems. Yes, I still prefer the character models and especially animations in the Budokai series over the Sparking! series... but it was fine for what it was.

What I mean by that is that I'm comparing a PS2 game two years ago to a current-gen game. Those later PS2 games were pushing the limits of the system pretty well, and we're still in a period where developers don't have the BEST grasp on the current hardware (especially the PS3 at times, it seems, at least when porting from the 360 if it's the lead SKU). The PS2 game was still holding its own.

From what I've seen and played, Raging Blast is acting far too much of a minor iteration to be a compelling purchase:

- The 60 fps is almost a necessity for me, since I don't see much of the way in improvement beyond that (and I have a ton more to write about frame-rates in games, though it will be over on my gaming blog, instead).

- The control scheme seems changed for the sake of change; it wasn't a simplification, that's for sure. It was just different, and I found it difficult to adapt. The biggest problem I had was using the analog stick to control my character instead of the d-pad. Is there an option to change that around? Holding "down" on the d-pad to charge my ki? Really? That means I actually have to remove my thumb from controlling my character in order to charge up. Sure, you have to come to a stand-still in Sparking! METEOR to do the same thing, but the difference is that in the prior game... your thumb never leaves control over the character, giving you split-second advantage over re-gaining and re-taking control (since all you've done is hold down L2). I'm nowhere near something like a competitive player (nor do I even particularly like the game), but wouldn't that be a big deal if you were? Don't you want the most precise and immediate control you can have over your character movements? Hopefully there is some serious control adjustments you can make in the options of the retail product...

- The character models still looks as stiff and lifeless as ever. They move a little more fluidly, but I just don't get the organic feeling that I should. If Namco was able to do it so well in Soul Calibur III on the PS2 (which, granted, obviously had a different development team and budget...), surely some of that experience and talent could be brought up to the PS3...? Yes, it's a step-up from the prior games... but I'm still left wanting more.

Is it probably going to be a decent game? I suppose so. For those of you who are totally into that style of fighting game, I guess that's what you're looking for. It seems like the absolutely hardcore Sparking! fans are pretty disappointed, though... am I getting a pretty accurate read, there? That you're noticing how many things are missing or not improved enough upon? Is it that the middle-of-the-road, generally-complacent fans are the most eager for it?

I feel that we need something other than a minor facelift for these games. I wasn't the biggest fan of Burst Limit, but it at least went for a new art style, and even if you didn't like the mid-game "Drama Pieces", they at least experimented with something new. Raging Blast is nothing more than that minor facelife as far as I can tell... and sure, I don't have the final retail product yet, so I may feel differently when I get my hands on it. But shouldn't they be telling me ahead of time how it's different? Why I should be excited? How is it an all-new gameplay experience? Near as I can tell, they're just shouting that it's Sparking! in 60 fps.

Southe · Post by **Southe** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 11:17 am

My friend just told me the the limited editions on Amazon UK are no longer available and he's received an email telling him his order has been canceled.

I haven't recieved any email and it still says I'll be getting it so I don't know if I'll also have mine canceled soon or if they just ran out of copies for everyone.

SS Kakarot · Post by **SS Kakarot** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 11:41 am

My PS3 (limited edition) order also just got cancelled, looks like you can't order it anymore either.
Crap, now where am I gonna order it?

Post by **VegettoEX** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 11:43 am

I better still get that damn soundtrack from someone...!

ShinRogafuken · Post by **ShinRogafuken** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 11:45 am

I agree. In my opinion, Attack of the Saiyans is the best game to look forward to out the three. If you have Tenkaichi 3, Raging Blast will be nice but not enough to replace it.

SS Kakarot · Post by **SS Kakarot** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 12:08 pm

Amazon France and Germany still have the limited edition listed, wonder when they will remove it.

SSJSteve · Post by **SSJSteve** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 12:29 pm

Well I just checked my e-mail and Amazon account and it still says it should arrive on the "13th of November to the 18th".

Sebastian (SB) · Post by **Sebastian (SB)** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 1:45 pm

The only two selling points for me are the "What-If" stories and online gameplay. As much as Sparking! METEOR is already looking to be the superior game in terms of content and controls, I'm hardly find any motivation to go back and play the game. Sure there's a slew of content to unlock through various optional features, but if I can't find anyone to play and enjoy the game with, I usually find myself hard pressed to truly enjoy it. With the current technology in gaming, I can at the very least enjoy Raging Blast with friends over the internet from here and all over the world.

Post by **VegettoEX** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 1:50 pm

Sebastian (SB) wrote:With the current technology in gaming, I can at the very least enjoy Raging Blast with friends over the internet from here and all over the world.

Fair point. With the Wii version of METEOR's online capabilities essentially being broken, it will be nice to have a version of a Sparking! game with functional online play. That's still the minor-iterative enhancement that I'm talking about, though, and really only barely brings it up to snuff with the bare minimum of essentials to actually consider it a "modern" game.

The Tori-bot · Post by **The Tori-bot** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 3:03 pm

Just got my LE pre-order cancelled. Billhooks.

Timo · Post by **Timo** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 3:53 pm

SSJSteve wrote:Well I just checked my e-mail and Amazon account and it still says it should arrive on the "13th of November to the 18th".

Same here. Still no e-mail from amazon.

Southe · Post by **Southe** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 5:26 pm

Now Amazon canceled mine.

Why have it up if you're just gonna cancel it? =/ If France and Germany still get it I'll be annoyed.

SparkyPantsMcGee · Post by **SparkyPantsMcGee** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 6:37 pm

VegettoEX wrote:
Sebastian (SB) wrote:With the current technology in gaming, I can at the very least enjoy Raging Blast with friends over the internet from here and all over the world.
Fair point. With the Wii version of METEOR's online capabilities essentially being broken, it will be nice to have a version of a Sparking! game with functional online play. That's still the minor-iterative enhancement that I'm talking about, though, and really only barely brings it up to snuff with the bare minimum of essentials to actually consider it a "modern" game.

There is one thing that scares me when people bring up online play. I get this feeling that Raging Blast is going to end up going in the same direction as Burst Limit. Its practically impossible to find to someone decent to play with on Burst Limit.

You either:
a) run in to someone with low PNG
b) find someone with a "Z rank" fighter score
c) find someone who just ki spams you

or my person favorite...

d) find a soar loser who exits the match before you get your victory points

Did I mention it takes anywhere from a half hour to an hour to find one of these players?

Please, lets not have this happen again with Raging Blast...please.

Hao_Kaiser · Post by **Hao_Kaiser** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 7:18 pm

SparkyPantsMcGee wrote: There is one thing that scares me when people bring up online play. I get this feeling that Raging Blast is going to end up going in the same direction as Burst Limit. Its practically impossible to find to someone decent to play with on Burst Limit.

...

Did I mention it takes anywhere from a half hour to an hour to find one of these players?

Please, lets not have this happen again with Raging Blast...please.

In all fairness Burst Limit is nearly two years old (and hardly any game retains an online community for that long, outside of the token mainstream FPSs), and there are far better fighters out there to play online. Why would someone who cares enough to play a fighter online go with Burst Limit (which, while fun, lacks depth) over Street Fighter IV or Soul Calibur IV or BlazBlue?

Granted, I don't know how popular the game was in it's prime (mainly because I've only had the game since July, and I don't have a gold Xbox Live subscription), but, all the same, it's understandable that there wouldn't be too many people playing the game at this point. Unfortunate, yes, but totally understandable.

SS Kakarot · Post by **SS Kakarot** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 7:32 pm

This was posted on the Gamefaqs board, not sure how true it is, but who knows...

"We thought it unfair to release an edition for Europe only, and the art book was not finished to the deadline, so rather than delay the release again, we decided it best to make all LE specials avaliable over the XBOX live marketplace (and playstation store) and we apologize for the inconvinience. Raging blast music will be downloadable for the playstation and Xbox consoles, and once again, we apologize for inconvinience this has caused"

Big Momma · Post by **Big Momma** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 7:33 pm

Actually, as long as I do a worldwide search, I can usually find someone fairly quickly. At least the amount of time it takes to go fetch a glass of milk real quick. (Which I actually did, by the way.

)

B · Post by B » Mon Nov 02, 2009 7:57 pm

SS Kakarot wrote:This was posted on the Gamefaqs board, not sure how true it is, but who knows...

"We thought it unfair to release an edition for Europe only, and the art book was not finished to the deadline, so rather than delay the release again, we decided it best to make all LE specials avaliable over the XBOX live marketplace (and playstation store) and we apologize for the inconvinience. Raging blast music will be downloadable for the playstation and Xbox consoles, and once again, we apologize for inconvinience this has caused"

"Inconvenience" is spelled wrong multiple times. Also, you'd think if this were some sort of email/message from Amazon, the various proper nouns would be capitalized. =/

Plus, GameFAQs. Double =/

SparkyPantsMcGee · Post by **SparkyPantsMcGee** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 9:14 pm

Hao_Kaiser wrote:In all fairness Burst Limit is nearly two years old (and hardly any game retains an online community for that long, outside of the token mainstream FPSs), and there are far better fighters out there to play online. Why would someone who cares enough to play a fighter online go with Burst Limit (which, while fun, lacks depth) over Street Fighter IV or Soul Calibur IV or BlazBlue?

Granted, I don't know how popular the game was in it's prime (mainly because I've only had the game since July, and I don't have a gold Xbox Live subscription), but, all the same, it's understandable that there wouldn't be too many people playing the game at this point. Unfortunate, yes, but totally understandable.

good point. I didn't get the game until a year after its release so I don't know what online play was like it its prime; I just know that when I got it, the lobby was dead.

Supa Saiya-Jin Tullece · Post by **Supa Saiya-Jin Tullece** » Mon Nov 02, 2009 11:58 pm

Hao_Kaiser wrote:
SparkyPantsMcGee wrote: There is one thing that scares me when people bring up online play. I get this feeling that Raging Blast is going to end up going in the same direction as Burst Limit. Its practically impossible to find to someone decent to play with on Burst Limit.

...

Did I mention it takes anywhere from a half hour to an hour to find one of these players?

Please, lets not have this happen again with Raging Blast...please.
In all fairness Burst Limit is nearly two years old (and hardly any game retains an online community for that long, outside of the token mainstream FPSs), and there are far better fighters out there to play online. Why would someone who cares enough to play a fighter online go with Burst Limit (which, while fun, lacks depth) over Street Fighter IV or Soul Calibur IV or BlazBlue?

Granted, I don't know how popular the game was in it's prime (mainly because I've only had the game since July, and I don't have a gold Xbox Live subscription), but, all the same, it's understandable that there wouldn't be too many people playing the game at this point. Unfortunate, yes, but totally understandable.

There is still a nice number of players, from what I can tell. I was watching someone play it on Livestream with a bunch of other guys. He was playing as Ginyu and trolling the ever loving shit out of whoever he was fighting.

Body swappan' gaems.

Misspelled on purpose. Feel free to correct it if it's bothersome, though.

SSJSteve · Post by **SSJSteve** » Tue Nov 03, 2009 12:02 pm

I e-mailed Amazon yesturday asking them what was going on with the Limited Edition version, they replied back saying:

I regret that there is a delay with your order. I can confirm that your order is still in active and it has not cancelled. Sometimes unexpected fluctuations in supply can add time to our original availability estimate. We have learned that "Dragon Ball: Raging Blast - Limited Edition (Xbox 360)" is now back-ordered and we will update you once we have received an estimated arrival date from the vendor.

So they might have delayed it, because they said its not cancelled.