Post
by Teclo » Thu Nov 19, 2009 4:19 pm
I'm enjoying it very much so far. To get my one complaint out of the way, it forces you through a series of very linear, not particularly connected, very undeveloped storylines for at least the first hour and 20 minutes. They could have made up some more non-canon stuff to knit it all together into a coherent plot. This post is really for people who haven't bought it yet since it doesn't say much more than things that players of the game will already know.
Storyline and Structure
So you do a three-man mission at the order of Master Roshi. It amounts to "Go through a couple of screen, fight boss". Then you do the same with just Krillin (few screens, boss), then Yamcha (few screens, boss) and then Tien (few screens, boss). In each case the only dialogue is at the start and end of the "mission" and manages to take a lot of text to do nothing more than explain why the character(s) are going through those particular 2 or 3 screen and fighting that particular boss. I appreciate that these events are probably filler stories taken from the anime but they could really have used something to gel them together. As it is, these part of the game feels like a photo album of DB filler; "Remember that bit when they go through that cave and fight that guy?" "Oh sure I do, I think it went a little like thiiiiis~", then you play that moment in the form of a traditional turn-based JRPG.
Levelling Up
So the storyline is just fragments of filler stuck together so far. It wrenches away your control of the current character then puts you in control of the start of the next thin, linear sequence. What you're actually doing during this disjointed train journey is pretty good, though. It's not exactly a revolution in JRPGs, but you level up, get granted random stat upgrades and then get two points to distribute as you like. You also earn AP which you spend to level up your techniques. Unlocked techniques will be unlocked as other move-level requirements are met, so Move A Level 2 and Move B Level 2 will unlock Move C Level 1. Each character can wear two items of equipment, doing the usual things like +3 Attack, +100 HP etc.
Capsules
In a nice DB-oriented bit of customisation, you can "equip" 2 capsules to the bottom screen (this number gets upgraded through the game) with one of them being active, the rest being on standby. They'll do things like raise resistance to certain statuses, attempt to blind all enemies at the start of battle, change the items that enemies drop etc. Each item has an "active effect" - what they do if they're the active capsule - and some have standby effect - what they do if they're in the bottom screen but not the active capsule. So the item that raises resistance to poison will still raise it a little if it's a standby capsule. The item that changes all enemies to carrots when you defeat them will not do this if it's on standby.
Battle System
In battle you can do regular physical attacks which have a chance of being turned into slightly more impressive (read: more damaging) combos dependant on your Luck stat. Essentially, criticals but then you also have a chance to do criticals on top of that. You can pick from your various special moves, such as Kamehameha, and other typical options such as Items, Guard and Flee.
A bar builds up, similar to in games such as Street Fighter IV, and when this is filled you are in Sparking mode. What this amounts to is that it opens up a new possibility; certain special moves will now combine into a super move. So (and this combo may or not be true) Yamcha's Wolf Fang Fist will combine with Krillin's Kamehameha to do a team-up combo. Later in the game you'll unlock ultimate moves (such as Spirit Bomb) and these can only be done while in Sparking mode.
Those elements tend to make the battle system, though a classic turn-based RPG, feel like a 2D fighting game. Significantly adding to this is a certain defensive option; a well-timed button press, the button in question depending on whether the character receiving the attack is on the top, middle or bottom of the screen, will half the damage of the attack. It seems to also increase the chance of it missing altogether.
Graphics
This is probably what stands out most to me about the game. It's all good here, as far as I'm concerned. The backgrounds often reminded me of the pre-rendered background Final Fantasy games, though with a slightly hand-drawn quality. The battle sprites are well detailed and animated nicely. The field map sprites are smaller and more basic but, for what they are, I can't complain. The portrait images have various expression and are vivid and clear. The menus and other graphical elements feel well designed and well implemented.
Sound
The only thing I'd say about the sound is that while it never strikes me as bad, and that while the songs are usually distinct, there seems to be a sort of sadness to many of them. Like the backgrounds, they remind me of Final Fantasy but specifically when something bad has just happened. This may only be true of the pre-Goku parts of the game but it stood out to me so I thought I'd mention it.
