Which video game had the best story mode?

[Piccolo Daimao]

Which Dragon Ball video game had the best story mode, in your opinion? Do you think it was Budokai 3, for its individual story modes between characters, free flight & level-up system? Budokai 1 for its detailed cutscenes? Or Tenkaichi 2?

[Herms]

I like Supersonic Warriors' what-if stories.

[Kiyza]

I liked how Saiya-jin Raishuu did the story. It actually made the filler somewhat interesting and made up some of its own.

[xzero]

I'm partial to Budokai 1's cutscenes. I was hoping to see more of that in later games using the upgraded cel shading graphics technology, but they got shortened as the series progressed.

The current 'best story' award would probably go to Attack of the Saiyans (which may be what Kiyza mentioned, but I don't remember whether that was the Japanese title). The filler was pretty interesting because of the references to the other elements of the series not present in the Saiyan storyline. For instance,

Spoiler:

fighting against Jackie Chun at the end of the first mission to retrieve the crystal in the cave was a really good idea and a neat reference to Dragon Ball.

I also enjoyed the Legacy of Goku stories, though their filler was not nearly as good as Attack of the Saiyans'.

[caejones]

Super Butoden 2 was neat... now if only I could read Japanese...

In theory, it'd be Budokai 3... for some reason it left me with a "meh" reaction.

[SSJmole]

Burst limit in my honest opinion. It covered the same time frame as Budokai 1 but however in my honest opinion the cutscenes showed more emotion and so that made the story better. Even after playing the story like 6 or more times on the run in fighting games I still think the story is one of many things Burst Limit got right.


That said however I wish we could get what the psp games had but Burst limit style cutscenes. By that I mean a new and original (or as much as possible) story. Like on psp Shin Budokai 2 game had "What if Buu was released in future Trunk's time" a great Idea done poorly.

I would love if they did that on current systems. Stuff like Budokai 2 , raging blast and more have had what if characters why not do another. Here is one I'd love :

Movie 13 and GT had all the evil villains escaping hell. Frieza and Cell fuse together in hell and create Friell or Ceza. This new threat has the reproduction capability of Cell but more transformations. After all Cooler was stronger Frieza and got 1 more transformation. The new villain could have 2-3 transformations.

They lead the other villains from hell to return. Yes it's not a very deep story but this allows the main story to have things like Raditz and Nappa returning after training for years and are now SSJ.

Fights could be :

Goten and Trunks vs Raditz and Nappa.
Gotenks vs SSJ Raditz and SSJ Nappa.
None saiyan Z-warriors vs the Ginyu Force and their new captain Broly (since Ginyu is a frog and all)
Goku and Gohan vs Ceza
Gogeta vs Ceza
and more.


Yes this is basically an entire game of what-ifs then unlock other characters for vs mode like kid gohan ect... But while non of it would be cannon and would have to ignore some power level gaps it makes for an all new experience playing through it also means even the most hardcore Dragon Ball fan would get a story they have not seen yet.

[Fishman]

They lead the other villains from hell to return. Yes it's not a very deep story but this allows the main story to have things like Raditz and Nappa returning after training for years and are now SSJ.

Fights could be :

Goten and Trunks vs Raditz and Nappa.
Gotenks vs SSJ Raditz and SSJ Nappa.
None saiyan Z-warriors vs the Ginyu Force and their new captain Broly (since Ginyu is a frog and all)
Goku and Gohan vs Ceza
Gogeta vs Ceza
and more.


Yes this is basically an entire game of what-ifs then unlock other characters for vs mode like kid gohan ect... But while non of it would be cannon and would have to ignore some power level gaps it makes for an all new experience playing through it also means even the most hardcore Dragon Ball fan would get a story they have not seen yet.

"What-Ifs" are a mixed bag, really. However, I can't imagine how this ridiculous situation could be handled any better than what happened in Shin Budokai: Another Road-- the difference being that Another Road's storyline actually made sense in theory.

When we start throwing every character from the bottom of the barrel into What-If Stories, they tend to turn out a lot like this:

http://www.redmattersite.com/html/modul ... &id=18&d=1
(This is also the reason for the bolded Ginyu Force text in your quote.)

Ridiculous and silly stories like these can't possibly be taken seriously, and should probably be left to flash.

Now, I know some of the folks around here are tired of playing the story they've watched and played hundreds of times, but I'd say Sparking! METEOR got the gameplay aspect of story mode down the best, but the utter lack of content is ridiculous. The Freeza arc started with Recoome, the Cell arc completely skipped first-form Cell, the Majin Buu arc didn't have a single stage where you play as Gotenks or 'Ultimate Gohan'.

The absolute worst part, however, is that they added so many characters that could flesh out the story mode (or at least reduce the monotony), characters like Spopovich, Babidi, Spopovich, King Cold, Future Gohan, Cyborg TaoPaiPai, Nail, as well as at least fifteen characters from previous installments (Tapion, Videl, Saibaman, Majin Buu ['Pure Evil'], First-Form Janemba, Pikkon) are completely omitted from the Story Mode, turning what is probably the best setup of all time into an Abridged Series.

That said, the dialogue involved with doing the impossible in the story mode (Mr. Satan defeating Kid Buu) is often humorous.

[SparkyPantsMcGee]

Budokai 1. They had all the key cut scenes and they all felt like you were playing the show. Still to this day I love going back and watching the CGI rendition of the opening themes(and listing to the instrumental Head-cha-la during the end credits). B3 did a great job with the world map but I don't like the text bubble cut-outs(yawn) for cut scenes. To me the perfect story mode would be B1 cut scenes, with a B3 world map and Infinite world bonus missions( ).

[Ultimate_DB_Fan]

The DB game with the best story mode is Budokai 1.
The DB game with the best gameplay is Infinite World.
I refuse to buy Raging Blast until a proper installment comes to light.

[SSJmole]

"What-Ifs" are a mixed bag, really. However, I can't imagine how this ridiculous situation could be handled any better than what happened in Shin Budokai: Another Road-- the difference being that Another Road's storyline actually made sense in theory.

When we start throwing every character from the bottom of the barrel into What-If Stories, they tend to turn out a lot like this:

http://www.redmattersite.com/html/modul ... &id=18&d=1
(This is also the reason for the bolded Ginyu Force text in your quote.)

Ridiculous and silly stories like these can't possibly be taken seriously, and should probably be left to flash.

That was just off the top of my head. Given a year or 2 of planning and a paycheck I could come up with something different. But it doesn't really need to be what I said to make my point. They could quiet easily create new characters for villains and make a great sage as story mode. Set it after Z but before GT.

Leave guys like Cell and Frieza as unlockables and the only What-if characters they should add are ones that make sense then like :

Teen Gotenks - At the end of Z they are teens why wouldn't they still know fusion?
SSJ3 Vegeta - Goku and Vegeta ae normally right next to each other after one gets a power the other reaches it. If GT never happened I honestly think vegeta would reach ssj3
SSJ3 Gogeta - if vegeta is ssj3 and goku is let them fuse.


Look at the game Bleach: Shattered Blade they made Arturo just for the game. Why couldn't Dragon ball have a new villain or even new villain and henchmen?

[Hellspawn28]

Either Budokai 1 or 3 takes the cake. Tenckachi 2 had a great story mode too.

[Taku128]

"What-Ifs" are a mixed bag, really. However, I can't imagine how this ridiculous situation could be handled any better than what happened in Shin Budokai: Another Road-- the difference being that Another Road's storyline actually made sense in theory.

When we start throwing every character from the bottom of the barrel into What-If Stories, they tend to turn out a lot like this:

http://www.redmattersite.com/html/modul ... &id=18&d=1

This better not be your way of saying Dragon Ball CG is stupid, because saying it's nothing short of hilarious is flat out wrong.

My favorite story mode is Budokai 3, but I think that has more to do with how much I like Budokai 3 than what they did with the story mode. It's hard to separate the story mode from the gameplay it contains.

[Piccolo Daimao]

So, I haven't yet played Attack Of The Saiyans, Tenkaichi 2 or Burst Limit's story mode, so I'll make my decision based on the DBZ games' story modes I have played.

What I define as "a good story mode" is when I really feel like I'm playing through the story of Dragon Ball Z. Tenkaichi 3, unfortunately, did none of that.

So I guess I'd have to say Budokai 3 had the best story mode. As I mentioned earlier, Budokai 3 had individual story modes between each character (that you could play as). I think it was better to play through one person's own story.

There was also the free flight. I liked the fact that you had the ability to fly around the landscape. Rather than finding Dragon Balls at random during a battle (a la Tenkaichi 1 & 3), you were able to fly around the map purposely looking for Dragon Balls using the Dragon Radar. It was an easier and somewhat more sensible approach to the Dragon Ball hunt, but at the same time being challenging enough.

The RPG-style levelling-up system was great too. It was good that you were able to play your levelled-up characters in Dragon Arena, as well as use your points to up your character's stats.

In addition to the levelling-up, you were able to customize your character, which was gone in the later games.

But then, those last two things aren't really what make for a good story mode, just good...something.

What I thought were the faults of B3's story mode: the fact that the cutscenes...weren't cutscenes. At least, not suitable cutscenes for a Dragon Ball game anyway. They consisted almost completely of still images and speech bubbles against a still background. Budokai 1 wins on the cutscenes aspect.

So...

Best story mode: Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3
Best cutscenes: Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 1

[Gouki*]

I'll always be partial to Gokuden because of the "What Ifs?"

[Shiyonasan]

I've only played the Budokais, Sparkings, and Infinite World. Out of those, I would say Budokai 1. The detailed cutscenes were definitely a treat in that game and are for the most part the reason I go back to play that game sometimes.

Infinite World and Budokai 3 weren't half bad either.

[Rocketman]

In addition to the levelling-up, you were able to customize your character, which was gone in the later games.

The later games have plenty of customization. They just don't have the utter stupidity of, say, Goku forgetting how to go Super because he plans on fusing with Vegeta.

[Commander_Red]

They need to go back and try something like what Ultimate Battle did, unique taunts between the two characters, maybe a few seconds of story scenes depending on the two characters matching up, then the fight.

[Piccolo Daimao]

In addition to the levelling-up, you were able to customize your character, which was gone in the later games.

The later games have plenty of customization. They just don't have the utter stupidity of, say, Goku forgetting how to go Super because he plans on fusing with Vegeta.

Tenkaichi 1 didn't have customization in the story mode, did it? Nor did Tenkaichi 3. And I think that last sentence, you mean to take out the "don't". In Tenkaichi 3, you couldn't transform into Super Saiyan during battle unless the story said for you to (i.e. pressing R3 to activate the cutscene).

[Piccolo Daimao]

Sorry to post twice in a row, but what is Infinite World's story mode? How is it set up?

[Conan the SSJ]

In my honest opinion, Budokai 3 Greatest Hits, without a doubt. Had Infinite World at least put some dialogue exchanges in its non--cut-scene battles, maybe some Narrator exposition too, I would've said that; while it doesn't have the same replay value as Budokai 3, really liked its cut-scenes and mini-games. Budokai 2 and Budokai Tenkaichi 2/Sparking! NEO also rank up there, though none beat GH Budokai 3 in my book.