Removing story mode in future DBZ fighting games

[Chuquita]

After playing so many DB games, I could live without it in future fighters, but if they do keep it in, I'd say don't make it mandatory to go through Story Mode in order to unlock everybody. Either leave almost everyone unlocked at the start, or have some other means to unlock them. I don't want Story Mode to feel like a chore is what I'm saying. ^^;

[SparkyPantsMcGee]

I'm not a big fan of playing the same story over and over again but ironically not having the story mode in Super DBZ was its only flaw. I like my games to have story modes, I love fighters but without some sort of story mode my play time with them is very short (unless I'm with friends). I don't wish for the next installment to have no story; I just want them to make it more exciting or fresh somehow.

[Savage68]

After playing so many DB games, I could live without it in future fighters, but if they do keep it in, I'd say don't make it mandatory to go through Story Mode in order to unlock everybody. Either leave almost everyone unlocked at the start, or have some other means to unlock them. I don't want Story Mode to feel like a chore is what I'm saying. ^^;

Didn't METEOR already do this?

[Thanos6]

They should just get whoever did the Shin Budokai 1 story mode (and NOT 2's) to keep coming up with new story ideas. Just treat each game like it was a new movie, basically.

[Chuquita]

After playing so many DB games, I could live without it in future fighters, but if they do keep it in, I'd say don't make it mandatory to go through Story Mode in order to unlock everybody. Either leave almost everyone unlocked at the start, or have some other means to unlock them. I don't want Story Mode to feel like a chore is what I'm saying. ^^;

Didn't METEOR already do this?

I wouldn't remember. The three Tenkaichi games are all a blur to me. They were literally not as memorable as Budoukai 1, 2, and 3 were to me. ^^;

[Thanos6]

Though generally I prefer the Sparking!/TB games, my favorite story mode (aside from Shin Budokai 1's) was Budokai 2's "Dragon World." I like the way they remixed the story mode, it's fun to play through with different tweaks on the storyline (Mirai Trunks hanging around post-Cell, or "daughter in law" training where I see if I can beat the whole thing with only Goku and Videl).

[Rocketman]

Didn't METEOR already do this?

Pretty much. Only 20 characters and 8 stages had to be unlocked by story mode/winning tournaments/wishing. All the rest were given at the start.

[Ultimate_DB_Fan]

I have to agree with just about everything Kunzait said.
One of the DB games I stopped playing was Super DBZ because of the ridiculous amount of stuff that had to be unlocked; costumes, characters, etc. It didn't help that transforming into Super Saiyan with Goku or Vegeta only lasted for a certain number of seconds, AND I thought the gameplay was horrendously slow.
I frequently alternate between Infinite World & Tenkaichi 3, and all I do with those two titles is duel mode. I haven't touched the story modes of either games since God knows when because of the single fact that I've aleady unlocked everything already, so I have no intention of going back to them.
Since Mortal Kombat was brought up, all I'll say is that I've been a fan of that series since day one, regardless of the many criticisms it's recieved. MK Vs. DC didn't count, so I just play MK Armageddon online via my PS2.

[Piccolo Daimao]

Personally, I say ditch story mode altogether. Just let the game be a good, solid fighting game unto itself, and that’s all it need to be good and satisfying. A fighting game is made for fighting, not crafting a story or getting swept up in some kind of narrative; leave all that to the RPG or adventure genres where such things actually do matter.

Having these long winded “story modes” be so ever present in each and every go round bogs the DBZ fighting games down and come off as shallow and transparent attempts at giving the illusion of “added depth and replay value”. If the engine is solid and has a few neat little innovations, the controls tight and responsive, the character roster diverse, and matches a blast to play, then that’s all the depth a fighter needs, and is more than enough for continued replay. Anything and everything else besides that is bells and whistles in this genre. Just focus on the meat and potatoes first and foremost, and worry about bonus modes and so forth as a distant last on the priority list. For the nature of a genre like fighting games, putting such a drastic emphasis on storyline and story modes is, or rather becomes after a certain point, just incredibly tedious and pretentious, and oftentimes only hurts the game itself.

Action-oriented video games (i.e. non-RPGs, strategy games, adventure games, and the like) are to be played first, and have narrative merit a distant last, if at all. Storytelling in modern action-based gaming is something that in and of itself can be very nice, but has gotten totally and preposterously out of hand within the last decade or so, and has come in many cases at the expense of the gameplay experience itself. This whole “video games as cinematic storytelling” crap has for quite some years now gotten to the point of being less about accentuating the gameplay experience and more about insufferable self-indulgence, something that has been in desperate need of being reigned in and kept in check. Different genres require a drastically different set of priorities in such matters; if the nature of the genre in question is bashing heads in, then remember the audience you’re attempting to cater to and make the sole primary focus of the game bashing heads in, and lay off the lofty and masturbatory storytelling aspirations.

I can’t count the number of what would’ve otherwise been potentially excellent and badass brawlers and action games within the past several years having their pacing and gameplay flow be utterly ruined because the gameplay is constantly interrupted at almost every other turn because the game is dead set on forcing you to eat a storyline (that 8 times out of 10 is bloated, clichéd, unimaginative, hackneyed tripe that sucks ass anyway). In the case of fighting games, they manage to be obnoxiously intrusive in a different manner in that the story mode is an “option” outside of the normal versus play… but it’s an option the game forces you to play and beat at least once in order to “unlock” characters, special moves, and background arenas that by all rights ought to be available normally in the firs place.

If the story modes continue to stay (both in DBZ fighting games, and in fighting games in general), then at the very least all I ask is that they not be required to play through and beat in order to “unlock” the full character roster and fighting arenas. A character should only be “unlockable” if there’s something immensely special about them or how they play. Something that earns or merits having to go through added legwork in order to have them playable. Jumping through hoops just to have the regular roster available is among the most monumentally idiotic ideas to ever grace the fighting genre, and one that needs to have died years ago.

Having a story mode as an optional mode of play is one thing, but forcing the player practically at gunpoint to play through it at least once if they want the full regular versus gameplay experience is just inexcusably asinine. It doesn’t “add depth”, and it certainly isn’t “rewarding”… it’s a completely unnecessary chore that’s there solely to irritate and test one’s patience. The fighting genre did not start out with this stupid gimmick, got along just perfectly fine for a good number of years without it, has never remotely needed it, and no one anywhere most certainly ever asked for it. Developers need to permanently retire it ASAP.

Kunzait, you always wow me with your well-thought out posts.

[Kunzait_83]

b

[Thanos6]

Why must my friends be fighting?

[Herms]

And yet, arcades are dead.

In America maybe, but not Japan.

[Kunzait_83]

b

[Anonymous Friend]

For the topic title of removing story modes from Dragon Ball fighting games, I beleive that that should not happen. Like someone said earlier, the best part of Dragon Ball (or any lisenced product) is the story and characters from the story, whether it's a retelling of the main plot or a brand new arc. Besides, having no story alienates those who are familiar with the property from those who aren't. I can play a story-less Dragon Ball game like Super DBZ because I know who everyone is and what's going on. A game that I played that did this was Gundam Battle Assault 3. It was based on the Seed universe. It had a couple of cutscenes that mostly said "We're here, now let's go there" and "There's some enemies, let's fight them", and if I hadn't watched the series prior, I probably would not have finished it.

As for the discussion of Gameplay vs Story, it goes without saying that when both are great you get games that people will remember forever. Great gameplay will only get you so far. And that mostly depends on the game. Racing, fighting, shooting, puzzling and sporting games don't necessarily need a compelling story, but a decent one gives you replayability (which is different from continue-to-playability). These genres have a lot of carryover from their arcade roots where you need the instant gratification and constant WowFactor that keeps you coming back after your health is up or time runs out. I think that the death of arcades was, like someone pointed out, due to home gaming tech catching up but mostly because you could get the same gameplay for for a fraction of the cost. I've sunk thousands into various Street Fighter arcade cabinets, but if I were to tally all of my 20+ different home console Street Fighter related purchases it would be less than a fraction of that.

When It comes to unlocking characters in fighting games, I'm a big fan of that. I like being rewarded for doing stuff. I've always played with every single character in a fighting game at least once, even if it was just through the story mode. So, having everyone available at the beginning or not sways me in no direction. I do see why some would be upset if they open the package and have to do a little work. I really hope Kunzait was purposely over exaggerating because otherwise let me know which games I should be avoiding that does that. There were complaints about Street Fighter IV but they gave you all of the arcade characters from the start and you had to unlock the console specific ones. And the only two who were in anyway difficult to do (well three if you count the final one but you just needed to beat the game with every other character to get him) were Gouki and Gouken, the other you just needed to beat the game with other characters. Super Smash Bros. Brawl gave you two ways of unlocking characters, playing through the story and playing through the "multiplayer". I think developers want you to play with every single character they give you, and the best way to guarantee that you do is to force you. It only took me 15 minutes to unlock Gouki, Gouken and Seth for my friend, so it's not too much of a hassle most times. When you leave in the unlocking mechanic, it gives people more things to do when they don't have others to play with and is but a mild time consuming annoyance for those who have people to play against.

Bringing it back to Dragon Ball, we have the story mode but instead of a standard arcade mode, you have the tournament mode. I kinda wish they had kept the 100 Battle mode from the first Sparking. The Mortal Kombat-like themed Pillars from Neo and the similar Ultimate Battles from Meteor were the main reason why Sparking Meteor was better on PS2 than Wii. Thinking about now the Sparking series' Ultimate Battles were almost the perfect arcade modes, only missing a random enemy setup which is what you get with the tournement mode.

Edit: I meant to add that if they decide to make the story mode like it is in Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm, then it might fair better. Story wise, I just had my first run-in with Orochimaru in the Forest of Death, but have been playing through the DLC's missions. The Hide and Seek sucks, but tree Climbing and Forest Races are pretty good. The Giant Fights are pretty cool as well, barring the insane QTEs (so much so that I couldn't beat the one DLC mission to fight all of the Giants in a row cuz I couldn't be the One-tailed beast). I really didn't like them in Infinite World.

[dragondyle]

If there Is going to be any story mode in future games, it needs to be a brand new GOOD story written by Akira Toryama himself.

[Rocketman]

If there Is going to be any story mode in future games, it needs to be a brand new GOOD story written by Akira Toryama himself.

So there's never going to be another story mode in the games.

[nathantheguitarist]

If there is going to be any story mode in future games, it needs to be a brand new decent story supervised by Akira Toriyama himself.

Fixed. Now with more

Reading kunzait's post makes me want to play Super DBZ. I've played it for about 10 minutes before at a friend's house, but then I bought it and have yet to put it in the PS2...
Edit: Nope... couldn't do it. Read the back cover again and put it back on the shelf. *insert facepalm*

[dragondyle]

So I'm guessing he wouldn't be willing to write a story for a video game then?

[johnboy1]

You know, I was thinking about this the other day. What if we had two divergent storylines in the games? Like, all of the fighting games would take up where GT left off, while DBO continues from Z while ignoring GT. Just a thought. I really would like to know what happened to the gang after Goku left with Shenlong, and yet nobody's even tried to explore that option (Hell, even fanfics in such a time period are scarce).

[nathantheguitarist]

You know, I was thinking about this the other day. What if we had two divergent storylines in the games? Like, all of the fighting games would take up where GT left off, while DBO continues from Z while ignoring GT. Just a thought. I really would like to know what happened to the gang after Goku left with Shenlong, and yet nobody's even tried to explore that option (Hell, even fanfics in such a time period are scarce).

I like this idea, but the highlighted part: You mean Dragonball AF?

So I'm guessing he wouldn't be willing to write a story for a video game then?

He hasn't in the recent surge of video games in the past 10 years except for supervising DBO. If he hasn't already, it's pretty unlikely he will in the future. You never know though.