DragonBall: Raging Blast (PS3/360)

[Taku128]

I said Spike, not Dimps.
A new Sparking! with the graphics of the image I posted would be delicious.

Yeah, the Tenkaichi 1 intro graphics would really make a future DB game stand out.

Yeah, people would really notice how absolutely hideous the game looks if it looked like the pre-rendered openings.

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

I said Spike, not Dimps.
A new Sparking! with the graphics of the image I posted would be delicious.

Yeah, the Tenkaichi 1 intro graphics would really make a future DB game stand out.

Yeah, people would really notice how absolutely hideous the game looks if it looked like the pre-rendered openings.

Exactly, "stand out".

[SparkyPantsMcGee]

So when do you think Spike'll step it's game up and give us this (or as close as possible to this) as in game graphics?

image

Wake me up when that happens, that'll definitely get me to buy the sequel.

Isn't the gameplay the most important factor when buying a game? I would never buy a game I know is practically the same as the last one/shit as rocks solely for its graphics?

Well Raging Blast failed on both counts, better graphics would have at least helped Spike a little bit. I wish Dimps stuck around as the development team. They seem to give DBZ more justice in the game department.

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

Well Raging Blast failed on both counts, better graphics would have at least helped Spike a little bit. I wish Dimps stuck around as the development team. They seem to give DBZ more justice in the game department.

I don't think Raging Blast was a failure, it just didn't live up to my expectations coming from BT3.

[SparkyPantsMcGee]

Well Raging Blast failed on both counts, better graphics would have at least helped Spike a little bit. I wish Dimps stuck around as the development team. They seem to give DBZ more justice in the game department.

I don't think Raging Blast was a failure, it just didn't live up to my expectations coming from BT3.

It had a lot of technical issues. Some of the worst cameras I've seen in a video game and with over the shoulder combat being an important in that game, sucky cameras really break the gameplay experience. There are also a crap ton of glitches in the game(I made a topic, but if you youtube "Raging Blast glitches" you will find many videos), I mean it's as if no one tested the game. The graphics were nice but not up to par with what they should be, especially after Burst Limit. This is the first game I refused to buy because I just couldn't play it...considering I've bought both Sagas and Taiketsu that's saying something.

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

It had a lot of technical issues. Some of the worst cameras I've seen in a video game and with over the shoulder combat being an important in that game, sucky cameras really break the gameplay experience. There are also a crap ton of glitches in the game(I made a topic, but if you youtube "Raging Blast glitches" you will find many videos), I mean it's as if no one tested the game. The graphics were nice but not up to par with what they should be, especially after Burst Limit. This is the first game I refused to buy because I just couldn't play it...considering I've bought both Sagas and Taiketsu that's saying something.

Yeah, there are glitches and camera issues but to be fair there aren't that many and they don't detract from the game that much for me.

[Piccolo Daimao]

Well Raging Blast failed on both counts, better graphics would have at least helped Spike a little bit. I wish Dimps stuck around as the development team. They seem to give DBZ more justice in the game department.

I don't think Raging Blast was a failure, it just didn't live up to my expectations coming from BT3.

It had a lot of technical issues. Some of the worst cameras I've seen in a video game and with over the shoulder combat being an important in that game, sucky cameras really break the gameplay experience. There are also a crap ton of glitches in the game(I made a topic, but if you youtube "Raging Blast glitches" you will find many videos), I mean it's as if no one tested the game. The graphics were nice but not up to par with what they should be, especially after Burst Limit. This is the first game I refused to buy because I just couldn't play it...considering I've bought both Sagas and Taiketsu that's saying something.

Personally, I preferred the Raging Blast graphics to BT3's. Yes, I know, it's supposed to be a PS3/360 game, and after looking at Burst Limit's graphics, Raging Blast's looks like they didn't put in the necessary effect, but I liked the rounded, more polished character models, even if they weren't up to par for a next-gen game.

I'm not condoning RB's crappy camera and glitches, though. Even if graphics would've helped Spike a bit, a shiny new coat of polish isn't gonna cover up the same material beneath. Or something like that.

[Rory]

Isn't the gameplay the most important factor when buying a game? I would never buy a game I know is practically the same as the last one/shit as rocks solely for its graphics?

Sure it is, but that doesn't mean I can't want a nice looking DBZ game, hell, the last good looking DBZ we've had we Burst Limit, and that was 2 years ago (long for a DBZ game). I've always saw gameplay as the most important factor in a game, but I feel that both game series, Burst Limit and Sparking have had more than enough gameplay enhancements for now, it's hard to go wrong at this point.
..Oh wait, Raging Blast, nevermind.

Yeah, people would really notice how absolutely hideous the game looks if it looked like the pre-rendered openings.

I really don't know what you're getting at, the character models in the first Sparking! opening were animated fluidly, and looked the part.

[Taku128]

Yeah, people would really notice how absolutely hideous the game looks if it looked like the pre-rendered openings.

I really don't know what you're getting at, the character models in the first Sparking! opening were animated fluidly, and looked the part.

They're shiny, rubbery abominations that gave several members nightmares because they were so horrifying. Seriously, how do any of these look good?

http://www.daizex.com/multimedia/images ... ng/009.jpg
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http://www.daizex.com/multimedia/images ... ng/119.jpg
http://www.daizex.com/multimedia/images ... ng/120.jpg

[Xyex]

I don't know about nightmares, but the Sparking! intro videos all looked like utter shit. So did the in-game models, for that matter, but that's neither here nor there.

[SparkyPantsMcGee]

All shiny rubber aside, Tenkaichi 1 had the best CG opener out of the BT games. It was action packed and kind of epic, while 2, 3 and RB lacked substance. I wish that Spike carried over the 2D animation style that Budokai 2, 3 and Sagas had. Those were a lot of fun.

After what happened with Raging Blast and after the contrasting experience I've had with Burst Limit, I really hope Dimps takes over. I want a Burst Limit two long before a Raging Blast two. Lets face it, I don't think Spike can live up to BT3. As fun as that DragonBall SIMULATOR game was, I'd really want a polished fighter that my friends and I can pick up and play. Dimps seems to be the winning candidate and I'm sure they could deliver a game that is fresh, fun and graphically appealing all while keeping the spirit of DragonBall.

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

Personally, I preferred the Raging Blast graphics to BT3's. Yes, I know, it's supposed to be a PS3/360 game, and after looking at Burst Limit's graphics, Raging Blast's looks like they didn't put in the necessary effect, but I liked the rounded, more polished character models, even if they weren't up to par for a next-gen game.

I'm not condoning RB's crappy camera and glitches, though. Even if graphics would've helped Spike a bit, a shiny new coat of polish isn't gonna cover up the same material beneath. Or something like that.

Agreed. The round character models are more Dragon Ball like than Burst Limit's character models.

[Tsukento]

I had recently bought Raging Blast a couple of weeks ago and while it's fun, it really does bother me in a lot of ways.

For starters...

-Nail
-Cyborg Freeza
-King Cold
-Mr. Satan
-Great Saiyaman
-Kaioshin
-Babidi
-Ultimate Gohan
-Oob

These are important characters who were in the last game, yet somehow were left out in this one. They also forgot to include costumes that were in the last games, such as Kuririn with hair, Future Trunks without his jacket on and Goku with his Yadratian armor.

Speaking of things missing, what is with the nasty lack of recognizable locations? Mostly all of the stages are generic locations, save for Namek and Kaioshin's planet. But even then, Namek is horribly designed as you're more often than not spending your fights under water. No Room of Spirit and Time? No Kami's floating palace? No ice stage? No Planet Vegeta + Freeza's ship?

For something called Dragon Ball and not Dragon Ball Z, I assumed it might've included some DB and GT elements. Unfortunately, such was not the case. Hell, the movies were hardly touched on, save for Broli's. Yeah, having Super Saiyan 3 Broli and Vegeta were nice, but it would've been better to bring back other characters, regular and what-if (like Yamhan and Gotan). Another thing that's lacking is the music. It all sounds...really bland. Especially when you compare it to Mr. Yamamoto's works from previous games and Dragon Ball Kai. Thankfully, the 360 and PS3 offer ways of planting MP3s into your console and playing that music instead of the game's. DBZ's Japanese soundtrack seems to continue to work wonders here.

Then you have the replayability. Good god. It would have been so much better to just be able to complete missions on the first go, and see a list afterward. As opposed to having to beat the objective to see a list of missions. So beating a stage on Hard is pointless the first time around since it won't unlock once you get your missions. Speaking of, the Stars system is bullshit. Whatever happened to using the Dragon Balls to unlock stages and characters? Now they just unlock D-Points and customizable crap, which was also another thing I hated. Finding out where the hell you used D-Points was mission within itself, since the manual never directly states where you use them, nor does the game tell you until you actually start using the customization portion. Again, even that doesn't tell you to use D-Points in its summary until you access it.

Now in reference to missions, it's annoying when one has to perform perfect actions and misses because the special goes RIGHT THROUGH THE ENEMY. I've never been so aggravated when using Gotenks. Watching his Galactic Donut fly right through an upclose enemy is a load of crap.

And as for moves, the lack of variety is baffling. Just how many times do we have to see the Kamehame-Ha? Yes, it's the most stolen move in the series. But do we need to see characters with two variations of it in the same set for a Super and an Ultimate attack? Do we also need to see the same variation of grabs that involve rapid punches to the stomach and then a quick knock back? Or how about the same rapid Ki blasts? Meanwhile, some attacks leave you scratching your head. Dr. Gero's grab involves draining health and Ki, followed by a punch. #19, however, involves the same except he just lets go of the person after draining them, which proves pointless as you hardly have any time to follow up due to his speed and there being next to no downtime after being grabbed.

Last but not least...that fucking spinning stick. The one thing I loved about owning the Wii version of BT3 was the fact that the Wii controls were absolutely fine and allowed me to wave the controls up and down rapidly to recover or win a physical and beam struggle. But obviously that's not an option here. That's not a fault. What IS a fault, however, is having to rotate the LEFT analog stick rapidly and then hit RB (R1 for PS3 owners) to finish recovering.

Here are the problems I've run into with this:

-Slight blistering on the palm, ala Mario Party
-Hitting the guide button, which does not pause the game and causes me to lose
-Knocking the battery out of the wireless controller, same issue as the last
-Slowly but surely wearing out the stick

If they had used an alternate method, such as button mashing, there'd be no problem. But good god, it's terrible having to quickly switch ways holding the controller to erratically spin the analog stick and then quickly switch back over afterward. Doesn't help that it more often than not doesn't do shit if you're in a pursuit attack, as you have to quickly hit RB but the moment you get ready to, you continue to get pummeled.

Finally, you have some of the characters and their dialogue. I've got the voices automatically on Japanese. Did someone tell Joji Yanami that he was supposed to read Babidi's lines as Kaio-sama? Usually he puts a higher pitch to Babidi, so it seemed weird to be hearing Kaio-sama talking as if he were Babidi. Plus, whoever wrote the English script seemed to forget that Vegeta never calls Goku by anything other than "Kakarrot", as he calls Goku by his name on more than one occasion. Also bothers me to see the profiles for #17, #18, #20 and Cell. In #17's profile, he's correctly listed as a cyborg, whereas the other three are called "androids." This is ESPECIALLY not true for Cell, who was obviously not made as a machine.

Now with all that said and done, do I think this is a bad game? Nah. It's got some good elements; one being the constant framerate and virtually zero lag online gameplay. Some of the other writing is neat, as we get to see "Son Goku" written in another profile and the movies Broli appeared in are translated from the Japanese titles, as opposed to the English ones. The visuals look great (for the most part) and it's overall a decently fun experience.

I can't recommend it for non-DB fans and I'd probably have stuck with BT3 if the online wasn't so laggy.

[Blue]

Nail, Kaioshin and Babidi are totally not important characters. Nail and Kaioshin fight exactly once and Babidi not at all.

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

Nail, Kaioshin and Babidi are totally not important characters. Nail and Kaioshin fight exactly once and Babidi not at all.

Yeah and I don't have a problem with them not putting Mr. Satan in Raging Blast. I mean, does anyone actually use him in fights?

[Kaboom]

Nail, Kaioshin and Babidi are totally not important characters. Nail and Kaioshin fight exactly once and Babidi not at all.

Except Nail is incredibly badass and awesome and fun to play as, which are traits that neither Kaioshin or Bobbidi have going for them.

Damn, I wanna go play some BT3 right now just for some Nail hardcore-ness.

[Xyex]

Nail, Kaioshin and Babidi are totally not important characters. Nail and Kaioshin fight exactly once and Babidi not at all.

Yeah and I don't have a problem with them not putting Mr. Satan in Raging Blast. I mean, does anyone actually use him in fights?

I do.

I used him a lot in Budokai, because he was awesome there. B2 as well, because I used Gokule a lot. In B3 I'd use him on occasion as well, he's actually stronger than Videl in that. BT1 and 2, not so much. Especially BT2 where all the non-fliers suck. BT3 I use him a fair bit because he's pretty good, once you give him Draconic Aura.

[Innagadadavida]

BT3 was just a better game all around. We still pop in BT3 every now and then, but I only played Raging Blast three times before trading it in.

[Piccolo Daimaoh]

Nail, Kaioshin and Babidi are totally not important characters. Nail and Kaioshin fight exactly once and Babidi not at all.

Yeah and I don't have a problem with them not putting Mr. Satan in Raging Blast. I mean, does anyone actually use him in fights?

I do.

I used him a lot in Budokai, because he was awesome there. B2 as well, because I used Gokule a lot. In B3 I'd use him on occasion as well, he's actually stronger than Videl in that. BT1 and 2, not so much. Especially BT2 where all the non-fliers suck. BT3 I use him a fair bit because he's pretty good, once you give him Draconic Aura.

Yeah, when you customize the hell out of him people use him, but as a base character no one gives him the time of day.

[Tsukento]

Nail, Kaioshin and Babidi are totally not important characters. Nail and Kaioshin fight exactly once and Babidi not at all.

Doesn't change the fact that they had their roles in the series. Chaozu, Gurd, Videl and Dodoria have little roles and fighting scenes, yet are important to the series in their own way. Yeah, none of them are like the Saiyans or Piccolo in terms of importance, but they play their roles. I forgot to mention there's also a lack of Dabra and Boo-saga Yamcha an Tenshinhan outfits which all seem odd. Funny that Vegeta has the Special he used on Pui-Pui, despite him not being in the game.

I also forgot to bring up how tedious some of the stages are, and not just the missions themselves. With BT3, a lot of the fights fixed the problem that BT2 had. Which meant no more HAVING to win a fight where the following cutscene would show your character losing. Not only did it fix that, but it also fixed the problem of repeating the same fights but with different characters. So no more fighting Bojack as four or five different characters in five different rounds. This I especially noticed was a problem during the Freeza Saga when they made the fights on Kaio's planet with the Ginyu Special Corps. take place in different rounds. This just makes the saga too long and takes a lot longer to complete.

Now as for characters, after a few play throughs online, I can say hardly anyone uses base characters and pretty much customizes everyone. So the base doesn't matter when people are going to customize them. Which means just because Mr. Satan did virtually nothing, it didn't mean he couldn't be tinkered with. To lose to Mr. Satan would bring shame to a person. Mr. Satan is to the Dragon Ball games as Dan is to the Street Fighter series.