DBZ: Ultimate Blast/Tenkaichi (Pre-Release Discussion)

[Jaruka]

That's actually very interesting. I always thought that the Tenkaichi series sold better than RB. I still like RB. The graphics are awesome and the effects like lighting are almost always bliss.

The wait for the new game is killing me though. I mean the trailer revealed almost nothing new except some fancy explosions. The gameplay seemed to be the same like RB2, though considering the combat moves Goku executed against Vegeta.

Ah well time will tell

Well to be fair there's a way to explain the recent drop in sales.

I hope everyone forgives me for another wall of text but:

Let's examine the recent history of Dragonball games:
Tenkaichi 3 was the highest grossing Dragonball game of all time, I see the myth dotting around now and again that it was the fist Budokai but that's incorrect and the people who say this just didn't factor in Tenkaichi 3's Wii sales. They were on to a hit with Tenkaichi 3 but fans wanted Dimps back, large portions of the fanbase were demanding a new Dimps game and as such (with the sales of Tenkaichi 3) Namdai assumed it would sell well (you Americans got Atari on the cover you did with most of the other games but Namco Bandai was the publisher to everywhere else) and they were kind of right.

Burst Limit sold well so why didn't we get a second one? Simple, they wanted their sales to be back up to scratch with Tenkaichi 3 so what was the next natural step? They gave us the Dimps game we wanted and we didn't bite so they re-released Budokai 3 with a few extras thrown in (due to the acclaim of Shin Budokai). Just to see if Burst Limit strayed too far away from the original formula for fans to enjoy it. Infinite World was a good game but a massive flop! Clearly we didn't want Dimps anymore.

So, after giving Dimps a new crack at a game and a rehashed Budokai 3 they were left to conclude that Dimps weren't a viable option anymore and moved back to Spike. They added a lot of things that fans wanted for the new game. Brand new supers, amazing graphics, custom system, better story mode and of course they had to build it from the ground up. The problem was that they actually did prioritise quality over quantity and did the fans lap it up? Well, sorta actually. It sold close to 1,000,000 which was quite good given that it was their first attempt.

However there was a problem, the formula still wasn't right. The success of previous games had not returned so they went back to the quantity format. They stripped out story mode (like many said they should - until they did) and added new characters to not only the series but to Dragonball video games as a whole. This was from the hypothesis that players wanted 'new' characters to play as and would buy the game based on that. They were once again wrong.

So what're they doing now? Adding a fully cinematic gameplay experience, making beautiful features that we've never seen before and adding back old favourites such as planet explosions. They're also returning the controls to 'Tenkaichi' and are obviously going to try to sell this as the natural progression of the Tenkaichi series.

What will they do if this doesn't sell well? Well most likely they'll move to another developer. If it does sell well then we may see two years development time and a focus on the features that Project Age does correctly.

The point is folks that they're still making a lot of money off this series and more importantly they're still experimenting on how they can optimise sales. When they get it right, they'll keep it right. When they get it wrong, they've tried again.

Now let's put this mindless bashing to rest and focus on what we want without feeling the need to insult the developers or get stuck in this idea of doom & gloom.

I'm sorry again for the wall of text guys and thank you to those of you who took the time to read it

[Saimaroimaru]

That's actually very interesting. I always thought that the Tenkaichi series sold better than RB. I still like RB. The graphics are awesome and the effects like lighting are almost always bliss.

The wait for the new game is killing me though. I mean the trailer revealed almost nothing new except some fancy explosions. The gameplay seemed to be the same like RB2, though considering the combat moves Goku executed against Vegeta.

Ah well time will tell

Well to be fair there's a way to explain the recent drop in sales.

I hope everyone forgives me for another wall of text but:

Let's examine the recent history of Dragonball games:
Tenkaichi 3 was the highest grossing Dragonball game of all time, I see the myth dotting around now and again that it was the fist Budokai but that's incorrect and the people who say this just didn't factor in Tenkaichi 3's Wii sales. They were on to a hit with Tenkaichi 3 but fans wanted Dimps back, large portions of the fanbase were demanding a new Dimps game and as such (with the sales of Tenkaichi 3) Namdai assumed it would sell well (you Americans got Atari on the cover you did with most of the other games but Namco Bandai was the publisher to everywhere else) and they were kind of right.

Burst Limit sold well so why didn't we get a second one? Simple, they wanted their sales to be back up to scratch with Tenkaichi 3 so what was the next natural step? They gave us the Dimps game we wanted and we didn't bite so they re-released Budokai 3 with a few extras thrown in (due to the acclaim of Shin Budokai). Just to see if Burst Limit strayed too far away from the original formula for fans to enjoy it. Infinite World was a good game but a massive flop! Clearly we didn't want Dimps anymore.

So, after giving Dimps a new crack at a game and a rehashed Budokai 3 they were left to conclude that Dimps weren't a viable option anymore and moved back to Spike. They added a lot of things that fans wanted for the new game. Brand new supers, amazing graphics, custom system, better story mode and of course they had to build it from the ground up. The problem was that they actually did prioritise quality over quantity and did the fans lap it up? Well, sorta actually. It sold close to 1,000,000 which was quite good given that it was their first attempt.

However there was a problem, the formula still wasn't right. The success of previous games had not returned so they went back to the quantity format. They stripped out story mode (like many said they should - until they did) and added new characters to not only the series but to Dragonball video games as a whole. This was from the hypothesis that players wanted 'new' characters to play as and would buy the game based on that. They were once again wrong.

So what're they doing now? Adding a fully cinematic gameplay experience, making beautiful features that we've never seen before and adding back old favourites such as planet explosions. They're also returning the controls to 'Tenkaichi' and are obviously going to try to sell this as the natural progression of the Tenkaichi series.

What will they do if this doesn't sell well? Well most likely they'll move to another developer. If it does sell well then we may see two years development time and a focus on the features that Project Age does correctly.

The point is folks that they're still making a lot of money off this series and more importantly they're still experimenting on how they can optimise sales. When they get it right, they'll keep it right. When they get it wrong, they've tried again.

Now let's put this mindless bashing to rest and focus on what we want without feeling the need to insult the developers or get stuck in this idea of doom & gloom.

I'm sorry again for the wall of text guys and thank you to those of you who took the time to read it

Now I recognize you from Dragonball Namco.

[Kendamu]

I really don't want the Dragon Ball story shoved down my throat again. If I have to fight Raditz with Goku and Piccolo again, I'll pass. I actually liked RB2's Galaxy Mode because of how much more varied the matches were. I also liked that certain characters seemed to have their own little story going just from the pre- and post-battle dialogue (such as Freeza's men rebelling against him and/or butting heads with each other and Coola's guys, or SSJ3 Vegeta going around to show everyone how awesome his new transformation is.) It didn't always necessarily make sense, but it was a lot of fun.

As I've been away from Dragonball games for so long (not counting Attack of the Saiyans), if Age 2011 has a good story mode (something that gives me the same feeling the original Budokai gave me) then I'll probably pick it up. I know that some people aren't interested in the same story once again, but I think I'm ready to go back to it. I think my break from it has been long enough.

[Kingdom Heartless]

if anything I would like DBZ Budokai 2 story with the map thin and changed story. That was awesome

Haha, I thought I was the only one who loved the game-board style.

[Saimaroimaru]

Best character dialog for a DBZ game ever.

[Kendamu]

if anything I would like DBZ Budokai 2 story with the map thin and changed story. That was awesome

Haha, I thought I was the only one who loved the game-board style.

Back when I played that game I usually made Gohan end up saving the day and ending the story because, back then, I thought he got screwed out of his cool moment in the series. Later on, a friend of mine showed me how you can boost Goten's, Trunks', and/or Gotenks' (I can't remember exactly) defense past 100%, making him virtually invincible, during the final part of the Story Mode and that's when I stopped using Gohan.

[Saimaroimaru]

if anything I would like DBZ Budokai 2 story with the map thin and changed story. That was awesome

Haha, I thought I was the only one who loved the game-board style.

Back when I played that game I usually made Gohan end up saving the day and ending the story because, back then, I thought he got screwed out of his cool moment in the series. Later on, a friend of mine showed me how you can boost Goten's, Trunks', and/or Gotenks' (I can't remember exactly) defense past 100%, making him virtually invincible, during the final part of the Story Mode and that's when I stopped using Gohan.

Yeah, I remember you were post to have Buu beat Gohan but instead I had him beat up Buu. But I could never get Yamcha and Tien to fuse on the board or get absorbed, only to find out years later on the net that it was impossible and Tiencha board wise was Japanese version only. Would have been interesting too see the interaction between Buuhan and Gokule.

[mysticboy]

I want a story mode where I can fly around and explore areas (like in BT2 or B3). And Budokai 1 or Infinite World type cutscenes.

[Saimaroimaru]

I want a story mode where I can fly around and explore areas (like in BT2 or B3). And Budokai 1 or Infinite World type cutscenes.

Plus Budokai 2 type character interactions and twists.

[Jaruka]

A friend of mine got V-Jump a few days back and was kind enough to post me the scan:



Nothing really new except a few screenshots across the bottom

[Haseowolf]

And somehow I doubt there's anything worth gleaning from a translation of the scan. More hype words than actual content.

The screens are nice, though I would like to see more than Goku and Vegeta, of course.

[Kendamu]

I just now went and looked at some Zenkai Battle Royale gameplay videos and one thing really stuck out that I liked: When on the ground, the characters run instead of just floating along! Something about that was really cool!

I hope that such a thing is put in Age 2011.

[Xyex]

Yeah, actually running is awesome. It's one of the reasons I like using the DB characters a lot in BT3, like Yajirobe.

I think I'm gonna check out some of these Zenkai Battle Royale vids now. >>

[Attitudefan]

Haha, I thought I was the only one who loved the game-board style.

Back when I played that game I usually made Gohan end up saving the day and ending the story because, back then, I thought he got screwed out of his cool moment in the series. Later on, a friend of mine showed me how you can boost Goten's, Trunks', and/or Gotenks' (I can't remember exactly) defense past 100%, making him virtually invincible, during the final part of the Story Mode and that's when I stopped using Gohan.

Yeah, I remember you were post to have Buu beat Gohan but instead I had him beat up Buu. But I could never get Yamcha and Tenshinhan to fuse on the board or get absorbed, only to find out years later on the net that it was impossible and Tiencha board wise was Japanese version only. Would have been interesting too see the interaction between Buuhan and Gokule.

That is what a DBZ game needs
too bad it got poor results and ever since Budokai 3 we've been stuck getting the same old story.
on a side note, I tried to defeat kid buu with Goku and Vegeta to see all the talking "cinematic" moments. I wanted Goku to give him the finishing blow and Buu then fell into Vegeta, whom killed Buu by taking TWO bars from him
I love that it could happen that way, and the board game thing was addicting fun

[Attitudefan]

I want a story mode where I can fly around and explore areas (like in BT2 or B3). And Budokai 1 or Infinite World type cutscenes.

Plus Budokai 2 type character interactions and twists.

that was the best ever, like if you HAVE Krillin die you unlock SSJ mode for Goku but it's not necessary. You could have all your characters say something win/lose, which would be different depending if you DID win or lose.

[Kingdom Heartless]

Yeah, actually running is awesome. It's one of the reasons I like using the DB characters a lot in BT3, like Yajirobe.

I think I'm gonna check out some of these Zenkai Battle Royale vids now. >>

Yeahm I loved that... I can't say how often I would just hang back and run around as Arale.

[mysticboy]

I feel that RB could've been a hell of a lot more successful if it was advertised more.

[Hellspawn28]

I want a story mode where I can fly around and explore areas (like in BT2 or B3). And Budokai 1 or Infinite World type cutscenes.

Good idea but I personally want to see a story mode similar to Konquest mode from Mortal Kombat Deception and Mortal Kombat Armageddon. Start off as Kid Goku training with Roshi then end with Goku beating Buu or Omega Shenron.

[Rostir]

Goku training with Roshi then end with Goku beating Buu or Omega Shenron.

Just what I was thinking.

[Jaruka]

I want a story mode where I can fly around and explore areas (like in BT2 or B3). And Budokai 1 or Infinite World type cutscenes.

Good idea but I personally want to see a story mode similar to Konquest mode from Mortal Kombat Deception and Mortal Kombat Armageddon. Start off as Kid Goku training with Roshi then end with Goku beating Buu or Omega Shenron.

That would be so good.