DBZ Sagas and my thoughts

[Deus ex Machina]

I was actually out picking up Budokai 3 Greatest Hits at my local retailer when I spotted Saga's. Now like many people I hadn't picked up this game when it first came out because I had heard it wasn't very good. However it was going for $10 brand new (ouch for Atari) and it was the last game I needed for my DBZ PS2 game collection.

Going into the game my expectations were pretty low, but I was surprised that the game was actually fairly fun. Not very deep or challenging, but great to just pick and play. For those who haven't played it yet, or are considering it, I've compiled my own list of pros and cons:

PROs:
1. Enemies are pretty true to the series, and the original enemies are just as good. My favorites were the giant burly Saibamen, and the "Proto Type Androids" from the future, which were actually taken from a single scene in Dr. Gero's lab in the anime. They were generic, though much better than fighting animals and pirates in the Legacy of Goku series.

2. Co-op mode is a welcome addition. I haven't tried it much, but the game adjusts its difficulty to accomodate two players. First player uses the stage's default fighter, and player two will use a partner appropiate for the scene. (example, Goku and Piccolo for the Raditz battle)

3. The game opens with a new animated movie, depicting key points in DragonBall and Z (no new song sadly :/). The rest of the chapters are narrated using a montage of scenes from the anime, with the story narrated. It makes the game flow much more smoothly, and the story makes more sense, when compared to say the story progression of Budokai 3 or Tenkaichi.

4. After you've unlocked the Pendulum Room you unlock a bigger roster of characters. First the obligatory Goku, Yamcha, Kuririn, Piccolo, Kid Gohan, Vegeta, & Future Trunks. But also the seemingly newer fan favorites of Bardock, Broli, two versions of future Gohan, the adolscent future Trunks, and some costume changes for others.

5. The control scheme is very simple (maybe a little too simple) so you don't need to memorize any long string of buttons to pull off techniques. The battles are hectic and sometimes really random, but I found it fun that way.

And now that you've heard what I think was good about the game, I'm obligated to list the many many faults.

Cons:

1. The graphics are not very good. While the colors are vibrant and the environments varied, the character models just look poor and are akwardly animated.

2. The game was way too short, with not enough stages to explore or bosses to defeat. I actually managed to complete the entire game in a single sitting.

3. Even though you can fly in the game, you can't make your character rise or descend. While this is done to make some puzzles more challenging, I still thought it was lame.

4. A minor nuisance; on one stage where Gohan and Goku are training in the room of spirit and time, they're wearing just their regular clothing. Normally this wouldn't bother me, but the game actually contains saiyan armor variants of Goku and Gohan, they just didn't bother to use them!

5. Your Super Saiyan/Namek bar fills up too slowly, and runs out too quickly. You cause some devestating damage but you won't get to enjoy it long.

6. For such a small game it contains a surprising amount of bugs. Most I encountered while trying to play as Broli, which would cause the game to freeze after completing a stage, characters and enemies going through walls and/or getting stuck, and stage stats dissapearing from the selection screen. In one case I was actually fighting two Freeza's simotaniously. Remember I completed the game in a single sitting, so that's a lot of bugs for such a short time.

7. Little to no replay value. After beating the story mode once I didn't feel compelled to play through it again just because I had access to more characters, even if Broli didn't cause the game to lock up. Once you've found all the Z coins, capsules, and bought all the techniques, there's nothing left to do.

Now for discussion; how many people own this game, and do you like it or not? If you don't own it yet, does the $10 price tag entice you to try it? And how many like me bought it for collections sake?

[Chaos Saiyajin]

I thought it was ify. I mean, like you said it's got Pros and Cons, but I just can't get past the fact that it was waaaay too simple. I beat the darn think in a friggin' day. I need more of a challenge then that, so I say it's a must rent, not buy, game.

PS-I love your avatar, Deus...

[Castor Troy]

Sagas was like a trainwreck you couldn't stop looking at.

I have to admit that the game was very amusing.

[ShadowAssailantX]

I got it new for $15, an I still felt a little ripped off. I feel bad for anyone who bought it for $50 expecting something great.

I felt the saving grace for this game was it's co-op mode, which gave the game an hour or two more of gameplay trying it with friends who hadn't played it yet.

[lost in thought]

To roll things right along, I've got a major con:

• ● Paying $50.00 to buy this fucking game.

That's right, I pre-ordered it, and bought it new, day one, 10am. And guess what happened afterwards...
...I played for an hour, and shelved that piece of shit faster than Super Mom after a whirl-wind shopping tour at the local Pick N' Save.

Fuck, it's almost painful to -keep- this game, but because I paid out the ass for it I am not going to sell it, because I don't want to lose the investment (again.)

To cap it all off, Krunk no like!

[Leotaku]

I don't have it, and the cheap price tag isn't making it much more appealing.

I actually am pretty tolerable of "bad" games; I mean, I've played a few that people generally deem sucky, and I have to say that I didn't hate them that much at all. I had fun with them.

Maybe the main thing turning me away from this game is the massive amount of bugs. It just sounds really annoying, having your game freeze for no reason, and other bugs.

Also, I have to say that I'm not in the mood for more DBZ games right now. Even though I've only played Budokai 3 and Tenkaichi (out of the recent games, I mean), I think I'm getting tired of going through the same stories over and over.

[Conan the SSJ]

Sagas was an alright game, definitly not on par with such games as Budokai 1 or Budokai 3 GH, but definitly worth playing through IMO. I got a couple laughs out of it, as well as enjoyed playing out the Vegeta-on-Namek, Yardrat, and Future Trunks stories. To any Gamecube purists out there, only place you'll get your hands on Broly and Bardock, I'm seriously doubting at this point that Budokai 3/SE or Budokai Tenkaichi will be making their ways to the Cube.

[Hao_Kaiser]

It was fun for a while, but it seems like the bosses get all the upgrades that you do, so it takes FOREVER to beat them, due to their massive amount of health. I really hated how on the Major boss battles, you and your co-op person had to take turns, which got old really fast. It's fun to choose Broly just so you can here the voice actor yell "BROOLLY!!," though.

[Tanooki Kuribo]

Hey, you know what though, with this new 10.00$ price tag it's a good game for 10 bucks. You can buy it with change in found in the couch.

[Meri]

Fuck, it's almost painful to -keep- this game, but because I paid out the ass for it I am not going to sell it, because I don't want to lose the investment (again.)

I feel the SAME exact way (OK, so *I* didn't pay for the game, but the fact that the game remains in our house makes me cry on the inside). And, for the same reason as you, we aren't gonna sell it.

[Big Momma]

Hey, you know what though, with this new 10.00$ price tag it's a good game for 10 bucks. You can buy it with change in found in the couch.

Umm...can I borrow your couch?

[Tanooki Kuribo]

Well, the Sagas price tag just got a little higher the PS2 version is now 19.99$ and the Gamecube version is almost 40 bucks. Jeez, what just happened?

[Castor Troy]

I'm very glad I rented the game for free (with a coupon) and beat it in 2 days.

If a sagas 2 were to come out, I want it to be as hilarious as the first.

[lost in thought]

I feel the SAME exact way (OK, so *I* didn't pay for the game, but the fact that the game remains in our house makes me cry on the inside). And, for the same reason as you, we aren't gonna sell it.

You agreeing with my pointed feelings about Sagas gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling inside.

This whole thread has people mostly detracting from the bad points of the game to make it seem -almost- bareable, but you and I know better. Sagas makes baby Jesus cry!

[Xyex]

Eh, you and Meri are both just too picky lost. I have Sagas and it's far from a bad game. A little below average in some areas, good in others, but not bad. Though I do agree, the replay value is almost non-existant. Beat it, toyed around with the pendulum room, shelved. I'll probably pull it out again in Canada to I can give the co-op a try with Jers, but there's not really much reason to play it a second time.

[Conan the SSJ]

Hey Meri, did you give the Future of Trunks/Last Hope levels a go? I'd be a bit surprised that you wouldn't have had a bit of fun with that portion of the game. Getting to play a story mode from Trunks' roots is certainly a first for a Ps2 DBZ game, not to mention the levels weren't too badly executed compared to others on the game. A sub-story mode based on your first fansub, I shall say no more.

On a side note about Sagas, one thing it did do which I wish Budokai 1 and other games that use cut-scenes could have done, was make a section where you could watch all the cut-scenes in one straight movie sequence. For a game like Budokai 1, while there would have been missing elements to the story, such an "extra mode" featuring all those fantastic cut-scenes would have been awesome. Of course, it may have also killed the desire to play Budokai 1's "Story" again just to see the cut-scenes, but it still would've been awesome.

[Mike D]

CAN I HAVE SOME HELP PLEASE!!!!

Heh heh.

Ban this fucker...

As for Sagas, the only pro would be the "burly" Saibamen. I mean that ish is pretty cool. Imagine that as a transformation for the Saibaman on Budokai. A Broly-sized Cultivar.

[Chaos Saiyajin]

CAN I HAVE SOME HELP PLEASE!!!!

Heh heh.

Ban this fucker...

As for Sagas, the only pro would be the "burly" Saibamen. I mean that ish is pretty cool. Imagine that as a transformation for the Saibaman on Budokai. A Broly-sized Cultivar.

How the fuck can someone be a guest? You've gotta be registered...

[Mystic Kami]

the most entertaining part of Sagas for me, was a glitch in the Freeza fight.

if i ran up to him and punched him, he became attatched to my arm. he couldnt move after that, he was just standing stiff, floating about a foot away from my arm. when i punched, he followed my arm. when i jumped and flew, he came with me. this entertained me for nearly an hour before it crashed. this happened twice.

seriously, the $40 was worth it just for the laughs.

[lost in thought]

Eh, you and Meri are both just too picky lost.

I am damn proud of my picky-ness, too. I didn't enjoy this game at all, and I found playing it more of a chore than fun.

I have Sagas and it's far from a bad game. A little below average in some areas, good in others, but not bad.

You say that, but...

"but there's not really much reason to play it a second time."

...Then you said this. There's no reason not to call a spade a shovel for this release.

How the fuck can someone be a guest? You've gotta be registered...

He was registered, but then went on a stupidity tangent so Mike probably deleted him, but may have forgotten -that- post. So he became a guest. Lol.