"DBZ: Battle of Z" (360/PS3/Vita) On-Going Discussion Thread

[Chuquita]

I think that's true! There are speech files of that laying around Budokai 3 somewhere.

I know they exist and I've heard the audio, but I don't have my copies of them anymore.

[Hellspawn28]

I think that's true! There are speech files of that laying around Budokai 3 somewhere.

I also remember voice file had Goku going SSj4 against Kid Buu and that Bebi Vegeta was also mention as well. I do think a story mode for every character could work if they are creative about it.

[Jaruka]

I think that's true! There are speech files of that laying around Budokai 3 somewhere.

I also remember voice file had Goku going SSj4 against Kid Buu and that Bebi Vegeta was also mention as well. I do think a story mode for every character could work if they are creative about it.

Not even that. Just make it Budokai 3 quality and don't make me play the same damn story and we're all good.

[GTx10]

I remember those B3 voice files confusing and delighting me. SS4 Goku vs Kid Buu and/or Dabora for instance. I always thought I had to play story mode on top difficulty to actually see them. What if indeed.

Whatever the new game is please no Goku early, mid, or late. Just give one Goku all the costumes and attacks, and transformations. B3 had that correct.

[Insertclevername]

I'd be really cool if in the next game, different costumes actually changed the art style. So if you pick an early Z costume for Gokuu, the art style will be rounder.

[DragonBoxZTheMovies]

I think that's true! There are speech files of that laying around Budokai 3 somewhere.

I also remember voice file had Goku going SSj4 against Kid Buu and that Bebi Vegeta was also mention as well. I do think a story mode for every character could work if they are creative about it.

Sigh, instead of bringing out the HD Collection they so should've released a finished version of Budokai 3. I would've eaten that up with a spoon.

[SparkyPantsMcGee]

The thing about that, though, is that not everyone really cares about the gameplay. Sure, having more varied combies a little bit of depth to the controls would be nice, but most people just want the chance to thrash their friends as their favorite character (or, by this point, side character).

This, this mindset right here is why you are seeing such a decline in quality though. You want to know why these games suck, it's because they keep trying to deliver the DBZ experience in the simplest form possible. Raging Blast; rides off the coat tails of the Tenkaichi experience. UT; quick time events and extensive cut scenes. Kinect; no controller. There isn't a whole lot of room for players to experiment and in turn continue playing the game .

When we are talking about games, any game, the absolute number one priority should be gameplay. What is the point of thrashing around with your favorite character is the act of doing so is dull and uncreative? Yes playing as whoever the fuck I want is a nice treat but if I have to play as only handful of characters so that developers can find tune the system then so be it. It doesn't have to be a Street Fighter Clone; hell I don't want a clone. I want thought, passion and the idea that the people making this love the series just as much as I do.

If you want a good example of this, check out Injustice. Yes it's borrows the Mortal Kombat fighting system,same developers, but there are enough tweaks to make it their own. The characters get a lot of love and thought put into their moves, and as a DC fan I am in love with the story. The levels, the character choices(yes there are still some more I'd like to see), the uniqueness of each character(Nightwing doesn't play like Batman; nor does SInestro play like Green Lantern). There is just a lot of thought put into the game and you can see the developers love the characters and universe they are working with. It's one of the only reasons why I'm excited to see Nostal's idea come to light; even if it's built on the foundation of the Tenkaichi/RB. He clearly loves dragonball and he clearly wants to make a great game that represents this. I get the feeling like Spike is just going through the motions and just...not caring anymore.

[Insertclevername]

You pretty much hit the nail right on the head there SparkyPantsMcGee. Really, what's irritating me about the recent release is how inexcusably cheap they feel. The Budokai games had great presentation with amazing fully animated intros. They had a soundtrack that was very different from what we've heard in the past but still kept true to the shonen Dragon Ball spirit. Those games stood on their own aesthetically while still being Dragon Ball.

Once Spike came into the picture, a large decline in that really good presentation vanished ; especially during the Raging Blast games. Look at the Kinect (and UB too, I suppose) game. It's the most corporate, uninspired Dragon Ball garbage ever put on a home console. It doesn't know what it wants to be. A game that appeals to the lowest common denominator (AKA non fans) or Dragon Ball fans. It's stuck in this sort of uncanny valley-esqe state.

[TheMightyOzaru]

Is it really too much to ask for characters and great gameplay? Tweaking the sparking gameplay with a few raging blast mechanics like blast deflects would lead to a great game.

[THEGOKU]

They just need to stop trying to make fighting games and make a DBZ game. The experience will come from that. It doesn't have to be just one specific genre it can have multiple elements. I think that will make it a good game. We will never have a perfect game. No video game is perfect which is why we have sequels or other version (yes I am aware for story purposes too) but in those sequels they change the gameplay to make it better. I think we can just be satisfied with a good quality game.

[Saiga]

I wish they'd follow the Supersonic Warrior's format, which gave everyone their own solo Story Mode. Since they were all pretty different (Goku grabbing Cell and giving Piccolo a chance to use the Light of Death in the Cell Games and Freeza taking over the earth for instance), it offered tons of replay value to the game. Not to mention the game allowed you to play through the regular story mode if you wanted. I just want the game to have as many Single Player options as possible.

The problem with this is that 90% of the ideas in those story modes were absolute garbage. It's an idea that has potential to be really good or completely awful.

[90sDBZ]

Well I'm all for a Budokai 4. I think Spike have had plenty of opportunity to make games so it's time Dimps got another shot. On top of that Budokai 3 was the best ever so it deserves a fully fledged current-gen sequel. Infinite World was great but couldn't reach its full potential on a low budget which is understandable. Burst Limit was decent but I didn't really like the ki system and I missed seeing the epic cutscene ultimates plus the drama pieces were a major pain.

[hulkty]

Wait wait wait!!! You mean that Voice Data where SSj4 Goku is talking to Dabura is actually in the story mode?!?!?!? Where!? When!? I thought I've been EVERYTHING, but I've NEVER found it. I always just thought it was a little easter egg in the Voice Data section.....

[Insertclevername]

I think just the files of little Gokuu exist.

[GTx10]

Wait wait wait!!! You mean that Voice Data where SSj4 Goku is talking to Dabura is actually in the story mode?!?!?!? Where!? When!? I thought I've been EVERYTHING, but I've NEVER found it. I always just thought it was a little easter egg in the Voice Data section.....

Their Is no such battle only voice data. Its in the voice section of B3 story mode "Sub-character" section if I'm not mistaken.

[Saiga]

Wait, SS4 Goku talking to Dabra? I know about SS4 Goku vs Kid Boo, but that's entirely new to me. Somebody should make a guide on this stuff...

[Hellspawn28]

I also remember Super 17, Bebi Vegeta and Janemba were mention in the character dialogue. Dimps most likely had them in plan seeing that #19, Zarbon, and Dodoria were also plan to be in it going by the voice files. I hope Bandai does not rush out the games like they have in the past.

[dbboxkaifan]

Dragon Ball: Ultimate Blast had the potential to be an excellent game, but the problem of it was the most important aspect of it, gameplay. A game without the essential just won't work properly and then you'll have people complaining.

If it wasn't for the short to non-existent gameplay of UB, the game would have been a success everything else was excellent (imo).

I'm thinking of buying the Japanese version of the game just to have a consistent collection. Raging Blast, Raging Blast 2, Ultimate Blast. "Ultimate Tenkaichi" sounds off. And not to forget on the JPN it includes the synthesised Kikuchi tracks. I'll buy sometime, but not now.

Gameplay > Content > Graphics. Never put Content over Gameplay, this was the very mistake done on the Tenkaichi and Raging Blast series.

[TheDevilsCorpse]

Gameplay > Content > Graphics. Never put Content over Gameplay, this was the very mistake done on the Tenkaichi and Raging Blast series.

As with everything, this is debatable, to some extent anyway. With the Sparking series, the gameplay was good enough to satisfy me back then. Had they spent time tweaking the system to Street Fighter or Tekken quality before they started expanding the roster, I probably wouldn't have bought the games. I'm to the point where I'm fed up with almost anything related to traditional gaming in regards to Dragon Ball. The story is always being Raditz to Buu, with a little bit of the movies or GT sprinkled in. I just don't care about replaying the same plot for the billionth time. I can recite everything from memory, why do I need to keep watching it unfold time and time again while I'm playing the games each year? And as for the fighting engine, as long as it is fun enough to keep me interested, and Raging Blast 2 was, I don't care if they focus on content like the Sparking games did. Even if the gameplay is absurdly amazing, what is the point if I only have the same set of characters to choose from each time?

That is why the Sparking games were great and definitely had an edge over Dimps' 2D fighters IMO; you had a game with decent depth that let you reenact the battles of the Dragon Ball world while still being fairly accessible to newcomers, and it gave you the freedom to create almost whatever kind of battle you wanted by having an extensive roster: almost any battle from the series proper, crazy what-ifs or just fights that didn't even make a lick of sense. To me, the fact that you can have Arale go head to head with Vegetto, even with a "subpar quality" game, is gold, compared to having the same set of Piccolo vs. Trunks, Vegeta vs. Freeza, Gohan vs. Cell or Goku vs. Buu type battles in the best combat system ever.

(Though that doesn't mean I don't care about gameplay at all, hence why I didn't buy Ultimate Blast. The battle system needs to be at least "decent", not practically nonexistent.)

[DBZ Mick]

Gameplay > Content > Graphics. Never put Content over Gameplay, this was the very mistake done on the Tenkaichi and Raging Blast series.

As with everything, this is debatable, to some extent anyway. With the Sparking series, the gameplay was good enough to satisfy me back then. Had they spent time tweaking the system to Street Fighter or Tekken quality before they started expanding the roster, I probably wouldn't have bought the games. I'm to the point where I'm fed up with almost anything related to traditional gaming in regards to Dragon Ball. The story is always being Raditz to Buu, with a little bit of the movies or GT sprinkled in. I just don't care about replaying the same plot for the billionth time. I can recite everything from memory, why do I need to keep watching it unfold time and time again while I'm playing the games each year? And as for the fighting engine, as long as it is fun enough to keep me interested, and Raging Blast 2 was, I don't care if they focus on content like the Sparking games did. Even if the gameplay is absurdly amazing, what is the point if I only have the same set of characters to choose from each time?

That is why the Sparking games were great and definitely had an edge over Dimps' 2D fighters IMO; you had a game with decent depth that let you reenact the battles of the Dragon Ball world while still being fairly accessible to newcomers, and it gave you the freedom to create almost whatever kind of battle you wanted by having an extensive roster: almost any battle from the series proper, crazy what-ifs or just fights that didn't even make a lick of sense. To me, the fact that you can have Arale go head to head with Vegetto, even with a "subpar quality" game, is gold, compared to having the same set of Piccolo vs. Trunks, Vegeta vs. Freeza, Gohan vs. Cell or Goku vs. Buu type battles in the best combat system ever.

(Though that doesn't mean I don't care about gameplay at all, hence why I didn't buy Ultimate Blast. The battle system needs to be at least "decent", not practically nonexistent.)

My thoughts exactly. I do think Spike for example in Sparking Meteor/BT3 did go for a bit too much quantity but there was also a large amount of quality I liked- a large variety of stages, characters (even if they did play 75% the same- unique rushes and beam attacks for each character at least), beam vs ball or whatnot struggles, survival missions etc.

I do agree that gameplay should be first and foremost though.