Interesting to note, having run my ripped Tenkaichi 2 Wii version off a hard drive, when played that way the transformations are instant, since T2 is a port we can assume the Wii's more and better everything didn't do much if anything towards the game's performance. Which casts it as a streaming speed issue, in which case I question if the HD twins and vita have an excuse in that regard if only because I doubt the complexity of the characters scales to the console's RAM relative to Spike's games and the PS2. But I could be wrong, particularly if Battle of Z does an admirable job at making mostly aesthetic transformations distinct in their purposes, in which case they are closer to genuinely different characters.
VegettoEX wrote:To me, prior to that, it always seemed like they affected the balance of the games. I mean, you chose one character, and then suddenly you're another one with an enhanced baseline ki level (in DBZ3 / Budokai 3, anyway). I don't actually know what it did to strength stats, but I'd wager it didn't actually do anything there to at least somewhat pretend to keep a balance. In the prior two games at least it seemed somewhat more difficult to maintain the stage (it drained your ki, right, and if you got hit down you lost it? Which is why the third game tried to rectify that with a baseline level?).
I'd actually really like a sub discussion of this- been playing Budokai 3 HD with a friend lately so it's on my mind. Yeah, the first two Budokai's transformations drained ki, faster drain for stronger forms, and I believe every character got a 10% attack boost as max ki, possible smaller ones at higher bars, whether they could transform or not. They honestly weren't worth using outside of breakthroughs, however, since their boosts were tiny- in B2 Super Sayain 3 was a 25% boost. 25% boost isn't worth four of seven skill slots unless you intended to spam one death move or cancel combo to death. Super Sayain 4 being no different.
The real kicker, as we all know, was the transformation stun; transforming characters could disarm opponents or, if the player was really good, use the stun to extend a combo. I think that's a bigger issue than the damage increases, but at the same time if the player couldn't utilize them then their opponent could simply play well around them. The capsule Yakon existed to counter this, causing transformed ki to drain faster in Budokai 2 and draining health alongside ki (last I recall) in Budokai 3, but the latter is ridiculous and capsules are usually limited to breakthroughs by high-level players to block other exploits, namely related to getting infinite teleports off of Omgega/Li Shenron if I recall.
Generally, a character would just fight in their strongest (or whatever was suitable for the case) form and stick with it the whole fight. If this were something like a game where you take the role of one of the characters and explore a large world where you meet several different guys of differing strength to face, I'd certainly hope to use that character's transformations at will as I decide what must be done in every situation. But for a game like this, I find transformations are really not necessary.
