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

[Silkman3003]

So... Does the game suck?

Yeah, i'd have to say yes .for simple reasons really

Spoiler:

-Bad/broken defensive system that gives the one on the defense the opportunity to easily escape a combo using a dash. Or strike impact when blocking. Making offensive action unsafe
on block.

-Very simplified melee system. Hardly any variety in it. You're only real combo chain(disregarding any supers, or Blast spartks or w/e) is Triangle. No real way to vary it. You cant hit your opponent anywhere you'd like. You can't charge attacks. What you're left with it a very shallow melee system.

-Limited destructible environments, no beam struggles. Ultimates are tied to a few select characters.

-Exclusive Pre order DLC tied to certain retailers. Instead of the characters being unlocked,you'd have to pre order it in order to get those characters. No other alternatives so far,and even if so, whose to say it won't be paid dlc like in Japan? You get to face against Super Vegito, but you can't play as him unless you pre order? WTF, hell not even Beerus/Whis seem to really play that big of a part in the so called "story", and yet you get repetitive missions facing Frieza+Frieza solider #258, and/or broly. The only mission wit Beerus/Whis is just some dumb mission where you land where they are, and they test your abilities and escape. That's it

And yet...with Vegito you have to face against a buttload of opponents, and he's the last one.. and yet..you can't unlock him unless you pre order?LOLWHUT

-Questionable character models. I'm looking at you Vegito, and Buuhan.

-No VS CPU mode . This hurts it a lot. You're only option is the dumb mission mode that forces preset enemies, instead of allowing you to pick your own enemy AI team to face against.

So overall? Yeah, it sucks and thats the real deal for me . Can't say i'm surprised with the lower Japan sales concerning this game. Yeah, cool it's "fresh" and new. Too bad it forgot to have the good part in it. Lack of content at the price of $60 is also a pretty big deal too. If you like this game, that's fine. I nor anyone else here are trying to change your view on it. Just know that people have very good reasons as to why they believe this game sucks.

That other game plays like it was vomited into a blender and then flushed down a toilet full of shit.

Funny enough, I think this is what describes BOZ perfectly

[radrappy]

So... Does the game suck?

Yeah, pretty much.

I won't take this from a guy who liked the demo and then refused to even rent the game based on the opinions of some critics he doesn't even know. Way to discredit yourself in every way. I bought the game yesterday and am having fun with it so far. It's all about perspective. I know what the game is trying to be, as opposed to fuming and fussing about something it never was in the first place.

-Bad/broken defensive system that gives the one on the defense the opportunity to easily escape a combo using a dash. Or strike impact when blocking. Making offensive action unsafe
on block.

-Very simplified melee system. Hardly any variety in it. You're only real combo chain(disregarding any supers, or Blast spartks or w/e) is Triangle. No real way to vary it. You cant hit your opponent anywhere you'd like. You can't charge attacks. What you're left with it a very shallow melee system.

These criticisms, while fair, don't take into account the kind of game this is. If this were a 1 vs 1 or even a 2 vs 2 styled fighter where you found yourself locked in fierce isolated combat situations, it would indeed demand more of a robust combo/parry system. However, given that 4 vs 4 is the name of the game, those situations should be far and few between. This is the kind of game that is about switching to the next target the moment your enemy has been knocked to the ground and constantly keeping tabs on your allies. It's about team work and management, not about seeing who has the fastest reflexes or fighting in isolated 1 vs 1 matches. As such, I don't think a complicated combo system would have made the game more enjoyable in the long run.

[Ultimate_Nova_X]

Will the downloadable content be available for purchase later?
The North American branch of Namco-Bandai has confirmed to Kanzenshuu that there are currently no plans to offer the pre-order bonus characters as paid downloadable content. So far, it seems they will only be available for purchase in Japan. Downloadable content is generally not cross-compatible between different regions.

What is the background music in the game?
Similar to the Raging Blast games, the Japanese version of the game features newly-synthesized versions of tunes from Shunsuke Kikuchi’s original score to the Dragon Ball Z TV series and movies, while the international releases of the game feature a combination of new and recycled tunes (this time from the Blast games).

The 2 statements above made me think I should've bought the JP version.

I almost for sure thought the music would be the same since the other day I downloaded both the JP and EN demo, and they both had the same music for the menus and first few stages.

[dbboxkaifan]

Nintendo and Sony have both released their fair share of terrible games. Being owned by one of those two companies does not inherently guarantee any sort of "quality seal that the games would live up to its potential." The franchise could absolutely improve, but Dragon Ball: Ozaru Jr. Math would not light up the sales charts.

I could list you 50 games of each that are highly praised due to its great gameplay and content, but do they have bad games? Not nearly as many as you make them to be.

[dualist]

Played demo, waiting for copy to arrive shortly. I pretty much only bought the game because I had a $50 amazon gift card and only paid around $10 for taxes. It isn't a game I wanted to pay full price for, but it wasn't terrible. I enjoyed battle mode and co op modes and I'm looking forward to playing co op on the other stages.

With that being said, with all this emphasis on comparisons to mmorpg style of specific roles, I wish they would just make a mmorpg. I do think the future sequel to this game would be a huge leap in the right direction. I know this is a different developer, but if you look at the leap between budokai 1 to budokai 3, the growth was astronomical, I'm hoping we see something similar with this. My qualms with game is that the combat is just so limited. This game is really a revamped next generation DBZ legends. Now I loved Legends, one of my favorite DBZ games ever, however, that was a PS1 game. To simply have attack and Ki bast buttons with a sever lack of combo attacks is a little crazy for a game released in 2014. They could've added much more depth to the combat system.

But I enjoy online gaming, so I am going to enjoy the best of playing a dragon ball game with others and hopefully the this games's online community doesn't die too quickly.

[Xeogran]

"Fan comments on the internet" are probably the last thing Bandai Namco should be looking at for their business decisions. Those oft-repeated Character Creator internet comments reallly didn't lead the franchise in the right direction with Ultimate Tenkaichi.

Bandai Namco did those exact things in their games for the PS3/360. Ultimate Tenkaichi had GT (apparently due to that rabid fan demand), and new forms for characters has been a sorta kinda big thing.

Erm, wrong on both. Character Creator was done wrong and lazily, as if they didn't even care to test it (Piccolo's cape flies through character's head model during flying on the world map and other model glitches).

Adding only three GT characters out of the constant request doesn't also mean that UT had GT story mode. They had Gogeta but not Goku and Vegeta SSJ4, which was totally wrong. Oozaru Baby but not Baby himself.

[thatdbzguy]

So... Does the game suck?

Yeah, pretty much.

I won't take this from a guy who liked the demo and then refused to even rent the game based on the opinions of some critics he doesn't even know. Way to discredit yourself in every way. I bought the game yesterday and am having fun with it so far. It's all about perspective. I know what the game is trying to be, as opposed to fuming and fussing about something it never was in the first place.

If the game is trying to be a shallow, overpriced turd, then yeah, it definitely succeeds.

[dbboxkaifan]

If the game is trying to be a shallow, overpriced turd, then yeah, it definitely succeeds.

This game should have been priced at $29.99 which is what Ride to Hell: Retribution 1% cost at launch, so at least if the game was completely horrible they wouldn't have felt too bad about spending so much on it (although $30 is still good amount of money).

[Eddie]

"Fan comments on the internet" are probably the last thing Bandai Namco should be looking at for their business decisions. Those oft-repeated Character Creator internet comments reallly didn't lead the franchise in the right direction with Ultimate Tenkaichi.

Bandai Namco did those exact things in their games for the PS3/360. Ultimate Tenkaichi had GT (apparently due to that rabid fan demand), and new forms for characters has been a sorta kinda big thing.

Erm, wrong on both. Character Creator was done wrong and lazily, as if they didn't even care to test it (Piccolo's cape flies through character's head model during flying on the world map and other model glitches).

Adding only three GT characters out of the constant request doesn't also mean that UT had GT story mode. They had Gogeta but not Goku and Vegeta SSJ4, which was totally wrong. Oozaru Baby but not Baby himself.

Character Creator modes in fighting games are almost always terrible. Even major game franchises like Mortal Kombat have failed miserably when that mode was shoehorned in. I never said GT was well covered, just that it was included. I'm also confused by the implication that more fans would buy the game if Bebi was playable than, say, characters from a little film you may have heard about.

As for my point about new forms (that you completely ignored), I'm really at a loss on how to explain this to you. A solid chunk of your argument revolves around this idea that Bandai Namco cut features/characters/forms from the PS2 games, and that nothing new was added. You also seem upset that all of the new stuff is going to Heroes, with none of that content being ported over. That's just not correct. Super Saiyan 3 versions of Vegeta & Broli debuted in a (pre-Heroes) card game and those NEW FORMS! made they're way over to Raging Blast. Super Saiyan Bardock happened, and we now have him in a couple of console games. Four movie henchmen that were not playable in a PS2 game were featured in Raging Blast 2. New characters like Tarble and Beerus have been featured.

I guess what it boils down to is you didn't get what you wanted, therefore it sucks. I'm... sorry?

[Silkman3003]

These criticisms, while fair, don't take into account the kind of game this is. If this were a 1 vs 1 or even a 2 vs 2 styled fighter where you found yourself locked in fierce isolated combat situations, it would indeed demand more of a robust combo/parry system. However, given that 4 vs 4 is the name of the game, those situations should be far and few between. This is the kind of game that is about switching to the next target the moment your enemy has been knocked to the ground and constantly keeping tabs on your allies. It's about team work and management, not about seeing who has the fastest reflexes or fighting in isolated 1 vs 1 matches. As such, I don't think a complicated combo system would have made the game more enjoyable in the long run.

A game being a "team game" does in no way excuse it from having a bad and broken defensive system. It makes the whole point of combo'ing on a guard moot. It makes the matches overely defensive because people can abuse such a tactic with little to penalty.

It's plain silly. I gain the simple advantage by simply blocking, and dashing if you try to attack me. Or interrupting your combo by strike impacting you when guarding. Strike impact holds priority over normal melee attacks .

Fighting game or not, it doesn't excuse that simple broken element, especially in a multiplayer driven game. Punishing you for attacking. A free jail out of free card that doesn't have much of a cost when used by the right player.

As for the complicated stuff..it doesn't need to be "complicated", this isn't some complicated fighting game. but it doesn't need to be in order to have more options in the fighting system. The game already has you being able to Guard Cancel
. I dont think more combo options, putting in a teleport counter or more balanced defense tactics, charge attacking, and hitting your opponent in any other direction would hurt the game

Character Creator modes in fighting games are almost always terrible. Even major game franchises like Mortal Kombat have failed miserably when that mode was shoehorned in. I never said GT was well covered, just that it was included. I'm also confused by the implication that more fans would buy the game if Bebi was playable than, say, characters from a little film you may have heard about.

As for my point about new forms (that you completely ignored), I'm really at a loss on how to explain this to you. A solid chunk of your argument revolves around this idea that Bandai Namco cut features/characters/forms from the PS2 games, and that nothing new was added. You also seem upset that all of the new stuff is going to Heroes, with none of that content being ported over. That's just not correct. Super Saiyan 3 versions of Vegeta & Broli debuted in a (pre-Heroes) card game and those NEW FORMS! made they're way over to Raging Blast. Super Saiyan Bardock happened, and we now have him in a couple of console games. Four movie henchmen that were not playable in a PS2 game were featured in Raging Blast 2. New characters like Tarble and Beerus have been featured.

I guess what it boils down to is you didn't get what you wanted, therefore it sucks. I'm... sorry?

Uhhh..when did he ever imply anything about people buying the game more if Baby was in it? His post mostly concerned the idea that UT didn't have a GT story mode. GT characters were lazily added.

He also never said anything about being upset about new stuff going into heroes. Are we reading the same posts?

guess what it boils down to is you didn't get what you wanted, therefore it sucks. I'm... sorry?

If a user finds out that a game he was hyped for didn't meet his expectations and became even worse than expected or what he hoped for, it's perfectly reasonable for him to think it sucks.

[Eddie]

Uhhh..when did he ever imply anything about people buying the game more if Baby was in it? His post mostly concerned the idea that UT didn't have a GT story mode. GT characters were lazily added.

He also never said anything about being upset about new stuff going into heroes. Are we reading the same posts?

guess what it boils down to is you didn't get what you wanted, therefore it sucks. I'm... sorry?

If a user finds out that a game he was hyped for didn't meet his expectations and became even worse than expected or what he hoped for, it's perfectly reasonable for him to think it sucks.

Apologies to Nightstar. Sintzu was the one who made the comments I was referring to. I get some of you folks mixed up, especially when multiple users I haven't interacted with in the past quote my posts. I wasn't posting for a little while, so I don't recognize some of your names just yet.

[Hellspawn28]

"Fan comments on the internet" are probably the last thing Bandai Namco should be looking at for their business decisions.

I agree given how bad most English speaking DBZ fans are on the Internet. Namco Bandai needs to make a good game if they want a game to sell well again. If they make a BT4/S4 with a ton of characters then critics are going to dislike it for focusing too much on fan service and not enough on the gameplay.

[dbboxkaifan]

I agree given how bad most English speaking DBZ fans are on the Internet. Namco Bandai needs to make a good game if they want a game to sell well again. If they make a BT4/S4 with a ton of characters then critics are going to dislike it for focusing too much on fan service and not enough on the gameplay.

Yet the majority of those who're going to buy it will be the fans not the critics.

To have critics like IGN to say things such as "this game isn't very good because the characters aren't all unlocked at startup of the game" (RB2) that's just a load of crap. If games's were like that then there'd be no replay value at all.

Still, I'm curious as to how IGN's and GameSpot's review will be of Battle of Z. If Namco Bandai paid these two companies to give the game positive reviews then sales could perhaps improve.

[VegettoEX]

Holy Dende Christ, I dislike IGN as well, but no-one at a legitimate organization like that is actually getting paid off to give positive reviews to ANY games, never mind DBZ lowly games. There's almost no non-rude way to get that across. It's pure reactionary defensive conspiracy theory nonsense and should not even be entertained.

[Ultimate_Nova_X]

I have a question, did this game come with an instruction manual? (NA version).

[Eddie]

I have a question, did this game come with an instruction manual? (NA version).

Nope, not on PS3 at least. There's a slip of paper with your Naruto costume in that spot. They didn't even include one of those two page pamphlets with the limited warranty info. That's printed on the inside of the cover.

[thatdbzguy]

Speaking of IGN and Gamespot, why haven't they released a review yet? I'm sure they've had plenty of time to play it if they received early copies, and IGN themselves said earlier this month that they would review the game.

Instead, we're getting reviews from sites that most people don't even know about. And even then, BOZ still has less reviews than what's usually expected of a game near release date. I know DBZ games have sucked for a years now, but given BOZ's fresh new start for the franchise, you'd think they'd at least give it a chance.

[dbboxkaifan]

Nope, not on PS3 at least. There's a slip of paper with your Naruto costume in that spot. They didn't even include one of those two page pamphlets with the limited warranty info. That's printed on the inside of the cover.

Yeah. There's this unboxing video for anyone curious: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXea21N3Vek (I lol'd when the guy pointed at Broli and called him Bardock)

We went from thick manuals, to slim, last but not least pamphlets and now printed on the reversible cover. Looks like they're really trying to push digital all the way even though people who buy physical copies show that they don't want as such.

Here's the type of manuals we used to have in the previous gens:



It makes sense why companies decided to stop producing physical manuals but it's still a loss because without them the cases just feel incomplete.

[Hellspawn28]

I agree given how bad most English speaking DBZ fans are on the Internet. Namco Bandai needs to make a good game if they want a game to sell well again. If they make a BT4/S4 with a ton of characters then critics are going to dislike it for focusing too much on fan service and not enough on the gameplay.

Yet the majority of those who're going to buy it will be the fans not the critics.

To have critics like IGN to say things such as "this game isn't very good because the characters aren't all unlocked at startup of the game" (RB2) that's just a load of crap. If games's were like that then there'd be no replay value at all.

Critics are the ones that get payed to review these game and hope that decent effort was put into the game. I do agree with most gaming sites on RB2 since it's was a pretty dull game. Galaxy mode was pointless given that pretty much everyone had the same mission and it got old fast. Once you unlock everyone, there's no point on playing through Galaxy mode again. Also RB2 plays almost the same as the first game with the new annoying "Raging Soul" feature.

Having more fan service does not make it a better game. I feel like DBZ fans want nothing more then mindless characters and don't care about good gameplay.

[dbboxkaifan]

The characters in RB2 did play mostly the same but the gameplay was actually functional, worked like a fighting game would and allowed people to make combos rather than stick with a very limited amount of options which is on Battle of Z.

I'm probably one of the few that enjoyed playing Galaxy Mode but to be honest, this was probably the first game that made me use all of its entire roster as I've never done that before and those DBZ Shots in the extras are sweet gems to look at.

That reminds me, I might re-buy RB2 just for Tenkaichi 2's score as it was never released on CD. Any copy will do it's not like I'll be hunting down for a Yamamoto copy.