Dragonball Z: Sparking!

[oponok]

I thought I'd make a new topic for DBZ: Sparking! (I'm much more fond of this title than the American misnomer).

It's interesting that the developers are going for a much more anime-ish look than with Budoukai 3, which had a visual style akin to the comics (with the way the characters' faces were sculpted in likeness to Toriyama's work and the frequent ignoring of the cinematic 180° rule, as is common in most manga).

The extra features all sound too good to be true, such as the destructable arenas and character damage (though I hope the transformations aren't separate characters, which would be really, really lame). What troubles me about this product is the gameplay: I just hope it's pulled off effectively. From what I've seen, the special attacks just look goofy right now, and the camera looks like it needs work.

[Rocketman]

What's the 180 degree rule?

[oponok]

Uh, sorry, but this might be difficult to explain without pictures. Imagine two people in a movie. The camera is on one side of them as they talk. Now, pretend that there is a magic, invisible line from one person to the other that the camera cannot cross. The camera can only show its subject, the two people, from one side of the line (in other words, the camera is only allowed 180° in which to move). This would keep one person constantly on the left and the other person on the right, until of course they physically move across each other. In manga, if we see two people talking, the "camera" (the artist's drawing) does not always uphold this consistency. If one looks in the Dragonball manga, and then looks at the anime, one will often find this difference (for example, I believe the scene in which Tien and Yamcha are convinced Goku defeated Cell with a Kamehameha is altered from the manga to the anime adaptation to keep up the consistency).

For a more detailed definition, "(the rule) dictates that the camera not cover more than 180° in a single shot. This stricture means that the camera always leaves unexplored the other 180° of an implicit circle. . . . The 180° rule is predicated on the assumption that a complete camera revolution would be "unrealisitic," defining a space larger than the "naked eye" would normally cover. Thus it derives from the imperative that the camera deny its own existence as much as possible, fostering the illusion that what is shown has an autonomous existence, independent of any technological interference." Of course, there are filmmakers such as Godard who break this tradition, but do so for a reason (unlike many "style-with-no-substance" filmmakers of today). The Dragonball Z anime often plays with the camera in interesting ways and takes this rule to the limit, but rarely breaks it.

In regards to Budoukai 3, try using Vegeta's Big Bang Attack or Adult Gohan's Super Kamehameha. These provide two examples of when this rule is broken. Vegeta will blast the Big Bang Attack to his right, but the camera then cuts to his opponent who blocks the attack facing the same direction which Vegeta was when he fired it. You should see what I mean.

Of course, some may argue that games need not regard the rules of cinema, though I think it's all about context and what the game designers are looking for.

But my original point was that since Budoukai 3 broke the rule, it had something in common with Toriyama's actual work.

[SuperFusion]

It's over the users(YOUR) shoulder.

[Tenken]

I've played this game. It is awesome. I'll post more about it later.

[The S]

It isn't out yet, is it? I thought its Japanese release date was June.

[Xyex]

Man, I'd have loved to have been at E3 to play the demo. The videos I have look so cool.

[Tenken]

Man, I'd have loved to have been at E3 to play the demo. The videos I have look so cool.

I played it there. You have freedom to move just about anywhere and if you're getting your butt kicked you can hide behind rocks and stuff. It puts me in the mind of virtual on (awesome game) the way you move around and stuff. The melee fighting is as simplistic as it gets, but the freedom of movement and fireball timing is where the strategy comes in.

[The S]

Ah, sumimasen. I forgot that it was playable at E3.

What characters were playable at E3, then, and what moves did they have implemented?

[Chuquita]

Freedom to move anywhere sounds so much fun! Can you jump freely as well?

[Xyex]

Obviously there's still no jumping as there's even less need for it in this than there was in the Budokai games. You can just fly around anywhere you want too. As for the characters available at E3:



And I really like these water effects:

[ngnikolaos]

Hmmm, from the character select screen, most characters seem to be in "best transofrmation" mode, like Cell and Freeza. That makes quite possible the DBZ PS1 Legends tactic, in which each transformation was a different character. I really hope that's not the case; in Budokai 3, transformations were perfected through the "once tranformed, cannot change back" technique. Saiyans excluded, but that's totally ok, concerning that they would change back after a serious beating (or if they wished to).

[Tenken]

my bro's firewire cable is trashed. I'll dump the video i took as soon as I get a new one...

[SpaceKappa]

Add. Japanese. Language. Option.


Seriously. The game looks great, but a good game needs to have all three factors (graphics, sound, gameplay) to be a winner in my book.

[Aurek]

Well now we know, transformations count as characters. It seems very likely now anyway...

[Xyex]

I've hear "60+ characteres (90+ counting transformations)" but I don't know. This WAS an E3 demo build, so it still doesn't confirm things one way or the other.

[Chuquita]

I'm going to hope the lineup looked that way only because it was a demo. I'm still hoping for some movie villains *cough*Turles*cough* to be part of the 60 characters.

Still, the character selection screen looks nice.

[Fuujin]

The screenshot seems to indicate that the transformations are chosen in a way similar to costumes in Budokai games, and they don't count as multiple characters.

[Leotaku]

Only Time will tell if the transformations are separate characters. In fact, I'm going to go call Time right now and ask her.

Seriously, I hope it only looks like that because it's a demo like Xyex and Chuquita mentioned. By the way, Xyex, where did you hear "60+ characteres (90+ counting transformations)"?

I remember seeing screenshots on Gamespot or something where Goku was fighting in his regular form. Then on the screen beside it, he's fighting in SSJ form. It looked like the same fight in both screens, so maybe, if it was, that means transformations are still there. However, even if that is the case, there's nothing stopping them from still counting that transformation as a separate character, even though it's not directly selectable on the character select. I doubt they'd do that, but it's still a possibility, that's all.

[Xyex]

I heard it on another board, a few people who'd been at E3 calimed to have heard it there while checking out the demo. Not entirely sure if it's accurate, but it does make sense considering how many transformations there are.