Sagas 2? Thoughts, Opinions, and Ideas

[The S]

I picked up Sagas finally yesterday (for under $20, too), and was amazed... at how crappy it really was! I thought all of the negative reviews I read were just from Dragon Ball haters/newbies, or from those who weren't fans of the beat-'em-up genre. As a big fan of the genre, I still found this game was worth less than the disc it was printed on. The game is not really that hard, but the AI is retardedly cheap (I often found myself being pummeled by ki blasts from up to six Saibaimen at once with no way to defend myself until they yielded, and at one point three of Freeza's goons juggled me back and forth between them until I died... even while jamming on the "Combo Breaker" button like a madman!), the fighting system is clunky, and the level design is just uninspired. Also, some of the Pendulum Room battles made no sense. Try as I might, I couldn't even get Raditz' health even half-way as Bardock before I bit the dust, and although Nappa was a breeze with Chibi Gohan, it took five combos from one-armed Mirai Gohan to equal one of his younger self's combos against the brute. Even fighting the final battle of Perfect Cell as Yamucha was easier! Couple that with the fact that the game is very short, and that there's no driving force behind the Pendulum Room other testing any level as any character (it would have been nice to throw in some new cutscenes, or some unlockables for finishing certain levels as certain characters or SOMETHING!) It's pretty sad that my favorite part of the game is that when you go to load a save, the announcer says "Previously, on Dragon Ball Z..." Overall, the only reason the game isn't a complete waste of money is because I'm a DBZ uber-fan/collector. So, if Atari did decide to make a sequel to Sagas (which would be like printing money), would could they improve on to make it not a total turd? My thoughts:

-Take a page from better recent beat-'em-ups, like Urban Reign, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, or even freakin' GT: Transformation! Add in more, deeper combos, especially juggle combos, more character-specific special moves (one per character is pretty lame), better targeting (I want to switch targets, dammit!)... just sit down the developers and make them play these games.

-More enemy variety. Force them to play Buu's Fury... or Hell, at least let whoever was in charge of making new enemies at Webfoot design this game's. Buu's Fury had some rather tongue-in-cheek pokes at Dragon Ball's past when it came to enemy design.

-Some damn What-If - or at least movie-based - storylines. Fuck playing the same exact storyline over and over until the end of eternity.

-Double-Team moves would be nice. What with the previous game being two player, it was almost more of a burden than a help to have a second character. Also, a CPU partner in fights that normally had two people in the anime, done ala Urban Reign would work.

-The storyline should span from the Anoyoichi Budokai 'till the end of Chibi Buu. Then as a special unlockable level, the 28th Tenka-ichi Budokai. Hell, I'd also like to play, and I mean actually PLAY (not just fling cards or press buttons to) the DBZ Gaiden storyline... but that'll probably never happen.

-Better level design. No more rails for us; when we have to search for something, let us fucking SEARCH for it. Having the Dragon Radar to assist would be all right, but everything in the first game was either in plain sight or sticking halfway out of a rock or car or some damn thing.

-Make the environment more destructable, and battle-damaged characters, ala Sparking!

-More freakin' characters is a given. Maybe give us the game's bosses as uber-unlockables, but if given the chance to just play the heroes, it'll be fine.

My suggested list:
---Son Gokuu---
Transformations: Super Saiyan, Super Saiyan 2, Super Saiyan 3
Attires: Kame-style gi, Kame-style gi with halo, 28th Budokai gi

---Piccolo---
Attires: With cape and turban, Without cape and turban

---Vegeta---
Transformations: Super Saiyan, Super Saiyan 2
Attires: Buu Saga clothing, Buu Saga clothing with halo, 28th Budokai clothes

---Ma-jin Vegeta---

---Mirai Trunks---
Transformations: Super Saiyan
Attires: With jacket, without jacket, armor w/ short hair, armor w/ long hair

---Son Gohan---
Transformations: Super Saiyan, Super Saiyan 2, "Mystic" Saiyan
Attires: School uniform, Great Saiyaman w/o headgear, Piccolo-style gi, black body suit, uniform given by Kibito, Kame-style gi

---Great Saiyaman---
Attires: Helmet, bandana and shades

---Son Goten---
Transformations: Super Saiyan

---Chibi Trunks---
Transformations: Super Saiyan

---Ma-jin Buu (fat)---

---Klilyn---
Attires: Buu Saga (with hair), Saiyan-Cell Saga (without hair)

---Videl---
Attires: School uniform, Tournament clothing, Post-Tournament garb, Saiyawoman

---Paikuhan---
Attires: With weighted clothing, Without weighted clothing

---Mr. Satan---
Attires: Regular gi, Movie 9 clothing

---Yamucha---
Attires: Kame-style gi (with short hair), yellow suit

---Tenshinhan---
Attires: Buu Saga clothing, Pre-Buu Saga clothing

---Jinzoningen Juuhachigou---
Attires: Regular clothing, We Gotta Power! clothing, 28th Budokai clothing

---Kaioushin---

---Uub---

---Pan---
Attires: Kame-style gi, clothing from Neko Ma-jin Z's final chapter

FUSIONS...
---Gotenks---
Transformations: Super Saiyan, Super Saiyan 3

---Vegeto---
Transformations: Super Saiyan

---Gogeta---

---Veku---

---Gotan---

---Denderotto---

[Chaos Saiyajin]

I was actually thinking the same thing...I love your ideas about the story mode, but I'd actually rather see a Dragonball Sagas rather than another Dragonball Z one. Or...Both! I liked the character roster you created, but you left out Uub. To have the 28th Tenkaichi Budokai, you do sorta need Uub

My thoughts

Story Mode:
-Saiyajin Saga
-Freeza Saga
-The History of Trunks
-Trunks Saga (Time to die yet again, Freeza! )
-Android Saga
-Imperfect Cell Saga
-Cell Games
-Anoyachi Budokai
-Great Saiyaman Saga
-Majin Buu Saga
-Fusion Saga
-Kid Buu Saga

Unlockable Story Modes:
-The Dead Zone
-The World's Strongest
-The Tree of Might
-Lord Slug (DIE!!!!!!!!!! )
-Cooler's Revenge
-The Return of Cooler
-Super Android 13
-Broly
-Bojack Unbound
-Broly Second Coming
-Bio-Broly
-Fusion Reborn
-Movie 13
-28th Tenkaichi Budokai
-Bardock Special

Characters
-All the same, with Uub and the villans as playable characters

Awesome idea, S.

[Jord]

I liked Sagas when playing with a friend as Broly's. It was a really fun game. The errors provide unintentional comedy.

[Leotaku]

Thanks for more heads-up.

I saw it brand new for $25, and had another impulse-buy attack (since it's still like $50-$60 everywhere else I've seen it). But seeing all the bad reviews and stuff made me iffy, and I didn't buy it. So here's one more review to help me stay away from this game.

I hear people hate it even more than Final Bout, which is saying something. I actually got a kick out of Final Bout when I first got it a little over a year ago. I thought it wasn't nearly as bad as people made it out to be. But I'm still not taking my chances on Sagas.

[Xyex]

I'm still looking for a copy to eventually buy... I'm also doubting a second Sagas game as badly as the first sold. The first thing they'd need to do is find a new developer to make the next action/adventure/platformer/beat-em-up game and then give it a new name. We all ready know it's for the PS3 and that by then even the Z Movies will be done, and probably the Ultimate Uncut releases... about all that would remain would be the first 13 DB episodes and the first DB movie...

So if such a game is made it would be safe to assume it would be in the vain of a 'last chance at getting some money out of this franchise, or maybe even breathe new life into it for extended milking' so it'd be an all-or-nothing endevour (usually turns out some damn good games too). With that in mind, my ideas!

"Sagas 2" should (and just might) start with Dragonball. It should have 3 types of stages.
-Ground: Platformer style. Run along the level, jumping around, enemies to smash, etc...
-Explore/Adventure: Pure beat-em-up with a system similar to Sparking! along for air and ground combat. Levels would be large and possibly open.
-Boss: The level would be smaller than the Explore/Adventure type but still fairly large. Combat controls may even change to something more 'fighting game like' for the course of the fight. This would also be used for the tournaments.

Story mode would cover everything from the series' with some bonus stuff thrown in.

Dragonball
- Bardock Special (Special level)
- Goku/Pilaf Saga
- 21st Budokai
- Red Ribbon Army Saga
- 22nd Budokai
- King Piccolo Saga
- 23rd Budokai

Dragonball Z
- The Dead Zone (Special level)
- Saiyan Saga
- Namek Saga
- Freeza Saga
- Garlic Jr. Saga (Special level)
- Cooler's Revenge (Special level)
- Android Saga
- Broly (Special level)
- Cell Games
- Otherworld Tournament (Special level)
- Saiyaman Saga
- World Tournamet Saga
- Majin Saga
- Jenemba (Special level)
- Fusion Saga
- Kid Buu Saga
- 28th Budokai
- Hildegarn (Special level)

Dragonball GT
- 'Lost Episodes' Saga
- Bebi Saga
- Super 17 Saga
- Evil Dragons Saga
- GT Special (Special level)

And there we go. The special levels would each have something you need to do before hand in order to unlock and have access to them. Or they're automatically unlocked on the second play through... (that's how Bardock's would have to work either way I guess).

[The S]

I'm liking some of these ideas, dudes... but it you'll check my list again, Chaos Saiyajin, I do have Uub there. He's between Kaioushin and Pan.

[ngnikolaos]

You know what I find really funny? All the reviews I read flame, bash, destroy, cremate, rape, burn, incinerate, kill, shoot, and bury the game, including newbies, oldbies, subbies, dubbies, Toriyama-lovers, Toriyama-haters....

BUT

the more video clips of the game I download, the more I want to play this game.

And its music sounds really awesome. I think I'll buy it once it drops to 19.99$.

[LaRésistance]

I actually liked Sagas. It had some flaws but it also had a few good points. I had a lot of fun playing with friends in the Pendulum mode, we'd make some crazy teams and then make our way through the levels. This game is way better when you play with a friend than when you play alone.

I even wrote a review for dbnet-fr (and took some screenshots), I'm just waiting for the webmaster to put it up...

They should try making another Dragon Ball Z in the same genre as Sagas on the next generation of consoles.

[The S]

Zounds, you're the first person that I know of that enjoyed it. I'm rather forgiving when it comes to games usually, I mean, all of the TMNT games released on PS2/XB/GC, and The Bouncer are among my favorite games, but they got exceptionally low ratings in magazines. But Christ, I hate Sagas. I just don't understand why it took my brother and I half an hour to take down Raditz with Tenshinhan and Mirai Son Gohan, but it took less than three minutes in Play Sagas mode with just Son Gokuu. It's totally unbalanced.

But nevertheless, this isn't "complain about Sagas" (the rant at the beginning was to justify some of the ideas about a sequel). So, although you liked Sagas, what do you think could have been improved?