"Sparking! ZERO" Official Announcement & Pre-Release Discussion Thread

[Bardock God of Time]

17 is confirmed to be only one character slot, I guess he just has a Z outfit and Super outfit

[nato25]

Did anyone else think the trailer was wierd? Last one was great, in this one attacks seemed slow or lacked impact.

Started off with some poor ground textures right away with gohan, then piccolos mouth beam looked bad and gohans blast attack is triggering random explosions.

Then wolf fang fist looked really slow as did roshis attacks (although that's probably a good thing for chatavter diversity) the angle on the androids attacks didn't sit well with me either.

Gohan dodging videl looked great though and the beerus whis stuff.

Minor nitpicks but yeah I'm coming off this trailer less hyped

[Jord]

Character models look....off. Yamcha looks way too skinny for example.

[Cold Skin]

17 is confirmed to be only one character slot, I guess he just has a Z outfit and Super outfit

It's possible, since Videl is shown to have two appearances yet she's officially just one character.

This is gonna make the Visual Roster Checker thread more complicated to handle but it leaves the door open for tons of DLC costumes if they want to include them.

[Bardock God of Time]

17 is confirmed to be only one character slot, I guess he just has a Z outfit and Super outfit

It's possible, since Videl is shown to have two appearances yet she's officially just one character.

This is gonna make the Visual Roster Checker thread more complicated to handle but it leaves the door open for tons of DLC costumes if they want to include them.

I'd leave 17 (Z) in until we get confirmation of there being only one 17, seems that maybe they didn't put him on the roster image because he's not a Master or Apprentice

[DarkPrince_92]

Did anyone else think the trailer was wierd? Last one was great, in this one attacks seemed slow or lacked impact.

Started off with some poor ground textures right away with gohan, then piccolos mouth beam looked bad and gohans blast attack is triggering random explosions.

Then wolf fang fist looked really slow as did roshis attacks (although that's probably a good thing for chatavter diversity) the angle on the androids attacks didn't sit well with me either.

Gohan dodging videl looked great though and the beerus whis stuff.

Minor nitpicks but yeah I'm coming off this trailer less hyped

I feel you on that. It did less than the older trailers for me since they basically been following the same formula since. Scans come out, show what the next trailer is going to have, we expect it now. I'd like to see a trailer about some of the game mechanics, or something that wasn't in a past Sparking Game. A story mode trailer. Just something new-ish.

[Rinsankajugin]

17 is confirmed to be only one character slot, I guess he just has a Z outfit and Super outfit

I dunno, it'd be weird to have only one 17 in the game if he's referred to as 17 (Super):


Plus, in the trailer he was doing his Tenkaichi 3 ultimate attack, and in the original trailer he was doing his Xenoverse ultimate. I'm pretty sure 17 (Z) wasn't added to the roster because he didn't fit the "Master vs Apprentice" theme. Honestly, it kinda makes me feel like they might do some sort of Android or Red Ribbon-themed trailer in the near future.

[Dbzfan94]

Honestly I agree with what others said here, that I wish they’d do more than just “drop scans, then trailer of the scans.” A glimpse of Z 17 is all we got that wasn’t already shown.

[Cold Skin]

I'd leave 17 (Z) in until we get confirmation of there being only one 17, seems that maybe they didn't put him on the roster image because he's not a Master or Apprentice

I dunno, it'd be weird to have only one 17 in the game if he's referred to as 17 (Super):


Plus, in the trailer he was doing his Tenkaichi 3 ultimate attack, and in the original trailer he was doing his Xenoverse ultimate. I'm pretty sure 17 (Z) wasn't added to the roster because he didn't fit the "Master vs Apprentice" theme. Honestly, it kinda makes me feel like they might do some sort of Android or Red Ribbon-themed trailer in the near future.

I think you're both right, it's true that 17 from Z wouldn't fit the theme AND as one of you pointed out, there is a mention of "17 (Super)" for the version that's been revealed, so it could be a good sign that the Z version is set apart.

Plus, I don't think costumes will change dialogue lines: you can imagine Videl being a simple costume and keeping all of her lines since those costumes are not too far apart in the storyline, but it would be weird to have 17 from Super behaving like 17 from Z with other fighters, or vice versa.

However, it still does call for caution in the future now that alternate appearances are apparently a thing: there might be cases where we can have doubts on whether a character is shown as another version or simply with one of his possible alternate appearances!

It could also explain why this version of Trunks without the jacket is simply called Trunks (Sword) like we could expect from his first appearance with the jacket: it's probably just a different costume, especially when we see him use the Burning Attack at some point in the trailer. So Trunks (Sword) would encompass both the jacket version to illustrate his beginnings and the tank-top version that ends the Cell arc when he comes back to his future, being another sign of alternate costumes being a thing.

[goku the krump dancer]

Ya know, for nostalgia purposes and in honor of Toriyama’s passing I do wanna buy this but I gotta be honest, nothing I’ve seen so far has me completely blown away. It’s giving off Raging Blast with modern characters, which I guess that’s the whole idea, but still… eh let’s see where the ride takes us.

[Kaboom]

My position continues to be "not interested until they start revealing and showing off characters from parts of the franchise other than overdone Z and shit-fest Super."

[Nickolaidas]

The visuals and special effects have me reasonably hyped. I basically want to see more characters from the Tournament of Power.

And I want to see Black Frieza as well (slim chance, but one can dream).

[MisteryOne]

Personally, I'm still having a hard time interacting with Toriyama content in general, DB included, but I already loved the nistalgic concept of the game. It's clear they have put a lot of effort on it...yet I won't buy it because it doesn't have split screen.

I do wonder if as a surprise we may get a Toriyama designed secret character or something like that. Apparently we are even getting Daima content of some kind so...

[FortuneSSJ]

As always, I'm liking what I'm seeing.
A shame that it may not have offline multiplayer, but give me a good story mode and I will buy it.

[Cold Skin]

A story mode that takes inspiration from Budokai Tenkaichi 3 would be enough: dialogues happening and button prompt appearing to automatically trigger what happened in the original story as a way to have cutscenes: characters switching places, transformations and technics being "natural cutscenes" basically.

As long as the story mode takes us through the complete story in that way (a bit of Dragon Ball, a lot of Dragon Ball Z, a lot of Dragon Ball Super) with the appealing graphics we've seen until now, it will justify buying it.
Living the DB story with gorgeous graphics justifies buying a full game with eyes closed.

With that BT3 method to convey the many story beats, the devs just have to focus on the content: not only many characters in many costumes, but also a wide variety of landscapes, very cinematic transformations and very cinematic special moves.

Speaking of which, I suspect that while DLC might allow "bonus" costumes that appear in artworks or quiet moments and such, all alternate costumes included in the base game will only be those that are strictly necessary to represent the story moments properly, depending on what they include.
That's why Videl has two appearances, for example.
That's why Trunks (Sword) likely has a version with or without the jacket.
That's why Cell Game Gohan could have his Goku outfit if movie 9 is included in a "Z movies" story section for example.
But that's why costumes such as Vegeta's Bad Man shirt would not be featured in the base game: there's no story battle that justifies spending dev time on it before the release, so it would most likely be a later DLC that devs would focus on at a later time: it's popular enough to be included at some point, but not needed first and foremost for the story.

So yeah, basically alternate costumes in the base game would entirely depend on what battles are needed for a complete story representation. You can bet Goku (Super) is going to have his Whis-made costume or his Yardrat costume for example (assuming there is a classic story mode at least, because we still have no info about what they're planning about it right now).

[Nickolaidas]

To this day, Budokai 1 remains the best story mode. Making one like that, but with heavy emphasis on what-if stories and spin-offs would be godlike.

[sangofe]

Does anyone else than me think the english subs for the trailers are atrociously bad?

[Xeogran]

I hope we get a normal trailer down the line that shows us the intro, menu, story mode, stages, some side modes and stuff, rather than focusing only on new character reveals.
I want to know more about this game than the roster, and so far they're not addressing it at all

[Cold Skin]

To this day, Budokai 1 remains the best story mode. Making one like that, but with heavy emphasis on what-if stories and spin-offs would be godlike.

Much as I would like it, I don't believe it's possible. Creating carefully crafted cutscenes takes too much time and resources nowadays when you already have to craft more than a hundred characters.

Even back then, when games didn't cost nearly as much and models/animations were not as detailed as today, they had to stop creating content at the end of the Cell arc for Budokai 1, and when the sequels included Boo and more, this was the end of cutscenes.

BT1, I don't remember, but I don't think it really had cutscenes but more of a dialogue at the beginning and at the end of a battle.
BT2 had merely dialogue boxes and maybe ten "real" cutscenes that looked lackluster.
BT3 found sort of a "loophole" and made it so that the gameplay itself acted as story dialogues and cutscenes (that's the method I expect them to use once again, since most resources are probably going to creating numerous character models and their impressive in-game animations).

Nowadays, even big games like the Resident Evil remakes have to be careful not to create too many cutscenes and trim down all the story branches to avoid creating more cutscenes than the ones strictly necessary.

Games like FF7 Remake and its sequel FF7 Rebirth are some exceptions for which an unusual budget was applied to have as many cutscenes all over as games from before, that makes them exceptional in that regard compared to other games!

You can even see how a game like Kakarot, which is centered on reliving the story, had to use "real" cutscenes sparingly, with basically lots of dialogue boxes, lots of cutscenes with limited and repetitive/basic/stiff animations and only 50 or so "real full-fledge" cutscenes with rightfully carefully-crafted animation that are actually pre-recorded videos you can watch at any time in the menu.

So in my opinion, don't EVER expect a game from the present to feature lots of "real", unique-animations and carefully-directed cutscenes like Budokai 1 did back then. With how complex and expensive games have become and how expectations for cinematic presentation has grown, that's not in the cards if you ask me.

I hope we get a normal trailer down the line that shows us the intro, menu, story mode, stages, some side modes and stuff, rather than focusing only on new character reveals.
I want to know more about this game than the roster, and so far they're not addressing it at all

Probably in the final few months only. The easiest thing to develop and show little by little as time goes by is characters. Everytime they have a bunch of characters more or less ready to show, they can just slap a sample of gameplay for five or ten characters in a trailer.

The intro and menu could take time to finalize (plus the menus would be shown in a gameplay presentation more than on a simple trailer if you ask me, and such presentation would be when you can show what the final product is more or less like). And the story mode would probably be the longest thing to finalise. They might not even be sure of everything they can include on it right now.

It's possible that they're not eager to show it if people expect awesome cutscenes and they have to show them the equivalent of "sorry, but now more than ever, the only way to have the budget and time to create all that is to do it just like BT3: a recap text on screen before a battle and the usual special moves and transformations being your "cutscenes" during fights, for which we spent most of the budget."

But I'm fine with that with beautiful graphics and a story that does make you realise all that the characters have been through since the beginning (DB) to the end of the anime (DBS latest movies).

Basically, BT3 with new-gen graphics and more characters than before (most notably DBS characters) is more than enough for me. They'd better not pull a crap like "there's no story mode" or something like that, though!

[Nickolaidas]

Much as I would like it, I don't believe it's possible. Creating carefully crafted cutscenes takes too much time and resources nowadays when you already have to craft more than a hundred characters.

Hmm ... I disagree. If the cutscenes are done with in-game engine graphics, it doesn't take any extra resources - sure, it takes more TIME, and more recording for the VAs, but it ain't like you are making CGI cutscenes ala the PSX/PS2 or even the advanced models like in The Last of Us or even FF7 Remake/Rebirth that you mentioned.

We're talking about the in-game models doing some cutscenes.

Even the Budokai 1 cutscenes used the in-game models, they didn't use pre-rendered CGI cutscenes with advanced models/textures like in Final Fantasy X.