Got it today and finished playing it for now. Might play it again later but I'll post some impressions just now:
First off, just in the tutorial, I was able to gain a feel for the combat and decide (and this hasn't changed when I played some of the story mode) that it's the worst fighting game system in all the DBZ fighting games I've played (not including the PS1 games), which is the Budokai Games, the Budokai Tenkaichi games and Burst Limit/Raging Blast.
They have made ONE improvement though. no more waggle the stick around and around to recover (no waggling the stick around and around at all actually). That was the thing I hated the most in Raging Blast.
The Counter Attack system is VERY messed up, the counter attack system is basically a rythem game which goes really fast and makes it hard to time it right. Frustrating in a tutorial where you need to pass it to go onto the next one
A similar system is employed in the evasion system for super attacks, press square to evade and a rythem game with 3 bars that are close together pop up and you need to hit all 3 to succeed.
A rythem game in general is OUT OF PLACE in a fighting game in general... then again, this game also has way too many QTEs that any fighting game fan would be put off.
I don't like the Blast and Melee range stuff, the animation when you go from blast to melee range breaks the flow of the battle (then again it doesn't have much flow to begin with)
With all the QTEs where you have to press the same button or a different button than the opponent, a lot of this is based on LUCK rather than skill.
The AI spams supers like there is no tomorrow and because it takes you out of the action, it feels like you're just doing more mini-games than actual fighting in a fighting game... if that makes sense. Super Attacks in general are done way too flashy and then you're stuck in a defense thing where you still get hurt, a rythem mini-game or a button mashing section.
I think that should be most of my complaints on the combat system. (I will say, I am not a fan of the spirit thing you need to perform supers but considering this games combat system, I think it was a necessity for it >_< )
Story mode time:
I was only able to get up to Gohan vs Nappa before I felt like I should stop playing (I'm not feeling great just now otherwise I would have continued).
First complaint: The little bit that comes before the first battle is annoying, it's basically a window with scrolling text giving you some backstory, it is NOT voiced at all (which sucks, I think the narrator voice would be good for it) and you can't scroll it yourself so if you read fast, be prepared for a painful wait.
First battle is Bardock vs Freeza (and first battle outside of the tutorial for me), My combat system complaints stay valid in this fight but the end of the battle had them doing the same thing as in the anime, final spirit cannon vs Death Ball which I thought was a VERY VERY nice touch honestly.
First anime scene, looks pretty nice. Very nice stuff.
After that, the opening intro plays (which I thought was quite nice, reminded me of Tales of Xillia a little since it had the opening play after an introduction section).
We got put straight into Goku on a Cloud on the world map with piccolo (yes no DB related story stuff outside of the scrolling text which also came before the saiyan saga officially started). I looked around then I went to a world tournament which we could do.
The announcer is annoying DURING battle "It must be some kind of spiritual concentration), that is my biggest complaint during the world tournament battle.
I like the stuff that happens in battle where the game takes over and does stuff that you may remember from the anime (ie Saibaman blowing himself up with Yamcha)
So far, it does skip enough of the story for me to say that it could be considered insulting to a DBZ fan with the way Namco Bandai has advertised this as the most faithful DBZ story mode experience. (we go from Piccolo and Goku fighting against Raditz to Yamcha fighting a Saibaman, that's a big skip).
I mean, I thought they might have at least done something on King Kais planet or some training with Gohan but nope, instead it's another scrolling text box and then you're Yamcha on the world map. The Lip syncing is also not exactly great.
The Anime scenes however are a very nice touch.
I may not be fully happy with the story mode however I do think it's a plus for it, providing what they have is done well enough then I'll continue to be happy with it.
The graphics are pretty awesome, I will say, I prefer the style in the Budokai/BT games (more so the Budokai games though) but I like these graphics more than Raging Blasts graphics.
The Menu is much nicer than what I saw in Raging Blast 2 and the UI is pretty nice.
Not tried Hero mode so I can't say anything about that for now. I wish I had more to praise the game for it's really hard considering how bad the combat system is.
I can't even say DBZ fans should get it just for hero mode/story mode since I've not played hero mode and I've not played too much of story mode. If the story mode gets better then hardcore DBZ fans MAY want to pick it up for that...
But what I can say is, people who don't care about the story mode/hero mode should stay away as the combat system is just plain bad outside of that one improvement I mentioned.
I've tried to be as detailed as I can about the combat system for those on the fence about it, what I may dislike, you may like after all. Hope this post helps for those on the fence about this game
First off, just in the tutorial, I was able to gain a feel for the combat and decide (and this hasn't changed when I played some of the story mode) that it's the worst fighting game system in all the DBZ fighting games I've played (not including the PS1 games), which is the Budokai Games, the Budokai Tenkaichi games and Burst Limit/Raging Blast.
They have made ONE improvement though. no more waggle the stick around and around to recover (no waggling the stick around and around at all actually). That was the thing I hated the most in Raging Blast.
The Counter Attack system is VERY messed up, the counter attack system is basically a rythem game which goes really fast and makes it hard to time it right. Frustrating in a tutorial where you need to pass it to go onto the next one
A similar system is employed in the evasion system for super attacks, press square to evade and a rythem game with 3 bars that are close together pop up and you need to hit all 3 to succeed.
A rythem game in general is OUT OF PLACE in a fighting game in general... then again, this game also has way too many QTEs that any fighting game fan would be put off.
I don't like the Blast and Melee range stuff, the animation when you go from blast to melee range breaks the flow of the battle (then again it doesn't have much flow to begin with)
With all the QTEs where you have to press the same button or a different button than the opponent, a lot of this is based on LUCK rather than skill.
The AI spams supers like there is no tomorrow and because it takes you out of the action, it feels like you're just doing more mini-games than actual fighting in a fighting game... if that makes sense. Super Attacks in general are done way too flashy and then you're stuck in a defense thing where you still get hurt, a rythem mini-game or a button mashing section.
I think that should be most of my complaints on the combat system. (I will say, I am not a fan of the spirit thing you need to perform supers but considering this games combat system, I think it was a necessity for it >_< )
Story mode time:
I was only able to get up to Gohan vs Nappa before I felt like I should stop playing (I'm not feeling great just now otherwise I would have continued).
First complaint: The little bit that comes before the first battle is annoying, it's basically a window with scrolling text giving you some backstory, it is NOT voiced at all (which sucks, I think the narrator voice would be good for it) and you can't scroll it yourself so if you read fast, be prepared for a painful wait.
First battle is Bardock vs Freeza (and first battle outside of the tutorial for me), My combat system complaints stay valid in this fight but the end of the battle had them doing the same thing as in the anime, final spirit cannon vs Death Ball which I thought was a VERY VERY nice touch honestly.
First anime scene, looks pretty nice. Very nice stuff.
After that, the opening intro plays (which I thought was quite nice, reminded me of Tales of Xillia a little since it had the opening play after an introduction section).
We got put straight into Goku on a Cloud on the world map with piccolo (yes no DB related story stuff outside of the scrolling text which also came before the saiyan saga officially started). I looked around then I went to a world tournament which we could do.
The announcer is annoying DURING battle "It must be some kind of spiritual concentration), that is my biggest complaint during the world tournament battle.
I like the stuff that happens in battle where the game takes over and does stuff that you may remember from the anime (ie Saibaman blowing himself up with Yamcha)
So far, it does skip enough of the story for me to say that it could be considered insulting to a DBZ fan with the way Namco Bandai has advertised this as the most faithful DBZ story mode experience. (we go from Piccolo and Goku fighting against Raditz to Yamcha fighting a Saibaman, that's a big skip).
I mean, I thought they might have at least done something on King Kais planet or some training with Gohan but nope, instead it's another scrolling text box and then you're Yamcha on the world map. The Lip syncing is also not exactly great.
The Anime scenes however are a very nice touch.
I may not be fully happy with the story mode however I do think it's a plus for it, providing what they have is done well enough then I'll continue to be happy with it.
The graphics are pretty awesome, I will say, I prefer the style in the Budokai/BT games (more so the Budokai games though) but I like these graphics more than Raging Blasts graphics.
The Menu is much nicer than what I saw in Raging Blast 2 and the UI is pretty nice.
Not tried Hero mode so I can't say anything about that for now. I wish I had more to praise the game for it's really hard considering how bad the combat system is.
I can't even say DBZ fans should get it just for hero mode/story mode since I've not played hero mode and I've not played too much of story mode. If the story mode gets better then hardcore DBZ fans MAY want to pick it up for that...
But what I can say is, people who don't care about the story mode/hero mode should stay away as the combat system is just plain bad outside of that one improvement I mentioned.
I've tried to be as detailed as I can about the combat system for those on the fence about it, what I may dislike, you may like after all. Hope this post helps for those on the fence about this game
