The new Dragonball game (Battle of Z)

It's pretty fun.

This is not a fighting game like most previous DB titles, but a brawler. Each character basically has a melee string ending with a guard-breaking attack, simple (and useless) ki blasts, a dash attack, a small ki beam, 2 unique special moves and a super move.
You can also customize the colours of the characters' outfits.

The game may seem simple, but there is a lot of depth in team synergy and the netcode is very good. Who else is thinking of getting this?

Golden Boy wrote:

Each character basically has a melee string ending with a guard-breaking attack, simple (and useless) ki blasts, a dash attack, a small ki beam, 2 unique special moves and a super move.

There will be ultimates like the Spirit Bomb available in the final game too.

I just hope some of these cards you collect can actually modify your move list and add more offensive and defensive options(snap vanishing is sorely needed to escape bullcrap gang ups). Although it'd still be stupid to force you to actually upgrade your character to have more varied and less limited gameplay, at least there'd be something to fix these issues. I doubt there'll be anything like that other than ones that give you ultimate moves, though.

If the gameplay remains limited and there's nothing to upgrade or expand, then at least I hope the story/co-op mission can be varied and interesting. There are supposed be over 60 or so missions to do, and seeing as how some actually have multiple battles take place in them, there should be a lot of meat left(such as What-Ifs) outside of the original and movie storylines.

I don't want Chris Sabat's hilariously cheesy narration in the trailer to be the most entertaining thing about this game.

SOK wrote:

If the gameplay remains limited

I disagree with this. The game is too fast-paced so there is not really much need for more options. I can barely do a 15-hit combo without being interrupted from behind.
I think they did a good job balancing the gameplay; I like how the dash and ki beam attacks have armor and they'll beat anything, but they cost energy and are unsafe on block or that they didn't add combo breakers as it's kinda tough already to break someone's guard.

I believe the game can have plenty of variety and depth based on character options. For example, with Goku I like to use Kaioken against enemies that are guarding a string from a teammate as it will break their guard.
As Piccolo, I tend to interrupt enemies who attack a teammate with his long-ranged grab and start my own combo. He can also grab teammates who are getting ganged up and save them.
Kid Gohan can heal and also prevent downed teammates from dying.

I really like how every character seems to have its purpose in the team.

Golden Boy wrote:

I disagree with this. The game is too fast-paced so there is not really much need for more options. I can barely do a 15-hit combo without being interrupted from behind.

It's not just about making lengthier and unique combos, though. Like I said, I want more defense options such as snap vanishing in the event that I get ganged up and inevitably caught in a combo by two opponents after I was busy attacking one and getting sneak attacked by the other. It'd be nice to have something to try and save yourself with if your team mates are occupied at the time. More variations could've been implemented to that dash attack too. Instead of always starting up the same chain your allies have to continue, actually allowing you to smash them in a particular direction of your choosing and using something akin to the dragon dash in the Tenkaichi games to continue your assault would be a nice alternative.

Maybe one or two other guard break options(such as short charged attacks) would be useful as well. Having only specific characters have the ability to break someone's guard is a bit of a pain, and it's pointless to use your basic combo to break their guard instead as they could just teleport away during the middle of your string. What I really hope is that in the final game, they actually nerf the teleport and make it cost energy. It'd make things much more interesting regarding ki management, and it'd be more fair without the need of adding additional guard break tools because it'll force the other player to take some kind of action instead of just turtling.

The dash attack, the ki beam and the super are invincible. You can mash them when you block or on wake-up and the will beat anything your opponent does (except for the same stuff of course).

I agree about teleporting/guarding being too strong. I don't really mind though as long as there are ways to break them.

Golden Boy wrote:

The dash attack, the ki beam and the super are invincible. You can mash them when you block or on wake-up and the will beat anything your opponent does (except for the same stuff of course).

If you do get caught by a back attack from an assisting member on your opponent's team, I assume more often than not that one of your attackers will probably try to end his string with the dash attack and then start that team combo chain, though, so you might not get an early knock down to counter on wake up with one of the invincible moves. You may just have to hope that they sync up and get into that little synergy combo thingy which fortunately can't be ended with that chain gimmick.

I didn't know that the small beam attacks were also invincible. That makes it even more ridiculously useful considering the smaller amount of ki required compared to the dash attack, and it has great auto-aim.

The auto-aim on these beams is superb and they give a knockdown too!
I don't think attacks from behind break guard. You basically have to outplay your opponent (whiff punish, block punish the dash, use armor or a special move like Goku's unblockable Kaioken or Krillin's Solar Flare), interrupt them while they are occupied (Piccolo's the best at this in the demo) or use a sneak attack.

God, I hope Saiyaman or Chou Gohan have something decent for breaking guards.

I also noticed that each character has a "power level" which increases if you customize them with those stat-increasing cards. However when your character is KO'd the other team gains as many points as your power level. Pretty smart.

It may sound weird, but one of my favourite things about this game is its simplicity. I've gotten tired of fighting games and DB fighting games especially have always been mediocre at best. There is nothing technical about this one and you don't have to properly learn characters before you use them.
Outsmarting your opponents and being a decent team player is the key to winning.

So get this game! I don't want to have to play with stupid people!

Golden Boy wrote:

I don't think attacks from behind break guard.

I know. The situation I'm referring to is when you actually are busy attacking one opponent, but then one of their other team members comes and saves them by attack you from behind, causing you to be caught in one painful ass string of attacks from both members that could end with a team chain for even more damage. That's where something like snap vanishing could have come in handy if your allies are busy or too far away to help. Your only hope is that they either screw up a string and knock you down which will give you a chance to counter as you get up, or they get into the synergy combo(which will still be pretty painful) since they can't end it with the dash move to execute the team chain.

Quote :

I also noticed that each character has a "power level" which increases if you customize them with those stat-increasing cards. However when your character is KO'd the other team gains as many points as your power level. Pretty smart.

Yeah, I saw someone mentioning it on Gamefaqs a while back. They should give those with ultimate move cards equipped high numbers so they can run the risk of giving a lot of points to the other team if they get knocked out. It'll balance out the crazy instant-win aspect of the move.

Does the dash attack cause any significant damage? I've stopped using it in combos because it looked kinda weak and used a lot of meter. It's not bad though as a finisher if there is another enemy nearby.
I particularly like using it to counter the Kaioken though. Wish I could see the reactions of those poor Gokus.
And what instant win!?

Golden Boy wrote:

Does the dash attack cause any significant damage? I've stopped using it in combos because it looked kinda weak and used a lot of meter. It's not bad though as a finisher if there is another enemy nearby.

It's mainly useful for starting the team chain attack and getting yourself out of trouble if there are other enemies nearby. You're better off with other moves if you want to try and finish off your opponent yourself.

Quote :

And what instant win!?

I'm not sure if this will apply to multiplayer battles too, but at least in solo mode, if you use the Spirit Bomb, it's an instant win. It's a move that takes ages to charge up and I assume you can get knocked out of it. If it really doesn't give an automatic win in MP modes such as Score Battle, then it probably just gives a knock out to each opponent once, giving your team a good deal of points during the match.

I played the demo of this game and got super bored of it really quickly.

List of unblockable moves:

- Goku's rush attack
- Krillin's super
- Saibaman's status attack (poison)
- Nappa's rush attack
- SSJ Goku's rush
- Guildo's blast
- Recoome's rush
- Freeza's (1st form) blast
- Freeza's (2nd form) rush
- Freeza's (4th form) blast
- Freeza's (100%) blast and rush
- One of Super Trunks' attacks
- SSJ2 Kid Gohan's counter
- #18's super
- Both of #16's attacks
- Cell's (2nd) rush
- Ultimate Gohan's counter
- SSJ Gotenks' shot
- SSJ3 Gotenks' shots
- Super Vegito's blast
- Dabra's status-inflicting attacks
- Cooler's (final) rush and melee

Some of these ought to be good for opening up opponents. Instant transmission and extending grabs and fast ki blasts will probably be a good alternative too.

Ultimate Gohan's skills look a bit uninspired and disappointing, but SSJ2 Gohan/Saiyaman seems to be a strong healer.

Also, fights are going to be super long without characters with high attack stats. Some characters have 5 times the health of base Goku. Makes me wonder if poisoning/burning and healing will actually be useful.

Fucking Naruto.

Kaio wrote:

Fucking Naruto.

Pirate King costume next time?

It figures Naruto and DBZ would share costumes, they are basically the same series DBZ's last arc just had the decency to parody itself.

Pfft.

But seriously fuck this game, who maps the physical attack button to fucking triangle?

The Matrix: Path of Neo(which is actually pretty meh excluding the giant Agent Smith made up of all the Smith clones at the end).

Based on the stats and skills from that vid, it looks like the best support characters are going to be:

can heal themselves

- #18 (13,000 hp, 1 retry, long-range heal and a close range heal)
- SSJ2 Gohan (20,000 hp, 0 retries, decent stats, revival skill and a close-range skill that heals even ailments and knocks back opponents)

cannot heal themselves

- SSJ Goten and SSJ Kid Trunks (13,000 base hp, 1 retry, good attack stat, long-range heal)
- SSJ Kid Gohan (13,000 hp, 1 retry, revival skill and long-range heal)

multi-purpose
- Majin Buu (high health, 1 retry, interfere type, beam that immobilizes enemies or heals allies)
- Evil Buu (high health, 1 retry, interfere type, high ki attack and that beam)
- Buuhan (high health, 0 retries, interfere type, highest ki attack and the beam)

Evil Buu is looking really, really good, The support-typed characters are well-balanced overall though.

As for the interfere types, Dabra definitely stands out; 20,000 hp, 1 retry, unblockable attack that immobilizes and another unblockable that inflicts burn and strong ki blast attack. Paired with a character who has very high attack they'd be a deadly combo. He's certainly going to be one of the best characters.
Freeza's final form looks good too (same skill as Dabra, lower health and stats in general, but higher ki attack), as well as the aforementioned Buus.

I wonder if having a high ki attack is better than a high melee one. Piccolo is the only ki-type character in the demo, but his special is too slow and rather useless.

The character with the highest base melee attack stats are:

200: Super Trunks, SSJ3 Goku, Ultimate Gohan, LSSJ Broly
180: Cooler (final), SSJ God Goku
160: SSJ2 Kid Gohan
150: SSJ Goku, Freeza (100%), SSJ2 Goku, Majin Vegeta, Kid Buu

Broly, Majin Vegeta, Kid Buu and SSJ2 Kid Gohan have an ultimate attack.
Trunks, Cooler, SSJ Goku and Freeza have unblockables and the Gohans' have counterattacks that break guards, but I expect Kid Buu and SSJ2 Goku to be overall the best melee character as they have the obnoxious instant transmission skill.

SSJ3 Gotenks, Super Vegito and Buuhan have the highest ki attack, but no retries.
4th form Freeza, Super Perfect Cell, SSJ2 Vegeta and SSJ Gotenks also have powerful ki attacks

Kid Buu is going to be a beast with the instant transmission and his very high attack AND the ultimate. SPCA has an ultimate and instant transmission as well.
Super Vegito and SSJ3 Gotenks have the highest ki stats AND unblockable shots. SSJ3 Gotenks' immobilizes the opponent AND has an ultimate too. If those are decently fast, they'll be ridiculous.

Evil Buu, Dabra, SSJ2 Gohan, SSJ2 and SSJ3 Goku, Ultimate Gohan, Majin Vegeta, Kid Buu, Buuhan, Super Vegeto and SSJ3 Gotenks... Buu saga is officially overpowered.

Golden Boy wrote:

Kid Buu is going to be a beast with the instant transmission and his very high attack AND the ultimate.

When isn't Kid Buu a total beast?

In my imagination. He's the form of Buu I dislike the most.
Just think about getting ganged up by a team consisting of Kid Buu and Dabra.

Wanna attack Buu? Stone spit into full combo.
Attack the demon king? Instant transmission.
Turtle? Have fun avoiding the unblockable spits and armored ki blasts while Buu charges his ultimate.

Oh the possibilities... Gotta love the strategical aspect of this game... and Gotenks' unblockable doughnuts.

I was a cute kid you bastards

PS Merry Christmas