30
The best of the Budokai trilogy, but still not good—not even close. Yet again, there are several improvements to the core fundamentals; the combat, the visuals, the character roster, all of these receive numerous updates and additions. But the developers are still intent on making a frustrating “story mode” that doesn’t offer anything new, besides mechanics that are pure gimmick so that the player can experience somewhat of a story.
So instead of a board game, this time you’re flying around the world—collecting Dragon Balls, finding optional fights with Saibamen and other obscure DBZ characters such as Cooler, or progressing through the story in the form of mainline battles. There still aren’t any cutscenes, only dialogue boxes with surprisingly mediocre voice acting. This is one of the only times I’ve heard the DBZ voice cast completely phone it in, it's almost like they don't even want to be there? You can play the story mode with different characters, experiencing an array of perspectives throughout every saga, and I’m not a big fan of this feature. It’s needlessly long, drawn out, and boring—not to mention that a few of the characters overlap, meaning you have to do some fights several times between characters. I don’t know anyone who willingly wants to play as Yamcha, Tien, Piccolo, or Krillin. They barely have any attacks, it’s just boring. Like I said before, there are some references to other obscure (at the time) characters, such as Cooler, Broly, and even SSJ4 Goku; but they're hidden in the world, meaning you have to aimlessly wander through it until you see a slight sparkle on the ground. If I didn’t look up videos of this game, then I wouldn’t even know that those characters are in here. It would’ve been cool if instead of those hidden encounters, entire cutscenes and levels were dedicated to them!.. but yeah, they don’t do those anymore.
Combat has very noticeably improved. More attacks. More special moves. More mechanics. There’s a lot more control. I feel like I can actually do stuff with intent instead of mindlessly blocking like I did in the previous games. They add a couple new mechanics that I’m not sure I like though, the hyper mode that allows you to become stronger until your ki runs out isn’t fun to play against, or to even use yourself. If the enemy uses it, you can literally only do one thing until it depletes, evade—because you won’t be able to attack, since they can’t be stunned while in that state. And that isn’t fun, it’s not diverse in gameplay, it’s limited, I don’t see what the purpose of adding it was, since some of the later enemies completely abuse it every chance they get. The dragon rush mechanic is also total ass. It’s pure RNG, and nothing more.
In terms of visuals—again, lots of fantastic improvements. More colours, more effects, everything just looks more like Dragon Ball Z. Even the stages are more accurate and impressive, whilst also being able to transition into other stages based on certain attacks. It’s all really cool.
Replaying these three games recently has convinced me to never touch a fighting game again. I’ve realized that I just really fucking hate this genre with a passion. As a whole, they’re a lot more focused on the fighting aspect than delivering any sort of narrative (without a bunch of dumb gimmicks thrown in)—rightfully so, because that is the main appeal, but to me? They do nothing. Another banger cinematic though!
Playtime: 6.1 hours
Every Game I've Ever Played - Ranked (By Score)
Dragon Ball Z - Ranked
2004 - Ranked
The best of the Budokai trilogy, but still not good—not even close. Yet again, there are several improvements to the core fundamentals; the combat, the visuals, the character roster, all of these receive numerous updates and additions. But the developers are still intent on making a frustrating “story mode” that doesn’t offer anything new, besides mechanics that are pure gimmick so that the player can experience somewhat of a story.
So instead of a board game, this time you’re flying around the world—collecting Dragon Balls, finding optional fights with Saibamen and other obscure DBZ characters such as Cooler, or progressing through the story in the form of mainline battles. There still aren’t any cutscenes, only dialogue boxes with surprisingly mediocre voice acting. This is one of the only times I’ve heard the DBZ voice cast completely phone it in, it's almost like they don't even want to be there? You can play the story mode with different characters, experiencing an array of perspectives throughout every saga, and I’m not a big fan of this feature. It’s needlessly long, drawn out, and boring—not to mention that a few of the characters overlap, meaning you have to do some fights several times between characters. I don’t know anyone who willingly wants to play as Yamcha, Tien, Piccolo, or Krillin. They barely have any attacks, it’s just boring. Like I said before, there are some references to other obscure (at the time) characters, such as Cooler, Broly, and even SSJ4 Goku; but they're hidden in the world, meaning you have to aimlessly wander through it until you see a slight sparkle on the ground. If I didn’t look up videos of this game, then I wouldn’t even know that those characters are in here. It would’ve been cool if instead of those hidden encounters, entire cutscenes and levels were dedicated to them!.. but yeah, they don’t do those anymore.
Combat has very noticeably improved. More attacks. More special moves. More mechanics. There’s a lot more control. I feel like I can actually do stuff with intent instead of mindlessly blocking like I did in the previous games. They add a couple new mechanics that I’m not sure I like though, the hyper mode that allows you to become stronger until your ki runs out isn’t fun to play against, or to even use yourself. If the enemy uses it, you can literally only do one thing until it depletes, evade—because you won’t be able to attack, since they can’t be stunned while in that state. And that isn’t fun, it’s not diverse in gameplay, it’s limited, I don’t see what the purpose of adding it was, since some of the later enemies completely abuse it every chance they get. The dragon rush mechanic is also total ass. It’s pure RNG, and nothing more.
In terms of visuals—again, lots of fantastic improvements. More colours, more effects, everything just looks more like Dragon Ball Z. Even the stages are more accurate and impressive, whilst also being able to transition into other stages based on certain attacks. It’s all really cool.
Replaying these three games recently has convinced me to never touch a fighting game again. I’ve realized that I just really fucking hate this genre with a passion. As a whole, they’re a lot more focused on the fighting aspect than delivering any sort of narrative (without a bunch of dumb gimmicks thrown in)—rightfully so, because that is the main appeal, but to me? They do nothing. Another banger cinematic though!
Playtime: 6.1 hours
Every Game I've Ever Played - Ranked (By Score)
Dragon Ball Z - Ranked
2004 - Ranked
4 Comments
@sondi Yeah the fact that all they ever do is retell the story without adding anything new is frustrating, especially when you play all three games within a week LOL but I'll definitely check these recs out at some point. Granblue seems like an interesting one, I've never seen an anime fighter quite like it. I've heard really good things about Def Jam, and I've always wanted to get into Mortal Kombat (I actually have the ninth one), but the new releases always stop me from doing so since the previous one's multiplayer pretty much dies (I think, idk).
Being my favorite game in the franchise, I completely get it. Mix of nostalgia for finding those secret characters, fusions and interactions in the overworld and genuinely enjoying the gameplay has it held up much higher for me personally, but between not being a fan of DBZ story retelling either, and fighting games in general being extremely decisive (ie love or hate) I completely understand the score.
I would almost recommend Infinite World given how much more content it adds while removing dragon rushes (albeit putting in a new hyper armor mechanic that can feel really, really cheap) but I'm just glad to see more opinions and talk about Budokai 3 :)
I would almost recommend Infinite World given how much more content it adds while removing dragon rushes (albeit putting in a new hyper armor mechanic that can feel really, really cheap) but I'm just glad to see more opinions and talk about Budokai 3 :)
@Gujin I respect that! And I can see why you really like all those elements, especially if you're a fan of the genre. I've heard of Infinite World, and how it's sort of a spiritual successor to Budokai 3? So I'd definitely be interested in checking it out at some point. (and given how it gets rid of the dragon rush mechanic makes me even more keen to check it out since I hate that shit so much 😭)
sondi
5 months ago
Granblue Fantasy VS: A whole beat em up style story mode with RPG mechanics like the Mobile game its based on.
Def Jam Vendetta/FFNY: Both have an great story with even more fun fighting. (FFNY is one of my all time because of the story mostly but the gameplay is leagues above the rest of the series)
Mortal Kombat (any post-Deadly Alliance): MK started the trend of good storytelling in their fighting games way before the reboot.I strictly play the post reboot games only for the story. Deception has a really cool Konquest mode with an open world and day/night cycle.