Budokai rantage
Budokai II came today! Yeah, I know you can get it in plenty of shops around here, but we, being the fussy, dub-hating purists that we are, opted to order in the Japanese version (read: my sister asked one of her past host families very nicely) rather than buy it locally. You realise we’ve now had six deliveries in the last couple of weeks and we *still* haven’t gotten the boxes full of all the stuff she bought in Japan and had to mail home due to luggage weight restrictions? Two whole boxes, largely taken up with manga, gashapon and a lot of other anime related stuff I’ve never even seen yet! Argh!
I’m calm. Really. ^^;;;
Anyway, the long and short of our opinions on the game so far seem to be that, presence of Goten aside (something Certain People around here are so very easily swayed by), the previous game had a lot more interest to it. Possibly our favourite aspect of Budokai I was the fact the story mode followed the first three sagas of the DBZ series almost to the letter. The cut scenes before each battle were a particular treat - it was like they’d redone sections of the TV series move-for-move in 3D animation.
Budokai II, however, contains no cut scenes whatsoever. ‘Story mode’ (so to speak) now consists of moving a small group of characters around on a very simple map (a set of nodes where characters or items can rest, connected by lines indicating who can move where). Move your amusingly-shaped-jumping-marker to a node also occupied by a similarly-amusingly-shaped-marker representing one of your enemies, and you’ll initiate a battle. Almost no plot, DB related or otherwise, to be found. Some of the voices seem a little odd too, Goten and Chibi Trunks’ particularly. Which seems odd, since they’re almost certainly the same voice actors they’ve ever had. Our present theory is their seiyuu are just out of practice; these kids have gotten a lot less screen time in most of the sequels and spin-offs than virtually any other important character.
So yeah, a little on the disappointing side, amusing as it is to watch those bizarre little character markers go hopping around the screen. But between a lot of new characters and backgrounds, some neat new moves, and a hilarious little Kame Sennin you can send spinning crazily around every loading screen (yes, we’re too easily amused. Problem?); and probably a lot of other stuff we’ve yet to try out, I’d be very surprised if this game doesn’t get a lot of play time in the next few weeks.
Did I mention it turns out the Japanese version is called not Budokai II but simply Dragonball Z II? Which raises the question, if we made the game, named it using a Japanese word and then actual Japanese insist on changing the name for their own release; does this count as some weird form of reversed Engrish? Personally, I’m too pleased by the fact the American release was given a name only the diehard sub-watching types will understand the meaning of to worry much, but it might be a point worth pondering…
I’m calm. Really. ^^;;;
Anyway, the long and short of our opinions on the game so far seem to be that, presence of Goten aside (something Certain People around here are so very easily swayed by), the previous game had a lot more interest to it. Possibly our favourite aspect of Budokai I was the fact the story mode followed the first three sagas of the DBZ series almost to the letter. The cut scenes before each battle were a particular treat - it was like they’d redone sections of the TV series move-for-move in 3D animation.
Budokai II, however, contains no cut scenes whatsoever. ‘Story mode’ (so to speak) now consists of moving a small group of characters around on a very simple map (a set of nodes where characters or items can rest, connected by lines indicating who can move where). Move your amusingly-shaped-jumping-marker to a node also occupied by a similarly-amusingly-shaped-marker representing one of your enemies, and you’ll initiate a battle. Almost no plot, DB related or otherwise, to be found. Some of the voices seem a little odd too, Goten and Chibi Trunks’ particularly. Which seems odd, since they’re almost certainly the same voice actors they’ve ever had. Our present theory is their seiyuu are just out of practice; these kids have gotten a lot less screen time in most of the sequels and spin-offs than virtually any other important character.
So yeah, a little on the disappointing side, amusing as it is to watch those bizarre little character markers go hopping around the screen. But between a lot of new characters and backgrounds, some neat new moves, and a hilarious little Kame Sennin you can send spinning crazily around every loading screen (yes, we’re too easily amused. Problem?); and probably a lot of other stuff we’ve yet to try out, I’d be very surprised if this game doesn’t get a lot of play time in the next few weeks.
Did I mention it turns out the Japanese version is called not Budokai II but simply Dragonball Z II? Which raises the question, if we made the game, named it using a Japanese word and then actual Japanese insist on changing the name for their own release; does this count as some weird form of reversed Engrish? Personally, I’m too pleased by the fact the American release was given a name only the diehard sub-watching types will understand the meaning of to worry much, but it might be a point worth pondering…