Fighting Game Catch-All

Played a bunch of DBFZ last night. Random thoughts:

- The game is gorgeous. Animations, character models, backgrounds, effects etc. They all look amazing and like the show.
- Sound design is also fantastic. The ping when you get a wallbounce to the vanish swhip is so satisfying.
- The autocombos make it really easy to get into but you can tell there is a bunch of depth underneath.
- The front end is terrible. I like the idea of a hub world but the fact that you can't just go to a menu and invite a friend to a lobby is terrible. And what happened to the arcade cabinets in Guilty Gear? This is actually the way you are supposed to play with a friend in DBFZ currently. You both have to join the same lobby. Someone makes a ring with a password. The friend has to go to the ring and input the password. Then in the lobby, they have to go to a submenu to change their team. Who thought this was a good idea?
- In fact, there are a lot of things from Guilty Gear I assumed would be in this that are missing and it's really disappointing. The latest Guilty Gear has one of the best tutorials of all time. DBFZ will be pulling in a lot of new players and it's tutorial is mediocre to bad.
- The option to change the button display to moves is also missing. And so the tutorial is basically impossible if you don't use default controls.
- Compared to Guilty Gear, the combo challenges are really weak.
- And again, compared to Guilty Gear, there are no challenges to really teach the game. The way Guilty Gear used challenges to explain why you should YRC, what whiff punishing is, how to deal with anti airs etc. was a wonderful way of introducing new players to these concepts. DBFZ doesn't have any of this. And so new player will probably get super dashed/dragon rushed all day without knowing how to deal with it. It's only once you understand the answers to questions that fighting games really start to shine.
- The lack of servers on PC is really bad.
- It's disappointing but man is this game a lot of fun. It sounds like I'm down on the game but it's moreso that this game could really convert a lot of people into fighting game fans and it missing features for new players seems like a misstep. But the core of the game so far seems fantastic. Hopefully Bamco will give ArcSys the resources to patch in a bunch of QoL stuff.
- Going to dive into Story Mode/Arcade this weekend.
- Also, why am I obsessed with lobby avatars?

Edit: Forgot to add that it runs like butter on my PC. Downsampling from 2k at max settings and not a single frame drop. Loading is super fast as well.

Looking forward to everyone's thoughts on DBZ. It looks good and the cheevs seem pretty doable so I am planning to pick up.

Had five friends over yesterday and we all just took turns hammering at DBZ.

Even the people who normally aren't exactly fighting game fans had a blast.

The last thing we did at the end of the night was look around when someone said "Ok how do we play this online together?" at which point I spent way way way too long wandering around trying to figure out how the hell to start a room.

Did eventually get there, but as Ahrez mentioned a post or two up... everything about the interface for playing this game with friends online is just outright bad. How do they still mess this up?

Evo Japan 2018 is going on right now. (Final day currently streaming on twitch.)

Edited to add:

The Tekken 7 top 8 was pretty fantastic all through, and the grand final was amazing.

I played an unhealthy amount of DBFZ this weekend. Always been a big fan of the Marvel series as it was fun to get a bunch of people together, mash, and watch the madness. But this is the first time I've played a Marvel-like since finally grokking fighting games and realizing the differences are fascinating. It's still a fighting game at it's core but how everything works is so wildly different.

And I think ASW did a really good job designing the systems to be both very Dragon Ball and also beginner friendly. Making sure everyone's anti air button is the same, only having the qcf motion, auto combos, super dash and universal combos lets players just jump in and have fun.

One small thing is however kind of brutal for beginners. Blocked moves don't have much push block and so corner pressure gets really intense with some characters. Throw in assists to cover block strings and instant air dash and it's hard to identify when or how to get out.

Hypatian wrote:

Evo Japan 2018 is going on right now. (Final day currently streaming on twitch.)

Edited to add:

The Tekken 7 top 8 was pretty fantastic all through, and the grand final was amazing.

Yeah it was. So nice to not see the same 2 characters from about the midpoint of Top 8 onward. It was a damn good tournament!

I really like DBFz but singleplayer is starting to be a grind.

I finished up the first arc but man, am I tired of fighting clones who barely move. On the one hand, it was nice to get my feet under me, it gave me some time to play around with basic offense and extending combos (vanish OP) but until the last chapter it's SO EASY that I'm falling into some bad habits, gameplay-wise. It ramps up on the last map and I needed to very quickly adjust and played smarter but I don't know if I can get through 2 more arcs of that.

I finally got a saiyaman avatar though, so I'm doing pretty ok.

oilypenguin wrote:

I really like DBFz but singleplayer is starting to be a grind.

I finished up the first arc but man, am I tired of fighting clones who barely move. On the one hand, it was nice to get my feet under me, it gave me some time to play around with basic offense and extending combos (vanish OP) but until the last chapter it's SO EASY that I'm falling into some bad habits, gameplay-wise. It ramps up on the last map and I needed to very quickly adjust and played smarter but I don't know if I can get through 2 more arcs of that.

I finally got a saiyaman avatar though, so I'm doing pretty ok.

Yeah, I wish you could adjust the difficulty.

If you are completionist, here is a handy guide to all the interactions. Some of them have been gold

Edit: Also, these are handy guides for folks.

Ooooh... Hit combos!

Maclintok wrote:

Ooooh... Hit combos!

Oops, I posted the wrong video

And now I can't find it. It was a video of easy to advanced manual combos that work for most of the cast.

I was being sincere though because I want to main Hit. Just need to find good assist and anchor picks now and away we go.

I know it's been said already but the DBFighterZ lobby system is trash.

No matter what activity I do when I get out of it there is a 99.99% chance it will fail to reconnect to the lobby when I leave that activity.

Friend and I did a ring match and when it lost the lobby connection a few fights in it killed the ring match and we both got dumped to lobby selection.

They need to fix this mess.

***I may be slightly saltier because I just spent three hours trying to unlock SSGSS Goku and that hard arcade mode is some psychic AI blocks everything I throw and then combos off 80% of my health bar at a time style bullsh*t.

Thin_J wrote:

***I may be slightly saltier because I just spent three hours trying to unlock SSGSS Goku and that hard arcade mode is some psychic AI blocks everything I throw and then combos off 80% of my health bar at a time style bullsh*t.

I'm actually curious now if any fighting game has ever had a quality AI. I know a bunch of people on this board have been playing a lot of fighting games for a long time. Has any fighting game had good AI?

The SFV AI is pretty bad and blatantly reads your inputs. I haven't played enough DBFZ yet to determine and it doesn't help that the story mode AI is basically a punching bag.

BNice wrote:

The SFV AI is pretty bad and blatantly reads your inputs. I haven't played enough DBFZ yet to determine and it doesn't help that the story mode AI is basically a punching bag.

I'm maybe not the best to trust for an opinion on this, as I'm middling to just bad at these games. I am self aware enough to recognize that.

Lots of people have unlocked both the SSGSS characters, so a lot of it is me being bad, but I also am really bothered by a fighting game unlocking better versions of characters behind modes that I may just not be able to finish well enough to earn them.

Also my friend I played with apparently got a code for them with his physical copy of the non special version of the game while my digital preorder+season pass version apparently didn't include them so.

When we both super'd with Vegeta and his won because the dumb blue haired version's special has an extra stage to it? Not gonna lie, felt pretty bad.

BNice wrote:

The SFV AI is pretty bad and blatantly reads your inputs. I haven't played enough DBFZ yet to determine and it doesn't help that the story mode AI is basically a punching bag.

The Injustice 2 AI is decent but it also does this at higher levels and I can't stand it.

Oops.

Thin_J wrote:

Lots of people have unlocked both the SSGSS characters, so a lot of it is me being bad, but I also am really bothered by a fighting game unlocking better versions of characters behind modes that I may just not be able to finish well enough to earn them.

Also my friend I played with apparently got a code for them with his physical copy of the non special version of the game while my digital preorder+season pass version apparently didn't include them so.

When we both super'd with Vegeta and his won because the dumb blue haired version's special has an extra stage to it? Not gonna lie, felt pretty bad.

The SSGSS variants aren't strictly better at all, they're just that - variants. Lore doesn't apply here. They've got more options in some cases (like the 5 bar super), but there are drawbacks as well. At this point I doubt anybody knows which characters will turn out to be better than others.

I like it.

Best Mahvel game at EVO.

I never knew Smash had such high played registrations but it makes sense given its age and how many EVOs it has been included in for the main card.

Curious to see how the Blazblue cross tag game shapes up. I feel like I am getting more into watching and playing the anime fighters. And this one will be so fresh for tournament play.

Sorry to see MvCI getting snubbed but I think that dead horse has been kicked well enough. I don’t have dramatically strong feelings either way beyond that.

After finally getting a lobby together with Oily and Cube tonight, I'm pretty confident in saying that Dragon Ball FighterZ is one of the best fighting games I have ever played.

That is all.

CptDomano wrote:

After finally getting a lobby together with Oily and Cube tonight, I'm pretty confident in saying that Dragon Ball FighterZ is one of the best fighting games I have ever played.

That is all.

+1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1

oilypenguin wrote:
CptDomano wrote:

After finally getting a lobby together with Oily and Cube tonight, I'm pretty confident in saying that Dragon Ball FighterZ is one of the best fighting games I have ever played.

That is all.

+1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1

Yup. It's a really good fighter.

the cost of entry for dbzfz is really DRAGON BALL FighterZ + FighterZ Pass + SSGSS Goku and SSGSS Vegeta Unlock ?

Nope. Just get DBFZ and play with us. Not sure where you're getting the cost of entry from? Just get the game, pick a team of three, mash buttons. Anime happens and it is beautiful and good.

gotcha, I was misunderstanding these extra characters as being more powerful, that sounds more viable then

krev82 wrote:

gotcha, I was misunderstanding these extra characters as being more powerful, that sounds more viable then

They really aren’t more powerful. They are legit variations on their base characters but it’s balanced.

If I don’t get Mr. Satan as DLC I am going to be upset.

CptDomano wrote:

After finally getting a lobby together with Oily and Cube tonight, I'm pretty confident in saying that Dragon Ball FighterZ is one of the best fighting games I have ever played.

That is all.

I'm curious what makes it so. My background, other than Soulcalibur 2, is 100% Netherrealm so I'm clueless about DBZ.

Jow wrote:
CptDomano wrote:

After finally getting a lobby together with Oily and Cube tonight, I'm pretty confident in saying that Dragon Ball FighterZ is one of the best fighting games I have ever played.

That is all.

I'm curious what makes it so. My background, other than Soulcalibur 2, is 100% Netherrealm so I'm clueless about DBZ.

The auto combos make it as accessible as a game of its complexity can be.

Hit light 7 times, combo. Hit medium 5 times, combo (that may end in a super if you have the meter). Hit hard 4 times, combo and knockdown. Press 2 buttons at the same time, vanish, hit the other person to easily extend the combo. Hold a tag button during the combo to call in another character as soon as your combo is done to continue the combo.

It's so very easy to get passed the biggest hurdle in a fighting game: Execution and focus on what makes them great: Strategy.

And those combos aren't ideal damage but it lets you dip your toe in without getting your fighting game doctorate first.

And on top of that it's beautiful and over the top and a joy to play.