I've been playing ESF since it's inception, though after reading a few posts on the forums, I never registered. Honestly, seeing people "1337 sp3@k" on this forum was probably my greatest aversion. However, trusting regardless that the coders are capable and educated (as I would assume them to be at least to some degree, given that they made this mod in the first place) I have despite distaste registered on these forums, scanned through many of the ideas out there, and decided to compile all my thoughts on what I want ESF to evolve into. I don't expect everyone to agree with all my ideas, but this is the best way I can see, to make ESF both balanced and fun, yet still like the show.
I will begin with changes to the very system itself, rather than with characters, because I feel it is more appropriate that a person know what the system I want the other changes to take place in is. I will start with melee since it seems to be a greatly contested idea, and I personally find the current melee system a bit dry and unskillfull.
The melee system I want would be partially comprised of ideas taken from DBZ Budokai, a game for the current consoles, as well as both of the ESF melee systems (the original one and the new Advanced melee mode), as well as some ideas from playing Dragonball Z Roleplaying games and my very limited experience with the show, and also some experience with DragonModZ. Since I know many people would not like this idea if implemented, it would make sense to be capable of toggling the melee mode to be original, normal, or advanced, normal being the current system and advanced being the system that I am about to suggest.
Swooping should be kept in, and a person should be capable of both running on land (instead of swooping over it) and ramming into someone for little or no ki, or doing a flying ram in the air for some ki cost for swooping. Instead of ramming into someone, punching them over and over again, and then going into a psudo-dual where neither participant can be harmed by outsiders, I'd prefer it if the melee system was a bit more open. You can run up to someone, punch them, jump back and pelt them with ki blasts, for example, without sending them flying with a ram hit. I'm sure the players reading this will note that this will make it hard to hit an opponent, since the characters will not be contained in a little energy bubble that makes it impossible to simply aim incorrectly. To alleviate this, I'd suggest a targeting system. I'm aware that many people disliked targeting, but I have a different idea for it's use than simple ramming. Let's say two people are both on the ground, and they run up to each other and attack. Both could see some of thier opponents actions in a queue at the top of the screen - not as arrows, but as actual indicates, such as a low punch or kick, and which arm or leg is being used. They could then dodge or block as appropriate, and possibly reciprocate with an attack. This is not to say they will be contained in a bubble - either participant could jump back and out, so long as he isn't being bashed into the ground at the time.
Hence you could keep your opponent from retreating out of melee combat by suppressing them with your attacks. A participant might even shoot the other with a fireball or such (more on ki attacks and ki attacks in melee down below) during the combat.So for an example, two people rush at each other (not ramming, just running at each other) and target each other for melee combat (the target expires if either combatant gets too far away from the other). The two reach each other. Let's say one of them decided to run in a ram, the other sees the indicator at the topleft of his screen for a high ram. He holds down the Defense key (which lets you queue up defensive actions), and queues up a crouch. Without letting go of the crouch key, to show that hes combining another action with that, he lets go of the defense key and hits the medium kick key. The result being a dodge and a counterattack: He ducks under the brunt of the high ram and kicks the other character in the stomach. The two are now in close-range melee.
So the buttkicking begins. Let's say the rammer decides to get really crazy with it, and he starts queueing up attacks just like theres no tomorow. The other combatant also queues up a few attacks, but seeing his opponents offensive, holds the defensive key and queues up some defensive moves. So his character dodges the opponent and fights back, whereas the other is all offensive so he proceeds to start getting hurt. So our rammer decides that he has to do some defense also, and starts queueing up random defensive actions, which of course isnt very effective, and still takes damage. Our more skilled combatant decides he wants to get serious, and instead of watching for the next attack and defending/countering, he uses a disabling move (namely, he kicks his enemy up in the air) swoops straight up into the air, then rams straight down (and because he's locked on, the system keeps his attack on target) and rams the other person down into the dirt.
Well, fighter 1 (the rammer) is now on his back, and while he's getting up fighter 2 has time to charge up an attack. For the sake of simplicity, we'll say a Kamehameha fireball (not a beam, see below) and proceeds to blast it at him when he gets up. Fighter 1 has learned from his mistakes, and immediatly queues up a parry-back, a tricky manuever that takes a good bit of ki (or stamina) to use, but deflects an energy attack back at the user. Succeeding in this, he decides that getting into melee with this guy was a BAD idea. So he attempts to swoop backwards while his opponent deals with his own fireball. Fighter 2 parries back the fireball again, and while it travels at Figher 1, 2 jumps into the air and comes down at him in a flying ram. 1, not having any idea how to stop both attacks at once, panics and fumbles the controls, getting roasted by a fireball and slammed into the dirt by 2's foot again, both still in melee. 1 decides he has to get out of this somehow, and rolls sideways to try and dodge his opponents next attack. 2 jumps into the air and slams the dirt, missing 1, who gets up and kicks 2 into the air with a power-kick to stun him for a few seconds. 1, who happens to be piccolo, uses his hellzone grenade (the scattering blasts) and surrounds 2 with shots.
2, recognizing that theres no way out of this move, forms a shield (not gohans shield, see below) and tries to resist it, but still gets scorched. Meanwhile 1 has managed to retreat out of melee range and so both players lose thier ki locks (the targeting boxes).
That was an example of the advanced melee in the game, using rams and energy attacks. Advanced melee can also be more simple, for example, 1 might just throw a bunch of punches, 2 might just dodge, block, or parry them (blocking being the easiest to do but still getting you damage, parrying being the hardest to do but when you parry someone's attack, all the other attacks in thier queue vanish so they have to requeue them, and dodging being the in-between that just keeps you from getting hurt) everything you do in advanced melee is queued. Even moving to the left or right appears in the queue as basic dodges, though they dont usually work since the enemy has you targeted and can just turn to keep facing you. Moving backwards and away from the opponent appears as a dodge also, while moving forward doesnt appear at all - your just closing the distance, probably so one of your attacks will sink in. So just backing away wont get you out of a fight. You can try to swoop backwards, but that also appears as a dodge, and if it fails (And that particular dodge almost always will) you get hit, lose the ki you used for the swoop and you dont move anywhere.
The more "advanced" dodges work differently. You hold down the defensive key and hit a directional button, and your character turns, sidesteps, or whatever in that direction to avoid a blow. So if an opponent is coming at you with a high punch from the left, you can duck to avoid it or move to the right, or both, and if your quick you can hold down your defensive keys and put in an attack too, to counter. For example: Billy does a high left punch at Bob. Bob sidesteps to the right, dodging the move, and also queues a counter: a medium kick. Bob dodges the attack and immediatly gets his attack in, pretty much as a free action. Billy would have to react really fast to stop that counter. The downside to counters is that only really basic moves can be used: You can punch or kick, but they will always be at medium height. Characters with telekinetics (like Vegeta or Frieza) can counter with telekinetic move (which is basicly a punch that knocks the enemy back) but also always at the middle, hence easy to dodge.
A player might think "at the middle? What the...?" Well, at-the-middle attacks can only be done this way. Basicly they're attacks that can be dodged by basicly any maneuver. But hey, a free attack is still a free attack, and it's fast.
So, confused by all this? I'll do my best to summarize it in a later post and make it more coherent. *I* understand it, if thats any consolation
. Moving right along: This isn't the only type of melee. In fact, it's the most advanced type. A person can also just do a normal, simple swooping ram (just like in ESF 1.2) without queueing or targeting or whatnot. Granted, the person you go at might target you, sidestep, counter, whatever, but they'd have to be quick as hell. Also, I'd like to see upward and downward simple rams (when you swoop straight up or down) work properly, without upward/downward swooping making you go forward/backward.
Another way you can attack someone in melee is with a good old hostile pummel-ram. Basicly the prepunch combo from ESF 1.2, you ram into them and beat the tar out of them UNTIL THEY KNOCK YOU OFF....or you run out of ki, if your flying, or stamina, whether flying or not. So basicly you can beat them silly with it if they're not paying attention. Not to mention, while YOU can target THEM and start advanced melee, they cant target you until you stop beating the crap out of them. So you could target them, and lets say they manage to hit the block key between your prepunches and hence get thier blocking up....your still beating them silly, but at least now they're taking less damage. Or if they time thier block JUST RIGHT, they could parry you and end the combo entirely (which isn't how it works in A.Melee. In Advanced Melee you would have to do a quick combination of things, so if they came at you with a left punch you'd have to hit the block key, then choose a counter-attack. Instead of block-countering, you would parry (Because blocking is basicly a copout defense, so you cant counter afterwards) parrying is a more advanced type of blocking.
Whatever attack you choose, your character attempts to deflect the enemies attack with his. Theres a certain parry for each attack, lets say they attacked you with a right high punch, you would respond with a right high punch and your character would fist-catch them or deflects thier arm. you cant counter after a parry but it offbalances the opponent and ditches thier whole attack queue so they have to remake it. It's also hard as hell to do and if you fail it, your offbalanced instead and lose your attack queue.
Back to the prepunch combo. So you were beating them up and targeted them for advanced melee, but let your character keep swinging anyway, and you figure you'll stop your combo and go into advanced melee if they get thier guard up or anything. The other person then manages a dodge (by hitting a directional key at just the right time, which shouldn't be too hard since prepunches are done to a set rythm) and counter-attacks you. Any counter-attack in this case is the exact same: A punch, kick or telekinetic attack that knocks the prepuncher back and disables and A.Melee locks. If they just dodge without hitting an attack key, the prepunches are just stopped, but you can still get into A.Melee with them. You could also just stop your prepunches after a bit and attack - whatever you decide.
Rushing at them while holding nothing down results in the prepunch combo. Hitting the left mouse button locks on. rushing at them with the right mouse button is how you do swoop-rams, and you can target while swooping or ramming. If you swoop while on the ground, your character rushes forward (though you can hit the jump key and go into flying-swoop mode, though it costs more ki). Hitting left mouse while in prepunch locks on, hitting right mouse while prepunching grabs them (or tries to, it stops your prepunch, pauses for a second, then grabs so it's kinda easy to dodge) and then immediatly attempts to throw (if the grab is successfull, the throw is automaticly).
Grabbing in Advanced Melee: You launch this as a normal attack, but it's aimed at the middle, so you have to time it after you stun the enemy (using powerfull kick or whatnot) and then grab them. Once you succeed, your in grappling mode with you as the attacker, them as the defender. You can attempt to bearhug them, if you succeed then your character bearhugs the enemy and continues to do so like a prepunch combo. You can stop bearhugging to bodyslam them or throw them, but nothing else. (bodyslam left click, throw right-click) Beahugging done by not clicking anything.
Or you can ram them into something (other than the ground) nearby, but right-clicking. So you could ram them into a wall or a mountain or whatever. After ramming them, you knocked back a bit.
Or you can throw them by right-clicking, and hence toss them out and get out of advanced melee. This works pretty much the same as throws do now.
Defender: You can attempt to block, which makes your character brace for the attack, dodge, which makes you maneuver so that they fail, or parry, which makes you take control of the grapple and become the attacker. It's hard to do any of these, however: Grapple moves go fast. If two people grab each other in Advanced Melee at the same time (grabs cant be blocked or parried, but they're middle-attacks so they're not hard to dodge) then you enter a Head On mode, winner becomes Attacker in grapple.
Head On: I feel this is a place where the Advanced Melee system used in ESF right now works just fine: the arrows and all work fine for a head-on, so the system shouldn't change IMO. Of course, head ons apply to both Prepunches and swoop-rams just as it did before ^.^
Wondering about Ki Attacks in Advanced Melee? : You can use any ki attack in advanced melee, but charging it up counts as a queued attack. It's best not to do it unless they're on the ground or seriously stunned. Krillin can take serious advantage of this with his Destructo Disc, but it's fairly easy to dodge that attack. Also look at Stunning below.
Stunning: Any powerfull move stuns the opponent. Ramming them into the ground, bodyslamming them, or even just a really good roundhouse. If you queue up the same attack over and over, instead of doing it over and over, it just makes the one you do really powerfull. Look in Melee Maneuvers for more info on this. Also note: If you decide to charge a move in A.Melee, you CAN dodge them just like normal, but you cant block or parry. So basicly, the best way to do a ki attack in A.Melee would be to stun them slightly, while they're stunned queue up a seriously powerfull stunning attack, and if that goes through you charge up your move. You might still have to do some fancy dodging though.
Beam Jumping in A.Melee: counts as swooping backwards for all intents and purposes for dodging. The enemy can swoop to follow you, or can stun you with a hit and send your beam flying up into the air.
Thats it for melee, hope you enjoyed that huge amount of info....now on to Ki attacks and the rest of the system changes I want, but this should be much shorter.
Note that this right here is how I feel the system should be changed, not specific moves.
First off: I have noticed that the more people in a server, the more powerfull everything gets. In a 1-1 battle, a KameHameHa barely covers any space at all, whereas with 8 people, you can nuke a good portion of the map with it. I feel this is a bit unfair in certain matches: It makes it MUCH harder to hit with many beam attacks. I think it would be better if all beam attacks had a set explosion radius, regardless of people number. The current size for a 2-person match is fine, IF the next thing is implemented. The reason I want this is because it's hard to know what your limits are the way it's set up now, and it makes it easier for chars like Goku to get thier butts kicked in 1-1 matches because thier large explosion radia are gone, where in 6 or 8 person matches, those same characters become overpowered.
Powerlevel: On the subject of powerlevel....I think first of all that it should start much lower, down in Saiyan Saga levels, that way people have a chance to really develop thier characters through all the different levels of power. Since Goku is the protagonist in DBZ, I guess I'll give an example of him: He might start out as low as 100 Powerlevel, and gets very little powerlevel per kill or hit. Possibly as little as 50 or so. As it rises, he could get new moves when he did in DBZ. I dont mean giving him new transformations that have new moves, I mean he justs manifests a new move and a little notifier pops on on the screen saying "You got Continuos KameHameHa" or whatever the move is. This way, he can go through his transformations and moves as he goes along, developing a large arsenal to use against his foes. It's also more newbie friendly: You start out with few moves, such as in gokus case, the KameHameHa (read below: It starts in fireball mode) and melee, and maybe a few melee maneuvers (a section on that is right below this) as well as the normal melee option, all the normal acrobatic moves (walljumping, jumping, etc.,) and some very limited superspeed (without afterimages?....I dont know when Goku got the Zanzoken, but I think that ability should be seperate from SuperSpeed)
So goku cant fly yet (he can go turbo though, worry not) and he doesn't move at his normal speed for ESF yet (but not INCREDIBLY slow, dont worry: Hes just a little below normal). He also has very little HP/Ki.
As powerlevel rises, a characters Ki, HP, and speed increase AS WELL AS effectiveness: So a person with a lot of Powerlevel could use the KameHameHa in my system idea the same as a goku now might use it in an 8-8 battle, REGARDLESS of how many players are in the game. So thats how I think powerlevel should work: I think it should have a lot more effect on the game. This is besides it giving lots of transformations and moves. Basicly this means that a 10,000,000 Powerlevel Goku is going to lay the smackdown on a 2,000,000 SuperSaiyan Goku, just because the powerlevels are different. In fact, the ONLY difference I think a transformation should make, other than graphical and, where applicable, new moves, is a PL rise.
The reason HP and Stamina, and Ki should rise is because the way it is now, if you get extreme powerlevels everyone dies really fast because HP doesnt go up, and once you have your perfect transformation, PL basicly does nothing but make people die faster and faster.
I also think the server admin should be able to set a starting powerlevel RANGE. That is, you dont say "Everyone starts being able to get this transformation" or "Everyone starts with exactly this much PL" - that might harm characters who only have a few transformations but get them early. Instead you could put in "Everyone starts REALLY high" while this would still be harmfull to those characters, they might get extra powerlevel or whatnot to help make them equal as well. People playing those characters would still eventually fall behind, but thats expected with that type of character.
Also, PL gained should rise as PL rises. If you have 1000 PL and so does your opponent, you should get about 500 pl for killing them instead of 50. This makes for a momentum-style PL building system, so later on you can get a whole lot quickly. Still, it'll take hours to reach your true potential if you start at rock-bottom, just like it does now, which is why I suggest the server option: Not everyone has HOURS to play the game, but they might not want to play a low-power game. I feel the people on a schedule deserve some considerations. And lastly: The amount of PL it takes to raise the effectivenes of a move (like the speed/explosion of a Kamehameha or the homing ability of a kame torpedo) should also have a momentum system: If you've got millions of Powerlevel, then getting 50 PL shouldnt kick up your KameHameHa speed, but if your down in the 100-200 range, it should. So it takes more PL to raise things as PL rises, but PL also rises faster (provided you arent going after very weak enemies) so you always get the same reward for the same amount of effort. So thats it for PL.
Melee Maneuvers: So you've read about melee and using ki moves in melee and you might be thinking "not too bad a system, but that kinda makes the moves limited doesn't it?" Well, yes, and some characters have some truly cool moves they might want to get off. For example: Trunks might want to do a flying slash on that stupid piccolo up in the air. He might want to jump, pull out his sword while spinning, and end the spin with a slash and take that namekian down a couple notches. So, for character uniqueness (and because there are some situations where you might want a special move, such as the one above, to get into a special position (in the air) WHILE attacking (instead of swooping up to piccolo so that your queued moves wont auto-miss because your enemy is too far away or not in front of you) Melee maneuvers all characters share would be: Each character should (I'm getting this from DBZ Budokai) get a special throw unique to them, a pummel move where they just swing really really fast (counts as one attack, so if you fail to dodge/block/whatever, too bad) but costs a lot of ki/stm, more than its worth unless your finishing them off, and: A series of SuperSpeed kicks/hits from various angles that you use when they are trying to retreat. Also: All characters should have some sort of jump-forward hit (like a jumpkick) and some attack that allows them to hit the enemy while rising. Also, any character can use a really powerfull attack. It's noted above that if you keep on queueing up the same attack, it just makes that attack really powerfull instead of spamming it. (but it also makes the attack slower, and very noticeable in the queue). 1 makes the attack, 2 makes the attack medium strength (such as a hook instead of a jab) three makes it really powerfull (such as spinning and using a backlash) and four makes your character actually charge ki into it and make it a glowing attack that can't be blocked. Any more just make it more powerfull. You stun them a bit longer the more power you have, and knocking them into the ground gives you +1 strength to that stun (so a 4-queued bodyslam will stun them for 5 turns or something like that. Any suggestions here?)
Specific melee maneuvers down below in character section.
Ki Section: Other than whats above on ki attacks, I think it should be possible for all characters to put up a sort of ki defense. Change thier aura to protect them from damage. That way characters like Krillin who have little stamina or HP to block enemies with can still block semi-effectively: Not AS effectively, but well enough that they aren't slaughtered. Why not AS effective? because melee isn't thier specialty if thier a ki fighter, so they should have reason to stay out of it (not that krillin doesn't make a good melee fighter)
Also, on power struggles: Have you ever seen a beam coming at you and powerstruggled it too fast to aim it at it's maker? - I think power struggles should automaticly aim the shot at the maker over the beam (No idea how to handle this is MPS's, but the beams/balls should always be aimed at SOMEONE) and if you fail, you should see your character in that energy tunnel before you die) (kind of like Cell just before he died) Also, you should always be able to put more ki into your attack after you fire it, whether in a powerstruggle or not. Since you can transform in a powerstruggle, it would make sense if my last suggestion went through that you be able to transform whenever you have a beam launched.
Also on the subject of ki: Ki attacks, in my opinion, should travel faster and turn faster and have lower explosion radia. That way they take more skill to use, but it IS possible to snipe and all with them, effectively. Hitting an opponent head-on with a beam while the opponent is moving should be not only technically possible, it should happen fairly often. If an opponent devotes 100% of thier energy to dodging you and you devote 100% of your focus to hitting them, both of you should have a good chance of succeeding. Just my thoughts.
Powergifting: When you turn this on, it makes your character give ki to the character you choose whenever they are out of ki. They basicly drain ki out of your stores instead. This is good for matches where there are newbies who arent much good to thier team otherwise. Also, when you start charging, if your at full ki it beging filling thier ki instead. You get a tiny blue meter down in the bottom right that shows thier ki amount. You can toggle it on and off with a kistroke, and you wont powergift them when they need it if your at 1/4 your max ki or lower.
Telekinetics: Ah, yes, the other way for a ki figher to fight in melee. Basicly, if your character does little melee damage (and yes, I believe melee damage should in part be decided by character) he might make up for it by spending a lot of ki on a punch to make it do more damage or penetrate defenses (see specific characters melee maneuvers) but if thier punching is really that bad, or thier speed is really that slow so they can't sink a blow in (Yes, I feel that as PL rises, speed should rise, and hence melee battles should be faster/more hectic/more difficult. Hey, if you got a high PL, you should be more skilled, right?) they might toss a ton of ki into a telekinetic attack instead. Basicly, this is an attack that makes your character get into position, aim a hand at the enemy or whatever, and send a little ripple through the air that slams them back and away and does some damage too. If you read the melee section above, you see that its a center-attack as a counter. If not a counter, you hold down the attack button (telekinetics is a ki attack) as well as a normal attack button like a high punch or whatnot, and it attacks basicly like that manuever only it's fast, costs a bucket of ki and knocks them back. Still, it's only one attack so it's easy to dodge unless you try to hide it amongst a lot of other attacks.
Telekinetics is a ki attack that only certain characters get. It can be used as a direct attack or you can throw stuff at people. See specific chars.
Alternate Attack Modes: Ever wanted to say "screw blast radius, I want some speed on my kamehameha!"? Thats what this is for. Instead of using it the normal way, maybe you could use a specialized version of your attack (such as the small-but-fast version of the spirit bomb) with all your different attacks. Attacks that have more than 2 modes might scroll through modes when you right-click instead, or might require you hold both mouse-buttons down for your third mode or whatnot. See specific attacks in specific chars, again (And again and again and again)
Graphical Changes: Most changes have already been suggested.....but I do suggest the ESF team play Budokai and make it look as much like that ;D as possible. Mainly with the auras and stuff and also some of the movie clips in Budokai 1 have some good moves graphics in them (at least on the gamecube, which is the only console I've played it on) Auras and beam attacks are probably most important. Maybe char graphics also - I hope theres some way to make the faces move or whatnot, everything else seems to.
Exploding terrain: Also been suggested, it's been said that this isn't possible. Well, what about making a large pile of "crates that are shaped like pieces of the mountain in ESF_Riverside? People dont expect to be able to rip up the ground, I dont think anyway, but slamming them into mountains and all would be cool.
Battle-torn uniforms: Also been suggested/denied due to incredible animation needs. Maybe ESF could host a contest for graphics, with sub-contests for each characters and the community could work towards this? Hmm.
Acrobatics: All I have to say here is: I think wall-jumping should go faster than it does now, much faster, and I think beam-jumping should be acquired early in the game, but not RIGHT at the start if you start way early in the saiyan sage in powerlevel..... Also, walljumping should be allowed to people charging beams, only they have to take as long as they do now to wall jump. Why not? - they can beam jump really fast already, so I dont see much abuse here. As for Flight, that should be acquired fairly early, basicly at the same time as beamjumping (200 PL?....300? Where did that start?) lastly, I think people charging beams should move faster. Once again I see little abuse here because you can just get momentum before charging and use that to dodge anyway. As for super speed: I think only characters who actually learn the Zanzoken in the show should get afterimages, but thats just me. Anyway, I feel the lowest level of this should be gotten early, the next level teleports you farther, the level after that lets you teleport as much as you want with no pause, the level after that lets you use the longer range teleport with no pause. Any thoughts on this?
Movement in general: When your hit head-on by a beam, or even by a large blast (large being determined by the % of your total HP it takes from you) your knocked down as though hit by a ram. This doesn't happen often, but strong beams/balls knock you around if they hit well.
Specific Characters: So you read all this so far and you still want more? Or maybe your just skipping ahead? either way, heres my list of ideas for specific characters.
Transformations: When you transform, if the new character has any ability in the slot number of the move you were using before, it should switch to that instead of Melee. Also, transformations should slowly drain ki or stm or both, until you get thier perfect versions. So lets say SS drained 1 ki per second or so (not saying thats a good number, just an example) and SS2 drained 2 ki, SS3 drained 3 ki. When you get Perfect SS, you no longer lose ki for being in that form. But SS2 STILL drains its full 2 ki, until you get it's perfect form. When you descend, you dont immediatly go to normal: You go down one stage of transformation and get some ki back, just like going up gives you a larger ki bar that isn't full. The offset to this is that while transformed you have a lot more ki, so the drain isn't too bad. This encourages players to actually have a reason to use low forms. FYI: You can run out of ki and stay in your form, unless your knocked down, knocked against a wall, etc.,
Goku: Other than the normal system changes and the wealth of transformations he's likely to get (King Kai Fist (KKF) 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, the various SS 1-3, and if they do put in battle-torn uniforms they'll have to do a lot of cut'n'pasting) I feel he should get new moves, and maybe have some moves tweaked....here goes.
KameHameHa: Gokus nice little you-die-right-now nuking-beam-move. If all the changes I want are put in (which no, I dont think they will, I'm just writing this because I hope some of them will be, and I hope the team can gain inspiration from this) then this move will be used much much differently.
Mode 1: Fireball. This shoots a blue fireball at the enemy. If ki attacks are sped up and have less explosion radia like I wanted them to (see Also On Ki in the Ki Section) Then this should work just like the show. It doesn't really have an explosion best I could see (remember, my experience with DBZ is EXTREMELY limited) so much as it hits something and that thing it hits takes a ****load of damage. Like when goku was in the gravity training chamber, shot a kamehameha and it came back and hit him in the face? He didnt blow up and neither did the ship.....it just looked like it hurt like hell. In short: A very fast-traveling energy ball with no real explosion radius. Hit with it head-on and it's sure to get the job done.
Mode 2: Continuous Kamehameha (also: Chou-KameHameHa): Ah, the beam version. This is both mode 2, and mode 3. Mode 2 is the more generic, "Sniper KameHameHa" version: Basicly like the fireball, only with the ability to turn very quickly and some minor explosion to it (anyone who's watched the show and wants to correct me on this, feel free to post below, I'll be watching this topic)
Mode 3: Explosive KameHameHa: Who cares about sniping when you can just nuke them?! Well, I do, but I'm wierd, so: Basicly this works as it does now. Kaboom, your fried, but not much in the way of speed/turning.
Kame Torpedoes: Ah, yes, the new homing-attack that can be truly devastating, supposedly. First off, I would like to see the bug where the torpedoes rush away from enemies and into random objects ended....I truly hate that bug....and they should be a LOT more accurate in general, though accuracy should still depend on charging amount (why a lot more? remember that in my idea, I said that things dont change based on number of people playing, and in 1-1 fights Kame Torpedoes have no accuracy whatsoever, basicly) But they should be FAR from useless with low pl. So they should start with a really high accuracy, and it should rise with PL (but not too much, and like EVERYTHING ELSE, the amount of PL it takes to increase it should rise as the general amount does (see the section on PL)).
Mode 1: Normal: A sniper-oriented torpedo. I've never seen this move in the show, but I'm guessing it should work like this: A well-guided KameHameHa fireball, but with a good deal less speed (remember ki attacks travel really fast by my ideas, so the Kame Torpedo should move, in my idea, as fast as it does now) with some limited explosion radius (basicly the same as is, again). Graphically, since I've heard people comment on this in the past, I think it should be a lot smaller. It shouldn't stand out so much (granted, size should rise with power which rises with PL: A 10,000,000 PL person will make a huge torpedo, even a normal one)
Mode 2: Explosive Torpedo: Bigger explosion radius, but less guidance. So if it hits dead-on it's more deadly, but it's less likely to, and its also a bit slower. It's also a LOT larger, as the size of the torpedo size rises with power, so it's noticeable as hell. If your thinking: Why is there no in-between between the normal one, which is guidance-oriented, and the explosive one, which is explosion oriented, the answer is: that would be a bit superflous. It really isn't needed, as the "sniper" one is really the normal version, and I dont think the coders could make one even more accurate with ANY fairness left, unless it did crap damage....and if you want guided kiblasts, you should play KRILLIN. I dont want to see a ripoff of his move in the Kame Torpedo)
Spirit Bomb: The slow moving nuke from hell. I think this move should be more powerfull, actually, since you cant do it while transformed and in the show it always had more than the power of a super move. Overall: Faster travel, because even with the radius it has now, it's useless if someone sees it....which they always do, since even the small one is really noticeable charging up. And also: Size should vary GREATLY depending on power.....the high-powered one was much larger than the one in ESF, yet the starting one was like a super-powered ki blast. Other: I think the first time this move is used it should be FORCED to use it in it's normal mode, and goku should let out that huge energy funnel he did the first time he used it. Making it more noticeable, the first time, but hey: At those low levels, if you get it off, the enemy is screwed. Explosion radius could actually stand to remain the same: Once you throw it, it moves fast at them, pushes them down (if they block they resist it of course...otherwise it just travels normal speed and rams them into the ground) is so large it's hard as hell to dodge, and blows them and anyone dumb enough to stay nearby to bits) Maybe give it a longer chargetime to make up for this? I really don't know: Send your opinions
Mode 1: "I.....I need to borrow" What am I qouting it for? - everyone's heard it already). As already said, the first time using it should release that energy funnel and probably have a bigger explosion radius, for drama. Anyway, basicly this fits the description above. Goku's qoute should probably be different the first time using it, but the "I need to borrow the strength of the planet" qoute every now and then, but I think his normal qoute should be the same as mode 2: Let me have some of your energy. I just dont see using drama if someone is spamming the move (or trying to: They will usually get fried first) If they havent used it yet this respawn, use the "I need to borrow" qoute. Thats just my opinion....also, as with the Death Ball and any other move that you charge that can be seen externally, if someone shoots it while your charging it or runs into it, it should immediatly count as thrown (if its ready to throw. If not, it sticks on the end of thier beam as though they were powerstruggling it, but it doesnt do anything....just a graphical ploy) I've devoted a lot of though onto how to make the super spirit bomb possible, and it seems to me the best way to do it is to give players a new move when they reach the level needed to go Super Saiyan instantly which adds energy to it. If my suggestion that when you transform you immediatly switch to your new forms equivalent move goes through, then it should be a simple matter of popping SSJ and using the move. I'm thinking it should be an instant-charge move that takes up a good bit of ki (it charges to full instantly, and drains the ki needed, instantly, so if you dont have the ki you cant do it) and it cant be done below maximum level. Basicly make it act like a beam attack that does no damage, so you shoot the spirit bomb with it and it makes it more powerfull and lets you add ki to it despite it being a ball (whereas beams, already stated above, should always be ki-addable whether they're in a power struggle or not) and maybe have other advantages. I don't know - however the coders see fit to code it, if they code it) I'd like to see this in, though.
Mode 2: "Let me have some of your energy": Smaller, faster to charge, but much weaker version....nuff said.
Mode....3?!: Super KameHameHa: This should either be a seperate move, gained when you have perfect transformation level, a instant-beam as stated above, or maybe just another version of the spirit bomb that acts like a beam, looks like a ball, and forces you to transform? - since you can already transform when in a powerstruggle, or if my suggestion goes through, whenever you have a beam firing. This WOULD be listed after Super Saiyan, but I feel it's easier to put here as well.
Warp KameHameHa: When Goku gets IT (see below) he can use it along with the KameHameHa. This works in any mode (it did in budokai....anyone wishing to correct, post away)
Solar Flare: Works just fine right now in my eyes ^.^ could stand to NOT blind the USER of the power, though, and needs an animation for it's use.
Melee: Just normal, ol' melee under my idea system) manuevers are below.
Generic Beam: Self-Explanatory, both beam and ball versions, the way the work is fine: Low explosion, fast moving. I'm open to suggestions for changes.
Ki Blasts: Also self-explanatory.....I'd like to know where the idea of ki blobs came from, and I'd like the Mode 1 to look more like ki blast waves - streams of energy that fly out, while mode 2 would just look as it does now....
Sword: Sword?! you might ask. Yes, sword. I don't know what Goku's special moves with the Z sword were, just just use Trunks' sword system (look at trunks character)?? Anyway, this should only be gained VERY late in PL.....he got it sometime in the Buu saga, so I guess he should get it around that much PL. Reason for not giving it earlier, other than the fact that that's just when he got it, is that it kinda detracts some of the uniqueness away from Trunks, especially with Gohan having a sword also (see below) but hey, thats just the way it goes.
Melee Maneuvers: As I've not watched many of the cartoons, I'd say Goku should get a couple good kick combo's that are unique to him, in addition to the normal moves, but thats all I really know. Also....
IT (Instant Transmission): This allows you to teleport long distances by hitting a special key. When you hit that key, a charge bar with a blue energy meter instead of green appears right above the normal charge-bar location, and the longer you charge it the greater the distance. You can hold charging on this by holding right-click, just like you do for beams. On your screen only, you see a line and a big indicator at the end of the line showing where you teleport to. This can be used, when acquired, with KameHameHa - it's acquired right after Super Saiyan.
Transformations:
KKF (King Kai Fist) 1: When you achieve this, you can use the Spirit Bomb for the first time - you HAVE to be in KKF to use the spirit bomb for your first time ever in the game, after that you can use it while normal or in KKF, but not in SSJ ever.
KKF 2, KKF 5, KKF 10, KKF 20 - all the same as KKF 1 only more powerfull, more red, a more noticeable aura, etc.,
Pissed Off Saiyan: When a saiyan is REALLY angry, but not powerfull enough to go Super Saiyan, his hair stands up but nothing else happens. I don't know if this effects powerlevel, but it'd be a cool addition for when goku's HP is so low his Powerlevel is draining, or when the other team is winning bigtime.
Perfect KKF 1-2-5-10-20, most probably gained before SS, 20 might be a little after.
Super Saiyan: Wee, your powerlevel rises dramaticly, even over KKF, and all your moves recieve a slight extra boost on top of that. What could be better? Shortly after getting SS you get the IT ability. And your aura is gold and very noticeable, and turbo is much more apparent. And your hair stands up a bit and turns blond. And your eyes are a light green.
Perfect SS: SS no longer costs ki, and you can transform instantly.
Super Saiyan 2: Wee, even MORE dramatic powerlevel raising, even more of a slight boost to your abilities. Not to mention lightning dances around your character and makes his hair and clothes move around with it. And your hair now stands STRAIGHT up, has orange and dark yellow to it, and your eyes are even MORE green. Other than that.....not much to say.
Perfect SS2: Same as Perfect SS, only for SS2.
Super Saiyan 3: Okay, now your hair falls down to your knees, you lose your eyebrows (for some reason) and your even MORE powerfull. Not much else to say, here, really.
Perfect SS3: Same as the other Perfect SS's, only for SS3.
Sorry if I left out special moves that goku gets for SS, SS2 or SS3.....I dont know of any! Please let me know if you do.
Gohan: Well, theres Kid Gohan, Teen Gohan, the Great Saiyaman and Adult Gohan. So which is it? I'd personally say that depends on powerlevel, actually. When he reaches a high enough Powerlevel, he should respawn as an older incarnation. Great Saiyaman should probably be the untransformed version of Adult Gohan, and when he transforms his armor should explode off of him. Here goes:
Kid Gohan (low powerlevel):
Melee: Normal old Melee, with all the normal maneuvers, a kick/punch combo unique to Gohan, and of course his forward-attack move should be his Drill Kick, which changes when he becomes the Great Saiyaman.
Masenko: I don't know if this was a beam or a ball in the show, to be honest. Since I know so little about it, all I know coming from this game and Budokai, I'd say that it's a fast-moving, quick-turning attack with next to no explosion radius but a lot of damage. Since most beams in my idea move fast, I'd say make this charge faster and maybe move as fast as a generic beam (if it doesnt already?) Since I have no idea if it's beam or ball or interchangable, I'll wait till I get replyposts to put more here.
Shield: I dont know much about this move but I know he had it as a kid....so...keep it at status qou? Maybe make it a red shield that only works in a certain direction when hes in kid-mode?
Generic Beam/Ki Blast Wave
Transformations:
Unlock Potential: Makes Kid Gohan more powerfull. This is a permanate transformation. Fades when he goes Teen Gohan. Of course, no ki cost because it's permanate.
Teen Gohan (Medium Powerlevel):
Same moves as gohan. Maybe a better shield. This incarnation gets new transformations, though, and does get a few special moves:
KameHameHa: Same as Goku's.
Transformations:
SuperSaiyan: Same as Goku's
Perfect SuperSaiyan: Same as Goku's
SuperSaiyan Two: Same as goku's, but with two new moves:
Super KameHameHa: This move actually drains Gohan's raw spirit to power. He loses HP, Ki, STM, and even some Powerlevel to do this.
Father-Son KameHameHa: A SuperKameHameHa that requires no Powerlevel, but takes everything else. Gohan has to be getting Power Gifting from someone who's character is, at the time this is used, dead and not yet respawned, or respawned with the invincibility ticker on or is there to help. The person powergifting should be notified that Gohan's using the Super KameHameHa, and give them the option to help if they're dead/invincible, or make gohan appear as a black dot on the radar if they're alive.
Adult Gohan: Untransformed looks like the Great Saiyaman. If he transforms into SS, SS2 or Mystic, then his armor bursts off. It doesnt come back until he respawns: If he descends then his hair falls back into black and he acts just the same as though he were transformed other than that.
Moves:
Same as other incarnations, has a big bright yellow shield? But thats it. Also, his drill kick is now, when in Great Saiyaman form, his "justice kick" (yes, getting this from Budokai) which does more damage. He also gets the "Justice Punch" which is a handy way to knock someone into the air and drag them back down again.
Transformations:
SS, PSS, SS2, PSS2 (P = Perfect) all same old...
Mystic: Power goes above and beyond SS2, but with an added advantage. This transformation costs nothing to sustain, and is permanate unless deactivated (Or, alternatively, lasts until killed). I'd say it adds some new melee manuevers/combos, but I dont really know anything beyond that personally.
Krillin: It's baldy, and he's here to kick some butt. Normal moves overall, don't know any special melee maneuver's here that are really specific to krillin.
Melee/Generic Beam/KiBlast
Destructo Disk: A deadly disk that instantly kills whomever has angered Krillin. Travels faster the more it's charged, get's bigger the more it's charged, damage is always instant death. Note that I think this should give full pl bonus for kills, whereas now it only gives a little bit of pl per use. Should be power-strugglable, also.
Mode 1: Disc flies straight (by the way, while krillin is on turbo and using a DD, for some reason it makes him stand on this disk....bug-report)
Mode 2: Disc will spin in whatever way is needed to hit nearest opponent (effectively making it like a ball of death instead of a disk) but costs alot more ki and doesnt get as large.
Scattering Beam: Probably the hardest move to code ever, eh ESF team? This is just a beam that goes forward then splits off into a lot of little beams that chase the enemies down as best they can. Instead of it being purely better when there are more people around, how about it does more damage the fewer beams that are released? Anyway, theres also a center beam that krillin controls directly, though it should probably have some auto-aim function in it. If someone powerstruggles one of the small beams, they go against it and it alone, none of the others, though krillin has one struggle meter that covers all the beams (or he should? this is an idea, not an implemented feature, after all....)
Mode 1: Read above.
Mode 2: Instead of going after ALL the players, this one only goes after an amount judged by Powerlevel. So if your low on Pl you can keep it from spreading too much.
Mode 3: Yes, this is a move you have to toggle modes for by right-clicking. This mode automaticly shoots at a number that you set (via a Cvar?....via player options?) no matter your powerlevel or how much you charge the beam.
Mode 4 (maybe): As it works in ESF 1.2....if he could do that in the show.
Kamehameha/Generic Beam/KiBlasts/Melee/Solar Flare
Transformations:
Unlock Potential: Same as Kid Gohans, Krillin gets new melee moves and:
Destructo Combo: This fires several small, spinning destructo discs followed by one huge, non-spinning one. Would take some time to charge up, would cost a ton of ki, but hey.....let the burning begin. This is a very sick move if you can get it off in Advanced Melee.
Mystic Krillin: This never happened it DBZ, but it could have if Krillin had been trained by the person that trained Gohan, because Krillin was also unlocked by Guru, which to my understanding is what makes a person a candidate for the mystic...? Anyway, this makes Krillin much more powerfull. He grows hair, his clothes change, and you can't see the dots on his forehead, but it's still krillin. I don't know of any new moves to be gained via this other than some new Melee abilities.
Piccolo: Same as krillin, I dont know many special melee maneuvers for this guy, other than the fact that he's GREAT at backflips kicking people up into/down out of the air, so a few combos like that.
Melee/Generic Beam/Ki Blast
EyeBeams: Works fine right now, best I can tell. Maybe add a tiny explosion radius to it? - I was under the impression that it made a small explosion. Since it takes no time to charge, this move works great in Advanced Melee when the enemy is a short distance from you. It can be used in a grapple whether your defender or attacker.
Special Beam Cannon: you charge it, and that takes a long time. You fire it, and you can't move while it's travelling, and you cant turn it once it's fired. But it instantly kills someone, and it travels fast as hell.
Mode 1: Read above.
Mode 2: Faster to charge, but doesn't instantly kill opponent, just does very serious damage. You can leave once it's fired, even if it hasnt hit yet. (Does this version really exist?)
Masenko: See Gohan's.
Transformations: Fused with Nail (or just Powered Up Piccolo):
Light Grenade: Very cheap move that sends a ball of energy that travels at an INCREDIBLE speed at the enemy. Good damage for what it costs, near impossible to dodge due to speed, charges up really fast. But the damage, while good for the cost, still isn't so hot. Better than a Generic Beam blast however, especially for the speed boost.
Fused with Kami (or Super Powered Piccolo):
Hellzone Grenade (or scattering blast): There are two modes to using this move, as well.
Mode 1: You fire a whole lot of ki blasts, then you find someone you dont like and you focus the shots on them, and the all travel to that one person (I think you should get a bit of an auto-aim function while trying to at at the person, and the shots should travel a lot faster than they do now) Basicly just like in ESF 1.2.
Mode 2: How do you get a mode 2 if the right click is being used for targetting the shots? simple. This mode is only ever used in Advanced Melee: Once you've targeted and enemy, using this ability fires ki shots at them that travel near them and just STOP near them. If you manage to stun them, this is a great move to pull: they cant get out of the circle of shots without frying themselves (basicly like passing through a super-ki-block) then you right click and....boom. Costs a lot of ki to use.
Vegeta: The prince of all saiyans. Pretty much normal melee stuff here.
Gallic Gun: A lot like the KameHameHa, only a more powerfull version of it (higher ki cost, bigger explosion, MUCH bigger beam (the beam itself is large in diameter)) that takes longer to charge, and travels more slowly to my understanding (once again, correct me if I'm wrong).
Mode 1: See above.
Mode 2: Super Gallic Gun: See Gohans Super KameHameHa: Takes some PL to use, but travels as fast as a KameHameHa, has a huge explosion radius (yes, even in my idea the explosion is pretty big, despite all explosions being smaller-than-normal) does more damage. Basicly it's a Gallic Gun version of the Super KameHameHa, but theres no Father-Son Gallic Gun
Renzoku: A whole lot of ki blasts travel out at once, almost like the hellzone grenade only it automaticly focuses them. I think this should be more powerfull than it is in ESF 1.2....it seems pretty useless to me (suggestions welcome)
Generic Beam/Ki Blast(he needs this back)/Melee.
After he gets Super Saiyan: These moves are gotten when he can go Super Saiyan but he can do them in normal form also.
Telekinetics: He can make rocks come up and fly at someone or instead send a ripple through the air that looks like a heatwave (should be a noticeable distortion) that does less damage than the rocks, but is harder to see. Also has special effects in Advanced Melee (namely it can knock the enemy back).
Mode 1: Rocks (takes longer to charge, but more damage. Also more visible)
Mode 2: Telekinetic Wave (can be used in A.Melee)
Final Flash: A stream of fire that basicly scorches the heck out of the enemy. Vegeta can't move while charging it, and it isn't really a beam as he can't turn it, but the fire bursts forth REALLY fast and does a lot of damage. Also should probably blind the enemy for a little bit from the fire. This move takes a while to charge. This beam is HUGE in diameter, also, like a Super Gallic Gun.
Basicly it's as large as the explosion radius for a generic beam in ESF 1.2.
Mode 1: See above.
Mode 2: Much faster charge, but no blindness, the beam isn't as thick and it doesn't travel as fast. Much better for an Advanced Melee encounter.
Transformations:
Super Saiyan:
Big Bang Attack: Think of a ball version of the Super Gallic Gun - this is it. Undeniably huge explosion radius. It doesn't travel very fast but when it hits it's hard to dodge. Note that a huge explosion radius in my idea doesn't mean a nuke - it's like a large kamehameha (though really high powerlevel battles have nukes of course). This move does some serious damage. Vegeta can't move while charging it, unlike the Gallic Gun, but it can really put the hurt on.
Ultra Super Saiyan (Super Vegeta): Gained just a bit before Perfect Super Saiyan, this move makes vegeta's hair stand up but without the orange tint of SS2. Essentially a stronger Super Saiyan.
Perfect Super Saiyan.
Ultimate Super Saiyan (Super Vegeta 2): Speed-racer hair, but no lightning yet. This mode is essentially the same as Trunks' transformation in the Cell Saga, so players should probably be allowed to set a cvar or whatnot to trade speed for power or vice versa.
PUltra SS, PUltimate SS, SS2
Perfect SS2: This is Majin Vegeta, basicly - SS2 costs nothing while he's in this form.
Trunks:
Melee/Generic Beam/Ki Blast
Sword: Trunks possesses a sword from the start and can use it whenever he feels it is appropriate. Basicly this is a high-powered version of Melee, doing more damage. He can also swing according to his speed, instead of at a set rate, giving him a lot of room for growth in melee. He has a completely different set of special moves for when he's using his sword, and swinging the sword takes stamina with each swing, so he can't use it too much. A sword attack that would normally stun the enemy stuns them by 1 more than a normal hit, but also costs even more stamina than the sword does normally.
Super Saiyan:
Burning Attack: A firey ball of ki that you don't want to get close to. What more is there to say? He can charge this based on his SPEED, so he can really charge it fast in high PL battles. Does a good amount of damage, too.
Mode 1: Above
Mode 2: Burning Blast: Look at Final Flash mode 2: No blindness and a smaller beam, but basicly the same deal. This type of Burning Attack doesn't charge based on speed - it always charges almost instantly, like a generic beam, but it doesn't do a whole lot of damage (the beam he used to finish off Frieza, FYI) Once he has this he gets the Burning Slash manuever, which is the combo he did to Frieza. He also gets a Jumpslash followed by this mode of Burning Attack.
Ultra Super Saiyan, Perfect SS, Ultimate SS, P Ultra SS, P Ultimate SS, SS2
All of Trunks' Transformations can be done at MUCH lower-than-normal PL levels.
Almost there.....not much more left right?
Frieza:
Melee/Generic Beam/Kiblast
Fingerlaser (AKA: Deathbeam): Piccolos eyelasers, only Frieza does it with "the finger". Can't be used in grapples.
Transformations:
Form 2, 3, 4, 5 and
Form 5 100%
This form allows frieza to use the Death Ball. I see no reason to change it from ESF 1.2 other than system changes it's basicly a spirit bomb that costs ki. Oh, and Frieza cant move while he's charging it, can he?
Well, thats it...oh, wait, I forgot Buu....but I know nothing about Buu, so other than giving him more forms in the new ESF, I have no input on him.
Hope you all enjoyed the spam. It took me forever to write.
I will begin with changes to the very system itself, rather than with characters, because I feel it is more appropriate that a person know what the system I want the other changes to take place in is. I will start with melee since it seems to be a greatly contested idea, and I personally find the current melee system a bit dry and unskillfull.
The melee system I want would be partially comprised of ideas taken from DBZ Budokai, a game for the current consoles, as well as both of the ESF melee systems (the original one and the new Advanced melee mode), as well as some ideas from playing Dragonball Z Roleplaying games and my very limited experience with the show, and also some experience with DragonModZ. Since I know many people would not like this idea if implemented, it would make sense to be capable of toggling the melee mode to be original, normal, or advanced, normal being the current system and advanced being the system that I am about to suggest.
Swooping should be kept in, and a person should be capable of both running on land (instead of swooping over it) and ramming into someone for little or no ki, or doing a flying ram in the air for some ki cost for swooping. Instead of ramming into someone, punching them over and over again, and then going into a psudo-dual where neither participant can be harmed by outsiders, I'd prefer it if the melee system was a bit more open. You can run up to someone, punch them, jump back and pelt them with ki blasts, for example, without sending them flying with a ram hit. I'm sure the players reading this will note that this will make it hard to hit an opponent, since the characters will not be contained in a little energy bubble that makes it impossible to simply aim incorrectly. To alleviate this, I'd suggest a targeting system. I'm aware that many people disliked targeting, but I have a different idea for it's use than simple ramming. Let's say two people are both on the ground, and they run up to each other and attack. Both could see some of thier opponents actions in a queue at the top of the screen - not as arrows, but as actual indicates, such as a low punch or kick, and which arm or leg is being used. They could then dodge or block as appropriate, and possibly reciprocate with an attack. This is not to say they will be contained in a bubble - either participant could jump back and out, so long as he isn't being bashed into the ground at the time.
Hence you could keep your opponent from retreating out of melee combat by suppressing them with your attacks. A participant might even shoot the other with a fireball or such (more on ki attacks and ki attacks in melee down below) during the combat.So for an example, two people rush at each other (not ramming, just running at each other) and target each other for melee combat (the target expires if either combatant gets too far away from the other). The two reach each other. Let's say one of them decided to run in a ram, the other sees the indicator at the topleft of his screen for a high ram. He holds down the Defense key (which lets you queue up defensive actions), and queues up a crouch. Without letting go of the crouch key, to show that hes combining another action with that, he lets go of the defense key and hits the medium kick key. The result being a dodge and a counterattack: He ducks under the brunt of the high ram and kicks the other character in the stomach. The two are now in close-range melee.
So the buttkicking begins. Let's say the rammer decides to get really crazy with it, and he starts queueing up attacks just like theres no tomorow. The other combatant also queues up a few attacks, but seeing his opponents offensive, holds the defensive key and queues up some defensive moves. So his character dodges the opponent and fights back, whereas the other is all offensive so he proceeds to start getting hurt. So our rammer decides that he has to do some defense also, and starts queueing up random defensive actions, which of course isnt very effective, and still takes damage. Our more skilled combatant decides he wants to get serious, and instead of watching for the next attack and defending/countering, he uses a disabling move (namely, he kicks his enemy up in the air) swoops straight up into the air, then rams straight down (and because he's locked on, the system keeps his attack on target) and rams the other person down into the dirt.
Well, fighter 1 (the rammer) is now on his back, and while he's getting up fighter 2 has time to charge up an attack. For the sake of simplicity, we'll say a Kamehameha fireball (not a beam, see below) and proceeds to blast it at him when he gets up. Fighter 1 has learned from his mistakes, and immediatly queues up a parry-back, a tricky manuever that takes a good bit of ki (or stamina) to use, but deflects an energy attack back at the user. Succeeding in this, he decides that getting into melee with this guy was a BAD idea. So he attempts to swoop backwards while his opponent deals with his own fireball. Fighter 2 parries back the fireball again, and while it travels at Figher 1, 2 jumps into the air and comes down at him in a flying ram. 1, not having any idea how to stop both attacks at once, panics and fumbles the controls, getting roasted by a fireball and slammed into the dirt by 2's foot again, both still in melee. 1 decides he has to get out of this somehow, and rolls sideways to try and dodge his opponents next attack. 2 jumps into the air and slams the dirt, missing 1, who gets up and kicks 2 into the air with a power-kick to stun him for a few seconds. 1, who happens to be piccolo, uses his hellzone grenade (the scattering blasts) and surrounds 2 with shots.
2, recognizing that theres no way out of this move, forms a shield (not gohans shield, see below) and tries to resist it, but still gets scorched. Meanwhile 1 has managed to retreat out of melee range and so both players lose thier ki locks (the targeting boxes).
That was an example of the advanced melee in the game, using rams and energy attacks. Advanced melee can also be more simple, for example, 1 might just throw a bunch of punches, 2 might just dodge, block, or parry them (blocking being the easiest to do but still getting you damage, parrying being the hardest to do but when you parry someone's attack, all the other attacks in thier queue vanish so they have to requeue them, and dodging being the in-between that just keeps you from getting hurt) everything you do in advanced melee is queued. Even moving to the left or right appears in the queue as basic dodges, though they dont usually work since the enemy has you targeted and can just turn to keep facing you. Moving backwards and away from the opponent appears as a dodge also, while moving forward doesnt appear at all - your just closing the distance, probably so one of your attacks will sink in. So just backing away wont get you out of a fight. You can try to swoop backwards, but that also appears as a dodge, and if it fails (And that particular dodge almost always will) you get hit, lose the ki you used for the swoop and you dont move anywhere.
The more "advanced" dodges work differently. You hold down the defensive key and hit a directional button, and your character turns, sidesteps, or whatever in that direction to avoid a blow. So if an opponent is coming at you with a high punch from the left, you can duck to avoid it or move to the right, or both, and if your quick you can hold down your defensive keys and put in an attack too, to counter. For example: Billy does a high left punch at Bob. Bob sidesteps to the right, dodging the move, and also queues a counter: a medium kick. Bob dodges the attack and immediatly gets his attack in, pretty much as a free action. Billy would have to react really fast to stop that counter. The downside to counters is that only really basic moves can be used: You can punch or kick, but they will always be at medium height. Characters with telekinetics (like Vegeta or Frieza) can counter with telekinetic move (which is basicly a punch that knocks the enemy back) but also always at the middle, hence easy to dodge.
A player might think "at the middle? What the...?" Well, at-the-middle attacks can only be done this way. Basicly they're attacks that can be dodged by basicly any maneuver. But hey, a free attack is still a free attack, and it's fast.
So, confused by all this? I'll do my best to summarize it in a later post and make it more coherent. *I* understand it, if thats any consolation
. Moving right along: This isn't the only type of melee. In fact, it's the most advanced type. A person can also just do a normal, simple swooping ram (just like in ESF 1.2) without queueing or targeting or whatnot. Granted, the person you go at might target you, sidestep, counter, whatever, but they'd have to be quick as hell. Also, I'd like to see upward and downward simple rams (when you swoop straight up or down) work properly, without upward/downward swooping making you go forward/backward.Another way you can attack someone in melee is with a good old hostile pummel-ram. Basicly the prepunch combo from ESF 1.2, you ram into them and beat the tar out of them UNTIL THEY KNOCK YOU OFF....or you run out of ki, if your flying, or stamina, whether flying or not. So basicly you can beat them silly with it if they're not paying attention. Not to mention, while YOU can target THEM and start advanced melee, they cant target you until you stop beating the crap out of them. So you could target them, and lets say they manage to hit the block key between your prepunches and hence get thier blocking up....your still beating them silly, but at least now they're taking less damage. Or if they time thier block JUST RIGHT, they could parry you and end the combo entirely (which isn't how it works in A.Melee. In Advanced Melee you would have to do a quick combination of things, so if they came at you with a left punch you'd have to hit the block key, then choose a counter-attack. Instead of block-countering, you would parry (Because blocking is basicly a copout defense, so you cant counter afterwards) parrying is a more advanced type of blocking.
Whatever attack you choose, your character attempts to deflect the enemies attack with his. Theres a certain parry for each attack, lets say they attacked you with a right high punch, you would respond with a right high punch and your character would fist-catch them or deflects thier arm. you cant counter after a parry but it offbalances the opponent and ditches thier whole attack queue so they have to remake it. It's also hard as hell to do and if you fail it, your offbalanced instead and lose your attack queue.
Back to the prepunch combo. So you were beating them up and targeted them for advanced melee, but let your character keep swinging anyway, and you figure you'll stop your combo and go into advanced melee if they get thier guard up or anything. The other person then manages a dodge (by hitting a directional key at just the right time, which shouldn't be too hard since prepunches are done to a set rythm) and counter-attacks you. Any counter-attack in this case is the exact same: A punch, kick or telekinetic attack that knocks the prepuncher back and disables and A.Melee locks. If they just dodge without hitting an attack key, the prepunches are just stopped, but you can still get into A.Melee with them. You could also just stop your prepunches after a bit and attack - whatever you decide.
Rushing at them while holding nothing down results in the prepunch combo. Hitting the left mouse button locks on. rushing at them with the right mouse button is how you do swoop-rams, and you can target while swooping or ramming. If you swoop while on the ground, your character rushes forward (though you can hit the jump key and go into flying-swoop mode, though it costs more ki). Hitting left mouse while in prepunch locks on, hitting right mouse while prepunching grabs them (or tries to, it stops your prepunch, pauses for a second, then grabs so it's kinda easy to dodge) and then immediatly attempts to throw (if the grab is successfull, the throw is automaticly).
Grabbing in Advanced Melee: You launch this as a normal attack, but it's aimed at the middle, so you have to time it after you stun the enemy (using powerfull kick or whatnot) and then grab them. Once you succeed, your in grappling mode with you as the attacker, them as the defender. You can attempt to bearhug them, if you succeed then your character bearhugs the enemy and continues to do so like a prepunch combo. You can stop bearhugging to bodyslam them or throw them, but nothing else. (bodyslam left click, throw right-click) Beahugging done by not clicking anything.
Or you can ram them into something (other than the ground) nearby, but right-clicking. So you could ram them into a wall or a mountain or whatever. After ramming them, you knocked back a bit.
Or you can throw them by right-clicking, and hence toss them out and get out of advanced melee. This works pretty much the same as throws do now.
Defender: You can attempt to block, which makes your character brace for the attack, dodge, which makes you maneuver so that they fail, or parry, which makes you take control of the grapple and become the attacker. It's hard to do any of these, however: Grapple moves go fast. If two people grab each other in Advanced Melee at the same time (grabs cant be blocked or parried, but they're middle-attacks so they're not hard to dodge) then you enter a Head On mode, winner becomes Attacker in grapple.
Head On: I feel this is a place where the Advanced Melee system used in ESF right now works just fine: the arrows and all work fine for a head-on, so the system shouldn't change IMO. Of course, head ons apply to both Prepunches and swoop-rams just as it did before ^.^
Wondering about Ki Attacks in Advanced Melee? : You can use any ki attack in advanced melee, but charging it up counts as a queued attack. It's best not to do it unless they're on the ground or seriously stunned. Krillin can take serious advantage of this with his Destructo Disc, but it's fairly easy to dodge that attack. Also look at Stunning below.
Stunning: Any powerfull move stuns the opponent. Ramming them into the ground, bodyslamming them, or even just a really good roundhouse. If you queue up the same attack over and over, instead of doing it over and over, it just makes the one you do really powerfull. Look in Melee Maneuvers for more info on this. Also note: If you decide to charge a move in A.Melee, you CAN dodge them just like normal, but you cant block or parry. So basicly, the best way to do a ki attack in A.Melee would be to stun them slightly, while they're stunned queue up a seriously powerfull stunning attack, and if that goes through you charge up your move. You might still have to do some fancy dodging though.
Beam Jumping in A.Melee: counts as swooping backwards for all intents and purposes for dodging. The enemy can swoop to follow you, or can stun you with a hit and send your beam flying up into the air.
Thats it for melee, hope you enjoyed that huge amount of info....now on to Ki attacks and the rest of the system changes I want, but this should be much shorter.
Note that this right here is how I feel the system should be changed, not specific moves.
First off: I have noticed that the more people in a server, the more powerfull everything gets. In a 1-1 battle, a KameHameHa barely covers any space at all, whereas with 8 people, you can nuke a good portion of the map with it. I feel this is a bit unfair in certain matches: It makes it MUCH harder to hit with many beam attacks. I think it would be better if all beam attacks had a set explosion radius, regardless of people number. The current size for a 2-person match is fine, IF the next thing is implemented. The reason I want this is because it's hard to know what your limits are the way it's set up now, and it makes it easier for chars like Goku to get thier butts kicked in 1-1 matches because thier large explosion radia are gone, where in 6 or 8 person matches, those same characters become overpowered.
Powerlevel: On the subject of powerlevel....I think first of all that it should start much lower, down in Saiyan Saga levels, that way people have a chance to really develop thier characters through all the different levels of power. Since Goku is the protagonist in DBZ, I guess I'll give an example of him: He might start out as low as 100 Powerlevel, and gets very little powerlevel per kill or hit. Possibly as little as 50 or so. As it rises, he could get new moves when he did in DBZ. I dont mean giving him new transformations that have new moves, I mean he justs manifests a new move and a little notifier pops on on the screen saying "You got Continuos KameHameHa" or whatever the move is. This way, he can go through his transformations and moves as he goes along, developing a large arsenal to use against his foes. It's also more newbie friendly: You start out with few moves, such as in gokus case, the KameHameHa (read below: It starts in fireball mode) and melee, and maybe a few melee maneuvers (a section on that is right below this) as well as the normal melee option, all the normal acrobatic moves (walljumping, jumping, etc.,) and some very limited superspeed (without afterimages?....I dont know when Goku got the Zanzoken, but I think that ability should be seperate from SuperSpeed)
So goku cant fly yet (he can go turbo though, worry not) and he doesn't move at his normal speed for ESF yet (but not INCREDIBLY slow, dont worry: Hes just a little below normal). He also has very little HP/Ki.
As powerlevel rises, a characters Ki, HP, and speed increase AS WELL AS effectiveness: So a person with a lot of Powerlevel could use the KameHameHa in my system idea the same as a goku now might use it in an 8-8 battle, REGARDLESS of how many players are in the game. So thats how I think powerlevel should work: I think it should have a lot more effect on the game. This is besides it giving lots of transformations and moves. Basicly this means that a 10,000,000 Powerlevel Goku is going to lay the smackdown on a 2,000,000 SuperSaiyan Goku, just because the powerlevels are different. In fact, the ONLY difference I think a transformation should make, other than graphical and, where applicable, new moves, is a PL rise.
The reason HP and Stamina, and Ki should rise is because the way it is now, if you get extreme powerlevels everyone dies really fast because HP doesnt go up, and once you have your perfect transformation, PL basicly does nothing but make people die faster and faster.
I also think the server admin should be able to set a starting powerlevel RANGE. That is, you dont say "Everyone starts being able to get this transformation" or "Everyone starts with exactly this much PL" - that might harm characters who only have a few transformations but get them early. Instead you could put in "Everyone starts REALLY high" while this would still be harmfull to those characters, they might get extra powerlevel or whatnot to help make them equal as well. People playing those characters would still eventually fall behind, but thats expected with that type of character.
Also, PL gained should rise as PL rises. If you have 1000 PL and so does your opponent, you should get about 500 pl for killing them instead of 50. This makes for a momentum-style PL building system, so later on you can get a whole lot quickly. Still, it'll take hours to reach your true potential if you start at rock-bottom, just like it does now, which is why I suggest the server option: Not everyone has HOURS to play the game, but they might not want to play a low-power game. I feel the people on a schedule deserve some considerations. And lastly: The amount of PL it takes to raise the effectivenes of a move (like the speed/explosion of a Kamehameha or the homing ability of a kame torpedo) should also have a momentum system: If you've got millions of Powerlevel, then getting 50 PL shouldnt kick up your KameHameHa speed, but if your down in the 100-200 range, it should. So it takes more PL to raise things as PL rises, but PL also rises faster (provided you arent going after very weak enemies) so you always get the same reward for the same amount of effort. So thats it for PL.
Melee Maneuvers: So you've read about melee and using ki moves in melee and you might be thinking "not too bad a system, but that kinda makes the moves limited doesn't it?" Well, yes, and some characters have some truly cool moves they might want to get off. For example: Trunks might want to do a flying slash on that stupid piccolo up in the air. He might want to jump, pull out his sword while spinning, and end the spin with a slash and take that namekian down a couple notches. So, for character uniqueness (and because there are some situations where you might want a special move, such as the one above, to get into a special position (in the air) WHILE attacking (instead of swooping up to piccolo so that your queued moves wont auto-miss because your enemy is too far away or not in front of you) Melee maneuvers all characters share would be: Each character should (I'm getting this from DBZ Budokai) get a special throw unique to them, a pummel move where they just swing really really fast (counts as one attack, so if you fail to dodge/block/whatever, too bad) but costs a lot of ki/stm, more than its worth unless your finishing them off, and: A series of SuperSpeed kicks/hits from various angles that you use when they are trying to retreat. Also: All characters should have some sort of jump-forward hit (like a jumpkick) and some attack that allows them to hit the enemy while rising. Also, any character can use a really powerfull attack. It's noted above that if you keep on queueing up the same attack, it just makes that attack really powerfull instead of spamming it. (but it also makes the attack slower, and very noticeable in the queue). 1 makes the attack, 2 makes the attack medium strength (such as a hook instead of a jab) three makes it really powerfull (such as spinning and using a backlash) and four makes your character actually charge ki into it and make it a glowing attack that can't be blocked. Any more just make it more powerfull. You stun them a bit longer the more power you have, and knocking them into the ground gives you +1 strength to that stun (so a 4-queued bodyslam will stun them for 5 turns or something like that. Any suggestions here?)
Specific melee maneuvers down below in character section.
Ki Section: Other than whats above on ki attacks, I think it should be possible for all characters to put up a sort of ki defense. Change thier aura to protect them from damage. That way characters like Krillin who have little stamina or HP to block enemies with can still block semi-effectively: Not AS effectively, but well enough that they aren't slaughtered. Why not AS effective? because melee isn't thier specialty if thier a ki fighter, so they should have reason to stay out of it (not that krillin doesn't make a good melee fighter)
Also, on power struggles: Have you ever seen a beam coming at you and powerstruggled it too fast to aim it at it's maker? - I think power struggles should automaticly aim the shot at the maker over the beam (No idea how to handle this is MPS's, but the beams/balls should always be aimed at SOMEONE) and if you fail, you should see your character in that energy tunnel before you die) (kind of like Cell just before he died) Also, you should always be able to put more ki into your attack after you fire it, whether in a powerstruggle or not. Since you can transform in a powerstruggle, it would make sense if my last suggestion went through that you be able to transform whenever you have a beam launched.
Also on the subject of ki: Ki attacks, in my opinion, should travel faster and turn faster and have lower explosion radia. That way they take more skill to use, but it IS possible to snipe and all with them, effectively. Hitting an opponent head-on with a beam while the opponent is moving should be not only technically possible, it should happen fairly often. If an opponent devotes 100% of thier energy to dodging you and you devote 100% of your focus to hitting them, both of you should have a good chance of succeeding. Just my thoughts.
Powergifting: When you turn this on, it makes your character give ki to the character you choose whenever they are out of ki. They basicly drain ki out of your stores instead. This is good for matches where there are newbies who arent much good to thier team otherwise. Also, when you start charging, if your at full ki it beging filling thier ki instead. You get a tiny blue meter down in the bottom right that shows thier ki amount. You can toggle it on and off with a kistroke, and you wont powergift them when they need it if your at 1/4 your max ki or lower.
Telekinetics: Ah, yes, the other way for a ki figher to fight in melee. Basicly, if your character does little melee damage (and yes, I believe melee damage should in part be decided by character) he might make up for it by spending a lot of ki on a punch to make it do more damage or penetrate defenses (see specific characters melee maneuvers) but if thier punching is really that bad, or thier speed is really that slow so they can't sink a blow in (Yes, I feel that as PL rises, speed should rise, and hence melee battles should be faster/more hectic/more difficult. Hey, if you got a high PL, you should be more skilled, right?) they might toss a ton of ki into a telekinetic attack instead. Basicly, this is an attack that makes your character get into position, aim a hand at the enemy or whatever, and send a little ripple through the air that slams them back and away and does some damage too. If you read the melee section above, you see that its a center-attack as a counter. If not a counter, you hold down the attack button (telekinetics is a ki attack) as well as a normal attack button like a high punch or whatnot, and it attacks basicly like that manuever only it's fast, costs a bucket of ki and knocks them back. Still, it's only one attack so it's easy to dodge unless you try to hide it amongst a lot of other attacks.
Telekinetics is a ki attack that only certain characters get. It can be used as a direct attack or you can throw stuff at people. See specific chars.
Alternate Attack Modes: Ever wanted to say "screw blast radius, I want some speed on my kamehameha!"? Thats what this is for. Instead of using it the normal way, maybe you could use a specialized version of your attack (such as the small-but-fast version of the spirit bomb) with all your different attacks. Attacks that have more than 2 modes might scroll through modes when you right-click instead, or might require you hold both mouse-buttons down for your third mode or whatnot. See specific attacks in specific chars, again (And again and again and again)
Graphical Changes: Most changes have already been suggested.....but I do suggest the ESF team play Budokai and make it look as much like that ;D as possible. Mainly with the auras and stuff and also some of the movie clips in Budokai 1 have some good moves graphics in them (at least on the gamecube, which is the only console I've played it on) Auras and beam attacks are probably most important. Maybe char graphics also - I hope theres some way to make the faces move or whatnot, everything else seems to.
Exploding terrain: Also been suggested, it's been said that this isn't possible. Well, what about making a large pile of "crates that are shaped like pieces of the mountain in ESF_Riverside? People dont expect to be able to rip up the ground, I dont think anyway, but slamming them into mountains and all would be cool.
Battle-torn uniforms: Also been suggested/denied due to incredible animation needs. Maybe ESF could host a contest for graphics, with sub-contests for each characters and the community could work towards this? Hmm.
Acrobatics: All I have to say here is: I think wall-jumping should go faster than it does now, much faster, and I think beam-jumping should be acquired early in the game, but not RIGHT at the start if you start way early in the saiyan sage in powerlevel..... Also, walljumping should be allowed to people charging beams, only they have to take as long as they do now to wall jump. Why not? - they can beam jump really fast already, so I dont see much abuse here. As for Flight, that should be acquired fairly early, basicly at the same time as beamjumping (200 PL?....300? Where did that start?) lastly, I think people charging beams should move faster. Once again I see little abuse here because you can just get momentum before charging and use that to dodge anyway. As for super speed: I think only characters who actually learn the Zanzoken in the show should get afterimages, but thats just me. Anyway, I feel the lowest level of this should be gotten early, the next level teleports you farther, the level after that lets you teleport as much as you want with no pause, the level after that lets you use the longer range teleport with no pause. Any thoughts on this?
Movement in general: When your hit head-on by a beam, or even by a large blast (large being determined by the % of your total HP it takes from you) your knocked down as though hit by a ram. This doesn't happen often, but strong beams/balls knock you around if they hit well.
Specific Characters: So you read all this so far and you still want more? Or maybe your just skipping ahead? either way, heres my list of ideas for specific characters.
Transformations: When you transform, if the new character has any ability in the slot number of the move you were using before, it should switch to that instead of Melee. Also, transformations should slowly drain ki or stm or both, until you get thier perfect versions. So lets say SS drained 1 ki per second or so (not saying thats a good number, just an example) and SS2 drained 2 ki, SS3 drained 3 ki. When you get Perfect SS, you no longer lose ki for being in that form. But SS2 STILL drains its full 2 ki, until you get it's perfect form. When you descend, you dont immediatly go to normal: You go down one stage of transformation and get some ki back, just like going up gives you a larger ki bar that isn't full. The offset to this is that while transformed you have a lot more ki, so the drain isn't too bad. This encourages players to actually have a reason to use low forms. FYI: You can run out of ki and stay in your form, unless your knocked down, knocked against a wall, etc.,
Goku: Other than the normal system changes and the wealth of transformations he's likely to get (King Kai Fist (KKF) 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, the various SS 1-3, and if they do put in battle-torn uniforms they'll have to do a lot of cut'n'pasting
) I feel he should get new moves, and maybe have some moves tweaked....here goes.KameHameHa: Gokus nice little you-die-right-now nuking-beam-move. If all the changes I want are put in (which no, I dont think they will, I'm just writing this because I hope some of them will be, and I hope the team can gain inspiration from this) then this move will be used much much differently.
Mode 1: Fireball. This shoots a blue fireball at the enemy. If ki attacks are sped up and have less explosion radia like I wanted them to (see Also On Ki in the Ki Section) Then this should work just like the show. It doesn't really have an explosion best I could see (remember, my experience with DBZ is EXTREMELY limited) so much as it hits something and that thing it hits takes a ****load of damage. Like when goku was in the gravity training chamber, shot a kamehameha and it came back and hit him in the face? He didnt blow up and neither did the ship.....it just looked like it hurt like hell. In short: A very fast-traveling energy ball with no real explosion radius. Hit with it head-on and it's sure to get the job done.
Mode 2: Continuous Kamehameha (also: Chou-KameHameHa): Ah, the beam version. This is both mode 2, and mode 3. Mode 2 is the more generic, "Sniper KameHameHa" version: Basicly like the fireball, only with the ability to turn very quickly and some minor explosion to it (anyone who's watched the show and wants to correct me on this, feel free to post below, I'll be watching this topic)
Mode 3: Explosive KameHameHa: Who cares about sniping when you can just nuke them?! Well, I do, but I'm wierd, so: Basicly this works as it does now. Kaboom, your fried, but not much in the way of speed/turning.
Kame Torpedoes: Ah, yes, the new homing-attack that can be truly devastating, supposedly. First off, I would like to see the bug where the torpedoes rush away from enemies and into random objects ended....I truly hate that bug....and they should be a LOT more accurate in general, though accuracy should still depend on charging amount (why a lot more? remember that in my idea, I said that things dont change based on number of people playing, and in 1-1 fights Kame Torpedoes have no accuracy whatsoever, basicly) But they should be FAR from useless with low pl. So they should start with a really high accuracy, and it should rise with PL (but not too much, and like EVERYTHING ELSE, the amount of PL it takes to increase it should rise as the general amount does (see the section on PL)).
Mode 1: Normal: A sniper-oriented torpedo. I've never seen this move in the show, but I'm guessing it should work like this: A well-guided KameHameHa fireball, but with a good deal less speed (remember ki attacks travel really fast by my ideas, so the Kame Torpedo should move, in my idea, as fast as it does now) with some limited explosion radius (basicly the same as is, again). Graphically, since I've heard people comment on this in the past, I think it should be a lot smaller. It shouldn't stand out so much (granted, size should rise with power which rises with PL: A 10,000,000 PL person will make a huge torpedo, even a normal one)
Mode 2: Explosive Torpedo: Bigger explosion radius, but less guidance. So if it hits dead-on it's more deadly, but it's less likely to, and its also a bit slower. It's also a LOT larger, as the size of the torpedo size rises with power, so it's noticeable as hell. If your thinking: Why is there no in-between between the normal one, which is guidance-oriented, and the explosive one, which is explosion oriented, the answer is: that would be a bit superflous. It really isn't needed, as the "sniper" one is really the normal version, and I dont think the coders could make one even more accurate with ANY fairness left, unless it did crap damage....and if you want guided kiblasts, you should play KRILLIN. I dont want to see a ripoff of his move in the Kame Torpedo)
Spirit Bomb: The slow moving nuke from hell. I think this move should be more powerfull, actually, since you cant do it while transformed and in the show it always had more than the power of a super move. Overall: Faster travel, because even with the radius it has now, it's useless if someone sees it....which they always do, since even the small one is really noticeable charging up. And also: Size should vary GREATLY depending on power.....the high-powered one was much larger than the one in ESF, yet the starting one was like a super-powered ki blast. Other: I think the first time this move is used it should be FORCED to use it in it's normal mode, and goku should let out that huge energy funnel he did the first time he used it. Making it more noticeable, the first time, but hey: At those low levels, if you get it off, the enemy is screwed. Explosion radius could actually stand to remain the same: Once you throw it, it moves fast at them, pushes them down (if they block they resist it of course...otherwise it just travels normal speed and rams them into the ground) is so large it's hard as hell to dodge, and blows them and anyone dumb enough to stay nearby to bits) Maybe give it a longer chargetime to make up for this? I really don't know: Send your opinions
Mode 1: "I.....I need to borrow" What am I qouting it for? - everyone's heard it already). As already said, the first time using it should release that energy funnel and probably have a bigger explosion radius, for drama. Anyway, basicly this fits the description above. Goku's qoute should probably be different the first time using it, but the "I need to borrow the strength of the planet" qoute every now and then, but I think his normal qoute should be the same as mode 2: Let me have some of your energy. I just dont see using drama if someone is spamming the move (or trying to: They will usually get fried first) If they havent used it yet this respawn, use the "I need to borrow" qoute. Thats just my opinion....also, as with the Death Ball and any other move that you charge that can be seen externally, if someone shoots it while your charging it or runs into it, it should immediatly count as thrown (if its ready to throw. If not, it sticks on the end of thier beam as though they were powerstruggling it, but it doesnt do anything....just a graphical ploy) I've devoted a lot of though onto how to make the super spirit bomb possible, and it seems to me the best way to do it is to give players a new move when they reach the level needed to go Super Saiyan instantly which adds energy to it. If my suggestion that when you transform you immediatly switch to your new forms equivalent move goes through, then it should be a simple matter of popping SSJ and using the move. I'm thinking it should be an instant-charge move that takes up a good bit of ki (it charges to full instantly, and drains the ki needed, instantly, so if you dont have the ki you cant do it) and it cant be done below maximum level. Basicly make it act like a beam attack that does no damage, so you shoot the spirit bomb with it and it makes it more powerfull and lets you add ki to it despite it being a ball (whereas beams, already stated above, should always be ki-addable whether they're in a power struggle or not) and maybe have other advantages. I don't know - however the coders see fit to code it, if they code it) I'd like to see this in, though.
Mode 2: "Let me have some of your energy": Smaller, faster to charge, but much weaker version....nuff said.
Mode....3?!: Super KameHameHa: This should either be a seperate move, gained when you have perfect transformation level, a instant-beam as stated above, or maybe just another version of the spirit bomb that acts like a beam, looks like a ball, and forces you to transform? - since you can already transform when in a powerstruggle, or if my suggestion goes through, whenever you have a beam firing. This WOULD be listed after Super Saiyan, but I feel it's easier to put here as well.
Warp KameHameHa: When Goku gets IT (see below) he can use it along with the KameHameHa. This works in any mode (it did in budokai....anyone wishing to correct, post away)
Solar Flare: Works just fine right now in my eyes ^.^ could stand to NOT blind the USER of the power, though, and needs an animation for it's use.
Melee: Just normal, ol' melee under my idea system) manuevers are below.
Generic Beam: Self-Explanatory, both beam and ball versions, the way the work is fine: Low explosion, fast moving. I'm open to suggestions for changes.
Ki Blasts: Also self-explanatory.....I'd like to know where the idea of ki blobs came from, and I'd like the Mode 1 to look more like ki blast waves - streams of energy that fly out, while mode 2 would just look as it does now....
Sword: Sword?! you might ask. Yes, sword. I don't know what Goku's special moves with the Z sword were, just just use Trunks' sword system (look at trunks character)?? Anyway, this should only be gained VERY late in PL.....he got it sometime in the Buu saga, so I guess he should get it around that much PL. Reason for not giving it earlier, other than the fact that that's just when he got it, is that it kinda detracts some of the uniqueness away from Trunks, especially with Gohan having a sword also (see below) but hey, thats just the way it goes.
Melee Maneuvers: As I've not watched many of the cartoons, I'd say Goku should get a couple good kick combo's that are unique to him, in addition to the normal moves, but thats all I really know. Also....
IT (Instant Transmission): This allows you to teleport long distances by hitting a special key. When you hit that key, a charge bar with a blue energy meter instead of green appears right above the normal charge-bar location, and the longer you charge it the greater the distance. You can hold charging on this by holding right-click, just like you do for beams. On your screen only, you see a line and a big indicator at the end of the line showing where you teleport to. This can be used, when acquired, with KameHameHa - it's acquired right after Super Saiyan.
Transformations:
KKF (King Kai Fist) 1: When you achieve this, you can use the Spirit Bomb for the first time - you HAVE to be in KKF to use the spirit bomb for your first time ever in the game, after that you can use it while normal or in KKF, but not in SSJ ever.
KKF 2, KKF 5, KKF 10, KKF 20 - all the same as KKF 1 only more powerfull, more red, a more noticeable aura, etc.,
Pissed Off Saiyan: When a saiyan is REALLY angry, but not powerfull enough to go Super Saiyan, his hair stands up but nothing else happens. I don't know if this effects powerlevel, but it'd be a cool addition for when goku's HP is so low his Powerlevel is draining, or when the other team is winning bigtime.
Perfect KKF 1-2-5-10-20, most probably gained before SS, 20 might be a little after.
Super Saiyan: Wee, your powerlevel rises dramaticly, even over KKF, and all your moves recieve a slight extra boost on top of that. What could be better? Shortly after getting SS you get the IT ability. And your aura is gold and very noticeable, and turbo is much more apparent. And your hair stands up a bit and turns blond. And your eyes are a light green.
Perfect SS: SS no longer costs ki, and you can transform instantly.
Super Saiyan 2: Wee, even MORE dramatic powerlevel raising, even more of a slight boost to your abilities. Not to mention lightning dances around your character and makes his hair and clothes move around with it. And your hair now stands STRAIGHT up, has orange and dark yellow to it, and your eyes are even MORE green. Other than that.....not much to say.
Perfect SS2: Same as Perfect SS, only for SS2.
Super Saiyan 3: Okay, now your hair falls down to your knees, you lose your eyebrows (for some reason) and your even MORE powerfull. Not much else to say, here, really.
Perfect SS3: Same as the other Perfect SS's, only for SS3.
Sorry if I left out special moves that goku gets for SS, SS2 or SS3.....I dont know of any! Please let me know if you do.
Gohan: Well, theres Kid Gohan, Teen Gohan, the Great Saiyaman and Adult Gohan. So which is it? I'd personally say that depends on powerlevel, actually. When he reaches a high enough Powerlevel, he should respawn as an older incarnation. Great Saiyaman should probably be the untransformed version of Adult Gohan, and when he transforms his armor should explode off of him. Here goes:
Kid Gohan (low powerlevel):
Melee: Normal old Melee, with all the normal maneuvers, a kick/punch combo unique to Gohan, and of course his forward-attack move should be his Drill Kick, which changes when he becomes the Great Saiyaman.
Masenko: I don't know if this was a beam or a ball in the show, to be honest. Since I know so little about it, all I know coming from this game and Budokai, I'd say that it's a fast-moving, quick-turning attack with next to no explosion radius but a lot of damage. Since most beams in my idea move fast, I'd say make this charge faster and maybe move as fast as a generic beam (if it doesnt already?) Since I have no idea if it's beam or ball or interchangable, I'll wait till I get replyposts to put more here.
Shield: I dont know much about this move but I know he had it as a kid....so...keep it at status qou? Maybe make it a red shield that only works in a certain direction when hes in kid-mode?
Generic Beam/Ki Blast Wave
Transformations:
Unlock Potential: Makes Kid Gohan more powerfull. This is a permanate transformation. Fades when he goes Teen Gohan. Of course, no ki cost because it's permanate.
Teen Gohan (Medium Powerlevel):
Same moves as gohan. Maybe a better shield. This incarnation gets new transformations, though, and does get a few special moves:
KameHameHa: Same as Goku's.
Transformations:
SuperSaiyan: Same as Goku's
Perfect SuperSaiyan: Same as Goku's
SuperSaiyan Two: Same as goku's, but with two new moves:
Super KameHameHa: This move actually drains Gohan's raw spirit to power. He loses HP, Ki, STM, and even some Powerlevel to do this.
Father-Son KameHameHa: A SuperKameHameHa that requires no Powerlevel, but takes everything else. Gohan has to be getting Power Gifting from someone who's character is, at the time this is used, dead and not yet respawned, or respawned with the invincibility ticker on or is there to help. The person powergifting should be notified that Gohan's using the Super KameHameHa, and give them the option to help if they're dead/invincible, or make gohan appear as a black dot on the radar if they're alive.
Adult Gohan: Untransformed looks like the Great Saiyaman. If he transforms into SS, SS2 or Mystic, then his armor bursts off. It doesnt come back until he respawns: If he descends then his hair falls back into black and he acts just the same as though he were transformed other than that.
Moves:
Same as other incarnations, has a big bright yellow shield? But thats it. Also, his drill kick is now, when in Great Saiyaman form, his "justice kick" (yes, getting this from Budokai) which does more damage. He also gets the "Justice Punch" which is a handy way to knock someone into the air and drag them back down again.
Transformations:
SS, PSS, SS2, PSS2 (P = Perfect) all same old...
Mystic: Power goes above and beyond SS2, but with an added advantage. This transformation costs nothing to sustain, and is permanate unless deactivated (Or, alternatively, lasts until killed). I'd say it adds some new melee manuevers/combos, but I dont really know anything beyond that personally.
Krillin: It's baldy, and he's here to kick some butt. Normal moves overall, don't know any special melee maneuver's here that are really specific to krillin.
Melee/Generic Beam/KiBlast
Destructo Disk: A deadly disk that instantly kills whomever has angered Krillin. Travels faster the more it's charged, get's bigger the more it's charged, damage is always instant death. Note that I think this should give full pl bonus for kills, whereas now it only gives a little bit of pl per use. Should be power-strugglable, also.
Mode 1: Disc flies straight (by the way, while krillin is on turbo and using a DD, for some reason it makes him stand on this disk....bug-report)
Mode 2: Disc will spin in whatever way is needed to hit nearest opponent (effectively making it like a ball of death instead of a disk) but costs alot more ki and doesnt get as large.
Scattering Beam: Probably the hardest move to code ever, eh ESF team? This is just a beam that goes forward then splits off into a lot of little beams that chase the enemies down as best they can. Instead of it being purely better when there are more people around, how about it does more damage the fewer beams that are released? Anyway, theres also a center beam that krillin controls directly, though it should probably have some auto-aim function in it. If someone powerstruggles one of the small beams, they go against it and it alone, none of the others, though krillin has one struggle meter that covers all the beams (or he should?
this is an idea, not an implemented feature, after all....)Mode 1: Read above.
Mode 2: Instead of going after ALL the players, this one only goes after an amount judged by Powerlevel. So if your low on Pl you can keep it from spreading too much.
Mode 3: Yes, this is a move you have to toggle modes for by right-clicking. This mode automaticly shoots at a number that you set (via a Cvar?....via player options?) no matter your powerlevel or how much you charge the beam.
Mode 4 (maybe): As it works in ESF 1.2....if he could do that in the show.
Kamehameha/Generic Beam/KiBlasts/Melee/Solar Flare
Transformations:
Unlock Potential: Same as Kid Gohans, Krillin gets new melee moves and:
Destructo Combo: This fires several small, spinning destructo discs followed by one huge, non-spinning one. Would take some time to charge up, would cost a ton of ki, but hey.....let the burning begin. This is a very sick move if you can get it off in Advanced Melee.
Mystic Krillin: This never happened it DBZ, but it could have if Krillin had been trained by the person that trained Gohan, because Krillin was also unlocked by Guru, which to my understanding is what makes a person a candidate for the mystic...? Anyway, this makes Krillin much more powerfull. He grows hair, his clothes change, and you can't see the dots on his forehead, but it's still krillin. I don't know of any new moves to be gained via this other than some new Melee abilities.
Piccolo: Same as krillin, I dont know many special melee maneuvers for this guy, other than the fact that he's GREAT at backflips kicking people up into/down out of the air, so a few combos like that.
Melee/Generic Beam/Ki Blast
EyeBeams: Works fine right now, best I can tell. Maybe add a tiny explosion radius to it? - I was under the impression that it made a small explosion. Since it takes no time to charge, this move works great in Advanced Melee when the enemy is a short distance from you. It can be used in a grapple whether your defender or attacker.
Special Beam Cannon: you charge it, and that takes a long time. You fire it, and you can't move while it's travelling, and you cant turn it once it's fired. But it instantly kills someone, and it travels fast as hell.
Mode 1: Read above.
Mode 2: Faster to charge, but doesn't instantly kill opponent, just does very serious damage. You can leave once it's fired, even if it hasnt hit yet. (Does this version really exist?)
Masenko: See Gohan's.
Transformations: Fused with Nail (or just Powered Up Piccolo):
Light Grenade: Very cheap move that sends a ball of energy that travels at an INCREDIBLE speed at the enemy. Good damage for what it costs, near impossible to dodge due to speed, charges up really fast. But the damage, while good for the cost, still isn't so hot. Better than a Generic Beam blast however, especially for the speed boost.
Fused with Kami (or Super Powered Piccolo):
Hellzone Grenade (or scattering blast): There are two modes to using this move, as well.
Mode 1: You fire a whole lot of ki blasts, then you find someone you dont like and you focus the shots on them, and the all travel to that one person (I think you should get a bit of an auto-aim function while trying to at at the person, and the shots should travel a lot faster than they do now) Basicly just like in ESF 1.2.
Mode 2: How do you get a mode 2 if the right click is being used for targetting the shots? simple. This mode is only ever used in Advanced Melee: Once you've targeted and enemy, using this ability fires ki shots at them that travel near them and just STOP near them. If you manage to stun them, this is a great move to pull: they cant get out of the circle of shots without frying themselves (basicly like passing through a super-ki-block) then you right click and....boom. Costs a lot of ki to use.
Vegeta: The prince of all saiyans. Pretty much normal melee stuff here.
Gallic Gun: A lot like the KameHameHa, only a more powerfull version of it (higher ki cost, bigger explosion, MUCH bigger beam (the beam itself is large in diameter)) that takes longer to charge, and travels more slowly to my understanding (once again, correct me if I'm wrong).
Mode 1: See above.
Mode 2: Super Gallic Gun: See Gohans Super KameHameHa: Takes some PL to use, but travels as fast as a KameHameHa, has a huge explosion radius (yes, even in my idea the explosion is pretty big, despite all explosions being smaller-than-normal) does more damage. Basicly it's a Gallic Gun version of the Super KameHameHa, but theres no Father-Son Gallic Gun
Renzoku: A whole lot of ki blasts travel out at once, almost like the hellzone grenade only it automaticly focuses them. I think this should be more powerfull than it is in ESF 1.2....it seems pretty useless to me (suggestions welcome)
Generic Beam/Ki Blast(he needs this back)/Melee.
After he gets Super Saiyan: These moves are gotten when he can go Super Saiyan but he can do them in normal form also.
Telekinetics: He can make rocks come up and fly at someone or instead send a ripple through the air that looks like a heatwave (should be a noticeable distortion) that does less damage than the rocks, but is harder to see. Also has special effects in Advanced Melee (namely it can knock the enemy back).
Mode 1: Rocks (takes longer to charge, but more damage. Also more visible)
Mode 2: Telekinetic Wave (can be used in A.Melee)
Final Flash: A stream of fire that basicly scorches the heck out of the enemy. Vegeta can't move while charging it, and it isn't really a beam as he can't turn it, but the fire bursts forth REALLY fast and does a lot of damage. Also should probably blind the enemy for a little bit from the fire. This move takes a while to charge. This beam is HUGE in diameter, also, like a Super Gallic Gun.
Basicly it's as large as the explosion radius for a generic beam in ESF 1.2.
Mode 1: See above.
Mode 2: Much faster charge, but no blindness, the beam isn't as thick and it doesn't travel as fast. Much better for an Advanced Melee encounter.
Transformations:
Super Saiyan:
Big Bang Attack: Think of a ball version of the Super Gallic Gun - this is it. Undeniably huge explosion radius. It doesn't travel very fast but when it hits it's hard to dodge. Note that a huge explosion radius in my idea doesn't mean a nuke - it's like a large kamehameha (though really high powerlevel battles have nukes of course). This move does some serious damage. Vegeta can't move while charging it, unlike the Gallic Gun, but it can really put the hurt on.
Ultra Super Saiyan (Super Vegeta): Gained just a bit before Perfect Super Saiyan, this move makes vegeta's hair stand up but without the orange tint of SS2. Essentially a stronger Super Saiyan.
Perfect Super Saiyan.
Ultimate Super Saiyan (Super Vegeta 2): Speed-racer hair, but no lightning yet. This mode is essentially the same as Trunks' transformation in the Cell Saga, so players should probably be allowed to set a cvar or whatnot to trade speed for power or vice versa.
PUltra SS, PUltimate SS, SS2
Perfect SS2: This is Majin Vegeta, basicly - SS2 costs nothing while he's in this form.
Trunks:
Melee/Generic Beam/Ki Blast
Sword: Trunks possesses a sword from the start and can use it whenever he feels it is appropriate. Basicly this is a high-powered version of Melee, doing more damage. He can also swing according to his speed, instead of at a set rate, giving him a lot of room for growth in melee. He has a completely different set of special moves for when he's using his sword, and swinging the sword takes stamina with each swing, so he can't use it too much. A sword attack that would normally stun the enemy stuns them by 1 more than a normal hit, but also costs even more stamina than the sword does normally.
Super Saiyan:
Burning Attack: A firey ball of ki that you don't want to get close to. What more is there to say? He can charge this based on his SPEED, so he can really charge it fast in high PL battles. Does a good amount of damage, too.
Mode 1: Above
Mode 2: Burning Blast: Look at Final Flash mode 2: No blindness and a smaller beam, but basicly the same deal. This type of Burning Attack doesn't charge based on speed - it always charges almost instantly, like a generic beam, but it doesn't do a whole lot of damage (the beam he used to finish off Frieza, FYI) Once he has this he gets the Burning Slash manuever, which is the combo he did to Frieza. He also gets a Jumpslash followed by this mode of Burning Attack.
Ultra Super Saiyan, Perfect SS, Ultimate SS, P Ultra SS, P Ultimate SS, SS2
All of Trunks' Transformations can be done at MUCH lower-than-normal PL levels.
Almost there.....not much more left right?
Frieza:
Melee/Generic Beam/Kiblast
Fingerlaser (AKA: Deathbeam): Piccolos eyelasers, only Frieza does it with "the finger". Can't be used in grapples.
Transformations:
Form 2, 3, 4, 5 and
Form 5 100%
This form allows frieza to use the Death Ball. I see no reason to change it from ESF 1.2 other than system changes
it's basicly a spirit bomb that costs ki. Oh, and Frieza cant move while he's charging it, can he?Well, thats it...oh, wait, I forgot Buu....but I know nothing about Buu, so other than giving him more forms in the new ESF, I have no input on him.
Hope you all enjoyed the spam. It took me forever to write.
