Ki management, transformations and how they affect different characters

[Hellion_Blade]

Some of these questions may have come up in previous suggestion threads ,however, I would like to know more. At work last night I was thinking about the way ki management will change relative to transformations. We all know the current release makes ki management easier while transformed and that it is going to be the opposite in the final release. What has not been specified is how this will effect the different characters. This may be a bit too complicated to implement differences between characters but I don't code the game so I decided to ask.

Example 1. Goku transforms into a super saiyan. His power level increases by set amount, lets say, 5 mil. In game, using ki attacks, melee, teleporting and swooping now use more ki energy by 50%*.

*50% is not official information. It was a hypothetical number only to be used as an example.

This seems to make sense. The trade off for the transformed state of becoming a super saiyan is to increase power output but the toll on the body to put up with so much causes it to wear out more quickly. Thus, in our game the ki meter depletes much faster.

Example 2. Cell at his basic form has a similar amount of ki in reserve and ki consumption in comparison to Goku while goku is in his normal state. Now correct me if I am wrong about this but I believe after cell transformed he was not in a 'powered up' state. However, as it is explained so far, all transformations will be treated the same in that, being in a transformed state causes you to burn extra ki but you can do more damage.

Cell's raised power compared the previous form was now his normal form. It also seemed that he was not burning up extra ki because he was not in a powered up state like when a saiyan ascends to super saiyan. The super saiyan will eventually run out of energy and no longer be able to hold this state.** Cell can remain at his second stage for the rest of eternity and never get tired because stage 2 cell is now his base form. You can conclude that a super saiyan transformation is closer to a power up. It is no more than an overdrive while Cell's transformation is a full stable transformation. The argument or suggestion is that in the game, perhaps Cell as well as other characters with similar transformations, will have their ki management affected differently depending on the character. Maybe Cell's ki management should stay like in 1.2.3. This can and will give players more options and a much more different feel when they are playing different characters.

**This statement conflicts with the storyline before the cellgames begin. Goku and Gohan are able to achieve the ability to hold a super saiyan form without ever running out of energy from holding the state. (Perhaps after training in the super saiyan state in order to reach a super saiyan 2 state, there will be less or no ki drain to hold the super saiyan 1 transformation. Hold does not mean swooping or using attacks. Flying would possibly drain ki like in the normal state but standing on the ground would not drain any ki.)

This post is not to beg the dev team to add yet another crazy suggestion to the game, but to have the team consider adding a feature that will give each character a truly unique feel. This is something that may have balancing issues right off the bat. "How can it be fair to have Cell stage 2 be as powerful as Goku super saiyan 1 when Goku runs out of energy but cell wont?" Adjust the power level necessary for the transformations depending on what the different transformations offer the character. Make Super Saiyan an easy to achieve transformation and give Cell stage 2 a higher required base power level to make that massive change to his body. The guy absorbed a person with immense power to make it to that 2nd form after all.

 

[pumadace2000]

I think they WILL actually make super saiyan easier to achieve because now they are talking about more transformations for most of the characters where it is possible. Goku for example will have 3 if I'm not mistaken SSJ1 SSJ2 and SSJ3. So having this many it should be easy to achieve SSJ1 since in the Z show it did become a piece of cake for all the saiyan characters still alive. SSJ2 should be a challenge to achieve, and SSJ3 should be possible if your very very fed. This is how I see things working, unless they plan to make SSJ3 as some sort of last effort mechanism in case you are really hurt that is possible to activate after you have reached SSJ2, could be a possibility but not so certain about how it would work. I dunno as far as I've heard SSJ3 will be like in the anime, that means it will drain the @#*($ out of your stamina and ki(possibly even when standing still). So there's an interesting system for you.

I think it will be interesting enough now that we have more possibilities of transformations. Let's just hope they won't become to powerful like the ECX attempts at creating these, but I have faith the devs won't let it come to such a thing.

Also, if they are not already like this, Buu(never managed to transform him and see how it works), Cell(I know his first transformation remains even after death), Krillin(he already does, I believe and I don't think he'll have a second transformation, but I mentioned him because he basically ages when he transforms) and Frieza(never managed to transform him and see how it works) should keep all their transformations once they achieve them.

 

[Hellion_Blade]

Yeah ECX your power level just gets way too out of hand and even then the attacks don't reflect how strong you are. you could be ssj2 and shoot a turbo charged KHH at krillin and krillin wouldn't even die. I'm more concerned though, about making each character different. Different in a way that makes it feel like your not just playing the same thing with a different model and different colored beams. 1.2.3 feels that way. The character specific sounds help and the different attacks between characters helps differentiate as well but after a short while it all feels like the same thing. Making the ki management different between characters and their personal transformations can really give that character a lot more depth and could make it much more geared towards that characters abilities. If I can unleash a final form Frieza upon the map by training hard enough to achieve that form, I want to feel like a flying fortress able to spam all of the beams ever until I am killed by another player. Maybe give frieza a lot of ki to work with but the ki charge up takes longer as well. If you are able to have that much in reserve so that your regular attacks hit twice as hard, maybe it should take twice as long to replace all that energy rather than just running out twice as fast.

 

[Grega]

There are 3 sets of transformations we have in the game that will behave differently.

The first set is your standard transform to SSJ and revert when a condition is met (Sayians as an example)

The second set is also in 1.2 its transform permanently. You will be stuck in that form (Cell as an example)

The third one is specific to the final with a slight debut in the Open Beta. The Buddy system. (Ginyu is the example for this one)

As for conflicts with the story line of DBZ. We ignore them for gameplays sake. Thats why Friezas 4th form is not SSJ level. Gameplay is more important than canon.

The transformations are a reflection of that mentality.

 

[Hellion_Blade]

Gameplay is more important than canon.

The transformations are a reflection of that mentality.

Right and thats exactly what we should aim for. I'm not saying make one transformation equal to another in that way. I meant for the transformations like the permanent transformations specifically to be similar to their canon counterparts. bluntly, Cell and Frieza shouldn't use ki up faster like the saiyans do. the saiyan transformations don't increase the ki reserve however the permanent transformations of cell and frieza do. my suggestion is to make those permanent transformations behave like the ones in 1.2. easier ki management. or perhaps for balancing make it take longer to charge to full ki rather than burn through ki faster and charge at the same rate.

 

[Grega]

As said we have 3 types of transformations that each behave differently.

 

[Hellion_Blade]

So the ki management is different as well between the types of transformations?