The King's Conclusions — Trunks

\\\TRUNKS///

By TWILTHERO

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Ah, Trunks. He really IS one of the awesomest DBZ characters, isn’t he? I mean, he’s got nothing on Yajirobe… or Korin… or Zarbon… or Master Roshi… or Androids 16, 19, and especially 20… or those dang Saibamen… or Tao Pai Pai… or, while we’re at it, pretty much all the Dragon Ball characters… or Hercule… or child Trunks… but, aside from them, he’s the best!

*reads*

Okey hey, the first thing that stands out in here is the Ki Charge mechanic. This is looking more or less exactly like the system they use in the actual DBZ fighting games, and it’s been integrated very nicely, like a natural fit. However, before I move on, one thing becomes unclear: you only charge as long as you hold B, yes? And the length of time you charge is just how long you hold the button? Makes it possible to charge on the fly, between attacks, just like in Budokai.

Anyway, the rest of the moveset is obviously largely based off of the Ki Charge thing. That’s cool, but I’m thinking that it’s a tad underpowered. The transformation don’t make a huge difference in his stats, and to stay in Super Saiyan form, you’d have to stop every couple of seconds to charge. Say he loses one bar every six seconds. It take two seconds to regain a bar. Therefore, to stay in Super Saiyan 2, you’d have to be charging 1/3rd of the time. I don’t know whether he could spare that in a real Brawl. Maybe make him lose Ki more slowly?

On the bright side, the mechanic is tons of fun. Knowing when to use your Ki Charge and finding opportunities to recharge would add a lot to playing the character, making him a technical choice with lots of options for offensive AND defensive play. Kudos there.

When you take the Ki away, you have a bunch of sword slashes. I gotta admit, I’m not a huge fan of most of these, as they’re kinda generic. However, as has been said, it’s not easy to think up creative sword attacks. If I were you, I’d take a second look at the tilts in particular, trying to find some way to make them a bit more unique. Some special property would add a lot… maybe make one eat projectiles, and another have super armor, and the third… I don’t even know. However, this isn’t a huge complaint, as it isn’t a prerequisite for a moveset to have only wacky, out-there attacks. If he has a unique mechanic, having a few simple, back-to-basics attacks is not a bad thing.

All the attacks that actually use Ki are very cool and fit Trunks to a T. Seems like he has some really nice range, between his sword and his Ki attacks, and combined with his charging mechanic, it may make him a bit campy, but, on the other hand, the foe has openings to rush in and make it into close combat, so I suppose that’s alright.

Now, let’s talk detail. You’ve got pretty much everything that needs to be said here. However, the way it’s presented is a bit… messy. I’d prefer it if some of these large attacks were divided into multiple paragraphs. It would really make it much easier to go through.

And so we come to the organization aspect. Your layout is actually one of the better ones, making it really easy to figure out where attacks begin and end. HOWEVER… I’m gonna admit that I’m not a huge fan of sprites. It makes it too tempting to just skim, having the occasional glance at the pretty pictures instead of actually reading the attack explanation. This is just a personal thing, and I concede that it makes it easier to imagine the attacks.

So, what do we have here, overall? This moveset should mostly be read for the fun Ki mechanic, and because it fits the character perfectly. It’s sufficiently detailed, if a bit hard to go through. On the whole, I like it quite a bit. However, I don’t quite think it’s your best work. Maybe just because DBZ characters don’t lend themselves to particularly inventive movesets, but this feels kind of… by-the-book. Not too adventurous or daring. A very solid contender, but it doesn’t leap out as fantastic.

Again, though, I DO like it. And if anyone other than TWIL is actually reading this, stop wasting time and go read it now.