Dragonball Xenoverse Observations - Good & Bad

[Liquidus_Hime]

Note: I haven't played it, these are my opinions having watched it played by many people over the last 3 days.


***Stars next to a comment are things I know are limitation based OR something that I've searched up on and haven't found anything about or seen.


I've grew up with DB, DBZ, DB GT and I love it, I'm 26 now and I still love it. I've been waiting for another game that captured the essence of the series (I've played every game in existence -- I won't compare this game to them.) I've had my eye on Xenoverse for a long time and now that it's getting close, I've put a preorder on it. (planning to play the demo and decide from there. I'd like to hear other people's opinions and knowledge on the game so I can makethe best decision. (I've come to a point where a game has to pass my "Test"

-Offline gameplay/Single player story (My internet is not the best)
-Hour of play per dollar spent $60 = 60 hours (Certain games are exempt)
-Female & Male characters are playable (UNLESS the story has a set "character" to play.)
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Good:

-Visuals are good
-Fighting system is fine
-Special/Ultimate attacks are cool (visually & in number)
-CaC (Create a Character) is awesome
-The story is alright (I've played DB Online)
-1 v 1, 2 v 2, & 3 v 3 is cool
-Rpg system is cool
-Limiting vanishing to a stamina bar is smart
-Canon character have a selection of "Versions"
-The dragonballs are hard to get (This is a GOOD thing)
-There are skill resets (by wish)

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Bad

***PURE Speculation/Neggling things that I can see being a nuisance with the game: This seems like a game that has "Number 2 will add all the stuff missing" syndrome. It bothers me a lot. Even still, I may purchase it because I have extra money.

***NO DRAGONBALL characters? (I assume this remedied with DLC, which I must state again, I will not talk about.)

***There was no demo BEFORE the game's launch. I didn't have internet during the network test, so I didn't have a chance to play it. I know one is coming with the launch of the game. I plan to play it before I buy.

***The game (which has been released in japan and is going to be released in the U.S on February 24th has no "destructible environments" aside from the city houses and some mountains; the potholes and craters in surfaces staying would make a battle seem more visceral. In my opinion the new consoles and especially pc can handle this. I suppose this is subjective at best; this would be a strain on the engine I'm sure.

***There are no Android CaCs? Regenerating energy, high defense, medium attack (or whatever would balance them?)

***No great ape transformation? (I know this would be a balance issue, but I just wonder) I know there are bosses, but I'm talking CaC-wise

***No CaC usage in couch battles? (Offline multiplayer) Seems kinda goofy...

-3 v 3 gets kinda ridiculous (Most people (Non PvP) choose the most powerful characters and crush everything.) Locking characters to saga would help out with this.

***PvP gives no rewards? (I have only seen 3-4 matches in 3 days) I know that this has been out only 3 days, but I have watched maxed out characters (Level 80?) not even bothering to do anything pvp what-so-ever.

-Swords/Powerpole/Weapons can't be an alternative to fist? (Only certain attack allow you to use them)

-More supers/ultimates should be chargeable (the charge time would make it stronger, players could see attacks coming.) This would make weaker attacks more formidable at a price.

-No aura color customization (The races have their set colors, kaioken, super saiyan have their auras and canons have theirs, but CaCs are stuck with races auras.) A way to fix this is to have an aura slot that uses canon colors for customization. I would suggest beams at well, but the color of specials and ultimates are a part of lore and canon.

-All Non Namekian/Arcosian/Majin/ character are SAIYANS (I know this because I've seen constant super saiyan transformations)

-Namekians, Acrosians, and Humans have no transformation besides Kaioken (which drains stamina) They should have something that can match up against super saiyan transformation (It doesn't have to be the same, but it has enable a Non Saiyan CaC to battle on par with a super saiyan CaC) Final form and Great Namekian form could be the answer to balance this. Saiyans are arguably the BEST CaC character because super saiyan allows for super - ultimate spam

-DLC seems to be this games method of getting money (Costumes, GT Goku - Pan - Trunks all are incoming DLC for $10 ((I'm not even going to get on this subject))

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

-Namekians, Acrosians, and Humans have no transformation besides Kaioken (which drains stamina) They should have something that can match up against super saiyan transformation (It doesn't have to be the same, but it has enable a Non Saiyan CaC to battle on par with a super saiyan CaC) Final form and Great Namekian form could be the answer to balance this. Saiyans are arguably the BEST CaC character because super saiyan allows for super - ultimate spam

but if i recall correctly, according to cannon, these races dont have transformations

 

[The_Blue_Rider]

I might rent it sometime but I dont think any DBZ game released is going to be as good as Budokai Tenkaichi 3. Yes I know Budokai 3 did have better fighting mechanics, but Tenkaichi 3 had a lot of depth too, and just felt better as a "Dragonball Z game" as opposed to Budokai 3 which was a "Dragonball Z fighting game"

 

[Mental Cosmas]

I might rent it sometime but I dont think any DBZ game released is going to be as good as Budokai Tenkaichi 3. Yes I know Budokai 3 did have better fighting mechanics, but Tenkaichi 3 had a lot of depth too, and just felt better as a "Dragonball Z game" as opposed to Budokai 3 which was a "Dragonball Z fighting game"

Agreed wholeheartedly.

Now, to the negatives that i'm curious about.

***There are no Android CaCs? Regenerating energy, high defense, medium attack (or whatever would balance them?)

Yeah, lack of android CaC is a pity, I suppose there's a chance that you can get items that might emulate how androids play at least? I do hope that will be the case.

***No great ape transformation? (I know this would be a balance issue, but I just wonder) I know there are bosses, but I'm talking CaC-wise

Agreed, that is a shame :/, is this just for CaC or is it removed entirely from non-bosses?

-No aura color customization (The races have their set colors, kaioken, super saiyan have their auras and canons have theirs, but CaCs are stuck with races auras.) A way to fix this is to have an aura slot that uses canon colors for customization. I would suggest beams at well, but the color of specials and ultimates are a part of lore and canon.

Aww man, they cut that out? Not fair! Yes it was a small thing, but it was fun dammit!

-Namekians, Acrosians, and Humans have no transformation besides Kaioken (which drains stamina) They should have something that can match up against super saiyan transformation (It doesn't have to be the same, but it has enable a Non Saiyan CaC to battle on par with a super saiyan CaC) Final form and Great Namekian form could be the answer to balance this. Saiyans are arguably the BEST CaC character because super saiyan allows for super - ultimate spam

To be fair, I don't think "balance" has ever been a strong suit. of DBZ games. I'd say that's not necessarily a bad thing but that would mostly be due to the fact I never cared for online with these games. Throw it into the mix and it is a rather big deal :/.

That aside I sure am not going to argue with the idea of adding upgraded forms to the other species. I mean, to be fair it might be a lot more work putting in different Acrosians forms, but great namekian forms could basically be their oozaru form, appearance-wise only really need a scale increase (although if they fight the same way, it may cause balance issues. Still, most upgraded forms fight differently so why not?).

And, well, humans do tend to get the short end of the stick in DBZ XD.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I actually played a demo of Xenoverse at a local Best Buy and my first impression was, "Boy this game is difficult to control!" I haven't had the issue of being unable to find my opponent in a 1v1 fighting game before either but luckily there's a lock-on button. After about 30 - 45 seconds of button mashing I had gotten bored of smacking Raditz around and moved on to see what Amiibo said Best Buy had. This concludes the story of how I got my Sheik amiibo. I'm not against DBZ fighting games in general but the only one I've ever played was Shin Budokai on the PSP and a few minutes of a terminally scratched Budokai on the PS2. I may get a a Budokai compilation at some point but I don't see myself getting Xenoverse at all. I'm still miffed that Monolith went on to make the Xenoblade games instead of making a sequel to Attack of the Saiyans, which is my all-time favorite DBZ game.

 

[chaser5000]

From what I understood all races had a transforming ability, Saiyans, Majins, and Acrosians actually changing form and Earthlings and Namekians just getting a race specific kaioken like ability. Maybe I'm wrong I haven't done a lot of research about this game, only a few youtube videos.

Something I heard that I'm not a happy about is that the Majin's ability and body types are locked to gender. With Females only able to use the kid buu body type and males only able to use the fat buu body type.

 

[Liquidus_Hime]

From what I understood all races had a transforming ability, Saiyans, Majins, and Acrosians actually changing form and Earthlings and Namekians just getting a race specific kaioken like ability. Maybe I'm wrong I haven't done a lot of research about this game, only a few youtube videos.

Something I heard that I'm not a happy about is that the Majin's ability and body types are locked to gender. With Females only able to use the kid buu body type and males only able to use the fat buu body type.

Yeah, Male majins are all fat and females are all thin and small. I think a little body type diversity would be nice. The canon characters have plenty of diversity. It's missing so much stuff and the lack of dragonball in the game scares me. I really want a DBZ game I can enjoy online and off, as well as a more community centered game. This has a feeling of it and I have my preorder set, but I'm not touching it until I get a demo and play it (I'm going to assume that the demo IS a representation of the final game because they are releasing the two of them together -- Which may no be smart at all.)

I've only got a few games on my list as it is, I don't need more useless games. I need a fun fighting game though. Maybe this will fit that niche.

 

[Liquidus_Hime]

I actually played a demo of Xenoverse at a local Best Buy and my first impression was, "Boy this game is difficult to control!" I haven't had the issue of being unable to find my opponent in a 1v1 fighting game before either but luckily there's a lock-on button. After about 30 - 45 seconds of button mashing I had gotten bored of smacking Raditz around and moved on to see what Amiibo said Best Buy had. This concludes the story of how I got my Sheik amiibo. I'm not against DBZ fighting games in general but the only one I've ever played was Shin Budokai on the PSP and a few minutes of a terminally scratched Budokai on the PS2. I may get a a Budokai compilation at some point but I don't see myself getting Xenoverse at all. I'm still miffed that Monolith went on to make the Xenoblade games instead of making a sequel to Attack of the Saiyans, which is my all-time favorite DBZ game.

Sadly, I missed the network test, so I've never played it. It's not all assumption though, these are things that you can go onto streams (the game is out in Japan) and see for yourself. There are also a couple of streamers that know English so they can answer questions. I thought the targeting system looked okay for the most part.