Thus, one of the main collecting side quests is filling in the Z-Encyclopedia that features a whole host of DBZ lore.
Arguably, however, the best inclusion to the game is the Z-Encyclopedia.ĭragon Ball is a franchise that has quite a lot of history behind it and the series takes pride in that. This breaks up the monotony of combat revolving around a few techniques and allows for players to be creative with their skills and party members. For skill trees, players can level up their attacks to be stronger and more impactful. Each person you come across, either main or side, has an emblem that can be placed on the community board to increase these bonuses. Each character has various proficiencies in several different aspects that make players stronger, train harder, cook better and even better at finding lucrative treasure. What makes “Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot” unique is the various RPG elements that encompasses your relations with characters, leveling up skills and learning new techniques. Combat can sometimes feel derivative, but for players who delve into the skill trees and experiment with the gigantic community board, it can be shaped to very fine preferences. While many battles are one on one, a majority can be fought with a team by your side to aid you with their own special techniques, attacks, energy blasts, transformations and support items. Players also have a guard that can be broken but also a burst to shove opponents away. Transformations are also a huge part of gameplay as players can transform and revert at will without lengthy power up segments. These skills are the various special techniques the series is known for, like the prominent Kamehameha. The combat system is simplified compared to recent games in the franchise with only one button for basic attack combos, one for dodging and dashing, one for energy blasts and one for charging up energy to use skills and transformations. Like any DBZ game, the main gameplay loop is based around fighting and defeating stronger opponents as players traverse their way through the main story. Aside from that, I was never bored by the tasks as the combat is very fun and can be customized to your liking. Yet, there is a point where side quests become menial tasks for negligible xp compared to the main story, so it does curb your sense of exploration in some ways. For me, these intermission periods were some of my favorite moments, zipping around Earth at breakneck speeds, meeting side characters and training to level up are all very fun distractions. These brief periods allow players to explore and complete side quests to their heart’s content before jumping back into the main storyline. On top of these brief mission breaks, the game also allots time for intermission periods that break up the fast paced sagas of DBZ. Across the world, players are able to find food, buy items from stores and even cook meals to strengthen their party.
The game breaks up these pivotal moments into missions to allow some time between combat and other distractions. Narratively, the game follows the core story from the beginning of “Dragon Ball Z.” The plot mainly revolves around Son Goku’s adventures from facing off against his rival Vegeta all the way to fighting Majin Buu.
All these years later, “Dragon Ball Z”’s plot is still just as exhilarating and fun for both newcomers and veterans of the series. While the game encompasses the main story of DBZ, a story that’s been retold countless times, the role-playing game (RPG) elements and large open world enhances the overall experience.
Yet, “Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot” seeks to change that by offering players the chance to roam the open world, level up characters and enjoy the full storyline up until the end. While these titles would capture the fighting and story aspect of the series quite well, they failed at capturing the worldbuilding aspect that makes the series so endearing. Post Views: 13,413 Courtesy of Bandai Namcoįor 30 years, “Dragon Ball Z” (DBZ) video games have tried to capture the experience of playing through the events of the series.