Dragon Ball Xenoverse...
I'll be the first to admit it, I'm an avid Dragon Ball fan. Dragon Ball, and Dragon Ball Z are two of my favorite series. GT, not so much. So when I heard about Xenoverse, I was actually kind of excited, and even more so when I discovered it was coming to PC. I'm a PC gamer by nature. It's what I love most, but not what I limit myself to.
So what about Dragon Ball Xenoverse? Is it any good? Should you consider it? Is it a waste?
Well, let's take a look, shall we?
This game has some major flaws. Yes, I'm getting into the ugly of it first. Because I'm an asshole like that.
This game can be unstable at times. Playing with a friend, we've found that on occasion the portals to new areas in Parallel Quests in Multi-Player will sometimes not work. This is bullshit. You have to start over to get it working properly. This is an oversight that needs to be corrected.
The servers tend to be highly unstable, and very unreliable. Shutting down, and booting you from your game randomly. You can get back in easily enough, but you won't be connected to the actual Xenoverse. Which isn't the worst thing in the world, but yeah, it can still be irritating as fuck.
The game is highly imbalanced in PvP. Some classes are nigh indestructible, and others are like paper. This wouldn't be a problem if the nigh indestructible classes couldn't kill you quickly, but they can. They hit you once, you're stunned, and then they beat the shit out of you, never needing to waste their avoidance because you're completely on the defensive.
The game is incredibly spammy too, and you will find people and the AI spamming techniques left and right, which is annoying at the best of times. The AI also has a natural temporary invulnerability. You can be level 80, and still have your techniques blocked completely by a level 5.
The mentors are completely random, you never know when they'll appear in TokiToki City...
Which brings me to my next point, by the way, the game leaves much to be desired in the way of open world experiences. In that it isn't one. It's very closed off, and everything occurs within little instances.
This is leads to a lot of irritation, and annoyance. You will get angry very easily at this game from time to time. It's a fucking pisser. It really is. So why then do I play it?
Why do I enjoy this game, if it's so annoying, and has so many flaws?
Here's the actual good part.
It's Dragon Ball. If you've ever been a fan of Dragon Ball, you've probably wanted to be a part of that universe. To experience what it means to be a Super Saiyan. To be able to Kaioken. To shoot off a Kamehameha, or attack with lightning fast ass-kickery.
This game gives you that. Some might say, "Lots of games have given us that." True... but this game gives you your very own character, and isn't an MMO, meaning you don't have to be online all the time to actually get any enjoyment. Other players even appear in your Single Player experience as NPCs that can be hired for your team, and work with you in Offline Battles and Offline Parallel Quests.
The mentors, when you can get them, are excellent. Brilliant even. You get to train under these mentors and learn their moves, and master their techniques. It's a lot of fun.
The clothing and accessories they provide are pretty cool too. They can't be customized, unfortunately, with exceptions to most of your "race specific" gear, but they can only be altered in color scheme. Saiyan Battle Armor, for instance, cannot be modified. Gear like what Raditz wears? Yeah, can't modify it. But you can wear it. Though the tail is a permanent fixture. If you don't want the tail, you'll have to get some of the gear that has no tail.
Gear also gives stat bonuses, which is kind of a double edge sword, in that, it provides benefit to wear the best stuff, but the caveat is, your character may not look how you want them to look all the time, because the best gear doesn't look how you want it to.
Broly's gear has some of the best stats for a melee fighter, but what if you'd rather have your character dressed like Raditz? Or Goku? Or even Vegeta? Can't have that, because the gear is designed a specific way, or is very weak by comparison, unless you want to gimp yourself, that's a bit of a problem.
You do, however, have presets. You can wear what you want, and switch between presets that you have saved as you go into battles, which can be pretty cool. Accessories provide no bonus, they are purely cosmetic, which is neat. You can use anything you want for that slot. Sadly, it is only one slot.
And then there are Z-Souls, which are cool, but being limited to only one, makes it hard to choose which one you actually want to use, especially when you start getting some really good ones. Again, presets make this a little easier, but it's also a bit of a pain in the ass having to pick and choose one out of half a dozen excellent options at the top end. Which I think is actually more of a good thing than a bad one. If one of your complaints is having too many good options, I think that's a good thing.
This game also alters some of the story as it goes along, but this explained by the whole story itself. This is not surprising.
So I guess the final question is, should you get this game?
How about I ask you another couple of questions? Are you a DB fan? Do you like RPGs? If so, this game is for you. Yes, it's grindy, and kind of repetitive... but that is what RPGs do. Hell, it's what all games do, really. Does this game have its share of issues? Yeah, it does. But you know of them now, and it's up to you the weigh the pros vs the cons. It should also be noted that they are working on fixing a lot of these issues.
If you're not a fan of DB, or you're not a fan of RPGs, you probably shouldn't buy this game, because it's going to be at least one thing you don't like. It carries some aspects of fighting games to it, (combos, supers, etc.) which is cool, but it is very much so an RPG, and you will quickly tire of it if you're not into RPGs. And if you're not really into DB, there is no reason for you to even consider this game, because DB is exactly what it is.
Some people will be pissed at me for this. They'll hate me, and probably threaten me for speaking ill of their favorite game. Fuck you, fan-boys, the game has issues that need to be fixed. It is not perfect, no game is. And the asshole gamer will make it known to all. Why? Because I'm an asshole, and I'm proud of it. But I'm also an honest asshole, so you can count on me giving to your straight, even if you don't like it. Especially if you don't like it.
