Dragon Ball: XenoVerse

Sean Dibble

Welcome back to the world that we all grew up loving. The world is Dragon Ball Z, you all know the lore so I won't be going too far into detail on that. Just know that if you don't know the story please, PLEASE, do not get the game, you will be lost and extremely confused. The game is based around a future in the year 826, something is happening to time itself and history is being erased. Trunks, in all of his infinite wisdom, asks Shenron to grant him one wish and that is to bring to strongest warrior to aid him in stopping history from being rewritten.

You are that superior fighter, no Goku here to steal the show from you this time. You're also not just the hero of the story, you can now create your very own custom fighter to play as through the games story. It is however limited at the moment and hopefully future updates or sadly possible DLC will give us more options but you do have five races to choose from (Majin, Saiyan, Earthling, Namekian, Frieza). Right off the bat though one thing about the customization that I am not happy with is the fact that if you want to be from the Majin race you either are the fat male model or skinny female model with the ample midsection, you can't have skinny male or fat female (minor detail I know but I wanted to create a good Kid Buu character and I wasn't allowed too). The other races are more straightforward with the Frieza race having the most customization available to the player. Now, with that said, after you choose the hairstyle and eyes and what not, you can change your color to pretty much anything you want to be. You want an Albino Namekian? Go for it! You want to be a hot pink Saiyan? Why the heck not! It is all up for grabs, but it is nothing over the top and is frankly simplistic compared to what you can do in other MMO style games.

Gameplay is a tad bit better than in previous games and they seemed to have fixed the camera issues from the past, sorta, but it is better with being able to find enemies and lock on to them. Now a big thing about DBZ games is story and this one, though not for everyone, I have enjoyed very much. It takes the lore and plays around with it a little bit and creates alternate story ideas. For instance, what if Raditz broke out of Goku’s hold and didn't get hit by the Special Beam Cannon, only Goku did? This is one among the other timeline discrepancies that you have to fix, Trunks sends you back to each event to right what has gone wrong in the hopes that it corrects the timeline. So, you follow along and fix what is happening to keep the lore intact. Like I said above, if you don't know the lore to begin with I highly recommend taking the time either reading up on it or watching the anime. It will be time well spent because the game doesn't really go into it much and it is a shame. 

While I do love DBZ games for their simplicity, XenoVerse is different and its a good/bad sort of thing because if you like MMO style games then this is a great game for you because it has that feel to it. You must search for new moves and train under masters to learn their fighting styles to make your character stronger. But you will also suffer from the terrible side effects of the MMO style which means grinding….yes, there is a bit of grinding in the game and you will find yourself doing the parallel quests over and over again to level your character up so you can beat someone like Captain Ginyu (yes, I had to grind levels to beat him and I am ashamed to admit it). And to the question that all of you are probably asking. “Are the buttons the same from past games?” Yes and no. There are a few button changes, some for the better and some not so much. For instance, to use super moves you hit the right bumper on a controller and to use an ultimate move you press and hold both right and left bumpers. That change I love, however to descend you have to press L3 on the controller and that is just plain awkward so things can be hit or miss.

My biggest pet peeve about this game though, the servers are always down. I downloaded the game pretty soon after launch thinking "ok" might not be able to play online for a bit because it is brand new. This led me to the single player but there I found that I couldn't play because of not being connected to the servers. It would connect me to the multiplayer lobbies when I clicked on the single lobby, I would get in game and then almost instantly get sent to the title screen and when I would try to get back into single player, the lobby would take ten minutes to connect! Why? All I wanted was to play single player, not with people, by myself. I do not understand and I am hoping this trend of gaming will soon be over with forcing people to be connected to a server even while in single player, its poor management and will keep people from enjoying the game. I couldn't play for a good three or four days because of it and honestly, I got frustrated to where I wasn't sure I would play the game again. Being the huge DBZ fan I am though, I knew that wasn't possible. Plus, I want to get to the point where I can beat my friends as an all powerful Beerus but who knows? If problems with the servers continue, I may be dropping Dragon Ball: XenoVerse from my Steam library.

Good:

- Graphics are stellar

- Controls have improved a bit

- Interesting take on the story (for people who know the lore)

- YOU CAN CREATE A NEW SAIYAN!!!

Bad:

- For people who don't know the lore, you will get lost

- Single player lobby still requires connection to the server

- Limited customization

- Some weird new controls

Scully Rating: 5.0 out of 10

Dragon Ball Z: The Complete Series

Sean Dibble

Five years have passed since the ending of Dragon Ball, and our hero Goku has grown up and now has a son named Gohan. The world has been at peace since the world tournament battle between Goku and Piccolo, and that’s the way Goku and his friends hope it will stay; but this peace will not last for long. Goku will face villains from out of this world, literal aliens, who come to destroy Earth in this series. Goku and his friends, the Z Fighters, must do all they can to save Earth and its populace.

(Characters from the Vegeta Saga)

The story of Dragon Ball Z is much different from its predecessor, Dragon Ball. Where Dragon Ball focused on adventure and storytelling, DBZ focuses more on fighting and, well... more fighting. For most people, this would be a negative, but I personally enjoyed all the action scenes (despite them making no sense on occasion.) One thing that DBZ had that Dragon Ball didn't was better villains, like Vegeta, Freiza, and Cell. These villains make the story much more compelling, as these three each make you think that there’s no way Goku can win. While Vegeta does eventually become an ally to the Z Fighters, the other villains aren’t so yielding.

Episode-wise, the story flows very well, for the most part. The story of Dragon Ball Z is made up of nine sagas with very little filler content. There is no lull in the story, unlike some other notable anime with a large amount of episodes that have come out long after Goku and his friends were around. What little filler there is isn’t particularly noticeable and you probably won’t realize that it’s filler unless you’ve been told beforehand such as the Garlic Junior saga and a few others that are really just more enjoyable parts to the overall story in a way.

(The two best Saiyans face off)

The characters in DBZ have their ups and downs. Following the events of Dragon Ball, Goku continues to be the strongest and Krillin can only be seen as a joke in terms of sheer power and fighting ability; however, he does compete with Yamcha for the title of Worst Human Character in DBZ. One thing I wish the show developers did differently was provide a greater backstory for Vegeta. He’s such an interesting character, but the show portrays him as a whiny crybaby. He arguably shouldn’t be stronger than the main character but Vegeta as he’s shown in DBZ is a mockery to those who enjoy his character and see just how hard he tries to stay at the top of his game. Though, despite my complaints about his character development, Vegeta does have some fantastic scenes. Among my favorite are his sacrifice against Buu, and his climactic and action-packed battles with Goku that pop up here and there.

One other part of the story, which I had some qualms with too, is the nature of Gohan and Goku’s power. You would think that, because Gohan is Goku’s son, Goku would be the more powerful of the two. While this is usually the case, there’s some inconsistency in their power levels. Gohan is generally seen as a wimp throughout much of DBZ, but during the Cell Saga he gains immense strength which rivals (or possibly even surpasses) that of his father. This is fine, and the son surpassing their father in terms of raw fighting power is seen in plenty of contemporary works, but the problem with DBZ’s representation of this concept is that they don’t follow through with it. Right after Gohan’s epic battle with Cell, he goes back to being the wimpy little kid he was beforehand.

(Gohan being a BA)

Even the animation has stood the test of time, and it’s still remarkably engaging several years later. I’ve seen this show close to ten times, and it’s one of my favorites. DBZ was the first anime I had seen and it made me fall in love with the genre. Since then, I’ve seen Bleach, One Piece, Fairy Tale, and many more; but DBZ continues to be one of my favorites, even with its flaws in timeline issues and poor character development. These flaws are small prices to pay for a fantastic storyline and hours upon hours of action-packed fight scenes. What Akira Toriyama has created with the Dragon Ball series is a legacy which few can hope to ever match. As a fan, I can honestly say that I hope Toriyama was sincere when he suggested DBZ might make a return in the future.

Good:

- Action, action, action: If you want an anime with plenty of action, DBZ certainly won’t disappoint.

- Decent storytelling: While it has its flaws, DBZ builds off of the quality storytelling practices used by its predecessor.

- Seamless flow: Each episode connects with admirable continuity, drawing the viewer in and engaging them one episode after another.

- Great show for beginning anime fans: DBZ is notorious as being one of the great gems of animation, and is a fantastic segue into more complex anime. Heck, I even know people who don’t particularly like anime who love DBZ. That should speak for itself.

Bad:

- Character development: Some characters, like Vegeta and Gohan, don’t have personalities or consistencies needed to make a powerful connection with the viewer, or simply don’t have personalities which suit their power levels.

- Some episodes simply don’t make sense: Even in the world of anime, episodes should make sense in the world which they’re built upon. For example, during the Freiza Saga, the planet Namek is supposed to be destroyed within five minutes. Several episodes occur within this timeframe, and I assure you that Namek could have blown up several times over by the time the events of these episodes have occurred.

Scully Rating: 8.9 out of 10