Cognition Dissemination: I’m Coming Around to Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot

I made it clear in a previous post that I wasn’t the biggest fan of Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot’s concept. There have been several Dragon Ball games over the years where players could reexperie the canonical Dragon Ball Z sagas, though with small twists to make the story and battle sequences palatable for a video game. It’s been a while since the last one, but it would have ostensibly been more interesting to go with an original story for a game this time, similar to what One Piece: World Seeker did in theory — though not in terms of quality.

But with the most recent showing, I’ve started warming up to it.

I started thinking about how long it’s actually been since the last DBZ game that went through all the sagas, and many of the most recent examples were on systems like the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, and PlayStation 2, outside select fighting games — with the Legacy of Goku games on GBA being stated as the best. None of those titles had production values anywhere near on par with what Kakarot will present. There’s a new generation of fans who won’t mind experiencing those sagas in game form on current platforms while several older fans will be fine with doing that again if gameplay is good, and if it has a few twists.

Bandai Namco showed more of the game at Gamescom this past week, and the press received the opportunity to play and showcase the new media. The focuses were on the Saiyan Saga, parts of which were previously shown at E3 2019 a little over two months ago; but the Cell Saga is being showcased for the first time. The name “Kakarot” is part of the title, Goku’s Saiyan name, but several characters will be playable for exploration and battles, including Gohan, Piccolo, Vegeta, and Trunks. This makes the “Kakarot” in the name a bit of a weird choice, unless there are new story sequences about Goku that will be revealed here. Krillin, Tien, Yamcha, and Chiaotzu will be available as support characters, so you won’t be able to experience Yamcha’s now-legendary death in the Saiyan Saga while controlling him.

The biggest story sequences from the series will unsurprisingly be included, though several haven’t been shown yet. There’s no clue as to whether, say, Cell’s absorption of the Androids and transformation into Perfect Cell will be as vivid (and innuendo-laden, in Android 18’s case) as it was in the series. The screenshots and videos have focused on Goku’s battles with Raditz and Vegeta, along with (again, ironically, given the game’s name) Gohan’s battle with Cell. Combined with the production values and the art style  faithful to the series thanks to CyberConnect2’s efforts, this could be something special for Dragon Ball fans.

Neither CC2 nor Bandai Namco have specified exactly how much of DBZ will be included, but while rumors said it would go up to the Cell Saga, Goku’s English voice actor Sean Schemmel claimed it will go through the whole series. We’ll see who’s right soon, though I’m sure Sean knows what he voiced.

I will say that my turn-around on the game has absolutely nothing to do with one of my ideas being included: The Driving Game. This won’t be a side quest, but a minigame that can be played multiple times. It’s a shame that the outfits will be included, especially Piccolo’s “Post Boy” shirt and “Gokuu” hat combo, but since he’s playable, maybe it will be a bonus outfit. This could also apply to the pink shirt and yellow pants combo Vegeta wore for Future Trunks’ first appearance if he isn’t wearing it in the game. If you’re taking this as me submitting even more ideas, then… well, yeah.

Not to say Kakarot here will be short on new ideas; heck, they’re even adding a brand-new character: Bonyu. She’s a former member of the Ginyu Force, hence her outfit, who will be featured in a side quest. She also bears a slight resemblance to Lizzo, but let’s just chalk that up to a coincidence for now. Her design is nowhere near as pandering as an early description implied, so she’s not on par with Android 21 or Cheelai — not to say either of them are bad characters, of course. It would be a missed opportunity if she was the only new character, and there’s plenty of time for them to announce more.

The game looks and sounds great, but the biggest concern is whether it will also play great. The battles shown since E3 2019 heavily resemble those from the Budokai Tenkaichi titles and the Xenoverse games, and a key question is whether they’ll be enjoyable for the entire game’s duration. There’s an audience that enjoys these types of battles, but another vocal one thinks they’re played out after so much time. The core gameplay also hasn’t been the strongest point of many CC2 titles, including the Naruto: Ultimate Ninja games they’ve made. Perhaps they’ll be more enjoyable than they look.

Bandai Namco has plenty more to show of Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot before it releases early next year for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. It was originally intended for a release by the end of this year, but was delayed likely due to CC2’s desire to give it more polish. Hopefully the final result is good.