"Dragon Ball XENOVERSE 2" Official Discussion Thread

[Scsigs]

The Story, for me that's all they need to do, forget about revisiting DB Story all over like the past two games and go full Dragon Ball Heroes, like that Fu DLC but more extreme with brand new villains, transformations, etc.

The gameplay & overworld could also use revising. Maybe if they took cues from Kakarot. That game was better, imo, at what it tried to do than Xenoverse.

[Gt91]

With the sheer abundance of DLC’s that this game received, I’m just left here wondering what they could possibly do for a third game at this point. I can’t imagine they’re going to put that much emphasis on improving the combat system.

The Story, for me that's all they need to do, forget about revisiting DB Story all over like the past two games and go full Dragon Ball Heroes, like that Fu DLC but more extreme with brand new villains, transformations, etc.

This.
A lot of new characters/what if, trasformations ecc...
We have kakaroth for the ordinary/original story.

[dualist]

They can do SO MUCH more as far as improving on the foundation. This game put a lot of emphasis on co-op play that quickly became redundant. The story needs to be improved with new scenarios that aren't so tied to the DBZ and imclude online play as well. I would love to see them expand more on the MMO elements and it be more of an action adventure game with PvP elements those who want it.

[Yuli Ban]

You sure about that? because that was widely reported by some many different people as a fact everywhere is hard to believe that many would screw up something so important and since the game has received endless DLC till now it wasn't that crazy when you think about it like with Rockstar still milking GTA V, hope is just like you said because i want to see news about Xenoverse 3 soon.

Flashbacks to "Dragon Ball Super returning July 2019!"
"Leaks are fake and unreliable."
"No way, there are WAY too many people reporting on this; it's definitely coming back. Stop being a doomer, bro"

I can't believe Dragon Ball Super came back in July 2019 so strong and with that epic new arc, huh? Now that it's going on a year old, I think the show has definitely redeemed itself with movie-quality animation and surprisingly touching writing. I'm glad it returned in July 2019 and the leaks were right.

All cynical jokes aside, I CAN actually see a path forward for a pointless rerelease/remastered version. If even fucking Saints Row the Third got an 8th gen rerelease, I can see Xenoverse 2 getting one.

I totally regret buying the DLC, but this little bit makes me realize I wasted much more money than I thought. When I bought XV2 I thought thought they would eventually add some cool what-if scenarios in, but the DBS DLC gave us nothing new. It was just the same old "kill the overhealed purple character" Xenoverse 1 and Xenoverse 2's base game had, but with Super instead of Z.

Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 with all DLC is what the base game should have been in the first place. The things that hadn't been unveiled yet in the series (chiefly Fused Zamasu, Vegetto Blue, the Tournament of Power and Super: Broly) can get a pass as DLC, but the characters from the earlier parts of the series— the movies and GT especially— shouldn't have been also been DLC. There's probably $100 worth of DLC just getting characters even the first Sparking!/Tenkaichi game gave us for free. The price of the game is more than tripled for such basic content.

Ironically, that's exactly what I see such a "next-gen remastered" Xenoverse 2 being: basically just a slightly-graphically updated "Director's Cut" version with all the DLC and slightly better lighting effects.

With the sheer abundance of DLC’s that this game received, I’m just left here wondering what they could possibly do for a third game at this point. I can’t imagine they’re going to put that much emphasis on improving the combat system.

The Story, for me that's all they need to do, forget about revisiting DB Story all over like the past two games and go full Dragon Ball Heroes, like that Fu DLC but more extreme with brand new villains, transformations, etc.

"Mainline" Dragon Ball games struggle to survive past their home generation; when they do make it, it's usually in handheld or bastardized form (i.e. the Budoten games, the Budokai games, the Budokai Tenkaichi series which ended miserably with Ultimate Tenkaichi, the Legacy of Goku series ending with that GT beat-em-up, and that's pretty much it). The developers tend to see it fit to make a new series for each new console generation rather than continue an old one. We usually get up to the third installment, but since "four is death" and another console gen beckons, they usually switch gears.

As for what they could do, I've already perfectly explained it before, but that would put this post over the character limit. Simply put, completely overhaul the fighting system. Make it flow more like the Sparking/Raging Blast series and not the spastic, twitchy mess it has been since 2015. Increase the number of ways to pull off a combo and special/ultimate attack. Or, conversely, allow us to switch specials/ultimates mid-battle so we aren't locked to the same three moves unless you exit the battle, spend time reconfiguring your character, then load up another battle. Replace the litany of moves that have one single textual and alpha channel difference with the ability to level up & branch off (and toggled back and forth between these different) specials and ultimates, giving you actual incentive for using them. Give it FighterZ's visuals. Allow the CaC to learn different Mentors' fighting styles and choose between them, with the use of one changing your own attacks and defense and even giving boosts/nerfs for specials & ultimates (but critically not locking anything away from being used like a dumbass). And allow the CaC to equip multiple miscellaneous items (especially if wigs that are indistinguishable from basic hair options or almost unnoticeable little props like scouters or hair feathers are going to be items).
Mastering a mentor's relationship should also gift you the option to customize them, such as putting Son Goku in a Saiyan/Freeza Force outfit or dress up, I dunno, Tenshinhan like #18.

This leads into something that seems like a completely obvious thing to do in a game all about alternate histories and what-ifs (even though it really is). Xenoverse 2 did this ONCE for a SINGLE side mission tucked away in the Mushroom Desert hub— why not use the character creator to design unique villains and heroes and NPCs??

I get it, Xenoverse 2 was a rush job, an attempt at a yearly release on an 8th gen console (surely they've learned their lesson), and that's why it was Xenoverse 1.5. But it's going on 4 years later; they'll have no excuse if Xenoverse 3 is just Xenoverse 1.8, complete with yet another story that's just "What if [Villain]..... WAS STRONGER AND PURPLE?!?!" following the series' progression yet again. And critically, there's no consequence to your actions besides "the series continued on as per normal." Hello, a new Super Saiyan/Super Namekian/Freeza's race/Majin just appeared in the middle of the Artificial Humans arc— regardless of if they disappear or not, that's changing the lore forever! The characters will wonder endlessly about who this mysterious stranger was and why they're so strong! If they're a Saiyan or of Freeza's race, Vegeta especially will be obsessed with finding out more about them. Wouldn't THAT be an interesting path to follow?
What about the endlessly fascinating question of "What if Raditz never showed?" So instead we get to see the ongoing rivalry between Son Goku and Piccolo until their clash ends. Who knows, with Gohan around, we might even get to see the amazing sight of an Oozaru wrestling a giant Namekian. THAT would be awesome.
Instead, we get Evil Goffik Raditz who avoids the Makankosappo and hits Goku, only for a nameless donut-steel to beat him raw but conveniently not so raw that Goku avoids sacrificing himself in the exact same manner as the series. Or a Goffik Super Strong Freeza who... changes absolutely nothing.

Look, I get I'm expecting too much out of a children's pseudo-action RPG. But what ifs used to be so interesting. Not necessarily well-written, but it was always a treat to see the devs put in these little alternate history stories that tickled the imagination and played with the progression of events.
Sparking! NEO gave us the "What If Raditz Became Good" story that still kicks the ass of anything Xenoverse— a game fundamentally about changing history— has ever even attempted to do. The What Ifs of the Budokai and Tenkaichi series make for a better Xenoverse than Xenoverse itself.

I'd love to at least see something like that. Really go balls-to-the-wall with the Fu storyline, or give us the option to be a Time Breaker and completely fuck up the lore. Rather than play through the story of Z, GT, and Super (conveniently leaving out DB, of course), just pick six or seven core events in the series and mess them up. Then explore the consequences of this change.
Hell, they can even be in the same order as the series' progression, as long as they don't bleed into each other.

So like, event 1 is Raditz' arrival. If someone stops Raditz' arrival, Piccolo rises again with an army of CaC Namekians/demons. And then you get a plotline revolving around this rivalry actually going somewhere.
Conversely, event 2 may be something like the battle with Freeza, and this changed outcome might be that Freeza kills Son Goku and continues taking over the universe, including eventually recruiting Dr. Gero— but now with your help or with you as some resistance leader, eventually reviving Son Goku as a Super Saiyan.

See, THAT would be interesting to see. Actual what ifs that have longer consequences and genuinely rewrite the story rather than being a festival of Donut Steel Author Insert.

[Koitsukai]

There are many things to fix for XV3.

-The combat system is from 2015, little things changed for XV2 and we need a combat system worthy of 2021 and next gen. The whole life bar, stamina bar, ki bar needs a clean slate, right now it sucks. Kakarot has a pretty good thing going with it. We've seen many times a character on the brink of death that transforms and suddenly is no longer close to death. Include that, let turning SS also regain some health.

-DB has plenty of unfair fights, 2 vs 1 (Raditz), 3 vs 1 (Vegeta), 2 vs 1 (Ginyu), 3 vs 1 (Freeza), 4 vs 2 (android saga), 4 vs 1 (Broly) 2 vs 1 (Janemba), 5 vs 1 (Hirudegan), all vs 1 (Beerus) 4 vs 1 (Jiren). I don't want to just let us play 2 or 3 vs 1, but a combat system that makes it fair for the guy fighting alone.

-Bring back mean struggles.

-To close the gap between consoles and PC, introduce every single character ever. The full DB-DBZ-DBS-DBGT roster is long overdue, I don't want to be missing not even Cyborg Tao or Nam. Well, I might be exaggerating about Nam, but really 2nd form Cell isn't in-game? Buutenks? Ridley Scott's Freeza?

-Stop giving the same ultimate attack to so many characters, specially strong, importante characters. Beerus deserves his own customized attacks, so does Jiren and Champa, etc. Have customized dialogues like Fighterz.

-Allow to choose in what form the character starts the fight, the same for the enemies. Unlock every transformation for every character and let people have their SS3 Vegeta, their SS4 Gohan, etc. Let us go crazy with it, videogames have been inventing characters so why not this? I also want those SDBH characters that are out there. Cumber, Golden Cooler, Golden Metal Cooler, Hearts, Laggs, Kamioren, include all of them.

-I would like also to be able to fuse at will but that might be too much, though I would definitely want Buu to be able to absorb anyone just like in one of those TB from long ago.

-Fighterz' graphics. Or close to it. The shading at least. Kakarot looks great but the faces and hair are somewhat off, so I hope XV3 is superior to Kakarot in that aspect.

[Xeno Goku Black]

The combat definitely needs improving especially the camera. Also the pacing of the fights because when I played Xenoverse 2 there were so many fights that were just a chore to play because they went on for several minutes too long.

The story definitely shouldnt cover anything from Z or Super. That whole idea of being a Time Patroller and going to the past to fix problems, yeah that's needs to be finished with.

The whole Dark Empire and Dark King Mechikabura sagas, they need to take that and rework the story for Xenoverse 3. Mechikabura should be the main villain of the game.

The graphics need improving drastically.

And all these little minigames like carrying milk either need to go or just make something better.

[ZeroNeonix]

The combat definitely needs improving especially the camera. Also the pacing of the fights because when I played Xenoverse 2 there were so many fights that were just a chore to play because they went on for several minutes too long.

I believe this was by design. XV2 gave us a much bigger health pool than in the previous games, which meant that battles could go on longer. Personally, I like it this way. While fights may be over quick in real life, Dragon Ball as a series is known for its longer battles. I just wish there was an option to turn off time limits for online battles. At least with your friends.

[Xeno Goku Black]

I get that it's not FighterZ or Budokai and the fights can go longer but some of them go on for too long that they just become a complete chore. Especially when there's multiple enemies with huge amounts of health.

A fighting game shouldn't really become boring in that way. Spamming Ultimate moves because characters have too much health that basic attacks aren't worth it is just shoddy.

Again worse still when you think you're almost done and then more em fly in and it continues.

[Yuli Ban]

The only time the longer fights ever felt satisfying were when playing as a Saiyan and roleplaying that I was butchering an entire army alongside other Saiyan grunts. The sheer power fantasy of fucking up 20 Saibamen or fruit-flavored Freeza force soldiers got you in the mindset of a battle-crazed warrior, especially with "The Saiyans are a True Warrior Race" soul.

All other times, it was a monotonous slog that overstayed its welcome. And in fact for several of the missions, the fact that your healing items didn't heal the PQ-centric ally character and you had to waste an ultimate slot for Towa's healing move was just unacceptable, especially when you face five wave of god-tier opponents. It gets annoying beating through half the cast of the entire series until your brain juices are leaking through a head wound, all the while there's a time limit on getting a Z rank (and thus having any ghost of a chance getting the opportunity of a loot drop from the RNG).

[Koitsukai]

Those PQ Saving-Private-Ryan-style and time-limit ones, when you think that's as bad as it gets, your own friendly AI decides to screw you over and begins to interrupt your combos and ultimates. They will just take your prey away from your very jaws just to kick them away, and do nothing else. They won't follow up, they won't be of any use at all.
They won't step in when you are getting beaten or your stamina is broken and you are being ragdolled even while close to death, but they sure will kick the fucker away right after you started your Power Rush and had 7 seconds left to finish him off before the time limit/your ally's health goes below 50%.

Although to be fair it's been so long since I've played it I don't remember if they use their strongest attacks, but they don't transform that one I do recall, they stay in their base form no matter what.

[ZeroNeonix]

At least enemy AI isn't like in XV1. They won't gang up on you like before. If more than one enemy is targeting you, they'll basically take turns fighting you. XV1 enemy AI was a freaking nightmare.

[Yuli Ban]

Those PQ Saving-Private-Ryan-style and time-limit ones, when you think that's as bad as it gets, your own friendly AI decides to screw you over and begins to interrupt your combos and ultimates. They will just take your prey away from your very jaws just to kick them away, and do nothing else. They won't follow up, they won't be of any use at all.
They won't step in when you are getting beaten or your stamina is broken and you are being ragdolled even while close to death, but they sure will kick the fucker away right after you started your Power Rush and had 7 seconds left to finish him off before the time limit/your ally's health goes below 50%.

Although to be fair it's been so long since I've played it I don't remember if they use their strongest attacks, but they don't transform that one I do recall, they stay in their base form no matter what.

Ah yes, you've brought back some of my quality-of-life issues.

Yes, they do use their strongest attacks. Sometimes, it's a game changer too— there are several PQs I only completed with a Z rank because an ally character used an Ultimate at the right time (or spammed them enough times), whereas there are others I failed because they never did anything of the sort. Super: Broly's Ultimate is basically a fuck you move whether or not he's on your side or an opponent, and I've never gone wrong with him on my side. Dual wielding Brolys means that some PQs become piss easy when the two decide to spam Gigantic Roar and eviscerate health bars worldwide.


I rarely run into the problem of an ally kicking away my opponent; almost always, it's me firing a Super or Ultimate sans any imperviousness to damage and the wind-up time takes a few to several seconds to show them doing some stupid little pose or grunt half-heartedly, giving the opponent the opportunity to either fuckslap me to the dirt, get out of the way, or start an Ultimate that makes them invincible that's also locked on to the PQ-essential ally character. This with no way to re-aim my attack since the charge-up is a cutscene unlike the Sparking! and Raging Blast games that allowed you to move your character before firing. Of course, the physical attacks still have the same issue of sometimes allowing you to chase your opponent across the entire map but also sometimes only making you jerk a few meters forward before stopping and making you waste a chunk of your ki bar.

But the endresult is always the same: the PQ-essential character gets their ass dappled with Freeza's cheese grater, falling under 50% health. And I learned way too late that using Energy Zone to put their health back above 50% doesn't actually undo the lost requirement— as long as it went under 50% at any time in the match, you failed to accomplish that requirement.
Because you already have to waste a Super slot just for ki charging (rather than, say, left trigger + guard button), this further reduces the moves you can use in these escort PQs, further making them a slog and further making it more likely you're going to get your ass reamed because you and a buddy initially tried ganging up on Fused Zamasu to save you from dying, but then they decided to go watch some butterflies.

As I said in another thread, that'd not even be that daunting if there were some way to command your bot allies, such as telling them all to defend, all to attack, or strategically send one or more out on the offensive, or to send one to collect Dragon Balls while the others bog down the opponents, or something of that nature, or, critically for this particular discussion, for your prechosen CPU allies to defend the PQ-essential ally who has also been told to stick next to you at all costs.
I'm thinking back to Perfect Dark myself. I don't know why when there have been other games that did it better, but I remember in that game, you could give your allies orders with differing levels of importance. Things like a "Defend this general area", "Defend this exact spot and never move an inch", "Defend [X] player with your life," "Defend [X] player if you have the time," "Seek item," "Follow me," "Follow me, but give chase if need be" and whatnot.
I'd love to see that in a Xenoverse game with the bots. Human players already do this, but that doesn't count. Xenoverse is precisely the kind of game that needs that layer of strategy.

There are so many ways to make the game good; very few of which Xenoverse 2 takes. I distinctly remember starting XV2 sometime earlier back in January (god, how long ago that was) and then turning it off with a tinge of disgust because I thought about the game I'd be playing and how janky, unfocused, and unsatisfying it was just to fight others or complete PQs.


And why can't I make my own PQ? Let me make a pure mook rush of 50+ Freeza soldiers to mow down alongside my comrades Raditz and Nappa.

[Jackalope89]

Yeah, keeping the health above 50% missions are the worst. Especially since you have to sacrifice an ultimate slot to heal them back up. If you get the chance to.

And while usually the AI keeps it 1vs1 without being ganged up on, there are a few PQ missions and the occasional sneak attack where other enemies simply attack you. Like the PQ where you recruit for Beerus going into the TP. Or when facing Time Patrollers, and all of a sudden, when you're about to fire off a super attack, one of the others suddenly grabs you or blasts you, costing you the chance to attack.

As for improvements; yeah. We've been all over it. From new characters to character tweaks, AI tweaks, transformations, better power ups (something to replace the Nimbus for example), new storylines, and more interactive character elements. The game is still fun for me, but boy do I recognize the flaws it has.

[IntangibleFancy]

I just heard the game shares assets with Xenoverse, is that true?

If it is then why are the graphics so awful? I mean look at legends

https://i.imgur.com/018jwmf.png
https://i.imgur.com/udC1MtA.png
https://i.imgur.com/n0PeCeQ.png

They even fixed the shading on the energy attacks I hated.

[MCDaveG]

I just heard the game shares assets with Xenoverse, is that true?

If it is then why are the graphics so awful? I mean look at legends

https://i.imgur.com/018jwmf.png
https://i.imgur.com/udC1MtA.png
https://i.imgur.com/n0PeCeQ.png

They even fixed the shading on the energy attacks I hated.

You mean XV2 using assets from XV1? Yeah, it does... the character models are the same basically, animations as well,
just the effects and lighting changed a bit. But it is basically the same PS3 graphics.

Not a great video for people who nitpick details, but I think it is enough just for the sake of argument:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcS_v4hmsBM

[IntangibleFancy]

I just heard the game shares assets with Xenoverse, is that true?

If it is then why are the graphics so awful? I mean look at legends

https://i.imgur.com/018jwmf.png
https://i.imgur.com/udC1MtA.png
https://i.imgur.com/n0PeCeQ.png

They even fixed the shading on the energy attacks I hated.

You mean XV2 using assets from XV1? Yeah, it does... the character models are the same basically, animations as well,
just the effects and lighting changed a bit. But it is basically the same PS3 graphics.

Not a great video for people who nitpick details, but I think it is enough just for the sake of argument:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcS_v4hmsBM

Oh my bad, I was referring to Legends.

Edit: I watched the video and... both of them weren't that great. The models look like plastic action figures covered in grease, and those energy waves were kind of unattractive as well apart from those death beams. It was like they all had this big transparent shell around them which doesn't make them look like the anime/manga at all.

Which brings me to my earlier question that I messed up with; if Legends and Xenoverse share the same assets then why does Legends look so good? Some of the characters even change their emotes at the end of the battle.

[MCDaveG]

I just heard the game shares assets with Xenoverse, is that true?

If it is then why are the graphics so awful? I mean look at legends

https://i.imgur.com/018jwmf.png
https://i.imgur.com/udC1MtA.png
https://i.imgur.com/n0PeCeQ.png

They even fixed the shading on the energy attacks I hated.

You mean XV2 using assets from XV1? Yeah, it does... the character models are the same basically, animations as well,
just the effects and lighting changed a bit. But it is basically the same PS3 graphics.

Not a great video for people who nitpick details, but I think it is enough just for the sake of argument:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcS_v4hmsBM

Oh my bad, I was referring to Legends.

Edit: I watched the video and...they weren't that great. The models look like plastic action figures covered in grease, and those energy waves were kind of hard to look at as well apart from those death beams. It was like they all had this big transparent shell around them which doesn't make them look like the anime/manga at all.

Which brings me to my earlier question that I messed up with; if Legends and Xenoverse share the same assets then why does Legends look so good? Some of the characters even change their emotes at the end of the battle.

Yeah it doesn't look great and never was... Even Ultimate Tenkaichi looks better than this nowadays.
Really Legends shares the same assets? Never got the two together. Budokai and Super DB Heroes is obvious but I thought that Legends is made from scratch.

[Koitsukai]

Not a great video for people who nitpick details, but I think it is enough just for the sake of argument:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcS_v4hmsBM

Oh my god, there is no difference at all! I mean, I always knew they were pretty similar, I played both but really seeing both versions together is too much.

They really did squeeze every penny and made a game last 5 years in PS3 and PS4!

[WittyUsername]

If they do make a third one, hopefully the in-game graphics can look as good as the pre-rendered cutscenes in this game.

[MCDaveG]

If they do make a third one, hopefully the in-game graphics can look as good as the pre-rendered cutscenes in this game.

Haha, I remember the trailer years back with these cutscenes and the intro with the scroll...
I was like yeah, we will probably get the Teen Trunks character from the TV Special!
Bought the game and after the intro with Bardock and scroll... ow, this is the same Xenoverse, just with more hair options