How improved will Xenoverse 3 be?

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IntangibleFancy
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How improved will Xenoverse 3 be?

Post by IntangibleFancy » Mon Jan 20, 2020 5:06 pm

I played both Xenoverse 1 and Xenoverse 2 and, after the experience I had, me calling it anything but "poor" would be an understatement. I had so many issues with just about every aspect and feature of this game that all I could say without writing an essay is "for the love of god, please do better in the third installment"


After playing (and not liking) Dragon Ball Z: Kakakrot and FighterZ and seeing how much passion and effort went into these games I'd say we were cheated with Xenoverse 2 which is a shame since I gravitate towards the type of game Xenoverse 2 is more than I do with ARPGs and Fighters like FighterZ and Kakarot. I'm sure Dimps put a bit of effort into this sequel, but it doesn't really look that way after seeing how little different Xenoverse 2 is at its base from Xenoverse 1. And then you have those other two games I've mentioned which makes both Xenoverse 2 and 2 look like a fanmade game which is pretty funny since I would have to slather my copy in fanmade mods to fill the base game up with things that should have been there at the start like spiked Saiyan hair and actual what-if content.

I heard somewhere that the team in charge of XV and XV2 were particularly inexperienced and Bandai gave them such a short deadline to make the sequel so they weren't able to improve much. I have no experience whatsoever about what it takes to make a video game, but it's been 4 years. Is that enough time for them to improve?


Another issue I have with the game is the graphics. I know it's such a childish thing to get angry at, but it's just so visually unappealing that I can't stand it. First you have the characters that are so ugly they entered a haunted house and came out with a job application, and the energy attacks are no better. They're so ugly pretty much all of them are bastardizations of what you see in the anime, manga, and literally every other Dragon Ball video game. I'm well aware of DBH and DBLegends and how they're changing their graphics, but their improvements consist of measly texture updates. Super Dragon Ball Heroes already uses an engine from a very old game and Dragon Ball Legends is a mobile game so I can understand why all they did was just make the textures look cleaner, but Xenoverse 3 just came after two visual masterpieces and will most likely debut on next-gen consoles and will hopefully be huge in content.

What are the chances they try to go for a more anime inspired design like the latest and well received games instead of just sprucing up their ugly textures like the other Dragon Ball games made by Dimps did.



Right next to how aesthetically unappealing Xenoverse 2 was, my other issue is the story. This game's story is credited for the "what-if" modes but both the main story and the PQs all amount to "what if X showed up in X but purple and with an absurd amount of health and you had to fight them" and that's when you're not continuing the same Z story you've played in every other game for the past 25 or so years. The DLC did nothing to fix this either, it just added Super content (that should have been in the base game) to the mix. Right off the top of my head without thinking about it at all: "Raditz came a little earlier and him and him, Nappa and Vegeta raised Gohan" I'm not even a writer and I'm sure this very simple idea that I just thought of in 8 seconds already has a thousand fanfics. but it's far better than fighting purple kid buu (again) or seeing Metal Coolers pop up in the Cell Games. I don't know what it is, but it seems like Bamco and every team in charge of making Dragon Ball games has this really creepy fetish for Dragon Ball Z and will hide everything else behind a DLC paywall that cost almost as much as the actual game.

Will they prove me wrong in this third game or will they dump 4 or 5 characters from SDBH, Super, and GT into the game and call it a day?

My final issue is how "plastic" the characters are. I mean, they look like plastic as well, but I'm talking about their actual personalities. I feel alone during 90% of this game and the final 10 percent is the Elder Kai, Trunks, and the Supreme Kai of Time patting themselves on the back for all the work I did. I feel very disconnected to the villains and the allies as well. Once again, the very ugly graphics don't help with this, but the way the game plays and how the story makes the characters behave make it seem like my CaC is in the game alone. Like I'm fighting against and with a bunch of puppets and just hearing voices popping out of thin air. This is how it is in both the PQ and main story except during the main story line I feel like I'm babysitting the entire universe on top of talking to puppet people or rather hearing puppet people talk since the CaC is a mute. I'm sure Universe 7 would be dead if the Time Patrol couldn't have me. I had some ideas that might fix that but I doubt Dimps would be browsing this site and I don't want to bore anyone. Just tell me the chances of them at least making an effort at fixing this
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Sorry, I couldn't decide on whether I wanted to rant or ask about XenoV3's development. TLDR: I don't like Xenoverse at all and I feel like they wasted a lot of potential. Realistically speaking, will they fix that in the third version or will they just dump a handful of requested things into the game and call it a day?
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Re: How improved will Xenoverse 3 be?

Post by emperior » Fri Jan 24, 2020 6:33 am

I agree with everything you wrote.

First of all, they must fix the plastic graphics. Character models would need to be changed a bit, because they suck, but most importantly they need to use Cel-Shading. It’s incredible how XV2, a PS4 game, has worse models and shading than Burst Limit, an early PS3 game from 2008. Take Goku and Vegeta as an example, they looked gorgeous in BL but look like ass in XV2. And BL was developed by Dimps!
I will never understand why they didn’t reuse, and update, their Burst Limit models which already looked incredibly good.

Honestly considering Dimps’ track record I wouldn’t mind if they switched back to a 2.5D gameplay for XV3. Basically make it a spiritual successor to Budokai 3 and Burst Limit.
I honestly think the fighting system sucked balls in XV2 and can’t think of ways to make that fun and appealing without completely changing it.

As for the story... yeah hopefully they won’t do the “fight villainous powered up versions of DBZ characters” story for the 3rd time.
My idea would be that you begin as a Time Patroller and fix a few minor changes - CASUAL ONES NOT FROM THE ORIGINAL STORY! Like random, very small changes, not even on Planet Earth. Or, at the very least, changes to OG DB stuff.
Have the Kai of time explain you that the big changes are handled by expert patrollers. And then, have your patroller mess up on his first big task, and create a big what-if scenario, with the ending being of the protagonist redeeming himself from his mistake and fixing the timeline.
Now, these changes could be: Saiyans ganging up and killing Freeza before their planet is destroyed; Goku never bumps his head; Future Gohan never dies; Raditz killing both Goku and Piccolo.
I think these may be the most popular what-if scenarios, which could lead to some very interesting stories.

Last but not least, I hope customization will be deeper.
悟 “Vincit qui se vincit”

What I consider canonical

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