"Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3" Official Discussion Thread

[Bardock God of Time]

One mechanic I've seen suggested is beam clashes, I don't think beam clashes would really work in Xenoverse's type of gameplay (same with Fusions)

I just want them to focus on making the character creation and mentor customization more in depth: more races, custom aura colors, more body types, moveset options, hairstyles instead of wigs

[Yuli Ban]

Please stop asking/wanting Xenoverse (or any game, for that matter) to have battle mechanics from another line of games. It's stupid and it's unrealistic. Battle mechanics is one of the main factors that separate a game from another, it's one of the things that help a game to have its own identity. You can't in all seriousness want Xenoverse to have Budokai Tenkaichi combat. This will never happen, this should never happen. If you want to play a game with Budokai Tenkaichi battle mechanics, play a Budokai Tenkaichi game.

Expecting this to happen is just setting yourself for disappointment. And it will definitely not be the game's fault (or one of its cons) when they don't give you what you unrealistically want.

Well that's why I say it's the dream, I never said I actually expect it. The dream Xenoverse would have all these things. The same way the dream sandwich would probably bankrupt me or give me a heartattack.
Realistically unless you had some advanced AI vibe coding slop at superhuman levels or a team of 5,000 professional coders, I don't even want to imagine the complexity of BT3-level combat for over a hundred series characters AND the dynamic fuzzy possibilities over god knows what the player themselves creates, with all the special attack equipping, race and clothing states, and whatnot. That makes sense; it's the golden pipe dream to have a Xenoverse game that dares, but I'm not going to expect it.

It's only something to dream about because I've always felt Xenoverse's combat felt... off. I've long struggled to describe what it is about it, and why Xenoverse feels unsatisfying compared to the Tenkaichi/Sparking series (prior to Zero) when ostensibly they play similarly, and thus Tenkaichi is the easiest reach.

The only battle mechanic that does, however, bother me they never implemented in Xenoverse is, and will always be, Ultimate Tenkaichi's custom mentor-based combos. That one is almost inexcusable in a game all about custom characters and mentors. I don't even necessarily buy the "balance" argument just because I feel there's been ways to mitigate this, again such as with buffs and nerfs to other abilities. The mechanical possibilities of such a thing (learning individual characters' combos, or being part of a dedicated school) opens themselves to a game like Xenoverse's story and game-meta almost on principle, so it's kind of sad we might never get that unless we're lucky. Likewise I don't fully buy the idea that this is difficult to implement compared to Sparking-type gameplay because player-created mods allow you to swap fighting styles with no breaking of the meta or the spaghetti code. It's like auras (one of the most basic free mods is literally an aura swapper): if it's that easy for modders to do and it fits the vibe and ethos of the game, then it literally has to be a corporate decision as to why it's not in there.
Again... distantly, I can give Xenoverse 1 and 2 SOME benefit of the doubt. They were made in a very different era of Dragon Ball, when the IP just wasn't bringing in anywhere near as much money and was largely seen as retired, and by those standards, the Xenoverse games were AAA titles in comparison to what we had been getting.
Here though, I can't help but raise expectations that they at least consider something like it.

Now I don't expect this one outright and I might just be misreading promotional material, but there's a part of me that wonders if XV3 is going to lean in as hard towards being "arena fighter Dragon Ball Online" as possible and literally involve you creating multiple characters to create a party, or at least being able to create a party from other NPCs and online PCs. It's probably not their intention, but you never know.


Edit: just to ground my argument about the BOTD for XV's lack of polish in many areas still being a step up at the time
A thread from 2018 I bookmarked

This comes from a released article of this year and deserves a lot of attention, and i will go into showing what they had said as well as leaving you links if you want to see it. I hope You enjoy

Dragon Ball Super Tv Series came to a close this year, and many wonder if they will come back with a new series or why they should. Well Dragon Ball Ip Sales is a perfect reason as to why the show has a high chance of coming back. No joke all you have to do is take a look into Bandai namco Sales From 2018 and it will leave you jaw dropping.




Dragon Ball brought in all kinds of cash for Bandai Namco in 2018. The fiscal year, which ranged from April 2017 to March 2018, saw Dragon Ball rake in nearly 98,000,000,000 yen.
Yes, that is nearly 100 billion yen. Convert that to USD, and you will find that Dragon Ball’s IP sold about $888,256,418 which is nothing to sneeze at.

The 2018 fiscal year saw a sharp rise in profits from even the 2017 records as it brought in about 61.1 billion yen. 2016 was marked at about 35 billion yen, and Dragon Ball was only clocking in at 6.4 billion yen before Dragon Ball Super got its debut. So, you can see what kind of cash the revival brought to Bandai Namco since the company does oversee all of the series’ merchandise.

Not only did Dragon Ball bring in serious cash for Bandai Namco, but it did what many thought was impossible. In 2017, Mobile Suit Gundam still outsold Dragon Ball thanks to its massive Gunpla market, but the Saiyan series managed to beat out the mecha franchise in 2018. Dragon Ball sold nearly 98 billion yen in 2018 which eclipsed the 68.3 billion yen Mobile Suit Gundam brought in. And, if Bandai Namco did all its forecasting correct, then Dragon Ball will beat out Mobile Suit Gundam once more in 2019.

Not only that but they expected in 2017 that dragon ball was going to drop 15 billion yen once 2018 came around, so they thought it would go from 61.1 billion yen to 46.1 billion yen in 2018. But instead Dragon Ball increased from a 61.1 Billion yen to a whopping 97.9 Billion yen Within just a year. Basically it gained more money, and had an increase of about 36.8 billion yen in 2018.

It would be considered crazy to drop a franchise like dragon ball at this point in time especially the amount of money it's making. Either way i hope you enjoyed the topic and
Down below are the links for the article and Bandai namco IR Financial Results.

http://comicbook.com/anime/2018/05/15/d ... ney-anime/

https://www.bandainamco.co.jp/cgi-bin/r ... ry_id=5900

And a 2025 update of sorts


It really needs to be understood how little Dragon Ball was bringing in circa 2008-2016 to understand why games from that era felt more rote, less polished, and increasingly slapdash. Series was over, Kai wasn't doing great, and 7th gen development costs were massively higher. Battle of Z had a 3 year development cycle and even it felt like the most generic possible "DBZ Game on Autopilot"
So Xenoverse not reaching the full extent of its potential in retrospect makes more sense. Why put in AAA levels of funding if you're expecting maybe a million in sales at most, and often aren't even reaching that anymore? Xenoverse 1 was enough of a success to warrant a sequel that mildly improved off Xenoverse 1 to fix a few of the problems players noted, and they probably thought XV3 would come a year or two later realistically. Then the Super era began and the rest is history


That is also why my expectations are higher, however, and why I do hope they pull out way more stops. There's far less of an excuse this time around.

[IntangibleFancy]

It might be too early, but here's what I think at this moment:

Yes, the game takes place in AGE 1000, but there's little to no relation to Dragon Ball Online, in virtually all senses. They asked Toriyama to come up with his own version of the world set two hundred and sixteen years in the future but without the Time Patrol stuff. Notice how Majins and Namekuseijins don't appear at all, it seems to be just Earthlings. And that one in an alley with a Saiyan tail, if I were to guess, that's a synthetic tail, he's not really a Saiyan (also that hair... Not really an usual Saiyan hair, right?). I don't know what to make of the "Demon Realm pop singer", though.

That's the vibes I'm getting from all that was revealed so far. Of course, this is all from a lore perspective I'm talking about. I'm sure we will still be able to create and play as a member of all those races and apparently one with a pointy ear (from the Demon Realm, perhaps?). I might be terribly wrong and I truly hope I am, I don't want Dragon Ball Online content to vanish entirely, they can reduce it, sure, but let it still be part of the game to some extent.

One more thing: if the previous trailer already confirmed something neat (spiked-up hair upon transforming), this one already confirmed something not-so-neat (still no voice acting for the protagonist. Bummer).

Spoiler:

Toriyama confirmed to have major involvement, so this game is canonical alongside Dragon Ball Online!
I wished I could shrink sentences, for some reason it's not working anymore, for me at least.

I noticed that too. And I kinda don't like it. I also don't like the hard futuristic vibe they're going for. I get that it's in the future so it kinda goes with the territory, but with the DBO trailer it actually felt like that living, breathing dragon ball world that they claim Age1K/XV3 is going to be.

I also really hope the game doesn't just take place in new West City because the second interview and the description is giving me that impression. I'd rather them let us be able to travel to a version of Planet Vegeta and Sadala in Universe 6, or Planet Namek or Yardrat. Because small hub worlds for these places with their own lore and worldbuilding is far better than an inspired district in West City.

I guess it's all too much to judge off of a preview though.

[angeldreamZ004]

It depends on the way you see it though. The official description of the game on Steam puts a lot of emphasis on you exploring a "New Dragon Ball World" a "Unexplored Dragon Ball World", a "New Experience".
They never said that this would be similar to the world seen in DBO, but the same description says "the world of Dragon Ball continues to expand" so I know what you mean.

But we need to remember one thing. If this game is called Xenoverse 3 and they're very likely going to make battles similar to XV1 / 2, then we can take what is seen as a pattern in Dragon Ball games, where most fights happen in deserted places or open fields (which is quite accurate to how is in the regular series), most of the maps aren't cities or places that resemble what we see in the trailer.

Also, note to the Great Saiya Squad having to investigate incidents. These incidents can very well take place outside the city, this could be very well where we go to more deserted areas / open fields / natural environments to fight. Remember Gamma 1? He's seen flying over a snowy place.

[Hellspawn28]

Do you think all of the DLC from XV2 will be in the base game?

[angeldreamZ004]

No because if they include all characters and adapted content from XV2 DCLs, that will mean XV3 will barely have anything to cover in its DLCs. Its future would basically be DLC with characters from the Moro Arc, Granola arc and the characters who are only seen in Sparking Zero for example (like the Pilaf-Majunior arc characters, who are completely absent from XV2. Though I personally think XV3 is more willing to include stuff from the early original series as well in the base game)

I believe the game is going to include most of what already exists in animated format. Gamma 1 is seen in the trailer, meaning that the base game is going to have stuff from Super Hero which was the penultimate content we got in animated format. I think Daima stuff is very likely going to be in the base game as well given how it was being made a few years prior to Toriyama's death and the game was being developed at the same time. The reveal trailer also shows characters such as Beerus, Broly from Super and Gohan from Super Hero.
So I think XV3 will be covering all of those mainline stories and only ignore the XV2 DLC characters that they don't consider important, like...Videl (Super)

Outside from that, stuff that is going to be left out are those that are either minor, or hadn't Toriyama involved, such as GT (as usual lol)

[Bardock God of Time]

I feel like the only missing DLC characters would be the Ultra Supervillain versions

They'll have some new villain powerup form in XV3 probably

[Hellspawn28]

XV2 had XV1 DLC on the base game. So I hope XV3 won't make us buy the same characters twice.

[Yuli Ban]

XV2 had XV1 DLC on the base game. So I hope XV3 won't make us buy the same characters twice.

[miguelnuva1]

XV2 had XV1 DLC on the base game. So I hope XV3 won't make us buy the same characters twice.

XV2 has too many characters considering we have a new art style but I can see a lot of them returning.

Throw out all the Ultra Supervillian characters/what ifs and they might get close.

[The Dark Knight]

XV2 has too many characters considering we have a new art style but I can see a lot of them returning.

If they're going to reuse all the same animations and base character models, then chances are everyone will return. However, if everything is getting rebuilt from the ground up, then a lot of people are going to be disappointed with the roster.

[Trouser]

I just want an open world and lots and lots of Trunks' versions.

[Zinnia]

or hadn't Toriyama involved, such as GT (as usual lol)

?
GT had Toriyama involved. Also idk what you mean as usual when it's in almost every modern DB game out there, other than Kakarot.
XV3 having GT content is 1000% certain because duh? These games don't care about canon nonsense in the slightest.

[angeldreamZ004]

?
GT had Toriyama involved. Also idk what you mean as usual when it's in almost every modern DB game out there, other than Kakarot.

I'm sorry if the way I expressed it sounded confusing, I'll be more clear.

1 - Nope, GT had no active involvement from Toriyama, he did designs for characters and few other things at best. But he didn't have any active involvement like he had in Daima and Super.

2 - More or less. My point is not about canon, but about the possibility that the production for this game is likely following a more “Toriyama purist” view in regards to what they're essentially working for the base game, which is something that is not new for DB Games. Yes, you’re right that when it comes to the modern games, almost all of them feature GT content, but it's not that simple. Especially because I also refer to the games in general.

Despite some games including GT content such as Ultimate Blast and the original Sparking series, most of them actually focus on content created by Toriyama only, and when they tried to expand on the roster and content, it was mostly with stuff from the old Z movies only. You'll see this with Battle of Z, Raging Blast (which had Tarble in the second game, coming from a Special with Toriyama involved), Xenoverse 1, Burst Limit, etc.
Even some of the Japan-only games, Zenkai Battle only had characters from Z, the Movies and the first two “Super” movies.
Budokai series only had GT in the third game and Infinite World.

Even if you consider the more modern games only, they are mostly not willing to include GT, at least not in the base game most of the time or not as an important content. They have a more Toriyama purist view.

-Xenoverse 2 has GT in the base game only because XV2 is “upgraded XV1” and GT content was DLC in XV1, with base XV1 only having Toriyama content (manga + Battle of Gods + DBO) and a few of the movies.

-FighterZ had Z and Super characters in the base game. GT characters came as DLC.

-Sparking Zero, despite including GT in the base game, the story mode covers Z and Super only.

-And I know you disconsidered Kakarot, but I think that game is important to demonstrate how the Toriyama purist view works as well. The base game's purpose is to obviously cover the typical Raditz-Boo storyline. But when you look at the DLCs, it's the Beginning of Super (Toriyama involved), Daima (Toriyama involved) and part of the original series stories (also made by Toriyama) that haven't been covered by the base game, such as the Trunks story, EoZ, the ending of the Piccolo Daimao arc and the Majunior arc. The only non-Toriyama content in that game is the Bardock story at best, or “Battle of Gods” not following his script.
But as you can see, no sign of GT, instead, Mira and Towa show up, because they were created by Toriyama.

These games don't care about canon nonsense in the slightest.

Yes but in this case it's not “these games” only. XV3 has Toriyama involved, remember that. There's the possibility that he had no interest in using GT content at all while working on the game, but the content created by himself only, which is what he did in Online (as far as I know), so my point is not about canon, it's about what Toriyama viewed as canon (A.K.A his work) + the production side having that purist view.

Plus, if you rewatch the two trailers for Xenoverse 3, unless I'm missing something, both of them reference content made by Toriyama only, from the original series to Super, and people even say that the singer girl is a reference to Daima, which for me is still vague, but there you go. No sign of GT.

Also this game is officially referred to as a “new Dragon Ball experience”, where you explore a new world. XV2 was far from being a new experience given how it was an upgraded XV1.

Sure, you can say “but Pilaf-Piccolo arc”, yes, but we know the sad reason behind that. Still, they always throw references to that first half of the original series, Kakarot did that a lot in the base game.

Anyway, that's why I believe XV3 is not going to include all characters from XV2, At least not the less important ones, and GT is included amongst those. I feel that the game's purpose is to focus more on building this new world and story instead of bringing a massive roster based on the previous game + all the DLCs.

I'm not hating on GT though or anything, I do think it would be good to have all the GT characters + DLC characters in base XV3, it's a hypothesis, because I really don't think this game has the goal of bringing the entire DLC roster from XV2 from day 1, beyond than just the Ultra super villain characters, and finally

XV3 having GT content is 1000% certain because duh?

No, there's no evidence for this, at least not for the base game.

Plus, they need to sell DLCs, obviously. But there's also no evidence to support that the base roster won't bring everyone from XV2 though, so the two sides are equal for now. I do feel a heavy Toriyama purist vibe from this game so far though.

[Scsigs]

or hadn't Toriyama involved, such as GT (as usual lol)

?
GT had Toriyama involved. Also idk what you mean as usual when it's in almost every modern DB game out there, other than Kakarot.
XV3 having GT content is 1000% certain because duh? These games don't care about canon nonsense in the slightest.

What? Toriyama was only involved with GT insofar as he provided some character designs for the returning characters & gave an ok for some of their early story ideas. After that, he wasn't involved whatsoever.

[Bardock God of Time]

It'd be idiotic not to include GT characters in the base game

If anything that'd make this game a downgrade if it's missing characters that were in Xenoverse 1 & 2's base game

[angeldreamZ004]

Just to make it clear though, my point is not exactly GT, but more about the characters and content that Toriyama and the game's development team didn't think was important to include in the base game. And GT can be part of those characters and content, especially if we think that this game is following a Toriyama purist view, which was recurring in most of the past games.
The trailers having no sign of GT or references to it makes me think about this as well.

You can also say this for the Z movies for example, I think there's the possibility we won't be seeing all of the Z movies villains in the game, and I'm considering the ones from XV2 only. Maybe they'll include the ones designed by Toriyama only (Broly, Coola, Android 13, Slug & Bojack).

But I'm only saying that this is a possibility though, sure, you can use the argument that past Dragon Ball game sequels all included characters from the previous game. It's a valid argument, though there are a few exceptions, such as Budokai 1 being the only one to have Dodoria and Zarbon inside the Budokai series.

And given how the game is receiving this “new experience” treatment, I'm pretty confident that this is not going to be just an upgrade on the first two games, like the second game was an upgrade to XV1, that's why base XV2 has XV1 DLC.
I'm feeling that most of it has been done from scratch.

But if I had to bet, I do think GT is going to be included in the base game, just not part of any story mode. Not everyone from XV2 roster will be included, part of the minor characters will be left out.

I think they are prioritizing quality over quantity, though maybe you can throw a counterpoint for that too lol.

[Zinnia]

XV3 better not pretend it's some kind of a canon storyline or continuation of DB, because being a part of the Xenoverse family already disqualifies it from that. Yet alone having your self-insert character playing the main part too, if it wasn't obvious enough.

[Grimlock]

I don't think it's possible to pretend to be something that doesn't exist in this franchise, but I do hope it's also a continuation, it means another product set after the manga, which is what this series desperately needs, not another "midquel" that does nothing to progress things in any meaningful way.

Hopefully Dimps finds a way for the self-inserted character to be integrated into the story and world organically, like Dragon Ball Online did it.

[Scsigs]

If I'm gonna be honest, I would really just want XV3 to continue the type of storytelling they started with the XV2 Future Saga DLCs where they do some crazy shit that isn't just "correct the miniscule change in history to keep the timeline as it was." The base game stories in XV1 & 2 are really boring, ngl. And a lot of the early DLC stories are too, tbh, since they're just the same shit as the base games. Before the Fu storyline in 2, that's how they were. They have the opportunity to really play with the lore & universe of Dragon Ball to deliver a fun story & game & I hope they're doing just that.

I personally would prefer this game NOT try to be part of the main canon of the manga & Super. I very much believe these games are a great successor to Heroes, which just went nuts with the multiverse angle. I hope it doesn't run into the same problems Heroes did where it all becomes an incomprehensible mess that you need to read outside media to understand whatever the fuck's going on at any particular moment, but just have a good storyline that's not afraid to really weird & silly with shit. I would also prefer that XV3 stick to the multiverse of games they've soft established with having Mira & Towa in Kakarot, as well as Android 21 appearing in FighterZ & Kakarot. I see nothing wrong with that.

What I assume they're gonna do with the characters is alter their character models to 1. Be better & 2. Match the game's new artstyle. I sincerely hope they're also revamping the gameplay because the gameplay of XV2 sucks. It's better than 1's, but only nominally. I really hope for a better gameplay loop because the one in XV2 gets old fast.