Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot

[Captain Cadaver]

Completed the Saiyan Arc. Surprising that fighting Nappa as Gohan gave me a far harder time than any of the battles against Vegeta, though that is somewhat fitting (though it's surprising how easy beating Oozaru Vegeta was).
I'm now doing what sub-stories I can before going to Namek and I can say that is a highlight of the game, with it doing a good job at using the gaps in time between different events as the ideal opportunity for side-quests. An interesting bit of trivia the game adds to DBZ's world is that Mai states that Pilaf is a prince descended from the Meshikiya people that onced ruled a region of Earth (likely the one Pilaf's castle was located around). Kind of odd to refer to him as a prince in the same sentence as his regal title is stated (Great King/Daio in Japanese and Emperor in the dub), but in a world where dinosaurs exist at the same time as humans and a dog is the globalist ruler of Earth's entirety, I can more than excuse this odd difference in terminology.

 

[Future Warrior]

That Yamcha and Puer sub quest though...

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Now completed the Freeza Arc. Going into the game, I never imagined the most difficult boss battle of that arc would be Vegeta VS Dodoria

I may not be a fan of Yamcha's current status as just a walking meme in modern DB products, but the post-Freeza side quests did a good job at doing so whilst also offering him some level of respect. Shame that in trying to flesh out his past with Pu-erh, they made a pretty big retcon to his former fear of girls.
Also, the game takes a stance on how strong Yamcha is post-Kaio. Gohan compliments Yamcha's strength by saying he had to get his potential unlocked on Namek as a reason for his superiority, implying Yamcha's battle power post-Kaio to be somewhere between 1.5k and 14k. Obviously, the game can't be used for discussion of the manga canon when it changes some key events (eg. Gurd being beaten by Gohan and Kuririn) and adds clearly non-canon characters like #21, Mira and Towa, but it's still interesting to note.

 

[Future Warrior]

Now completed the Freeza Arc. Going into the game, I never imagined the most difficult boss battle of that arc would be Vegeta VS Dodoria

I may not be a fan of Yamcha's current status as just a walking meme in modern DB products, but the post-Freeza side quests did a good job at doing so whilst also offering him some level of respect. Shame that in trying to flesh out his past with Pu-erh, they made a pretty big retcon to his former fear of girls.
Also, the game takes a stance on how strong Yamcha is post-Kaio. Gohan compliments Yamcha's strength by saying he had to get his potential unlocked on Namek as a reason for his superiority, implying Yamcha's battle power post-Kaio to be somewhere between 1.5k and 14k. Obviously, the game can't be used for discussion of the manga canon when it changes some key events (eg. Gurd being beaten by Gohan and Kuririn) and adds clearly non-canon characters like #21, Mira and Towa, but it's still interesting to note.

How many hours did you put into this game? Apparently I've played for a total of 14 hours and I literally just started the Freeza arc (not even on Namek yet).

Side note to anyone looking to buy this game, TAKE YOUR TIME. This game has so much to offer aside from the main story content.

 

[Symbiote]

Did anyone else do the GameStop preorder? Was wondering if the extra training thing was actually worth it since my copy comes in tomorrow.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

[mention]Future Warrior[/mention] Think I'm currently on 17 and a half hours and am now in the middle of the 3 year training.

I concur that anyone playing shouldn't ignore side missions such as the sub-stories, which offer so much to the DBZ experience. The only exceptions I'd say would be the sub-stories on Namek bar one just prior to summoning Porunga, which are pretty uneventful. The side missions for the early Cell Arc have been pretty good thus far, though I have pretty mixed feelings on a single sub-story offering Tenshithands more character development than either the manga or anime for that arc did.

[mention]Drama[/mention] I didn't do the preorder, though I purchased the Season Pass in-store at GAME (basically the UK equivalent of GameStop). It's only downloaded the meal with permanent stat boosts add-on, so I'm not sure whether or not I have to progress further in the story for the party and Bonyu sub-stories to be registered.

 

[Future Warrior]

The fact that they used the Recoome model for some of the Freeza soldiers is aggravating me more than it should.

 

[SSJ2]

Weren’t the Ginyu Force members said to be mutants or something? They should be unique imo.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

The fact that they used the Recoome model for some of the Freeza soldiers is aggravating me more than it should.

I have bigger problems with them replacing the soldiers Gohan and Kuririn killed with generic human soldiers. They got the right model for that Freeza soldier in BT3 and it is a pretty recognisable soldier design that was also used in the Bardock special. It's pretty inexcusable to not put that in there.

I also have problems with one of the human Freeza soldier designs, the one with the wavy hair. They could've just used Raspberry/Cranberry like how the alien soldiers are all Appule clones. The human soldier they put in looks like a bit too much of an OC plz don't steal.

 

[Future Warrior]

The fact that they used the Recoome model for some of the Freeza soldiers is aggravating me more than it should.

I have bigger problems with them replacing the soldiers Gohan and Kuririn killed with generic human soldiers. They got the right model for that Freeza soldier in BT3 and it is a pretty recognisable soldier design that was also used in the Bardock special. It's pretty inexcusable to not put that in there.

I also have problems with one of the human Freeza soldier designs, the one with the wavy hair. They could've just used Raspberry/Cranberry like how the alien soldiers are all Appule clones. The human soldier they put in looks like a bit too much of an OC plz don't steal.

Yeah there's literally like 3 designs from the main series they could've worked with and instead came up with designs that looked like they were stolen from some fanartist.

I still have other bigger issues I have with the game, which I might get into when I finish it. So far I'm very much enjoying myself though.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Just about to fight Cell in Gingertown. The sub-stories haven't been as engaging as before, but do have their charm at times. It's interesting that one of them paints the picture that the humans could still make huge gains with earthly training and having Trunks befriend #8 without knowing he's an Artificial Human is a side story that would've been great to have for Trunks' character development in canon if he were to later find out #8's origins.
I have currently used the Dragon Balls to revive Raditz, Nappa and Zarbon, though only done the Raditz sub-story as I haven't been able to play as Gohan since the arc started. I find it pretty funny that Raditz doesn't question Piccolo making it apparent that Vegeta is alive on Earth and that after being defeated, he just stands there and doesn't try to find out what's happened since his death.

 

[ahill1]

Damn, I'm glad from the comments and positive opinions towards the game. Reading your guys' summaries, it seems everything I'd wish in a DB game, good graphics, following up the main continuity and occurrences with side-stories within each arc as a way to complement the game, with the latter in special being a huge pro.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Up to collecting the restored Dragon Balls prior to the Cell Game as Goku. As an update to the boss battles, Piccolo VS Gero was pretty irritating when being knocked back by him allows Gero to give you the succ with no way of getting out.

The sub-stories during the 9 day wait have been good, though not without flaws. The #8 side story confirms him to be fully robotic like #16, which contradicts the Daizenshuu saying he's made of a human base. something that makes more sense when he offered up his Genki in the Boo Arc. I'm fine with either answer when it may just be that he didn't offer anything up in reality, but they need to pick one and just go with it.
Karin's side quest was good in adding a layer of world building to DB with explaining that most of the anthropomorphic characters we see in Part 1 were humans that took a drug to give them animal features and the fad dying down is why we see so little of them in Z. Really helps the world building with how this fantastical element disappeared almost completely as of the Cell Arc outside of significant characters like Oolong.
On the subject of the shift in Earth's civilisation in the Cell/Boo Arcs, that is something that does become harder to swallow in Kakarot. When you're flying around and capable of shooting rocks with Ki blasts in full view of NPCs, it's a miracle Satan was able to convince even the most gullible people that it was all tricks.

 

[Symbiote]

Picking back up from yesterday, currently at the part before Vegeta and Nappa come to Earth. Too soon to have any complaints but as of now I’m having fun with this.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Forgot to add in the previous post that the part of Gohan helping rebuild #16 in the story mode really improves the SS2 transformation by adding an actual personal connection between the two and bringing relevance to the two characters' similarities. The game certainly goes above and beyond at many points in realising missed opportunities of both the manga and anime.

Completed the Cell Arc now and am just at the post-Cell events before the intermission, mainly been doing side quests and collecting the Dragon Balls whenever I can. The Cell Juniors seemed to give me far more trouble than their Super Perfect Daddy himself. Pretty surprising how it's the less relevant bosses of the arcs that tend to give me the most trouble. At this rate, I'm expecting to beat Pure Boo without extreme difficulty and find Dabura the bane of my existence or something 2

 

[Symbiote]

Transformations depleting your HP and Ki are gay as fuck.

 

[Pocket-Gog~]

This game said fuck Super. It's great.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Transformations depleting your HP and Ki are gay as fuck.

Only Kaioken does this, though the other transformations still deplete Ki. Not sure about SS3 yet though.
Also, I believe levelling up a transformation skill in the Super Attack Skill Tree decreases the depletion to some extent.

This game said fuck Super. It's great.

Only until they start bringing out major DLC packs. 2

 

[Papasmurf]

This game said fuck Super. It's great.

Only until they start bringing out major DLC packs. 2

I'd say it's more likely they'll save Super for Kakarot II, seeing as the manga is still ongoing and the anime will likely start up again not too long from now.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

I'd say it's more likely they'll save Super for Kakarot II, seeing as the manga is still ongoing and the anime will likely start up again not too long from now.

That'd be assuming they make a Kakarot 2 in the near future. It isn't hard to imagine when considering the popularity of the game, but it could go either way when considering Xenoverse got about 10 DLC packs for Super, GT, Movies and EoZ content to name but a few rather than just making Xenoverse 3.

---

So, now just started the Boo Arc. The post-Cell Game sub quests were hit or miss. Most of them were pretty standard, though I did like how one of them plugged the plot hole of 4 people being in the Rosat during the Boo Arc by explaining Dende upgraded the room. I did like how it showed Gohan as trying to stay true to Goku's wishes and Chichi's desires for his education being what got in the way rather than having him simply slack off from day one and it was nice how they implemented Vegeta regaining his desire to fight. Kakarot continues to impress as usual.