For those that don’t know, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot stunned fans upon release with its enjoyable gameplay and surprising dedication to remaining faithful to the source material. Though there had been countless attempts to retell the story of Dragon Ball Z as a video game, none reached the level of detail and nostalgia that Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot was able to. The season pass has been less impressive, throwing story to the wayside in favor of combat and level grinding, but diehard fans still have hope for the game’s post-launch future. Others found themselves abandoning the game as Bandai Namco spent months in silence, leaving fans in the dark.
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Xbox Series X and PS5 Release Dates
Since the Xbox Series X released yesterday and the PS5 releases tomorrow, the next generation of gaming is finally here. With it comes not just new hardware, but loads of games designed specifically for these consoles with the intent of showcasing just how powerful they are. Titles like the Demon’s Souls Remake on PS5 and Yakuza: Like a Dragon are practically made for the purpose of showing up old PS4 and Xbox One games, as they demonstrate the incredible differences between those consoles and the new ones.
When November 17th rolls around, players are still going to be embroiled in these titles, exploring all the new and fancy capabilities of their new consoles. Given the relatively short length of the first Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot DLC and assuming the second is anything like that, there isn’t much incentive for players to put down highly anticipated games like Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and return to Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot. Naturally, there will be some that do, but a vast majority of casual Dragon Ball Z gamers might not even think to return since there’s so much else to attract their attention.
PS Plus Collection and Xbox Games Pass
Even for those players that don’t spend money to get new next generation games, both consoles are launching with a considerable library of old generation games optimized for PS5 and Xbox Series X. Players can re-immerse themselves in the story of The Last of Us or Bloodborne for PS5 on day one, and Xbox Series X players are already enjoying games like Battlefield 5 and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. As great as Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is, it now has to compete with these titles all over again.
This time, instead of offering a full game loaded with the nostalgia of one of the most popular anime series, all it has to entice fans is a short DLC episode. Super Saiyan Blue and the battle against Golden Frieza are sure to be awesome, but it remains to be seen whether those will be enough to pull fans’ attention away from everything else they have at their disposal. Both PS Plus and Xbox Games Pass only continue to grow as well, so it isn’t as if the problem will go away with time.
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Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot on PS5 and Xbox Series X
On the flip side, if there’s anything positive about the timing of DLC 2 it’s that fans will now get to experience it on the next generation consoles. Since both Sony and Microsoft’s new hardware is backwards compatible, players should be able to play Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot in a whole new way. It doesn’t seem that the game has been optimized for next generation consoles just yet, meaning it will still likely run at around 30 FPS, but that could change with a future update at some point.
More importantly, load times are drastically reduced, and certain techniques like the Spirit Bomb no longer cause as much lag as they used to. Since DLC 2 is set to feature battles against as many as 100 foes at a time, the extra processing power should also help there. Overall, the experience should feel a lot smoother, and it’s possible that Bandai Namco was waiting to release the DLC for that purpose. Choosing not to release it on the 10th but rather waiting a week was also probably a good idea, as the aforementioned problems would be even worse were the DLC to launch simultaneously with the new consoles.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot DLC 2 Vs DLC 1
Despite all of this, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot still has a chance to win over its fans once again. The dedication that some fans have shown despite being left in the dark for so long is a testament to their love of the franchise and of Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot itself, and only by going above and beyond in DLC 2 will Bandai Namco have a chance to redeem itself. DLC 1 introduced Super Saiyan God and the incredible and challenging Beerus boss fight, but that’s about all it did.
In order for DLC 2 to outshine its predecessor, it needs to do more. Just adding one fight with Whis to get Super Saiyan Blue and one fight with Golden Frieza won’t be enough, as there’s still a huge lack of end game content for players to engage with after clearing these challenges. For a franchise based on the concept of constantly breaking one’s limits, there’s really no way to do this in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot outside of waiting for the next DLC to drop, a process that can take over half a year at times. With any luck, Bandai Namco will learn from its mistakes and make DLC 2 something to write home about, following up with increased communication in regards to DLC 3.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
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