Fans were initially very skeptical of Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, as there had been countless games before it which adapted the story of Dragon Ball Z, and quite frankly it was getting old. That said, as more and more information was made available about the game, it became clear that this would be an astoundingly faithful reproduction and would tug on the nostalgic heartstrings of fans like no other game. Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot delivered on that promise, but it failed to provide fans a reason to come back. Even with its DLCs, there is so little to do after beating the game that many have moved on to other games.
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Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot DLC 1 Proves Developers Are Learning
Whatever gripes one might have with DLC 1 of Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, it cannot be denied that the Beerus boss fight is both incredibly challenging and super fun. Beerus is the hardest boss since Raditz, ironically, and proves that the developers have truly learned from their mistakes in the base game. His wide range of attack options, lack of an easily identifiable pattern, and high damage and HP paired with the player’s inability to use items against him all work together to make this fight the most engaging one in the game.
When compared to Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot’s final boss fight against Kid Buu, or even its secret boss against Mira, Beerus blows those two out of the water in terms of complexity. Although those two fights can be difficult depending on the player’s level, they can usually be won simply through brute force. The player has enough transformations and raw damage output to muscle their way through without having to pay too much attention to the enemy’s moves, and if the enemy does get a move off, it can usually be avoided by spamming the dodge button. Unfortunately, it is highly unlikely that Kakarot’s story bosses will be redesigned any time soon.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot Doesn’t Have Room To Grow
Unfortunately, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot doesn’t have much room to grow, and the most recent DLC makes this painfully obvious. The level cap could be raised, new transformations can be introduced, and even a few more super attacks can be added on, but all of it feels somewhat pointless given how powerful the player already is. DLC 1 gave players access to the Super Saiyan God form and one new Super Attack for Goku and Vegeta because that’s all it really could do.
Dragon Ball Super in general doesn’t feature a ton of vertical growth for its characters. Goku and Vegeta unlock Super Saiyan Blue during the Resurrection F arc and rely on that form for almost the entirety of the series. Goku does combine it with Kaioken and eventually unlocks Ultra Instinct, while Vegeta gains access to the Super Saiyan Blue Evolution form, but for the most part, Super Saiyan Blue is the go to. This furthers the difficulty with allowing character growth in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot.
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Dragon Ball Super: Kakarot
For these reasons, it seems that the only way to solve Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot’s stagnation problem is to leave it behind. DLC 2 and 3 will no doubt be enjoyable in the same ways that DLC 1 was, but players hoping for more depth and end game content should curb their expectations. Instead, it would be best for Bandai Namco and CyberConnect2 to focus on creating a sequel to the game, perhaps called Dragon Ball Super: Kakarot, which would take the same approach to Dragon Ball Super that the base game did for Dragon Ball Z.
Dragon Ball Super games are criminally few and far between, as pretty much the only representation that the popular sequel to Dragon Ball Z gets is in the form of DLC or side content for DBZ games. Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot was in a unique position to fix this issue, and could have provided fans with the in depth recreation of Dragon Ball Super content they’ve been craving, but instead opted to include Super Saiyan God and Beerus as a small DLC boss battle episode instead. It seems like the DBZ: Kakarot DLC 2 will focus on either Golden Frieza or Hit, and will likely take the same approach, although the new story arc should be more detailed.
Dragon Ball Super: Kakarot Could Fix DBZ: Kakarot’s Problems
The biggest problem in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is by far its lack of end game content, which is something that a Dragon Ball Super game could fix. Super introduces the concept of the multiverse, and therefore also the potential for an endless well of enemies, each more powerful than the last. Dragon Ball Super: Kakarot could easily draw from this concept to create engaging end game content, but should have the focus be on character progression.
Given that Goku and Vegeta rely so heavily on Super Saiyan Blue throughout the series, mastering that could be the crux of character progression. Rather than providing three levels of each transformation, CyberConnect2 could vastly expand on the Super Saiyan Blue form, allowing players to customize and upgrade it as they see fit. This would provide longevity to the series’ main form and also replicate the difficulty of mastering the Super Saiyan Blue form. Finally, the Beerus boss fight should be the model for every boss fight in a potential sequel, as each of the foes that Goku and Vegeta face is challenging in their own unique way since Dragon Ball Super focuses more on tactics than raw power.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
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