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Clearing My Backlog #7

This is an excellent recreation of the anime when it wants to be, but sadly it’s more focused on being “Tedium: The Game” with its exhausting RPG elements, shallow open world, and lackluster combat system; all of which just make me want to rewatch the actual anime instead of sitting through hours upon hours of dialogue boxes, with lifeless character models being dragged around the screen like JPEGs with expressionless faces. Genuinely baffling stuff. I get that they can’t possibly animate every single moment that’s in the anime, but when you’re being forced (I know you can skip them, but why would you unless you want to miss important story details) to watch so many of these atrocities, it really makes you wonder how people find this acceptable; especially when it was being sold for £60. The quality of the content in this game does not represent the price, and it’s strange that the game is still being sold for £50 — three years later — but I guess that’s Bandai Namco for you!

Like I previously said, the combat isn’t very good. There’s not much variety to it; and the way it fundamentally works is frustrating because enemies will spam super attacks, that make them resilient to your attacks; and so it creates this combat loop that basically comes down to: do one of two combos, then a super attack, dodge the enemy’s attack, and repeat process — with occasionally using assists. There is literally no skill ceiling here, I refuse to believe it. The combat gets so unbelievably dull halfway through the Cell Saga, that I found myself spamming the most effective attacks because I couldn’t be bothered anymore, and the same can be said about the RPG elements.

I didn’t engage with them at all. It’s all just standard RPG stuff, there’s nothing here that’s exciting or memorable, and I don’t think they belong in this game. The side content is the same too; it’s always “go there!”, “collect this!”, “do that!”, and 90% of the side quests are like this, they’re all so boring.

I’m not going to break down the story because… y’know, it’s fucking Dragon Ball; but almost everything about the anime that you love, will be here; whether that’s the story, the iconic scenes, the music, it’s all here. All of the actual cutscenes look stunning, and I wouldn’t mind the entire show being recreated in this style, because oh my god… it was incredible to behold. That opening intro in particular was phenomenal, and gave me a big dose of nostalgia. Not all of it is good though, as they do cut out a decent chunk of the iconic scenes that most certainly should’ve been in here; namely, Vegeta’s Final Flash, USSJ Trunks, Inside Buu, etc. There’s also some scenes that should’ve went on for longer, like Goku turning into a Super Saiyan for the first time; it just happened too quickly, and is missing a lot of the build-up that the anime had.

Overall, I don’t think this game is for everyone, I’d only recommend it to die-hard DBZ fans, as you’ll literally be watching 30+ minute cutscenes at a time, with occasional fights in between those (if you’re just going through the main story), which is probably going to bore most people.

Side note: I would absolutely buy the DLC and expansions for this game if they weren’t priced like fucking crazy, why would I pay £17 for one “expansion” that takes like 5 hours to 100%? fuck you Bandai Namco.

Playtime: 41.5 hours

Every Game I've Ever Played - Ranked (By Score)
Dragon Ball Z - Ranked
Clearing My Backlog
2020 - Ranked

Dragon Ball Z Kakarot poderia ter sido muito melhor do que é, mas pra mim é só uma puta chatice tediosa ctrl c ctrl v do anime, só que com gráficos de jogo, as cenas são bonitas pelo menos, mas o jogo não inova em nada além disso.

Diálogos ruins
Lutas principais medíocres
Missões principais onde você é OBRIGADO a caçar tal item em tal lugar em toda saga o tempo todo só pra fazer você andar pelo mapa
Missões secundárias insuportáveis (único ponto positivo disso é que trouxe personagens antigos e conhecidos de volta)

Apesar disso tudo, eu amo Dragon Ball Z e também tive bons momentos com as principais partes da história.

Meu Deus, que jogo maravilhoso! Não conheço muito sobre Dragon Ball, e fui de cabeça no jogo sem pensar. Me surpreendi demais com o quão ele é divertido e encantador tanto para quem conhece o anime quanto para as pessoas como eu que não sabem muito. Me diverti demais jogando e aprendi muitas coisas sobre o anime. Os gráficos desse jogo são maravilhosos! Nunca tinha visto gráficos assim para jogos de anime. Fiz 3 DLCS e vou em busca de fazer as outras e futuramente a platina! Eu super recomendo jogar esse jogo magnifico!

I have loved Dragon Ball basically my entire life, I’ve played tons of different games based off the series over the years and while I’ve adored tons of them this one has become my new favorite. Playing through the entire saga of DBZ from start to finish is amazing, and it really feels like you are living in the world as you fly through all the locations you recognize from the series.

I understand why people who love the “RPG” in the action-RPG genre but as someone much more into action games this was perfect for me. There are tons of RPG systems here you can use, but ultimately they are all additive and as long as you are spending a tiny amount of time leveling up your moves as you play through the sagas this game plays just like a fighting game. The combat is just deep enough where I never got sick of it, it has tons of flash to it and makes you feel like a total badass as you teleport behind enemies and unleash a powerful move to wipe them out. Despite being named Kakarot you do play as a good number of characters which was much appreciated. All of them are fun to play and have great unique move sets.

The open world is very basic, you can find the dragon balls and make wishes which is a great feature, but it mostly exists just to fly through and get from mission to mission (as well as pick up XP orbs like Crackdown). This was fine with me as it was very quick to navigate and filled with side quests that put the spotlight on lots of lesser used characters, especially tons with original Dragon Ball characters that were forgotten.

The last thing I want to shout out is the production value, the game does a great job adapting the entire story and while it does a good solid job most of the time there are moments they really go over the time. These moments are reserved for only the most special moments of the series, I won’t spoil them but they are done great justice here and are super memorable. This was just a great way to experience such a pivotal series in mine and many other’s lives so I’m very glad I played it.

>Sandbox world design
>Wacky sub-quests
>Random encounters on the map
>Beat 'em up combat
>Boss fights with multiple health bars
>RPG elements
>Skill tree that uses multiple kinds of experience to unlock special moves
>Eating meals gives you stat buffs
>Mini-games
>Fishing

This game is literally just Yakuza: DBZ edition.

Ok, but for real Kakarot was an incredible game. Arguably the best Dragon Ball Z game I've ever played. Yeah it tells the same old story we've experienced time and time again, but it does it in the most fresh and complete way to date. Kakarot does a perfect job of adapting the DBZ story from start to finish and captures all the most iconic moments with gorgeously animated cut-scenes. The combat, the boss fights, the music etc. I thoroughly enjoyed everything about Kakarot and even just flying around the world collecting things and doing side quests was very immersive and though the side quests are typical 'go here, collect item/fight thing' they're totally worth doing just for all the character interactions especially the ones with characters you hardly ever (or even never) saw in Z. If you're even somewhat a fan of Dragon Ball Z and its characters and world I strongly recommend it because I'd say it's the best way to experience this story and world outside of the anime.

Compared to what many other people think, i truly believe this is the best way to experience the story of Dragon Ball Z (outside of the anime itself, of course.). Everything about Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot was a blast from start to finish. I loved so much about this game, including the story, the combat, the soundtrack, the characters, the boss battles, etc. As someone who is a massive Dragon Ball fan, i just found so many things about this game to be phenomenal. if someone were to ask me how they could get into the Dragon Ball franchise but doesn’t have a way to watch the anime, i’d point them to this game in a heartbeat.

My one complaint about this game however, is that at times the game felt VERY repetitive, but then quickly became less repetitive as it progressed.

Arrisco dizer que foi o melhor de toda franquia 'Dragon Ball'! Poderia muito bem deixar meu saudosismo falar mais alto e ressaltar o 'Dragon Ball: Budokai Tenkaichi 3', porém, se tratando da historia original e lutas, esse realmente se sobressai. Não é um jogo de luta convencional, que permite o 1x1 com seu amigo ou ate mesmo online, é realmente mais focado na jornada do Goku e Gohan, e foi exatamente o que me pegou. Acompanhar novamente toda essa trajetória de um dos meus animes preferidos, com gráficos maravilhosos, e sem desmerecer o produto original foi sensacional! Até jogaria as DLCs, porém não acho necessário (não tenho dinheiro) e eu apenas queria fazer a Platina, e com ela feita, estou satisfeito.

Revisitando o mundo de Dragon Ball de uma maneira diferente.

Comecei esse jogo a um tempo atrás mas havia dropado por tá sem paciência pra RPG na época, mas agora como fiquei mais animadinho peguei pra jogar essa peça e foi uma experiência até que boa.

Não vou dizer que Kakarot é o melhor jogo de RPG que já joguei no mundo ou me marcou durante a gameplay dele, na real eu achei ele bem cansativo e só não se torna um jogo esquecivel porque é sobre Dragon Ball, e a forma que o jogo te entrega o mundo desse anime é bem aconchegante.

Sobre o mundo aberto dele eu gostei muito, as missões secundárias algumas são de encher realmente linguiça mas outras são bem legais de se fazer, tem até umas piadinhas que são engraçadas e tira umas boas risada. A exploração dele que eu achei um pouco chatinha demais, essa transição entre os locais que são próximos pra um jogo de 2020 é piada, tu é literalmente obrigado a usar Fast travel e a rajada de carregamentos que leva é um saco, não foram tão demorados comigo pois uso SSD mas pra quem tiver com HD com certeza vai ser chato demais.. Dava pra eles implementar ali umas 4 áreas com as cidades e vilas e a gente poder ir nelas sem precisar ficar abrindo menu e usando fast travel.

Sua história é obvio que eu não vou avaliar, já que segue bem certinho com a saga Z, o que acho válido de dar palpite aqui é sobre como a história de um anime importante pra muita gente, é contada. A forma que ela é explicada no jogo pegando episódio por episódio, comendo alguns e até implementando alguns fillers do próprio anime, é realmente reconfortante, acho uma boa tanto pra quem nunca viu o anime mas se interessou pela história, e também pra quem já viu, por que o jeito que ela é recontada pega muito na nostalgia. Eu vou ser sincero que há partes no jogo que são desnecessárias e eu senti uma imensa vontade de skipar as cutscenes delas, pois elas ficam um pouco entediantes, as animações dos personagens as vezes é muito lenta e a progressão das cenas parece muito batatão, o que desanima ao assistir elas as vezes..

Seus gráficos também não vou avaliar tanto até por que não enxerguei erros neles, pra mim são perfeitos e tem uma pegada muito agradável aos olhos, achei mil vezes melhor do que o 3D do Xenoverse e olha que eu gosto muito daquele design roblox-like (inventei essa agora)

O que eu to doido pra descer a malha mesmo é na luta, meu amigo que sistema de luta mais entediante, você só clica no B B B B seleciona habilidade e depois B de novo, fica um SACO depois de um tempo, acho que faltou variedade e mais esforço pro combate desse jogo, poxa custava adicionar ali umas mecânicas de soco forte soco fraco, chute e etc? ficaria bem mais satisfatório e daria mais impacto.

Enfim eu gostei muito de Kakarot apesar dos pontos negativos, achei o mundo dele bem legal de explorar após o fim do jogo, tem uns pontos que incomodam como o fácil overlevel se fizer as secundárias, mas assim, é uma experiência que vale a pena e eu tenho certeza que é a melhor forma de você aprender sobre a história da Saga Z, não fiz as DLC que contam uma parte do Super então não posso opinar sobre elas ainda, mas enfim, joguem DBZ kakarot se estiverem afim de sentir nostalgia!

A indústria cultural tem a gênese das suas produções na reinterpretação de mitos e histórias que precedem sua própria formação como indústria, antecedem a consolidação da cultura como produto, hoje tem-se o apogeu de obras essencialmente autorreferenciais, a cultura de massas está sendo dominada por universos compartilhados, franquias de longa data, sequências-legado, o esquema de cultura celebra-se a sí mesmo num eterno comeback dos anos 80 e nas promessas de retorno de tendências que um dia marcaram um passado nostálgico.

Na fase atual da indústria da cultura seu principal produto é a nostalgia, a cultura massificada além do escapismo também oferece uma promessa de retorno, retorno a uma suposta infância inocente ou uma imaginada juventude pulsante, o estado da arte do capitalismo tardio ebulindo em crises revelou-se como uma terra devastada povoada pelos fantasmas das ilusões perdidas.

Dentro dessa lógica, Dragon ball Z: Kakarot também vem com uma promessa, a promessa de possibilitar que o interator reviva em detalhes e participando ativamente da progressão de um enredo que o mesmo provavelmente já acompanhou dezenas de vezes em mídias diferentes, é da classe das centenas o número de interpretações de Dragon ball Z para os vídeo games, todas referenciando diretamente ou indiretamente os mesmos símbolos, os mesmos personagens e, principalmente, a mesma série de eventos. Acima de qualquer interesse de observar os significados criados a partir desse universo em diferentes contextos, há a procura por reviver as exatas mesmas aventuras da forma que foram apresentadas através do mangá ou do anime nas infâncias dos jogadores. Há uma busca ativa pela repetição, o novo, nesse caso, pouco interessa, a repetição é o elemento fulcral que determina a qualidade do produto, busca-se a emulação perfeita da emoção e do brilho no olhar ao se encantar com os personagens carismáticos e as sequências de luta explosivas da série.

Nesse sentido, o jogo é bem sucedido, pois vale-se da interatividade própria dos vídeo games para estabelecer um véu de novidade sobre a experiência, correndo o risco de inaugurar uma nova gama de sentimentos relacionados à propriedade intelectual, ao passo que apresenta 1x1, com uma riqueza nunca antes praticada no âmbito dos games, as cenas da obra original, sendo esse seu maior trunfo, dado que a implementação de elementos de RPG dentro da dinâmica do game é falha e o sistema de combate é pobre e pode ser resumido a esmagar dois botões por alguns minutos e aguardar pelo embate seguinte. No entanto, todo e qualquer pecado é absolvido sob o signo da nostalgia e o pulsar de uma memória afetiva que antecede o senso crítico do jogador.

DBZ kakarot oferece um retorno, não é o primeiro jogo a fazê-lo nem será o último, estamos fadados e queremos retornar, a nostalgia é um sintoma da desesperança pois o futuro nada nos reserva, portanto, só resta retornar.

I'll start by saying that this high rating is purely because I am a massive Dragon Ball fan, so I enjoyed the game far more than I would have if I wasn't. It's also given with the hope that the many bugs that plague the game are patched out, since it's still only 1 week since release. I don't feel like it's an unfair reason to rate the game highly though since regardless of the bias reasons, I DID get a ton of enjoyment out of the game, and that's what they're for.

Anyway... The presentation of the game I found really neat. It comes out as if it's a real "playable anime", with each arc of DBZ getting it's own little preview and title card. The feeling of truly playing the show is made more apparent by just how much detail goes into the cutscenes. While it obviously doesn't fit in all 291 episodes, this game goes out of its way to tell the full story of Dragon Ball Z, rather than just using the basic footnotes as most other games do in order to get you from fight A to fight B. This can be a bit of a pain in some times though, as you go through 20+ minutes of cutscene and dialogue in a run, which happened mostly in the Boo saga. Cutscenes themself vary in quality, some of them, like Vegetto vs Boo, had outstanding animation and action, while others felt stiff.

The controls definitely feel unconventional at first, but after getting used to them, flying around the map feels as natural and fun as ever. I do like how easy they make it to traverse the world, since slow and tedious journeys in open world games can often be a problem for me.

Subquests provide a ton of fun. Some of them are funny, some help fill in plot holes or missing story sections and some of them actually develop characters (Chaozu's sidequest in this game provided more character than he's ever had in the series). Some of them even have recurring game-only characters, like the cook who keeps getting attacked or the tourists. Unfortunately the majority of quests are just "Fight these robots" or "Gather these things", with a handful implementing the mini-games of driving, baseball and fishing. One other problem with these was the lack of enemy variety, as they used the same basic pirate robot enemy every single time, just with a new coat of paint in some cases. There's even one mission where Pilaf threatens you with his new machine, and I was expecting to fight the Pilaf Machine from Dragon Ball, but nope, just more pirate robots. A huge wasted opportunity.

The combat isn't at all deep or combo-oriented, but it's just so fast paced and is more focused on timing and rapid actions that I found it really enjoyable. The fact that there's so few playable characters actually allowed them to go all out and make villains feel like real boss fights, with moves that would be game-breaking under the players control, while in most DB games the enemies are restricted to the human-controlled movesets.

While there isn't a whole ton of amount to do relative to some bigger open-world RPGs, there is a constant sense of progression after finishing each saga as more options are added to the intermissions, which serve as the times you essentially get free-roam of the world.

One thing I absolutely loved was the community board. I spent hours and hours mix and matching the icons of characters to try and find the best results. I hope every franchise-based game gets something like this. It's surprisingly addicting and unlocking a new emblem was far more exciting than it should be.

The game has an "instant victory" mechanic where if you're way above the level of an enemy while dashing into them in the overworld, you just win the fight and get the exp and rewards. I thought it was a great way to prevent monotonous fighting while still letting you get the rewards. A nice bonus for those who go out of their way to get as much exp as possible.

Post game has some great content for you too, with a huge chunk of side missions and a secret boss.

I finished everything in the game, including filling out the Z-encyclopedia, getting all community boards to max and the emblems to max friendship, and in all that time I never got bored. The only time I even felt overly frustrated with the game was the crappy controls for the robo-walker time trials (which luckily are fully optional).

Boy oh boy where do i begin...Goku my glorious king Goku isn't just a character; he's a beacon of inspiration, a symbol of indomitable spirit that ignites a fire within my soul. From the electrifying battles to his unwavering determination, every moment spent with Goku feels like an exhilarating journey through the cosmos of courage and strength. His infectious optimism and unwavering belief in doing what's right resonate deep within me, reminding me that even in the face of insurmountable odds, anything is possible. My love for Goku isn't just a fleeting admiration; it's a boundless passion that transcends time and space, lighting up my universe with the radiance of his unparalleled heroism.

Esse jogo é uma excelente forma de recontar a história de Dragon Ball Z; usa muito do fator nostalgia para cativar e prender o seu público. Os principais pontos positivos se concentram em sua liberdade de exploração, nos elementos de RPG e em sua ótima trilha sonora. Seu combate, apesar de não ser nada fora da curva, é bem intuitivo e consegue ser divertido.

Infelizmente, nem toda nostalgia do mundo seria capaz de segurar a tamanha repetitividade que esse jogo nos proporciona. A impressão que passa é que DBZ: Kakarot vai te cansando ao longo das sagas; você começa o jogo cheio de gás e motivado e termina ele esgotado, sem aquele sentimento de querer algo mais.

Baseando-se nessa perspectiva, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot não é um jogo perfeito; mas visto pelo olhar de um fã, é altamente recomendável para aqueles que apreciam a obra de Akira Toriyama.

So, ask yourself, why are you buying this game?

Do you want a good Dragon Ball Z action game? There's plenty of fighting games out there using this brand, many even on PC, including the still actively supported Xenoverse 2 and FighterZ, both of which are far better at being action games and offer far more for that type of player.

Do you want a game that retells the story of Dragon Ball Z in a compelling way? That doesn't happen. The game will offer about a minute total per arc to scenes that actually attempt to recreate the visuals and emotions behind similar scenes in the manga or anime. The vast majority of cutscenes in this game though are flat shots where you watch the characters backs because CC2 couldn't be bothered to show their lips even moving (let alone the rest of the model, which are typically stuck with either their hands at their sides or in a default looping animation). The pacing of neither the manga or the anime is recreated, the tone isn't, the visuals fail as mentioned before, there is nothing here for a fan of either version of this stretch of Dragon Ball.

What about if you're a general RPG fan? Well, I hope you enjoy hours of cutscenes that are just what I described followed by the game telling you what to do. You have almost zero control over your party until presumably the endgame, and you will find yourself wasting wishes to Shen Long on resurrecting dead warriors, only to find out most of them want to fight Gohan who you almost never have an opportunity to play as once this becomes relevant (and when you do, the game goes "Actually, you can't go to the world map now!").

The fact that so many people herald this game as something good, like it's some great retelling of Dragon Ball Z is baffling. It fails in every regard to do that, ultimately being a cliffnotes version made by people who I honestly think don't like or outright detest Dragon Ball. No moment is given its appreciation, background characters completely change for no real reason other than, presumably, it was easier to work with a stock model (likely taken from another Dragon Ball game), and the part that made me stop and write this review was when the game had Trunks fight Perfect Cell, and it doesn't let you fight. Despite inserting meaningless fights before, fights that don't exist in any version of Dragon Ball (Goku vs Semi Perfect Cell, really?), they cut that one. And it's probably because they couldn't be bothered to do a Super Saiyajin Grade 3 Trunks.

Do you want a Dragon Ball game that loving recreates moments from the anime? Budokai on the GCN and PS2. It even has the original American opening music for English dub fans. Less lovingly is Ultimate Tenkaichi for seventh gen consoles, which redraws various anime scenes, but the game sucks.
Do you want a Dragon Ball Z RPG? Aside from the countless card battlers exclusive to Japan (many of which now have translations), there is also the Legacy of Goku trilogy for the GameBoy Advance, or Attack of the Saiyans for the Nintendo DS.
Do you just want Dragon Ball fanservice? Super Dragon Ball Z, Super Butoden, Hyper DBZ, FighterZ, Xenoverse, Dragon Ball Online, Budokai Tenkaichi 2 and 3, the list goes on.

Kakarot ultimately offers nothing. It does nothing well. Its presentation is bare, it cares little for Dragon Ball, its legacy, or how it existed (both on the screen and on the page). There is a notable Japanese commercial, showing generations of Dragon Ball fans, and how this game is comparable to the days of watching Dragon Ball Z on your TV. Ignoring everything I have said, I do not know how this game can even be compared to that when they didn't even bother recreating the anime's second opening, one which was around for nearly 100 episodes of the show's run, "We Gotta Power".

Also, they chopped off the actual ending and sold it as DLC.
Buy Xenoverse 2 instead.

It was much better than I expected. A lot of care with the characters, a lot of attention to detail, and the fights are always very good, as these games usually have. I knew I would like this game, but I didn't know I would love it. What a good surprise ❤️
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Foi bem melhor do que eu esperava. Muito cuidado com os personagens, muita atenção ao detalhe, e as lutas sempre muito boas como esses jogos costumam ter. Sabia que ia gostar desse jogo, mas não sabia que eu ia amar. Que surpresa boa ❤️

For an anime game, it is beautiful, ambitious, and made with love. The game itself is open world so it’s a lot of repetitive nonsense which I don’t usually personally enjoy. The reward for doing them was cute interactions between characters to which I felt was worth it.

Goes through the main story, no filler. Some stuff is toned down. All in all, it was neat to go through the story again.

Lots of extras which might not appeal to some people due to my first point. Mostly gathering, battles, locating dragon balls, etc.

I enjoyed my time with the game (got the Plat trophy, pretty easy to do) and if you are a DBZ fan, it’s definitely worth picking up on sale unless you’re bothered by anything I mentioned earlier. I know a non DBZ game with these quests and what not would’ve bored me to death and I recognize that haha.

One more thing is I really enjoyed the movement. Flying around, running, jumping, fighting, it all felt so good to do.

Oh and they remembered Launch.

Platinumed in around 35 hours.

I wasn't expecting to love Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot as much as I did. I'd heard mixed reception going in, and I wasn't sure what to expect. What I got was a modern rendition of all 3 Legacy of Goku games fused into one beautiful gem. The cutscenes are gorgeous, there's plenty of niche references that only diehard fans will recognize, and the combat met my expectations. Does it drag at times? Sure, but if you love this series as much as I do then you won't be able to help but adore this.

Pros:
Faithful adaptation of Z.
Combat is easy to understand, but not too simple.
Plenty of fanservice.
Visuals are nice, as is the OST.
RPG elements are a fun addition.

Cons:
Sidequests are a little too repetitive.
Random battles are repetitive.

90/100.

Bom jogo, o fator nostalgia pega muito nesse game... todas as sagas Z bem resumida, um prato cheio pra os fãs com boas mecânicas, bom combate e tbm curti a forma de up dos personagens... mas!!! o jogo fica bem repetitivo quando vc chega ali nos 70% do game e vai ficando arrastado principalmente se vc optar em fazer as sides quests algo que achei a quantidade bem desnecessária...tipo a maioria só pra encher linguiça mesmo... enfim achei um bom jogo onde vc se diverti bastante mais que acaba cansando antes do final ... vale um 8/10