| Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 | |
| Developer: | Dimps |
| Publisher: | Bandai Namco Entertainment |
| Series: | Dragon Ball |
| Genre: | Fighting, role-playing |
| Modes: | Single-player, multiplayer |
| Artist: | Shohei Imamura |
| Designer: | Tsuyoshi Narabayashi |
is an action role-playing fighting game developed by Dimps and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment based on the Dragon Ball franchise, and is the sequel to the 2015 game Dragon Ball Xenoverse. It was released on October 25, 2016, for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and on October 27 for Windows. In Japan, Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 was initially only available on PlayStation 4.[1] The game was released for the Nintendo Switch in Japan on September 7, 2017, and later released worldwide on September 22, 2017.[2] The game was released on Stadia on December 17, 2019.[3]
The game had sold over copies worldwide .
The game is very similar to its predecessor in terms of gameplay. It is primarily set in 3D battle arenas modeled after notable locations in the Dragon Ball universe, with the central hub being an expanded version of Toki-Toki City, known as Conton City. As reported by the creators of the game, Conton City is seven times larger than Toki-Toki City.[4] Players are able to freely traverse the hub world, and in some areas are capable of flying, once they have unlocked the ability to fly. Players are also able to travel to other locations such as the Namekian Village and Frieza's ship. As in the previous games, some skills have to be learned through masters and other non-player characters, some of whom are found exclusively in those additional areas. Xenoverse 2 is the fourth Dragon Ball video game to feature character customization, and allows players to choose from five races: Humans, Saiyans, Majins, Namekians and Frieza's race, each with different strengths and weaknesses.
The game also features race-specific quests, minigames, and transformations (the latter of which was available only to Saiyans in the first game via the Super Saiyan forms). Players also have a much greater role in the story, as their choices can affect how the story unfolds. Multiplayer servers hold up to 3,000 players at once. The game also has a training mode called Training School. The player can use different kinds of ki blasts (Power, Homing, Rush, Paralyze and Bomb), and the ki blast type depends on the player's race or Super Soul. Additionally, players are able to transfer their save data from Dragon Ball Xenoverse. This results in a projection of the player's custom character from the previous game appearing as Toki Toki City's "Hero" in the middle of the square. Players may also select a premade avatar to serve as the "Hero" if they do not transfer save data.
Two years after the events of Dragon Ball Xenoverse, the protagonist receives a mission from Elder Kai, which involves correcting history after it has changed. They meet the Supreme Kai of Time, a deity who watches over time, and her bird, TokiToki. After meeting Elder Kai, they are granted their first mission, which is to correct Goku's battle with Raditz after he's been enhanced by dark magic. Meanwhile, Towa and Mira, who've caused history to change, have gathered allies, from different parts of the timeline.
During the Attack of the Saiyans Saga, Turles attempts to intercept Goku to prevent him from assisting the Z Fighters against Nappa and Vegeta, only to be stopped by the combined forces of the Time Patroller and Goku. During the battle, Trunks and his partner, the protagonist from the first Xenoverse game, try to capture Turles, but he escapes before the Time Patroller can stop him. The protagonist then returns to the Time Nest after defeating Great Ape Nappa and Great Ape Vegeta, and correcting history. There, they are introduced to Trunks and his partner, and it is announced that TokiToki is laying an egg, which gives birth to another universe. During the Namek Saga, the Time Patroller helps Gohan and Krillin from escaping from Dodoria and Zarbon. After the battle, the Time Patroller returns to the Time Nest only to find out that Captain Ginyu had switched bodies with Vegeta. The Time Patroller and Trunks attempt to fix this but in doing so, Ginyu switches bodies with Trunks. After the mishap, Ginyu finally switches bodies with Goku. After fighting the Ginyu possessed Goku, Ginyu returns to his body and attempts to switch bodies with the Time Patroller but Goku throws a Namekian frog in the beam, causing Ginyu to switch bodies with the frog. The Time Patroller must then help Nail fight Frieza in order for Gohan and Krillin to obtain the Dragon Balls, causing Trunks to intervene and help Gohan and the Time Patroller. During Goku's fight with Frieza, Cooler, Frieza's brother, arrives to help Frieza kill Goku, but is eventually defeated by the Time Patroller and Goku. The protagonist finds Trunks reviewing the scroll containing his own past which is revealed to be the Android era of Future Trunks' timeline. They watch as Future Gohan confronts Future Android 17 & Future Android 18, though Future Gohan's speech regarding someone defeating the Androids even if he dies doesn't occur though Trunks acts as if it is the unaltered history of his timeline. Elder Kai walks in and notes that while he doesn't approve of Trunks' use of his mother's Time Machine it is a moot point as the Supreme Kai of Time had already decided to allow his changes to remain as part of the official history in exchange for Trunks service as a mentor of the Time Patrol. Suddenly the scroll shows signs of a history change & since it involves Trunks' own history, he is unable to intervene forcing the protagonist to intervene in his steed, saving Future Gohan from Android 16 who seems to have been reprogrammed to target Future Gohan. Together the two are able to defeat the Android, only for Mira to appear threatening to absorb Future Gohan's energy. Though the Supreme Kai of Time forbids Trunks from intervening, he can't bare to see Mira kill both Future Gohan & their Time Patroller comrade. Together with Trunks, they manage to force Mira to retreat. Future Gohan surmises Trunks is from the future due to his age & knowledge of Future Bulma's time machine research. As Future Gohan is about to leave to confront the Android twins, Trunks tries to convince him to let him accompany him this time. The Supreme Kai of Time reminds Trunks that doing so will alter history which is taboo for a Time Patroller & orders the protagonist to intervene to stop him. Fortunately, Future Gohan recognizes Trunks is conflicted & realizes he won't survive his confrontation with the Androids, though recognizes that Trunks is alive & stronger, concludes that his death has purpose, decides to confront his fate on his own, convincing Trunks not to abandon his friends to save him, as he accepts his fate confident that Trunks will bring peace to their world. Trunks must take a break from time patrolling. The Time Patroller is sent to aid Trunks' past self after he returns to his timeline following the Cell Games. Once again Android 16 appears & it is revealed that Towa found the Android 16 of Future Trunks' timeline who remained deactivated in his pod. Towa activated him either reprogramming him to attack Future Gohan & Trunks or Future Android 16 had been reprogrammed by Future Dr. Gero to target Future Gohan & Trunks after Future Goku died of Heart Virus. In addition to Future Android 16, Towa also aided Future Cell in absorbing Future 17 & 18, allowing him to achieve his perfect form as she had done previously in Dragon Ball Xenoverse. However the Time Patroller & Trunks' past self are able to defeat both Androids, bringing peace to Trunks' timeline. Afterwards, the Supreme Kai of Time puts the scroll for Trunks' timeline back together now that history has been corrected, though she & Elder Kai decide to leave in Trunks' encounter with Future Gohan out of respect since Future Gohan chose to go to his death. This leads to Future Gohan's speech regarding someone appearing to defeat the Androids from The History of Trunks to be added to Trunks' past as a result of Future Gohan meeting Trunks as a minor alteration which the Supreme Kai of Time allows to remain as part of the official history. Time Patroller then travels to the Majin Buu era to fix the distortion in which Majin Vegeta sacrificed himself to defeat Majin Buu. Broly arrives, and attempts to kill Goku, Vegeta, and Buu, but is stopped by the Time Patroller. Vegeta sacrifices himself to destroy Majin Buu, restoring the current flow of history. Meanwhile, Trunks is sent to investigate a distortion in Hell. The Time Patroller arrives to find Trunks has been defeated by Janemba from the Fusion Reborn timeline to prevent Vegeta's resurrection by Fortuneteller Baba to join the battle against Super Buu leading to him & Goku fusing into Vegito. Fortunately, the Time Patroller is able to weaken Janemba enough for Vegeta to finish him off with a Final Flash allowing Vegeta to leave Hell & return to Earth to fuse with Goku. The Time Patroller then goes to the timeline where Goku and Vegeta defeat Kid Buu. After defeating Kid Buu, Trunks who has since recovered from his encounter with Janemba reveals there was a Masked Saiyan assisting Janemba & suspects they are nearby collecting energy from the battle. The Time Patroller chases after the Masked Saiyan and teleports to the era where Beerus and Goku are fighting. The Time Patroller defeats the Masked Sayian, breaking his mask and revealing him to be Bardock. Mira arrives and engages in battle with the Time Patroller. Beerus interrupts the battle with the intention to destroy Mira, Goku, the Time Patroller, and Earth. The Supreme Kai of Time attempts to calm Beerus down by sending a box full of Pudding cups. While Mira takes the opportunity to flee with Bardock, Beerus invites Goku, Whis, & the Time Patroller to enjoy some pudding. However Whis stops when the Supreme Kai of Time reveals she made the pudding (it had been previously established in Dragon Ball Xenoverse that she is a notoriously bad cook). The Pudding is so bad that it incapacitates Goku with stomach pain, while Beerus is simply enraged (with Whis noting the last time he was this mad he destroyed two solar systems). In order to calm him down, Whis requests the Time Patroller assist him in fighting Beerus. Together they are able to calm Beerus down enough that he decides to spare Earth. Soon after, the Time Patroller travels to the Golden Frieza Saga, in which Frieza has been resurrected and wants revenge on Goku. During the battle, Cooler shows up again. Towa hacks into the Time Nest and tricks Beerus and Whis into leaving the battle, which allows Frieza to destroy the planet. Whis is able to rewind time and the Time Patroller, along with Goku and Vegeta, kill Cooler and Frieza. Shortly after the victory, the Duo of the Hero and Trunks are Ambushed by The Masked Saiyan and Towa, the former revealed to be Bardock, Goku's Father who was rescued by Towa from the destruction of Planet Vegeta and made to an ally for Towa. Freed from control, Bardock restrains Mira when Towa tries to trap Trunks and The Hero in a Black Hole in an attempt to trap the in a void, giving Towa no choice but to begin releasing the Hero from Xenoverse (Like Bardock, was made a slave by Towa). After defeating the Masked Hero freeing them, Towa flees & the Hero's existence become ephemeral before disappearing entirely. Trunks' & the protagonist return to the Time Nest with the Hero's discarded mask. However it seems the memory of everyone from Conton City has been altered causing everyone to consider the protagonist to be the Toki Toki City Hero, while the Supreme Kai of Time & Trunks suspect their own history has been altered. The Supreme Kai of Time reveals that history changes effect the Time Nest & Conton City at a slower pace & tasks them with investigating Conton City where they find other Time Patrollers are confused by the alterations. Eventually Trunks is able to remember his partner thanks to the discarded mask & finds the scroll for Age 780 when his past self made the wish to Shenron to summon the Toki Toki City Hero. It turns out Towa altered history by killing Shenron before Trunks could make the wish which causes a massive Time distortion which causes all the scrolls fixed by the Toki Toki City Hero to be effected, creating the doomsday scenario that could cause the Time Vault to reach critical mass potentially destroying the official history which is why the Time Patrol correct history to prevent this Doomsday scenario from destroying all of history. Fortunately Trunks is able to send the Time Patroller to Age 850 to stop Towa from killing Shenron. Together with Trunks' Age 850 self, the Time Patroller defeats Towa forcing her to flee, while allowing Trunks to make the wish to summon the Hero restoring the history of Xenoverse.
The Time Patroller returns to the Time Nest, as Trunks & the Supreme Kais wonder if Towa has truly been defeated. Realizing too late that the Hero's mask they brought back was a trojan horse, the group are ambushed by Towa and Mira again only to be brushed aside. During this, Towa made her objective clear; Earlier, the Tokitoki Bird who laid an egg, which when matured, births a new Multiverse. Seeing it as a source of power, Towa steals the recently conceived egg and plans to use it to rule the multiverse and Time. Before she can achieve her objected, Mira, now gaining a sense of Self, betrays his mentor and ends up absorbing both her and the egg, becoming a powerful foe capable of destroying all existence. At the last minute, Goku comes to the aid of the player and with the combine might of both warriors, Mira is destroyed, and the egg is recovered. The group then return to the nest just in time for the egg to hatch, birthing a new universe and the group along with Whis, Beerus, The previous Hero, and Goku stay and attend a party in celebration of both Towa and Mira's defeat and the hatching of the Egg. Due to the Supreme Kai of Time's being awful at cooking, Tokitoki convinces her there are too many people to cook for so she summons Conton City's Shenron to wish for a feast big enough for the Time Patrol & their allies. After the festivities, the previous Hero & the protagonist (now known as the Conton City Hero for their role in the defeat of Mira & Towa) have a sparring session to see which one of them is stronger, though the results of the fight aren't shown.
In addition to the main story (referred to as the critical mission by Elder Kai), the protagonist is tasked with investigating one of five large Time rifts contained inside the Time Miniatures located throughout Conton City. Each Time Miniature rift corresponds to the protagonist's selectable races (Saiyan, Earthling, Namekian, Frieza Race, & Majin) thus their selected race will determine the rift they investigate in the prologue before being called away by Elder Kai for the critical mission. If a Saiyan they will investigate Capsule Corporation, if an Earthling they will investigate Hercule's Mansion, if a Namekian they will investigate Guru's House on Namek, if a Frieza Race they will investigate Frieza's Spaceship, & if a Majin they will investigate Majin Buu's House. Eventually the Supreme Kai of Time will task the protagonist with looking into each Time Miniature rift which they can investigate at their leisure, as the rifts' large size makes them stable & though the history contained within is altered, its altered history isn't recorded in the time scrolls thus they are less of a concern to the Time Patrol.
By completing certain activities within each Time Miniature rift, the protagonist can obtain various rewards and take part in special missions to unlock their race's exclusive Awoken Skill, in the Time Miniature rift that they investigate in the prologue. Saiyans can unlock the Super Saiyan Awoken Skill which allows them to access the first three levels of Super Saiyan (by training with Vegeta they can also access the Super Vegeta Awoken Skill which grants access to Vegeta's version of Super Saiyan and Super Saiyan 2 that appeared previously in Dragon Ball Xenoverse). Earthlings can obtain the Power Pole Pro skill which allows them to summon Goku's Flying Nimbus & wield the Power Pole as a transformation received from the Saiyaman Squad. Namekians can obtain Become Giant Awoken Skill which allows them to access Super Great Namek form that allows them to grow giant sized. Frieza Race can obtain the Turn Golden Awoken Skill after usurping control of the Frieza Clan's empire from either Frieza or Cooler (depending upon which brother they chose to serve under) inside the Frieza's Spaceship rift. Majin can obtain the Purification Awoken Skill which grants them access to the Pure Majin form from Dragon Ball Online which allows them access to the form and power of the Majin progenitor Kid Buu (as all Majin descended from Good Buu possess Kid Buu's potential, though Good Buu warns that Purification is dangerous as Majin's risk losing their "heart" and becoming another incarnation of Kid Buu, though the Majin protagonist is able to retain their heart thus retains their original personality allowing them to freely transform into their Pure Majin form at will). In addition to the Awoken Skills for each race, the protagonist can obtain one Distorted Time Egg for each of the five Time Miniature rifts which the Protagonist can bring to the Supreme Kai of Time. Eventually it is revealed that the Distorted Time Eggs are the byproduct of Towa's futile attempts to artificially recreate Tokitoki's Egg which the Supreme Kai of Time notes is impossible. However the Distorted Time Eggs are still powerful enough to produce the large Time rifts contained in the five Time Miniatures, thus each rift is the result of Towa, Mira, the Masked Saiyan, Turles, & Lord Slug leaving these eggs within each location, resulting in the large Time rifts creation. Due to their stability and the altered history they contain not effecting the official history contained in the scrolls, the Supreme Kai of Time decides to not erase the Time Miniature rifts. She decides to keep the five Distorted Time Eggs contained to prevent them from causing any more rifts.
Collecting all five unlocks the secret Unknown History Saga, which reveals what happened when Bardock trapped Mira inside the Time Rift. It turns out Bardock fought Mira as a Super Saiyan (Towa implied that he had escaped from them briefly by fleeing into the past resulting in the events of Episode of Bardock where Bardock went Super Saiyan while fighting Frieza's ancestor Chilled). As the fight goes on, Bardock achieves both Super Saiyan 2 and Super Saiyan 3 as he grows stronger from the fight and his rage over being manipulated. Ultimately Super Saiyan 3 Bardock defeats Mira before disappearing from the rift. Mira recovers gaining the resolve to become stronger that lead him to betray & absorb Towa. Future Trunks, Elder Kai, & Supreme Kai of Time conclude Bardock was either killed by power of Super Saiyan 3 or the sudden release of energy allowed him to escape the rift after defeating Mira.
After witnessing what happened with Bardock & Mira, the Conton City Hero is asked to look at a history change in Future Trunks' timeline. Previously, the Supreme Kai of Time decided to leave in Trunks' meeting Future Gohan shortly before his death. Though Trunks' ultimately was stopped from altering history any further by the intervention of the Time Patroller & Future Gohan accepting his fate, Trunks' desire to save his mentor causes the 5 Distorted Time Eggs to create a separate timeline where a separate incarnation of Trunks elects to act upon said desire & joins Future Gohan in his battle with the Androids. Thanks to Trunks' strength & his presence in the battle causing Future Gohan to be able to tap into his latent potential due to his desire to protect Trunks, the pair are able to defeat the Androids bringing peace to their timeline creating a new future timeline where Trunks chose to save his mentor & remain to protect this new timeline he created. The Supreme Kai of Time wants the Conton City Hero's opinion on how to deal with this new timeline which was the result of a natural time distortion created by the combined power of the five Distorted Time Eggs (the Trunks who accepted Future Gohan's death still exists as a separate individual from the Trunks that did intervene as The Supreme Kai of Time says he is busy with another task) acting on the minor alterations that the Supreme Kai of Time allowed to remain. The Conton City Hero is given the choice of whether to fix it or allow the new timeline to remain. Regardless of the Conton City Hero's choice, final say on the matter is left up to the Supreme Kai of Time whose ultimate decision regarding the matter is left ambiguous. Now aware of what all five Distorted Time Eggs are capable of, the Supreme Kai of Time takes measures to prevent them from causing further alterations to history.
The game was originally teased by Bandai Namco Entertainment on May 16, 2016, as a new "Dragon Ball project", with it being announced on May 17, 2016.[5] [6] A Bandai Namco spokesperson confirmed that the game would be released on the PlayStation 4 in Japan, and for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows in North America and Europe.[7] Bandai Namco announced at E3 2016 that the game would run at a frame rate of 60 frames per second on all three platforms, would have a hub city that is seven times larger than its predecessor, and would also feature a new transportation system.[8]
An open and closed beta for Xenoverse 2 was announced by Bandai Namco in August 2016.[9] Both the open and closed beta were available exclusively on PlayStation 4.[10] The closed beta began on October 8, and ended on October 10, and the open beta began on October 14, and ended on October 17.
The Collector's Edition of the game includes the game disc, a soundtrack CD, a collector's box, an exclusive steelbook case, a Time Patroller's Guide artbook (including an exclusive manga illustrated by Toyotarou based on the game),[11] and a statue of Super Saiyan Goku. It is available for Xbox One and PlayStation 4.[12]
A Nintendo Switch port was revealed on January 12, 2017, in the Nintendo Switch's "Software Line-Up" Video.
On March 20, 2019, a free-to-play "Lite Version" was released on PS4 and Xbox One with a subset of the full game's content and a lower level cap.[13]
The Stadia port was revealed on December 17, 2019, on the "Stadia Community Blog" by the official Stadia team and released three hours later.
The versions for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S were announced in October 2023.[14] Available as a free upgrade to existing owners, the ports were released worldwide on May 24, 2024.[15] The Xbox One version was also released in Japan on the same date.[16]
A series of downloadable content packs have been released, generally including two to four characters, main/extra story missions, stages, new moves, skills, parallel quests, and other elements for the added characters.
Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 had shipped over 1.4 million copies worldwide.[22] As of November 27, 2016, the PS4 version has sold 87,105 copies in Japan.[23] The Nintendo Switch version debuted at number three on the Japanese sales charts, with 24,045 copies sold[24] and later sold 500,000 copies worldwide, by 2018.[25] Total sales reached over 5 million copies by the end of March 2019.[26] Bandai Namco announced sales of copies sold worldwide in May 2020;[27] [28] over 7 million copies sold worldwide by December 2020;[29] [30] and over 10 million copies worldwide by May 2023.[31] [32]
Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 received positive reviews. Critics praised the game's anime visual style, sound, and fighting gameplay but criticized the controls, repetitive nature and overall similarity to the previous installment. Aggregating review website Metacritic gave the PlayStation 4 version 72/100 based on 57 reviews.
IGN awarded it a score of 7.5 out of 10, saying "Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 is an ambitious, if rough-edged experience, with deceptively deep RPG and brawling elements." Hardcore Gamer awarded it 3 out of 5, calling it "a minimal improvement over its predecessor while sharing a lot of the same issues, but there's just something so endearing about how it all came together."
Heidi Kemps of GameSpot awarded the game a 7 out of 10, praising the combat and fan service, while criticizing the combat for being repetitive and the missions with a non-combat focus as "generally poor". Kyle Hilliard of Game Informer also awarded it a 7 out of 10, praising the addition of Conton City, but criticized the combat system for being almost identical to the first Xenoverse game and the soundtrack as "consistently awful".
Ashley Fonte from Games Mojo awarded it 4.3 out of 5 stars stating that "Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 is an exciting anime game with a unique and ambitious concept that is familiar to the fans of the Dragon Ball Z series and will give them an enjoyable playing experience." Alastair Stevensons gave a score of 3.5/5 on Trusted Reviews, and said that "Combat is fun if you know how Dragon Ball works, but newbies will struggle to get their bearings, as Xenoverse 2s tuition system is, at best, hit-and-miss". "Smoother combat and great multiplayer options make Xenoverse 2 worth a play for fans of the series" was Benjamin Shillabeer-Hall's conclusion on PlayStation Universe, with a score of 7/10.