In Dragon Ball Xenoverse, evil is messing with the Dragon Ball timeline as we know it. Heroes such as Super Saiyan 3 Gotenks, Ultimate Gohan, Vegeta, and Piccolo and villains such as Raditz, Frieza, the Androids, Cell, and Kid Buu are becoming what are known as “Villainous” characters by Towa, a scientist from the Demon World. IGN reports these characters will have skill sets entirely different from their original forms that leads them to be stronger and more violent. Players will have to defeat the Villainous within Xenoverse’s story and parallel quest modes and upon victory with a high score, they will then be able to do a quest again with those characters. Players will be able to earn in-game rewards by winning with the Villainous that are not obtainable by using the original, however, if they lose, then those rewards and the playable Villainous mode will be lost. Rewards include zeni (the currency in Dragon Ball), costumes, and special attacks. Some rewards will be hard to obtain so online co-op is encouraged. As for the Villainous, it’s worth noting not all playable characters will have that form, but a handful will.
In addition to the Villainous, new information on the story mode presentation has been revealed. In the previous trailer, we’ve seen Dragon Ball Xenoverse will have original video animation and in the Bandai Namco interview it was shown there will be cutscenes to tell the game’s story, both which we as fans at Saiyan Island are excited about! However, the IGN report states there will also be static images with overlaid text to tell the game’s story and they will be lengthy.
Additionally, the way the game is presented there will be two sets of story sequences. First the altered and then the original. For example, in the battle with Raditz, players will first experience the distorted timeline story where Raditz dodges Piccolo’s Special Beam Canon and it only connects with Goku. Then, the player, as the hero who is working to fix the Dragon Ball timeline, will participate in a fight. Following the player’s victory, the original Dragon Ball Z story is presented where Piccolo’s Special Beam Canon hits both Raditz and Goku.
Lastly, and this is something you may know already, but your created characters voice can be changed. In the network test players did not have any voice options, however, in the final release the voice’s pitch can be changed and voice effects such as flanger, harmonizer, echo and tremolo can be added. As shown in trailer 2, those created characters can then be trained by characters from the Dragon Ball universe who will serve as a master that teaches special attacks and fighting techniques. Players can even switch masters, which will then have a scenario of sorts unfold. For example, if you pick Vegeta as your master initially and then switch to Goku, Vegeta will become jealous.
