[0:00] Hey everybody, I'm Ryan McAffrey with
[0:02] longtime IGN contributor Will. We are
[0:04] here at Summer GameFest. We're seeing a
[0:06] ton of games. Happy to be here, loving
[0:09] all we're seeing. Uh, and you got to
[0:11] see, my friend, Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3,
[0:13] which people have been waiting for for a
[0:15] while. So, give me your first just top
[0:16] level thoughts of the demo that you had.
[0:18] Uh, so one of the coolest things about
[0:20] the demo is that it's set in the far
[0:22] future and it's bringing back characters
[0:24] from every era of Dragon Ball. So,
[0:25] you're wandering around and you might
[0:27] see like Trunks from Z or you might see
[0:29] Vegeta from the Saiyan arc, right? Um,
[0:31] and all these characters are kind of
[0:33] coming together in this far future
[0:35] setting where it's like, oh, why is
[0:37] Bulma here? Like, that's a little bit
[0:39] weird. Shouldn't she be really old, you
[0:40] know, long dead? Um, so it's it's
[0:43] playing with the timeline. And one of
[0:44] the cool things that they told us about
[0:45] it was that this period was one of the
[0:48] last things that like Akira Toriyama
[0:49] worked on. And so they worked very
[0:51] closely with that team to make sure that
[0:52] the game was set during that timeline
[0:54] and portraying it accurately. Um, so
[0:56] that is the thing that jumps out
[0:58] immediately. But it's if you've played
[1:00] Xenoverse, like it's going to feel very
[1:01] much like the games you remember. So on
[1:04] that note, uh, how was the demo? Like
[1:07] what were your kind of topline thoughts?
[1:08] Impressed, not impressed, where are we
[1:10] at with it? Uh, it felt very good. Um,
[1:13] so they dropped us into a mission where
[1:15] we were just kind of going through
[1:17] fighting a lot of guys. It ended with a
[1:18] boss fight against uh Broly, which was
[1:21] very intense. I have a very funny story
[1:22] about that. But one of the things that's
[1:24] neat is if you've never played
[1:25] Xenoverse, it is a team- based game. So,
[1:27] it's you, your created character, and
[1:29] then several other characters who join
[1:31] you. In this case, those characters were
[1:32] original for this new timeline that you
[1:34] are kind of teaming up with. Um, but one
[1:36] of the neat things is you can summon uh
[1:38] in addition to those characters that are
[1:39] running around with you, like you can
[1:41] summon assist characters. So, I had one
[1:42] of mine was Vegeta, and he could come in
[1:44] and he could do the gaug gun with me,
[1:45] and that was oh, cool, right? Um, but
[1:47] there's also this mechanic where you can
[1:49] you can take the soul of another
[1:51] character into you. So I could play as
[1:52] Trunks. I could be like, "Cool, Trunks,
[1:53] come down here. I'm going to play as
[1:54] Trunks." Have access to all of his
[1:56] moves, all of his abilities. And it was
[1:58] this incredibly awesome power up. And
[2:01] then in addition to that, you had these
[2:03] really cinematic supers. I had this
[2:05] really crazy Kamehameha that like you're
[2:07] kind of aiming and you're trying to get
[2:09] as many people in it as you can. And I I
[2:11] think I hit maybe like 10 15 guys with
[2:13] it. So, like lots to play with, but
[2:15] still very much in that Xenoverse uh
[2:18] kind of tradition of you're flying
[2:20] around, you know, you kind of got up and
[2:21] down, vertical movement. Um, it's very
[2:23] quick and you've got all these
[2:25] characters on screen at once. Love it.
[2:27] All right, circle back to that funny
[2:28] story that you were just going to get
[2:29] into. Yes. Um, so one of the things that
[2:32] Broly does, if you know, if you familiar
[2:33] with the character, he's he loves to do
[2:35] like big energy like shield explosions.
[2:37] And so I'm trying to hit him and he
[2:39] keeps doing it and eventually he's like,
[2:40] "All right, I'm gonna do the big energy
[2:42] shield explosion and then I'm also going
[2:43] to shoot a ton of like other beams at
[2:45] you and I'm like, "Oh no, this is really
[2:47] bad. I should hide." So I find this
[2:50] we're in an ice level and I find this
[2:52] big kind of shard of ice and me thinking
[2:54] I'm being very clever go hide behind the
[2:57] ice shard and I'm like, "Awesome. Can't
[2:59] hit me." And then the ice shard gets
[3:00] broken and I get blasted.
[3:02] But it was great. It was a lot of fun
[3:05] and uh it was a fun fight that kind of
[3:06] challenged you to be like, "All right,
[3:07] you got to pay attention to not just
[3:09] what you're doing, but what he's doing,
[3:11] react to that. Use those abilities that
[3:12] we talked about."
[3:13] >> Love it. Uh you also got a chance to do
[3:16] a little Q&A with the development team.
[3:18] So, what did you learn in that?
[3:20] >> Um the biggest thing was how much they
[3:22] were trying to kind of respond to fan
[3:25] feedback for what fans expect from
[3:27] Xenoverse because Xenoverse 2 was
[3:29] >> I think about a decade ago. So, they've
[3:31] had a long time to support that game and
[3:33] and really learn what people wanted.
[3:35] They were they were talking about the
[3:37] new setting and bringing that to
[3:38] Xenoverse and and kind of making it so
[3:40] you don't have to have played, you know,
[3:42] Xenoverse 1, Xenoverse 2 to understand
[3:44] what's going on and and realizing that
[3:46] setting. Um, we had a very funny
[3:47] question where one of the things that
[3:49] you your character uh does is you're in
[3:52] this very messy room and this is where
[3:54] you're staying. And I asked him like,
[3:55] why is the room so messy? And it turns
[3:57] out there's a lore reason for that. Um,
[4:00] and it's cuz the room isn't really
[4:02] yours. You're, you know, kind of
[4:03] borrowing it from another character. Um,
[4:05] but it was it was really fascinating to
[4:07] hear their thoughts about revisiting a
[4:09] series that like is so popular and so
[4:12] beloved, but also it's been, you know,
[4:13] it's been like 10 years. So, they had to
[4:15] rethink like what is Universe now? What
[4:17] do we want to carry over? What's the
[4:19] feedback that we've received? How do we
[4:21] give people this experience while
[4:22] bringing in these new characters, while
[4:23] bringing in this new setting? and then
[4:25] doing like these really exciting new
[4:27] mechanics where like you know you can
[4:28] play as Trunks briefly or you can call
[4:30] in Vegeta and have him do this stuff and
[4:32] all these new original characters that
[4:34] are also you know on the field with you.
[4:36] So as someone who has spent time with
[4:38] the series before coming into this where
[4:41] were you at like hype levelwise
[4:43] excitement wise and coming out of the
[4:44] demo and the Q&A where are you at with
[4:47] it now? So coming in I didn't really
[4:49] know what to expect right because like
[4:51] Xenoverse one and Xenoverse 2 are very
[4:52] similar games. their setting is very
[4:54] similar. Coming out of this, I was like,
[4:56] "Oh, they're doing something that's that
[4:58] feels very different just because of the
[4:59] new setting and and the stuff with the
[5:01] new original characters that are there
[5:03] and and the new mechanics." So, I think
[5:04] um you know, for people who have been
[5:06] playing Xenoverse for a while and are
[5:08] really interested in that in those games
[5:11] and dedicated to those games, like you
[5:13] are going to see something that feels at
[5:14] least to me very different than what
[5:16] you've seen, but also very much like
[5:18] Xenoverse. Like, it's exciting. It feels
[5:19] new. Um there's some mystery to it. you
[5:22] know, you want to figure out what's
[5:23] going on in this new timeline, how these
[5:24] characters are fitting together. You
[5:25] know, why is Bulma still here? Truly is
[5:27] a question, right? So, it's it's I came
[5:30] out really interested to see what what
[5:32] else they show.
[5:33] >> Love it. Uh, I guess last thing would be
[5:35] any any sort of unanswered questions for
[5:38] you after this? Like, what do you still
[5:40] any yellow flags that you're still like
[5:42] maybe concerned about that the demo and
[5:44] Q&A didn't answer or uh or are you kind
[5:46] of locked and loaded at this point and
[5:48] we're just ready for this thing to come
[5:49] out? I don't know if it's a yellow flag,
[5:51] but the demo was largely combat focused,
[5:53] very mission focused. So, I'm curious to
[5:55] see what the hub world looks like in
[5:57] Xenoverse 3, like what the character
[5:59] interactions where you're wandering
[6:00] around look like. I got to briefly
[6:02] experience that, but it was largely like
[6:04] we're going to show it to you a little
[6:05] bit and then we want to get you into
[6:06] this mission to play with these new
[6:07] mechanics. So, I think um you know, if
[6:09] you've played Xenoverse before, those
[6:10] hub worlds are places where you spend a
[6:12] lot of time, you know, outfitting your
[6:14] team and and talking to the characters
[6:16] and you know, playing multiplayer with
[6:18] other people, right? So, you spend a lot
[6:20] of time there and I really did want to
[6:21] see more than what we got. Will, thank
[6:24] you so much. Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3,
[6:26] one of many games we've been seeing here
[6:28] at Summer GameFest. For more from
[6:31] everything in the gaming industry, which
[6:32] is all centering right here in Los
[6:34] Angeles right now, uh, keep it tuned
[6:36] right here to IGN.