Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3 First Impressions: Our 10-Year Wait Is Over!

[00:00] Hey everybody, I'm Ryan McAffrey with

[00:02] longtime IGN contributor Will. We are

[00:04] here at Summer GameFest. We're seeing a

[00:06] ton of games. Happy to be here, loving

[00:09] all we're seeing. Uh, and you got to

[00:11] see, my friend, Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3,

[00:13] which people have been waiting for for a

[00:15] while. So, give me your first just top

[00:16] level thoughts of the demo that you had.

[00:18] Uh, so one of the coolest things about

[00:20] the demo is that it's set in the far

[00:22] future and it's bringing back characters

[00:24] from every era of Dragon Ball. So,

[00:25] you're wandering around and you might

[00:27] see like Trunks from Z or you might see

[00:29] Vegeta from the Saiyan arc, right? Um,

[00:31] and all these characters are kind of

[00:33] coming together in this far future

[00:35] setting where it's like, oh, why is

[00:37] Bulma here? Like, that's a little bit

[00:39] weird. Shouldn't she be really old, you

[00:40] know, long dead? Um, so it's it's

[00:43] playing with the timeline. And one of

[00:44] the cool things that they told us about

[00:45] it was that this period was one of the

[00:48] last things that like Akira Toriyama

[00:49] worked on. And so they worked very

[00:51] closely with that team to make sure that

[00:52] the game was set during that timeline

[00:54] and portraying it accurately. Um, so

[00:56] that is the thing that jumps out

[00:58] immediately. But it's if you've played

[01:00] Xenoverse, like it's going to feel very

[01:01] much like the games you remember. So on

[01:04] that note, uh, how was the demo? Like

[01:07] what were your kind of topline thoughts?

[01:08] Impressed, not impressed, where are we

[01:10] at with it? Uh, it felt very good. Um,

[01:13] so they dropped us into a mission where

[01:15] we were just kind of going through

[01:17] fighting a lot of guys. It ended with a

[01:18] boss fight against uh Broly, which was

[01:21] very intense. I have a very funny story

[01:22] about that. But one of the things that's

[01:24] neat is if you've never played

[01:25] Xenoverse, it is a team- based game. So,

[01:27] it's you, your created character, and

[01:29] then several other characters who join

[01:31] you. In this case, those characters were

[01:32] original for this new timeline that you

[01:34] are kind of teaming up with. Um, but one

[01:36] of the neat things is you can summon uh

[01:38] in addition to those characters that are

[01:39] running around with you, like you can

[01:41] summon assist characters. So, I had one

[01:42] of mine was Vegeta, and he could come in

[01:44] and he could do the gaug gun with me,

[01:45] and that was oh, cool, right? Um, but

[01:47] there's also this mechanic where you can

[01:49] you can take the soul of another

[01:51] character into you. So I could play as

[01:52] Trunks. I could be like, "Cool, Trunks,

[01:53] come down here. I'm going to play as

[01:54] Trunks." Have access to all of his

[01:56] moves, all of his abilities. And it was

[01:58] this incredibly awesome power up. And

[02:01] then in addition to that, you had these

[02:03] really cinematic supers. I had this

[02:05] really crazy Kamehameha that like you're

[02:07] kind of aiming and you're trying to get

[02:09] as many people in it as you can. And I I

[02:11] think I hit maybe like 10 15 guys with

[02:13] it. So, like lots to play with, but

[02:15] still very much in that Xenoverse uh

[02:18] kind of tradition of you're flying

[02:20] around, you know, you kind of got up and

[02:21] down, vertical movement. Um, it's very

[02:23] quick and you've got all these

[02:25] characters on screen at once. Love it.

[02:27] All right, circle back to that funny

[02:28] story that you were just going to get

[02:29] into. Yes. Um, so one of the things that

[02:32] Broly does, if you know, if you familiar

[02:33] with the character, he's he loves to do

[02:35] like big energy like shield explosions.

[02:37] And so I'm trying to hit him and he

[02:39] keeps doing it and eventually he's like,

[02:40] "All right, I'm gonna do the big energy

[02:42] shield explosion and then I'm also going

[02:43] to shoot a ton of like other beams at

[02:45] you and I'm like, "Oh no, this is really

[02:47] bad. I should hide." So I find this

[02:50] we're in an ice level and I find this

[02:52] big kind of shard of ice and me thinking

[02:54] I'm being very clever go hide behind the

[02:57] ice shard and I'm like, "Awesome. Can't

[02:59] hit me." And then the ice shard gets

[03:00] broken and I get blasted.

[03:02] But it was great. It was a lot of fun

[03:05] and uh it was a fun fight that kind of

[03:06] challenged you to be like, "All right,

[03:07] you got to pay attention to not just

[03:09] what you're doing, but what he's doing,

[03:11] react to that. Use those abilities that

[03:12] we talked about."

[03:13] >> Love it. Uh you also got a chance to do

[03:16] a little Q&A with the development team.

[03:18] So, what did you learn in that?

[03:20] >> Um the biggest thing was how much they

[03:22] were trying to kind of respond to fan

[03:25] feedback for what fans expect from

[03:27] Xenoverse because Xenoverse 2 was

[03:29] >> I think about a decade ago. So, they've

[03:31] had a long time to support that game and

[03:33] and really learn what people wanted.

[03:35] They were they were talking about the

[03:37] new setting and bringing that to

[03:38] Xenoverse and and kind of making it so

[03:40] you don't have to have played, you know,

[03:42] Xenoverse 1, Xenoverse 2 to understand

[03:44] what's going on and and realizing that

[03:46] setting. Um, we had a very funny

[03:47] question where one of the things that

[03:49] you your character uh does is you're in

[03:52] this very messy room and this is where

[03:54] you're staying. And I asked him like,

[03:55] why is the room so messy? And it turns

[03:57] out there's a lore reason for that. Um,

[04:00] and it's cuz the room isn't really

[04:02] yours. You're, you know, kind of

[04:03] borrowing it from another character. Um,

[04:05] but it was it was really fascinating to

[04:07] hear their thoughts about revisiting a

[04:09] series that like is so popular and so

[04:12] beloved, but also it's been, you know,

[04:13] it's been like 10 years. So, they had to

[04:15] rethink like what is Universe now? What

[04:17] do we want to carry over? What's the

[04:19] feedback that we've received? How do we

[04:21] give people this experience while

[04:22] bringing in these new characters, while

[04:23] bringing in this new setting? and then

[04:25] doing like these really exciting new

[04:27] mechanics where like you know you can

[04:28] play as Trunks briefly or you can call

[04:30] in Vegeta and have him do this stuff and

[04:32] all these new original characters that

[04:34] are also you know on the field with you.

[04:36] So as someone who has spent time with

[04:38] the series before coming into this where

[04:41] were you at like hype levelwise

[04:43] excitement wise and coming out of the

[04:44] demo and the Q&A where are you at with

[04:47] it now? So coming in I didn't really

[04:49] know what to expect right because like

[04:51] Xenoverse one and Xenoverse 2 are very

[04:52] similar games. their setting is very

[04:54] similar. Coming out of this, I was like,

[04:56] "Oh, they're doing something that's that

[04:58] feels very different just because of the

[04:59] new setting and and the stuff with the

[05:01] new original characters that are there

[05:03] and and the new mechanics." So, I think

[05:04] um you know, for people who have been

[05:06] playing Xenoverse for a while and are

[05:08] really interested in that in those games

[05:11] and dedicated to those games, like you

[05:13] are going to see something that feels at

[05:14] least to me very different than what

[05:16] you've seen, but also very much like

[05:18] Xenoverse. Like, it's exciting. It feels

[05:19] new. Um there's some mystery to it. you

[05:22] know, you want to figure out what's

[05:23] going on in this new timeline, how these

[05:24] characters are fitting together. You

[05:25] know, why is Bulma still here? Truly is

[05:27] a question, right? So, it's it's I came

[05:30] out really interested to see what what

[05:32] else they show.

[05:33] >> Love it. Uh, I guess last thing would be

[05:35] any any sort of unanswered questions for

[05:38] you after this? Like, what do you still

[05:40] any yellow flags that you're still like

[05:42] maybe concerned about that the demo and

[05:44] Q&A didn't answer or uh or are you kind

[05:46] of locked and loaded at this point and

[05:48] we're just ready for this thing to come

[05:49] out? I don't know if it's a yellow flag,

[05:51] but the demo was largely combat focused,

[05:53] very mission focused. So, I'm curious to

[05:55] see what the hub world looks like in

[05:57] Xenoverse 3, like what the character

[05:59] interactions where you're wandering

[06:00] around look like. I got to briefly

[06:02] experience that, but it was largely like

[06:04] we're going to show it to you a little

[06:05] bit and then we want to get you into

[06:06] this mission to play with these new

[06:07] mechanics. So, I think um you know, if

[06:09] you've played Xenoverse before, those

[06:10] hub worlds are places where you spend a

[06:12] lot of time, you know, outfitting your

[06:14] team and and talking to the characters

[06:16] and you know, playing multiplayer with

[06:18] other people, right? So, you spend a lot

[06:20] of time there and I really did want to

[06:21] see more than what we got. Will, thank

[06:24] you so much. Dragon Ball Xenoverse 3,

[06:26] one of many games we've been seeing here

[06:28] at Summer GameFest. For more from

[06:31] everything in the gaming industry, which

[06:32] is all centering right here in Los

[06:34] Angeles right now, uh, keep it tuned

[06:36] right here to IGN.