Bandai Namco has some big plans for Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 when it launches this fall, including all new modes, new locations, new characters and a beta that gamers can participate in ahead of launch. This all came spilling out just after their GamesCom appearance.
IGN is reporting that the beta date for Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 has not been revealed, but it will take place ahead of the game's October 25th release this fall for the Xbox one, PS4 and PC. They also don't say if the beta will be available on specific systems or just a single system. In the case of Titanfall 2, recently the game skipped on beta testing on PC because, according to Respawn Entertainment, they didn't want data miners to sift through the game and publicly expose all of the single-player campaign content.
But for Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, the beta will allow players to experience the all new Conton City game hub, which is said to be seven times larger than the previous city hub. That's not that huge a feat because the original game's hub was pretty small, only containing some of the basics to get players setup with gear, items, offline quests and online battles. Bandai Namco had revealed in a press release previously that the new game will allow for up to 300 players per shard, which is actually significantly larger than the first Dragon Ball Xenoverse.
They don't say what the new section hubs in Conton City will contain, but hopefully it's not just expanded with nothing to do in the cities. Most of the important stuff in the first game was adequately applied to a few NPC kiosks sprinkled throughout the different sections of the city hub. So I'm curious what this much larger city will contain and how they'll make use of the space.
According to the IGN article, some of that space will be used for more quests and training opportunities. The game will supposedly contain twice as many quests as the original Dragon Ball Xenoverse, which should extend the replay values by a sizable margin.
Another new feature is the ability to "hunt" for specific accessories and costumes in the game. I'm not sure how this will change too much from scouting for gear in the first game or scouting mission rewards from the side-quest menu, but maybe they'll make it more streamlined than in the first game.
Multiplayer is also a big part of Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2. It was definitely important in the first game, especially for team battles or boss fights where you may have needed a bit of help from allies to take down a difficult opponent, but this time the co-op appears to be essential for some fights. For instance, there's a new Expert Mission mode for multiple players that sees five players taking on one boss. It may sound unfair against the bosses, but the fight will require a lot of teamwork, a lot of skill and a lot of guts.
I just hope they do more to add depth to the combat in Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2. The biggest drawback with the first game was the limited moveset and the reliance on spamming projectiles and dash-kicks to take out opponents. We do know that super transformations are in the game, so that should open up an all new cache of moves and abilities.
The article also notes that Majin Vegeta will also be available to play in the game along with some of the other characters from the Dragon Ball universe such as Dragon Ball Super that didn't make the cut in the first game.
