Dragon Ball FighterZ is one of the best fighting games I’ve ever played. The gameplay feels solid, the graphics and overall presentation is awesome and, as a fan of the titular anime, I love all the little winks and nods to the show. It also has a moderately number of things for the single player in mind. It has local multiplayer, a fair arcade mode (why aren’t there any ending screens when you beat it?), combo trials and, probably the thing most single players will sink their time into, a somewhat long Story Mode.
I’ve completed all of the arcs in the game’s Story Mode and, while I did come away satisfied with the experience of playing through it, I did walk away with some questions. As these questions didn’t really sour me to it, I would say they’re inconsequential in the grand scheme of things… but I do like to raise these questions all the same. And here they are!
Warning: MINOR SPOILERS ahead!
1. What’s the canon Story Arc?
Dragon Ball FighterZ’s Story Mode is broken up into three arcs but the basic story is the same. Android 21 has resurrected the Red Ribbon Army and has created clones of the different fighters from the show to wreck havoc on the planet. The heroes and villains, of course try to take down their clones and Android 21. However, due to some energy waves, all of the characters’ power cannot go over 9,000 by themselves. Thankfully, you (the player) can link your soul to theirs so that they do have the strength to do all the stuff that Dragon Ball characters can do. So, you take control of the various Z Fighters to take down the Android 21’s clone army as well as her.
As mentioned earlier, there are three story arcs: The Super Warrior Arc, where you primarily link with Goku, the Enemy Warrior Arc, wherein Frieza is revived and you link with him, and the Android 21 Arc, where you actually link with Android 16 and not 21. The story generally plays out the same way as you go around the map, taking out the Red Ribbon clones until you finally face off with Android 21’s final form and end the menace once and for all. However, each arc tells the story in a different way, which begs the question: what’s the real story?
To add to the confusion, there are a couple of moments when these arcs will intersect to tell the story from a different perspective. For example, during the Super Warrior Arc and Evil Warrior Arc, Goku and Krillin come across Android 18 and Android 21 about to be assaulted by Cell. The two heroes don’t know that Android 21, who looks like a normal Red Ribbon scientist during this moment, is the mastermind pulling the strings. You would think this would be a clever way of telling one congruent tale but this is a fake out and the story then widely diverges from each other.
While you can equate all the arcs in Dragon Ball FighterZ to be kind of like OAVs and aren’t really official tales, I would still like to know which is the “true” story that I’m supposed to follow because, you know, there might be a sequel.
2. Where’s your body? And is it in a safe place?
The game’s take on Story Mode is definitely unique as you don’t actually play as Goku, Krillin or any of the official characters in the Dragon Ball universe. Instead, you play a human that links his soul to them so they can fight. It’s a weird premise but, hey, it’s Dragon Ball! Weirder stuff has happened in the anime before! Why not add humans possessing super powerful beings to the list? The heroes and villains are generally grateful to you as they regain their ability to fight when your linked to them.
But even though they thank you and all of that, do they even bother to find your body?
It actually unnerved me that, here I am, putting myself on the line for these powerful strangers with the world on the line and searching the world for their other allies, but they’re not trying to see if my body is alright? The game never mentioned what kind of soul I am but I’m assuming that it got sucked out of my body and transplanted into them, which means my body’s still alive. Well, if that’s the case, the first thing I would want to do is make sure my body’s alive so I can return to it once the crisis is all over! I mean, I’m shooting out light beams out of my hands that are decimating entire city blocks! I want to make sure my body isn’t one of the things that disintegrates by accident while I’m doing this!
Speaking of things being safe…
3. Where are the rest of the normal humans?
The only normal human that can’t fight that’s featured prominently in the story is Bulma. It makes sense as she’s the only one smart enough to really be of help. She’s the one that figured out all about the energy waves dampening all of the fighter’s powers and she’s the one that can pilot the giant Capsule Corporation ship that lugs everyone around, apparently. But where are the others? Where’s Mr. Satan? Where’s Chichi? Where’s Videl and Pan as well?
The last two is the one that really got me thinking as to where all of the humans are. While Goku and the rest of the characters would tell Majin Buu to fight hard for the sake of Mr. Satan giving him lots of candy, Gohan frequently mentions that he’s not dedicated to fighting anymore. He doesn’t fight to become stronger anymore but he does fight to protect the people he cares about.
If Gohan really cares that much about his family, why isn’t he checking if they’re safe? My body, I can understand why they don’t care for it. They don’t know me after all. But their own family members? Shouldn’t they be checking if his wife and daughter are fine? I guess they could’ve brought all of the people who can’t fight to Dende’s place where they would be safe but I’m only guessing that’s what they did. For all that talk about wanting to protect his family, Gohan sure doesn’t really put a lot of effort to making sure they’re in a safe place!
Speaking of Gohan…
4. Why didn’t Android 21 create clones of Teen Gohan?
During all of the arcs in Dragon Ball FighterZ’s Story Mode, you fight various clones of the fighters that have appeared in the series. There were a few notable exceptions that made sense, though. You never encounter a Beerus clone because, well, he is the God of Destruction of Universe 7. How the heck would the Red Ribbon Army manage to get his cells to clone him? You also don’t fight clones Hit and Goku Black as they’re both from another universe entirely so the Red Ribbon Army doesn’t know they even exist. The Super Saiyan Blue versions of Goku and Vegeta also never got cloned because the Red Ribbon Army never encountered them either. They didn’t clone Majin Buu, but that tracks because they cloned the more powerful Kid Buu instead. Gotenks would be practically impossible to clone, I think. He’s a fusion character so who knows what happens to his cells after the 30-minute time limit runs out.
There is one excluded character that seems odd that Android 21 didn’t clone. That would be Teen Gohan. You would think the Red Ribbon Army has a stock of Teen Gohan’s cells kept in a safe place as he is the person who defeated their perfect creation, Cell. They managed to create a few Future Trunks clones, so why no Teen Gohan clones? Oh, and they would be smart enough to figure out that Mr. Satan didn’t really defeat Cell because, if that were the case, there would’ve been some Mr. Satan clones running around… which would’ve been hilarious!
Also, Android 21 should’ve been able to figure out that Teen Gohan is much stronger than Adult Gohan, which they made dozens of clones of. With all of her resources, it would’ve been more practical to clone Teen Gohan instead of the weaker Adult Gohan. In fact, she would’ve demanded it as she wants stronger fighters to devour. If she made a Kid Buu clone and avoid making the weaker Majin Buu clone, she should’ve done the same with Gohan.
5. How did Android 21 get the Namekian Dragon Balls to resurrect all of the baddies in the Enemy Warriors Arc?
Regarding my earlier question about which story arc is canon, I have my doubts that the Enemy Warriors Arc is the one that’ll be canon, which is sad because it’s my favorite one. For one, the ending is rather dubious, as we have Goku, Vegeta and the rest of the good guys powering up to face off against Frieza, Cell and the other resurrected baddies from the series. Now, you may be wondering how Frieza and the rest came back to life. Well, in the opening of the arc, it shows Android 16 and Android 21 on New Namek and they appear to have summoned Porunga, the dragon that comes out of the Namekian Dragon Balls. Apparently, Android 21 wished for the villains to be revived so that she can eat them later.
That’s well and good but how exactly did Android 21 and Android 16 make it all the way to New Namek in the first place? Are you telling me that the Red Ribbon Army have not only mastered the process of cloning someone, but interstellar travel as well? I guess they could’ve stolen the plans for the Namekian and Saiyan ships from the Capsule Corporation. But what about the poor, innocent Namekians who were guarding the Dragon Balls? I can believe they would hand it over to Kibito Kai with no problem. But to a stranger like Android 21? They’d probably put up a fight for that! Which could only mean a lot of hurt (and possibly dead) Namekians in the process.
BONUS: Why can’t we record the cinematic scenes on the PS4?
No, really. What’s with not allowing us to record the cinematics on my PS4? It’s not like I can’t go to YouTube and watch them because there are going to be other people with the tech that can do it. I mean, look at all the clips I got from YouTube already! Why even bother?
Do you have any inconsequential questions about Dragon Ball FighterZ’s Story Mode? Let me know what they are in the comments section below!
3rd World Geeks 