Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2: Intense 3D fighting, limited to 3 minutes
— 2 min read
Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 is the second game in the Xenoverse line, which tried to combine the 3D fighting gameplay of Dragon Ball games with RPG character customization. Despite the fact that the game has been marketed as a 2-player game as well, its local or online multiplayer have not been supported enough.
To begin with, Xenoverse 2's multiplayer battle menu is very difficult to spot in the game in comparison with traditional fighting games. In order to play locally or online, the player must travel with their avatar to a specific area of the central hub world and talk to an NPC in order to access the local multiplayer menu. To make things worse, both local and online multiplayer battles are locked to 3 minutes long, which is significantly frustrating.
There is no fighting game that comes to mind which doesn't have the option to change the battle timer to infinite (∞) in order to enjoy fighting to your heart's content until one of the opponents falls to zero health. It is unacceptable for such an open and intense 3d fighting game to keep battles locked to 3 minutes. Fighting in 3D demands precision for aiming your blasts, and players need time to choose between when it's the right time to fight closer or keep their distance from their opponent. As a result, fighting for only 3 minutes either locally or online in Xenoverse 2 has a huge impact on the fight; players don't have time to react at all. Dragon Ball FighterZ, a 2.5D fighting game which released almost 2 years after Xenoverse 2 has the option to turn off the timer.
After the release of more than 13 DLC, the game never got any updates on this matter, and the weirdest thing is that developers could easily fix it with a minor update/patch. Fighting games should focus on local multiplayer firstly, and online secondly. Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 has a lot of potential in its gameplay since it is very intense and engaging. However, playing for 3 minutes is not enough to fully appreciate its gameplay; it feels like the freedom the game wants to give to the player is taken back. Unfortunately, it is the only game that comes to mind that "butchered" local and online multiplayer. It doesn't matter even if they release more DLC; fighting will still be just 3 minutes long.
